RSS
Home
New J.J. Abrams Show 'Fringe' Deserves The Hype
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
.jpg)
Even under the best of circumstances, television is a very collaborative medium. What you see on screen is the result of a mash-up of influences, from the show creator and director to the writing staff and show runner. For all the freedom of television, there aren't a lot of show creators that have the track record and public name recognition to bring viewers in no matter what the project.
J.J. Abrams is one of those rare examples, and given his track record ("Felicity," "Alias" and "Lost"), you'd have to be a fool not to expect any TV project he helps create to be at the very least entertaining.
"Fringe" is much more than that, although I'm going to try and stay away from the comparisons to his previous TV efforts. A lot of critics are going to compare it to "Lost" or "The X-Files," but in reality, the show is the best written action series in past ten years.
"Fringe" begins with an airline flight. A passenger begins have some sort of reaction, and struggles to give himself a shot. Before you can say "Uh-oh," he has spread some sort of contagion throughout the plane, killing everyone on board and melting away much of their skin in the process.
The FBI and Homeland Security immediately launch an investigation after the plane lands itself at Boston's Logan Airport. Two of the agents on the scene are Special Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv), and FBI agent John Scott (Mark Valley). Dunham is a former investigator for the Marines now assigned to interagency liaison work and Scott is her partner and secret lover.
Dunham follows a seemingly random tip to a storage locker, containing a secret lab run by some unknown person. It explodes, severely infecting Scott and motivating her to track down some cure for this infection, no matter what the cost.
Her search leads her to Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble), who was once a research scientist and a leading expert on flesh-eating substances. But he's spent the past 17 years in a mental institution after being accused To get access to him, she needs to track down Bishop’s estranged son, Peter (Joshua Jackson).
As it turns out, the airplane incident was only the most recent of a number of strange occurrences, and there seems to be some still-unrevealed agenda at work.
By the end of the extended two-hour premiere, viewers have met a Homeland Security official secretly running a cover organization; a Microsoft-type company run by Bishop's former lab partner as well as a flurry of mysterious bad guys and secret technologies. Throw in psychokinesis, transmogrification and even bionic prostheses and you have enough conspiracies to keep even the most jaded viewer busy for a few seasons.
"Fringe" was created by Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci and they have all said that the show was a homage to the classic science fiction thriller movies and TV shows they grew up watching. That influence is definitely apparent in the final product. The plot might not be groundbreaking, but it's so well done that you barely notice the lapses in logic.
It also helps that the acting is topflight and there is barely a wasted breath in the episode. "Fringe" has probably gotten more early buzz than any other show this season, and it delivers on the hype.
"Fringe" is poised to be the first breakout new show this Fall, and I can't wait to see how it all plays out.
Related Articles:
Comments
