Fringe

[raven]

Hello, flist. I am home ill, flu-ish, headachey and not a little bit over-anxious. (Case in point: I thought I would make use of the time by at least popping out and sending some parcels. Mission aborted when yours truly was too pathetic to find somewhere to park, and came home having smudged the parcels' labels in the rain, but not actually sent them.)

So I am lying on the sofa, whining gently, trying to write my yuletide (it is awful, all is awful, I am a horrible writer, all is woe) and watching Fringe. Y'all have been watching this show for a few years now, and I have realised I will never get another show like my heart wants - happy, optimistic science fiction! remember that? me neither - and, well, I did like The X-Files. I liked it a lot. So I'm giving Fringe a try.

Thus far, I am four episodes in and I sort of like it. Sort of. Okay. Here's what I like:

-Olivia! I didn't at first, but she has grown on me; she's such a sensible sort of heroine to have. Ditto Peter - in the pilot I thought he was one of those insufferable know-it-all manly types that, inexplicably, whole shows are built around (The Mentalist, I'm looking at you), but actually he's not that bad. He's kind of sweet, in his way. And Walter, too: I love his combination of super-clever and very naive.

-Also Astrid, although what the show means to do with her I have no idea. At the moment it seems to be, well, passing things and answering the phone. She's lovely, and the actress is epically fanciable. Want more Astrid. Yes.

-And the cow. Dear cow, I like you.

Here's what I don't like:

-Naked women get tortured quite a bit, don't they? And then there's screaming. And I'm like... okay. Don't want or need.

-And I don't exactly dislike the homage, but I have seen The X-Files. It's not so far in history you can reuse its plots wholesale. Although, I appreciate it doesn't do the whole incredibly-stilted-monologue thing or the "let's turn down the lights! no, more!" thing. Instead it seems to use a swimming-pool palette, washed out blues and greens, which is nice and creepy without being invisible on VHS. (Not that this is a problem now, but oh, X-Files, way to stamp on my love.)

-Also, fringe science? I get that that's the thing, yes, but surely I am not the only person who wants to laugh sometimes at a show with the aesthetic and tone of The X-Files and the scientific realism of The Middleman. I mean. Really.

-Probably this is just me, but. I have the attention span of a gnat. Watching fifty-minute episodes is too long for me. I get twitchy in the middle, and fast-forward through the bits I'm sure are going to be some species of revolting. Really, I just have too short an attention-span for being a grown up. Surely there's some age you reach when the little man in your head doesn't jump up and down and shout, "I'm booooooooooored!"

Anyway. I am told I have to stick with it until the second season before it gets really good, and okay, I will try. But do I really have to watch another sixteen fifty-minute episodes? A whole bunch of you have lists of episodes that I actually need to watch in the first season. Please tell me.

In the meantime, I shall keep on watching this episode about a bald dude with no eyebrows, eat teacakes and feel sorry for self.

Comments

[eruthros]

I have a very long comment to put here, because I found the list I was using for thingswithwings - though I added a couple things too. Also, it's spoilery in the sense of describing what eps are major arcs and mentioning when things are backstory episodes or do somebody's family drama or whatever, especially when it's an episode that I'm ambivalent about. Anyway. That said, here is the spoilery list:

spoilers!

spoilers!


Okay so, in season one, this depends on whether or not you care about the Olivia's-relationship-with-John-Scott mourning/investigation plotline - it basically doesn't come up in the later show, but it's character backstory, so.

1x02 - Skip. Victim cam.

1x03 - Skip.

1x04 - Possibly watch. It's not very good, but it's an arc episode that introduces a lot of the things that appear later; if you're down with spoilers, you can probably get the wikipedia rundown and ignore the ep.

1x05 - Skip unless you want to watch the fifteen minutes of it about Olivia and John

1x06 - Possibly watch. The A plot is ludicrous, but the B plot is all Olivia's family backstory, which comes up a lot later. I told Megan to skip this one, but I think I was wrong - I had to pause the show a lot to explain Olivia's family later, plus it has a great scene with Olivia at the FBI that is in all the vids/fic and is one of the things lots of people love about her.

1x07 - Watch; necessary for main arc.

1x08 - This is iffy - it's not necessary for the arc plot, really, but Walter is so great in it! I had Megan watch it because she loves Walter's face, but if you are not a fan, skip it.

1x09 - Skip, unless you're doing the John Scott plotline - there's a bit of it here.

1x10 - Watch; necessary for main arc.

1x11 - Watch; necessary for main arc. Also, it is many other people's first season ep that made them fall for Olivia. (Spoilers: it has some noncon/dubcon/emotional manipulation overtones - if you want more info let me know.)

1x12 - Skip, unless you want to lol. This episode is so ludicrous it's almost great? I spent the whole ep repeating plot point to chagrined on IM.

1x13 - Skip, unless you're doing the John Scott plotline - there's a lot of it here.

1x14 - Watch; necessary for main arc and for Olivia's backstory.

1x15 - Skip.

1x16 - Skip, unless you want to watch for the lolz or because you really like Charlie Francis.

1x17 - Watch; necessary for main arc and for Olivia's backstory. (Spoilers: contains Discount Lesbians. Also suicidal ideation. If you want more info let me know.)

1x18 - Ugh, watch I guess? It's got major arc plotlines but is SO BAD geez.

1x19 - Yay the good stuff! Finally!

1x20 - Ditto!

[raven]

THIS COMMENT IS THE BEST. Seriously, thanks so much for this; I may actually get through it all at this rate!