With LOST – the old sage of the two-part finale, on the horizon, I had wondered whether FOX would allow the producers of Fringe do something similar. So imagine my delight when I found out that this will indeed be the case.
Continue past the jump for more details.
According to ew.com, the last two episodes of the season will be a single event, directed by Oscar winning Akiva Goldsman and written by Fringe executive producers Jeff Pinkner and J.H. Wyman:
“We’re trying to do the last two episodes as a singular event, a little bit more movie-like,” elaborates the acclaimed auteur, who won an Oscar for his adaptation of A Beautiful Mind. “It’s really one big story. We’re approaching it like a mini-feature. It’ll have a singular narrative drive.”
But will it have any closure should, heaven forbid, the episode turn out to be a series finale? “Good stories typically have sufficient closure, but also have the promise of continuing — even if you’re not watching them continue,” he says.
I’m a fan of Akiva Goldsman’s work on Fringe – he directed the excellent “Bad Dreams” and “A New Day In The Old Town”, so it should be one heck of a season ender. As for the news – I much prefer two-part finales, they seem to provide more of an ‘event feel’ – plus, you can’t do a two-part finale without tackling the mythology. Oh yes. Now, if we can only squeeze out a 4 or 5 more mythos-heavy episodes before the finale, I think Fringe will prove that good serial television is far from a turn off. Go on FOX/producers, give it a try. Pretty please?
Mild Spoiler follows:
Entertainment Weekly also confirm that Leonard Nimoy will be returning for the finale, which I imagine means that he either enjoyed his earlier stint on the show, or he’s agreed to do one more episode so they can kill off his character. Who knows.
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{ 29 comments… read them below or add one }
This is the best news ever! Leonard back.. thank god.
and a 2 part finale.. oh yea!!!!
Now all I want is a season 3 confirmation!
I never noticed before, but they did a great job of making Walter look much younger.
This is going to be great.
This article says it all. Dude could be my personal spokesman.
Warning: article may offend Kool-Aid drinkers.
Thanks for the article. I agree with all of it. They seem to have wasted most of this season.
Just this morning I was wondering what Nick Lane and Mitchell Loeb were upto…
Nick Lane: Still in his drug induced coma.
Mitchell Loeb: Living a life of excitement in Prison.
Not a whole lot of mystery involving either of those two characters at the moment. Sure, they may come back into play later on, but in the meantime, there’s no reason to expect anything has changed from the last time we saw them.
My point was that they were interesting and part of the overarching mythology, and we haven’t seen shit of them all damn season. Instead we get molemen and smokey Russian astronauts. Cue the excitement.
Page 48 January 26, 2010 at 9:07 pm
This article says it all. Dude could be my personal spokesman.
Warning: article may offend Kool-Aid drinkers.
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“…For every unforgettable episode of Fringe, we seem to get four or five relatively forgettable ones.”
-Couldn’t have said it better myself
“The show can be saved, but J. J. Abrams, Robert Orci, and Alex Kurtzman need to dedicate themselves to the idea of reducing dramatically the number of standalone episodes. They suck, they are boring, they detract from the main story, and they slow down the action. Yes, they almost certainly delight and placate FOX (all networks imagine that standalone episodes attract new viewers, but I believe they underestimate how much they drive dedicated viewers away), but standalone episodes are the key ingredient to bad TV. And at the moment Fringe is dangerously close to being bad TV, at least much of the time. ”
-I am not sure I’d call Fringe “bad TV” but some of the episodes have been sub par.
Why do you come to this site? ALl you ever do is bash the show. Go watch 24 or something if you want mythology spoon fed down your throat. This season has been amazing, and its the best show on television. All you complainers get on my nerves.
Are they stand alone episodes completely unrelated to all aspects of the greater mythology, or are they episodes that are continuing to build towards a larger reveal by delving a little deeper into the characters?
One of the common complaints about S1 was Astrid getting more screen time. This season the writers have addressed that issue, and have developed a wonderful bond between she and Walter. Jaskia and Noble have shared some great moments this season, but they only seem to get a passing acknowledgment before the uproar for more mythology dense episode drowns out the applause.
It’s going to be a slow burn; and the writers all but told us this with the shocking reveal at the end of S1. Peter dying as a boy–Olivia being yanked to alternate universe…the why’s and what’s of those two things weren’t going to come quickly. Then there’s more of Walter and Bell’s backstory. The Observers, the shapeshifters, whatever arm of the government that’s keeping an eye on the Fringe division. And of course the shifty and mysterious Massive Dynamics tie in. I say sit back, be patient and enjoy the ride and everything that comes along the way, people.
Yep, I completely agree. Very well said.
Of course I love the mythology episodes. They are as good as it gets. But from my point of view, both mythology episodes and standalones are essential to the show. They both bring different things to the show and allow different kinds of progression. Personally, I don’t know if the mythology episodes would have the same impact if it weren’t for the standalones in between that help to set the stage for those mythology ones. Sure, Fringe could go all mythology and we would likely already have had the reveal about Peter and have moved far past that by now. But would it have had the same impact as it’s going to have given that we’ve had this whole season to develop the characters, develop the story, and build up the tension? Personally, I don’t think so.
Yes, they could perhaps do a little better job of maintaining continuity from one episode to the next. Yes, they could maybe do a few more mythology episodes and a few less standalones. But as far as I’m concerned, Fringe just keeps getting better and better. Like Elaine, I say be patient and enjoy the ride.
As for the finale of Season 2, I’m thrilled that they’re going the route of having it be a two hour finale. It looks like it has a great deal of potential and I imagine it will live up to that.
“Sure, Fringe could go all mythology and we would likely already have had the reveal about Peter and have moved far past that by now. But would it have had the same impact as it’s going to have given that we’ve had this whole season to develop the characters, develop the story, and build up the tension? Personally, I don’t think so.”
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My problem with that line of thinking is that regardless of how slow they want to develop the storyline the product they are putting out isn’t the best product possible. If all of the stand-alones were like “what lies below” then I could abide them better, but instead we get junk stand-alones as well.
I also think that putting so many stand-alones in this show could cause us to miss what ultimately happens if the show is canceled.
I have read briefly that the ratings were okay, but is Fox a network to continue to take third place in ratings? If I am not mistaken when Fringe goes against new episodes of Grey Anatomy and CSI Fox gets third and sometimes 4th place behind The Office and 30 Rock. When that happens FOX is only beating the CW. I find it hard to believe that FOX is satisfied with 3rd or 4th in ratings.
I am worried that the two part episode is being setup because the writers/directors/producers aren’t sure if they will get a 3rd season. I hope we get a third season, but I am not convinced at this point?
I am not saying all stand-alones are bad, I’ve actually liked the last two and I wasn’t completely against the out of place 1.21, but there is no reason that we are getting a 1 to 4 ratio. It doesn’t make sense. If the writers only have 2 seasons of a good storyline then lets see 2 seasons of the best Fringe possible, not 3 years of mediocrity.
As far as the ratings go, from what I know, FOX has always struggled with ratings on Thursday nights, placing fourth (or worse?). Putting Fringe on Thursday nights wasn’t done with the expectation that it would out-perform Greys and CSI, or even the Office. Each of those shows is very established and brings in very strong ratings. The purpose of putting Fringe on Thursdays was to improve their Thursday night ratings. And Fringe has fulfilled that purpose. As FOX President Kevin Reilly said recently, “We wanted to get into business with quality shows on Thursday nights which was important. It’s done its job.” So even though Fringe is still 3rd or 4th place in its timeslot, it’s been an improvement and FOX seems to recognize that. Bones and Fringe have significantly strengthened Thursday nights for FOX and I don’t know what else they could put in that Thursday timeslot and expect it to do any better than what Fringe is doing now. Grey’s and CSI, while still strong, are still slipping from one week to the next. If FOX is patient and keeps Fringe where it is, they could find Fringe becoming one of the strong, established shows on Thursday nights while Greys and CSI fall.
Go die in a fire, Pedro.
“My problem with that line of thinking is that regardless of how slow they want to develop the storyline the product they are putting out isn’t the best product possible. If all of the stand-alones were like “what lies below” then I could abide them better, but instead we get junk stand-alones as well.”
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But we’re only half way through the second season of the series. If this was the third or fourth season, then I could see reason for complaint, but it’s not.
And when you look back over the course of the season so far, more than half of the so called stand alones have touched or dealt directly with the larger mythology. In fact, I can only think of three episodes this season that didn’t have some direct tie in to the greater mythology of the show. ‘Earthling’, ‘Snakehead’, ‘Johari Window’ and ‘What Lies Below’. Every other episode approached it either from Walter’s past, Massive Dynamics slight of hand involvement, or connected it directly to Olivia.
Like mlj mentioned, each episode has brought a different perspective and progression of the characters this season. For me, it’s been a joy to watch, because it’s maintained a definite air that the story is going somewhere. Not wandering aimlessly in hopes of establishing an end date much like S2 of Lost before they moved on with the story.
“but we’re only half way through the second season of the series. If this was the third or fourth season, then I could see reason for complaint, but it’s not.”
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If season three is a copy of the season two formula, then I don’t think Fringe should be given a season four. At this point I am not that positive on whether they deserve a season three.
I never watch it on Thursday anymore. I DVR and watch it sometime on the weekends. It’s not worth an hour on Thursday for me in the current format.
Sorry, four episodes. My bad.
“I have read briefly that the ratings were okay…”
Actually, I believe that Fringe got some of its best ratings for the last two stand-alone episodes for this season. FOX wants these stand-alone episodes, and I haven’t read anywhere that it is going to change. This leaves Bad Robot with little alternatives. I enjoy all the episodes (some more than others), but I guess so do a lot of other people. If you pay attention to the ratings. “August” had rather low ratings.
“If season three is a copy of the season two formula, then I don’t think Fringe should be given a season four. At this point I am not that positive on whether they deserve a season three.”
Seems like an awful bleak outlook just because the show isn’t focusing on the dense arc as much as you think it should.
“I never watch it on Thursday anymore. I DVR and watch it sometime on the weekends. It’s not worth an hour on Thursday for me in the current format.”
Well if the first two seasons are anything to go by, then S3 is likely shift our focus once again. S1 was told primarily through Olivia’s perspective. Her feelings, struggles, family, strengths, weaknesses. S2 has primarily focused on Walter. The secret he knows he can’t hide much longer. The bond he’s developed with Peter as well as Astrid and his fondness for Olivia. I hope there will be a third season, because it’s definitely worth that hour on Thursday nights for me.
Honestly, I don’t get all the praise for season 1. People, most of season 1 was awful. I get what they were trying to do, but the writing was just …awful. (My husband is very tolerant and he always had a WTF face on for most of season 1). Things did not make sense half the time and although there seemed to be connection to the mythology in most of the episodes, they never truly explained anything and there was not much linkage from episode to episode. Just lots of information in each episode, that still half way through season 2, I have no idea how it all fits in. The Jones’ episodes were the best and they sort of linked up for awhile. So, a little ray of sunshine for season 1.
Season 2, is not that much better. At least I am getting to now know the characters better (should of been done in season 1), however, in doing that, they’ve dropped the mythology ball. They need to combine the writing for season 1 and season 2 together somehow. I’m not convinced yet that they have the writers to do that. I know we have mostly new writers this season.
Why am I still watching? I actually love the characters of this show and like everybody else see the potential, that could be reached. I’m just not sure we have the producers/writers to get to that point though. I agree that the show would be better totally serialised, and I have no idea whether Fox would ever let that happen. So, in the meantime I just hope they keep on chipping away at trying to get the balance right in the coming episodes. If they do, then I think more viewers will be happy.
So glad the finale will be a two parter. Somebody else mentioned what I was also thinking, “Are they doing this, just in case no season 3?”. So, this season will be going out on a big bang. Hopefully it will do the trick for a season 3, as I really would like to see the show out to the end, to see what that end is, that the creators have always known from the beginning. Even if season 3 is only 13 eps, then I would be happy.
I’m happy about the director for the two parter, but the writers. There last couple of eps have not been so great. I really hope they step up for this one.
I thought season 1 was great, and I totally miss the mythology episodes. I must admit that “some” of the standalone episodes were not great, but thank goodness they are getting better. Fox wants stand-alones so that other people besides die-hard Fringe fans can understand and watch it as well. I do agree with this point, but I think that the biggest complaint I have of this season is the continuity for the characters behaviors. Sometimes it just doesn’t make sense. How can Olivia be such a strong character in the first season, and suddenly become so weak in the second? I do however need to give props to “A new day in old town” and “Grey Matters” as great Fringe episodes. The writers need to first of all, write better stand-alones, second of all, not completely ignore the mythology during those episodes.
How has Olivia become a weak character this season in comparison to S1?
Weak might have been a little too harsh a word. Let me see if I can clarify what I am talking about a little. Historically, she seemed to be the type to stop at nothing to solve a case or to save a person. In “In which we meet Mr. Jones” she doesn’t think twice about going to Germany to save a guy she didn’t even know, while going against Broyles opinion “I’ll save you the time, you are not getting in.” “Momentum Deferred”-Good Charlie is replaced by Bad Charlie and she had no clue. Olivia is very observant…she’s good at connecting things. After Walter told her that someone had infiltrated the team, she should have suspected something. “August”-The lame pursuit of the very over weight/out of shape assassin. Is this the same person that chased the guy through some apartments, and jumped to an adjacent building, then jumped a story onto some trash cans? During the beginning of the season, I considered the fact that she had just been through a very traumatic event and needed time to recover. But after her leg got better, I figured she would snap back into it at some point. I don’t know, I’m just not feeling that 110% effort that I saw last season from her. Does that make sense?
Jumping into your conversation here:
I think I understand what you’re saying, but I think those examples you give are more the exception than the standard. In the latest episode, Olivia did not even hesitate for a second before she volunteered to go back in the building to get the ventilation system running again. And considering that she really didn’t want to be fighting Peter, she certainly gave him quite a fight.
But probably the biggest example from this season, in my opinion, of how Olivia is still tough and able to put everything she has into catching the bad guys, is from Grey Matters. I watched in complete amazement as Olivia chased the van and proceeded to fire, shooting the driver right in the head. And it didn’t end there. As she approached the van, Mr. Smith opened the back doors, guns at the ready, and she shot him down before he even knew what hit him. Nothing else I’ve seen matches the expertise with which she managed to apprehend those shapeshifters. Seriously, anyone else would have lost them as the van was driving away. But not Olivia. My opinion of her abilities as an agent completely skyrocketed after seeing that.
Now Astrid, however, is a different matter. As loveable as she is, sometimes I have to wonder exactly how she made it into the FBI…
You know what, I stand corrected. You are right, Olivia has done some amazing things this season, especially when she shot the guy in the head through the window of a moving car. I don’t know what I was thinking. Regardless of what Astrid did this season, I do have to give her props at this last episode. It’s okay, as long as from this moment on, she doesn’t come up with anything else “not so smart” to do.
I watched a stupid comedy last night called “National Security” or something like that with Martin Lawrence and Steve Zahn. I was sitting there watch this horrible movie and Martin Lawrence asks Steve Zahn about his partner that died. Then they went on for a minute, blah-blah-blah, then Martin Lawrence said “I am sorry to hear about that.”
On Fringe, not once since Charlie died has anyone said to Olivia “sorry your friend died”
Continuity is a word that the writers for Fringe have no concept of at all.
You can’t tell me that a stupid comedy is written more like the “real world” than Fringe. I know Fringe deals with unreal stuff, but the characters are still portrayed as real living humans with emotions.
I would go so far as to say that the writers this year have sucked to the Nth degree.
Wow — tell us how you really feel, Pedro…
In my opinion, Charlie’s death was appropriately addressed in Dream Logic. We saw Olivia mourn, saw her and Sam Weiss discuss it, saw her talk to Peter a little bit about how she was feeling, we saw her visit his grave, and we saw her reach a certain level of peace regarding his death. After that is achieved, there’s no need to continue to dwell on it and make a big deal out of it and have people come up and express sympathy. As far as continuity is concerned, I think that qualifies. Sure, I wouldn’t mind if they mentioned Charlie a little bit more than they do, or if they showed a little bit more of how Olivia still continues to grieve despite having accepted his death. But all considered, I think they have adequately addressed the issue. Maybe they didn’t do it exactly like they did in your comedy example, but it was addressed. It’s not like they had Olivia shoot shapeshifter Charlie in Momentum Deferred, then never mentioned him again.
We also had Broyles attempting to console Olivia shortly after she shot NotCharlie at the end of ‘Momentum Deferred’.
They had more consoling for Olivia over Charlie, than they ever did with John Scott. Found that strange as John Scott was the love of her life.
Correct me if I’m wrong, as I haven’t seen season 1 for awhile, but that’s what I remember.
when and where, and will i have to split in two?