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Fringe
So flist, you who know all, what were/are your thoughts on the tv show Fringe? I'd especially like to know these thoughts in conjunction with your thoughts on either Alias, Lost or both.
A bunch of people say that Fringe was really good, but my thought is that these people also thought Lost was good, and yet the hype and obsession around Fringe never reached the level that it seemed to be around Lost.
For the record, I don't hate Lost . . . yeah, no, wait, I kind of do hate Lost. I only watched one season of it, so hating it is perhaps not fair, but it reminded me so much of Alias that the investment didn't seem worth it.
I also don't hate--oh, who am I fooling, I really do dislike Alias, but in a different way, because I gave Alias all of the chances. I knew it was silly and stupid insofar as realism, but I was in love with Victor Garber's character and his relationship with Jennifer Garner's character, and I was deeply interested in the slowly unfolding overarching sci fi plot.
After watching two and a half seasons I began to realize that there were a bunch of great ideas in the show but poor execution and even poorer follow-through. The characters never grew beyond their complicated, nuanced premise; the plot was a series of cheap tricks employed to keep you on the edge of your seat without ever delivering the narrative satisfaction that justifies such suspense--there was no overarching narrative, despite textual insistence that there would be.
I had to give up on Alias after four seasons, which was a great big waste of time to me. After the first season of Lost, I realized that the same thing was happening there, only on a larger scale. Worse, there was no Victor Garber. From what I've heard from other viewers, it's probably a good thing I gave it up.
So, having now experienced my vitriol aimed in Abrams' general direction--would I like Fringe?
A bunch of people say that Fringe was really good, but my thought is that these people also thought Lost was good, and yet the hype and obsession around Fringe never reached the level that it seemed to be around Lost.
For the record, I don't hate Lost . . . yeah, no, wait, I kind of do hate Lost. I only watched one season of it, so hating it is perhaps not fair, but it reminded me so much of Alias that the investment didn't seem worth it.
I also don't hate--oh, who am I fooling, I really do dislike Alias, but in a different way, because I gave Alias all of the chances. I knew it was silly and stupid insofar as realism, but I was in love with Victor Garber's character and his relationship with Jennifer Garner's character, and I was deeply interested in the slowly unfolding overarching sci fi plot.
After watching two and a half seasons I began to realize that there were a bunch of great ideas in the show but poor execution and even poorer follow-through. The characters never grew beyond their complicated, nuanced premise; the plot was a series of cheap tricks employed to keep you on the edge of your seat without ever delivering the narrative satisfaction that justifies such suspense--there was no overarching narrative, despite textual insistence that there would be.
I had to give up on Alias after four seasons, which was a great big waste of time to me. After the first season of Lost, I realized that the same thing was happening there, only on a larger scale. Worse, there was no Victor Garber. From what I've heard from other viewers, it's probably a good thing I gave it up.
So, having now experienced my vitriol aimed in Abrams' general direction--would I like Fringe?
no subject
I'd say that Peter and Walter's relationship keeps getting developed through the run of the series, but that Olivia's emotional development over time tends to be conflated with her romantic interests. She stays beautifully nuanced but you nailed the problems with her characterization when you talked about characters who don't go much past who they were in the pilot.
I love, love Fringe and even enjoyed the last two seasons, but S5 in particular was a different show with the same cast. I don't regret getting into the show and meeting the entire casts of characters but if a neatly sewn together narrative is important to you, then this may not be the show to watch.
no subject
no subject
Yeah, what cest_what said. I bought a cheap second-hand copy of S1 thinking it would be fun to marathon with my roomie, and we stalled out after ep 2 and never went back. Ep1 has people melting to death with their faces falling off, ep2 has the pregnancy horror and also SURPRISINGLY long and intense torture-porn scenes of terrified female victims tied to a chair and knowing they're about to die.
There was also lot of super, super interesting sci-fi stuff, and cool characters, and interesting character interactions among the cast... but all that other stuff made it really un-fun, on the whole. IDK, maybe if you're not particularly bothered by body-horror.
no subject
If you are a completist, I would avoid it as it goes, IMNSHO, hugely off the rails in S4 (I did not watch S5). If you are comfortable with enjoying a show until you don't enjoy it anymore, and then bailing, I would say do definitely watch the first two or three seasons. There are some great characters and interesting thinky bits, good humor, good creepiness. Olivia Dunham in particular is well worth anyone's time.
no subject
Also, it's worth mentioning that Anna Torv is amazing and watching her bring to life several distinct versions of Olivia is definitely one of the highlights of the show.
no subject