This past weekend, I finished up 'Fringe'. I admit....during the era when it aired, I probably watched five episodes of the entire series. With Netflix, I've finally sat down and watched Fringe from start to finish....all 100 episodes. It took me seven weeks but it's done. So five observations.
First, Fringe is what Lost, "V", Doctor Who, Stargate, Heroes, The X-Files and Twilight Zone all tried to be.....condensed into one single series. To be truthful....you could not afford to miss a single episode and you had to watch them all in sequence. Skipping one or two episodes per season simply left you without vital pieces of the entire story.
Second, Fringe had four-star writers from start to finish. With most series....you reach a point where you know the top writer or two have left the show and the epic points have disappeared. The script from day one worked....and you tended to admire some speech or frustration moment by a character.
Third, as bad guys go.....David Robert Jones and the Observers 'Captain' are five-star bad guys. The camera angles....the script and text of both characters....the dialog with the primary characters.....all lead to some successful stories.
Fourth, the alternate universe Fauxlivia....once introduced....was a heavyweight for each story.
Fifth, there is a simple fault with Fringe....in that you really need to watch three or four episodes a week and assemble the series within a limited time so that everything makes sense. To space it out over five years....probably make economic or business sense, but for the regular viewer.....one episode a week, and twenty episodes a year....simply delayed the potential effect of the series.
I would strongly recommend Fringe but you'd best plan an episode a day to make it work right.
