# Fringe 5/5/09 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 6, 2009, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-5-5-09/495501 "2009-05-06T01:54:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-5-5-09/495501/1 "2009-05-06T01:54:28Z")
I’m so glad this show is coming back next year. It is one show on TV that has continued to improve in quality across its first season. So did Stephen King coin the term pyrokinesis? ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-5-5-09/495501/2 "2009-05-06T02:48:25Z")
Sure hope John Noble gets nominated for an emmy. at least. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-5-5-09/495501/3 "2009-05-06T03:00:54Z")
I agree that the show keeps getting better. Can someone recap the last minute or so for me? My DVR cut off right after the Massive Dynamics woman got on the elevator. ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-5-5-09/495501/4 "2009-05-06T03:34:54Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I’m so glad this show is coming back next year. It is one show on TV that has continued to improve in quality across its first season. > > So did Stephen King coin the term pyrokinesis? Agreed. I had read somewhere, where they stated that they were ok with ending the show whenever. Watching it tonight, and given the speed of events, I seriously thought tonight was the Finale. Then I heard that it was the SEASON finale, and not the series. I don’t know Mahaloth, but I think, just possibly I might have been preoccupied during tonight’s episode. 😉 Lets listen to a Glass 45. Sure! No Problem. :dubious::dubious::dubious: Then Again, didn’t we do this before, with the Image being burned onto the retina? But, I so called SHC before Walter got to it. On the whole I feel tonights episode was not one of the better ones. This one simply moved plots along, it didn’t stand out for me. ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-5-5-09/495501/5 "2009-05-06T03:36:29Z")
> [@Sam\_Lowry](#): > > I agree that the show keeps getting better. > > Can someone recap the last minute or so for me? My DVR cut off right after the Massive Dynamics woman got on the elevator. Nina rides the elevator, gets off, and is met by two masked men, one has a gun w/ silencer. Shots fired, Nina falls. ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-5-5-09/495501/6 "2009-05-06T04:10:08Z")
I’d like this show better if they would at least _try_ to make the science believable. Pointing an electron microscope that is hooked up to a turntable (?) to a piece of window glass can retrieve sounds from the room? That’s nonsensical in so many ways that I couldn’t believe the actor was able to recite the exposition with a straight face. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-5-5-09/495501/7 "2009-05-06T06:53:12Z")
[bump] ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-5-5-09/495501/8 "2009-05-06T11:50:15Z")
Personally, I think this show is just getting better and better. Hokey science? So what! I still loved Walter’s cereal-based explanation of pyrokinesis. If the science were believable, the show wouldn’t exist. Characters, plot, dialogue, overall writing – not everything always top notch, but most of it most of the time well above average, and there’s not many shows around one could say that about. Plus, great Star Trek XI (gonna see it tonight!) nod there! ---
**Author:** ![sciguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@sciguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciguy)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-5-5-09/495501/9 "2009-05-06T14:50:22Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > Plus, great Star Trek XI (gonna see it tonight!) nod there! See, that caused my brain to spiral into a geek reference paradox meltdown. I haven’t been following any news / spoilers for Trek, so I was vaguely interested in the “exclusive look” for it aired during Fringe. They had…hang on. Just in case anyone is in ST spoiler lock-down (including things like the sneak peek aired during Fringe’s commercial break) I’ll spoiler. So this was the first trailer where I got a good look at the villain(Eric Bana’s character). My first reaction: Hey, he’s got pointy ears. And their ship decor is kind of like the one of that guy in ST: Nemesis. They must be Romulans. Then there was the whole “looking for Ambassador Spock” (showing a hologram of Leonard Nimoy) and the confusion about the date. Therefore, I reasoned, the movie will have time-traveling Romulans messing with the space-time continuum, allowing Abrams to deviate from previous canon. Kind of cool.[/spoiler] So anyway, I had just processed all that and continued watching Fringe. Then came the scene where Olivia and Peter went to see Grayson (the guy running the website with the report of the Human Combustion case in Budapest). His conspiracy theory matched _exactly_ with the evidence they’d gathered. At least up to the (again, spoiler for ST XI) [spoiler]time traveling romulans messing with the space-time continuum. My brain literally locked up. “So, wait, Abrams is having the insane (but slightly correct) man present a crazy theory…that he (J.J.) “borrowed” from his upcoming movie now in promotional overdrive…and _Peter rolls with it_…{head asplodes}” But all in a good, enjoyable way. 😃 I’m glad to hear that Fringe will be back next season (keeping fingers crossed for Chuck). And given all the other fun stuff going on, last night I got a sneaking suspicion on the actor playing the often discussed but never seen William Bell. IMDB’s entry for [next week’s episode](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1400652/) confirmed it. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-5-5-09/495501/10 "2009-05-06T15:07:38Z")
> [@sciguy](#): > > And given all the other fun stuff going on, last night I got a sneaking suspicion on the actor playing the often discussed but never seen William Bell. IMDB’s entry for [next week’s episode](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1400652/) confirmed it. :eek: Ha, I clicked that link thinking, ah no, it’s never gonna be… and then it was! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Mahna\_Mahna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47c2d/32.png) [@Mahna\_Mahna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahna_Mahna)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-5-5-09/495501/11 "2009-05-06T15:21:10Z")
> [@randwill](#): > > I’d like this show better if they would at least _try_ to make the science believable. Pointing an electron microscope that is hooked up to a turntable (?) to a piece of window glass can retrieve sounds from the room? That’s nonsensical in so many ways that I couldn’t believe the actor was able to recite the exposition with a straight face. This was the only part of the episode I didn’t enjoy. Sure, I’m expecting a fair amount of garbage science in the show, given the subject matter… Drugs that make people into super-soldiers with crazy mental powers? Sure, I’ll buy that. Beings from an alternate universe who have very strange eating habits? Fine. Being able to mind-meld with dead people? Okay, pushing the envelope but I’ll roll with it. This shtick, on the other hand, was so completely ridiculous I actually threw a pillow at the TV (well… in the general direction of it, anyways). Couldn’t the writers have found a slightly less outlandish way to give Olivia & Co their clue? I won’t even get into this magical cell phone app that lets you dial using audio input… because at least that’s moderately believable. ---
**Author:** ![PerditaX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@PerditaX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PerditaX)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-5-5-09/495501/12 "2009-05-06T15:30:38Z")
> [@sciguy](#): > > And given all the other fun stuff going on, last night I got a sneaking suspicion on the actor playing the often discussed but never seen William Bell. IMDB’s entry for next week’s episode confirmed it. :eek: I saw that (with a photo of him with Anna Torv) in last week’s _Entertainment Weekly._ Regardless of the “Abrams connection,” I think it’s perfect casting, and I hope we see him as a recurring character next season. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-5-5-09/495501/13 "2009-05-06T15:38:09Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > Personally, I think this show is just getting better and better. Hokey science? So what! I still loved Walter’s cereal-based explanation of pyrokinesis. If the science were believable, the show wouldn’t exist. Characters, plot, dialogue, overall writing – not everything always top notch, but most of it most of the time well above average, and there’s not many shows around one could say that about. > > Plus, great Star Trek XI (gonna see it tonight!) nod there! The cereal thing was hilarious and Walter is one of my all-time favorite characters. I don’t think the producers realized that he was going to be the true hit of the show. I love the fakey science. This show is the X-Files of the new millennium. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-5-5-09/495501/14 "2009-05-06T15:45:21Z")
> [@Mahna\_Mahna](#): > > I won’t even get into this magical cell phone app that lets you dial using audio input… because at least that’s moderately believable. That magical cell phone app is actually just regular tone dialing; I’m not really sure about modern day cell phones, but it works just as advertised on old style landlines. And the recorded sound thing was probably a little _X-Files_ hommage, I think they once had some ceramic fragments with what was purported to be the voice of Jesus Christ engraved upon them. The same thing was also tested on _Mythbusters_ once, I recall. ---
**Author:** ![redshift](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bbce88/32.png) [@redshift](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redshift)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-5-5-09/495501/15 "2009-05-06T15:46:03Z")
So wait, did the first season end already? I used to watch it up until the winter haitus, never got around to catching up. Is the rest of the season worth watching? ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-5-5-09/495501/16 "2009-05-06T16:12:57Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > That magical cell phone app is actually just regular tone dialing; I’m not really sure about modern day cell phones, but it works just as advertised on old style landlines. My Mom balked at this, and I told her that it did work. I mean, I’m not as fluent in phreaking as I would like to be, but this was basically an updated cap’n crunch whistle, right? But yeah, My spoiler above was the Glass 45. I’m not buying it one bit. I ALMOST, like, .9 % away, bought the idea the time they tried it before with the Retinas. We have **SEEN** the glass 45 before, when we saw the last images that, that one girl saw right as she was murdered. The fact that they tried to sell the EXACT same idea, through a different sense, causes me not to buy either. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-5-5-09/495501/17 "2009-05-06T16:35:12Z")
> [@redshift](#): > > So wait, did the first season end already? The season finale is next week [spoiler]According to zap2it, it has been renewed [http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2009/05/fringe-gets-a-second-season.html[/spoiler]](http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2009/05/fringe-gets-a-second-season.html%5B/spoiler%5D) ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-5-5-09/495501/18 "2009-05-06T16:36:43Z")
I don’t buy the junk science, but I enjoy the show because its well done. Sort of like “Lost” in that regard. YMMV, obviously. and to the above question - I think the episodes you missed from this season were all worth seeing. ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-5-5-09/495501/19 "2009-05-06T17:00:47Z")
> [@redshift](#): > > So wait, did the first season end already? > > I used to watch it up until the winter haitus, never got around to catching up. Is the rest of the season worth watching? Did you see the episode called “The Equation” ? BEST Episode IMHO The episode from a few weeks back, with the mom and young daughter in the subway, with red balloon, was good too. But yeah, Fringe is finding it’s feet. Last night’s episode, notwithstanding. ---
**Author:** ![redshift](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bbce88/32.png) [@redshift](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redshift)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-5-5-09/495501/20 "2009-05-06T17:05:32Z")
> [@Meeko](#): > > Did you see the episode called “The Equation” ? > > BEST Episode IMHO > > The episode from a few weeks back, with the mom and young daughter in the subway, with red balloon, was good too. > > But yeah, Fringe is finding it’s feet. Last night’s episode, notwithstanding. That was by far one of my favorite episodes. Then they actually showed the matter machine in use, and that was a terrible scene. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-5-5-09/495501.md?page=2)