As I have mentioned before, for me Fringe is like the X-Files on steroids. It has everything that a good sci-fi show should have. It has some hard science, some really good stories with seeming impossible things happening, and a cast of great characters. One of the things that appeals to me the most about this show is that almost every episode is a story within itself while at the same time fitting into an overall story arc. I like this because with shows, such as another favorite of mine, Falling Skies, if you happen to miss an episode, you loose track of the story.
I guess, as is the case with many others, my favorite character is Walter. Obviously, Walter is a brilliant scientist who is a little off center. Well, actually a lot off center. I love his little obsessions and he has one in every show. Many times it is some item of food that he is craving, and he doesn't shut-up about it until he is indulged. I can only imagine how it must be to live with this guy because no one knows what to expect.
Walter's son Peter is also a brilliant individual and well read in many areas, but his previously undisciplined behavior was apparently leading him into trouble. His role is to assist Walter, help come up with answers, and to interpret what Walter is ranting about that eludes everyone, including the audience. He is also Walter's "keeper," or as peter terms it, babysitter.
Olivia is an FBI agent assigned to a division of the Bureau that investigates unexplained phenomena. As the season progresses, we learn that she possesses certain gifts that helps her in these investigations. She relies heavily on Walter and Peter for interpretations of what is happening.
Special Agent In Charge Philip Broyles was a character that at first gave me the creeps, but as time went on, I learned that he cares for Olivia and does many things that are outside of ethical practices for a man in his position to aid her in her work, and runs an effective interference against Sanford Harris who has a personal axe to grind with Olivia.
One character who really gives me the creeps is Nina Sharp. She is the Chief Operating Officer of a company that seems to be at the bottom of many of the happenings on the series, Massive Dynamic, a company that into some very shady science and technological research. The company is headed by William Bell, who apparently exists mainly in an alternate Universe and pulls all of the strings for his company with impunity. Bell and Walter were research partners, and while Walter wound up institutionalized, Bell made good on the research and became filthy rich and learned to control phenomena that can only be imagined.
The overall story arc, at least from my point of view, is to expose how Olivia cognitive powers that have been caused while she was a test subject of Walter and William Bell. She was injected with a drug called Cortexiphan, that apparently turns on special abilities in the human brain. This drug allows Olivia to perceive the alternate, or parallel Universe that she enters at the end of the season finale to meet William Bell. It also introduces the Observers, a group of people that watch what happens and takes notes. The one observer that appears in the first season seems to have some very weird tastes in food. It will be interesting to see what happens with Olivia in the coming season, that I will begin watching as soon as I get home from my trip.
Well, there it is, please feel free to comment and fill in the blanks that I have missed. All comments are welcome, as always.
I remain...
Kahless.
Q'aplah!
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