NFP - News: ‘Fringe’ takes a closer look into Olivia’s life

"Fringe" returns Tuesday to begin the final chapter of its first season. The heart of the story will focus on FBI agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) and the superhuman abilities she may possess.

When "Fringe" last aired in February, the villainous Mr. Jones (Jared Harris), having used a teleportation device to escape a German prison, was in the U.S. and looking for Olivia. A bomb containing an orifice-closing substance would explode and spread throughout Boston unless Olivia managed to pass his test, and shut off a light box detonator with her mind.

The device was deactivated, but Olivia wasn't entirely convinced it was because of her "Professor X"-like mental acuity. However, as the episode ended, Olivia learned she was likely the recipient of a brain-powering injection at the age of 3.

"Fringe" will explore what effect that shot had on Olivia, and if it somehow leads back to Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble) who, with his son, Peter (Joshua Jackson), aids the FBI in getting to the bottom of unexplained phenomena related to something called "The Pattern."

"We slowly start to discover some - I never know what I can and what I can't say - but we start to discover some things that sort of happened to her when she was really little that she doesn't really remember, but they start to kind of - you start to see the stories or the lives of Peter and Walter and Olivia kind of begin to interlace a little bit, and you sort of see how their paths have crossed before," Torv said in a phone interview.

"We do start to find out what was done to her when she was little, and we also start to figure out what - I think that the episode where she turns the light box off ... when you find out that she maybe has some special ability. And you start to delve; we do get to delve a little bit into that, to work out why she has that ability or superpower or if it's something that's been done to her," Torv said.

Moreover, there may be a connection between Walter and Mr. Jones' group, followers of the ZFT ("zerstorung durch fortschritte der technologie" or "destruction by advanced technology").

"I'm really excited, and things kind of like, I think because we're gearing up for the end of the season, we sort of started to, I guess, things sort of started to get a little bit more cemented," Torv said. "We shot an episode a little while ago, one of the last ones directed by Akiva Goldsman (Oscar-winning screenwriter of "A Beautiful Mind," who wrote and directed the episode "Bad Dreams," airing Tuesday, April 21) and I think that kind of pushes it into a different direction, but not into a different world. It sort of pushes us a little bit deeper into some of the things that we've been touching on. And we're shooting the season finale at the moment, and I'm really excited. I'm excited at the prospect of where the show could go. If we're lucky enough to shoot a second season, I think it's going to be really great."

"Fringe" airs Tuesday at 9 p.m. on Fox.

For more on "Fringe," visit http://www.wnypapers.com/news/2008/11/a20_sweeps3.html and http://www.wnypapers.com/news/2008/09/a13_tv.html.

"Fringe" returns Tuesday (9 p.m., Fox) to begin the final chapter of its first season. The show has been on a break for two months, as Fox crammed in as many hours of primetime's No. 1 show, "American Idol," as humanly possible. Simon, Randy, Paula and Kara will now serve as a lead-in for "Fringe," which should result in higher ratings for the mysterious sci-fi thriller.

Season-to-date, "Fringe" has averaged a very respectable 9.9 million viewers each week, which makes it a likely (though not guaranteed) pickup for the fall season. The "American Idol" push should help, but it remains to be seen what effect "Fringe's" recent, prolonged break - its second this season - will have on its audience.

Australian star Anna Torv (FBI agent Olivia Dunham) hopes the hiatus hasn't turned people away.

"I don't know. I hope not," she said. "I really, really hope not. I don't know. I think we're kind of lucky in that if you are following it, there are things to follow, but if you are just dropping in, I still think that you're going to be able to get your head around it. You'll be able to grasp where we're at. I don't know. That's the sort of decisions that are, you know, way above me. And I've been on a couple of different shows that have had really big breaks and then come back, and it hasn't affected it at all, and some that it has. So I'm really hopeful that people, you know, tune back in and go on the journey with us."


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