Essentially, I think that this show is sci-fi CSI. And I don't really like CSI, or its variants. Sure, they're fun once in a while, but I get pretty bored with the incessant montages of autopsies, eccentric characters thrown together for no reason other than to titillate the viewer, and I've just never been a huge fan of mysteries. I don't care for weekly cases of "whodunit?!"

Luckily, Fringe isn't totally about that. There is, of course, The Pattern, a strange notion that all of these strange happenings are somehow connected. And I'm hoping that the writers actually have a plan. And it won't be Battlestar Galactica all over again, where the entire point of the show is that the Cylons have a plan....or do they? Maybe? Let's throw the pilots in a boxing ring and see if we can pull something out of our asses.

Anyway, there must be reasons why I continue to watch this show, right? One of them is that I found the perfect Joshua Jackson LJ icon, and I'm not about to give that shit up.

I like the aesthetics of the show. There are pretty people. I like old university buildings from the eastern U.S. It's neat-o.

I like the concept that many of the characters have going, although I don't truly care for any of them so far.


Olivia Dunham is a pragmatic agent. She is the one who runs after the bad guys and shoots her gun. So that's cool. She just seems so monotone and emotionless that I can't really connect with her. Part of it might be that the actress is Australian, faking an American accent? I'm not sure. Either way, she should have a significant amount of angst going for her, considering the shit that went down in the pilot with her lover-turned-bad-guy-but-wait-really? I want more time spent figuring that out. I want her to confide in Peter. I want them to build secrets together, as they try to figure this out. So, you know, there is a reason for them to have chemistry.

Dr. Bishop clearly has mental issues, but he spent his younger days as a sadistic, experimenting madman. He is basically like Dr. Hojo, from Final Fantasy VII. But how come his sinister side doesn't come out more often? How come he gets a pass? Why isn't he constantly guarded? He could be doing anything in that lab, while Peter and Olivia are out pretending to be functional human beings.

And as for Peter (Joshua Jackson). He's pretty much Pacey Witter incarnate. Pacey Witter was Joshua Jackson's character on Dawson's Creek. Just like Peter, Pacey had an unhappy childhood and was extremely intelligent. His dad was a jackass, just like I'm assuming Dr. Bishop was, when Peter was growing up and he was playing Dr. Frankenstein underneath Harvard. The writers seem to think that Peter should have the same effervescent charisma that Pacey did, but they're not making it clear that Peter is an underdog, so it doesn't come off the same way. I know that I always think that everybody needs more angst to be fully appreciated, but I really think that Peter Bishop needs a healthy shower of it, and then I think I'll care about him more. Right now, his sarcastic quips just seem out of place, considering that he doesn't (for me, at least) have much chemistry with Agent Dunham at all yet.

I want Astrid (helper girl in the lab) to have a bigger role.


I do think that the opening sequence is pretty nifty, if that counts.

In conclusion, I'm still watching and hoping, although I'm not sure why. I know my friend Dave loves this show, and thinks it's better than Terminator. What do you guys think?


Maybe I should look for good fanfiction for Fringe? How do you kids* look for good fanfiction these days, anyway? I haven't habitually read fanfiction since Final Fantasy VII was big.


*Ironic because I'm younger than most of the people on my friendslist. And irony must always be pointed out, lest it go by underappreciated.