TV is the New Reading

Guest review: ‘Fringe’ beats ‘The X Files’

"Fringe" just did the one thing "The X-Files" never did. It followed through on its great tease and showed the viewers what actually happened way back when mad scientist Walter abducted little Peter from an alternate dimension. Thursday night's episode on FOX, the first in two months, was one of the best episodes of the science fiction series and a real showcase for the considerable talents of actor John Noble, who plays Walter. Noble even managed to look convincing as his 25 years younger self, complete with bad 80s hair.

The show has been hinting since its beginning that Walter's son Peter, played by Joshua Jackson, is from "the other side" and that his alternate dimension origins might have something to do with the war between our dimension and theirs. In a few deft scenes, the teaser to last night's episode reminds the audience that everyone in our world has a duplicate in the alternate dimension. In different episodes this season, an entire building disappeared, killing those inside it, and FBI agent Olivia's partner Charlie was murdered by an agent from the other side, who assumed Charlie's form and his life until Olivia got suspicious and killed him. Walter's old partner William Bell (played by Leonard Nimoy) traveled to the other dimension and has offices in the World Trade Center, which in our world ceased to exist on Sept. 11, 2001. In the other dimension, the White House was struck instead of the World Trade Center. There are other subtle differences between the two worlds, such as the Empire State Building being a docking point for Zeppelins and Eric Stoltz starring in the movie "Back to the Future" instead of Michael J. Fox.

In a February episode, Olivia saw Peter shimmer. Since Olivia has the ability to pick out objects and people from that other dimension when they shimmer, she knew that meant Peter doesn't belong on this side. Thursday's episode was filled with flashbacks as Walter explained to Olivia how his own son died of a genetic illness and he abducted the alternate Peter in an attempt to save the boy's life. Once Peter's mother saw the child, who looked exactly like the one she'd just buried, she couldn't bear to give him back and neither could Walter. Walter's decision to travel to the alternate universe was the first breach of the membrane between the two dimensions. For the sake of one life, he was willing to take the chance of destroying two worlds. Walter's actions are unforgivable and yet viewers will understand why he did it and very few people would be able to resist the temptation to do the same thing under the same circumstances.

By answering questions and showing instead of just telling, "Fringe" has eclipsed shows like "The X-Files" which carried out the tease far longer without ever answering the questions to the viewers' satisfaction. "The X-Files" never provided a satisfactory explanation for the abduction of Fox Mulder's sister Samantha and viewers lost interest because of it. On Thursday "Fringe" answered questions about Peter's abduction but left viewers with some new questions and a renewed enthusiasm for the show. Fortunately, FOX has renewed "Fringe" for a third season, so viewers can look forward to more compelling television.

For those who missed "Fringe" and have high speed Internet access, I'd suggest watching the latest episode for free at (Hulu.com) A quick check of the site shows that the episode "Peter" was posted as of Friday afternoon, as are several other second season episodes. It's a good way to get up to date on the series if you don't have time to watch it in real time or if your DVR malfunctions.

Back Back to Shows Back to Main Page Next