Since it seems I still can’t subscribe to threads without posting…
Hate the transitional images when going to break. It feels like it’s trying super hard to get a fanatic “solve the clues” Lost-style following going. Also hate that those images are apparently identifying various Dharma stations. The frog, the leaf, etc…
I like JJ’s shows in general, this one has good production values, and they’ve shown hot women in underwear every episode so far, so I’ll probably keep watching until it’s cancelled in December. (Debut ratings were lower than expected, losing its timeslot to some crappy reality show.) Of course, I watched Bionic Woman to its bitter end mostly because I thought the younger sister was cute, so my standards are incredibly low.
I was trying to pinpoint exactly why the show isn’t working for me. The big hook for the show seems to be The Pattern. The problem with this is that The Pattern is all exposition, all the time. Imagine if the first episode of Lost they found a Dharma handbook and started reading aloud the various things about it. This is what it feels like Fringe is doing.
But that doesn’t jive with what was said, though. When they filled Pacey and young Cate Blanchett in on what happened, they said that the woman died, two minutes later the baby was born, and when they put him in the bassinet they noticed that he was growing.
Well. That was gratuitously graphic and repulsive, with unlikeable characters, and an irritating representation of cartoon science masquerading as genuine science.
I’m starting to think this is one of those shows that Fox should axe. It’s trying desperately to be another X-Files or Millenium, but, let’s face it, these overarching conspiracy shows always disappoint. You can never let the main characters solve mystery or the whole point to the show is gone. (It’s also likely that the writers have no freaking clue what the central McGuffin is all about.) The result is a sort of hollow thrashing around every week.
At least X-Files had compelling characters. Fringe feels like a paint-by-numbers attempt to generate a show.
Another plot hole: (Spoiler ahead)
The killer was gathering pituitary glands to stop his premature aging process. Apparently, he needs 5 to do the job (sounds like the Buffy episode "Hush", doesn't it?). But why do they have to be from young, pretty women? If you're about to turn into the portrait of Dorian Grey, wouldn't you be less picky? And why do they have to be awake but paralyzed for the process? This was just pandering to make it "compelling" TV.
So far … bad writing, plots with huge holes, the main character ranges between bland and unlikeable, and … it’s all been done before, better. I’m thinking this one will be gone by Thanksgiving.
Abrams has said that he deliberately did not want this show to be like Lost. Yes, there is an overarching mythology (the Pattern, what Massive Dynamic is up to and so on) but he wanted every episode to be able to stand on its own and for people to be able to drop in and out of the show without missing anything. So it isn’t going to be like Lost where there are things being revealed as they go along.
So, yeah. It is like they got a Dharma handbook and started reading aloud. That’s deliberate.
We stayed for this episode, but then cancelled the TiVo Season Pass after that one. Too much bad science, bad plot, predictability, and that Junior Assistant Agent in Training was making be wretch even though she had so few lines. I’ll admit enjoying the Bad Guy transitions (from probable evil mysterious cause of freak pregnancy, to just your average Serial Killer who picked the wrong chick to slay, to finally the sad mysterious experiment himself), but that wasn’t enough to reserve harddrive space.
I was willing to overlook the mass/energy issue with the rapid growth. I rolled my eyes at the last image recorded on the retina being the bridge and not something a bit more approximate to time of death. But for some reason teh final straw was broken while crossing the bridge when the serial killer guy died.
Why the heck was his hair gray?
I like the doctor character. Everything else so far has pretty much been the suck. But I do like the genre so I’ll give it another shot next week but the patience isn’t there for the long haul if it doesn’t quickly improve.
The “where did the mass come from” and “why was the bridge the last image in the eye” questions bothered me. But having thought more about it, we only saw the baby when it was born and after it died. For all we know, it was being fed in between. Altho a throw away line about how much they had to feed it would have been nice.
They clearly used a triangle, as evidenced by the computer illustration. Seriously though, is figuring out location and distance of stars using parallax considered triangulation? If so then this falls under the same technique.
Anyway I kind of like the show. The science is really dumb, but it’s interesting and fairly unique. The only problem with it is that the acting and story has kind of a serious tone, so having the science be this dumb seems like a disparity of tone. Bad science in a show that was less serious wouldn’t stand out as much.
The story was engaging enough that I actually didn’t care about the Pattern (usually I tend to like mytharc eps over motw). And I liked the characters a lot. They haven’t done much with Pacey yet but hopefully they’ll work out his niche. For now he reminds me a little of a young George Clooney.
There’s a lot of potential for this to become a hit or a cult classic, and also potential for it to become a clunker. I hope it finds its way.
Seriously though, is figuring out location and distance of stars using parallax considered triangulation? If so then this falls under the same technique.