Thoughts on Season 1 of "Fringe"

First seasons are often about shows figuring out what they want to be. Very few series start out hitting the ground running. This was very much the case for Fringe’s first season.

The main problem with Fringe’s shaky and often frustrating first season was its inability to balance larger narrative mythology with more episodic, specific procedural developments. The procedural stuff was usually fairly decent. However, the series always shined just a little brighter when it revealed a bit more about what exactly the deal was with “The Pattern”.

The first nine episodes floundered. Though the crazy scifi events of any given episode were usually interesting enough, they never really sparked a significant fervor in me to continue watching the show. There were obviously glimpses of the excellence of what the series could be in certain episodes (The Pilot and “Arrival” were early efforts that left me intrigued enough to believe the series, given the push in the right direction could be something that I would really enjoy). But it remained unfocused and a grab bag of a narrative. It’s as if the show’s writers didn’t figure out what they wanted to do with the show going forward until incredibly late into the game.

This isn’t an uncommon occurrence, but for a show like Fringe, it can suck a lot of life and liveliness out of it. This was never more apparent than the season’s 10^th and 11^th episodes “Safe” and “Bound” where the series emphasized the larger picture mythology more than ever before. The two episodes were the best episodes the show had produced up to that point. These episodes were so effective because they connected the more episodic, specific procedural events to the bigger picture. The writers also tied together elements from previous episodes (including “The Equation” and “In Which We Meet Mr. Jones”); finally making them meaningful elements to the bigger story. 

The more the series advanced this season, the more abundantly clear it became that the isolated stories that were disconnected from the larger story and mythology just weren’t working. By the end when the series essentially went for broke, stuck to its guns, and went for the parallel universe stuff, it became incredibly fun to watch. The character moments felt honest and spot-on; the action felt intense and unforced; and all the crazy twists hit harder because they had much, much larger implications for what was to come. 

Now serialization doesn’t necessarily imply that a show is any better than any other series. Law and Order and the various CSI series do procedural stories on a weekly basis, and that’s all well and good. I, however, personally find serialized, long arc stories to be much more entertaining to watch in tv dramas. In the case of Fringe, the mythology of the show has been far more interesting and enthralling than anything else the show has tried to attempt. I can rarely get invested in individuals caught up in the crazy events of a particular episode who I know are never going to return after that episode. There’s no reason for me to get emotionally invested, no matter how well-executed. On the other hand, when the procedural work is linked to the main characters and the mythology it engages me in a way that the one-off tales don’t. 

Fringe’s character work was also spotty. John Noble’s performance as Walter Bishop was an obvious stand out, and he appeared to have a lot of fun with the role. However, Anna Torv’s Lena Dunham was at times poorly written; often too plain for me to care about her. Other characters such as Lance Reddick’s Agent Broyles, Kirk Acevedo’s Charlie Francis, and Jasika Nicole’s Astrid were highly underutilized despite seeming like they could have carried much bigger stories. Reddick, in particular, was always great in his scenes, but these were too brief for such a talent. 

Fringe hinted its whole season that there was potential lying underneath the surface. And when it handled itself right that greatness showed through. As a broadcast network, Fox probably wasn’t the best network to handle a series like Fringe. Rarely does a series with as much bizarre science fiction elements and an increasingly dense mythology garner large ratings (which apparently have continually declined over the series's run). Having to appeal to such a broad base of an audience probably tied the hands of the series initially, and I doubt going forward they're going to be capable of continuing to appeal to everyone. That can only mean good things for mythology story lovers such as myself.

I look forward to watching the show’s 2^nd season. As problematic as its first season might have been, when it was firing on all cylinders, it was an immensely enjoyable show. With the implications of the last few episodes still up in the air, the series seems to be emphasizing its mythology more, which I can only assume will do wonders for its storytelling.