Teleportation, mind control, astral projection, invisibility, precognition, spontaneous combustion, reanimation: these are among the peripheral sciences--or "pseudo-sciences," as one skeptic puts it--examined during the
first season of Fringe, a Fox network TV drama debuting on DVD with the full first season (twenty episodes) offered on seven extras-laden discs. The notion that those phenomena could have a genuine scientific basis is intriguing enough. But co-creator J.J. Abrams (whose bulging resume as a director, writer, and producer includes Lost, Alias, and the 2009 Star Trek feature film) has even more on his mind. Along with the weird science, the series features a multi-agency task force investigating related acts of terrorism that may very well add up to a threat of unimaginable global proportions; people who are exactly what they appear to be (i.e., insane) and others who are anything but; plot twists galore; family drama, interpersonal relationships, corporate evil, cop chases... There's a lot in play here, and while it doesn't always hold together (and like any new series, it takes a while to hit its stride),
Fringe is rarely boring, and never less than impressively ambitious.
The pilot introduces us to the main characters, principally FBI agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv, good but not great in the show's central role) and others on the task force brought in to investigate some gross goings-on aboard a jumbo jet (a "self-eradicating, airborne toxin" reduced everyone to blood and bones). Seems this is but one part of "The Pattern," a series of synchronous, similarly shocking events that unfold as the show progresses; in subsequent episodes, lots of people are killed in graphic fashion by all manner of horrors, including scary monsters (slugs as big as a football, teethed parasites that can crush your heart), a gas that freezes a busload of passengers "like insects trapped in amber," people so radioactive they can literally make your brain boil… it goes on. Helping Dunham and the rest of the force figure it all out are scientist Dr. Walter Bishop (an appealing John Noble), who's spent the past 17 years locked up in the loony bin and whose research may be responsible for some of the crimes we witness, and his son-babysitter Peter (Joshua Jackson). As for the "fringe" element, Dr. Bishop and other, less benign geniuses jump-start a dead man's brain, photograph another victim's cornea in order to access the last thing she saw before death, connect Dunham to her boyfriend so she can experience his memories of the incident that left him comatose, use high-frequency vibrations to enable bank robbers to pass through a solid vault wall, and much, much more. As for where and how all of this ends up, let's just that inquiring minds will have to hang in for the long, complicated run.
"Lost meets The X-Files" is a not inappropriate description of Fox TV's Fringe, especially considering that cocreator J.J. Abrams was also one of the Lost masterminds. But this ambitious and often exciting series (with all 22 episodes from its second season, plus plenty of bonus material, released here on six discs) merits more than that glib label. As before, the members of the Fringe Division, an obscure wing of the FBI barely recognized (and this season threatened with elimination) by the government at large, are the "cleanup crew" summoned when the universe is on the verge of shredding at the seams. Led by Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv), brilliant but mad scientist Walter Bishop (with John Noble as the show's most appealing character), and Bishop's son Peter (Joshua Jackson), they investigate crimes and occurrences involving the seemingly inexplicable, ranging from garden-variety phenomena like ESP, mind control, and hypnosis to really strange stuff like "clairaudience" (receiving messages or thoughts from another realm), cryonics (as in frozen, disembodied heads), and the existence of a parallel universe. Once again there's also a healthy dose of scary monsters, including a hideous mutant who drags its victims underground before devouring them, a community of deformed victims of scientific tests gone awry, two-foot-long parasites with human hosts, and a walking shadow that renders whoever it passes through into dust and ash. But it all gets more personal for our three heroes this time around, as they realize that Walter's long-ago research and experiments had serious consequences not only for him (he spent 17 years locked up in a rubber room) but especially for Olivia and Peter, who must deal with shocking revelations about their childhoods.
What might be television's smartest and most intriguing science-fiction series pushes forward with 22 episodes (on six discs, including bonus material) comprising the
third season of Fringe. The first season of this Fox show introduced us to the members of the Fringe Division (an obscure wing of the FBI assigned to investigate all manner of supernatural phenomena), and the principal characters, Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv), mad scientist Walter Bishop (John Noble), and Bishop's son Peter (Joshua Jackson). In season two, we learned of the existence of a parallel universe, and that Peter is not Walter's real son, but rather his doppelgänger, whom Walter kidnapped when his own, "prime universe" son died. This two-universe paradigm now takes center stage--in fact, for the first third of the season, odd-numbered episodes take place in the parallel universe, with even-numbered ones set in "our world" (the remaining episodes are mostly, but not exclusively, in the latter). The two universes are substantially similar, notwithstanding some quirky differences, with everyone having a counterpart in the opposite world. Olivia, referred to as "Fauxlivia," spends multiple episodes in the prime universe; meanwhile, in the parallel universe, Walter's far less benign opposite number ("Walternate," Peter's real father) is the secretary of defense, who schemes to get his son back and annihilate the prime universe in the process. Thus Walter's kidnapping gambit 25 years earlier caused an off-balance chain reaction that threatens both worlds, while Peter, the only one who has no doppelgänger, becomes the linchpin, sort of the Harry Potter of the series; not only is he alone capable of operating Walternate's "doomsday machine," but he's also unique in believing that the two universes can coexist, instead of wiping each other out.
Who are you? After sacrificing himself to save both worlds, Peter mysteriously returns to ours. But he has been forgotten - by Olivia, by Walter, by everyone. It's as if he never existed. At the same time, shapeshifters controlled by an unknown master begin an onslaught of destruction, and now the two former enemy universes must cooperate to defy a common foe. Fringe's thrilling 22-episode fourth season continues the inspired series' synthesis of astounding phenomena, baffling secrets and dramatic, character-driven stories. And in this season, events may prove that the most powerful force in our universe - or theirs - is not a doomsday device, not a paranormal force, but human love.
Fringe The Complete First Season - Fourth Season
