Fringe (new JJ Abrams show) : Mad scientist, flesh eating virus, a cow and talks with the dead

Got kind of interesting this week, no?

Did the other side's 9/11 happen in 2021 or was that just the year that their memorial was laid?

That was our side he was in. Just in the future.

oh no, does that mean there are going to be time-split storylines next season?

xpost
Oh! I thought I saw a bronze Statue of Liberty -- guess not.

btw intersting parallels with Olivia's dislocation in season 1 into the middle of (para)military operation.

maybe i'm totally wrong then. I thought that plaque said 9/11/2001, with the memorial erected in 2021.

Jeez, it's going to take 20 years after the fact to get something up??

I barely had time to read the plaque, so all I saw was 9/11/2021 and for whatever reason thought the other side had a terrorist attack on the exact same day 20 years later.

Anyway, will have to wait for FringeFiles to get their caps up.

oh shit a KID! it's the beginning of the end!

wow did they turn peter into a reverse dawn-from-buffy?

In case the JJ Abrams poll didn't scare all the Fringe fans away, it's back this Friday!

yeah, I didn't do a good job defending olive in that thread. I did say that she is an everyman character but so is doug funny imo (and I dont think every man could relate with doug).

the plots and other characters are more rewarding than whatever level anna torv's acting ability is. honestly, I don't really notice anything off about her acting but then again I don't really pay attention to acting skill in general. anna did have a talented breakdown scene last season when she found out the extent of fauxlivia and peter's relationship. usually when I pay attention to acting skill it's when someone is crying or laughing

Didn't know it was back so soon, that's great! Me and Mrs Chuck really warmed to Fringe over the three seasons. The first season it was just trashy comfort viewing, the second half od season 2 was "Wait, this is actually getting good," and parts of season 3 was some Reaganing awesomeness.

Torv is great! O and Faux are clearly different/same characters -- really difficult trick to pull off. Weird how Pacey had better chemistry with Faux than O.

parts of season 3 was some Reaganing awesomeness.

lololol truthbomb.

Weird how Pacey had better chemistry with Faux than O.

Picked up this show again after my sister convinced me it was worth it and she was right - wtf why hadn't anyone told me earlier how great it had gotten? Walter is awesomeness.

lol upthread at someone pointing out that Peter was more plot device than character - one of my first "wait, didn't he...?" moments was in the first season where I think they had a subplot about Peter's past catching up with him, except... it never did.

Interview with John Noble from the other day:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2011/09/john-noble-and-the-beautiful-challenge-of-fringe.html

Thanks! dude is def the best part of the show - I mean, there are about five different Walters, all at different ages/realities, and it's just amazing how he manages to keep them all distinct but essentially the same person simultaneously.

I think the structure of the season opener, going from monster of the week to intro to multiple universes to showing that it wasn't a monster of the week episode but a possible lead into shady goings-on was a decent, if kind of boring, plot.

Yeah, I was thinking as the ep was going on that this was all setup for the season arc in the guise of 'wacky case of the week'.

Liking the idea of retconning your own main character/plot device out of existence. Though without Peter how does the whole parallel universe thing happen in the new timeline? Given the 'he has reasons to hate you' Walter is still responsible, I would assume Peter dies in both timelines after the parallel universe is broken into.

I assume that Walter still entered the alt-universe and took Peter, but that Peter died in the icy lake w/o help from the Observer dude.

Liking the continued equivalence of parallel universe=afterlife (on the other side your loved ones are still alive etc etc)

I've been joking that the weird hybrids in the Season 4 opener are from yet another universe where Walteralternate has a grudge against Walter and Walternate.

Oh shit!

BTW nu-shapeshifters and Astrid's earpiece are sort of like our-world approximations of their shifters and cellphone earring things, right?

That was a solid, fun if unspectacular opener.

Question I never resolved from the last season: How does Walternate actually learn about the existence of "the machine", if it's not in his world?

I've been joking that the weird hybrids in the Season 4 opener are from yet another universe where Walteralternate has a grudge against Walter and Walternate.

That would be very Season 3 Alias, so hopefully not...

Happy to see Agent Lincoln Lee upgraded to series regular. Prefer Alt-Linc tbh (he and Alt-Charlie are great), but looking forward to seeing "our" Lincoln becoming part of the team.

I like the actors and general vibe so much that I will pretty much watch this show through peaks and valleys. But I feel like they're going to kick more ass this season.

Pefer Alt-Linc tbh (he and Alt-Charlie are great

Yeah, everyone on our side is a fun-hating po-faced emo, except for their Aspie Aspirin, who, btw, has much better hair again yay.

Agent Leee ;)

everyone on our side is a fun-hating po-faced emo

which is funny considering it's their universe that's disintegrating. (how weird is it talking about our and their universes like they actually exist btw?)

any theories on how they're going to deal with the inevitable return of Peter (Joshua Jackson is still listed in the main cast so he's not going anywhere)?

like would it reset back to the time he was in the machine - which i don't think would happen because it would make everything that's going on right now moot - or would they just suddenly start remembering him again? Feel like they're getting into dangerous territory with this whole "he never existed" thing.

how long can they really last? when shows do this don't they tend to omit the character for at best a few episodes? the shorter the absence, the easier it is to make up some bullshit reason to change it all back.

btw what are people calling the new credits-color?

Amber. :)

Yeah I'm guessing Peter's back very soon if only for in real world reasons - main castmembers usually have clauses in their contracts about the minimum number of appearances/episodes they need to make every season right? just curious to see how they'd get around it while keeping everything else post-machine the same with nu-shapeshifters, Lincoln joining Fringe etc.

Just watched the second episode. It was really good. I like all the plot parallels that were going on like "I killed him (my stepfather)" and the sentimental things that leave an imprint on your soul (Peter on Walter's soul)

And I like that the parallel universe isn't the main focus now but rather a nice addition to the Fringe world

AArgh Hulu and your annoying embargo forcing me to, you know, seek other alternatives.

Then again, this is kinda lol: http://www.hulu.com/watch/281094/fringe-a-sit-down-with-joshua-jackson

Agent Leeencoln Leee!!

I like fun-hating Lincoln because they put glasses on him and now I'm all, "oh, HELLO." Such a sucker for a boy in glasses.

Well its obvious they are going to link a lot of events to Peter never having existed, like how suddenly alternate Broyles is alive again with no explanation.

Forgot to mention o_O Shirtless Walter. He and Broyles should start a bodybuilding team.

The second episode, for all of its plot holes and sentimentality, is actually pretty dark, though I would've preferred it if they went with a more downer ending, tbh.

walter seems like not the perfect person to get fringe s02 recaps from.

walter ;_;

or rather ;_<

lolololol

I like fun-hating Lincoln because they put glasses on him and now I'm all, "oh, HELLO." Such a sucker for a boy in glasses.

And now they've began this episode with Olivia in glasses, I like this trend.

Show still seems to have a great balance between standalone procedural episodes and the mythology stuff. Like I never think, "Ack, this episode isn't going to advance the mythology at all, DO NOT WATCH." And it's not the X-Files, where the standalones were always the best ones.

Having said that, looking forward to the return of non-emo Walter more than I am Joshua Jackson.

what was walter listening to on his headphones?

Two thoughts on the first "Peter's back" episode (watching via Hulu):

1. God, why does our side hate fun so much?
2. The actress who plays the shapeshifter is rrowr, but wow she can't act. Wonder if she won the part on a reality tv show.

This week's ep was much better, even though it was pretty much "White Tulip" mk ii.

2. The actress who plays the shapeshifter is rrowr, but wow she can't act

u just don't understand her kind!

Walter is listening to ... Styx, 'Too Much Time On My Hands'

I am kind of amazed at how good this show has gotten. Peter has no chemistry with anyone but in this role of man-with-no-context his woodenness is now apropos.

Liking how his reaction to being shuttled around in time this ep just makes him annoyed, not completely horrified like anyone else would be

why does walter's amber-timeline house have a flatscreen tv in it? has he only been living in the lab there in recent times? the house looks a lot more disused than that.