... writing this review from the future, 2015, 5 years after this episode aired, where I am re-watching the whole series, in sequence.
Rapidly becoming one of my favorite series of all time. This episode hypnotized me beginning to end, beautifully playing the suspense of the doubles and the parallel universes.
which leads me to the point of the review. It is not easy doing a multi-year hit series -- even if your name is JJ Abrams and you are considered a god among your peers in tineseltown.
Actually (here is an experiment that even Walter would approve of!) I am re-watching three Abrams' series alternately and in sequence -- ALIAS, POI and FRINGE. (Don't ask -- you would need to talk to my shrink)
Here is what I have noticed. Even the big boys can get it wrong. Alias, in many ways the prototype for the Abrams formula that followed, was really just nuts. It was pretty, it was fun, crazy things happened but the development was all over the map. In other words, the viewer had to become a little crazy to enjoy it.
POI (still in production as I write this) had one of the strongest first years of any series I have ever seen but (explained in my reviews of POI which many fans don't like) the production team became self-conscious about their own formula and changed the whole arc mid-stream into some sort of Terminator AI thing. As I write this, the series is becoming a little unglued but, trust me, the fans will be the very last to find out.
Which brings me to Fringe. Could this be the one that got away? Could JJ have stumbled on the template that got it right -- write strong characters, my son, and the rest will follow, build it and they will come -- and then lost it? Just asking...
Rapidly becoming one of my favorite series of all time. This episode hypnotized me beginning to end, beautifully playing the suspense of the doubles and the parallel universes.
which leads me to the point of the review. It is not easy doing a multi-year hit series -- even if your name is JJ Abrams and you are considered a god among your peers in tineseltown.
Actually (here is an experiment that even Walter would approve of!) I am re-watching three Abrams' series alternately and in sequence -- ALIAS, POI and FRINGE. (Don't ask -- you would need to talk to my shrink)
Here is what I have noticed. Even the big boys can get it wrong. Alias, in many ways the prototype for the Abrams formula that followed, was really just nuts. It was pretty, it was fun, crazy things happened but the development was all over the map. In other words, the viewer had to become a little crazy to enjoy it.
POI (still in production as I write this) had one of the strongest first years of any series I have ever seen but (explained in my reviews of POI which many fans don't like) the production team became self-conscious about their own formula and changed the whole arc mid-stream into some sort of Terminator AI thing. As I write this, the series is becoming a little unglued but, trust me, the fans will be the very last to find out.
Which brings me to Fringe. Could this be the one that got away? Could JJ have stumbled on the template that got it right -- write strong characters, my son, and the rest will follow, build it and they will come -- and then lost it? Just asking...