I must admit, this was a very strong and promising pilot. From its creepy, see-thru zombie like creatures to the teensy bit corny moments, witty banter and eerily familiar issues with our ever advancing science, FRINGE puts on a great premiere episode and I look forward to watching more of it (even though I will probably only be able to watch it if someone is watching with me because I'm a wuss and can't watch alone.) Now, let's proceed to a breakdown of this solid, first episode.
OPENING SCENES
ahhh... the ole airplanes in a storm scene....(reminds me of Lost! lol...) Ok... you know sh*t is about to go down when there's a creepy, sweaty man who can't just sit still during a traditional electric storm. So he injects himself with an insulin shot that turns out to be ingested with chemicals that by contact of the electricity or whatever...(not really sure) turns the whole plane into a f*cked up zombie looking gut, flesh, and bone death trap.....but LUCKILY! because of our progressive technology! the plane is able to land itself! (hmm.. good to know that if this were to actually happen, a plane carrying a deadly virus could safely land itself to infect all of us =/ yikes!] Moving on... the credits remind me of House in that it shows different symbols and icons that represent the eerie FRINGE science of it all. Very nice touch with the end of icon "Fringe" piecing together or dissolving (just like what one would imagine is... Fringe-like.)
PLOT & CHARACTERS
So if you're a bitter, jaded pessimist like me... you'd take one look at that relationship between Olivia and Agent Scott and KNOW he is definitely UP to something. Inter-office relationships... always bad. Especially when you're initially shown in a skeezy motel-after sex romp scene, followed by a call to report for duty in which lover (aka Agent Scott) acts like ur just another colleague when people are around. Later, after a seemingly awkward conversation in which "i love you"'s are exchanged, we see Agent Scott suffer a chemical explosion that leaves him looking like those plane victims.
Unfortunately, no one knows how to stop the toxins from spreading. So Olivia researches for a doctor or scientist specializing in flesh and finds Dr. Bishop. (she must have a great Google filter since she found the best guy for the job after one search!) We come to find out Dr. Bishop is, well...a little nutty. A very vague account of an experiment gone wrong that landed an assistant dead and him in the mental asylum is introduced, thereby needing his next of kin to be summoned since only immediate family can visit. Enter Pacey--er, I mean, Peter Bishop. High IQ, in debt, and on the run who despises his father and is reluctant to help Olivia but obviously there is an attraction and were already rooting for this clearly BETTER man.
So we find that Dr. Bishop was once the head of Fringe science (science that involves weird freaky stuff that isn't real or is it?!) and he shared a lab with Massive Dynamics CEO William Bell. (who we also find isn't very cooperative and has a snooty, spooky assistant with freaky robot arm!) To make a LONG story short, we witness Olivia do everything in her power to save her beloved Agent Scott (including some freaky LSD, brain-probing experiment and chasing down Creepy Sweaty Man's twin who used to work for William Bell and killed his own brother). Finally, with the help of ever-so-sweet and saving the day Pace--er, Peter (sorry), Olivia is able to get the info she needs in order for them to reverse the chemical reaction and save Agent Scott. With all this great detective work under her belt, she is approached by a superior who is impressed by her work and wants her to work for him in investigating additional weird scientific occurrences that seem to make up a "pattern." But Olivia doesn't want to hear it. She just wants to go back to before. Meaning she's more concerned with getting back to Agent Scott.
...but here's the twist.
Agent Scott WAS IN ON THE PLANE'S WEIRD ZOMBIE DEATH TRAP! He actually put the twin brother up to sacrificing his brother's life in order to unleash the chemicals! WTF!!! So then the newly cured Agent Scott kills the twin brother as Olivia is rushing back to the hospital to warn everyone. A car chase ensues and Mr. I Love You is now trying to run Olivia off the road! (i knew he was a jerk!) But Karmas a bitch and his SUV flips over. Olivia rushes to his side and despite her efforts, he doesn't give her the name of who he was working for. Poor girl. After spending almost the entire episode trying to save the man she loves, he turns out to have been the enemy. So with her freshly broken heart and trust and all the other craziness she's witnessed in the past few days, she realizes... maybe she really can't go back to before.
So she rushes back to the lab where Dr. Bishop and Peter are about to leave. Apparently, Dr. Bishop has briefed Peter on the freaky experiments he and William Bell used to do in their old lab. Now Peter wants to get the hell away from there ASAP. But....the attraction is strong and once Olivia asks for their help.... it's clear we're witnessing the beginning of a wonderful series.
AFTERTHOUGHTS
I'd have to say the best moment was right before Olivia entered her drug induced LSD trip to meet with her beloved Agent Scott in unconscious land. ONLY because as he so sexily applied those wires to her body, Peter says, "i hope your guys worth it." ::SIGH:: only Joshua Jackson could deliver such simple, yet endearing lines. The father son connection between him and John Noble was also convincing. The woman cast as Nina Sharp (William Bell's snooty assistant) was perfect for the role. That robot hand was very eerie. And to close out the episode we see her announcing they will question Agent Scott's dead corpse. Ooook...freaky much? And overall, the entire episode was shot very nicely. From aerial views to just the picture quality...it was almost like watching a movie, not a tv show. Good job J.J. Abrahams... (psh, like u needed my approval, ur a TV god!)
