Mania Grade: C+
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- TV Series: Fringe
- Episode: In Which We Meet Mr. Jones
- Starring: Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, John Noble, Lance Reddick, Jasika Nicole
- Written By: Jeff Pinker, J.J. Abrams
- Directed By: Brad Anderson
- Network: Fox
- Series: Fringe
FRINGE: In Which We Meet Mr. Jones
Do you have a mint? By
Stephen Lackey
November 13, 2008
Anna Torv in "Fringe: In Which We Meet Mr. Jones"(2008).
© Fox TV
Fringe hasn’t been the runaway hit that LOST was when it started. The series has been entertaining but often it just seems to be missing that spark that could make it riveting. The show has had those moments though; and a good amount of humor and intrigue too. This week sees Olivia separate from the rest of the team chasing a lead all the way in Germany on a case involving an agent that has no depth in the series. Then the episode spends an inordinate amount of time with her and another agent nearly rekindling a past relationship. Anna Torv is fantastic as Olivia on this series but the stuff she had to do this week just didn’t work. The whole thing just felt forced.
On the other side of the coin, Dr. Bishop’s oddities were funnier than ever this week. By the middle of act one a mint really did start to seem like a good idea. There’s discussion about him not being focused but it’s possible that he truly is focused. The more focused he gets on a case the less control he has over the other unused parts of his brain leading to some strange comments and revelations. Whatever the case is, he always manages to save the day. Joshua Jackson playing Bishop’s son, also seemed to have very little to do this week other than show that he knows a lot more about medicine that he’s previously displayed. Anna Torv and Jackson have great chemistry and the show just seems to work better on a dramatic level when the two are working together. So, it’s no surprise that this week felt a bit flat considering they had few scenes together compared to other episodes of the series.
The case of the week was fairly entertaining, being a riff on Alien. The case, the agent, and even his wife, all appear to be a set up for a story arc in the series. It can be challenging to set up a new storyline and make the set up a memorable episode on its own. This one ends up just being passable riding mostly on the back of John Noble as Dr. Bishop and luckily for the series he can carry it. The story introduces a sort of terrorist group that may be involved with the pattern. It’s time to be done with all of the introductions and get more into the mystery of the pattern. It almost seems necessary for Olivia to have a giant white board in her office with a chart representing all of the cases she’s been on so far and their connection to the pattern. Hopefully, next week the story will be just a little more concise, Olivia and Peter back working together and maybe at some point Astrid will actually have something important to do.
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I gave up on this crap after three episodes. I can't believe it hasn't been cancelled yet.