Dispatch from the Fringe

Does J.J. Abrams ever fly out of LAX? If he can conjure up the opening scenes of Lost and Fringe with such detail—a terrifying airplane crash on the former, and an electrical storm and biological weapons on the latter—it’s hard to imagine the harrowing images that flit through his mind on an actual plane.

Fringe, like Lost, is a show that immediately ensnares the viewer with its mysteries. Within the first five minutes, we are left wondering what kind of chemical weapon can cause the pilot to erupt in huge boils before his jaw falls off. (With a science-based show like this one, Abrams finds many opportunities to engage the more grotesque side of his imagination.) A young and blonde (read: hot) FBI Agent, Olivia Dunham, played by Australian actress Anna Torv, is assigned to the case. Her boss is played by Lance Reddick—an actor borrowed from the cast of Lost. (On that show he’s the creepy-looking African-American dude who tells Locke to go on the walkabout and scares Hurly and me in the mental institution.) Their relationship offers most of this first episode’s friction; he dismissively refers to her as “liaison” and she reacts negatively to him for supporting a military friend who sexually harassed three privates. The other source of tension on the show is Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson). Bishop is an asshole genius; he never graduated from college but still managed to pose as a chemistry professor for a few years with none the wiser. His father is Dr. John Bishop, a semi-crazy scientist who worked on fringe science experiments for the military in the ‘60s and ‘70s before being institutionalized after a freak accident in his lab. (The show’s title stems from this borderline science, which includes reamination and invisibility, among other things that sci-fi lovers are sure to tune in for.) Dr. Bishop is brought out of the mental institution in order to reverse the process started by the chemicals that are slowly causing the death of Dunham’s partner and lover. The chemicals quite hideously affect Dunham’s partner—his skin turns translucent. The partner dies by the end of the episode, and the mounting sexual tension and mutual respect between rule-breakers Dunham and Bishop foreshadows a less than platonic relationship between the two.

Although Dr. Bishop manages to help the Dunham’s team, and the man responsible for the deaths of those on the plane is in FBI custody, not nearly all the mysteries are solved by the end of this episode. At one point, Dunham’s boss tries to convince her to join Homeland Security to figure out who is causing the “Pattern.” The “Pattern” consists of a series of bizarre scientific events occurring across the globe—“like someone is conducting experiments but with the whole world as their lab,” Dunham’s boss explains. These events, one of which includes hundreds of missing children suddenly reappearing without having aged a year, will probably be solved over the course of the season.

Parts of the “Pattern” and many of the characters are connected to a mysterious super-company ominously named Massive Dynamic. The CEO was Dr. Bishop’s partner at his lab in Harvard and the scientist in FBI custody worked for him. The CEO, William Bell, is an absent, almost god-like figure. (He apparently “sensed” his chief operating officer’s cancer.) If Abrams uses any of the same strategy in Fringe that he does for Lost, Bell will remain absent until the last moment possible. Massive Dynamic is by far the most menacing character on the show. (It offers the writers the opportunity to use fun props such as bionic prostheses!) Massive Dynamic is also privy to information for which most FBI agents do not have the security clearance. The chief operating officer knew about the “Pattern” even before Dunham. This special relationship the company has with Homeland Security only enhances its evil power. Before each commercial break, the viewers see various nature-related images, spinning slowly and emanating a green, glowing light. The final image of the show is a close-up of Massive Dynamic’s logo: a green, glowing leaf. It is almost as if Massive Dynamic is narrating the show. The writers are reminding us that Massive Dynamic knows more than we do, and although the company had a minimal presence in the pilot, its importance is clear from the outset.

It might seem that the sci-fi elements of Fringe will be hard to swallow, but Abrams and the other writers do a good job of making them accessible and even, in a slightly dorky way, enjoyable. For example, the last dialogue of the show is between by the frigid chief operating officer of Massive Dynamic and a random crony who is wheeling a corpse through the company’s lobby. She asks, “How long has he been dead?” After hearing the answer—five hours—she replies, “Question him.” What’s more difficult to believe, on the other hand, is the free license given to the FBI. Dunham and her partners fly from country to country—including Iraq, interestingly enough—ranting about the Patriot Act. They seem to have unlimited access to anything they could possibly need for an investigation, including Harvard’s laboratories.

Overall, Fringe’s pilot promises good episodes to come. The “Pattern” is an exciting mystery to be unraveled. And unravel it Dunham will. She built her reputation on bringing down a top military agent for groping some female privates—insert RNC Palin-related analogy here. And as an FBI agent she follows any lead without thinking about how it could possibly affect her reputation—a maverick! Anna Torv’s acting is fine for the character she plays, and the writers immediately take advantage of her gorgeous looks. She gets naked by the end of the pilot, boys. Joshua Jackson leaves something to be desired; if his character was actually the selfish, self-centered renegade he’s made out to be, Jackson wouldn’t play him with such earnestness. Although, to be fair, it could just be that this viewer has a hard time separating Peter Bishop from Pacey.

Basically, Tuesdays at 9 pm on Fox. Watch it.