Fringe

**Some Stupid Japanese Name** · 29 May 2013, 08:29 PM

Step inside the Fringe writing team's conference room circa 2010.
"What the hell can we do for the next episode?"
"I don't know, but I just re-watched Hollow Man..."
CA-CHING!

**Some Stupid Japanese Name** · 02 Jun 2013, 06:32 PM

I'm on the last episode of the fourth season.
It's been kind of a train wreck.
This series has delivered some cool ideas and episodes, but holy shit at the endless deus ex machinas and plot holes.
I don't know if I can stand to watch the last season.
Just like a certain other series...

**Mzo** · 07 Jan 2014, 02:39 PM

Originally Posted by Some Stupid Japanese Name

If it was lincoln lee, then it must have been season 3. His first appearance was the season 2 finale.
It's a serial, so it's going to have the same formula every week, just like Bones, House, Buffy, Smallville, Supernatural, or whatever.
That shit annoys me too, which is why I have punched out of every series sometime around the 5th or 6th season.
The key is to have an interesting overall arch going on and to make sure every episode gives you a bit more info on that arch.

Hmm. Maybe if they keep it down to one interesteing overarching story per season that gets wrapped up, but I don't know about that. The absolute worst parts of the X-Files were the big alien invasion story bits but the best parts were the individual, disconnected monster-of-the-week episodes. I liked Fringe more when it was sci-fi CSI than when it had a big story to follow.

Rewriting time so that nothing happened and a lot of people were still alive after being killed off in dumb ways was probably the dumbest band-aid I've ever seen just about ever. Really surprising. Did they ever really say why the bridge existed if Peter was never around to create it?

Oh, and was the Machine ever really explained? Maybe I fell asleep at some point, but I have at best a vague understanding of it.

The recent time jump forward was also surprising. Surprises in Fringe are especially surprising since I can usually predict the occurrences of most episodes beat for beat as I watch them.