Fringe Episode 118: Midnight

The Fringe Division is on the case when severely mutilated bodies drained of spinal cord fluid begin to pile up. After their investigation leads them to a scientist (guest star Jefferson Mays) with possible ties to the Z.F.T. bioterrorist cell, they are shocked to discover the identity and motive of the killer...

Midnight links:

• Check out what you might have missed in the Fringe Easter Eggs section.
  
• Did you spot The Observer?
  
• The Fringepedia Wiki will be hard at work organizing all the Fringe facts

Rate Midnight (*Stars)

Fringe Scenemaker 117: Bad Dreams

Scenemaker is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Fringe. This episode shows the making of the rooftop suicide scene, from the Fringe episode Bad Dreams.

You can watch previous episode's scenemaker videos here.

Walter's Lab Notes: Fringe 117 Bad Dreams

Walter's Lab Notes from Bad Dreams include Nick Lane's news clippings, including the two-headed goat story, a very melted red candle, and the fourth piece to the "Walter puzzle".

Walter's notes take the form of a poem, where he essentially recaps the episode. There doesn't appear to be anything new in his notes, but the numerous news clippings may contain something. I don't see anything at first glance, but like the JJ Abrams edition of Wired, there may be clues hidden within.

The folks at Fringepedia have been playing with the puzzle pieces, and it looks like they may fit together like Fibonacci squares, forming a Golden Spiral. Here are the first four pieces arranged in the 1,1,2,3 format.

Fringe Episode 117: Bad Dreams

As a suicide incident occurs at New York's iconic Grand Central station, Agent Dunham simultaneously witnesses the event while asleep and dreaming in Boston. Rattled by the extraordinary and coincidental circumstances, Olivia, Peter and Walter investigate further,...

The Observer: Hot or Not?

Fringe Wrap Party

Today is the last main day of filming for Fringe season 1 (there will be a little cleanup work tomorrow), and we are happy to report that to celebrate there was a Fringe Wrap Party this last Saturday at the swanky Inc Lounge in NYC. Since the studio didn't want to throw one, the party was paid for by the actors, and by all accounts it was a huge blowout! It just goes to show you that there are a great bunch of people working on the show.

BTW, if you were at the party, and have photos you would like to share with everyone, please email them to us!

Fringe: The Complete First Season DVD & Blu-ray Preorder

Fringe: The Complete First Season is now available for pre-order on Amazon in both Blu-ray and DVD formats for $55.99 and $41.99 respectively. The release date has not been announced yet, but it is estimated to be sometime in August.

BTW, one of the nice things about pre-ordering on Amazon is that you are guaranteed the lowest price, even if the price drops between now and the release date. Plus, either edition should qualify for free shipping, and you don't get charged until it ships.

However, if past performance is any indication of future outcomes, I would expect to see several "special-editions", as was the case with Cloverfield, Transformers, and the first few seasons of Lost. Of course if that happens, we'll let you know about it.

Fringe Scenemaker 116: Unleashed

Scenemaker is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Fringe. This episode shows the making of the monster sewer hunt scene, from the Fringe episode Unleashed.

You can watch previous episode's scenemaker videos here.

Walter's Lab Notes: Fringe 116 Unleashed

Walter's Lab Notes from the Unleashed include Walter's previous notes from a project called "Radical Transgenics", a cup of the highly toxic poison (or maybe the antidote?), and another grainy photo, which appears to be part of a larger puzzle.

In Walter's notes, he argues with himself, in a similar nature to the notes from The Equation.

Fringe Promo Photos 116: Unleashed

Here are the promotional photos from Fringe episode 116 Unleashed.
(Hover over each of the photos for a full description.)

Fringe Episode 116: What You Missed Because of American Idol

If you Tivo'd Fringe tonight, you might have found that the last three minutes or so were cut off due the American Idol running long (again!). If you didn't learn your lesson from last week and that happened to you, don't worry - FringeTelevision has got your back! Here are the final scenes from Fringe episode "Unleashed".

Fringe Episode 116: Unleashed

As animal rights activists ransack a laboratory, they get more than they bargained for when one of the caged "animals" unleashes a ferocious appetite. Leaving grotesquely mutilated dead bodies in its wake, the scientific engineered beast...
Leonard Nimoy to play William Bell = ?

Fringe Episode Review: Inner Child

Fringe is back. Not with a bang, but with a subtle, creepy whisper. As far as I can tell, Inner Child is a prologue of sorts to the remainder of Season 1, laying a foundation of weirdness for the revelations to come.

"He could be significantly older..."

Our Pattern event of the week: the mysterious appearance of what can only be a young Observer. Or perhaps, as Walter theorizes, a young-looking one. He was found in a creepy subterreanean complex that hadn't been opened since the 1930's, and it looked to me like he was hiding from the construction workers in a holding cell of sorts. Was this some kind of abandoned research facility? Was our bald friend left behind by his experimenters to survive on rats and moths?

Or, could he have come through to our "universe" down there more recently? Given our clues from ZFT, it sounds like the Observers hail from a parallel Earth. Perhaps this one picked a bad place to cross over, and has survived down there for years (but not 70 of them).

"Our perp's name is The Artist."

Congratulations, writers. You managed to successfully incorporate a non-Pattern mystery into the show. By using the young Observer to solve the crime, I didn't feel like our time was wasted with the Artist subplot (like I did with the cyber-killer in The No-Brainer).

The Artist himself was nicely cast. He reminded me of John Fowles' The Collector, a novel about a mild-mannered sociopath who kidnaps women. But making surgical and cosmetic alterations and then putting them on display? That's pure Fringe.

"Not a psychic, more a shark."

Walter's shark analogy to explain the child's mental abilities was brilliant. I was spellbound by the implications. I have a feeling Olivia may be capable of similar feats, thus reinforcing my idea that Inner Child acts as a prologue for the rest of the season, where we may learn more about Olivia's cortexiphran effects.

On the same subject, what did Walter pick up with his wire-infested halo ring on the child's head? A signal from the Ghost Network? I have a feeling we'll be hearing that recording again soon.

Stray Thoughts

• Best Line of the Night: "Don't be such a prude. I'm sure Agent Dunham knows what a penis looks like!" John's delivery is perfect, once again.

• This was Anna Torv's strongest performance yet. She's great with action sequences, as we saw in Bound, but her scenes with the young Observer in this ep were touching and filled with nuance.

• Walter's dance is my new favorite scene. It wasn't just hilarious, it was touching. Walter's still got a very big heart underneath all those years of madness.

• Was anyone else reminded of the Green Lantern when Olivia mentioned her avoidance of yellow M&M's? (The Lantern's weakness is anything colored yellow.)

• Ari Graynor and Lily Pilblad are adorable as Olivia's family, and part of me is glad they're apparently here to stay. I do wonder how the writers will incorporate them into the story's meta-narrative.
  
  
• Does Walter's halo ring remind anyone else of Doc Brown's similarly-purposed mind-reading device in Back to the Future?

How would you grade "Inner Child"?

Adam Morgan is a writer for the page and screen in Chicago, and blogs daily on writing, film, tv, and pop culture at Mount Helicon.

Fringe Episode 115: What You Missed Because of American Idol

If you Tivo'd Fringe tonight, you might have found that the last five minutes or more were cut off due the American Idol running long. If that happened to you, don't worry - FringeTelevision has got your back! Here are the final scenes from Fringe episode "Inner Child".

UPDATE: In a strange move, FOX has pulled some of my videos from YouTube... Here is the same thing from Hulu, just in case.




Did you miss the last part of Fringe because of American Idol?

Fringe Episode 115: Inner Child

Just seconds before a building is demolished, a mysterious mute child that has been living alone underground is discovered. When the FBI's Fringe Division investigates, the boy forms an unspoken connection with Agent Olivia Dunham. Meanwhile, an especially gruesome serial killer resurfaces...
Will you be deciphering the commercial break glyph codes?

Fringe Episode 114: Ability

German agents question Olivia about her "relationship" with David Robert Jones, an escaped prisoner questioned months earlier now living in the U.S. Meanwhile, the Fringe Division investigates a threatening case where victims die faceless from their orifices suddenly sealing...

Which Guest Character would you like to see become a Recurring Character?

Akim Tess Amaral Lucas Vogel

Fringe Episode 113: The Transformation

When the Fringe Division delves into another bizarre occurrence aboard an international jumbo jet, freakish remains are discovered at the crash site. Memories tip the team toward some promising leads, but the bigger picture and mysterious threat eludes them...

Mark Valley + Anna Torv: HOT or NOT!

Fringe Episode 112: The No-Brainer

Olivia, Walter and Peter are called in to investigate the death of a car salesman who was found in a pool of "goo," exactly like another man across the country. When Walter discovers that the "goo" is brain matter, the trio tries to figure out how the killer can liquefy human brains...

Who Is This Guy?

*Redshirt
**Background Cast

Fox Fix: Kirk Acevedo Interview

Fox Fix has a new interview with Kirk Acevedo, who plays Charlie Francis on Fringe. Host Jessica Holmes asks Kirk if his character is a good as he seems, does he know more than he lets on, and does he have feeling for Olivia? He also shares his interesting theory on how he thinks Fringe and Lost might be related.

Fox Fix also has an interview with J.J. Abrams and Roberto Orci, which we have posted in the Fringe Spoilers section.

Fringe Episode Review: Bound

Hi Fringe-philes, Adam Morgan here, a newcomer to FringeTelevision. I'll be posting weekly reviews for the rest of season one, sharing my reactions, thoughts, and theories with you. Feel free to disagree with me in the comments!

After a listless seven-week hiatus, Fringe stormed back last night with its best episode yet. Bound was like a shot of adrenaline into the show’s ongoing narrative, filled with action, suspense, mythology, and considerable character development. I was a fan before tonight, but I think in a few years I’ll look back and remember Bound as the episode that hooked me for good.

From a production standpoint, everything worked. The dialogue was crisp; Michael Giacchino’s score was perfect; the location shots were gorgeous; the direction was compelling (especially the low-frame-rate action sequences); and most perhaps importantly, the chemistry between cast members hit an all-time high.

From a narrative standpoint, Bound covered a lot of ground...

Click here to read more...

Dunham Done ‘em

One of Bound’s greatest strengths was its focus on Olivia Dunham. We met her sister, her old rival, and learned a few new things. First, that she is lethal. My jaw literally dropped when she single-handedly took out half a dozen men and escaped from the warehouse. Second, that she can be vulnerable, too. Anna Torv did a marvelous job conveying conflicting emotions in this episode, oscillating between fear, distress, and anger. I was worried that her sister’s appearance would become subplot fodder, but their scenes together were nicely tied into the main theme of the episode: Olivia’s struggle to persevere under any circumstance.

Mystery of the Week

Of course, I chose to eat dinner while watching this episode, on a night that features gastrointestinal slugs and spinal taps. Per usual, this week’s scientific mystery seemed tangential at first, but wound up connecting right back to the ongoing story. Two renowned epidemiologists were poisoned with giant single-celled cold viruses that grow to maturity even faster than Lorraine Daisy Alcott’s baby in The Same Old Story. The biggest question here, as usual, is why?

In the Pilot, Phillip Broyles theorizes that someone is using the whole world as their lab, with human beings as test subjects for bizarre experiments. But as the show progresses, this explanation becomes less and less relevant. If you wanted to experiment with a weaponized parasite, why on earth would you target two prominent epidemiologists? It doesn’t add up. Unless it’s more than an experiment. A demonstration of power, perhaps? A cunning move in a worldwide game of human chess? More on this later.

Mitchell Loeb and the Big Tease

As Walter might say, Mitchell Loeb gives me a case of cutis anserina (goose bumps). First he was just another agent the team saved from a parasite (a tentacled fellow that looked like the villain from Monsters, Inc). Then he was a double-agent who used that incident to get information out of a dead man. Then he was a wall-phasing bank robber. The guy gets around.

In Bound, Mitchell is revealed to be even more than he seems once again. We all assumed he was a villain since the end of episode 107, In Which We Meet Mr. Jones. But Loeb’s seemingly genuine confession to Olivia in the interrogation room makes him sound like a misunderstood protagonist. JJ Abrams is up to his old tricks. See Benjamin Linus and virtually every character from Alias.

They weren’t kidnapping Olivia to kill her, but to save her. Who is “they”? And who or what were they saving her from? Loeb’s next lines were the highlight of the night for me: “Do you not understand the rules? What we're up against? Who the two sides are?” Talk about a can of worms. In just a few seconds, Loeb revealed a huge, fundamental layer in Fringe’s mythology.

We were initially led to believe the Pattern was some kind of experimentation by Massive Dynamic. I think we’ve moved beyond that now. To make a Lost analogy, I think that’s like “the Monster is a dinosaur” or “they’re all in purgatory”. Now it appears as though there are two competing factions contributing to the Pattern, both of whom aim to achieve still-illusive objectives that somehow directly involve Olivia Dunham and the research of Walter Bishop. Brilliant. It hints at so much yet to come.

Overall, this was a huge breakthrough for the show. Almost like a second pilot. I’ve enjoyed Fringe from the beginning, but was waiting for an episode to launch the story into the stratosphere with the greats like Lost and The Prisoner.

I think the wait is over.

Stray Thoughts

• Not much Walter this week, but he still shined when given the chance. His coy remarks about Peter’s feelings for Olivia were cute, and a great way to create tension between two stoic characters. Also, his cavalier slug-trapping maneuver got the biggest laugh of the night from me.
  
  
• Not much Peter either, but Josh Jackson continues to do a great job establishing Peter as a level-headed, resourceful go-to guy. The man gets stuff done, and I like that. I was worried at first, given his Dawson’s Creek pedigree, but Josh has won me over. I’d like to see him get more physical in the future, and can’t wait to learn more about his past. And the man certainly dresses dapper for a globetrotting-opportunist-slash-black-market-entrepreneur, what with the pea coats and scarves from the Gap and all.
  
  
• Broyles was a thrill to watch this week as well. Lance Reddick is so…severe. I’m hoping he gets to do some physical stuff too sometime soon. I’d like to see him take down Sanford Harris, for starters (who didn’t impress me, acting-wise).
  
  
• That was an extremely long cold open.
  
  
• Between her more-than-palpable good looks and her more-than-capable resourcefulness and intelligence, Dunham is becoming the best female lead on television.
  
  
• Lost fans: did Loeb’s speech on “rules” and “sides” remind you of the dynamic between Ben and Charles Widmore?
  
  
• Kudos to Michael Giacchino for that beautiful variation on his main Fringe leitmotif at the end of tonight’s episode. I want a Fringe soundtrack later this year.

Adam Morgan is a writer for both the page and screen in Chicago, and blogs daily on writing, film, pop culture, and strange news at Mount Helicon.

Fringe Episode 111: Bound

After shifty FBI Agent Mitchel Loeb orchestrated David Robert Jones' otherworldly escape from a German prison and Olivia's alarming abduction, indications of a larger threat begin to emerge. Adding to the intense circumstances, one of Olivia's former adversaries is called in by Internal Affairs to conduct a formal review of the Fringe Division, and Olivia's sister, Rachel (guest star Ari Graynor), pays a visit...

How would you cast the yuck-factor (aka Gross) on Fringe?