The Tail Section

Does ‘Fringe’ Live Up to ‘Lost’?

Lost Recaps — September 16, 2008 at 6:00 am by browe30

Fringe, J. J. Abrams’ first new show since Lost began airing in 2004, premiered last week and shared several elements with Lost.  Both were created by Abrams, produced by Bryan Burk, and feature Lance Reddick.  They also both started with a scene on a plane and center around pseudo scientifically supernatural events, but in terms of quality, can Fringe compare to Lost?  The answer is a resounding no.  It doesn’t even come close.


Fringe takes a somewhat interesting, if unoriginal, concept and utterly fails to execute it properly.  The show is quite visually interesting, but underachieved uniformly in every other aspect.  The plot was wholly predictable, the dialogue was cheesy and the characters read like a list of TV show clichés.  Smart, sexy FBI agent willing to play by her own rules to get the job done?  Check.  An authoritative, patronizing boss for said FBI agent?  Check.  Eccentric genius whose brilliance is matched only by his insanity? Check.  And if those weren’t enough to satisfy your thirst for uninspired characters, they even threw in a naysayer to do nothing but point out how ridiculous the group’s plan was several dozens times.  Apparently, when it comes to television stereotypes, three’s a crowd, but four’s just right.

These characters might have still been worth watching if they were well acted.  Unfortunately, this is not the case.  Anna Torv gives what is sure to become the most dull, wooden performance of the fall season in the lead role of Olivia Dunham.  The rest of the cast, while not terrible, fails to arouse interest with performances that were nothing above average.

Not to be outdone, the writers (J.J. Abrams, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman) produced a script that ensured that the characters and the actors who portrayed them were not the worst thing the show had to offer.  The plot was predictable and had gaping holes in logic.  It centers around Olivia’s co-worker/secret lover John Scott who has contracted a never-before seen disease.  She must race to find a cure to the mysterious ailment and who created it (Spoiler: She does).  At one point a dangerous, criminally insane scientist is released from a high security prison/institution and all he needed was a signature from a blood relative.  Evidently getting released from a high security prison is as simple as getting released from elementary school.  Later on, the aforementioned scientist claims that the only way to do a certain possible live-saving experiment is for Olivia to be naked.  No reason why is asked for or given, but one would assume it has something to do with him just having gotten out of prison after a long sentence.  The story finally culminates in a "twist" that, while somewhat unexpected, just seemed forced and pointless.

On the whole the Fringe pilot was just a sub-par rehash of what sci-fi fans will have seen a million times before.  It does contain a few interesting moments that show it could get better as the series progresses, but as of now, all it is is a disappointing follow up show from the man who created the far superior Lost.  Do you agree or disagree?  Sound off below.

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