More Fringe and Yuletide
Sep. 29th, 2010 06:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
icepixieOkay, so I've watched seven episodes of Fringe now, and I think I've pinned down what's bugging me about the series. First, let me say that I like all the characters so far--I think Peter and Nina are my favorites, Peter for the snark and Nina for the creep factor. Olivia's gradually getting some backstory as well, and I'm starting to like her a lot too. And we can't forget Charlie. I'm totally shipping Peter/Olivia, but this is probably not news to anybody. I'm thinking--okay, no one's going to get this reference, but I'll make it anyway--that Walter and Sydney Bloom's dad (VR.5) would have a lot to talk about if they ever met up.
But I think what's annoying me just a tiny bit is the formula. Every episode is pretty much structured around the following steps: Crazy thing happens. Walter either worked on it back in the seventies or knows enough about it to solve the problem. They fix the crazy thing, and whether the victim of the week lives or dies appears to be chosen by flipping a coin. At various points, Broyles will mention similarities to another Pattern case.
The thing is...okay, I shouldn't be comparing this show so much to the X-Files because it's its own show, but on XF, sometimes Mulder was right. Scully did what she could, but sometimes the Mothman was just a Mothman and logic just didn't cut it, you know? And here, so far, it's always been explained by Walter's Amazing Theories That Have Just Enough Scientific Veneer To Sound Plausible. I'm ready for the answer to come from somewhere else. I'm waiting for something unexplainable by science, or for Walter to actually be stumped, or for someone else to figure out the solution to the case of the week, or the case of the week not to have a solution. I'm waiting for a break in the formula.
Granted, things are being livened up by clone!John Scott (or maybe he's a ghost? I'm thinking clone, myself), and like I said above, I like the characters and their interactions enough to overlook the more-procedural-than-I-care-for aspect of the stories so far, but I'm hoping things get less samey later on. I've been trying to avoid spoilers, but I've gotten the tentative impression that later episodes of S1 do indeed develop more of an ongoing story/become less procedural, so that's good.
Alas, wb.com only has streaming versions through episode ten, so in not too long I'll have to go back to Netflix speed. (My library has S1, but it's got about a zillion holds on it, alas.)
*
I'm thinking slightly more seriously than usual about doing Yuletide this year. I'm still pretty sure I won't, because I hate writing to prompts, but I've got a mental list of fandoms I'd request if I were to do it. (To wit: B5, Northern Exposure, Moira J. Moore's Heroes series, and various Astaire/Rogers films.)
But I think what's annoying me just a tiny bit is the formula. Every episode is pretty much structured around the following steps: Crazy thing happens. Walter either worked on it back in the seventies or knows enough about it to solve the problem. They fix the crazy thing, and whether the victim of the week lives or dies appears to be chosen by flipping a coin. At various points, Broyles will mention similarities to another Pattern case.
The thing is...okay, I shouldn't be comparing this show so much to the X-Files because it's its own show, but on XF, sometimes Mulder was right. Scully did what she could, but sometimes the Mothman was just a Mothman and logic just didn't cut it, you know? And here, so far, it's always been explained by Walter's Amazing Theories That Have Just Enough Scientific Veneer To Sound Plausible. I'm ready for the answer to come from somewhere else. I'm waiting for something unexplainable by science, or for Walter to actually be stumped, or for someone else to figure out the solution to the case of the week, or the case of the week not to have a solution. I'm waiting for a break in the formula.
Granted, things are being livened up by clone!John Scott (or maybe he's a ghost? I'm thinking clone, myself), and like I said above, I like the characters and their interactions enough to overlook the more-procedural-than-I-care-for aspect of the stories so far, but I'm hoping things get less samey later on. I've been trying to avoid spoilers, but I've gotten the tentative impression that later episodes of S1 do indeed develop more of an ongoing story/become less procedural, so that's good.
Alas, wb.com only has streaming versions through episode ten, so in not too long I'll have to go back to Netflix speed. (My library has S1, but it's got about a zillion holds on it, alas.)
*
I'm thinking slightly more seriously than usual about doing Yuletide this year. I'm still pretty sure I won't, because I hate writing to prompts, but I've got a mental list of fandoms I'd request if I were to do it. (To wit: B5, Northern Exposure, Moira J. Moore's Heroes series, and various Astaire/Rogers films.)
