Fringe - some thoughts on 3 seasons

[avrelia]

We finished Fringe, and here I try to sum my thoughts and feelings about the whole three seasons. Peter and I started watching it in March, and we done in three months. Impressive – for us these days. I knew some spoilers that picked up by osmosis from my friends and stuff I read. But spoilers don't matter until you really care about stuff that is going on. I didn't have much expectations, beyond the fact that it is supposed to be crazy and awesome. Well, it was. Mostly. The main thing, it was always entertaining, even when it was scary and creepy and sad.

I very much enjoyed their self-aware resemblance to X-files. Even the score reminding me the days of yore and the truth that was out there. One of the major factors in my enjoyment of the show was that I liked all the major characters. Olivia, Walter, Peter, Broyles, Nina Sharp, Astrid, Charlie...

The story itself - I knew to expect more later, so the earlier MoTW, crazy-science type episodes were all good enough for me. And I did like the crazy. I could suspend my disbelieve high enough to worry about plausibility – I love the shows about vampires, right? They only pretend that science here is in any way more realistic than demons of Whedon-verse.

Watching the whole thing at once is very different – I don't ask many questions, or don't dwell on them, as I knew there will be answers soon enough.

Of course, now, that I watched all that is so far, I can see, that many questions are left without answers for good, since the story went too far away in a completely different directions.

The change of direction didn't look sudden or completely unexplicable, but when I look back now I see how different the show was then, and I am not certain Fringe season 1 connects well with the Fringe season 3. And even if, overall the show got better, I am not sure I prefer the show where only three people int the Universe (both of them) matter.

Let me think back:
at first we had a show about random mysterious “pattern” events, which were loosely connected to William Bell and Walter and their experiments back then. Massive Dynamic was a menacing presence, doing mysterious menacing things under control of terrifyingly effective Nina Sharp.

There are groups of children Bell Experimented on in Iowa and Florida. And someone who awakes their talents that lead to terrifying events.

There is Jones who just wants to see Bell and ready to move the world and kill everyone to do it.

Then we have a show about menacing Other Universe. With Newton and the shapeshifters being all kinds of evil.

Then we learn the truth about Peter, and the impact that Walter had on the Other Universe, and the show turns into “It's all about the Bishops” show. Which is kind of lacking, by definition. Lots of things gets dropped off in order to fit in the character metaphor.
I generally like a story that is character-driven, and I can suspend my disbelieve very high and forgive a lot of plot holes for a satisfying character story. I mean, I am a Buffy fan, remember? I don't mind any hiding in the bushes wise folk with magical weapons as long it made sense on the larger scale.

But in the case of Fringe I felt very differently. Maybe because Buffy from the very beginning was the show about a girl to me, and Fringe was the show about people who work with weird stuff.

Which brings me to the end of the season 3. It kind of felt like the story has eaten itself – and the time loop was the perfect in this sense – except that it didn't make any sense plot-wise.

I listed all the stuff from season 1 that went nowhere. (the group of Cortexifan children is dying out horribly, and for no good reason – and whom they will protect us from?) But maybe it will. Maybe some stuff will pop up later and it all suddenly will make a perfect sense. But so far, it doesn't. There is no big picture. The story changed – maybe not suddenly and unexpectedly, but irreversibly. Most of the questions will never have answers, because no one will bother to think of answers that would connect all the dots.

I am not bothered much by it, really. I am just along for the ride and having a lot of fun. But seeing the fate of two Universes depending on which Olivia Peter chooses is actually boring.

ok. I thought that waiting a week would help me to gather all my thoughts and arrange them in a sensible order, but it's only getting worse. So I am posting this, and thinking in small chunks.

Like these ones: Lincoln Lee. Love him. A lot.

Generally, I want more of everyone's story.

Is it me, or is Our Universe People are much dorkier than their Other Universe counterparts?