Fringe Catch-All - You Are My Favorite Thing, Fringe. My Very Favorite Thing.

McCoy: Dear Lord. You think we're intelligent enough to... suppose... what if this thing were used where life already exists?

Spock: It would destroy such life in favor of its new matrix.

McCoy: Its "new matrix"? Do you have any idea what you're saying?

Spock: I was not attempting to evaluate its moral implications, Doctor. As a matter of cosmic history, it has always been easier to destroy than to create.

McCoy: Not anymore; now we can do both at the same time! According to myth, the Earth was created in six days. Now, watch out! Here comes Genesis! We'll do it for you in six minutes!

Spock: Really, Dr. McCoy. You must learn to govern your passions; they will be your undoing. Logic suggests...

McCoy: Logic? My God, the man's talking about logic; we're talking about universal Armageddon! You green-blooded, inhuman...

I had the same thought pop into my head, Quintin!

Oh, and BTW, was Jessica's interrogation the creepiest thing ever?

Eeesshh!

Oh, the interrogation was crazy creepy.

The finale was a little too over-the-top for my Fringe tastes, and the season's arc was even less coherent than usual for the show. I'm glad the show did not end on that episode. I'm glad they burned out (most of) the plotdeviceiphan.

Enough silly criticism, I liked a bunch of stuff:
* They brought the creepy for the interrogation scene.
* Poor Olivia, every time she learns to control her superpowers, bang, right in the head.
* Walter in the final few scenes.
* The ever stalwart Astrid. I love when they put in little scenes that hint toward the depth of the mostly off-screen friendship between Walter and Astrid.

I loved this episode, and while I expected Olivia to some how die and cheat death, I did not expect it that way. The interrogation scene! My god! Nightmares! So it looks like we will get to see the future invasion we got a sneak peek of in that episode a few weeks ago. I can't wait to see how that all pans out. I love this show! Waiting for next season is going to drive me nuts.

consciousness wrote:

Walter in the final few scenes.

Yeah, from his tone he almost seemed like pre-lobotomy Walter.

"Ding, ding, ding. My bicycle is blue, and it has a little chimey bell on it. Ding, ding, ding."

*shiver*

Btw, what was the deal with ringing the bell? It tickles something in my memory but I can't recall exactly what.

My god that quote and the freeze frame of the scene is enough to freak me out again!

Nevin73 wrote:

Btw, what was the deal with ringing the bell? It tickles something in my memory but I can't recall exactly what.

It's a device Bell created that allows him to cross over to the other side, if I am not mistaken. It's just disguised as a bell.

Nevin73 wrote:

Btw, what was the deal with ringing the bell? It tickles something in my memory but I can't recall exactly what.

Heh, I was going to ask if anyone remembered this better. It had something to do with the time his mind was in Olivia--the right bell tone, uh, summoned his soul, or something. Obviously, I'm missing some details, hopefully someone else knows better.

Gaald wrote:

My god that quote and the freeze frame of the scene is enough to freak me out again!

This. Freaked out just thinking about it. Like I'm going to press play...

I actually held my hand to block out Jessica's eyes during the interrogation scene. That was just .... whoah that was messed up. One of the creepiest things I've ever seen on network television.

SpacePPoliceman wrote:
Nevin73 wrote:

Btw, what was the deal with ringing the bell? It tickles something in my memory but I can't recall exactly what.

Heh, I was going to ask if anyone remembered this better. It had something to do with the time his mind was in Olivia--the right bell tone, uh, summoned his soul, or something. Obviously, I'm missing some details, hopefully someone else knows better.

That one was a soul magnet. There was also a bell on his desk on the other side when he brought Olivia over at the end of season 1.

Edit: Just went back and checked. Season 2, episode 4: a bell ringing triggers Olivia's memory of what happened on the other side, and when she first sees Bell the camera focuses on the bell on his desk.

From twitter (huge s4 finale spoilers)

fringeonfox wrote:

The #fringe EP's @JPFRINGE and @JWFRINGE discuss the Season Finale and tease what's coming in Season 5. - http://t.co/jx2sLrJJ

We had a conversation with Fox earlier in the season while we were closing the door, one of our Fox executive partners said, "I was so sad. I had tears in my eyes when we closed the door, and we said, "Yeah, these were characters that you never wanted us to introduce in the first place because you were afraid that nobody would care about them." She said, "I was so wrong."

TV Exec admits being wrong. Holy crap. Maybe 2012 is the end of the world.

You're now thinking of Jessica's wonky eyes.

See, I looked at it and was immediately grossed out, but then started to find it awesomely hilarious the longer the scene went.

I love this show.

You know, after thinking about it, I think they might have actually improved that interrogation scene if they hadn't messed up her voice....I can't help but think that just playing it straight, but with Creepy Eyeballs, would have been much worse.

Malor wrote:

You know, after thinking about it, I think they might have actually improved that interrogation scene if they hadn't messed up her voice....I can't help but think that just playing it straight, but with Creepy Eyeballs, would have been much worse.

Yeah, I agree. Creepy modulated voices are pretty overused in horror and sci-fi, but the face movements were actually quite novel. It really conveyed the idea that the technology was imperfect, and parts of her reactivated brain were just firing randomly.

It really drove home this woman is dead. It was an incredibly effective technique. But I wish they'd skipped the voice modulation, I think it would have increased the feeling of realism a great deal.

I assumed the voice thing was supposed to be the same as the eyes and facial movement. It worked but wasn't working perfectly, it probably could have been done better but I had no problem with it.

It was still a great scene, I just remembered being knocked out of my total fascination/horror with the eyes when the modulated voice started. "What the heck? That's stupid."

But then, of course, the eyes recaptured my attention. *shudder*

Never too early for spoilers!

Spoiler:

Who had "Next season is almost all the Future" in the pool? Neat, neat, neat, neat!

Should I start watching this?

muraii wrote:

Should I start watching this?

You should continue watching it. Failing this, start watching it.

Wait - someone isn't watching this?

I watched one or two full episodes some time ago. I must say I understand how crass this will sound, but it felt like a limp X-Files derivative with a Poppy Montgomery stand-in and some other impotent character actors. To be a bit more charitable, it felt like several other purportedly ambitious shows that a network mindset crippled. Like the X-Files' later seasons. Not quite as capriciously obscure and lazy as Lost, but a little overglamorous in Fox's style.

Maybe I was just grumpy. Anything that lasts five seasons has something going for it, right? #winning

muraii wrote:

Should I start watching this?

In all honesty, the first season does start a bit shaky, but comes together nicely by the end. After that, things just get better and better. You'll be amazed where this show takes you.

trueheart78 wrote:

Wait - someone isn't watching this?

Heathens.