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Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Fringe 7: A Bullet Can Scramble a Dead Brain's Transmission

Back to reviewing Fringe now that the election is over ... and it's getting down to some wild, cutting edge science fiction, with the good guys trying to tweeze information not only from a dead human brain, but one which died because a bullet went through it.

This of course doesn't faze Walter, who even has an explanation for why Peter's reception of the dead guy's information is just a bunch of lines - the bullet in the brain messed up the transmission, resulting in the incomplete transfer. A dead brain is like a fax working fine. A dead brain with a bullet in it - that's like a fax running out of ink.

The sheer daring of this plot line appeals to me. Once you trespass into the realm of science fiction, anything is possible, as long as it has a logical basis. And, yes, once we accept that a dead brain can convey information, it makes perfect sense that a brain that died by a gun shot would be an unreliable telephone.

Fringe, though, is still dancing around the corners of who is really responsible for all of these bizarre phenomena. Presumably some living brains. But, with Fringe, you never know, and that's part of its charm.



See also Fringe Begins ... Fringe 2 and 3: The Anthology Tightrope ... 4: The Eternal Bald Observer






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3 comments:

ducky01 said...

I have been enjoying this show, for the most part. And I do not simply say that because I have friends that do some of the writing. I pretty much decided in the first episode that Walter is my kind of "mad scientist." The mystery of who is behind all the unusual happenings isn't so much what is keeping me hooked as is the sheer weirdness, and the scientific explanations that seem quite reasonable, if a bit improbable. Then again, I suppose the mystery arc will also keep me coming back.

Paul Levinson said...

I do agree that Walter's one of the best mad scientists we've seen in a long time.

Are your friends happy with the way the show is proceeding?

ducky01 said...

They seem pretty happy that the reviews have been decent, but they are fairly cryptic about what's in the works. There was a comment from one of them early on that "Act 3 sucks," in regard to the third episode, and he also mentioned that they were in a lot of meetings for a couple of weeks after. That particular episode got a pretty ho-hum response from viewers, as I recall. I'd imagine there are always going to be disagreements about where a story is going when you're putting it together with a group of writers, all of whom have their own idea of where it should go next.

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