When Fringe first started, it was seen quickly as an X-Files show for the 21st Century—without aliens and grounded in plausible reality. Over time, either because they came up with a brilliant idea, or it was always the plan, the producers unveiled a grand vision for the show that critic Ryan McGee sums up as, “Two universes… who ya got?” The genius of the two universe plan was that we got to know not just one brilliantly released, fully-fleshed character—but we got two of them, each one worth rooting for in a way that deftly eliminated the very notion of a camp of good or evil, black or white.
At the end of season 3, the producers dove into the deep end of the pool again without a life preserver, and eliminated Peter from the timeline, with the main characters having no recollection of him. That meant all three years’ worth of character development we had witnessed was sort of done away with. We now had yet another version of the characters to get to know – well, actually, a new version for each universe – and it was a long-drawn out way of seeing what we already knew: without Peter, Walter was cut off from the world and couldn’t socially function; without Peter, Olivia was cold and calculating, afraid to let anyone in; without Peter, Lincoln finally got a shot with some version of Olivia?
Praise for the beginning of season 3, as our Olivia was trapped Over There, and Bolivia was spying on us Over Here was near universal, as was criticism of the first half of this season. Why spend all that time developing characters for three years to give us new versions we don’t care about? Didn’t we have enough plotlines to deal with without this added complication? As season 4 went on hiatus, it seemed like our characters were starting to trust Peter again, but it also seemed like Peter didn’t believe this was his “real” world and he needed to go “home.”
Season 4 returns from hiatus this Friday. To turn the show around, here are 5 things the producers should consider to get the show back on track.
1. Send Peter home. It’s doubtful that Peter is actually in a third version of our universes, but it’s an answer that would be preferred because at the very least, it would return Peter to the versions of our characters that we actually care about. It would open the door to the idea that there are more than just two universes—there might be infinite universes. (I wonder if Olivia loves Lincoln in any of them?)
2. Eliminate love obstacles. One of the ways Fringe differentiated itself from the X-Files, was that producers early on said Peter/Olivia were never going to get together. And then of course, they kind of did (he’s been with both Olivia and Bolvia at this point) and again, differentiated themselves from the X-Files in that it happened a heckuva lot earlier. Now, unfortunately, every time they start to get serious, something gets in his their way. First, Peter “cheated” on Olivia with Bolivia. Second, Olivia kind of died in an “alternate” future. Third, well, he disappeared and she didn’t trust him when he got back. And now… it looks like Lincoln is going to get in the way. Eliminate the back-and-forth of the couples and focus on saving the universes folks!
3. Create or bring back a compelling bad guy. The monster-of-the-week bad guys in Fringe this season have been a little weak – with notable exception of Stephen Root’s scientist who was trying to cure his wife – because they were clearly bad guys without interesting stories. Walternate worked as a bad guy because you understood where he was coming from—the bad guys that work in TV shows and movies always view themselves as the heroes of their own story. For instance, what if we had a bad guy who was trying to create holes in one of their universes because they believed it was the only way to save theirs—by destroying the other one? It was a mistake our heroes almost made in previous seasons. Having a villain with this motivation would create conflict and have our characters work together in both universes for a common cause.
4. Or if that doesn’t work, bring back Walternate. Love him or hate him, he’s the most dynamic character on the show and you never know what he’s going to do next—so let’s see him plotting in one of our universes. It’s been too long without him.
5. Kill a character. I know, I know—this will cause fans a lot of pain. But what was one of the best images of last season that’s still with me is when Broyles is looking at the dead body of Alt Broyles, who gave up his life to give Olivia a chance to come home. I’m not saying eliminate Olivia, Walter or Peter (you can’t do that until the end of the show, or never at all) but imagine one of the Lincolns giving up their life to prove their love for one of the Olivia or Bolivia, causing the other two to see what they could have… in another universe.
Or Bolivia giving her life to save Over Here, showing Over There that we’re all in this together? Or what would our universe look like without Astrid there to calm Walter down? (Other Astrid wouldn’t really make a difference if she went. She’s basically the Dualla of Over There.) Killing a character would definitely re-ignite the passion for Fringe fans, as long as it had ramifications and came from a place of story, not from a place of shock. (*cough* Olivia’s “death” in the future *cough*)
I say all this because I love Fringe and I really want it to get back on track. Especially if this is the last season…
What do you think can bring Fringe back to its glory days?
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Alan Danzis is a lifelong TV watcher, especially of serialized dramas. In his top five list of all time, you’ll find The Shield, The Wire, Deadwood, Lost and Friday Night Lights. (He’s not sure where Mad Men and Breaking Bad go yet since they haven’t finished airing.) But his favorite thing to watch are the sci-fi shows, like Battlestar Galactica, anything British and sci-fi, and shows with vampires. He even put up with Terra Nova, because, well, it had dinosaurs and time travel–you had him at just one of those things. If you can stand his nerdy interests, you can follow him on Twitter at @adanzis.
Full Disclosure: Alan Danzis works at Ketchum Public Relations, which is his day job. His opinions here are his own and do not reflect the opinions of Ketchum, nor the clients Ketchum works with. His BuzzFocus.com writing is wholly unrelated.
