Fringe 2×5 “Dream Logic” review
October 16th, 2009
The following contains spoilers through “Dream Logic,” originally broadcast 10/15/09.
Part of the fun of watching ‘Fringe,’ it sometimes occurs to me, is also the thing that can be frustrating, in that the show very deliberately straddles the line between episodic and serialized storytelling, which I’ve mentioned in numerous reviews. Sometimes, an episode will cover both grounds within a single story. More often, however, it becomes necessary to follow what a dedicated viewer will notice more keenly than a casual one with a fine eye. This week, for instance, we get a few more hints about the biggest development from late last season, the revelation that Walter Bishop’s son Peter is not entirely the one he started out with. Of course, none of this is ever explicitly stated, and it hasn’t even been acknowledged yet this season, certainly not to the extent of Olivia Dunham’s trip to the alternate reality Peter probably came from, where she met William Bell (for a good chunk of details, watch last week’s essential “Momentum Deferred”).
HYGOTS No. 52
October 9th, 2009
Here’s another column where there was only one topic possible given its number. Anyone who followed my comics writing from Paperback Reader.com to Lower Decks knows I hold one particular recent project in high esteem, and in fact, rather than abating since it was completed in May of 2007, my enthusiasm and estimation of ‘52’ has continued to grow, to the point where I would find no problem in labeling it the signature project of the modern era, as some would call ‘Watchmen’ and ‘Dark Knight Returns’ of the late 1980s and the Image explosion and ‘Death of Superman’ of the 1990s. Regardless what else the first decade of the 2000s may be known for (the Ultimate line, arguably), ‘52’ completely redefined the concept of the event book, ushered in an era of weekly comics (which was eventually adopted by a mainstream ongoing title, ‘Amazing Spider-Man’), cemented the pivotal roles of Grant Morrison and Geoff Johns as the major writers of DC, and proved once and for all that big stories don’t have to feature the most popular characters.
Fringe 2×4 “Momentum Deferred” review
October 9th, 2009
The following contains spoilers through the episode “Momentum Deferred,” originally broadcast 10/8/09.
Why is it perfectly fine for a series like ‘Fringe’ to so brazenly straddle the line between episodic and serialized drama? Because of episodes like this. Even though viewers don’t seem to have remembered that its timeslot has changed this season (it’s now on Thursdays, folks: drop on by!), it’s still every bit as excellent as it was last season, when it emerged as a true successor to J.J. Abrams’ work on ‘Alias’ and ‘Lost.’ If you were simply waiting for that Leonard Nimoy episode, “Momentum Deferred” was it.
HYGOTS No. 51
October 2nd, 2009
This is a column I had on the schedule for a while, but only recently got really excited about. It seems overnight I became a huge fan of Highlander. I can’t explain it. I was aware of the TV show only really when it was coming to an end, knew the original film best by its Queen soundtrack, and for some reason found ‘Highlander: Endgame’ important enough to add to my collection early on, even though I had no real reason to. It just seemed important, the movie that united Christopher Lambert and Adrian Paul, two generations of MacLeods. One of my early columns (#6; next week hits, numerically, a year of HYGOTS, but I started it back at the Lower Decks relaunch in September 2008, so it comes a month late for technical reasons) touched on film franchises, of which Highlander is perhaps one of the more improbable entries, and the fact that it’s also a genre franchise in general only complicates matters further, but I’m now beginning to appreciate the history and breadth of it, to the equally unlikely point where, in 2009, I may actually be one of its biggest fans.
Fringe 2×3 “Fracture” review
October 2nd, 2009
The following contains spoilers through “Fracture,” originally broadcast 10/1/09.
The thing to love about a show like ‘Fringe’ is its ability to spin whatever kind of weekly episode it wants, and whether that means it has anything to do with an extended arc or if the subject that doesn’t happens to engage the viewer, it’s all been considered quite plainly in the premise of the series. So far, the show hasn’t done anything a fan wouldn’t have expected or a casual viewer couldn’t enjoy, and that’s high praise, to have found such a remarkable balance.
Surrogates review
October 2nd, 2009
Another movie that wasn’t all that heralded but hits with the impact of a blockbuster upon viewing, ‘Surrogates’ could be summed up as the adaptation of a graphic novel and a Bruce Willis film at worst, or as a sort-of culmination of a long line of movies exploring the human-machine relationship. The latter, to me, certainly sounds more flattering.
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