The sci-fi or thriller genre could be a hit or miss – with The 4400, Warehouse 13, FlashForward and Invasion being key examples. While Fringe has secured a solid fan base – it wasn’t an instant success. Debashine Thangevelo looks at how the parallel universe hopping of Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson) has triggered vast interest in the series and his career, and what the fourth instalment brings.
IN THE late ’90s, Joshua Jackson created quite a stir in his role as Pacey Witter in the hit teen drama, Dawson’s Creek. Since then, he has really come into his own. Aside from a string of notable movies like Cruel Intentions and The Skulls, he shared the spotlight with Hollywood heavyweights Dennis Hopper (Americano), Harvey Keitel (Shadows in the Sun) and Donald Sutherland (Aurora Borealis).
Fringe, however, is the next best TV series to happen to him after Dawson’s Creek.
However, the series didn’t immediately endear itself to viewers. A sort of mish-mash of The X-Files and The Twilight Zone, Fringe got sci-fi addicts to invest in its intriguing characters and, in so doing, get hooked on the series.
The Fringe is centred on Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv), Peter Bishop (Jackson) and Dr Walter Bishop (John Noble) – viewed more as a mad scientist – who are members of the Fringe Division for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
In looking into strange happenings and mysterious deaths, the team also try to contain situations that permeate the current world from a parallel universe.
Here’s a quick recap of what’s happened so far:
The team looked into cases that formed “The Pattern” in the first instalment. They uncovered David Robert Jones and his Machiavellian plan, which involved an international network of rogue scientists, for a doomsday event. Meanwhile, Walter’s experiment on Olivia, as a child, comes to light and also explains her psionic abilities. And more revelations about Peter come to light.
In the second season, Walter, realising the threat posed by the human-machine hybrid shape shifters threatening the prime world, is forced to confess that Peter is from the parallel universe.
The third season flitted between the two universes as Walter’s double – Walternate puts a series of events into action by sending Fauxlivia (Olivia’s doppelganger) in her place to infiltrate the Fringe Division. As luck would have it, she becomes pregnant with Peter’s child.
Meanwhile, Olivia tries to warn Peter, who disappears while trying to stop Walternate.
Fans distraught about Peter being killed will be glad to know that he isn’t dead. Instead, he has unwittingly travelled to the future – 2036 to be exact. And so, the fourth season, pivots around him, armed with more insight on the war between both worlds, plotting to get back to his team. Interestingly, an old villain returns…and Olivia is pregnant.
With the fifth and final season still to come, expect lots more intrigue and mayhem as Peter soldiers on in his quest to save his world.
Talk about truth being stranger than fiction, eh?
• Fringe, M-Net (DStv Channel 101), Thursday, 9.30pm.