Fringe And Caprica: Could Be Better?

Fringe and Caprica are the only current US TV shows I watch on a regular basis. Both have interesting premises, but both have flaws.

Fringe is the X-Files for the 21st Century. It has awesome monster of the week episodes and a story arc from heaven. Plus both the monster of the week episodes and the story arc work together so the show feels far less disjointed than the X-Files sometimes did (oh we've uncovered a global conspiracy but next week we'll be in small town America dealing with a Satanic cult because we have no focus). Better yet, we actually learn things about the story arc. Where the X-Files served only to confuse whenever it tried to give you a little bit of info, Fringe slowly builds up the back story to the clash of the two universes.

But it has a few flaws. Astrid is a totally under utilised character even if she was just used for comic relief. The Olivia/Peter romance just doesn't ring true and certainly is being rushed. As we all know shows usually quickly jump the shark once any sexual tension is removed. The fact Bishop is linked to just about every case they investigate is starting to stretch belief. He may be a genius but even he only had finite time available. I think it could do with more focus on the Massive Dynamic storyline and general Fringe weirdness and less random emotional visits to places from Bishops/Olivia's pasts

Caprica is another very interesting proposition. Set in the Battlestar Galactica universe but 58 years before the Destruction Of The Twelve Colonies, it's very different to BSG. BSG was about imminent life/death situations, war and rebellion. Caprica is more a sci-fi soap opera about love, life and intrigue. Which is fitting as BSG at it's best was also sometimes pretty close to becoming a sci-fi soap opera.

The world we are presented with is a very advanced 1950s sort of place, with strange and unusual lifestyles and a new monotheistic religion rising in opposition to the mainstream Greco-Roman polytheism. It's actually pretty damn cool.

However for a soap opera to work you must like at least some of the characters. So far there seem to be very few characters I can actually say I like. And I feel like they are intentionally dragging the story out so it moves at a very, very slow pace. This last episode felt more like an extended middle with no beginning nor end and no great plot reveals or moves forward. I think the writers need to get a little sharper otherwise I know I'm going to be getting very bored soon.

However I think both series do have the potential to become very, very good pieces of television and move sci-fi telly to a new level. Fringe really does the push the boundaries of the imagination and Caprica might push the boundaries of genre's in general. Bring on the next episodes...