This blogger got into Fringe this summer. The first attempt was a bust. We thought Fringe was a grosser rip off of The X-Files. (As the show goes on, you will find that the plot and what the team is investigating is very different from the goings-on of the X-Files, with investigating "strange incidents" and romance between the characters being the only similiarities.) But people said it got better, so we jumped back in, renting the DVDs. About halfway through season one, this show started to pick up steam, and now it is excellent. If you have trouble getting into shows that start out painfully slow, just read some recaps of the first 14 episodes, then start watching. But this is not a show that you have to see every episode of to follow, believe it or not, so you can just jump right in. We wonder how anyone got into this show from the beginning without forcing themselves to watch it, like we did. But now that it’s good, it’s very good.
In season three, the main female character, Olivia, is trapped in an alternate universe. Her friends and co-workers, Peter and Walter Bishop, went back to this current universe with the wrong Olivia (Olive). This episode dealt with alternate Walter (Walternate), the alternate universe’s Secretary of Defense, attempting to brainwash Olivia into taking on Olive’s memories through some scientific juice…or whatever. You kind of have to just go with things in this show. Olivia escaped Walternate’s clutches and ran around trying to get back to this world.
This episode was exciting and dark. It felt like 1984. You know, creepy and hopeless. In a good way. We even got a glimpse of the real Walter and his “son” Peter in the real universe, living with the mole, Olive.
If you like sci-fi, gore, humor, endearing characters, good acting, crazy scientific theories, suspense, mystery, nerdtasticness, and romance, read some recaps on Wikipedia jump right into this show’s current season. Or Fringepedia. That would probably be more detailed. If you area already a fan, get even more excited. This season is off to a good start.
Episode Grade- B+
In season three, the main female character, Olivia, is trapped in an alternate universe. Her friends and co-workers, Peter and Walter Bishop, went back to this current universe with the wrong Olivia (Olive). This episode dealt with alternate Walter (Walternate), the alternate universe’s Secretary of Defense, attempting to brainwash Olivia into taking on Olive’s memories through some scientific juice…or whatever. You kind of have to just go with things in this show. Olivia escaped Walternate’s clutches and ran around trying to get back to this world.
This episode was exciting and dark. It felt like 1984. You know, creepy and hopeless. In a good way. We even got a glimpse of the real Walter and his “son” Peter in the real universe, living with the mole, Olive.
If you like sci-fi, gore, humor, endearing characters, good acting, crazy scientific theories, suspense, mystery, nerdtasticness, and romance, read some recaps on Wikipedia jump right into this show’s current season. Or Fringepedia. That would probably be more detailed. If you area already a fan, get even more excited. This season is off to a good start.
Episode Grade- B+
Watch the premiere, "Olivia," here, as well as last season's finale hours:
thank you for the first paragraph of this post! I gave up on fringe after watching the pilot, and wondered why its been such a hit show- now I'll try it again, as per your advice... same thing happened to me with supernatural till someone told me to start with season three...
ReplyDeletethanks, Hatts
We thought it needed to be said because of our painful experience, haha. We're gald someone else felt the same way. Well...not glad.
ReplyDeleteThis blogger has never seen Supernatural. Is it worth it?
*glad
ReplyDeletesupernatural-
ReplyDeleteI don't know what to say, from an entertainment perspective- yeah its fun
but from a religious perspective ( I'm not talking fanatical one but just a point of basic respect) the last two seasons are sometimes offensive
best episodes- 3.11, 5.8, 5.9
^We are pretty interested in religions/spiritual thoug/etc. Could you elaborate about what Supernatural messes up in that respect? Like what religion and how?
ReplyDeleteoh boy, really I don't like to get into this a) because its not really my business, I'm the last person who should be talking about religion, and b) because I don't know how to explain myself without getting very long winded but you've asked so I'll try to answer....
ReplyDeleteSupernatural butchers the subject of religion.
look, I wasn't raised religiously so I'm can't explain why the show is so offensive without explianing where I came by the perspective that makes me feel that way. frankly I was kind of into buddhism until I met people that I didn't know existed. ok, look, your well educated people so you know that in the monastic tradition in say, tibet, there are lineages of teachers who pass their knowledge on the disciples who become the teacher and so on... well it turns out that this exists in the Islamic tradition too. you have to understand that we're talking about mystics, not clergy or gurus, its a different level, they are not learning from books. At that level jeudiasm, Christianity and Islam are like chapters one two and three of the same book. So when you sit to hear these very rare men or women speak and they talk about The archangels, or the prophets, or Adam and Eve, they KNOW what thier talking about, its not a story, or a belief, its a reality which they actually know about. I don't like to write about it because really what am I supposed to say....I met these people.
but anyway what I'm trying to explain is this- Supernatural takes the 'mythology' of angels and prophets and God himself (a) and messes around with them, not just messes around with them but almost makes fun of them, debases them, makes them lowly. its all fun and games and freedom of speech until you begin to feel that what their playing with isn't a myth or an archetype or a story but a reality. look at it this way if a tv show had a character representing a real person and they made that person out to be a bad guy. if that person was still alive and was in fact not a bad guy at all, you;d call that slander. if you happened to know and love that person you'd probably be very upset by it. So that is really the point- for people that know their religion by taste, by LOVE, by sincere belief, its painful and offensive and just wrong to see it taken so lightly with such ignorance. I am not one of these people, but I know them and I understand.
That makes sense^ We didn't know that Islam has mystics. Interesting.
ReplyDeleteOne of us gets pretty annoyed when the archangel Gabriel turns out to be the bad guy (like in Constantine).
One religious writer said, "There are too mistakes you can make with devils/demons. One is to take them lightly and one is to give them too much attention and be fascinated with them." That was paraphrased, haha. We think Supernatural might give them too much attention, which is one of the reasons we never watched (the other being it looked kind of lame).