Writers: Jeff Pinkner, Alex Kurtzman, Robert Orci & J.J Abrams
Director: Paul A. EdwardsCast: Anna Torv (Olivia Dunham), Joshua Jackson (Peter Bishop), John Noble (Dr. Walter Bishop), Kirk Acevedo (Charlie Francis), Lance Reddick (Phillip Broyles), Blair Brown (Nina Sharp), Jasika Nicole (Astrid Farnsworth), Danielle Skraastad (Nurse), Jacqueline Hendy (Nina's Assistant), Elizabeth Stanley (Stacy (Victim #2), Bernie McInerney (Old Man Christopher), Carmen Goodine (Amy), Jack O'Connell (Male Resident), Ty Jones (Doctor), Mark Blum (Dr. Claus Penrose), Derek Cecil (Christopher) & Betty Gilpin (Loraine Daisy)
Spoilers. A standard rule for a new TV series is to reiterate your premise in subsequent episodes, until it hopefully seeps into public consciousness. Don't just keep your fingers crossed that everyone tuned in for the scene-setting "Pilot". Therefore, in the second episode of Fringe, there's some rather clunky exposition with Homeland Security's Phillip Broyles (Lance Reddick) bringing his own committee up to speed with the situation: FBI Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) is helping the government investigate various science-related phenomena known as "The Pattern", with the help of crazy genius Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble) and his jaded son Peter (Joshua Jackson). There, got that?"The Same Old Story" opens with a superb teaser, firmly in The X Files tradition of how to grab an audience by the throat as quickly as possible. In a seedy motel, a prostitute begins to experience violent abdominal pain, forcing her client (who was in the bathroom preparing medical implements, ominously) to drive her to the hospital. The woman is dropped off outside and abandoned, only for the medical staff to realize she's heavily pregnant and about to give birth; a process that elicits horrified screams from everyone when her son enters the world...
Cue Mulder and Scully. No? Well, okay; Olivia, Peter and Walter will have to do. It turns out the prostitute became rapidly pregnant in minutes, and gave birth to a baby that proceeded to age at an extraordinary rate – becoming a geriatric and dying of old age just a few hours after the birth. Needless to say, Walter has some experience with the kind of "fringe science" required for a human being to go from cradle to grave in under 120 minutes, so the investigation is underway. Adding to the mystery is how the crime relates to a serial-killer known as "The Brain Surgeon" that Olivia investigated years ago, before the killer mysteriously vanished. Can his modus operandi (the removal of the pituitary gland through the nose of his victims) be related to the incident back at the hotel? Well, yes.
I quite liked "The Same Old Story", but the fabulously juicy teaser and concept was far more interesting than the rather tepid investigation. Without the $10 million budget of the "Pilot", things are inevitably smaller scale and it all lacks the compelling sweep of the premiere. I was also surprised to find Anna Torv (who I enjoyed in the "Pilot") turn in a dry performance as Olivia. Likewise Joshua Jackson, who just seems extraneous when he's out in the field with Olivia because he has no training as a Federal Agent. John Noble remains excellent, though; a sympathetic but unsettling character who makes for an enjoyable "mad scientist" (hiding in cupboards, milking the laboratory cow, or asking if his son has cocaine to assist in the resuscitation of a woman). It's a great performance and a brilliant character. I just hope Olivia and Peter will find their feet soon.
The mythology of the show is also giving me problems, as the ominous Massive Dynamic corporation don't actually seem very threatening. In this episode, MD's Nina Sharp (Blair Brown) even gives Olivia a specialist "pulse camera" so Walter can extract the last thing a dead woman saw from electrical signals trapped in her optic nerve. As Sharp herself is on Broyles' committee investigating The Pattern, should we actually be viewing her as a villain?
I know it's early days, but the corporate threat of Massive Dynamic is just puzzling right now. Indeed, the whole notion of The Pattern has me confused, frankly. The question is: will viewers be intrigued enough to stick with the show and find out more? The creators have already said Fringe will be more standalone than shows like Lost; intentionally so, to prevent loss of viewers who become exasperated by the mysteries. But will there be enough week-to-week revealing of the mythology to appease those who actually like a deep, rich mystery?
Overall, "The Same Old Story" was entertaining enough to hold my interest and contained a few fun ideas, nice character moments and strong direction from Paul A. Edwards. But that's about it. Right now, Walter Bishop is a great character I want to see more of (I hope he's not restricted to that dingy lab all the time), and the fledgling mystery should be allowed to grow before an informed judgement can be made. The problem with this episode is that nothing eclipsed the magnificent teaser, the plot wasn't very inventive or frightening, and both Torv and Jackson didn't make an impression.
Still, I'm intrigued by the final shot of three identical men in hospital beds – which seemed to infer that Peter is a clone, in light of Walter's comment about his son's unusual medical history. But isn't that too much information, too soon?
16 September 2008
Fox, 9/8c
