Fringe
Plot
Fringe follows the exploits of FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham, scientist Walter Bishop, and his son Peter as they investigate aspects of fringe science (telepathy, levitation, invisibility, reanimation, genetic mutation, psychokinesis, teleportation, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, precognition, dark matter, cybernetics, suspended animation, transmogrification, etc). All over the world, a series of apparent experiments collectively referred to as “the Pattern” (e.g., a newborn baby who rapidly ages and dies within a few hours, a bus full of passengers trapped in a strange substance like mosquitoes in amber) are occurring for reasons unknown. Olivia, Peter, and Walter are in charge of investigating these strange events to determine their source. Connected to the Pattern is Massive Dynamic, a leading global research company that holds the patents for a number of new and important technologies. Throughout the first half of the first season, Mitchell Loeb, a rogue FBI agent, orchestrates some of these events as part of a larger plan to break a man out of prison and kidnap Olivia.
Unlike his other series, Lost, J.J. Abrams promises the series’s story arc will be easier to follow and more accessible for those who skip the odd show. In an interview first published in September 2008, Abrams said: “Lost has garnered a certain reputation for being a very complicated show and one that you have to watch every episode. Fringe is in many ways an experiment for us, which is we believe it is possible to do a show that does have an overall story and end game, which Fringe absolutely does…We can do a show that has that, so that there’s a direction the show is going and there’s an ultimate story that’s being told, but also a show that you don’t have to watch episodes one, two and three to tune into episode four.
Cast
* Anna Torv as Olivia Dunham, an Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent assigned to investigate the spread of unexplained phenomena.
* Joshua Jackson as Peter Bishop, Walter’s son who is brought in by Olivia to work with his father.
* John Noble as Dr. Walter Bishop a former government researcher in the field of fringe science who was institutionalized after a lab accident.
* Mark Valley as John Scott, Olivia’s former FBI partner and lover.
* Lance Reddick as Phillip Broyles, a Homeland Security agent who runs the Fringe Division.
* Kirk Acevedo as Charlie Francis, Olivia’s colleague and close friend at the FBI. He is second-in-command of the Fringe Division.
* Blair Brown as Nina Sharp, a high ranking employee of Massive Dynamic, a leading firm in science and technology research.
* Jasika Nicole as Astrid Farnsworth, a young federal agent and assistant to Olivia and Walter.