We’ve got great news for all you sci-fi junkies out there hoping to revisit one of the best shows in the genre: Fringe is officially free-to-stream. Available on Pluto TV, the 100-episode triumph is the perfect network television binge that blends the weekly procedural format with the strangeness of X-Files-like cases that ground themselves in what the series calls “fringe science.” Fans of the FOX series already know the draw of this J.J. Abrams-co-created adventure, and now new audiences have the chance to check it out for themselves, officially free of charge.
As one of the few multi-season sci-fi programs that doesn’t put its emphasis on aliens, Fringe is in its own category of weird. Before the multiverse became oversaturated in the science fiction space, this five-season drama dealt with everything from parallel Earths and cybernetic shape-shifters, to time travel and biological warfare. The whole journey is kicked off by FBI Agent Oliva Dunham (Anna Torv), who is tasked with leading “Fringe Division” when she finds herself dealing with something she cannot explain. The only one who can explain it? A disgraced scientist named Walter Bishop (John Noble), who, along with his estranged son Peter (Joshua Jackson), is drafted into the team after being in a psychiatric hospital for years. It’s this trio that is the recipe for Fringe‘s success. Well, and pulling in killer guest stars like the late Leonard Nimoy.
Although there were overarching stories that involved technological terrorists, alternate universe soldiers, and time-traveling Observers, Fringe thrived due to its weekly episodic formula that pushed the heroes of Fringe Division into the next weird thing. The show’s biggest strength was the weekly dynamics between the main cast members — which also included the late Lance Riddick‘s Philip Broyles, Blair Brown‘s Nina Sharp, Jasika Nicole‘s Astrid Farnsworth, and eventually Seth Gabel‘s Lincoln Lee — and how the events of each new bizarre happening would stick with them (or not, in some cases). Over time, the show evolved from its network television roots into something a bit more serialized in its final season, which takes place almost entirely in a post-apocalyptic future.
The J.J. Abrams Sci-Fi Series Was More Than Just an ‘X-Files’ Retread
What could easily have just been a rip-off of paranormal procedurals like The X-Files quickly found a voice of its own throughout the first season. Deciding to focus on conspiracies surrounding an alternate world rather than the existence (and cover-up) of alien lifeforms, Fringe became one of sci-fi’s most underrated television dramas. Almost anything that you could imagine happened on this FOX series. From messy love-triangles that included character doppelgängers to the real-world fears we have about “Big Tech,” the show never pulled its punches — especially when the romance between Olivia and Peter was concerned. Some of Fringe‘s best episodes now exist as time capsules to the lengths that sci-fi-based network TV would go to surprise, thrill, and frighten its audience. Nowadays, we’re lucky if any of the big four networks allow a sci-fi drama to go a single season.
More recently, Fringe took streaming charts by storm, reminding us that long-scale television shows with a niche premise are really what viewers are craving. No doubt, its streaming numbers will only increase with the recent move to PlutoTV, which is good news for anyone still rooting for the show. While it’s unlikely that Fringe will ever get the revival treatment like The X-Files did a decade ago, maybe that’s for the best. After all, the show ended entirely on its own terms, answering long-asked fan questions and bringing the narrative to an emotionally satisfying close that deserves all the praise. If you’re unsure what you should be binging at the moment but are in the mood for something that could be described as a cross between a network TV procedural and a sci-fi epic, then look no further than Pluto TV for all 100 episodes (and five seasons) of Fringe. Just be warned, you’ll be sad when it’s over.
Fringe is now available for streaming on Pluto TV.
via Collider