My late farewell note to Fringe

comments 18
TV

Fringe

Dear Fringe,

I wasn’t fair to you in the beginning. You came across to me as a new X-Files. You even had a skeptical lady agent. But you also had Pacey from Dawson’s Creek. And a funny old man who seemed to be stoned 90% of the time, which gave me a lot of chuckles. So I gave you a second glance.

And I’m glad that I did. You changed. Over time you fixed your flaws. You gave me an ongoing storyline that stretched past just one season. A father/son relationship, the likes of which I have never seen on TV before. More lens flares than I would ever have thought possible in a single episode of any TV show. You made me fall for a fantastic, network sci-fi TV show.

There were some struggles. A lot of tears. There were even a couple of moments where I thought I’d lost you! But you bounced back and kept on going for five solid seasons. The ever gracious PTB saw fit to give you a final send off.

What a goodbye you gave us. The lump in my throat was stuck there for the entirety of the goodbye. Tears rolling down my face as goodbyes were said. And the final moment? Couldn’t have been more perfect.

They’ll never be another one of you, Fringe. And I’m actually quite happy about that.

18 Comments

  1. LOL 😀 I didnt cry or anything at the finale… but I’m glad you loved it so much.

    Fringe was a cool show, wasn’t it? I definitely think it was trying to be a new X Files when it startted out with all the monster of the week stuff, but it got pretty strong in the middle when they had the two universes at war,

    This last season felt kind of tacked on (cause it was), but it was still a great show! 😀

    • The monster of the week thing was fun, but just not strong enough. The two universes at war was one of my favourite things on TV. Amazingly done.

      Sure, the final season was a bit tacked on and not as strong as maybe the 3rd and 4th season. But, it was good that they were allowed a send off. They were given the chance to wrap things up. Doesn’t happen often!

  2. This is a beautiful farewell, Jaina. I keep trying to write up a post about it but I can’t find a way to do it yet (possibly the act of actually saying goodbye to it is my stumbling block – I don’t want to!)

    It really was a spectacular 5-year-long journey that I’ll treasure forever. But I’m also sort of annoyed that a quality show such as Fringe had to fight for an audience when subpar shows seemed to sail on with ease. It never felt fair.

    I’m thankful it was given the chance to honour its fanbase with a satisfying conclusion though. I also see potential for a future Fringe movie, should the PTB ever see fit to venture down that path. I’m wearing my ‘Wishful Thinking’ cap on for as long as conceivably possible.

    • A big screen Fringe event would be awesome. But as much as I’d love to revisit that, a little part of me feels like it’d diminish the ending we got. Which was just beautiful. Satisfying. And rounded things out perfectly.

      I still don’t think it’s quite sunk in yet…

      • I can kind of see where you’re coming from. Without being spoilery in your comments (that’s surprisingly hard!), Walter may be my favourite character of all time in any tv show. That finale broke my heart in ways I didn’t even think possible.

        Typical of Fringe though. They give you just enough to satisfy, but withhold some to make you want/need more.

        • Walter is definitely in my Top 5 best TV characters of all time. The moment between him and Astrid in the finale. My god, I was not expecting so many tears!

  3. I’ve only seen one episode and I was actually quite intrigued. Five solid seasons is quite a feat, there are just sooo many competition! Beautifully-written, Jaina!

  4. I watched Fringe from the start, and I totally agree with your points about how it evolved. I loved the alternate universe characters almost as much as the originals, and the way they split up the third season was still masterful TV. The second and third seasons were some of the best genre television that I’ve seen in a long time. They weren’t as consistent in the last two, but it was still great because of the characters. The end was so fitting too.

    • Season 2 and 3 were epic. Was sad to see Charlie go though. He was a great character.

      I still loved season 4, but think that’s mostly because it was an amazing season for Walter. And the Peter/Walter relationship.

      Extremely fitting ending. Left me feeling very contented about the whole series.

  5. Very thoughtful review, Jaina. You were able to say so much with so little. Much better than my long, rambling, near-incoherent review. I’m going to miss Fringe, too. I suppose I can rewatch it to my heart’s content on Netflix, though.

  6. I finally let myself read this after I saw the finale. It totally made me cry. I especially liked how they got to use the different fringe events from the series against the Observers. The way they tied in elements from the whole series and gave every character a good resolution and kept the tension up until the last moment made it, probably, one of the best series finales I’ve seen.

    • Definitely one of the most satisfying TV conclusions I’ve seen, agreed. Everything was just nicely wrapped up. But not in a contrived way. Miss my Fringe a lot!

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