Recently, I have started watching Fringe.  (I swear, I feel like I just keep starting new shows.  I don’t know how I even get anything done.)  I must say, I do not know why I haven’t started it earlier.  It’s everything a nerd like me could ever want in a TV show!  Okay, maybe not everything, but a good amount.

So what’s this shows about?  In essence, it’s a procedural drama.  A crime happens and they have to catch the bad guy.  The difference is, all the crimes are sci-fi related!  Isn’t that awesome!  So the show starts off with this really bizarre biological crime that happens on a plane.  We’re introduced to the main character, Agent Olivia Dunham (whose accent I spotted a mile away).  In order to solve this crime, she has to consult a scientist that used to work in Harvard.  He also worked on various projects for the government.

Anyway, this scientist, Walter Bishop, was locked into a mental hospital after a fire in his lab killed a girl.  The only way Olivia would be able to talk to him was if a relative took her.  Thus, she went to find his son, Peter Bishop who was very skilled at illegal dealings and forged his way into MIT.  Along with another agent who ends up being a personal assistant of sorts to Walter called Astrid, you basically have the whole team (with a number of other important characters on the outside).  Basically, this little group goes everywhere something weird happens and solves the crimes.  

The great thing about this show is that as odd and out of the world the crimes are, there is always a scientific explanation and that makes the nerd in me so happy.  They touch upon all the theories and hypotheses that float around in science.  For example, the theory of alternate universes plays a strong role in this show.  So much so that even though I’m only on season 2, I have no idea what universe the characters are in right now.  Then there are the animal hybrids and the human hybrids and science of the molecular level and the list goes on and on!

The science part is probably my favorite part of the show.  It’s science Fiction, but with less of the fiction part.  When we think of sci-fi, we think of Star Trek and Doctor Who and Battle star Galactica.  It’s the far future where the things might be plausible, but we know we still have centuries of development left until we reach that point.  With Fringe, it’s much more accessible.  Look at the conspiracy theorists!  They talk about the experiments that go on in secret labs.  With the success of cloning, whose to say these experiments aren’t happen?  Maybe they are splicing up different animal DNA to see what it creates.  Maybe they are experimenting on humans to make them less fallible.  For sure they are experimenting with disease since biological warfare seems to be our next arena stage.

And then there are the characters.  The main one is Olivia and I like her.  She also frustrates me like nothing else because I have no idea what she is or what she can do.  Can she cause explosions?  Travel dimensions?  They say she’s powerful, but what does that even mean?  Overall, she’s a strong female lead who knows what she’s doing and doing it right.  But really, I just want to cut through the mystery surrounding her and find out what’s going on.

Walter Bishop is hilarious.  His stint at the hospital actually turned him crazy so his behavior is always loopy and his has a penchant for drug taking.  He always gets so genuinely excited for experiments and dead bodies and that disturbs more than a fair amount of people at crime scenes.  He gets these strange cravings all the times and his set habits and a cow in his lab.  It’s interesting though because as these crimes continue happening and brushes against theories and experiments he used to perform, it reveals more and more about him and the dark path he took.

Then there’s Peter Bishop.  I think he’s my favorite.  He’s incredibly sarcastic, especially when dealing with his father.  And he’s not bad looking either.  He’s another mystery that has yet to be solved.  There are hints all over the place, but no outright truth.  Is he dead?  Is he from another universe?  What he cloned?  WHAT IS HE?  I don’t know….all I know is that I want him and Olivia to get together already.  I know it’s only season 2, but they only have 5 seasons, so they might as well!

Of course there’s Astrid.  She’s an FBI agent, but she stays in the lab with Walter.  I swear she has the patience of a saint.  I don’t know how she does it, but she manages to get everything he requests and doesn’t bash an eyelash.  She also manages to withstand even his most outlandish experiments.  She deserves a medal of honor, that one.

There are other important characters as well such as Nina Sharp, Agent Broyles, William Bell, the Observer, and Charlie.  However, I shall not get into them because I am still so confused about the show and what parts everyone plays in the bigger picture.  Because that’s what the show is about.  It’s about a bigger picture except they keep giving us slivers and glimpses so it’s nearly impossible for us to out it all together.

If science is your thing, I definitely recommend this show.  On the surface it’s a procedural show, but underneath it is so much more.  Try it out.  You might find you’ll like it.