tvthatdoesntsuck

REVIEW FOR

FRINGE
Episode Two
“The Same Old Story”
Written by Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Jeff Pinkner, J.J. Abrams

 As far as consistency, this is definitely a step down from the premiere.   The second half was considerably better, but there a bunch of major flaws throughout.  There were a few scattered good scenes and even one surprisingly great scene, but a lot of the episode ranges from average to bad.  I’ll list it up for ya.

 THE BAD
+ I’m shocked by how much this episode talked down to the audience.  Without fail, this happens in every expository scene.  One of the characters states something they’re going to do or a piece of history that anyone with ears and something between said ears can grasp.  Someone in the room says something along the lines of “So let me get this straight, we’re (insert dumbed down version of what was just said)” or “I don’t understand” which leads to the original character reciting the dumbed down version.  This surprised me, coming from Abrams, because the dude works on Lost.  C’mon.  If we can remember four years of crazy Lost continuity, give the viewers the benefit of the doubt and assume we’re not blithering idiots.
2. The first five minutes of the show was a rehashing, through contrived dialogue, of all the events that went down in the first episode.  Why?  Why not just do a quick Previously on… like everyone else.  I felt like this episode was tailored specifically for those that missed out on the pilot.  But again… Previously ons take care of that.
3. The first half of the show was a straight police procedural.  Things got interesting once they made with the retina scanning, but everything before that felt like I was watching the Law half of a Law and Order episode, which is nooooo good.

THE MEDIOCRE
1. Still not convinced by Anna Torv’s performance as Olivia Dunham.  She gives a particularly weak performance for her dramatic sequences, and unfortunately for her, this show is quite dramatic.  She’s passable, because she’s pretty much got generally angry, generally sad, and neutral.  But, for a lead actress, her performance is still oddly dry and one-dimensional.
2. The overall writing in this episode seemed to be lacking.  Not nearly as many jokes or well-thought-out scenes as the first episode, which makes me worried that they went all out on the pilot to hook viewers and then half-assed it for this one.

THE GOOD/GREAT
1. The final scene is fantastic.  And I’m not talking about the inexplicable, almost impossible-to-catch glimpse we get in the end, but the scene between Peter and Walter Bishop.  It was touching, odd, and really gave me hope that this episode was just a fluke, and that the meat of the series would be closer to the character driven nature of the first episode.  Wonderful, wonderful scene.
2. Speaking of the Bishops, Walter (played by John Noble) remains the most interesting character.  Noble’s performance is so textured, going from funny, to heartbreaking, to despicable in a moment’s time.  Even in the most meh scenes of this episode, he was interesting to watch.

Let’s hope it’s better next time.

5/10

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