Thoughts on 'Fringe'
Jun. 2nd, 2012 09:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
randomlingI've recently started watching Fringe.
Due to my obsessive tendencies (watch all the things!) I'm already on episode 12 of season 1. And I decided I would share some thoughts.
First thought: wow. This show is gruesome in places. Twelve episodes, and we've already had flesh sloughing off bones, brains leaking out of ears, slugs crawling out of throats, bodies trapped in solid matter, exploding heads, and more. They don't shy away from the horror or the grossness of what's happening to the murder victims and test subjects.
Second: I'm still not sure how to classify this show. It's part police procedural, part horror, part sci-fi. I'm never sure how much of the science they use is actually theoretically possible, based as it is on cutting-edge stuff that I don't understand. (Then again, I'm not sure whether the writers do, either.) The gross-out horror rarely seems gratuitous to me - the idea, it seems to me, is to baldly show the terrible things that are happening, not to wantonly gross out the audience (and that seems a significant difference as far as I'm concerned). And the police procedural part is mostly by-the-by, more a side effect of the story they're telling than an attempt to sit squarely in the CSI or NYPD Blue genre. So perhaps that's part of the reason I'm finding it interesting - Fringe seems to me to be more concerned with the story it's telling than fitting into a specific genre. The result could be a show that sits uncomfortably between three genres, but instead, to me it feels like a show that touches on all those genres without being bound to any of them. It's very interesting.
Third: it feels both clear and important to me that the story the show is telling is Olivia Dunham's. While most of the characters she's surrounded by (the Bishop men, Broyles, Charlie, Jones, most of the scientists, criminals and victims) are male, and the show doesn't always pass the Bechdel test, it's still refreshing to be watching a truly female-led show. I'm also liking that Olivia's sister and niece have moved in with her, giving a bit of a grounding to her home situation, and adding a bit more womanhood to the show.
Fourth: Anna Torv has the most beautiful smile ever. She's also a fantastic actress, and while she doesn't carry the show on her own, she plays a huge part in making the storyline both believable and affecting.
Fifth: Joshua Jackson! I have to confess, not being a huge fan of teen soaps, I don't consider Dawson's Creek to be the best pedigree there ever was. But I'm seriously impressed with the subtlety and finesse of Jackson's performance. Though the specific scenario is unusual, the experience of caring for an elderly parent is not, and Jackson is sometimes touching and sometimes callous, and only very occasionally does he lapse into sentimentality. I love his performance.
Sixth: the other performances are pretty amazing, too, but I think John Noble also should get special mention. His portrayal of Walter Bishop - brilliant, absent-minded, troubled, damaged - is absolutely on-the-money, and it strikes me as a particularly difficult role. Special mention for Jasika Nicole, too, who simply does not get enough screen time.
Seventh: I'm pretty sure I'm developing yet another het ship in the form of Olivia/Peter. It seems unusual to me that there really aren't any slash pairings in this show at all.
Eighth: if I ever catch up, I might need all the fic.
Nine: that is all.
Due to my obsessive tendencies (watch all the things!) I'm already on episode 12 of season 1. And I decided I would share some thoughts.
First thought: wow. This show is gruesome in places. Twelve episodes, and we've already had flesh sloughing off bones, brains leaking out of ears, slugs crawling out of throats, bodies trapped in solid matter, exploding heads, and more. They don't shy away from the horror or the grossness of what's happening to the murder victims and test subjects.
Second: I'm still not sure how to classify this show. It's part police procedural, part horror, part sci-fi. I'm never sure how much of the science they use is actually theoretically possible, based as it is on cutting-edge stuff that I don't understand. (Then again, I'm not sure whether the writers do, either.) The gross-out horror rarely seems gratuitous to me - the idea, it seems to me, is to baldly show the terrible things that are happening, not to wantonly gross out the audience (and that seems a significant difference as far as I'm concerned). And the police procedural part is mostly by-the-by, more a side effect of the story they're telling than an attempt to sit squarely in the CSI or NYPD Blue genre. So perhaps that's part of the reason I'm finding it interesting - Fringe seems to me to be more concerned with the story it's telling than fitting into a specific genre. The result could be a show that sits uncomfortably between three genres, but instead, to me it feels like a show that touches on all those genres without being bound to any of them. It's very interesting.
Third: it feels both clear and important to me that the story the show is telling is Olivia Dunham's. While most of the characters she's surrounded by (the Bishop men, Broyles, Charlie, Jones, most of the scientists, criminals and victims) are male, and the show doesn't always pass the Bechdel test, it's still refreshing to be watching a truly female-led show. I'm also liking that Olivia's sister and niece have moved in with her, giving a bit of a grounding to her home situation, and adding a bit more womanhood to the show.
Fourth: Anna Torv has the most beautiful smile ever. She's also a fantastic actress, and while she doesn't carry the show on her own, she plays a huge part in making the storyline both believable and affecting.
Fifth: Joshua Jackson! I have to confess, not being a huge fan of teen soaps, I don't consider Dawson's Creek to be the best pedigree there ever was. But I'm seriously impressed with the subtlety and finesse of Jackson's performance. Though the specific scenario is unusual, the experience of caring for an elderly parent is not, and Jackson is sometimes touching and sometimes callous, and only very occasionally does he lapse into sentimentality. I love his performance.
Sixth: the other performances are pretty amazing, too, but I think John Noble also should get special mention. His portrayal of Walter Bishop - brilliant, absent-minded, troubled, damaged - is absolutely on-the-money, and it strikes me as a particularly difficult role. Special mention for Jasika Nicole, too, who simply does not get enough screen time.
Seventh: I'm pretty sure I'm developing yet another het ship in the form of Olivia/Peter. It seems unusual to me that there really aren't any slash pairings in this show at all.
Eighth: if I ever catch up, I might need all the fic.
Nine: that is all.
