Putting aside the welcome ratings bump that FOX will undoubtedly see when Leonard Nimoy makes his first appearance of what is said to be a multi-episode arc on the May 12th finale of FRINGE, this TV Addict can’t help but feel that the casting of Leonard Nimoy as the mysterious William Bell is, well… highly illogical.
Especially after one factors in Michael Ausiello’s recent scoop that, “Nimoy’s character’s arc was significantly cut back to accommodate Nimoy, who was only interested in doing a handful of episodes.”
After a season of patiently waiting to discover the identity of the man behind Massive Dynamics, not to mention the reason Walter may-or-may-not-have spent the past seventeen years in a mental institution, the story of William Bell should not be contingent of Nimoy’s schedule and his apparent lack of excitement with regards to being tied down to series television. In short, FRINGE fanatics deserve better. They deserve a real-honest-to-badness villain, their own version of LOST’s Benjamin Linus.
In fact, if shows like LOST and HEROES have taught us anything, it’s that the villains we love to hate work best when the story dictates their circumstances rather than their contractual agreement. Just picture LOST had Benjamin Linus been played for a mere three episodes by an equally bug-eyed big named actor like John Malkovich instead of a then relative unknown Michael Emerson. Or worse, HEROES without Zachary Quinto’s Sylar, who I think we can all agree is practically the only reason people tune into the show anymore.
Like I said, highly illogical. 