Blu-ray Review: FRINGE The Complete Third Season

Before Fringe came along there was an odd-shaped hole in the TV schedule. When Buffy The Vampire Slayer slayed her last (and was ultimately replaced by the vastly inferior, franchise-extending Angel), the supernatural tastes of millions of fans was cast aside, never to be wholly satiated until J.J. Abrams - surely the king of TV ideas - brought his X-Files variant to screens in 2008. No more though, as the show has for the past three seasons announces itself as one of the most innovative and entertaining sci-fi shows to have ever graced scenes. And now, fans can own the Blu-ray of the explosive third season, in which Fox really kicked on with the quality of the show (or should that be "shows"). Since its inception, Fringe's narratives have wound tighter and weirder than the Twilight Show, and the show's cast of characters have entered the collective consciousness of the supernatural sci-fi watching community in a huge way. While the first two seasons appeared to be primarily concerned with character dynamics and how they developed, the third takes a swerve in direction and pushes plotting to the forefront to join characterisation as a primary focus. There is far more dimension hopping than the past two seasons (obviously), as the season starts with an alternating focus on the Prime Universe and the Alternate - the clue as to which is in the colour of the opening credits - and it is good to see the Other Side characters given full focus in their own right, in entire dedicated episodes. Thanks to the nature of TV commissioning, and the spectre of premature conclusion, certain shows like Lost, Heroes and Flash Forward tended towards procrastination after initial successes, hinting sparsely and creeping towards a future resolution or revellation that lead only to over-extension and frustration, as fans turned off in their droves. Thankfully, Fringe has never gone that way - it is an immediate, episodic show that never skimps on plot detail or explosive action in order to tease future events any more than is strictly necessary, and it generally trundles along at a good pace that suggests it won't be around forever, but at least it won't ever overstay its welcome. Part of that urgency was perhaps due to the fact that an axe has been unceremoniously hanging over the Fox show for some time now, and that context definitely had some lasting effect on the show-makers. Unaware of the fate of their creation, Jeff Pinkner and Jay Worth were faced with the tough dilemma of tying everything up in case no season four was forthcoming, or leaving things open forever like Flash Forward and a hundred other incomplete stories, which clearly affected the show, with the strong early start faltering towards the middle of the season, and an uneven tone creeping in. Within the season are a number of stand-out shows - some of the best so far in fact, including the excellent season premiere "Olivia" and personal favourite "The Plateau", which felt like one of the best X-Files shows I'd ever seen (a heady compliment), though inevitably some of the lustre was stripped off the better moments thanks to a comparatively underwhelming - and downright baffling - finale. But that can be put down to the development difficulties, or at least the spectre of cancellation that never seemed too far away, and the ultimate excitement that must have come in hearing that there would indeed be a fourth season addition to the show. It is definitely the writing that suffers the most as the show begins to falter over the last episodes: the primary case of the week set-ups are still strong and intriguing, but there is just something not right about the main frame of the narrative. It's like the season starts out aiming at a spectacular crescendo, but then by the end it's totally underwhelming and the season ends on a comparative whimper, rather than the bang that would have made for better sustained viewing. No matter how many oddities or curios the shows episodes threw up, it was always the dynamic between the trio of leads that I found most compelling, because like X Files, Fringe is a dressed up sci-fi soap opera, but that writing problem means that each of the characters feels underplayed - Olivia in particular, and the show wrestles at times to keep attention, despite thrilling in earlier episodes. The acting however continues to be strong, with the same tight team of leading figures, led by Joshua Jackson, Anna Torv and John Noble, who adds that intangibly odd charisma and eccentricity that shows like this thrive on (see Giles and Mulder), and supported with some presence by Lance Reddick, Blair Brown and Jasika Nicole. It is Noble who grabs the most attention, playing the two versions of Walter so well that the difference between them is completely acceptable and completely compelling, and that helps further convince the audience of the difference between the two universes, which is handled with flair throughout, despite how easy it would have been to completely muddy the waters of distinction. It also is particularly good to see a show that uses the alternate reality conceit and doesn't simply resort to putting little beards on the "evil" versions, and encouraging the actors to ham it up as much as they like. So overall, it's a tale of relativity: of relative successes, and of relative failures, with the strong foundations of the show, in the acting, in most of the writing and in the episodic set-up let down somewhat by an unenviable development context, and a latter-episode lack of focus that can no doubt be read as a direct consequence. The question now must be: will Fringe continue to survive the dreaded Friday night slot in the US? Or will this current fourth season see the end of the investigative sci-fi? Whatever the eventual outcome, Warner need to show their intent early, in order to give the show's creators an appropriate position from which to work from, because there is no doubting that Fringe can be great again. It just needs the right amount of TLC.

Quality

The 1080p/AVC-encoded video transfer sparkles for the most part, with precise, natural colours (despite a muted, clinical pallette at times), unwavering skintones and healthy black levels throughout. Detail is great, especially in facial close-ups and the lab-based scenes, but there is a retained filmic grain that adds character, despite varying in noticeability across episodes. Overall, the show looks very good, and there is little of note to distract from the fact. The audio quality is very strong, thanks to Warners' move to using a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track for the first time on a TV release, and an impressive sound design that gives dialogue perfect precedence, over busy but thoroughly immersive background noise. Overall, it's a wonderful set-up that adds a lot to the viewing experience, with particularly bombastic effects that will wow fans.

Extras

As with the House Season 7 blu-ray release, it's a shame that Warner could only find space for two episode commentaries, despite their being a bumper 22 episodes included on the boxset, and the fact that there is nothing from the cast within those tracks adds to the disappointment. Elsewhere, we have a number of mini-featurettes, including looks at the audio work on the series, the animated sequences of Ep 19 "Lysergic Acid Diethylamide" (which is one of those afforded a commentary, along with "The Plateau"), a gag reel and an all-too-short Q&A session with the show creators concerning The First People. The stand-out added feature within the package is undoubtedly the Maxium Episode Mode - a variant of Warner's Maxium Movie Mode - hosted by executive producers Jeff Pinkner and J.H. Wyman. The episode in question is "OS," which features interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, optional production featurettes, special effects breakdowns and more, using the same dynamic Picture-in-Picture window that MMM uses. The window switches between holding the MEM content and the episode itself, which allows the excellent behind-the-scenes content to take centre-stage, rather than always playing as an aside to the episode, which is a nice touch. Sadly, as with the episode commentaries, this could and should have been extended across multiple, if not ALL episodes, especially considering how well the feature works with "OS". All-in-all it's a reasonable package, though the additional material could have been a bit more substantial considering the imbalance towards primary content, but what is included is all fine work. Audio Commentary 1: Episode "The Plateau" with executive producer Jeff Pinkner, writer/co-executive producer Monica Owusu-Breen and editor Timothy A. Good. Audio Commentary 2: Episode "Lysergic Acid Diethylamide" with producer Tanya Swerling, editor Luyen Vu and visual effects supervisor Jay Worth. Maximum Episode Mode: Glimmer to the Other Side (HD, 46 mins) Duality of Worlds (HD, 30 mins): 4 production featurettes - "The Other You," "Visualizing an Alternate World," "A Machine of Destiny" and "The Psychology of Duality." Constructing an Extra-Sensory Soundscape (HD, 7 mins) Secrets of Fringe: The First People (HD, 2 mins): Q&A session with Jeff Pinkner and Jay Worth Gag Reel (HD, 3 mins) Animating "The Lysergic Acid Diethylamide" (HD, 8 mins) Network Promos (HD, 6 mins) BD-Live Functionality Fringe The Complete Third Season is available to buy on Blu-ray and DVD now.