Fringe: The Complete Second Season

Description

Product Description From J.J. Abrams (Lost), Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci – the team behind Star Trek and Alias – and executive producers Jeff Pinkner, J.H. Wyman and Bryan Burk, Fringe returns for a second thrilling season and continues to explore the unexplained phenomena and terrifying occurrences linked throughout the world – known simply as "The Pattern“ – in pursuit of a larger, more shocking truth. Set in Boston, the FBI's Fringe Division formed when Special Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) enlisted the help of institutionalized "fringe" scientist Walter Bishop (John Noble) and his son, Peter (Joshua Jackson), to save her partner and lover from a mind-bending death. Through unconventional and unorthodox methods, the Fringe team imagines and tests the impossibilities while investigating unbelievable events, macabre crimes and mystifying cases involving teleportation, reanimation, genetic mutation, precognition, artificial intelligence and other fantastical theories. When the unimaginable happens, it's their job to stop it. desertcart.com "Lost meets The X-Files" is a not inappropriate description of Fox TV's Fringe, especially considering that cocreator J.J. Abrams was also one of the Lost masterminds. But this ambitious and often exciting series (with all 22 episodes from its second season, plus plenty of bonus material, released here on six discs) merits more than that glib label. As before, the members of the Fringe Division, an obscure wing of the FBI barely recognized (and this season threatened with elimination) by the government at large, are the "cleanup crew" summoned when the universe is on the verge of shredding at the seams. Led by Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv), brilliant but mad scientist Walter Bishop (with John Noble as the show's most appealing character), and Bishop's son Peter (Joshua Jackson), they investigate crimes and occurrences involving the seemingly inexplicable, ranging from garden-variety phenomena like ESP, mind control, and hypnosis to really strange stuff like "clairaudience" (receiving messages or thoughts from another realm), cryonics (as in frozen, disembodied heads), and the existence of a parallel universe. Once again there's also a healthy dose of scary monsters, including a hideous mutant who drags its victims underground before devouring them, a community of deformed victims of scientific tests gone awry, two-foot-long parasites with human hosts, and a walking shadow that renders whoever it passes through into dust and ash. But it all gets more personal for our three heroes this time around, as they realize that Walter's long-ago research and experiments had serious consequences not only for him (he spent 17 years locked up in a rubber room) but especially for Olivia and Peter, who must deal with shocking revelations about their childhoods. If Fringe has a weakness, it's that its reach sometimes exceeds its grasp. There are so many ideas here that overarching themes like "the Pattern" (a series of terrifying, synchronous events throughout the world) disappear for episodes at a time; the notion of "the other side," a parallel universe where things are largely similar but different in very peculiar details (JFK lived to be an old man, while the Department of Defense is housed beneath the Statue of Liberty), is introduced in the first episode but then rarely mentioned until the second half of the season, which culminates with the Fringe team traveling to the other side and confronting their alternate selves (fortunately, the final two episodes help tie up various loose ends from this season and set the stage for the next one). But a surfeit of good ideas is a lot better than a shortage of them, and the series is rarely less than interesting even when it loses its focus, and the direction, sets, special effects, and other technical elements are consistently excellent. As was the case the first time out, bonus material is generous and varied. It includes a newly "unearthed episode," audio commentary, deleted scenes, features like "The Mythology of Fringe" and "Analyzing the Scene" (brief explications of key scenes in six episodes), and more. --Sam Graham Review: A show that started out inconsistent, but is now my replacement for Lost - This past year as the ending of Lost was approaching I found myself trying to find a show that would be able to help fill the void that Lost ending would create, and I admit that I had initially hoped that FlashForward would be that show, especially since ABC was promoting it as the next Lost. I enjoyed it, but as we all know, FlashForward was canceled so obviously it can't be a replacement for Lost. I myself have to admit that it's taken me quite a while to get truly into Fringe, but after seeing the final ten episodes of the second season Fringe I would definitely say that Fringe is a suitable and worthy replacement for Lost. Fringe may not always have the same level mind-blowing awesome moments and mind-blowing twists that Lost frequently had, but Fringe is definitely an excellent show. One thing that I love about Fringe is that it's not heavily serialized show like Lost where you have to see every single episode in order to understand what's going on. It's definitely a lot more accessible to people who might only be a casual viewer of Fringe than Lost ever was for casual viewers. This is a very good thing for me because when I saw the series premiere of Fringe, I have to say I absolutely hated it. The pilot episode was barely able to hold my interest for the full two hours, and after that I didn't watch Fringe again for several months after I had read online that people felt like the quality of Fringe had improved so I watched it again for a few more episodes. It was definitely better, but I still didn't like it enough to commit to watching it every week. I was very busy with school at the time so I didn't even put it on my DVR it and watch later list. After that I didn't watch again until the season finale, which I thought was the best season one episode that I had seen at that point. Since I enjoyed the season finale so much that I bought season one on DVD. Season one was definitely full of hit and miss episodes in terms of the quality, but I still watched season two when it first started. Personally, I feel like season two started out slowly and was inconsistent again in terms of quality so I quit watching after watching the first seven episodes of season two. For a while I was even strongly considering selling my Fringe season one DVDs, but after FlashForward returned from its long hiatus with dismal ratings and it's impending cancelation becoming increasingly obvious, I decided to give Fringe another chance and watched all of the episodes that were posted on Hulu at the time was blown away by how good Fringe had become. I feel like the overall quality of Fringe is much more consistent starting with the last ten episodes of the second season. I am so glad that I didn't end up trying to sell my season one DVDs now, because I am finally truly and completely hooked on Fringe. In my opinion, Fringe finally truly hit its stride and found its grove starting with episode 14, "The Bishop Revival". After watching that episode I have never given the idea of giving up on watching Fringe another thought. To me, "The Bishop Revival" was the start of Fringe finally having an excellent sense of consistency to it in terms of quality because the last ten episodes of the second season were mind-blowingly awesome in my opinion. Three of my other favorite Fringe episodes from season two are "August", "Peter", and "Olivia. In the Lab. With the Revolver". Those were three truly amazing episodes of Fringe in my opinion. Fringe still isn't on the same level of mind-blowingly awesomeness as Lost, but it's definitely mind-blowingly awesome in its unique way and a worthy replacement for Lost now. Watching the last ten episodes of season two completely changed the way I view Fringe as a whole. Now whenever I go back and watch all of the season one episodes that I had initially thought of as being mediocre at best, I enjoy watching them a 100X more than I did the first time I watched them. I still haven't seen episodes 2.09 to 2.13, so I'm really looking forward to the release of the season two DVD set so I can watch them. Even if I don't enjoy episodes 2.09 to 2.13 as much as I've enjoyed all of the other season two episodes, I'm sure that they will all be great to a certain degree because I am a much more faithful fan of Fringe now. Again, that's all because of the last ten episodes of season two. What I've come to love the most about Fringe is the relationship between Walter and Peter and the dynamic of their relationship. That's what makes the show for me personally. Another one of my favorite things about Fringe is the relationship between Walter and his lab assistant Astrid. I love the dynamic between those two. I was one of the people who was very disappointed by the Lost series finale, and I can honestly say that I loved the two-part season two finale of Fringe, "Over There: parts one and two" a 100X more than I liked the Lost finale. With the cliffhanger that the season two finale left the audience with and the season three spoilers that are slowly coming out, I can't wait for season three of Fringe to start because it sounds like season three is going to be amazing. I don't know what kind of bonus features the season two DVD set of Fringe is going to have, but I'm really hoping that it will have a few audio commentaries because I for one love DVD commentaries. All in all, Fringe may not be the best show ever or might not always have the best consistency, but it's still an amazing show. It's definitely worth watching now, and I would strongly recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen the show yet and is interested in it. It definitely took a while, but Fringe has definitely blossomed into a truly amazing, must-watch show. Review: Addictive, provocative, persuasive and well made - The first season of this series was promising, and to me it delivered half its potential. This second season really finished the work started on the first by increasing the complexity of the episodes and adding depth to the characters' lives. Even though some may object to the Peter and Olivia story line, I found it surprising (never was a "shipper" before, not even for Mulder and Scully, and I wasn't for these two either). But then, it's not less surprising or refreshing to see how all the characters now solve mysteries using their brains, ideas and information, and not by logging into a search engine online and finding the answers there. It is also stimulating to see episodes of the quality of "Momentum Deferred" and "Jacksonville," in which all, Peter, Walter and Olivia, appear with unexpected layers of humanity for characters in a science-fiction drama. I must admit that if after watching the first season I was quite interested, the second one just hooked me, reeled me in, made me an insomniac addict and took me back to the days in which I learned about science by watching some of the best sci-fi shows there were. "Fringe" may have the "Languave and violence" warning, but it also needs one about ideas, creativity and unexpected twists that may leave the viewers scratching their heads or slack-jawed in disbelief. As other reviewers have pointed out, do not start watching this season when you have an early morning the following day. It's impossible to watch just one episode when you have a disc chock-full of action, superb acting and challenging stories that are either new revelations or come from hints and details offered in season 1. I won't analyze episodes here, but instead urge the undecided to sink their intellectual teeth in this show; it will be good for you.