Rarely there is a Television show that exceeds all boundaries of imagination. The X-Files was such a show, which for a while became a phenomenon: All the elements were in place. For 8 years, we watched Fox Mulder and Dana Skully chase and be chased by Shape Shifting Alien "Soldiers", Black Ops agencies, secret societies, and people with special genetic "gifts". It was alright that no answers were ever offered to the viewers, the voyage itself through those years was fulfillment enough.
And so, in 2009, roughly 8 years after the last X-Files episode, a new FBI branch is created, to take over the work "Spooky" Mulder spearheaded with his redheaded partner. We have a new redhead, Olivia Dunham (Although she was a "Blondehead" for the first 2 seasons) - And her assortment of gifted co-workers: The half sane Walter Bishop, checked out of St. Claire's Mental Hospital where he had resided for 17 years, his son Peter Bishop, a genius in his own right, but who has never stayed in one place for longer than a month his whole life. Junior Agent Astrid Farnsworth who has cryptology skills as well as other things, keeps Walter's lab organized and for the most part grounded in Reality.
And so we have a Pattern of Destruction, strange cases, some left over from Fox Mulder's files possibly. We have superintellegent criminals like David Jones (which is David Bowie's real name - This show hands out several homages to pop culture, or rather, counterculture). We have a huge, almost faceless company Massive Dynamic who's slogan is, "What can't we do?" - And another Redhead Nina Sharp, associate of the mysterious and secretive William Bell.
This is a show where there is not one idle shot, not one image, not one line spewed by a character, that will not have full meaning later in the series. In the first season, we have a Bus which is filled by Amber which is introduced in a gaseous state:: Trapping the people inside like Flies. This became a major plot device in Season Three.
The entire series is Cyclic Storytelling, which covers a period of time from Millions of years in the past, to about 20 years in the "future" - But the concept of "time" as we understand it, has been x-d out, set on it's ear, and shifted around on its axis. As the character "Brandon Lafayette" says, Time is seen as if Liquid in a clear glass tube: We are "Observing" any point in that space where the Tube exists - And so we have a group of people in the show, to watch time for us: The Observers, all with names of Months,. like "August", "September", etc. These bald headed "watchers" who like to eat very hot spicy foods, and entire shakers of pepper (and gobble it down as if it were Ice Cream), can catch bullets, move form one place to another and not be seen, and apparently live forever. We meet one in Child form, in Season One, episode Fifteen "Inner Child". We never learn why he was left in the underground chamber since the 1940's, or how he can still be a child after all those years.
Then all of a sudden, we have not one but two Fringe universes, a second universe, "just a little different from ours, with versions of ourselves, also different" - And the opportunity to see what would happen had not certain events taken place. One universe.. "Our" universe, is "Blue" - The "Other Side" is "Red". But then, both sides, discovered a machine, called "The Vacuum", which only Peter Bishop can activate. And in fact he does activate the machine, and suddenly there is a Third, "Bridge" universe, where Peter never lived to be a man! The Observers claim "He Served his Purpose - He never existed" - But our Peter seriously disagrees with the Observers, and made himself known to both Walter and Olivia in Season Four - Eventually making such an irritation out of himself, by manifesting as a reflection in a mirror to Walter, and in dreams and as a blue energy vortex to Olivia, that he HAD to bust through back into existence.
Confused yet? Just trying to make a recap of three years of great storytelling from the likes of JJ Abrams and his production team who brought us "Star Trek 11: The Reboot" - And of course many of the plot devices used in that film are used in Fringe.
The multi layered storytelling, which is enjoyable on any level, the little twists and tricks the production team lay on us, the viewer, to bring us this eccentric tale, the music - And I have never before heard songs by the band "Bauhaus" used in television soundtracks... All coalesce into one fine package and I look forward each week, what new impossibilities are going to be explored THIS week?
The centerpiece of this show of course is the character of Walter Bishop, played by John Noble (Denethor, from Lord of the Rings), but he is surrounded by such good new talent that I've never had my sense of credibility stretched beyond what I could accept. Joshua Jackson, is Peter - His "Son" - And he plays the role, "No Nonsense", the character is straight-up, Olivia Dunham is helmed by Anna Torv, who I had never heard of before this show, but she's perfect for the part, flawed in a way. Odd, that we have a New Zealand actor playing a character that speaks in a kind of an British accent, and a British actress who uses an American accent- Every so often Anna lapses back to her British pronunciation- But for the most part you cannot tell that she is not from the East Coast of America.
Couple this acting with fine production, and you have a fine successor to The X Files, we hear in some episodes of Fringe about "The Former X-Designation" - We all know who they mean. As good as Mulder and Skully were, they ultimately only had themselves, and what limited resources they could get. With Fringe, Olivia, Peter, Walter, and Astrid have each other - Plus new agent, Lincoln Lee (Who Walter calls "Kennedy") played by Seth Gable. And so, these people have each other, it is not just two people against "indomitable forces" - In this way, the interactions are much more fulfilling, because it is an Ensemble Cast, a Fringe Team.
I am writing this, during the first episodes of Season Four - FOX had stuck this show into the Friday Night "Death Slot" - which has killed shows of lesser stature: But remember, The X-Files survived in that slot, for several years before being moved to Sunday Night. I am so happy that Fox has given us Three whole seasons of Fringe, and a fourth In Progress. Hopefully Fox will realize, that Neilson Ratings are not a valid rating system, most people who watch this show, will Record it. I pray that this show is allowed to run it's full intended length - It really is the finest TV show of 2011.
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