Review: Fringe Series Premier

With Alias, LOST, and Cloverfield in the can, it seems that mystery master J.J. Abrams can do no wrong. Save maybe annoying some fans with his "solve one mystery, create 3 more" signature story-telling style.

So when Abrams approached Fox for his new sci-fi series "Fringe", they jumped at the chance to be a part of the much-deserved hype.



The series premier finds our hard-shouldered faithful heroine, FBI special agent Olivia Dunham set to unravel a terribly odd case of a flesh-devouring virus aboard a 747. The set-up is simple: she's in love with her partner Agent Scott who catches the insane flu and immediately becomes transparent and on the verge of death.

With just a moment's use of her awesome FBI "google" search, she's found "fringe" doctor and scientist John Noble--a questionable doc from the 70's who's been (unduly?) hidden away in a mental institute for the past 17 years. Dunham must find the doc's estranged son--a sarcastic-as-usual Joshua Jackson (aka Pacey Whitter from Dawson's Creek)--in order to get the loon released and working once again to help save her man.

So what types of weird science might we find throughout the season? In one scene Dunham tells us that the Doc had secretly studied "invisibility, re-animation, mind control" amongst other controversial methods. In one scene, one of the leads even experiments with LSD. Awesome.

From Lost, we have tall, dark and overall scary-as-shit actor Lance Reddick who plays the no-bull head of the special investigation unit. I was pretty stoned when I watched this, but for a minute I could have sworn that this show was just a tool by which to integrate LOST-with its almost visceral mysteries and conundrums- yet even more into our collective consciousness, awaiting the time in 2012 when we're finally told the Truth. Not only about the Island, but reality itself.

Either way--whether great new weekly show or master tool of revelation--Fringe has made its way into my heart in a mere 80 minutes. Abrams has promised that the show will be easier to follow, allowing addicted viewers to tune in each week and follow a large mythology, or casual viewers to watch here and there and still get an interesting story by the end of the hour. Just like the classic and one of my old time favorites, The X Files.

*Sidenote: During the show, when Phillip Broyles shows Olivia Dunham a folder of incidents around the world, Sri Lanka was a location amongst it, with the Lost Dharma logo located on the bottom right corner of the photo (possibly a card).

Fringe airs Tuesdays at 8pm on Fox
Official Website