The fifth and final season for the J.J. Abrams produced science fiction fun fest is at an end. Fringe’s last season releases on Blu-ray and DVD tomorrow (May 7th), and it certainly goes out with a bang.
To catch you up, the show starts with an X-Files set of events that can’t be explained. From deadly DNA altering sickness to multi-dimensional visitors, Fringe brings the frights and the laughs. The overall story arc of the show revolves around Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv), an agent of the US government that is reassigned to a ‘fringe’ division that works on cases the FBI can’t explain. While she certainly feels out of place in the beginning, Olivia soon discovers her ability to switch between alternate universes, which plays a major role in the overall story arc of the show. Accompanying her story is cohort (and later, lover) Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson), who ends up getting together with Olivia, which leads them to having a very important child together. The first part of the Fringe story reveals that Peter is from an alternate universe, where he was stolen away by his father, Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble) in his current universe. Peter’s misplacement puts strain, and potential destruction on the universe he is from, while keeping his current universe healthy. Olivia’s ability to jump back and forth helps Peter to reunite with his father on the other side, but also reveals his real father isn’t all he is cracked up to be.
Confused? Oh, it gets better.
While the group is jumping back and forth between universes, trying to figure out how to save the alternate one, visitors start to appear on earth called Observers. The Observers have the ability to jump between universes (and time) to ensure the survival of both places. Why would they care, you ask? Well, they plan on taking over earth in the current universe and populating it with their own kind.
And this is where season five starts…
While I did leave out some details (I don’t really want to give everything away), the important part of the fifth and final season is that the Observers have taken over earth in 2036, and pretty much wiped out the human population. Our original trio of characters, Olivia, Peter and John, have survived the years by encasing themselves in ‘amber’ (look it up, or watch the show). After they are released from their sorta cryogenic stasis by Olivia and Peter’s daughter, who was thought to be dead. Season five has them working fast, and with a once ago enemy, to ensure the survival of the human race.
While there is no doubt in my mind that season five is a blast from beginning to end, with lots of people crying at appropriately sad moments, it just seems like a major ‘left turn at Albuquerque’ when it comes to overall story arc. I really wanted to see more of the alternate universe, but this just seems like a short story, heck even an epilogue, to the main beef of the show. Again, I don’t have a problem enjoying the hell out of the final season, but it’s so incredibly different than the previous four that, in a sense, it feels a bit rushed.
I have no intention of giving away the previous seasons because I know some of you have not watched them, you will find that seasons one through four to be somewhat separate from the fifth. While the Obsevers were introduced early on in the show, the entire fifth season contains their involvement in the overall story arc. Their involvement seems a bit sudden and, like I said previously, rushed. While I can’t be sure that Abrams wasn’t told to wrap it up from Fox, it certainly feels that way when you watch the finale. Again, it’s not a bad last season, but it does feel a bit pushed.
Having said that, I was very entertained by the viciousness of the Observers, especially their leader Captain Windmark (Michael Kopsa), who has an unusual vengeance that most of the other Observers don’t contain in them. He drives the fifth season like Mario Andretti drove an F1 racer, precise and with lots of power behind the wheel. While William Bell (Leonard Nimoy) certainly twisted and turned the evil up a notch in the prior season (he is someone I didn’t explain for a good reason — sorry, don’t want to ruin it), Windmark sets the bar higher with what he brings in the final story. He helps keep the the final episodes interesting, exciting and frightening at times.
As for the story in the last season, all the pieces fit together perfectly. You get a good sense of why the Observers are doing what they’re doing, and a great sense of how humanity has struggled to survive. The Observers allow for ‘Loyalist’ to exist, where they report on other human factions that might give the Observers trouble (in which they promptly eliminate the problems). The writers do a great job with establishing 2036 as a turning point for the human race, and how bad things have gotten. They created a dreadful, enjoyable world in the last season of the show. It may not be the best send off when paired with the rest of Fringe, but it’s just as good as a stand alone story.
In case you didn’t know about the Observers…
*SPOILER AHEAD* If you don’t know much about the Observers, here’s a bit of a background. They are genetically altered beings who have replaced their emotions with intelligence. They were specifically created to make mankind better and the world in general a more intelligent place to live (thus, they had to get rid of humanity). Their powers were developed through this genetic alteration, and they are cold/calculating as they come. They were developed in 2167, which is what the main plot point of the fifth season surrounds — one of the Observers has to travel back in time to stop that from happening, and thus saving humanity *SPOILER END*
If you haven’t seen Fringe before then don’t start here, start with the first season. Get them all and enjoy the ride. It’s one of the best shows (or was) on television.
Besides the final season itself, you’re also treated to a nice set of special features on this DVD collection. Here’s what you’re getting:
– A Farewell to Fringe (reflections from J.J. Abrams, J.H. Wyman, and the cast)
– Fringe Season 5 2012 Comic-Con Panel
– Downloadable Script of Final Episode
– Episode Commentary
– Gag Reel
– Unaired Scenes
For most shows of this caliber, you usually don’t get a nice set of features. I’m glad that Warner Home Video and the producers of Fringe felt like they should give you some extra ‘umph’ for you buck. The ‘A Farewell to Fringe’ is a great featurette. You get some great insight from the producers and some fantastic memories of the show from the cast. I really enjoyed the inclusion of the Comic-Con panel for the fifth and final season. If you haven’t seen a panel from Comic-Con then you’re in for a treat. I’m a script junkie, so I was happy to see a downloadable version of the final episode’s script (more of these please). The commentary is good, as is the gag reel (seeing an Observer mess up is just priceless). The unaired scenes are interesting, but understanably unaired.