the_other_sandy (
the_other_sandy) wrote2008-09-09 09:05 pm
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Fringe Ep: Pilot
Maybe I just went into this show with the wrong expectations.
A show about fringe science, or pseudoscience, conjures images of The X-Files, only without the aliens and black oil, and the show got off to a great start in that direction with some bizarre condition causing the tissue to melt right off the passengers of an international flight. I was looking forward to seeing what strange twists and turns the investigation would take. Instead, I got to watch our intrepid heroine, FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham, frantically scramble to save her boyfriend/partner Special Agent John Scott from the same condition.
What? Investigating the freakish deaths of the airline passengers wasn't cool or engaging enough? The plot could only become interesting if the heroine was out to save her boyfriend? How is that going to play out for a season-long TV series? She can't be saving someone she loves every week.
I might've been able to adjust to the way the show deviated from my expectations if I cared at all about any of the people in it. The only thing I had time to find out about Agt. Scott before his coma was that he's having an against-regulations romance with his partner and gives her inappropriate smoochies while they're on duty, so I didn't really care if he lived or died. I suspect that Agt. Dunham was intended to be a strong woman, but she was undermined by her first screen appearance being of her naked in bed with her partner ([sarcasm] because everyone knows men and women can't work closely together and remain professional [/sarcasm]). This was followed by her questioning the assignments given to her by her supervisor (always the best way to put yourself on the fast track to promotion at the FBI), making empty threats she couldn't possibly back up every whipstitch in an effort to look tough, and attempting to communicate with her comatose partner's mind while floating in a tank of water in her underwear. I suppose I should be grateful for the underwear.
The nutjob doctor and his son didn't make much of an impression on me either, except to wonder how Dr. Bishop managed to go from an incoherent wreck babbling about butterscotch pudding to a mostly lucid scientist in the space of one beard shave.
I cared so little about anything that was going on that I switched over to Eureka two-thirds of the way through and didn't bother with the ending. Did I miss anything? Was it good enough to make up for all the crap that came before?
I might give this show one more shot just because of the premise (after all, it's not like Agt. Dunham will be saving her boyfriend every week--I hope), but I'm really not holding my breath that I'll become a regular viewer.
ETA: Corrected the pudding flavor for
ga_unicorn. 8-P
A show about fringe science, or pseudoscience, conjures images of The X-Files, only without the aliens and black oil, and the show got off to a great start in that direction with some bizarre condition causing the tissue to melt right off the passengers of an international flight. I was looking forward to seeing what strange twists and turns the investigation would take. Instead, I got to watch our intrepid heroine, FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham, frantically scramble to save her boyfriend/partner Special Agent John Scott from the same condition.
What? Investigating the freakish deaths of the airline passengers wasn't cool or engaging enough? The plot could only become interesting if the heroine was out to save her boyfriend? How is that going to play out for a season-long TV series? She can't be saving someone she loves every week.
I might've been able to adjust to the way the show deviated from my expectations if I cared at all about any of the people in it. The only thing I had time to find out about Agt. Scott before his coma was that he's having an against-regulations romance with his partner and gives her inappropriate smoochies while they're on duty, so I didn't really care if he lived or died. I suspect that Agt. Dunham was intended to be a strong woman, but she was undermined by her first screen appearance being of her naked in bed with her partner ([sarcasm] because everyone knows men and women can't work closely together and remain professional [/sarcasm]). This was followed by her questioning the assignments given to her by her supervisor (always the best way to put yourself on the fast track to promotion at the FBI), making empty threats she couldn't possibly back up every whipstitch in an effort to look tough, and attempting to communicate with her comatose partner's mind while floating in a tank of water in her underwear. I suppose I should be grateful for the underwear.
The nutjob doctor and his son didn't make much of an impression on me either, except to wonder how Dr. Bishop managed to go from an incoherent wreck babbling about butterscotch pudding to a mostly lucid scientist in the space of one beard shave.
I cared so little about anything that was going on that I switched over to Eureka two-thirds of the way through and didn't bother with the ending. Did I miss anything? Was it good enough to make up for all the crap that came before?
I might give this show one more shot just because of the premise (after all, it's not like Agt. Dunham will be saving her boyfriend every week--I hope), but I'm really not holding my breath that I'll become a regular viewer.
ETA: Corrected the pudding flavor for
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And sadly you did not miss much by switching to Eureka. More government/big business conspiracy. Ho-hum. Yawn. Saw that for way too many years on X-Files. Maybe, eventually, some alien stuff - but so far, not.
Just so you'll know and not stay up nights worrying about it: boyfriend saved - boyfriend turns out to be working for bad guys - boyfriend gets dead after giving girlfriend crytic warning. Yawn again.
I should have watched Eureka.
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The boyfriend was working for the bad guys? That I didn't see coming. I figured he'd either die valiantly or survive and be the love interest.
Thanks for letting me know how it ended. I always have this niggling doubt when I give up on a book or TV show that I quit too soon and missed something that would've made everything that came before worthwhile. I'm glad to see I guessed right in this case.
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