I made it to season 2 of Fringe! I want no judgments here, we are on quarantine, and you all encouraged me to continue watching, so now you will get all my thoughts as I watch. It’s only fair.
To be honest, writing these articles has been the only thing that’s kept me watching at a semi-normal pace. Well, that and tweeting about it. But I look forward to getting to the ending and then looking back at my own thoughts and being all like: Oh, my young padawan.
As for the beginning of season 2, boy, they didn’t really hold back, did they? I thought Olivia’s visit to the alternate universe would be just something she’d tell the team about over drinks or something, but when this show tackles a storyline, it doesn’t just tackle a storyline. It truly commits.
Which I know means pain for me, as they all have to find out what Walter did this season, because now that I, as a viewer know it, of course the characters have to learn it. But I’m enjoying the fun – even if still immensely dramatic – start to this season. The series is still a bit procedural, but it feels less so in many aspects, as we finally have an idea of what this whole thing if building towards.
The storm to end all storms, and all that.
It’s also helped that we’ve gotten more character moments in the beginning of season two than we got in the back half of season1 combined. More Peter and Olivia moments, more Peter and Walter moments, hell we’re even getting a good deal of Astrid and Walter moments, which is a relationship I did not think I would be this invested in, but here I am.
We lost Charlie, yes, but I’m not exactly sure I care as much as I know I probably should. There was just something about Charlie that I never truly liked, and though that’s probably unfair to a character that did absolutely nothing wrong, I can’t say I’m going to miss him. I look forward to liking the inevitable Charlie 2.0 much better than the original.
And I also look forward to still being surprised by this show. Hindsight is 20/20, so of course I’ve been able to catch some things I’m sure I wouldn’t have caught if I was watching live, mainly because I’m already in a “everything can get weirder” and “throw all insane theories out there and see what sticks” mode, but this show has still managed to surprise me in the good ways.
If anything, now that I think about it, the The X-Files comparisons are mostly superficial. If we’re going to compare Fringe to anything, it might have to be the one show I always thought was synonymous with JJ Abrams: Alias.
Not a bad comparison, if you ask me. Not a bad comparison at all.
Especially when we think about the Peter/Olivia relationship and how that might parallel to Sydney and Vaughn, one of my all-time favorite OTPs. If I finish this journey feeling as much about Peter and Olivia as my teenage-self felt about Sydney and Vaughn, well, that’ll be a hell of a win.
Here we go, Fringe season 2. Surprise me. Just don’t make me suffer too much. We all know that’s for season 3.
Are you a fan of Fringe? What’s your favorite thing about season 2? Share with us in the comments below!
Fringe is available to stream on Amazon.
