Fringe: Season 5

"Fringe" enthralled me from the first. Its alternate universe structure, its forays into the future, its "pattern" of impossible-yet-real cases - all these could have easily become unwieldy, opaque, or - even more dangerous for a TV show - complete gibberish to the viewer. And yet, these negative outcomes never happened. We always knew where we were. A large part of the credit goes to the close attention paid in the very structure of the show to the inner reality of the characters: thus, the very color of the background to the show's logo lets us know immediately if we are in the original prime universe or the original alternate universe. (And yes, please note the use of the word "original" here; I will not divulge the number of universes, nor the colors associated with them, lest any new viewers who are reading this review lose some of the thrill of discovering the complexity of "Fringe" for themselves.) Also, credit for helping us locate ourselves within the "Fringe" universe must go to the superb cast. All of the main characters - yes, even the one who at first seems to be the only 'singular' person in the several universes - play subtly different versions of themselves so well, we know immediately who they are and which universe they belong to..Unfortunately, the best of these universe-twisting role-playings occur prior to this final season. But for those of you who are only now dipping int the wonders of "Fringe", as an added fillip, in an earlier season (no cheating, I'm not gonna tell you when), please keep your eyes open for the time when a very major character suddenly starts to channel Leonard Nimoy's guest star persona so well that at one point you can actually see Nimoy-as-Spock reacting to an incident. Why this show has never received Emmy recognition is beyond my ken. Acting, writing, direction. All deserve comment and recognition. I do not want to put any of the award winners down - excellence is excellence, after all - but how many of those who won writing awards have had the difficult chore of delineating a number of universes so well that it's a joy to recognize not only their differences, but also their similarities? And have kept the flow very near to flawless in all that time? How many of the award-winning directors have had to deal with more than one persona in one - or all - of their actors, and have had to showcase them in more than one universe - and maybe all of that within one episode? All award winning actors are capable of creating believable characters from one show to another; how many are capable of doing that change subtly and completely from one moment to the next, from one show to another, from one season to another? "Fringe" fans - and future fans - we wuz robbed. *sigh*Unfortunately, the fifth and final season of "Fringe" was severely curtailed. We were given only thirteen episodes - essentiallly one half of a full season - with which to conclude one of the most intricate worlds that has ever been created on television. I have read some reviews of the first season which stated that the viewers found it weaker than later seasons because the episodes were 'stand-alones' and did nothing to establish or ground the overarching mythos. I disagree. Several times in viewing fifth season episodes I was startled when something that had occurred in the first season was reintroduced and suddenly had a new meaning. Things from the first season on - even things that had appeared to be momentous when they first happened - now had even more significance.The major wonder, however, was that such a complicated tale was, indeed, successfully completed in these thirteen episodes. I will not deny that, satisfying though the ending might have been, it would, indeed, have been even better had we had those nine extra episodes. The remembrances that were placed throughout the season convince me that those few strands that were not completelly tied off by the time the thirteenth episode aired would have received competent - and loving - treatment had there been more time.Time. Time has always been one of the threads woven through the mythos. Time, and regret, and reconciliation, and expiation, and love. Love most of all. Love forbidden, love familial, love lost, love regained, love twisted, love so singular it can warp the universes to itself. Love that can turn a dysfunctional family into the most loving in all the universes. Love that saves those very universes. Love grounded in reality, in everyday things, yet transcendent for all that. Fringe the series begins with a forbidden love that ends tragically; it carries through four episodes developing a love that heals a very broken family; it ends with a love fated by the stars, a love that is no tale of Romeo and Juliet - although we can certainly be forgiven for thinking those tragic lovers might have been our lovers forbears, a love that is triumphant. Love. Family. Time.Circling back to time....Season five takes us from 2015 to 2036 and back but also includes off-screen trips to several other eras.It's a tour de force of complete and total closure - almost. Enough closure that we're satisfied. Everyone's story comes to a close that's absolutely right and proper for each person. It's not always happy - there are some deaths - but it's always an appropriate closing to their story.Now. You want specific plot details? Not from me. If you haven't seen this season yet I'm not gonna spoil your pleasure in discovering its many twists and turns and intricacies. Just know that if you were a fan of seasons 1-4 you WILL find this a *real* ending, a satisfying ending, an ending that lets your mind spin a myriad of "what ifs" and "do you supposes" and "d'ya think they meants...?"And yes, I will admit it's not yet perfect. There was enough story for twenty-two episodes and they just couldn't give it all to us. Despite what some have said, the continuity has always been exceptional with "Fringe". Things left in the air in season one might not be resolved until a season or two down the road. Something tossed casually aside in one episode might have a more prominent role further on. Which is why I know that the few things that bother me - mostly scientific problems with the hows and the wherefores of certain chronotechnical concepts that might seem as though they've just created a bigger problem than the one that was being 'corrected' - I'm confident would have been explained with a bit of exposition that there just wasn't room to include in a mere thirteen episodes. Not when you had to have the room in those thirteen episodes to recover that which was lost, make plans to defeat the bad guys, be discovered by said bad guys, track down some of the items you need to make your plan work, rediscover the love you once shared with the person who brought you back from non-existence, lose the very thing that led you to engage in this seemingly doomed plot against authority, discover the true identity of one of your only contacts in this world you didn't make, have beautiful sacrifices, make new friends, lose some loved ones, revisit dear friends, get the bad guys, and save the world yet again. Oh. DId I just give away the plot?(Forget twenty-two episodes; I think they had enough in their 'Bible' that they could have given us *seven* very full and complete years! *sigh* I really want those two-and-a-half extra years!)

Loved it

Just what I ordered. Perfectly packaged and on time delivery.

Fringe is good Sci Fi. A must watch.

Donald's Radio is making noises now. Big Problem, because Walter has taken LSD.Walter's Lab takes on a surrealist landscape, and the ingenuity of this episode is that we don't know if something we see is in Walter's mind or if it is really three in the Lab.Like Carla Walters. And the Nina Sharp that tried to physically stop Walter from entering the Portal he made. And "Tinkerbell" which Walter sees flying around Peter's head, and into the Dimensional Portal where she splits into Green and Red and the Red Tinkerbell flies through the portal.Peter seems to be returning to normal, as is his relationship with Olivia. So they go off to find the source of the radio signal using tech Anil gives them. What they find, are the bones of the very "LAST Sam Weiss" and some remains of observers and loyalists. But the Sam Weiss name has no meaning for Astrid and Walter in this timeline. They also find a relay set up high in some trees.The problem here is that "Walternate" is slowly taking over Walter. It appears to be a genuine split personality, and the problem is that the "Walternate" side of Walter is the side that knows the "plan to defeat the Observers"Deep in Walter's Mind partitioned off in the "Walternate" side, are the details Walter needs to know.The group follows the signal to an Island, Walter in tow, in his mind he escaped from Astrid again and took a Taxi to Observer Headquarters in NYC. Maybe this is what "Walternate" wants to do. By "Walternate" I am referring to the pre-lobotomy Walter, the one who has been re-emerging after Simon's quick-repair of Walter's Brain from S4E19. That man was more evident in that episode and in S5E1, before being addled by Windmark.What they find at the source of the Signal has to be verified by Walter, the password that was being Broadcast, they need to present it to pick up the item which is at the Broadcast Location. This is where some very Monty Pythonish animation is used to show the process of how Walter's mind works. We can almost assume that this is a graphic depiction of that process that normally goes on, but just a little enhanced by the Black Blotter Acid. Just a little Black Blotter to find "Black Umbrella."The Item of course is the Observer Child from S1E15 "Inner Child" which had been stored in Walter's Pocket Universe from a few episodes back.The Child remembers Peter and Olivia from the old timeline, how can this be? This child has to be very special.Meanwhile, Walter decides to burn a book which contained all of his old notes from before he had those parts of his brain taken out. We've been assuming that this was a real, Physical Object that he had been carrying around this episode. But he was not physically carrying that book - Walter IS that book. Carla's parting words are merely a foreboding that we will be seeing the wholly restored Walter soon. And should we fear that day, or embrace it?IN the episode before this one, Peter was telling Walter how it was with the device in his head. Our Walter would not consider putting it in, but would "Walternate" do it? The question always has been 'what will "Walternate" do once he emerges?' Will he carry out his plan to defeat the observers, or will he Join the Observers?

If you're not familiar with fringe, I highly recommend you get your hands on this series. Worth every dime

I had to return the DVD because of an oversite on my part, as it said Italian English, but not till I went to watch it, did I realise it was near all Italian. ..Ooooooooppps!!

Er hoeft geen resitutie plaats te vinden heb dit ook niet gevraagd heb artikel netjes ontvangen hoor ik kan alleen zo contact met u opnemen hoop dat dit over komt groet linda keijzer

Non li ho ancora visionati ma, limitando la recensione al prodotto ricevuto, non ho riscontrato alcun difetto. Serie molto interessante, così come i suoi protagonisti.

Series is top calss.Not that great experience with this DVD.