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Oh, Fringe. You magnificent show. I loved this last ep. Olivia as Billy was surprisingly not annoying. Anna Torv clearly rocks. Billy and Walter was hilarious good fun. Almost as awesome as Peter stomping around grumpy that his girlfriend has been possessed. God, I love brooding Peter. Haha! The guest actress of the week was amazing, as was the fringe freak event of the week. It almost stole the show it was so good and dark and light and steeped in mythology. I loved all of that. Plus, Billy provides such good balance for the team, and it was about time someone had the temerity to suggest that maybe keeping Peter out of the machine is not their main goal, as I have long suspected. (I think he will get in that machine. I think he will choose to get in that machine. But I've been way wrong before.) Oh, and of course, let's talk LINCOLN! Wheeeeee! I love how he starts out all, "WTF is wrong with you people" and by the end he's all, "Wheeeee! Can I join?" He and Peter worked great off of each other. The only thing I might call out in this ep is the Billy as lecherous man in Olivia's body. I mean, I sort of laughed when he hit on Astrid, but then I started thinking about it and it was really squicky on two completely different levels. One, the treatment of homosexuality (and let's be honest, homophobia) being a go-to laugh, like homosexuality is somehow so weird or deviant or mythological that it's so funny to see it on our TV screen! Isn't Astrid's discomfort funny? Like Olivia would ever hit on her for reals. Blerg. It's a cheap throwaway joke that I'm pretty tired of seeing. It's weird on a second level if you just think of it as Billy hitting on Astrid because, well, uh Nina? Where the hell is she? Aren't she and Billy supposed to be all starcrossed and destined and full of love? Why hasn't Nina been brought in? One would hope her absence is more than merely not wanting to have to deal with the person inside another person issues that couldn't really be ignored. (Unless you're SGU. Lol.) But I am digressing. Other than that squickfest, the ep was FANTABULOUS. I love my show.

****

On the other hand... Anyone been watching 'Breakout Kings"? I have only seen the first two eps, but I have thoughts, because this seems like my kind of show (criminals using skills to help people! Eee!), and it is totally NOT. Here's why:
Of course the premise alone dragged me in. Cops using criminals to catch escaped criminals. Lovely a la Leverage and White Collar. Breakout Kings is a bit grittier, dealing with the prospect a bit more realistically than, say, White Collar. You'd think it could have potential. And, honestly, I can see where they wanted to go with it. They just miss the mark. By a lot, actually. The man angst and alpha male posturing of the two lead cops is trite and done before and yawn. They did make the smart move of ditching Philly. She was not a con. Please see Sophie Devereaux if you want to know what a real grifter is. (Philly not only was dubious in the acting realm, but seemed to think that low-cut and lingerie alone was what it took to con someone. Uh, no.) I like the brilliant, dorky sociopath with mom issues. He's the bright light of the whole show. I like the street smart entrepreneur. I feel a million slash fics being born every moment they are on the screen together. But the constant need to point out that the street smart guys is black by the socially inept white guy is not edgy or funny. It's annoying. Jules the quiet desk jockey with research skills and anxiety issues is probably my favorite character, but even she is still cliche. It's all just so...formulaic. I suspect it's the writing more than the acting, but there's some rather dubious acting going on too (*eyes the two male cop leads*).

And, oh, let's talk about the gratuitous violence against women. Jesus. It's like their default plot device. I know they think it makes the villains seem more evil when they beat on women, and the good guys more heroic (aw, look, they care so much for the poor battered women! Aren't they just swell?), but it's terrible and not even remotely entertaining and this is the part of "entertainment" I most want to kill and shove in a fridge. Dammit, Chase, you've ruined me for all other shows. 

So, no. I do not think Breakout Kings has what it takes to keep me watching.