By John J. Joex
The last couple of weeks I looked at several of this season’s new science fiction and fantasy shows and noted that these have been somewhat underwhelming thus far. But after seeing the premiere of ABC’s Once Upon A Time this past weekend, that one looks like it could have promise (and I’ll be covering that in a future column), and this season’s returning shows have delivered some enjoyable genre viewing as well at this early point in the season.
FringeOn FOX, Fringe looks like it might finally be taking that next step from a good show to a great one. That series has shown us some brief glimpses of brilliance through its first three seasons, but never quite taken it to that next level. It has vacillated between X-Files clone episodes and stories that develop the show’s over-all arc, and those have ranged from excellent to downright unwatchable. But the first four episodes of the current season have demonstrated a rising level of quality (even the monster-of-the-week installments), and I can actually say I have enjoyed watching them all. The combined-universes/alternate-timeline arc has given the writers a chance to delve deeper into the psyches of both Olivia and Walter and explore more sides of these characters. And as promised (and without trying to spoil too much), it looks like they will not drag out the Peter-does-not-exist thread too much longer. Fringe in the past could be grating at times, but it has avoided that so far this season and hopefully this points toward a solid fourth year. And also hopefully they have a plan to resolve most of the storylines by season end because based on its ratings performance it continues to look like this will be Fringe’s swansong (you can follow my Cancellation Watch column for more info on that).
Supernatural has underwhelmed for the last two seasons and going into this season I wasn’t thrilled with its direction either. But they gave us a quick resolution to the Cass-as-God storyline and have now moved on to a more interesting thread with the Leviathans on the loose. This gets the show back to its roots of Sam and Dean on the road hunting without too much in the way of apocalyptic doom hanging over their heads (but still a bit). I really felt like the series overstepped its bounds with the Season 5 Apocalypse storyline and it did not recover too well last season. But now the show seems back on track and I have enjoyed watching Season 7. Its ratings have taken a downward turn this year, though, sinking as low as a 0.6 rating in the 18-49 demographic. Of course all of the CW’s shows have dropped this year, but don’t be surprised if they decide to announce that this will be the show’s “final” season (something they have been claiming for the last two years) instead of “cancelling” it. If that does happen, hopefully they will give it a chance to go out with a bang.
AMC’s The Walking Dead has only aired two episodes of its second season, but the writing is still as strong as what we saw in the first season. The thing about this show (as with the comic) is that it is not a zombie story, but a tale about people in a dire situation and how they deal with it. That’s where the stories get their strength, and that’s what makes it such good drama. Though I have to admit that there are things that bother me about the series (and the same with the comic) such as some of the soap opera side stories (the Shane and Lori affair) or little inconsistencies (in the Season 2 premiere, shouldn’t those zombies have been able to sniff them out when hiding?). But the strong, well done drama elements (something rare in genre stories), and the moral ambiguities they regularly throw at us overshadow those nitpicky items and really help this series (and the comic) shine.
So while shows like Terra Nova, Person of Interest, and The American Horror Story have offered so-so to downright bad genre viewing this season, at least the returning shows mentioned above have pulled their weight and Once Upon A Time looks like it might be able to beat the odds and deliver this season’s sleeper. Plus, tonight Chuck returns and Grimm debuts and we still have shows like Alcatraz, Touch, and Awake waiting in the wings.
