Also got hooked hard on Fringe, which seems to have a more protracted, defined arc than Abrams' Lost, which I could never get into. I hope this is the case; if things start to seem more in a general 'mysterious stuff that's never resolved' vibe it'll lose a lot of its value. Not sure I'd have gotten into the show if not for John Noble (Denethor) who is pretty much show stealing/defining as the disturbed genius Walter Bishop. Plot has some uncanny parallels with Half-Life, but it's probably just coincidence. The cases are frequently preposterous, which seems somewhat at odds with the vision of the show (or my perception of it) which seeks to try and rationalise or credibilise them. Also, one of the recurring characters is a cow.
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"The cases are frequently preposterous, which seems somewhat at odds with the vision of the show (or my perception of it) which seeks to try and rationalise or credibilise them."
Excellent point. I don't know where you got the idea that these shows seek to make credible these issues, however.
Generally these shows are advertised as championing real, yet fringe, ideas until airtime when they're revealed to be nothing but thinly veiled mockeries of the issues.
I haven't actually seen Fringe, so for now I'll take your word for it, but there are many artistic dramas and even so-called documentaries (hitpieces) where fringe topics are developed ONLY to the point where they can cut back to the smugness of the mainstream ideal and subtly patronize the holders of fringe ideas by saying "well, they MUST be mad, but aren't they entertaining people to have these ideas!"
(see cow)
I don't think they do any favours to the so-called 'fringe' by making unusual ideas mainstream. Just try talking to someone about the realities of secret government biological experiments and testing on their citizens (or even on foreign citizens) and you'll get a laugh and a "Yeah! I saw that on X Files, too! Jeez. Can't you tell the difference between fantasy and reality?"
....
That being said, I'm all for entertainment - especially these kinds of shows. Unfortunately, I end up getting mad at the tone expressed at the end of episodes...
"Well! Wasn't that a spooky mystery?
We threw together several different ideas and mashed them into one, making something so tangled that even WE don't know what we're talking about anymore.
And there's no real resolution to any of these fantastic claims, kids - don't try to find one. Even if you can validate half of what we're discussing, who will believe you after this airs?
I guess our hero will continually (and fruitlessly) search season by lucrative season for answers constrained by the bounds we've placed on thought.
We're just a crap TV show! What responsibility could we possibly have?"
Sorry for the rant. I've just been down this road to nowhere before.
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