"Stains on the windows?"

Although it's another three months until I go back to Uni and, indeed the new TV season starts, I have been treated to the season premiere of JJ Abrams' (Lost, Cloverfield, Alias) new project; Fringe. So how is it? Full of questions? Yes and, indeed no.

I don't know, exactly, what Abrams has against air travel and his father but it is clear these issues are something that affects his work. Fringe opens with a delightfully gruesome scene of a virus breaking out on a busy flight. Thankfully, said plane does not crash on a magical island, but it does, like Lost set off the series. Charlotte Rampling's Agent Durnham is put in charge of investigating what caused the outbreak, leading her and her boyfriend to some laboratories which unfortunately explode and almost kill the pair of them.

Father issues also make another appearance, though not on as massive a scale as Lost, as the scientist hired by Agent Durnham has an estranged son (played by Pacey off of Dawsons Creek) who's not exactly overjoyed to be thrust back into his company.

Airplane 3: Not as funny as the first one

Said scientist is played by John Noble who played Denethor in Lord of the Rings. Perhaps the John Locke of Fringe being all mysterious and doing a very competent impression of Vincent Price. That said, maybe it's Lance Reddick, star of "Greatest TV Show Ever EVER" The Wire. Head of a division of the FBI investigating "The Pattern" a series of experiments by someone using the planet as a laboratory. Bad ass, and indeed mysterious (Especially by episodes end when Durnham is asked to think why he sent her to the laboratory.) so who knows? Another mysterious character is yet to be seenDoctor Bell, who could very well be the villain of the piece.

He's got some transcripts of wiretaps in there

Another promising start from Abrams and I believe this time that the storyline isn't going to be dragged out seeing as the structure of the season lends itself more to stand-alone episodes than Lost does. Annoyingly, the pilot ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, so I now have to wait until frigging September to find out what the hell is going on. Strongly reccomended for something to fill the gaps left by Lost and 24.