I read some posts here a while back about Fringe, so when Amazon announced that Fringe was part of my Prime plan, I started watching it, 21st-century streaming style, one episode right after another, laughing in the face of season-end cliffhangers. And getting into it, thinking JJ's a genius once again, and falling in love with Olivia of course.

I ended the third season, pleased with myself for timing it about a month from the start of the fifth season. I planned to glide through the fourth season and finish it just as Fringe returned for the fifth season, and join your Fringe fan club...But when I opened the first fourth-season episode page at Amazon, they hit me with a demand for $50 to watch the fourth season.

I was so pissed! I felt like Amazon had suckered me into something, getting me to like the show for "free", then when I was hooked, squeezing me unmercifully. They said that seasons of Fringe were "free"...and that was 25% a lie. A painfully-timed lie.

I don't take that crap. I summoned my self-control and resolved to sit it out until Amazon relented. I carefully avoided reading the body of your post, Rob, so as to avoid the spoilers. I rigged a cron job on my Linux server to DVR the fifth-season Fringe episodes, and I'm resolutely not watching them until the day when I've watched the fourth season without paying a goddam penny for it.

So we're 2 or three weeks into the fifth season, and Amazon's backed down. The fourth season is now "free".

Just as soon as I watch the final episode of Battlestar Galactica tonight (the series wasn't so bad the second time), I'll watch the fourth season of Fringe. And then my DVR'd episodes, and in about a month or so, I'll finally be able to join you guys in appreciating Fringe. And the lovely Livia....

I feel like a terrible weight has been lifted from my shoulders. Thanks for listening.