Reviewer: Charity Bishop
     

“A Sci-fi junkie” is what my friends call me, and it’s true. Ten years ago I knew nothing about the genre and had no interest in it, but now whenever a new show comes out with an emphasis on paranormal, time-travel, or alien technology, I am all over it. When FOX picked up Fringe for a second season, I was thrilled because it meant more adventures with the unlikely trio of the FBI agent, the ex-con man, and the former mental patient.

No one knows what happened to Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv). One moment she was there, the next she vanished.  And then she reappeared -– literally tumbling out of nowhere and falling unconscious onto the pavement of a federal crash scene. What happened to her is what the department wants to find out. Their best agent is unlikely to wake up from her coma and so for solutions they turn to Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble), an eccentric but brilliant scientist who spent a number of years in a mental institution. Together with his faithful lab partner Astrid (Jasika Nicole) and his somewhat-estranged son Peter (Joshua Jackson), Walter attempts to piece together logical theories as to what actually happened to Olivia. Emerging from her coma with no memories, Olivia quickly learns that someone wants her dead. And then there are the complications from her experience -- mind-numbing headaches and the ability to hear over long distances are just the beginning...

Fringe might falter a bit in the season premiere, especially if you have not seen the previous year's finale for awhile, but soon moves into a solid plot arc full of twists and turns. There are two kinds of viewers: the obsessive ones who write down all the clues and attempt to figure out where all of this is going (the creator, J.J. Abrams, loves to mess with our minds), and more casual ones who just wait to see what might happen next. I am the latter variety because the former takes a great deal of exploration, note-taking, and speculation. But I am familiar with Abrams’ previous work and know the payoff, whatever it is, will be epic. I will warn audiences that a major character dies early on and some fans were not pleased in the direction the plot went after that, but it is the stand-alone episodes more than the interwoven mystery that really shines in the first half of the season. I can see aspects of the best of the X-Files present, but in a different and more unique manner: the man who literally became a human bomb inside a train station; the farmhouse with lethal secrets in the basement; then there is Walter, the hilarious genius who can eat while doing autopsies but insists no one have a cheeseburger around his pet cow.

The cast is great and the characters memorable but it is Walter who makes the show what it is. Without his doddering, inappropriate comments, moments of total insanity, and glee while performing questionable experiments, the show would be fairly common, but he blunders his way into crime scenes and manages to win over the audience with a few befuddled smiles. The best parts are the touching moments between father and son. I got a little teary eyed when Peter was talking about a “friend” of his whose father was always too busy to go fishing with him, but he just bought a really neat new reel and was thinking about trying it out. Walter comes up to him, looks at him for a moment, and says softly, “Can I come?” The most powerful hour involved is the flashback-filled “Peter,” in which several major plot arcs are wrapped up and the audience learns the truth behind travel to alternate dimensions and Walter’s greatest secret. While we discover a tremendous amount about each of the characters in subsequent episodes, there is also the fun-filled “Brown Betty,” in which all play a role in Walter’s Steampunk-esque 1950’s murder mystery story.

The show is not for everyone, particularly people with sensitive stomachs, because the gore pushes the envelope. It is not present in all the episodes but most of them have autopsies, crime scenes, and decomposing human remains -- such as a particularly disgusting discovery of half-eaten human corpses in an underground cave, brain operations that include slicing off bits of skull and removing brain tissue, severed heads, gooey corpses after air born terrorist devices go off, giant parasites bursting out of living human’s stomachs, spurting blood from veins, blisters that spread an incurable disease through touch, etc. Guns are frequently used against all manner of monster and terrorist, sometimes with fatal results. Occasional fistfights and scuffles are present, as well as kidnappings and “forced” actions. Profanity is occasional but Walter on occasion makes inappropriate comments. He frequently “self-medicates,” sometimes to the extent of being “high.” A woman and man are shown in bed together (he’s laying on top of her; they’re eating strawberries and kissing); another couple are shown disrobing behind a curtain.

Midway through the season, audiences are treated to a “missing” episode from the first season, which addresses the nature of potential demonic possession and brings into focus the presence of faith. It’s an unnerving, creepy sequence of events that gives the illusion of demonic intervention but that is ultimately solved through science (either way, the young woman is still “channeling” a ghost). Walter reveals he was once a man of faith and still remembers much about God. Thereafter, a Bible is shown in his office and once in awhile consulted during an investigation. Most references to God are reverent, and the rest of the time the issue of faith is simply never addressed. While the gruesomeness of the crime scenes might keep away more sensitive audiences, this is the best sci-fi show currently running on television, and has wonderful surprises for fans of the genre -– whether it is a momentary glance at The X-Files playing on a television in the background, or the glory of having Leonard Nimoy return as Dr. William bell for the action-packed two part season finale. Best of all, Abrams is rewarding his viewers with answers.  Nothing is incoherent or inconsistent, and everything is building toward an equally engaging third season. I can hardly wait.