I Watched the First Eleven Episodes of Fringe, Here are My Thoughts

Since we’re all stuck inside, I’ve been blowing through Fringe much quicker than I normally would be. I’ll probably be able to finish the first season sometime this week, and then, after all the setup I assume we’ll get to the crazy! But hey, I’m already eleven episodes in, and I have thoughts.

(Just a clarification: I’m not saying the show hasn’t been crazy yet, it most definitely has. They’ve been crazy enough that I’ve become immune to crazy, though. I’m sure that means the character/plot twists will be the crazy things from now on, and hey, in that they can still shock me. But back to my thoughts …)

Mostly those thoughts are: I like it. I’m not exactly sure why this show was never on my radar as something I absolutely needed to watch. I had an idea of what it was, and I have a few friends who absolutely love it, but it just never seemed to be THE thing I needed to watch next. And that went on and on and on.

And now I guess we have to thank the quarantine and the crazy world we’re living here, but here I am.

Eleven episodes in the show is still a bit procedural-like, but it’s definitively trying to move away from that. They’re establishing the larger story, one that I assume isn’t a one season thing, but a mythology that is likely to take us through the entire show’s run.

Oh, and yes, they’ve pretty much established Peter and Olivia (I find Polivia to be a horrible ship name, but beggars can’t be choosers, I guess). They’ve done so in one of my favorite ways: By having a third party comment incessantly about it. That person, if, of course, Walter, because he has the excuse of being all like – hey 17 years in a mental institution, who can blame me?

And honestly, despite Peter trying very hard, who can actually blame Walter for anything?

Caveat: I’m 150% sure Walter has done some shit I’m going to blame him for in not too long, and I’m about 200% sure some of those things involve Peter, and both me and Peter are going to be very upset about that when the time comes. Now is not the time, though. For now I’m just gonna enjoy Walter without letting my brain catch up with me.

It helps that despite the mystery surrounding every character, there’s been a definite balance of backstory in the case of our 3 core cast. We don’t yet really know Walter, or Peter or Olivia, but we have enough to start liking them, and that’s really all a show needs to establish. We don’t need all the answers right away, we just need to care about getting those at some point.

The mystery also seems to be much more contained – not in the sense that this isn’t going to go insane (I’m at the point where I didn’t even blink at time-travel, so I’m not sure anything this show throws at me could surprise me, at least not in the did they really go there way?), but in the sense that there seems to be a plan behind the insanity, which is always appreciated. I’ve been scarred for life by the experience of growing up while obsessed with a Chris Carter show.

Will I continue to watch? At this point, that’s not even a question. I’m not stopping now, or anytime soon, for that matter. To infinity and beyond, as Buzz Lightyear would say, and considering what I know of this show, infinity might actually be a thing with a supposedly scientific explanation, who the hell knows at this point?

Are you joining me in my binge-watch? What are your feelings about Fringe? Share with us in the comments below!

Fringe is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.

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