Fringe: In Which We Meet Mr. Jones
By fred | November 12, 2008
(S01E07) Fringe is a good show, so far. I think it would be fair to say that, and while it’s not a complete hit or far from being what I’m sure many thought it would be, being the latest J.J. Abrams’ creation and all, it’s still a very good, modest hit. But it’s also very true to say it isn’t great, it still fails to become really appointment television, the thing you don’t want to miss and can’t wait for.
In the past that did try to move away from their formula, and this week kinda continued that way as, once again, the scientific mystery of the week was not based on Walter’s old work, which is always welcome. But, much like it’s done before already, Fringe still fails to become truly exciting on its own, and seems to always have to resort to the same tricks to get there.
Those tricks being a complicated and mysterious mythology surrounding what’s going on, a serialized part of the show growing more and more every day. And it’s not that it’s a bad thing in itself, but it’d be good that each and every case could individually be great and thrilling, without the need of a bigger serialized picture.
Cause this week, if you forget about the fact that Olivia met with the mysterious Mr Jones from the episode title (so I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of him), that entire trip to Germany was pretty boring, especially for the flirting bits. (Not to mention, she must have gotten there within the hour, given the time constraint Walter gave at first, Loeb having a day at best, and then Olivia flying to Germany, then spending the night there before finally getting to meet with Mr Jones.
This episode wasn’t quite exciting I felt, and it was nothing we haven’t seen before. Having some unidentified creature growing inside someone’s body isn’t new to the genre, neither is to the show seeing Walter excited and impressed by the beauty of the beast, while Peter is frustrated with his father, others wondering what they’re talking about, and of course, Agent Dunham, you once again hit it right on the spot, that thing about The Pattern we’ve been studying for years and have plenty of data about, yet never told you about it.
Oh sure, he “explained” it in the end, he does so because she works best when her curiosity is eager for more, but that’s a bunch a crap. Especially since I’m sure all the things he’s not telling her, there made of many answers and yet even more questions, so her curiosity would not be shut down, but quite the contrary I bet!
Take us. We were curious about what’s going on, and now that we met Mr Jones, and know that the gentleman lives in Little Hill, we’re just even more curious, because, well, what the Hell does any of that mean ?? Who/what is the gentleman ? What does Little Hill actually represents ? What did Mr Jones want to know about this, and why did he ask for it even though he kinda knew, as he told Olivia, that they were both manipulated to get such information ? Who does Loeb work for ??
The show gets mysterious when it pulls the serialized card out, like Peter finding out that yes, his father did experiment on him (child abuse anyone??), but the problem is that it doesn’t want to do it too much or too often, and fails to be exciting without it. I wish they could work this out, because they have what it takes to do it. The writing on the show is quite good, and they have some really fun characters. Walter is still Walter, and while him asking for mints is a known trick it still works, even when you know it’s coming. Plus, we’re getting used to it, others are not — see Broyles.
Some questions about the case itself :
* Last time, Olivia broke the rules it for a moment it looked like there were going to be consequences. Turns out there won’t be none, which is a bit disappointing I think.
* What the Hell was the Observer observing exactly ?? He’s usually there when an event linked to the Pattern is about to happen or happening, this week he was just waiting for Olivia to land in Germany… what’s there to observe here ? How is that linked to the Pattern ??
* Smith was conveniently shot so that they could ask a dead guy, something we all knew was possible since the pilot and saw coming the second he got shot. But why was he shot ?? Even without Olivia needing him, I bet there were plenty of questions the FBI could come up with for the guy, and I would imagine that instructions to get him alive should have been given, not to shoot to kill!
* Of course Loeb and his wife were in on the whole thing, easy to see coming, especially when Mr Jones is explaining what’s really going on here and how everyone is being manipulated. Now, as he told Olivia, she’s new to the game, plus she’s left in the dark by Broyles. So now let’s just be clear: there’s no way Broyles doesn’t suspect know Loeb was lying to him, and that he’s the one working some “some organization” connected to the Pattern, right?
* In the end Broyles made a little speech that could easily be directed as us, willing to know what the Hell is going on : “You’re not easily satisfied. You want everything and you want it now. In your mind somehow a small victory is no victory at all. (…) Stop whining about what you can’t know, can’t control, can’t change. (…) Tomorrow we’ll do this all over again, and guess what? You’ll have a million new answers and a million and one new questions.”
Of course, the thing is we barely get any answer at all from Fringe, we too are left in the complete dark, and again, it doesn’t help that this serialized element of the show seems to be the only way they managed to get thing exciting.
What’s your opinion of Fringe so far ? Are you happy with the way the show is going, wish it was more serialized, or just more exciting on a per-case basis ?
