FRINGE TV Review
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FRINGE TV Review
Created by J.J. Abrams
Starring Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson
by Jen Frankel
"FRINGE" Excels At Being Heart-Breakingly Average
J.J. Abrams promised that his new television drama, "Fringe," would be easier to follow than his runaway mind-bending hit, "Lost." Time will tell on that count, but the big question is how many will tune in to find out.
There is so much going right here that it's deeply frustrating to have to pinpoint what's going wrong. The cast is superb, from the charismatic lead, Anna Torv, in her debut as the passionate and tenacious agent Olivia Dunham to Joshua Jackson in a fully grown-up post-Dawson turn as son of deranged scientist Walter Bishop.The story is full of intriguing elements as well, but there's something so hackneyed about the way Abrams and his four fellow Executive Producers handles the action that makes everything seem a little stale.
It could be the cliched dialogue which again and again hits the nail on the head. The actors are emoting their asses off, but insist on stating the obvious at every turn. If only life were so easy, and if only this television series could rely more on the visual instead of treating the audience as if its intelligence was strictly sub-par.
It's not a surprise that the cinematographer was the same who worked with Abrams on the nearly-unwatchable and polarizing "Cloverfield." Maybe the same Abrams fans who enjoyed its shaky hand held look will find something to appreciate in Fringe's dull color palette and constantly moving frame. He was also the shooter on Alias, which had a far more interesting look however, so maybe there's something of Abrams hand in the visual boredom.
This is a show with an intriguing first episode that nonetheless manages to tell us very little about what's to come - not in a "Lost" way but as if the "X-Files" had lacked its very basic central conflict between Scully's skepticism and Mulder's gullibility. What's at stake is not clear, and the characters seem less driven and more written into their choices.The motto here might be "I Want To Care."
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