TV GUIDE: Ask Matt: Nashville, Fringe, Castle, Suburgatory and More
Oct 22, 2012
by Matt Roush
Send your questions and comments to askmatt@tvguidemagazine.com and follow on Twitter!
... Question: I'm a big fan of your column, but have never felt compelled to write you until now. I am a loyal viewer of Fringe, and was excited when it was given a fifth and final season. Unfortunately, this season has been really disappointing. I'm frankly shocked by just how different the show feels now. It's like watching a completely different story. All the themes and connective story threads are gone, and the Observers even seem different than they did the first few seasons of the show. And on top of that, it's kind of boring. I even fell asleep during the last episode. Maybe I'm being too harsh, but I'm curious if others are reacting the same way? Are there different people writing it now? I really want to like the show, and I'll probably keep watching in hopes of a payoff, but the whole thing strikes me as really strange. Would love to know your thoughts. — Nick
Matt Roush: I've seen some backlash this season (especially on Twitter, where haters flourish), and some of that is understandable, but it has dogged Fringe in previous seasons as well, in part because of the show's tendency to more or less reinvent itself every season. This is certainly the most radical shift yet, with the time jump and the evolution (devolution?) of the Observers to "Invaders," as they were called in the most recent episode. I enjoyed the season opener, but would agree the following two episodes felt awfully ponderous, even predictable: Ella and Olivia arguing over the treatment of the captured "loyalist," and then the parable of heroism involving the "recordist" who decided it was time to stop mapping history and start making it, even if it required sacrifice. But the buzz is strong about this Friday's episode (which features the return of Broyles), and after all we've gone through to get to this point, I'm not about to give up on Fringe now. There's still quite a bit of story to tell this season, and it's bound to get more dramatic soon. But in a shortened final season, every episode is supposed to count, so I understand the disappointment when one or more falls flat.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE EPISODE TRAILER FOR FRINGE'S 'THE BULLET THAT SAVED THE WORLD' AIRING FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2012 AT 9/8C ON FOX
No comments:
Post a Comment