I'm a Fringe fan. I've watched every episode of this Fox series from the Fall 2008 premiere to the (oddly placed) never-before-seen episode shot and edited in Season 1 that finally aired in the middle of Season 2 to, most recently, last night's episode, "Entrada."
In case you're unfamiliar, Fringe is one of those X-Files type shows, and it pretty much covers the basics.
[caption id="attachment_13480" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Peter, Walter and Olivia of FRINGE"]
[/caption]In Season 1, a team of government employed social rejects:
- A Girl Who's All About Her FBI Job (with a tragic family life and an axe to grind at work),
- A Crazy Scientist/Crackpot Genius (complete with mental institution baggage and comic relief lines),
- And his Wrong Side Of The Law/Charming Yet Mysterious/Also Genius Son (with appropriate Paternal Conflict Syndrome)
Work together with help from
- An Assistant, the Only Normal Person In This Kooky Outfit with an Excellent and Convenient (yet Unusual) Skill Set And under the guidance of
- A Harried Supervisor/Crusader In The Know (with sometimes ambiguous loyalties) who Covers For Them when They Break The Rules
To solve various cases (determined to be Too Messed Up For The Normal FBI) which lead them to discover and explore strange phenomena (mainly in the shape of Science Too Advanced To Be Used Responsibly By Us Humans).
Along the way, they encounter some gruesome and effed up Critters and seriously horrific Weapons With The Potential For Annihilating The Entire Human Race created by A Conspiracy of Unknown Origin [which may or may not be related to a Very Powerful, Overly Interested, Suspiciously Cooperative Yet Still Secretive Global Mega-Company helmed by a Mysterious and Absent, Super-Genius Possibly Bad Guy Boss] all while demonstrating Barely Believable Concepts of Science.
In Season 2, our now Emotionally Interdependently Team discovers said Conspiracy is an Organized Conspiracy With Superior Technology And Inside Information working A Grand Plan to fulfill its Flipping Scary If Still Fuzzy Objective that, it seems, will bring about The End Of The World.
In Season 3 -- well, let's just say:
"There really isn't a point where things just can't get weirder, is there?" -- Olivia
[caption id="attachment_13494" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="FBI Agents Mulder and Scully"]
[/caption]I tell my friend and fellow LOST fan Theresa that it's The X-Files without the angst, sex or smokin' hot guy [Her answer: "No angst? Then what's the point?"]. When the premiere aired 2 years ago (Fall of 2008), she couldn't figure out why I was so freaked out. It's an updated version of The X-Files, she said. So What?
Buddy, I'll tell you So What! By the end of the Fringe pilot, I realized that this show is actually something I don't think has ever been created before. Something so amazing and flippin' cool, it blew my mind!
Fringe, although an excellent show on its own, has the distinction of being the first show that, on purpose and by design, doles out carefully developed, brilliantly presented HUGE Pieces of the Puzzle for Solving WTF's going on on LOST.
I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING
Sure it sounds crazy, but is it any more crazy than actively planting really obvious LOST Easter Eggs in many other shows on many other networks for No Apparent Reason? Most of the obvious Easter Eggs we've seen on TV (Easter Eggs that, by the way, numbered in the HANDFUL before Team LOST announced an end date for the series) and in a few video games don't seem very useful. They don't add anything to our theories about LOST. They're just "cool," and while we were impressed and giggled the first few times, now they seem routine, just a page in the ever growing ABC/Disney experimental marketing via LOST notebook ["Oh, look, another Oceanic Airlines billboard."]
[Find current list of many, many LOST references in over 140 different TV, Films, Games, Comics and more HERE at Lostpedia.]
But what if?
What if the obvious Easter Eggs are all one big clue telling us there's more? If there's obvious Easter Eggs, then what if there are Easter Eggs that AREN'T so easy to see? If there are so many, many small Easter Eggs, ehen what if there are HUGE Easter Eggs?
What if J.J. and Company have indulged his favorite pastime, "Messing With Our Heads?" If Team J.J. can hide puzzles all over his Wired Magazine gig, then why wouldn't he think to do the same with LOST? Especially after the end of the series was announced. What better opportunity to blow us away than knowing where the finish line is and what it'll take for us to get there? [Check out the solution to the META PUZZLE from J.J.'s Wired Magazine HERE.]
But I'm with you. It IS crazy. BUT -- it's also GENIUS! What J.J. and Friends have done is simply brilliant. Think about it. What could be more cool than planting major pieces of LOST's puzzle into a completely different show? If it works, it goes down in history as the most creative chapter in LOST phenomenon mythology. If it doesn't work, NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW!
[You should know, J.J. is STILL sticking Cloverfield references into shows and films he's associated with, INCLUDING FRINGE.]
[caption id="attachment_13488" align="alignright" width="222" caption="Amy gives "Cloverfield" 2 Thumbs up!"]
[/caption]A LEAP OF FAITH
Maybe you're still not convinced, and that's okay. Even if your mind is wide open to the extreme possibilities of LOST, hints about LOST hidden on Fringe automatically make you uneasy, queasy even. You should know that this is a Perfectly Normal Reaction that comes from indirectly challenging one or two cornerstone laws of specular relations [what academics call the relationship between audiences and whatever media with which they're interacting].
These "laws" are more like agreements -- unconscious, automatic emotional contracts between viewers and the media they experience. In this case, the agreement is between Us and LOST.
The first law of specular relations is "Suspension of Disbelief." This is where we agree to "forget" that there's no such thing as a Smoke Monster as long as it seems realistic enough to work on the show. We suspend (or temporarily disable or discontinue) our disbelief (when we KNOW something's not real or realistic).
As we've mentioned before, we base our beliefs of what's real and what's not real on our experience and knowledge of the known universe. That's why little kids are more likely to suspend disbelief for things that make adults roll their eyes. Adults are tortured by Barney,* but toddlers think Barney is their very special pal. He's "real" to them. Kids can believe in Santa Claus, but as they get older, they start to figure out that Santa CAN'T be real and start looking for a more reasonable explanation (in the back of their parents' closets).
This also why going to a movie about fire fighters with an actual fire fighter is not always that fun. The real fire fighter is going to see right through anything in the film that's not accurate and (probably) be irked [and you'll be irked at him/her when he/she leans over and explains why the film is "wrong" every other scene]. Your fire fighting pal can't enjoy the movie because it's unrealistic according to his/her expectations of "reality," which are higher than yours.
[caption id="attachment_13489" align="alignleft" width="196" caption="Amy's Favorite Wallbreaker"]
[/caption]The second law of specular relations is the "Law of Walls." Ever heard of the "Fourth Wall?" It comes from the idea that, if you are watching a play, the stage (wherever the story is taking place) has three defined walls. The Fourth Wall is the space between the action on stage and the audience. It's obviously imaginary, but its purpose is to help the audience to suspend disbelief and enjoy the show.
Ever been to a play when the actors come off stage and wander around (in character) and/or interact with the audience? That's called "breaking the Fourth Wall," something that was considered "wrong" [even though Shakespeare did it all the time] until Modernism came along and playwrights said, "Screw the Fourth Wall" and wrote plays that intentionally include/acknowledge the audience. FYI: When movie characters talk directly to the camera, they are breaking the Fourth Wall, too.
THE "FIFTH WALL"
The specular relations law I suspect makes LOST fans the most uncomfortable, is the "Fifth Wall" (at least, that's what I've always called it). That's the barrier BETWEEN media, what separates one medium from another. Each TV show we watch creates its own little world, and that world is separated from the little worlds of other shows.
The "Fifth Wall" can be broken pretty easily in television without too much fuss from viewers. That's called a "crossover" (where some one from Bones works a case with the guys from Law & Order). We tend to like them okay, but they're never our favorites, right? They're considered "filler" until that other show goes back to where it belongs, and we get back to our story.
This is my point: If you feel alarmed at the thought of LOST clues/Easter Eggs being planted on other shows [yes I said SHOWS plural], it's perfectly reasonable. Again, I'm right there with you. If FBI Agent Olivia Dunham (Fringe heroine) stumbles into a warehouse full of sensory deprivation tanks, opens them up and finds our losties in them, I'm gonna be REALLY UPSET! I'll even hold down Darlton, so you can take turns slapping them!
What I'm talking about has NOTHING to do with the Fifth Wall. Shows are not colliding! It's more like finding a clue on your Frosted Flakes box that helps solve the puzzle on your Mac-N-Cheese box. Totally different animal!
[Don't Panic.]
We'll talk about any Suspension of Disbelief anxiety you might be having later down the road, but for now, just remember: this is strange because it's a brilliant, original idea. And how many brilliant, original ideas have YOU seen on TV lately?
[That's what I said!]
P.S. Check out Jorge Garcia's recent spot on How I Met Your Mother ["Blitzgiving"] for a SIGNIFICANT clue about the nature of Smokey.
