Fringe Season 5 is well underway and I just had a few
relatively spoiler free thoughts that I'd like to share here.
I was unsure of even continuing the series after last
season's finale which I think we can all agree tied up the series in a
satisfactory way. I made a public declaration that adding a new element to the
overall story arc this late in the game can be ruinous for the series and have
negative feedback from fans, much like Lost's final season did. I still feel
the same way and while I am not loving the current season the writers are
incorporating enough of the old elements to keep me going. Maybe the reason
that I have cooled on the series as the show progressed is that the show switched
it's focus quite a bit. Specifically, when we started the series the show was
undeniably about Olivia Dunham and that over time switched to Peter Bishop.
Still enjoyable, but I suppose my red blooded male-ness prefers the focus to be
on Olivia whether she resides in the blue, red or amalgamated universe; past,
present or future. Last season introduced a new character Henrietta (Etta)
Bishop in a new...setting, and we get a slight focal shift onto her and her
story. How much focus will be given to Etta remains to be seen.
The problem with a show like Fringe is that you can't go
home again. It has to change because it cannot capture our imaginations as it
did in the first season. The great thing about the show Fringe is that it is
brave enough not to even try to go back. It moves forward showing us the
"Endless Impossibilities" even when we want to dwell in a certain
spot or universe as it were.
Homeland Season 2 (spoiler free) has continued the
excellence and unpredictability of the first season and it too is going in new
untested waters.
It is the show that I'm most enjoying, but I don't really
want to speak about the plot but actually about one of the supporting cast.
Morgan Saylor plays Dana Brodie, Nicholas Brodie's teenage daughter. Without
doing any research I was thinking to myself that this is probably the most true
to life depiction of a teenager in media that I have witnessed. She isn't a
miniature adult. Dana may have strong
opinions and emotional outbursts but they are restricted somewhat, mainly in
the actress's voice. It isn't the bold thirty-something actor playing a
teenager in a roll, it is delicate and uncertain. Family aside I do not have
any regular interaction with teenagers, but when I do they have a lot in common
with the character Dana and her mannerisms and body language. Doing some light
research I found that actress Morgan Saylor is if fact 17 years old. How much
of her character is acting and how much is real doesn't matter to me, I'm just
pleased with an accurate portrayal of a young person.
If this bit of minutia surprises you, I am not surprised.
I'm rather shocked because I had thought that the children were the weak spots
in the casting of the first season. Was I wrong, or just oblivious to the
talent on screen?
