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

Agree with Khoram. Last night I was as thrilled with Fringe as I usually am after a great Chuck episode. Called up my friends that watched to talk about it.

And try to figure out what the hell is going to happen next week.

The only thing I could complain about might be this weird doomsday device. But I'll give them the benefit of the doubt until we see what they actually do with it.

Everything else was awesome. Other-fringe, other-charlie, secretary of defense Bishop :D, Bell showing up at the end, return of Nick (emotion guy), pyro-girl, seeing other NYC again... so much awesome stuff. And blimps!

And the scenes with Peter and his mom hit that emotional character stuff that we USED to get on Lost, and I have come to expect in some doses with the Bishops. Great moments there. If you can't care about the characters then what is the point of what happens to them, right?

Well, you do have to wonder where they go next. I mean, how do you top the stakes once you've killed a universe?

Khoram wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:

I'm starting to have a bad feeling about this, like we're already hitting the same ridiculously-over-the-edge point that destroyed Alias and LOST, the last two shows to bear JJ Abrams' name.

Wha? c'mon, man, that was as well a crafted hour of storytelling awesomeness as I've seen in the last several years. Lost Season 6 should be taking notes. Fringe got a whole lot of good storytelling done in 1 hour. Compare to this week's Lost... what a waste of an hour that was.

I didn't say it was bad, just that we may be on the precipice of bad:

Bad Sign #1: Alternate Fringe Division and its people were more interesting and compelling than Normal Fringe Division, but that may just because we've never met them.

Bad Sign #2: Monsters of the Week from episodes past are now important?

Bad Sign #3: That the current mechanic for traveling between universes is...wishing?

At least that's what made me a little uneasy and leery we could be headed for something that could unravel the whole works in part two a la Sydney's missing year in Alias or the first flash-forward in LOST.

Well ok those are valid concerns. I am more hopeful than I would be for other shows because of the high quality of the shows to date, and because the creators said before the show began that they had the whole 4-5 year mytharc planned out (unlike Lost or Alias). I don't agree with your bad sign #2, those weren't just any old monsters of the week like the chimera last year, those were all cortexifan kids like Olivia. It makes some sense that they'd be important. Of course right after telling us they were important, too! they killed them all off... Kind of strange.

I got a feeling though that while DoD Fringe department seemed a little more ass-kicking and appealing, there is something a bit "off" about their world - needing the ID card to do anything, the tattoo on alt-Olivia, the fact that Walternate is employing freaks like the shapeshifters and Newton, etc.

Seeing alt-Charlie last night did remind me of my early season belief that it was unnecessary and sad to kill off Charlie. I liked his character/actor and thought he added a certain believable pathos to the proceedings and played well off Olivia.

Rat Boy wrote:

Bad Sign #1: Alternate Fringe Division and its people were more interesting and compelling than Normal Fringe Division, but that may just because we've never met them.

I disagree. I didn't find them really interesting at all beyond their being a funhouse mirror of what we're used to. I thought their costumes and demeanor screamed "bad sci-fi TV show," though. Really, who wears a pistol on their thigh?

Rat Boy wrote:

Bad Sign #3: That the current mechanic for traveling between universes is...wishing?

I agree that that was pretty lame.

Rat Boy wrote:

At least that's what made me a little uneasy and leery we could be headed for something that could unravel the whole works in part two a la Sydney's missing year in Alias or the first flash-forward in LOST.

The flash forward in Lost is what kept that show from becoming completely stale. I think it was a bit of genius on the writers' part, actually.

I thought this episode was absolutely stellar. If they can keep this pace up for next week, I'm sure it'll be amazing.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Really, who wears a pistol on their thigh?

Army does. Or at least I did when I was in the army. A lot easier than on your belt, especially if you don't need to hide or conceal it.

Agemmon wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

Really, who wears a pistol on their thigh?

Army does. Or at least I did when I was in the army. A lot easier than on your belt, especially if you don't need to hide or conceal it.

Sure, but when you're meeting with the Secretary of Defense? It was clearly a costuming thing, and it looked silly.

I'm starting to think the other side was a better idea when it was merely glimpsed and hinted at, but I'll wait for next week's episode.

I say such neat things in my next post!

ClockworkHouse wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:

Bad Sign #1: Alternate Fringe Division and its people were more interesting and compelling than Normal Fringe Division, but that may just because we've never met them.

I disagree. I didn't find them really interesting at all beyond their being a funhouse mirror of what we're used to. I thought their costumes and demeanor screamed "bad sci-fi TV show," though. Really, who wears a pistol on their thigh?

I liked their casual nihilism. Their lead guy is getting ready to level a few blocks and Brunette Dunham's response is "sh*t, I forgot to update my will this week"? That's hardcore badass. But was I supposed to recognize the lead guy?

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I say such neat things in my next post!

Almost like the next post is a wacky alternate post where I have a burly scar on my face?

I'm not sure he was supposed to be recognizable, he may have been one of the guys at the FBI office... I have a feeling they won't be focusing on him for a while though.

Nosferatu wrote:

I'm not sure he was supposed to be recognizable, he may have been one of the guys at the FBI office... I have a feeling they won't be focusing on him for a while though.

For some reason IMDB has him listed as being in the previous episode as well. But they don't list a character name for him.

Nosferatu wrote:

I'm not sure he was supposed to be recognizable, he may have been one of the guys at the FBI office... I have a feeling they won't be focusing on him for a while though.

Yeah with him incapacitated for a few months, other-Broyle will probably promote other-Olivia to lead agent or whatever.

But who knows how long we'll spend on the other side?

is it just me or is altervese themed like a Bond movie villian, AlterBroyle hasn't met a skin tight shirt he doesn't like, AlterBishop is an impeccibly dressed evil mastermiind that would destroy his own flesh and blood for revenge. Fringe division is a bunch of sexed up freaks who apparently have little self preservational motivation, like all good henchmen.

Well, he clearly recognized the Empath guy before he died, which raised my suspicions.

Was alterna-Astrid a robot? If I remember right, the way addressed Broyles was kind of weird and it seemed like they were trying to imply that she was calculating the "quarantine" outcomes in her head.

It's possible that I just wasn't really paying that much attention because I was eating a delicious burrito.

Yeah I got the impression something was up with other-Astrid. Cyborg was my first impression as well. But definitely something.

SpacePPoliceman wrote:

Well, he clearly recognized the Empath guy before he died, which raised my suspicions.

You do realize there are good twins of everyone in our world there right?

I did notice the US Map -- half of California has apparently split and sunk into the ocean, Texas is TWO states, and Oklahoma and Kansas are both one state. It was too hard to see the rest of the Eastern map, but those were the obvious ones.

Nosferatu wrote:
SpacePPoliceman wrote:

Well, he clearly recognized the Empath guy before he died, which raised my suspicions.

You do realize there are good twins of everyone in our world there right?

Yeah, I do realize that. Since The Guy recognized Empath, who we'd seen before, I wondered if we were supposed to recognize The Guy too, that he was possibly one of the drug trial kids from the alternate world. Despite the radical differences between worlds, key relationships remain the same--Broyles is still in command. Charlie and Olivia still work together. Olivia is still linked to Walter. Olivia is in a relationship with someone who looks like Human Target, I assume simply because the actual Human Target actor wasn't available. Not far off to think there's a damn good reason The Guy recognized the Empath.

I love this show. Lots.

Rat Boy wrote:

Bad Sign #2: Monsters of the Week from episodes past are now important?

We've always known that Cortexiphan was a big deal. Not every monster of the week was directly Cortexiphan-related though.

I thought the episode was pretty good, i'm hoping Peter figures out that machine better than Walternate thinks he can and goes along only far enough to stop him.

SpacePPoliceman wrote:

Olivia is in a relationship with someone who looks like Human Target, I assume simply because the actual Human Target actor wasn't available.

side note.... Anna Torv was actually married to the Human Target guy, but they just got divorced i saw so probably didn't want to have him around...

Can't wait for Thursday!

also....2 hour final? i may die happy...however i will be spending 5 hours on a shooting range...so once again...delayed gratification.

Just saw Part 1. Awesome, can't wait until Thursday.

Olivia looks hotter with her hair down (and in just a bra).

Nevin73 wrote:

Olivia looks hotter with her hair down (and in just a bra).

I believe that's true of all women.

Happy Fringe Day!

Is it 9pm yet?

argh..... i'm going to be in class tonight....looks like another Friday morning Fringe binge.

Well, I saw that thing with Bell coming.

And that thing with Olivia.

Dammit.