Why Fringe is one of the best shows ever made

After creating Alias and Lost, producer J.J. Abrams returned to television to co-create the sci-fi series Fringe, an X-Files -inspired show featuring gnarly body-horror, great monsters of the week, and an overarching plot involving multiple universes. The show, which premiered in 2008 and ran for five seasons, is the perfect binge-watch thanks to its episodic structure, great characters, and a science-fiction premise that gets wilder and wilder as it goes, becoming more serialized.

Fringe follows a team known as Fringe Division, part of a Joint Federal Task Force with the FBI, who investigate mysterious cases involving fringe science. Many of the cases stem from transhumanist experiments gone wrong, but as the series goes on, it also delves into the consequences of two parallel universes colliding. In 2024, when multi-verses are all the rage in movies like Deadpool & Wolverine , Fringe has them all beat.

The series stars Anna Torv as FBI agent Olivia Dunham, who enlists the help of the mad scientist Dr. Walter Bishop, played by Lord of the Rings star John Noble, and his estranged son Peter Bishop, a gifted jack-of-all-trades played by Joshua Jackson.

The series’ mystery-of-the-week format makes it easy for new viewers to jump into

Fringe was all about its weird, gory cases in early seasons

In the very first episode of Fringe, a mysterious man injects himself with something that releases some kind of toxin into the air during a flight, causing all the passengers’ skin to crystalize, killing them in gross fashion. Olivia’s partner and lover is also affected by the toxin, and the episode becomes a race to save him, which leads her to Dr. Bishop and his son.

Melting faces in the pilot episode were gory enough, but the show pushed the envelope in many episodes, featuring cases involving liquefied brains, spontaneous throat slitting, tentacle monsters eating their way into people’s bodies, and a baby growing into an old man before they can even clean off the afterbirth. Almost every episode, especially in the early seasons, features some weird, gross and very cool bit of body-horror.

Many of the cases in the first season stem from experiments that Walter had personally worked on as a scientist experimenting on people. After an accident that led to the death of a colleague, he had parts of his brain removed, causing him to lose many of his memories of the experiments, and making his behavior eccentric and often erratic. But encountering the experiments again, his memory often gets jogged, allowing him to help Olivia and his son figure out exactly what’s going on, and often find cures.

Parallel universes are used in a smart way that not only drives the narrative but also feels grounded in reality

No swirling Marvel space holes here, this multiverse has depth and dimension

Throughout the first season there are hints of something much stranger going on than just the scientific anomalies and the group of scientists who might be causing them. The team witnesses bald, suited men called The Observers, who seem to have some other purpose. Things become a little more clear in the season finale’s big twist, when we are properly introduced to Walter’s old partner, Dr. William Bell, played by Star Trek’s Leonard Nimoy, who is living in a parallel universe version of New York where 9/11 never happened and there is a lot more futuristic technology.

As the two universes appear headed for a collision, the scientific anomalies begin increasing, giving OIivia and her team a lot to investigate. In season 2, a big twist reveals how it was Walter himself who first set the two realities on a collision course. Eventually, the alternate universe becomes its own setting for the show, with viewers following both the Olivia we’ve come to know, along with the another Olivia, from the parallel dimension. Alternate timelines are created and time travel itself becomes a feature of the show in later seasons, as the team fight against the plans of the mysterious Observers.

The show explores plenty of high-minded sci-fi concepts, but it has a strong emotional component as well

Complex, flawed characters drive the series’ strong emotional core

Fringe wouldn’t be a J.J. Abrams show if it wasn’t also steeped in heavy emotions. While there’s plenty of sci-fi and body-horror weirdness to captivate any good genre fan, where Fringe really excelled was in developing its characters and their emotional lives. Olivia starts the series coming to terms with the death of her partner and lover, who she also learns was involved in potentially treasonous acts. She also learns about a dark connection she has to Walter’s experiments.

Meanwhile, much of the series is also about the complicated relationship between Walter and his son Peter, who he literally bridged universes in order to save as a child. Because of Walter’s brain surgery, he requires extra help from the son he’s been estranged from, and many episodes will practically bring viewers to tears exploring that difficult relationship.

As the series goes on, it also expands its stable of supporting characters, many of whom also develop great, emotional relationships with the main cast. There’s Astrid Fransworth, an FBI assistant to Olivia and Walter, played by Jasika Nicole, as well as Fringe Division head Phillip Broyles, played by the late Lance Reddick. Kirk Acevedo plays FBI agent Charlie Francis, whose friendship with Olivia is strong, and whose fate is among the more emotional storylines in the show.

Of course, the show also gets plenty of emotion out of its cases of the week, with the team helping people who’ve been hurt by the many experiments and anomalies wreaking havoc on the world.

The series builds up to a fantastic ending that feels very satisfying for viewers

The show only gets better as it goes on, building to an incredible, and emotional, ending

Unlike some shows that start off well and lose steam over time, Fringe had a marvelous way of reinventing itself thanks to its alternate universe premise. Each season expands on the one before it, going in new and often stranger directions. Many fans agree the show actually just gets better and better as it goes on, introducing new ideas and concepts into the show, and developing toward a truly satisfying pay-off in its final season.

That’s also helped by the show’s strong focus on character, which keeps the story grounded even as it introduces alternate realities, time travel and more. It can be tough to start a big new binge-watch only to have a show peter out in quality over time, but if anything Fringe only draws the viewer into its wild world the more its world grows, right up to the end. It’s a rare thing, and it’s part of why Fringe is among the very best sci-fi shows ever on TV.