Writers: David H. Goodman & J.R Orci
Director: Fred Toye
Cast: Anna Torv (Olivia Dunham), Lance Reddick (Phillip Broyles), John Noble (Dr. Walter Bishop), Joshua Jackson (Peter Bishop), Kirk Acevedo (Charlie Francis), Jasika Nicole (Astrid Farnsworth), Blair Brown (Nina Sharp), Zak Orth (Roy McComb), Mark Valley (John Scott), Peggy Scott (Mrs. Scott), David Lansbury (Businessman), Donnie Keshawarz (Gerard), Brian Tarantina (Nice Guy), David Fonteno (Father Kent), Chris Fischer (Uni Cop), Mira Tzur (Anna Jiminez), Peter Hermann (Grant), Megan Neuringer (Paula), Clark Jackson (Young Pastor), Kevin Isola (Technician), Brandon Gill (Student) & Jasper McGruder (Control Room Tech)
Director: Fred Toye
Cast: Anna Torv (Olivia Dunham), Lance Reddick (Phillip Broyles), John Noble (Dr. Walter Bishop), Joshua Jackson (Peter Bishop), Kirk Acevedo (Charlie Francis), Jasika Nicole (Astrid Farnsworth), Blair Brown (Nina Sharp), Zak Orth (Roy McComb), Mark Valley (John Scott), Peggy Scott (Mrs. Scott), David Lansbury (Businessman), Donnie Keshawarz (Gerard), Brian Tarantina (Nice Guy), David Fonteno (Father Kent), Chris Fischer (Uni Cop), Mira Tzur (Anna Jiminez), Peter Hermann (Grant), Megan Neuringer (Paula), Clark Jackson (Young Pastor), Kevin Isola (Technician), Brandon Gill (Student) & Jasper McGruder (Control Room Tech)
"There was something important… Oh!I've decided on the pancakes. Blueberry."
-- Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble)
Three episodes in and Fringe's "Pilot" is beginning to look like a fluke; a great film idea condensed for TV. "The Ghost Network" is another ragged mix of fun ideas, quickly suffocated by dry performances and a drab storyline. Here, a man called Roy McComb (Zak Orth) is receiving psychic impressions "from God" of bizarre disasters (shades of Heroes' Isaac Mendez) -- including an attack on a bus where a man releases a gas that solidifies in the air, asphyxiating the passengers and trapping them aboard like insects in amber…
Like last week's accelerated birth teaser, the scene is set for a fun and bizarre investigation… but Fringe never really gets going. Olivia (Anna Torv) just isn't very interesting for a lead character and Torv herself lingers around in scenes like a sourpuss Cate Blanchett. Peter (Joshua Jackson) tries to be sarcastic and funny, but he's just the straight-man to his eccentric father, on-hand to explain dad's crazy theories to Olivia and the audience. Walter (John Noble) is still the best reason to keep watching, but even his gargling vocals and crackpot ideas are becoming repetitive and slightly predictable. A bad sign at this early stage.
Every television drama creates a basic template for itself, but this is the second story in a row where the thrust of the plot was too familiar. Walter's old experiments once again hold the key to solving the case, and Massive Dynamic were once again involved behind-the-scenes. While it was nice to see Olivia question the latter "coincidence" with Dynamic's boss Nina Sharp (Blair Brown), meaning it was at least intentional déjà vu, I'm just not very interested in this aspect of Fringe.
The vagueness over The Pattern, Massive Dynamic and creepy Nina's secret cooperation with Broyles (Lance Reddick) is more irritating than involving. I just want this show to deliver tense, exciting, astonishing, science-based mysteries. The mythology can wait, particularly if Fringe is supposed to be more accessible for casual viewers after a quick hit of "extreme X-Files".
The gas attack takes a backseat to Roy's ability to "predict" Pattern-related disasters, which turns out to be the after-effects of an experiment Walter performed on him as a medical volunteer years ago. Roy can now access a band of waves referred to as "the ghost network", giving him the ability to eavesdrop on an underground group of scientists performing illegal, dangerous and destructive experiments on the population. After a bit of experimental brain surgery from Walter, Roy is able to receive vocal chatter from the villains using his psychic link-up, and helps direct Olivia their way.
Overall, I like the speculative science this show has thrown up so far, and Noble's good fun as the resident oddball, but everything else is a bit of a chore to get through. The agent/dad/son dynamic appeared fresh and intriguing in the "Pilot", but I'm beginning to find Peter's role thankless and the absence of a trained FBI partner for Olivia leaves her vulnerable in the field.
None of the characters are that interesting either -- although Peter's run-in with a photographer who's been tailing him will hopefully develop into something good. It also didn't help that the surprises in the denouement were all damp squibs -- pointlessly hammering home the fact Broyles is in league with the (possibly villainous) Nina, and Massive Dynamic have started to extract intel from the brain of Olivia's dead lover John (Mark Valley).
Another disappointing episode, then. Fringe really needs to start fleshing-out Olivia and Peter before they become totally indolent, and keep its focus on delivering imaginative sci-fi fun. The mythology-building is all very well, but I'd prefer a half dozen episodes of strong, self-contained, well-written stories before Fringe starts trying to spread its wings. There's a sense of mythology-fatigue in television right now -- with Fringe's natural audience too busy dissecting Lost and Battlestar Galactica's subtleties. Hopefully the show will settle down and keep it simple: strong characters, exciting stories, good ideas. Just plug the X-Files gap, that's what we want.
23 September 2008
Fox, 9/8c
