Fringe... DUDE!

So as many of you know, our beloved Jorge was on Fringe last night. Sadly, just as a cameo (I try to remain spoiler-free on it, so I was hoping for a larger role, but hey, the cameo came right at the top and it was HILARIOUS) but it was so much fun to see one of our Lost peeps on a favourite TV show again. Now that Jorge, Terry O'Quinn, Michael Emerson, and Nestor Carbonell have all been confirmed for fall pilots, I'm thinking it'll be a bit of a Lostapalooza this fall, and I'm very happy for that!

But back to Fringe. Many people have asked me why I haven't been blogging on it. To be honest, it's simply a lack of time. Now that it's moved to Friday nights, I typically don't get to see it until later in the weekend, and since I try to stay off my computer for the weekend (the only evenings I really spend with my husband catching up) it means I wouldn't be able to blog on it until Monday, and by then it would be so out of date compared to the other blogs that would have had something up on Friday, it's not worth doing. (This is me on Saturday night, neglecting my husband.)

But that doesn't mean I'm not watching it. I'm watching it every week and loving it. Its complexities are getting deeper and deeper, I love the combination of the two universes, and I think Anna Torv's performance(s) this season has been extraordinary. She's had to play Olivia, and Faux-livia, and Olivia pretending to be Faux-livia and Faux-livia pretending to be Olivia, and each one has had its own subtle nuances that allowed us to know exactly what we were watching each week. And, as of the end of last night's episode (spoiler ahead!), which made me gasp out loud... she'll apparently be channelling William Bell. WHOA. I did not see that coming... And while she seemed to be doing her best Leonard Nimoy inflection, she didn't do it in an over-the-top kind of way.

John Noble has also been a joy to watch as Walter, grappling with the massive effects of what he did so many years ago. He's seen the effects his kidnapping has had on an entire world, and is desperate to halt the destruction before it moves into his own and takes away everything he has.

The two worlds continue to fascinate -- a couple of weeks ago, when Walternate refused to do any sort of testing on children, it was a wonderful moment where we realized that he, the person that Walter has demonized, actually draws a line where Walter wouldn't. Walter and Bell tested children all the time, tossing them back out into the world when they were done with them, not equipping them with any information or tools to deal with their new abilities.

I really enjoyed the previous episode, "Subject 13," and was surprised when I said so on my Facebook page and many people said they hated it. I suppose if I was watching this show as hardcore as I did Lost, I would probably have been annoyed by it. We already knew most of that stuff -- what Walter had done to Olivia and the other children at the "daycare," what he'd done with Peter and what that had done to both Bishop families... we knew about Olivia's evil stepfather and that she'll eventually shoot him. But a lot of this has been glossed over, and casual viewers may have missed it or forgotten about it, so watching it unfold in a dramatization of it was compelling. And at the end, when we realized Olivia was talking to Walternate and not Walter, was brilliant. She was the one who gave him the idea in the first place, and she has no idea what she did.

I adore this season of Fringe. Each year it just gets better than the one before it. My fingers are crossed that the show is as loved within the Fox executive offices as it is by the fans, and it can be saved into a fourth season.