Fringe season 2 premiere – CliqueClack preview

“I’ve been informed that our failure to deliver any usable results is unacceptable.” — Special Agent Broyles

This really has grown into a wonderful little show. If this is The X-Files for the new millennium, then I’m all for it. I hope it can find the audience it deserves, and go on for many years slowly revealing The Pattern, one maddening detail at a time.

There were even a couple of nods to the former FOX staple, including one that alludes to this series possibly existing in the same world as that one. Or maybe just that the Fringe reality had its own X-division.

Ah, realities. That’s where we left things, and where Olivia went off to so she could have a face-to-face meet with Spock William Bell. The Twin Towers reveal at the end of last season was one of the biggest reveals of the year, but getting almost as much scrutiny was that newspaper (more on that later). Suffice it to say, the new season of Fringe starts off at a shattering pace, and I couldn’t be more excited to see where we’re going.

Don’t expect any quick answers about where Olivia went, what she did there, or how she got back. Know, though, that she didn’t come back alone. And that it appears we’ve had visitors from this other world before, and possibly many more.

Right away we were introduced to a new character who has the potential to stick around. She’s with the FBI, and ever so curious as to what the Fringe Division is all about. And she’s pretty good at uncovering secrets, too.

As the opening quote indicates, the season opens with the entire Fringe Division on the brink of oblivion. Like The X-Files, there’s not a lot of easy hard-evidence to come by on this show, so it’s hard for the government to justify the expenditures.

But there’s a war coming, you say. Or at least some sort of major confrontation that Bell and Walter Bishop and Massive Dynamic have a role to play in. The war’s not under way yet (maybe), but we’ve met one of its soldiers and he’s a force to be reckoned with.

Maybe this preview is light on details, but that’s because I love you and this show deserves to be watched without me spoiling the best parts. There’s a lot to get excited about in this second season of Fringe, including an evolution in the way the team responds to their various cases.

There’s the fact that Peter’s not from around here. There’s Olivia’s meeting in that alternate world. There’s that alternate world, and possibly others. There’s the fate of Charlie Francis to contend with. Does he die, as rumored? If so, how does he stay on the show (those last two I can tell you are answered in this first episode back)?

How’s the cow?

As part of the press package, FOX sent me a copy of that newspaper in Walter Bell’s office, teasing about that world. They also sent me another piece of paper with typewritten text on it that didn’t make sense until I’d seen the premiere. You’ll know it when you see it.

Here are some highlights from The New York News:

• The stock market has been closed for 21 days as of May 12, 2009.
• Kennedy is talking to the UN regarding the legal status of ex-deceased citizens.
• A possibly silicate-based life form has been discovered on the bottom of the sea.
• New Orleans is the “fastest growing city in the South.”
• The National Weather Service can take “corrective action” in response to the weather.
• Something called Zero Point Energy may be supplanting natural energy sources.
• After nine years of construction, the new White House is nearing completion.
• The FDA approves facial landscaping, a revolutionary new plastic surgery.
• The Beatles are all alive.
• Guns ‘N Roses Chinese Democracy came out ten years ago, and the band is still one of the biggest acts in the world.
• The Terminator is an opera (and Schwarzenegger is a Senator).
• You can order genetically customized pets, including fluorescent skin!
• And in a special nod to Leonard Nimoy (William Bell), Star Trek was #1 at the box office this week, earning nearly $50 million more than Wolverine, in second place.

Clacked by Jason Hughes
on Sep 16, 2009 @ 16:00 EST5EDT