I love Fringe, but WTF!

Like I said, Fringe is one of the best Sci-Fi shows ever made.

Throughout the years I have found myself interested in, and checking out anything that anyone in Fringe, or connected to Fringe, does.

Olivia Dunham, erm, Anna Torv's mesmerizing facial work is also outstanding in all the other shows I've watched her in (save for The Last of Us, where she slays it elsewhere, instead, as the role dictates).

Them all. J.J. Abrams, Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, John Noble, Lance Reddick, Kirk Acevedo and more. Anyone connected to THAT has got to be worth checking out.

So, Joshua Jackson.

Admittedly, I haven't seen a lot of his work. There's only so much time one can devote to TV. Anyways, I have a bi-weekly slot for "dumb guilty pleasure"; best enjoyed with comfort nutrition, like dates on a stick and a jar of Tahini.

So When I saw this Loveboat reboot, sorta, with no less that Don Johnson (A Boy and His Dog, Miami Vice, etc.), I jumped on it and slowly undid the lid of my huge jar of Tahini..

So Joshua's the new doctor on this fucking mammoth cruise ship, of which Don Johnson is the Captain. He even demonstrates actual nautical knowledge. As a child of the sea, this is starting to check my boxes!

Like all old actors/singers/etc. you haven't seen for a couple decades, he starts off looking old-as-fuck but within a few minutes looks just like Don Johnson of yore, except with more gravitas. Check.

This is all helping with the fantasy. I'm dunking my dates into the thick and gooey stuff at the bottom of the jar now. Oh yeah, baby! It rolls on into medical territory. Actual penile fracture, I kid you not. The medical emergencies come thick and fast in this show. It's like some crazy magnified microcosm of reality. Like murder in Oxford during Morse's time.

There's all sorts going on; romance with the hot nurses; sandy beaches, top-notch cameos, drama, hot guys and babes in bikinis (the guys don't wear bikinis, perhaps I should have used a comma) and all while sailing through the ocean blue at what-not knots: fast.

Perfect for the mid-week snack-and-TV break.

Then fuck-me episode six1, "I Always Cry at Weddings". I mean what?!

I was actually crying after Margo Martindale's confession. Not a small performance. I watched it a few times there and then. Josh giving her a big hug was beautiful; affectionate and at the same time, the writer's display their acute awareness of the fact that no way can anyone follow that - shut up and hug is any actor's only choice now. Great work.

Before I can recover from this I'm hit with the "great juxtaposition". So, spoiler alert, the Groom is a sex addict and instead of saying "I do", he jumps over the side. Suicide wasn't one of my boxes. Don slides us effortlessly into moving on and minutes later the nurses (one guy, one gal, with chemistry) are eating the now superfluous Wedding Cake. In walks doctor, also with previous established chemistry.

Of course, as soon as I see where this is going, I start laughing; It's all so perfect; and I can't stop laughing. As much from the audacity as the comedy.

I'm laughing pretty much all the way through that crazy bucket-list-talk-becomes-sex-threesome. Wow! This really is is the Loveboat, except turned up to 11. Just the release a viewer needs, I guess. I basically don't stop laughing until the credits roll.

Or rather, the suicide prevention notice takes over the screen, and then the credits roll.

This is why I don't do TV reviews.

;o)