Beware of spoilers for the season finale of Fringe.

"Fringe Science is scientific inquiry in an established field of study which departs significantly from mainstream or orthodox theories, and is classified in the 'fringes' of a credible mainstream academic discipline. Mainstream scientists typically regard fringe concepts as highly speculative or strongly refuted..." [Wikipedia]

Co-created by JJ Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, they take the concept of Fringe Science and create a new FOX television series which this past week had its first season finale. Fringe, which is inspired by "the writings of Michael Crichton, the Ken Russel film Altered States, and the television series The X-Files and The Twilight Zone" has achieved mostly positive feedback and is considered to be the highest rated freshmen show of this television season, however, is all of that jazz worth it? Now, after a full season of Fringe, does it live up to what we the viewer expect out of our serialized scripted science fiction dramas? Does the season finale deliver on story, drama and the overall oohs and ahhs the viewer wants to see during a season finale to hold us over or to have something to chew on until the next season?

The best and quickest way to answer that is by simply saying; for the most part, yes it does.

The season finale, "There's more than one of everything" is host to a few surprises, most of which makes this show crazier than it was when the series premiered. Let me get this out of the way first; I love Fringe and I loved it since the beginning. With all of the work coming from JJ Abrams and his company Bad Robot - I'm automatically starting to really enjoy whatever they produce which includes Lost, Cloverfield and of course Star Trek. I understand that many people complain and dislike Fringe because it's scientifically ridiculous but television dramas are about entertainment not education, at least that's how I feel about it. When I watch Fringe and TV shows like that, I watch it to see what crazy monster or obscene plague is going to kill everyone - I don't watch it to see if the writers are getting the science right. I honestly don't give a shit. Am I entertained? Yes and that's the important part - that's why people come back every week. With all that said, I do recognize why the science of a show is important but I personally don't believe it's necessary when scripted shows, especially science fiction, ask you to step out of reality and just have fun.

The one thing that Fringe and it's production team has done brilliantly is the casting - It's with no small measure that I say the cast is fantastic, especially John Noble who plays Walter Bishop. Walter, of course, is the mad scientist who's mentally troubled but a complete genius. Noble brings humor and brilliance to his character that may make him one of my favorite characters of the year. Anna Torv is a really good looking woman - there's no doubt there. Although I love her character and there could be some great development with Olivia Dunham, she at times feels a bit wooden which is such a cliche thing to say but that's the only term that comes to mind. Still, however, overall Torv has been exceptional and I only see improvement in the future of this show and her career. As a side note, Torv will be in the upcoming HBO miniseries Pacific which is sort of a sequel (not really) to Band of Brothers. Joshua Jackson really lucked out with getting the role of Peter Bishop, the estranged son of Walter Bishop, ... at least in this reality. Jackson, if you didn't know, auditioned for the role of James T. Kirk in Star Trek but obviously didn't get it. Lucky for him, JJ Abrams put him on the path for Fringe and it's all been fun from there. Lance Reddick who plays Phillip Broyles is awesome! He brings such presence and authority to his character; since the pilot, the way that he and Dunham introduced their characters, I'm very glad with their development as colleagues and friends. You can see after their shaky start, they now hold a mutual respect for each other. As for the rest of the cast which includes Kirk Acevedo (Charlie), Jasika Nicole (Astrid) and Blair Brown (Nina Sharp), I can only say good things.

Fringe is easily one of the most difficult shows to explain but in an attempt to write this review, here's a little synopsis of the finale. After the shooting of Nina Sharp, Dunham's investigation leads her to David Robert Jones. Jones apparently steals a powerful energy source from Sharp's artificial arm to use on a device that will open a window to an alternate reality in an attempt to locate William Bell. In the episode before, The Observer finds Walter Bishop and escorts him to a house on a beach, a home that Walter owns. There he looks for a device - a device that could "plug" the window Jones wants to create. Here in the last two episodes, Fringe explores alternate realities and the ability to see and potentially visit them.

The overall finale of Fringe is the usual - intriguing, fast paced, fun yet serious and good on a production level. The finale brings us some answers and questions - answers and questions that will have consequences in the second season. I'm going to touch on two of them here; Peter Bishop is dead! The child that Walter Bishop raised died some years after he was born, so who is the Peter Bishop we know now? If you watched the episode, you'll know that Peter was taken from another reality by Walter, brought into this reality and raised as his son. The frightening aspect of that is Walter, essentially, kidnapped his own son bringing him over to our side of the universe. I'm very much looking forward to seeing the consequences of his actions especially once Peter finds out. I suspect Peter won't be that upset but he'll probably feel like someone walk over his grave especially since his other self is buried somewhere.

Leonard Nimoy - As a uber-Star Trek fan, it's amazing that I get to see Leonard Nimoy in two different roles within the last five days. First we saw him reprise the role of Spock in Star Trek and now we saw him introduced as William Bell, the pivotal Massive Dynamics owner. After Olivia helps save the day and stop Jones from his plot, Nina Sharp agrees to set up a meeting with Olivia and Bell - a meeting that she's been waiting for all season. If you've been following the series, you'll know that Bell is a suspect in the bio attacks that have been going on all season but I think it's safe to say that Bell isn't the culprit. In fact, he's not even in our reality and that's obvious with the very last shot in the episode. When Bell doesn't show up for their meeting, Olivia leaves the restaurant she was waiting in while in New York. She goes into an elevator then suddenly sees a bright flash. The doors open, she's greeted by a good looking extra and brought to an office. As she waits, the doors open and in comes William Bell who introduces himself. Olivia walks towards the window only to see herself standing in one of the World Trade Center towers - an existence where September 11th, 2001 apparently never took place - the end. It wasn't an explosive ending that I usually like seeing in finale's but it's sure enough to chew on until next season. The opening for the season two premiere should be a very interesting conversation between Bell and Dunham - that alone is what I'm excited to see.

Sadly, there wasn't much more character development and that's one of the faults of Fringe. Although we do see our lead cast develop, most of it moves along slightly episode after episode. At this point, we still don't know much more than we did when the pilot aired, however, I believe what we did get is enough to continue enjoying this series. Now that the first season is done, I hope that the writers look at the response from Fringe viewers and critics, look at their opinions and improve on the series. Fringe definitely can become one of the best series on television along side the likes of Lost, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and the recently finished Battlestar Galactica.

In a short conclusion - I love Fringe, I love the characters and I'm very excited to see the second season. I only hope the continued success of Bad Robot and all of their family which includes series creators Abrams, Orci and Kurtzman. With luck, this won't be the last of their exceptional creations.

-Phil

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