How does the second episode fare with the Bureau? We’ll start with a recap review….
Fringe Review: The Same Old Story
Cast and Crew
Director: Paul Edwards
Writers: J. J. Abrams, Jeff Pinkner, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci
Anna Torv as Olivia Dunham
Joshua Jackson as Peter Bishop
John Noble as Dr. Walter Bishop
Kirk Acevedo as Charlie Francis
Blair Brown as Nina Sharp
Lance Reddick as Philip Broyles
Jaskika Nicole as Astrid Farnsworth
Mark Blum as Dr. Penrose
Derek Cecil as Christopher
Betty Gilpin as Loraine
Synopsis
An unexpected pregnancy leads the team to a mystery involving an unsolved case from Agent Dunham’s past, mad science from Dr. Bishop’s lab, and expository dialogue from most of the cast.
High Point
The underlying premise of the episode created an interesting mystery of the sort one might expect on this show. The notion that Dunham’s former partner was covering up “Pattern”-related evidence to past cases could serve Fringe well.
Low Points
The “retinal camera.” Given the amount of mad science already present in the film, did they need this, too? They might have tracked their killer in a number of other, more interesting, premise-related ways. And is anyone keeping track of Dr. Bishop’s inventions? Will they be reused?
Those obtrusive and often unnecessary place-name titles make it look like everything has large stone signs out front. They reflect, however, the script’s high levels of obtrusive expository dialogue.
The Scores
Originality: 3 out of 6. This still plays like The X-Files with wonkier science.
Effects: 5/6.
Story: 4/6. The story improves on the first episode. I found the mystery interesting, and they sold the underlying solution as possible, if we accept the series’ pseudo-SF world. They’re still cluttering too much mad science into one story. Why do more with the initial premise, instead of side-tracking into the retinal camera? It’s like a shared-universe comic-book adventure. I find it too much for television, and does not encourage interesting plot resolution.
Acting: 4/6 This remains uneven, though the actors faced a challenge delivering that “As you know, Bob” introduction. John Noble gives an interesting performance as a sanity-challenged genius.
Production: 5/6 This remains top-notch.
Continuity note: The weather isn’t a huge concern; we make allowances for series television. As a resident of the Great Lakes Basin, I’m certainly aware that in some parts of the world, the weather in spring and autumn gets set to “shuffle.” However, I couldn’t help but notice that it was snowing last week, and we saw clear signs of winter. This episode seems to follow the pilot closely in time, yet winter appears long past.
Emotional response: 3/6. The second episode begins better than the pilot, but that only set the bar high for budget, not quality. It did not follow through, and failed to be consistently disturbing or interesting.
Overall: 4/6.
“The Same Old Story” receives twenty-eight out of forty-two.
continuity
There did seem to be a bit of a continuity mistake right at the beginning. The nurse began screaming as soon as the baby was extracted from it’s mothers womb, however when explained to the team it was said that they didn’t notice any weirdness until they went to place the baby in a bassinet.
Re: continuity
Another question might be, why would a trained nurse be screaming like a girl in a horror movie in the first place?
Advertising
Perhaps off-topic, but I appreciate how they are handling commercial breaks in Fringe. When I see the little Fringe logo and "Fringe will return in 60 seconds" it keeps my twitchy finger off the skip button on my Tivo. And the targeting of the commercials seems to be much better than usual. I’ve been interested in most of the products or movies being advertised so I really lay off the skip button because I’m curious to see what they will show me next. Ads for the Spore video game, the Max Payne movie, etc.
The day I start seeing ads for roach spray and tampons I’ll go back to hugging the remote like I do for most TV shows.
Re: Advertising
I appreciate it, because it tells me how many times to press the "skip ahead 30 seconds" button.
the weather
there’s a quote from somewhere, i think it was a stand up comedian, about how New York City is the only place where you can leave your house, get in a cap and on the way to your destination across town pass through snow, rain, and sunshine and then back to snow. Boston isn’t much different.
The pilot ep seemed to take place during a spring thaw (based on the low volume of snow on the ground) so the weather in this ep seemed fine to me.
the floating location indicators
i actually like them … they’re a lot more interesting them some really generic overlays — particularly when they cast shadows or show up in reflections — as long as people dont’ start leaning on them or bumping their heads on them i don’t see a problem.
Jon Carol (of the SF Chronicle) pointed out however that they probably cost some money, and that money probably could have been better spent on script tightening.
The X-Files
This episode did feel a lot like The X-Files, specifically the episode Squeeze.
There’s a mysterious serial killer on the loose. Every so many years he pops up, kills 5 people and extracts their (livers/pituitary glands). He uses these to keep himself alive until the next killing spree. Luckily an FBI agent has put the pieces together and is going to track him down …
Of course Squeeze is still a fan favorite even years later. Somehow I don’t see this episode holding up nearly as well. In addition to the issues already mentioned there’s also a problem with conservation of mass/energy in the growth of the "baby".
Is the X-Files topic icon for this story an accident or a commentary?
deliberate
Congratulations! If we had some real money ’round here, you would win a prize.
Re: The X-Files
Alt-reality gamma radiation leaked from the Marvel Universe, of course. (Super-soldier serum works the same way).
Creeeeeepy
So what was that all about at the end? Was he trying to say that his son was "grown" as well? Really creepy flash back on the last shot too.
Re: Creeeeeepy
Possibly not grown, but almost certainly experimented on
Re: Creeeeeepy
Nah, but he was definitely an experiment. Recall that as soon as he first saw his son in the asylum in the pilot, he tried to check all sorts of vitals (and looked at his eyes), and he still asks him a few times about other physiological details.
It’s not just crazy talk, there’s a method to his madness.
Low Point
No kidding about that low point. It knocked be right off my willing suspension of disbelief for a while until I decided, ok, in this universe anything mad science enough seems to work.
The pet mad scientist’s son’s steampunk goggles help remind me of this.