Like so many people, I have ...
Question: Like so many people, I have very much been looking forward to
Fringe, but I find myself unable to watch. I realize this may sound like a whiny complaint, but I'm squeamish. I love good sci-fi/fantasy, but to me, this series is entirely too graphic. I enjoy the characters a great deal, and the story line is generally intriguing, but I simply cannot watch paralyzed but completely conscious women having parts of their brains removed through the inside of their upper lips. Why is it necessary to show this? I want to watch
Fringe but I can't get past the gore, and as a result will be skipping it entirely. I would love to hear your thoughts on this issue. Am I overly sensitive or is just a question of one's tolerance? Frankly, this is the same reason I don't watch
House or any of the crime dramas. Though the story lines are well done and the characters compelling, I can't handle the blood and guts. I suspect in these days of cartoonish violence around every corner I'm in the minority, but I'm curious if you've had any thoughts about this.
Answer: It's clearly an issue, and while I enjoyed the second episode of
Fringe more even than the pilot (the relatively blah episode 3, however, that's another story), I was alarmed (as were others in my office) by the violence-against-women aspect as well, though the freaky childbirth opener was terrifyingly riveting. The problem any sensitive viewer is facing is that prime-time TV is attempting not to look obsolete in a time when movies, video games, graphic novels, cable competition and who knows what else are all so much more explicit in their content. Many people seem not to mind the "ick" factor — in fact, I imagine some have come to depend on it — and it's not going to go away. But it's a fact that I've had to change my own eating habits so I'm not trying to digest food while watching the discovery of a grisly corpse on
Bones or an inside-the-wound shot on
CSI.
While we're on the subject, here's a surprise: Fringe backlash. Here's a rant from Alex:
"Where do I begin on Fringe? This has to be the most over-hyped, overrated show in recent memory. Some might say Studio 60, but the difference is that show had good actors and good writing. It just took itself too seriously. The biggest problem I see are the lead actors. Anna Torv is completely unsympathetic and wooden, and has the emotional range of Ben Stein. After seeing J.J.'s previous leading ladies from Jennifer Garner's beautiful and emotional Sydney Bristow, to Evangeline Lilly's sexy & tough Kate Austin, Torv can't shine their shoes. Then there's Joshua Jackson, who still looks like a child actor to me, and we're supposed to accept him as the male, romantic lead? In your mind, compare Jackson to Michael Vartan's Vaughn or Sawyer and Jack on Lost. And if this show is supposed to be like The X-Files, can you even put Torv and Jackson in the same league as the legendary chemistry and presence between Gillian Anderson's Scully and David Duchovny's Mulder? Add mediocre plots, boring writing that's more gross than scary, and a confusing central mystery, I don't see this show getting better. If anything, this show serves as a reminder to how good television (The X-Files, Alias and Lost) should look and be done. The only positives here are the two main supporting characters played by the talented Lance Reddick and John Noble. The problem is those two aren't enough to keep me watching with two terrible lead actors, bad writing and insipid plots and stories. What's your take, Matt?"
My take is that it's early days still, and I'm willing to give the show some time to find its way. It definitely didn't explode out of the gates with the emotional power of Lost or Alias, and they seriously need to lighten up the Olivia character. But as I've said before, including in the earlier discussion about Dollhouse, the tendency in today's impatient media/Internet climate to write off an ambitious show if it isn't an immediate sensation (which, I'll say again, The X-Files took a while to become) is troublesome to me. But thankfully, the powerful House lead-in is giving Fringe the sort of cushion for now that it doesn't have to worry about its immediate future. Now it just has to worry about getting better, which I think is entirely possible.
