‘Fringe’ – JP’s Netflix Picks

It's time for another edition of JP's Netflix Picks. I'm a Video on Demand junkie and I spend a lot of time trolling through the thousands of titles available. I've seen some absolutely horrendous crap that makes me weep tears. But on the other side of the coin I've also found some really great hidden gems among all the crap. Those are what I like to share with all of you.

About a week ago I had noticed that the television show 'Fringe' had been added to the glorious Netflix Instant library. I hadn't really heard a whole lot about 'Fringe' other than the story about it's somewhat expected cancellation after its Fifth season finale.

Here is the premise summary from Wikipedia.org:

Fringe follows the casework of the Fringe Division, a Joint Federal Task Force supported primarily by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which includes Agent Olivia Dunham; Dr. Walter Bishop, the archetypal mad scientist; and Peter Bishop, Walter's estranged son and jack-of-all-trades. They are supported by Phillip Broyles, the force's director, and Agent Astrid Farnsworth, who assists Walter in laboratory research.

 

The Fringe Division investigates cases relating to fringe science, ranging from transhumanist experiments gone wrong to the prospect of a destructive technological singularity to a possible collision of two parallel universes.

 

The Fringe Division's work often intersects with advanced biotechnology developed by a company called Massive Dynamic, founded by Walter's former partner, Dr. William Bell, and run by their common friend, Nina Sharp. The team is also watched silently by a group of bald, pale men who are called "Observers".

 

I really enjoy getting into new television shows on Netflix because I'm guilty of enjoy the 'binging' model. I can sit down and consume a show entire seasons at a time! I haven't quite done this with 'Fringe', it's a serial Network drama that is averaging 20+ episodes per season. But it wasn't the episode count that slowed me down, it had more to do with the pacing of the first season.

The first season doesn't get really good until about halfway through the season when they finally start getting into the meat of the show's greater story arc. The first  handful of episodes were fun but they got repetitive. It was like watching episodes of X-Files but every mystery was either solved or explained away by either something the Doctor had already invented or some lost objects from his lab at Harvard.

But from the second half of the first season and beyond into the Second Season, where I'm about 75% of the way in, has been a lot of fun! Now that the stage has been set, the story is much more about the parallel universe and the interactions we our universe is having with it.

So if you're looking for a new Netflix 'project', especially with rerun season approaching, I would recommend you take some tentative steps into exploring the world of 'Fringe'. It's not a barn burner and will likely take some time to grow on you. But once you've given it some time, I think you will thoroughly enjoy it!

Do you have a movie or television that you would recommend for JP's Netflix Picks? Please let me know in the comments. I love discovering new stuff on Netflix!