Small Glass Screen: Beautiful Monsters

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Fringe: Do Shapeshifters Dream of Electric Sheep

After the monumental success of Olivia, and the two exceptional freak-of-the-week episodes, things are heating up a spectacular way on Fringe. This episode was a shot of everything we've come to expect from this show, and that the writers have finally taken full advantage of. The episode starts out with Senator Van Horn ending up in a car accident, but there's one simple problem. He isn't the man Broyles originally befriended. He's a shapeshifter, and has been for the better part of two years. That means that the man we saw helping Broyles out in Earthling has been deceiving us all along. This episode was actually filled with events we couldn't see coming.

I expected a far more Broyles-centric episode at the start, but it featured brilliant character work for each actor, even the guest stars. The title actually turned out to be more than just a sweet reference to a science fiction novel. We actually delved into the humanity of these shapeshifters, and I just cried for these monsters in this episode. This show has instantly become my favorite on television. Mad Men has been great as always, but they'll never reach the high tension or emotion of this season of Fringe. I'd love to see a no-holds-barred Emmy battle between these two shows, because make no mistake, it is certainly on.

Fauxlivia is still undercover as our Olivia, but as she gets closer and closer to Peter, we see several shades of doubt. She's unsure if she can keep this up. She's never had to do a case where there's been so much to lose should she fail. She's still Olivia Dunham, and as such she still has some of those same insecurities. The writers have said that they wanted to make the other side's characters so fully fleshed out that it would cause the audience to question their loyalties. Peter remains the show's constant, putting up great work week to week under the same role. Meanwhile, our Walter remains the nutty professor we've always loved. He doesn't get many dramatic beats this week, but it was fantastic to see him doing his deranged work at Massive Dynamic.

T.J. Newton returns, and it certainly is his greatest hour. He doesn't develop the emotional ties that the other shapeshifters have to, so that's made him a cold and precise monster, both physically and emotionally. He's one of the characters we'll miss once he's gone. Nina makes a short comic cameo in this episode, but it's nice to see that she's not been simply discarded. This episode was a sure step up from The Box, giving one of the best opening scenes of the series, as well as one of the greatest closing scenes of the series. The alternating universes between episodes was always going to be a long shot, but this series has made it work by giving us consistent quality throughout them all. I'm going to say right now that Fringe is even better than Lost was on its best day. This episode of Fringe was fantastic, and the best part of it all is that Olivia won't be spending the entire season over there. Because this November, she comes home! 9.5 out of 10

Glee: Duets

I don't know how Glee keeps luring me back for more, but I certainly am enjoying it. This week's theme quite obviously fits the title, with each character scrambling to pair up with somebody for a duet. We get a great idea of where most of the relationships are at at this point. Rachel and Finn are still somewhat ignorant of each others flaws, but this was the first episode where I actually noticed how they've grown as characters. Finn has grown into something of a leader, conscious of his flaws and working besides them. As for Rachel, she's finally not as annoying as she was in the first season. The writers have finally come to realize that they've been forming a character that the audience hates, so they're working to reverse that.

Kurt continues to be the most important character on this show, and I'm glad that Sam didn't actually turn out to be Kurt's new boyfriend. The direction they've decided to go with is tragic in the way most openly gay kids feel at high school. He too is finally growing some awareness of his place in the school. Because of his situation, he has to spend his time on his own, despite the sexual impulses that every kid feels at that age. He's probably everybody's favorite character on this show, and for good reason. His relationship with his father is enough on its own to jerk more than a few tears. Emotions are still trickling from last week's episode, and it'll be a sad experience when Kurt leaves the show eventually.

My favorite couple of the hour was oddly enough Brittany and Artie, because this new season has pitted me against Tina entirely. She's dead to me, and can continue being a little bitch with Asian Mike. From here on out, I'm pulling for Brittartie, because you can't look at Brittany rolling a meatball across a lonely table with her nose, and not have a mixed feeling of comedic tragedy. I hope they get back together later this season. The other couples are nice enough, but nothing special to me. Santana and Mercedes are a great pair, and I'm surprised we didn't get to them sooner. Sam and Quinn are a nice match and all, but when Puck gets back, he is going to be pissed. In case I didn't mention already, Puck's in juvenile hall, and his absence is kind of sad.

The music in this episode was a lot more consistent than last week, with nearly every song having a nice touch to it. The worst was Rachel and Finn, but it was meant to be played for laughs, and not for quality. Sam and Quinn were "so freakin' charming", Mercedes and Santana were straight up bad-ass (I remind you that we're still talking about Glee), Mike can't sing, but that didn't really matter, Kurt has a stage presence the trumps all but himself, and his final duet with Rachel was a beautiful way to end the episode. This show had a tough few weeks, but now it's found firm enough ground to hold me for two weeks until their Rocky Horror episode. I'm still waiting for a Randy Newman featured episode, but I'll be patient.

Undercovers: Jailbreak

I'll be honest that I haven't been keeping up with J.J. Abrams' new series, because the pilot, pleasant though it was, left much to be desired, and I wasn't sure if they'd be able to put up interesting adventures week after week. Given that, I'm still not quite sure, but this episode was the best of this season. You haven't missed anything from the first few episodes, and this episode isn't anything spectacular. However, it is a good fun ride, without being the cornball action the series started out as. I'm still keeping myself at arms length from this series, but if the opening of the next episode is nice enough, I might stick around for the rest of the episode. This is worth checking out if you're bored and have nothing else to do. However, I'd definitely rather suggest the other two series featured above.

For Your Acknowledgement: Don't Miss It

Let me skip everything else and just get straight to the point. Tonight's episode of Fringe follows our team in our universe as the investigate a shapeshifter who has taken the form of the U.S. Senator, and a personal friend of Broyles. Nobody can be trusted as the team tries to access the information stored inside the shapeshifter which may include Fauxlivia's true identity. Under any circumstances, I'd be willing to shell out $10 to see this episode in theaters, so it's more than worth a free hour of your time tonight. It's a the last episode of Fringe before Veterans Day, so at least turn your television to the channel if you're not prepared to watch it. It'll help boost ratings. With an episode called Do Shapeshifters Dream of Electric Sheep, can you really go wrong?

Small Glass Screen: Week 2

Fringe: The Box (Rating: 5.44 million viewers)

You can travel all the way into another universe where Cats is Dogs, and the World Trade Center still stands, but sometimes it's just nice to come home. I actually missed the blue title design. There are subtle changes in color that the alternate title sequence has yet to cultivate. It is a bit strange to make the jump back to our universe after spending so much time over there, and I was worried that the writers would neglect to make our side as interesting as theirs. Fortunately, we have Bono and they don't. Clearly, we rock so much more. We grew up on this side, so it will always have a place in our hearts.

The Box transforms the typical case-of-the-week format to integrate the new events in the mythology. Walter and Peter are unknowingly in the midst of Fauxlivia, who is following out Walternate's sinister plans to an unknown end. It turns out that Fauxlivia and Thomas Jerome Newton (so glad they didn't kill him off in the finale) are pulling the strings of the entire debacle this week. A piece of the "doomsday device" that was introduced in the finale has found its way to our side, and it possesses a great deal of destructive power on its own.

It's been a while, but I'm so glad to have our Walter back in center-stage. I know that we got no shortage of John Noble last week, but he's just not the same quirky yet tragic character we've grown accustomed to over the years. There have always been references to Oppenheimer in Walter's character, but as the episode opens, we see that connection more relevant than ever. Walter knows that he's responsible for the plight of the other universe, and that's really taking its toll on our lovable scientist. On the lighter side of things, this episode marks the first time Walter has referred to Astrid as Aspirin. Nice to know the writers aren't all spent out of ideas.

Adding on to Walter's emotional baggage is the reading of William Bell's will, which gave a nice send off to Nimoy's character, even if he isn't gone for good. Of course, Bellie leaves Walter something valuable: Massive Dynamic. All these years while Walter's mind was rotting away in a Mental Institution and William was building his legendary company, he always had the intention of giving it to his best friend. The most weighty line of this episode is Bell's last message to Walter: "Don't be afraid to cross the line." It may not have the same emotional depth of John Locke's "I wish you had believed me" on Lost, but it's pretty close. When compared with last week's premiere, this one is something of a step down, but it's still far above most of what came in season 2 and nearly everything in season 1, despite garnering the second lowest rating of the series.

Final Question: William Bell's last will and testament mentions Bell's "old friend Isaac". Please tell me this is a character we'll meet at some point!

9.0 (-.2 for the fart joke)

The Event: To Keep Us Safe


Right now, I'm going to make the assumption that I probably won't be staying with The Event past the first season. It's a nice enough adventure, and the twists and turns should keep me with the series until we finally learn what exactly "The Event" is. However, I have a feeling this show will be a lot like Heroes, and just get snuffed out by the end of the first season. It is impressive though that the series has already taken our minds off the mysterious title. We're left thinking about extraterrestrial beings that may or may not come from outer space and exactly who is working against them, and to what end. The acting is occasionally quite hammy, and the script is close to it, but it's likable enough to stick with.

7.9

Mad Men: Hands and Knees


With only a few episodes of Mad Men left this season, the writers are certainly shaping things up for one hell of a finale. This episode had several developments that were shocking to say the least, and the only major disappointment was that Peggy was mysteriously missing in action this week. We got a bit of a follow up on last week's unexpected alley-sex between Roger and Joan, with Joan once again pregnant, and once again deciding to get an abortion. It's clear that Roger feels something with Joan that he couldn't have with anyone else, but he's also immature and quick to avoid any sort of chaotic disruption. However, by the end we don't know if Joan actually went through with it. We'll know soon enough, I'm sure.

Meanwhile, Don gets into some unexpected trouble when the Defense Department decides that they need to know who he is before the deal with North American Aviation can go through. Pete has been working on this account for years, and he's forced to make a big sacrifice in order to keep Don out of the gutter. A small misunderstanding at his apartment pushes Don into a panic attack, and he luckily has Faye there to calm him down. One of the biggest developments of the episode was Don revealing the truth about his identity to Dr. Miller. It was unexpected, but it pushes there relationship into a place where he could never be when he was with Betty.

The collapse of the North American Aviation deal has more negative consequences than assumed at first, as Roger learns that Lucky Strike is consolidating their advertising budget to do it themselves, therefore making Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce unnecessary to them. This puts the future of the company in huge question, as Lucky Strike was one of the major accounts keeping them afloat. The final aspect of this episode was Lane Pryce's interaction with his father, who has come to bring Pryce back to England. Things come to a head at Lane's apartment in a shocking way. The dynamic between Lane and his father is stressed to say the least, and Jared Harris turns in one of his top performances on the show since the beginning. This episode went into deeper and darker territory, and found its place as the second best of the season.

For Your Acknowledgement: Distraction

I'm still dead-focused on getting more people to take the time to see Fringe, not only because it's my favorite show on television. The series has quite obviously been flailing in the ratings arena, mostly due to the competition in its time slot. FOX obviously has enough faith to keep the show in the same slot for another season, but one can't help but wonder how long their faith will last. I'd like to see the series come full circle and end on its own terms like Lost did, but all I can do is hope that people who have strayed away over the years come back. What may bring people back is this year's formula of alternating between universes, which is very interesting because the way they have it set up makes every episode important to the over-arching mythology of the show. Here's a clip from tonight's episode set in "our universe". Also, in case you were confused about how this clip was relevant, the Olivia kissing Peter is actually an impostor from the alternate universe.

For Your Acknowledgement: Driving Miss Dunham

I know a fair few of you may not be familiar with the science fiction crime procedural Fringe, but if there was ever a point to start watching, it would be now. Critics say that the third season premiere acts almost like a second pilot, rewarding devoted viewers who have stayed with the show from the beginning (what few there are), while allowing new people to enter the action without becoming confused. These three clips give an idea of what to expect from the premiere, set entirely in the alternate universe. Yeah, there's an alternate version of New York where The Statue of Liberty was routinely cleaned three times a day.

"Fringe: Season 3" Promo!

I may indeed be alone in my love affair with Fringe, but I still hope that it gets a wider audience this year. The new promotional TV spot for the third season of the science fiction drama has hit, and it does tease at some amazing new possibilities. You can always take a guess at what the Fringe team is going to be up to, but leave it to Jeff Pinkner and J.H. Wyman to go against what we expect in a good way. You can see the teaser below, and weigh in on your own thoughts. Sorry for the low quality.