Fringe, Ep. 5.12-13, “Liberty”/”An Enemy of Fate”: Heavy-handed finale delivers with character, if not plot

Fringe, Season 5, Episode 12: “Liberty”
Written by Alison Schapker
Directed by P. J. Pesce

Fringe, Season 5, Episode 13: “An Enemy of Fate”
Written by J. H. Wyman
Directed by J. H. Wyman
Aired Fridays at 9pm (ET) on FOX

This week, on Fringe: Olivia goes for a final jaunt Over There, Michael goes back to the future, and Peter gets a tulip.

After five seasons of interesting, thought-provoking genre television, Fringe wraps up its 100 episode run with these two installments, aired back-to-back. Throughout the series, character and philosophy have been the cornerstones for what could easily have become a predictable freak-of-the-week procedural and these priorities are clearly evident in the finale. While elements of the plot will leave some viewers puzzled and others annoyed, the crux of the show, its characters and their relationships, is intact, providing a heartfelt, if not wholly satisfying, goodbye.

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Fringe, Ep. 5.11, “The Boy Must Live”: Talky ep answers some questions, ignores others

This week, on Fringe: Donald lays out the plan, Michael has his own plan, and Astrid still has nothing to do

With the series finale looming large just two episodes (one week) away, “The Boy Must Live” has a clear focus, setting the stage for the final push. Much of the episode is spent answering questions the audience, and characters, have been wondering about all season. The gang finally meets up with Donald, make that September, who fortunately is able to lay out the answers. Herein lies the problem with this episode- rather than our characters working all season toward figuring out the plan (perhaps that should be The Plan, given its import over the past year), being active participants in the narrative, everyone sits down in a living room and has it told to them.

If you’re going to sit your characters down and have them told a story, it’d better be a compelling one, and though some will be very happy for the peeks we get of the future and the Observers’ origins, by far the most interesting elements of the episode are those outside of Donald’s apartment and those not even addressed. Windmark and the other Observer’s growing emotional depth is the highlight of the episode. It would appear Michael has a plan of his own, affecting the Observers and bringing out emotion in them. Between that and characters sitting around scheming to send Michael to a specific point in time to an unseen and undefined scientist, it’s clear which is more effective storytelling.

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Fringe, Ep. 5.09-10: Character, in very different ways, remains paramount in strong eps

Fringe has a tradition of doing at least one surrealist episode per season and this year, that episode is “Black Blotter”. As in “Brown Betty”, the noir-inspired musical episode from season two, Walter gets high and the episode around him reflects his mental state. Then it was with a potent strain of marijuana, here he’s on acid. Walter hopes his trip will help him recover the memories he needs to complete his plan against the Observers (so he’ll be able to have Nina remove the pieces of his brain turning him back into his older, crueler self) and, though he’s faced with visions of the lab assistant who burned to death years ago, causing his initial incarceration at St. Claire’s Mental Institution, acting as the devil on his shoulder, and Nina, the angel, he does manage to retrieve some lost memories, for better and worse.

The helpful memory is the password that allows the Fringe team to retrieve Michael, the child Observer, from the protective care of his guardians, a couple who’s adopted him. As for the rest, the episode implies that the original Walter may now be stronger than ever and that Walter may be coming closer and closer to a Dr. Jeckyll/Mr. Hyde-type personality split. The rest of the episode, outside of Walter’s POV, mostly serves to get the characters to Michael, though there is a nice shoutout to Sam Weiss, which serves as a reminder of the original timeline, in which Olivia met Michael and shared a bond with him. This naturally comes up towards the end of the episode, as Olivia attempts to reconstruct that same bond, as Michael seems unable to communicate.

Sound on Sight’s Best TV Shows of 2012

Once again the SOS staff have voted on their favorite TV shows of the last 12 months. As per usual, the results reflect our staff’s geographical spread over North America and the UK, with severa key British series sneaking into reasonably prominent positions. Two one-season wonders made it in as well, along with at least one veteran series that isn’t likely to return. Competition was fiercer this year, as making it in required more votes than last year thanks to more contributor voting, but ultimately our #1 won out pretty soundly. For more 2012 retrospective talk, tune into The Televerse over the coming weeks.

24. Fringe

As it approaches its series finale, which will air mid-January, Fringe has remained a beacon of intelligent, character-based sci-fi at a time when sci-fi has all but disappeared from network television. Anna Torv, John Noble, and Joshua Jackson gave fantastic performances over the course of the year, bringing nuance and depth to characters we’ve come to love and yet still managing to surprise us. The final season jumped forward significantly, taking quite a risk in the process, yet this transition has gone far smoother than one might have expected, bringing new challenges, both physical and emotional, to our characters while still keeping true to the core of the series as a reflection on family and the choices we make to preserve the ones we love. (K.K.)

23. Bob’s Burgers

It may have taken some time to catch on, but Bob’s Burgers has finally started to get the accolades it deserves, at least among critics. 2012 saw all of season two as well as a significant chunk of season three, including the fantastic three-pack holiday specials “Full Bars” (Halloween), “An Indecent Thanksgiving Proposal” (Thanksgiving), and “God Rest Ye Merry Gentle-Mannequins” (Christmas). With inventive voice casting and some of the most infectiously enthusiastic characters on television, the past year has solidified Bob’s Burgers as among the most reliable and entertaining network series going. (K.K.)

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Fringe-inspired “White Tulip” print by Anthony Petrie

Fringe, Ep. 5.04, “The Bullet That Saved the World”: Tragic twist ups stakes, finality of season

Fringe Review, Season 5, Episode 4: “The Bullet That Saved the World”
Written by Alison Schapker
Directed by David Straiton
Airs Fridays at 9pm (ET) on FOX

This week, on Fringe: Broyles returns, Walter loves Detective Comics, and Olivia gets her necklace back

With Fringe rocketing towards its series finale (only nine episodes left), something had to happen to kick what has been a solid but somewhat languidly paced season into a higher gear. That happens this week with the death of Etta. Fringe is no stranger to plot developments straight out of left field, but this is a particular surprise given what we know of the season so far as well as the show’s central themes of family and parenthood.

Writer Alison Schapker sets up the surprise by first establishing Etta’s necessity to the group. No one else is able to block the Observers’ scans, a weakness which nearly kills Peter at the beginning of the episode; we later learn that this is an at least year-long process, implying Etta’ll have to be around for a while. We get further solidification of her role on the show by the inclusion of yet another touching scene between Olivia and Etta. Season five has been rife with these and those we get this week feel very similar in tone to the previous ones; Schapker is careful not to tip her hand.

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Fringe, Ep. 5.02, “In Absentia”: Restraint promises quiet, intelligent arc

Fringe, Season 5, Episode 2: “In Absentia”
Written by David Fury
Directed by Jeannot Szwarc
Airs Fridays at 9pm (ET) on FOX

This week, on Fringe: Etta does some questioning, Peter goes undercover, and Walter carves up an eye

After last week’s tense, action-filled premiere, things slow down a bit with “In Absentia”. We pick up not long after we left off, with the team working to piece together Walter’s former plan. After the rosy reintroductions in the premiere, this week we start to see the cracks in Etta’s thus far squeaky clean exterior. Last week, the world felt bleak. Here, it’s the people.

Writer David Fury brings a matter of fact-ness to the desensitization of his characters. Though the method of torture Etta uses on the Loyalist who stumbles across the team is appropriately futuristic and essentially ages the victim, a Fringe take on the Machine from The Princess Bride, the attitude of both sides of the interrogation is almost nonchalant. The Loyalist is clearly not happy with his predicament and does all he can think of to escape it, but there’s a strong sense of resignation about him, particularly around Etta. The Loyalists and Rebels have an established, known relationship; both sides have become inured to violence and their opposition’s humanity.

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The Televerse (TV PODCAST) #57- Spotlight on The Good Wife/Louie season 3 with Josh Spiegel

Premiere season has begun and with it, the yearly deluge of series pilots and returns. It’s a mega-packed Televerse this week- we begin with a recap of our takes on several of the new pilots, which we discussed at greater length in our Fall Preview (Ben and Kate, The Mindy Project, Last Resort, Elementary, 666 Park Ave.), then take a quick look at the Emily Owens, M.D. pilot which has been released online, and then we get into our week in TV. This week, along with a slew of new shows, several favorites have returned, and one reaches its fall finale. Our show list for this week is: New Girl, Vegas, Parenthood, The Neighbors, Key and Peele, Parks and Rec, Childrens Hospital, NTSF:SD:SUV::, Made in Jersey, Fringe, Doctor Who, The Thick of It, The Amazing Race, Bob’s Burgers, Call the Midwife, Treme, Homeland, The Voice, Alphas, and Revolution. Then, after spotlighting this week’s The Good Wife premiere, “I Fought the Law”, we welcome Josh Spiegel of Mousterpiece Cinema to the show to help us take a longer look at what has been a fantastic season three for Louie.