Although Abrams's “Fringe” follows FBI agent Olivia Dunham, (Anna Torv) it goes far beyond the typical “NCIS,” “CSI,” “Law and Order” crime drama genre. Agent Duham works for the FBI's Fringe Division, a department which tracks and solves bizarre “Twilight Zone” style cases. Throughout the first two seasons “Fringe” dealt mainly with Olivia's cases and the personal lives of her assistants, the insane Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble) and his genius son, Peter (Joshua Jackson). Much like with “Lost,” Abrams has masterfully woven together the events of the beginning seasons to reveal a much larger picture.
The third season finds Agent Dunham and her world (presumably our world) at war with a parallel universe which contains an alternate version of every character, though their technology is far more advanced. This war is the direct result of Dr. Bishop's acts during his illustrious career as a top government scientist. Dr. Bishop, who was the original discoverer of the alternate universe, faithfully introduced much of their technology to the military (cellphones, advanced computers, etc.) after observing them through a device which he created. Walter's son was dying of disease, however, and he worked endlessly trying to develop a cure. Observing the efforts of his other universe doppelganger, Walter finally devised a cure, but by this time his son had already died. Not wanting his counterpart on the other side to experience the same loss, Walter sets out to cure the alternate version of his son. Upon seeing what appears to be their son, alive and well, Walter and his wife are unable to return him to his real parents.
25 years later, the Walter from the other side has become a massive political force, while Olivia's Walter has deteriorated into a state of semi-functional madness from his own guilt and science experiments. The other side's Walter, deemed WalterNet by Peter because of his vast influence, has launched several attacks on Olivia's universe to claim revenge for the theft of his son. WalterNet, though still a recently introduced character, has proven himself to be ruthless and methodical in his revenge. In the most recently aired episode he gives a quote which sums up his unstoppable attitude. When asked by a scientist if he misses his old career in the laboratory, the doctor turned politician replies “I'm still a scientist, Brandon; I just have a much larger laboratory.”
“Fringe's” characters are all expertly developed, each having a unique background which makes their choices and personalities entirely believable. While Anna Torv and Joshua Jackson play their parts notably well, John Noble's role as Walter Bishop is Emmy deserving. Though Noble's character is a scientist driven mad by his own grief, using himself as a test subject for many of his experiments has given him an almost child-like view of the world, making him the show's prime source of comedy. Since he is a good-natured genius, his childish humor is often far beyond the other characters, and relieves tension in what is otherwise an action/drama. In the second episode of this season, Walter is removing brains from corpses for study when he notices a red stain on his tie. To the horror of his colleagues, he licks it, only to discover it is just raspberry jam from breakfast.
Excellent acting and writing make every scene memorable, but “Fringe's” success comes from its unique blend of genres. Every episode contains elements of comedy, drama, action, horror, mystery, and science fiction, which leaves the viewer guessing outcomes at every commercial break. Conflicts are resolved by the end of every episode, but the process of resolution always reveals something about the characters or larger chain of events that builds just enough suspense to make the viewer want more information. Of all the shows on the air right now, “Fringe” is truly the most original. It tests the very limits of human ingenuity by weaving technology and the paranormal together. The show's underlying premise is that nothing is impossible or unexplainable, and Abrams is the perfect writer to test the limits of our believability.
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