"Fringe" on Fox HD - Page 176

Before the false news of 2 endings, I seem to recall a story regarding this season & its potential future that said something along the lines of this season's finale would manage to basically tie up the main story arcs that began in S1 & act as a fairly satisfying end if renewal did not come to pass.....but that one particular thread would remain that could be explored in a 5th.

Guess we'll start getting a better idea come tomorrow evening...


But I still wonder.....why change the title of the S4 Finale? Went from End Game to Brave New World several days before the official word on renewal was issued. That title swap sure seems like they went from "this is the end" to "WooHoo!!! 13 more hours!!", which I assumed meant we get the not so final ending.

Either way - FRINGE is still on into late 2012/early 2013 (depending on FOX). I'm content.

I don't understand the criticism that shows like Lost and Fringe get/got from self-professed "fans." I've lost count of how many times I've read variations of "It's obvious that the writers don't know what they're doing."

The way I see it, shows like this eschew the predictable, formulaic writing that dominates other television dramas. Writing for shows that challenge perceptions of time and space involves taking huge risks. Sometimes they pay off, and sometimes they don't. I don't have a problem with posters voicing their criticisms of specific episodes or directions plot lines are taking, but at a certain point, I have to ask why anyone would invest a significant amount of time watching a show they no longer like (if they ever did) and then criticizing it on a public forum.

Personally, I love movies and shows that challenge my perceptions of reality and the art forms themselves. They're not always successful, either financially or artistically, but I'd rather watch a hundred of them than one predictable, formulaic one.

I have very few complaints about Fringe.

But the Lost writers made a huge deal about how they knew the ending very early on, and it was totally based in science, and everything would make sense. All of that, clearly, was complete ********. Season 1 of the show was phenomenal. Season 2 and 3 were mostly a mess. They had some good ideas in Seasons 4, 5, and 6, but they ultimately couldn't come up with any good way to tie it all together.

Deus ex machina endings, like Lost's, are never satisfying. The only time I can remember that the "it was all a dream" ending working well was in the movie Jacob's Ladder.

The "worst" episodes of LOST were still about 1000000000X better than the best epsiode of (insert generic procedural or family drama title here), IMO. I would say the same for FRINGE against anything else on TV.

Did LOST end they way I thought it would? No. Did I hate it? No. Did I get a little choked up during the finale? Yes. I even have gone back & watched LOST from pilot to finale - I enjoyed it even more.

Everyone is entitled to their opinions. One person's treasure is another's sh*t.

But here is the challenge to the complainers....could you write & produce something better? Prove it!


This + the comments from FRINGE cast members regarding the S4 mutli endings....the lesson should be "NEVER trust what a writer/producer/actor says about thier serialized sci-fi flavored series while it is in production". You will find it might just increase your level of enjoyment.

Hey--I never claimed to be able to create a great plot, while the creators of Lost did. I didn't lead millions of faithful viewer around by the nose for six seasons only to boot them hard in the face at the end.

I enjoyed some of Lost and the rest was just wasted hours of my life. I was not at all choked up at the ending, just flabbergasted .

"The Internet is a vast communications tool where people from the world over can come together to bitch about movies & share pornography with one another. The 'web is filled with people bitching about some movie or TV show they claim to hate, but yet cannot stop talking about" - Kevin Smith.

Perhaps. But to me, the deus ex machina criticism is less valid when the story already requires viewers to accept premises that defy our perceptions of reality. Alternate universes, time travel, etc. can easily be viewed as preposterous.

I couldn't have said it better. I feel exactly the same way. And lest we forget, J.J. Abrams is behind both Lost and Fringe. I have a feeling that I'll look back on both of them in more or less the same way. Sometimes confusing, sometimes frustrating, but always challenging and compelling.

Between the 2, it has seemed like JJ had his hands in the intial overarching story of FRINGE more so than with LOST. The latter already was an existing idea (or 2) that ABC brought Abrams in on to try & solidify/polish. He was basically done with anything day to day soon after finsihing up the pilot ep.

Same could be said w/ FRINGE, but it sounded like JJ was more involved in the early concept/creation of the series.

I personally think that Fringe has answered more questions and resolved more plot mysteries to a satisfactory degree compared to LOST, even if the show ended two episodes ago.

The following is at the web site.

Fringe: John Noble Previews 'Massive' Two-Part Season Finale (video)

I think the video could be a spoiler, so I didn't watch it. Also, the comments in the spoiler tag are shown. My comment was just a heads up for the reader.

This exactly.


Disagree completely. Crap is crap, regardless of how ambitious it sets out to be. The difference between Fringe and Lost, really, is that the creators of Lost basically promised to reveal the meaning of life by the end of the series. It became too flighty and philosophical. The writers of Fringe have never promised anything remotely that absurd.

Fringe is grounded. It has interesting and likeable characters with clear motivations, and this drives the story in logical directions. With every new flashback or flashforward, the Lost writers, lacking any direction, basically rewrote every character until they were despicable and intensely unlikeable people (or dead).

One man's entertainment is another man
's garbage. Sorry you feel life was wasted on that other show.

But I never felt I was lied to or had a promise to me broken. Of course, my childhood feels securely safe from feeling raped by George Lucas due to some tweaks to a few movies, so what the hell do I know

You mean the producers lost you at some point? (okay okay....) btw I like how Lost ended. I was just wondering towards the end, how can they possibly end this? and, well, it could have been different had it been written by different persons, but I felt the conclusion was still satisfying. I really liked how the 'we will meet again' thing turned out.

I'm sure when the ending comes, some questions in Fringe will be left unanswered too (hopefully not the most important ones!), but it's more fun to speculate on the little details after all!

Ooh, I want a Sprint cellphone to get pay by wireless coffee! Does it include that freezing trick!

Nice to see he's still acting

You mean the burning trick?

A LOT of people did a very good job at keeping something cool under wraps for this episode.

I am amazed that such a secret was kept in this day and age.

Yeah - opening credits gave it away however. Then again, credits are a necessity!

Yes, I come to later find that out. It looked like frosty haze to me, when I watched it. I guess I should have taken the clue with the mouth discoloration.

I was completely blown away by seeing 'Belly'. What an outstanding episode. One more left for the season.

I thought the first person to die looked like frost too. Then everyone after that appeared to be fire.

I believe they almost had to have him back in the series. At least it made up for the disaster 'lost it's way' episode a few weeks ago.
I didn't see his name in the credits (which was kinda nice) and events leading up to his entry pretty much told me just who was back.

WTF happened to Jones?? Everyone here assumed he was the 'key' to all of this and now his character is vapor (literally).
Has to be the fastest exit of a central character I have seen in some time.

One exits as fast as another re-enters.

I was just ribbing you... To tell the truth, I thought the first guy froze too... but I guess it was supposed to be smoke we were seeing.


Well... it is the second time they offed Jones... so he had his shot, twice!

I did enjoy the whole reference to "Bishop" they lead you towards Peter and it's significance is really regarding Jones.

Loved the episode for the intensity and the "surprise" appearance of a certain individual...

Otherwise though it felt all over the place...2 amazing, huge catastrophes contained by the Fringe division way too easily/quickly...and until (if) we find out why I don't understand the motive behind creating those 2 types of fringe events.

What will also be interesting to watch for next week is the fact that the finale was made as a series finale so will it include things like:

1) September told Olivia that "she had to die"

2) Who is this "Mr. X" that was going to be the one to kill her?

As well as any other question that has been left unanswered...when the showrunners created this finale it had to be thought of as their last chance to tie things together at the time...should be interesting to see what they've done with it...

Thought I'd read that two endings were filmed - just in case? I assume the series finale episode won't be the one they'll show if so.

Only one ending was shot...

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/liv...-ending-319573