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'Fringe' Was Never Afraid to Take Big Risks (collider.com)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by ZeroCool@feddit.ch to c/television@lemmy.world

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At 15 years old, this sci-fi gem beat the odds of cancellation and boldly told stories that could alienate new and old viewers.

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[-] downpunxx@kbin.social 22 points 1 year ago

After seeing all the 'net fan chatter about Fringe, which never was even on my radar in it's initial broadcast run, I downloaded all 9 seasons, and started watching. Ana Torv is worth the price of admission all by her lonesone, what an absolutely stunning and talented specimen of the human race, but the rest I'm finding is a bit hard to chew, granted I've only made it 7 episodes into the first season, but find myself unmotivated to go back for more. Does it get markedly better?

[-] surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 30 points 1 year ago

It gets much better after season 1.

Season 1 is basically 'monster of the week'. Everything is disconnected, but it's a fun romp through sci-fi.

Season 2 starts the real plot. Things start to connect. They start to leave hints for future episodes, things tie back to previous episodes, and the characters get more complex. It's very well done.

The last season gets a little weird :-)

[-] Volkditty@kbin.social 18 points 1 year ago

IMO, yes. Near the end of season 1 it starts to become apparent that all those "random" monster-of-the-week occurrences aren't really random, and the plot becomes increasingly more serialized as time goes on.

[-] inspxtr@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

can I skip season 1, or which episode of s1 that I should be watching that I can begin season 2?

[-] Akuchimoya@startrek.website 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

A lot of things that happen in season one set up or are referenced in season two. While you probably could get away with skipping season one, you'll miss out on context.

Rewatching S1 after S2 is pretty amazing, though.

But you can definitely just not watch the last season. It's basically disjointed from everything.

[-] inspxtr@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

great! thanks for the tip! looks like I got a new series to follow.

[-] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

And the episode prior to the last season actually wraps things up pretty well.

[-] BillyZane@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago

And Lance Reddick is great too. Aren’t there only 5 seasons?

[-] ZeroCool@feddit.ch 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Aren't there only 5 seasons?

Yeah there's only 5 seasons. I assume their source must've split the first 4 seasons in half for some reason. That would result in 9 seasons of 10-13 episodes.

[-] lazynooblet@lazysoci.al 11 points 1 year ago

I grew to really like Walter. The actor did it so well

[-] AliceTheMinotaur@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

John Noble is awesome as Walter and donator, not seen him much in anything else yet

[-] kinther@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

There are only 5 seasons that I'm aware of. If you enjoy the idea of parallel dimensions and movement between them sparking a war, that's the basic premise for seasons 2-5. It can be a slog, but I'd argue if you liked Star Trek, LOST, or even Breaking Bad, there's a similar arc but each season can be a slog to get through.

[-] Stuka@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago

That's a pretty spoiler-y description of the show.

[-] wahming 3 points 1 year ago

I gave up a couple of seasons in because it just seemed like a monster of the week show with no real impact after each episode.

[-] TheQuietCroc@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

I think that's what it was for a few seasons until it changed, at least from what I remember reading about it.

[-] Brunbrun6766@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

And then, in the last season it CHANGED for the worst lmao

[-] thantik@lemmy.world 18 points 1 year ago

The end of Fringe got fuckin' WEIRD. My wife and I watched a lot of Sci-fi and overall we liked this one. It definitely had its ups and downs.

[-] turtlepower@lemm.ee 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It got weird because Fox fucked it. It was supposed to be drawn out over more seasons, but Fox decided to put it in the Friday night "death slot" causing viewership to drop, so since they weren't going to get renewed any further, they had to cram the end in so that at least the story wouldn't go unfinished.

[-] GladiusB@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Best ending to a series JJ has done. Has a great big picture ending. I really can't say more without ruining it for those that want to see it. But it ended when it should have. And you can't just watch the end to get it. You have to have seen almost every episode. That's what makes it so good.

[-] lazynooblet@lazysoci.al 14 points 1 year ago

I'm currently researching this. Such a great show. Had stood the test of time well. Dunham and Walter are great characters. Thoroughly enjoying it, and it's been long enough that I'm watching it for the first time again 😀

[-] paddirn@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

It started off kinda meh, like an edgier X-files, but then gradually starting hinting at bigger things happening that you could never quite make out, always towards the end of the last episode of the season. It kind of jumped the shark on the last season IMO, but it was overall a good show. The other thing I didn't like was how unceremoniously the different villains would get dropped. They'd be awesome for an entire season, and then just get killed off like nothing every happened.

spoiler

First season, Jared Harris' character, a sinister German guy, gets cut in half by a portal after they just shut it off while he's walking through, lame way to kill off such a great character. I think at one point they even had him drop his gun and instead try to attack Peter Bishop with a tire iron? It was something so sort of silly that I was like, "Why would he do that?"

spoiler

Newton, takes a suicide pill and is gone just like that in season 3 after having been the BBEG of season 2

I feel like there's others, but it's been years since I watched any of it.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

Fringe said drugs were a good thing that smart people used to do smart people stuff. I approve.

[-] highduc@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 year ago

Loved this show. Should rewatch it acutally, don't remember much of it.

[-] Adalast@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

This show didn't beat any odds. Anna Torv was related to the Fox programming director. I think she was his niece. The show was taken to EXACTLY 100 episodes to qualify it for residuals and syndication so she could be financially set. I read a whole analysis article on it from a guy who uses statistics to figure out which shows will be canceled or not and by the end of the run, he essentially wrote off the cancellation until it hit 100. The continuation never had anything to do with ratings, reception, or anything. It was nepotism, plain and simple. The show was at the bottom of Fox's ratings for all 5 seasons. It should have been canceled after season 1.

Don't get me wrong, I am happy it didn't. I loved the show and the nepotism led to steady jobs for hundreds of people for 5 years and finally allowed a really weird story to be told all the way through, but it did not get to do all of that on its own merit.

[-] ShittyRedditWasBetter@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

The show was great until the last season or two. Then they just started making shit up and it went to hell. I just remember the last season being some bullshit about love.

[-] FuryMaker@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah this.

I didn't like the William Bell plot ending, and gave up half way through the last season about the observers.

[-] Mandy@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 year ago

if the last season wouldnt exist this show would almost be perfect but my god, the last season was such garbage that it literally took me several attempts to even understand why they are suddenly where they are, its such a tonal whipslash too