The New Season is Underway

Deb and I somehow managed to stay current with prime time programming throughout the summer and even wound up with a fairly empty DVR now and then. So, curious, we sampled the first season of Bones, a show we thought we’d like and had been recommended by several friends.We borrowed the DVDs from Bob Rozakis and immersed ourselves over the last few weeks. Yesterday, Deb announced that we should program the series into the DVR and stay current; essentially skipping from season one to season five which I thought would be interesting.Last night we settled in, watched one of the last season one shows and later watched season premiere. First of all, the show is engaging with a nicely varied number of cases while ensuring the cast all had something to do. Fitting in FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth into the world of the “squints” seemed like something odd at first until it became clear he needed them as they came to rely on him. Having him as the outsider is interesting and having Temperance Brennan a best-selling novelist while still being an investigator gives her some added dimension.Her cluelessness to the world at large was an element I thought would be difficult to sustain season after season and I was pleasantly surprised to see, four years later, she was still struggling to understand colloquialisms and human nature. I’m not sure where Zack and Dr. Goodman went after season one but I’m sure we’ll find out as we catch up.  The dynamic in the lab without Zack to play off Hodgins, though, felt lacking.Clearly we missed some interesting twists and turns at the end of season four but they nicely recapped enough for us to figure out where we are. The Will They or Won’t They vibe that was evident early in season one is clearly moving towards the Will They but it’s nicely complicated as Seeley has to figure out if his emotions are genuine or a result of his illness. How she feels towards him remains unclear but I’m willing to stick around and find out. It’s an appealing cast that works well together.We then stayed tuned for the second season of Fringe. A largely engaging episode, it also felt somewhat fractured as they struggled to briefly recap what occurred last season and set up this season. Here’s the problem: Broyles is arguing for the Fringe Division’s life without once identifying all the successes they had last season along with the very clear and present danger in the form of the ZFT. And after building up Massive Dynamics as the company that could never be refused, to have Nina Sharp say they are powerless sounds wrong.The entire revelation that there is a parallel world and it has nefarious designs on Earth-1, clearly ahead in technology, is also never really stated. By now, the FBI should be preparing a presentation to place the military on some sort of alert. Talk about needing Homeland Security. There’s also the unstated issue that this is a global threat so are there similar international Fringe divisions out there, and how much have they already figured out?Meantime, we left Olivia going to NY to meet with William Bell. Something happened at the meeting and she returns from visiting Earth-2 by being hurled through a SUV’s windshield. We’re given no sense of how long she was gone so it’s hard to say how everyone should be reacting. Her transition across the dimensional void was painless one way and we’ve seen others crossover with an issue so this raises new questions.I do like how Peter is more comfortable in his role and taking charge. His banter with FBI Agent Jessup was nifty and her line about her waiting her whole life for this stuff was nice to hear. How she fits into the ensemble could be interesting.I don’t want to give things away but poor Charlie.At least Gene the cow is back.I’m hooked and intrigued; hoping things hold together a wee bit better.