'Fringe' season two review

Last season's "Fringe" finale left us with tons of head-scratching revelations, including game-changers like the fact that the real Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson) died as a child and the one we know is probably from an alternate reality, debatably evil mastermind William Bell is Leonard Nimoy and to meet with him, Olivia (Anna Torv) had to take a trip his office... at the top of the South Tower of the World Trade Center.

Confused? Of course you are. And don't even hope for a quick fix for that head fog if you tune into the season premiere, because it picks up in a completely different place. Season two looks to be very much about piecing together the mysteries introduced last year, while the Fringe unit ups their game to prevent supernatural crimes and mishaps before they happen. Bonus: the cow's still there!

The buzz: Let's be totally honest for a moment and admit that basically every new series from fall 2008 should be forgotten. Fortunately, all but a couple of already are, and "Fringe" was rightly among the few spared execution. The second season will determine whether this show really has legs or if it was just the best of the worst.
 
The verdict: Good science fiction is hard to come by this fall, so trust "Fringe" for your fix. The stand-alone stories are better than most procedurals, there are fun 3D fonts and, if we all tune in, there may even be more Leonard Nimoy!

Did you know? Apparently all of those creepy glyphs of frogs and apples with fetus-shaped seeds that flash across the screen between commercials are a part of some code that fits into the overarching mystery of the series. But what does it all mean!?