The much-vaunted Fringe is an X-Files knock-off concerning FBI agent Olivia Dunham, mad scientist Walter Something-or-Other and his annoying genius caretaker son Peter. They run around Boston and environs investigating things like synthetic diseases that dissolve your skin and murderous psychopaths who feed on the pituitary glands of dead prostitutes. They get regular help from a band called Massive Attack company called Massive Dynamic and regular encouragements from their director, who thinks that these "fringe science" events are all part of a weird Pattern.

All the characters neglect to notice the most sinister evidence of the Patten. Namely, it has messed up the very fabric of the Boston metro area! Suddenly, Harvard allows mad genius’ labs to a) take up the whole cellar of a building, b) remain untouched for 17 years and c) house Holsteins without special permits! Creepy ornate mental institutions appear on pastoral grounds in Essex County! The Fenway suddenly boasts an elevated highway! Stoughton apparently has a riverside or seaside warehouse section! And viewers across the state hurl their TVs or computers across the room in frustration!

Did I mention that I don’t care about any of the characters and I don’t know why they’re so interested in this Pattern?

Verdict: It’s a third-rate X-Files with no sense of place. May stave off boredom during really slow days at work, but don’t expect anything truly interesting.