Fringe!

[tzikeh]

I am so, so glad that I gave Fringe another shot. So many of you said "I *promise* it gets better, if you can just power through the first, like, 3/4 of the first season," that I knew I could trust you. I even continued on after I was massively spoiled for two huge, giant, important arc points (no, I didn't want spoilers in this instance, stop trying to understand me).

So, if you started Fringe and gave up, here's another vote to go back and push through, because it really picks up steam toward the end of first season. They just took way too much time laying down track for the train to run on (there's a whole plot that weaves in and out of the first season, particularly heavily during the first half of the season, that could be entirely cut and the show would have been better for it).

The cast is great (especially John Noble, in what could easily have been a cringe-worthy, cuckoo-for-Cocoa-Puffs role), but, in all honesty, even though his role is not particularly fleshed out (which is a shame), I reserve my highest praise for Lance Reddick, because Lance Reddick--and only Lance Reddick--could deliver the following line of dialog with a straight face, with dignity and gravitas, and have it sound as deadly serious as the plot required it to be, and not like he was in Mega Shark Versus Giant Octopus:

"Why are shape-shifting soldiers from another universe stealing frozen heads?"

Lance Reddick, ladies and gentlemen.

Fringe: highly recommended.

Comments

[kirbyfest.livejournal.com]

I wish it was on Netflix "watch it now." Yahtzee has pimped it heavily; I'm sure I'll see it at some point.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Yeah - it's definitely worth it. I'm sure you'll see it too! :D

[musesfool.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that line to me is the key to pimping people into the show - either you're gonna roll with it, or you're not, and no more information than that is needed.

Also, Lance Reddick looks smokin' hot in both that black t-shirt and a fedora (not at the same time), which always helps.

[magdalene1.livejournal.com]

And just like that, you and Lance Reddick have sold me.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

\o/

[yorick28.livejournal.com]

Reddick himself commented on the slow start to the first season here (http://www.digitalspy.com/cult/s118/fringe/news/a266735/lance-reddick-fringe-wasnt-working.html).

Sounds like once again Fox was meddling when they should have trusted the guy they hired to tell his story the way he wanted. Quel surprise.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Hee! Seriously, I hit that line, and was like... well, there's Fringe in a nutshell. And you don't realize for a few seconds that he did, in fact, say, "Why are shape-shifting soldiers from another universe stealing frozen heads?"

"Why are shape-shifting soldiers from another universe stealing frozen heads?"

"Why are shape-shifting soldiers from another universe stealing frozen heads?"

WHAT.

Well, but really, why *are* they stealing frozen heads? AND THEN IT MAKES SENSE OMG.

Oh, FOX

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Though thankfully not, in this case.

[ramblinsuze.livejournal.com]

And the second season is even better - lots of great moments for John Noble and Joshua Jackson (who, I must admit, I have adored since his "Dawson's Creek" days).

And, yes, you do just kind of have to roll with the ridiculous dialogue. They do a great job at making even the goofiest stuff seem plausible.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Yeah - that line of dialog is from second season, which I'm in the middle of.

Imma need some more icons.

[kassrachel.livejournal.com]

YES YES YES OMG YES.

:-)

[txvoodoo.livejournal.com]

YAY!!! It's sooooooo good.

[txvoodoo.livejournal.com]

Noble's character really gets better as it goes on. Well, better...um..meatier? Yes. meatier.

I CANNOT wait for season 3.

[brak666.livejournal.com]

Honestly, they lost me at "You have to get naked and take LSD" in the pilot. I don't know if I can get over that.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I quit during the pilot too. And several episodes after that (which I've now watched) are kind of equally shit. But I gotta tell you, when it gets going, it's SMOKING awesome.

[abbylee]

I love Lance Reddick. And I love that he does the gruff boss face, while being the most encouraging leader ever. He's a completely different kind of manager than he was on The Wire, and yet just as insanely loveable. (Although sadly there is less gratuitous flashing in Fringe; the man is HOT.)

[abbylee]

Yeah. I hadn't even made it to the credits in the pilot the first time through. And then it kept on pissing me off for things like that. And yet, the more I watched, the more I loved it, and the more I needed to watch it.

It still needs a LOT more Astrid love, though.

[yahtzee63.livejournal.com]

Oh, god, that is my all-time favorite line from "Fringe." Like, I've considered changing my LJ header to that.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Seriously. I had to pause and laugh for like, a whole minute. And then rewind and watch it again.

You should TOTALLY change your lj name to that.

[ahab99.livejournal.com]

SO GOOD OMG. I've been into it from the beginning of the show, but by the end of the second season I actually started to feel like it was genuinely good, not just paranormal John Noble funtimes. <3

[cereta.livejournal.com]

But she wears SENSIBLE UNDERWEAR. That got me past that scene ;).

[non_sequential.livejournal.com]

Good to know. Fringe was on my list of shows to watch after a friend made me watch the pilot, but it had a question mark after it.

It does raise an excellent question, though. Why are shape-shifting soldiers from another universe stealing frozen heads?

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

It does raise an excellent question, though. Why are shape-shifting soldiers from another universe stealing frozen heads?

I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you, and freeze you, and steal your frozen head.

[non_sequential.livejournal.com]

OK, purely logistical question. How do you remove the head from a body that's been frozen? Don't things shatter? Wouldn't it be easier to remove the head then freeze it?

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

It does raise an excellent question, though. Why are shape-shifting soldiers from another universe stealing frozen heads?

You'll never know... unless you watch! :D

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure the heads were frozen after being removed from the bodies.

[cat-77.livejournal.com]

It truly does get better. The “superior from hell” bit got tiresome, but had a decent enough ending, but when they start lining up the so-called coincidences, it just gets awesome.

Oh, and another Lance Reddick bit? Aside from the singing and the almost losing it when Charlie adlibbed “He told me he loved me too,” in around the second or third episode of the entire series, every time that poor man is forced to say “Walternate” he looks like he dies a little inside. *g*