The Fringe Review Blog

Written by Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz
Directed by David Straiton

It’s been a while since the writers of “Fringe” delivered a big chunk of the season arc. At least this episode was well worth the wait. While structurally simple, this brought a number of lingering items back on the table in a sharp, efficient manner.

The nature of the Jacksonville experiments, and their relationship to the experiments surrounding Alt-Fringe, has been a huge question since the revelations late in the first season. It certainly seemed at that point, with all the talk about multiple levels of training for warriors under the ZFT mindset, that Olivia would progress along a steady path of unusual growth. The fact that her abilities have barely been explored this season is one of the reasons why it has been somewhat disappointing.

But now there is some insight into the Jacksonville experiments, and as one would expect for this series, one key part was altered perception. It’s hard to imagine that this was the full extent of the experimentation done on the children, but it was the part that pertained to this particular situation. If Walter Bishop and William Bell were interested in creating someone with the ability to combat the imposition of Alt-Fringe on Fringe Prime, then detection and identification was always going to be a primary concern. And that meant altering perception.

As interesting as the methods were, especially in how they affecting Olivia, I found her reaction to the realization of what had been done to the children to be the most powerful. It really is something that cannot be dismissed. As horrified as Olivia has been of Walter’s past activities, this is the first time that she has been this judgmental. Coming on the heels of his actions in the previous episode, it serves as a perfect prelude for how Olivia will react to her discovery of what Walter did with Alt-Peter.

That was one of the biggest surprises of the episode, and it didn’t even occur to me that it would be a consequence of Olivia’s revived ability until the trigger was pulled. One could quibble that the writers didn’t play fair with the audience; after all, if Olivia’s fear of admitting her feelings for Peter was enough to allow her ability to manifest, why didn’t she notice anything odd about Peter right in that initial moment? But given the dramatic punch at the end, it’s easily forgiven.

While I have enjoyed the subtle progression of Olivia and Peter’s attraction and budding relationship, I wasn’t particularly thrilled with the notion of them taking matters further. There is something to be said for the early Mulder/Scully model of professional distance despite attraction. I think it’s safe to say that any romance is going to be on serious hold.

The real question is where the season arc is going to go from here. This is a perfect example of why the previous run of stand-alone episodes didn’t make sense after Newton’s escape. What should have kicked up an even greater sense of urgency seemed to result in little change to the status quo. Now Newton is ramping up his efforts, and everyone in Fringe Division is well aware of the potential consequences. If the writers slip back into stand-alone mode again, all but ignoring the need to track down Newton, then it would be an even greater misstep.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 3/4

Final Rating: 9/10

Written by Glen Whitman and Robert Chiappetta
Directed by Adam Davidson

With an episode title that references the Bishops, I was hoping that the long-running plot thread involving Peter and his origins would finally come to a head. Instead, there was a completely different connection to the Bishops. While it wasn’t quite what I was expecting, it was still a solid episode compared to other recent offerings.

As it turns out, Walter Bishop is not the only member of the family to have a hankering for weird science. That seems to be a trait that was handed down from his father. The connections to the Nazi Reich and its own obsession with “fringe science” grounds the series in an unexpected way. In a sense, the entire series is now the story of what might have happened if the gruesome and bizarre experiments and theories of Mengele and his contemporaries had led to a new generation of equally amoral scientists.

In historical terms, one might say that is exactly what happened in the real world. Yet in this instance, it all came down to Walter Bishop and William Bell, experiments they conducted, and the fallout in this generation. Considering the fact that I’m a sucker for stories like this, where it’s just as much about the past as it is the present (“Lost”, “X-Files”, “Harry Potter”, etc.), I appreciate how the writers are giving the current crisis such a compelling origin.

I will admit, however, that there is a certain cliché to pointing back to the Nazis. Taking “Fringe” along with the other three examples I gave of stories of similar depth, three of them trace back to the Nazis or some analogue. It remains the go-to specter of the past to reference when something monstrous emerges out of history. I personally don’t have a problem with it, since it works for a reason, but I think some will roll their eyes and wonder if writers will ever think of something different. (Speaking for myself, I hope not, since that would mean something even worse than the Nazis will have replaced them in the collective unconscious.)

In terms of the technology at the center of the plot, this kind of targeted biological weapon has been a matter of speculation for decades. There are many who believe that such technology already exists. It probably wouldn’t be something that could be developed in someone’s basement, but it’s much closer to actual science than most of the “fringe science” that has been explored.

There was a nice bit of tension between Peter and Walter, even if it lasted only so long, and Walter showed some of the dark side that hasn’t been quite so obvious this season. It’s sometimes hard to remember just how amoral Walter has always been, and that he is likely to be cast as the original villain of the “Fringe” story, given his abduction of a young boy from a completely different universe. It’s not at all surprising that he would kill someone in the name of his family.

Of course, it wouldn’t be “Fringe” if there wasn’t some odd convenience in the “science”. I may be recalling this plot point incorrectly, but I believe Walter explains, early in the episode, that the toxin changed the ability of the blood to oxygenate, thus killing the victim. Walter himself is later exposed to the toxin himself, but all he needs to recover is a bit of oxygen. That shouldn’t have worked. If he was already affected enough to start gasping for air in the basement, then his system was already saturated enough to continue killing him regardless of whether he was moved! Similarly, that inhaler for asthma wouldn’t have made a bit of difference.

Even so, the context of this particular episode allowed it to transcend its stand-alone aspects. This was more than just connecting the episode to the rest of the season through a couple lines of dialogue; this was placing the entire series in historical perspective. It may not have worked for some, but it worked for me.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4

Final Rating: 7/10

Written by Jeff Vlaming
Directed by Deran Sarafian

The sophomore slump for “Fringe” continues with yet another stand-alone episode. It now seems obvious that the writers are making up for the lack of balance with whatever small references to the overall story arc they can muster: in this case, Walter’s slip about Peter’s true nature. Certainly that played into Walter’s personal desire to conquer the virus, but in terms of context, it was ephemeral at best.

It’s become a common criticism in my reviews this season, but I truly do not understand the logic behind breaking a format that was working so well in the latter half of the first season. The balance between serialized and episodic elements was nearly perfect during that stretch, and that approach seemed to be carrying into the second season. Now that momentum has been all but lost. Take the drop in the viewership into account, and it just seems like the producers are pretending that they have all the time in the world to explore the series’ mythology.

I simply don’t understand it. As an audience member and fan of the show, I feel the spectre of premature cancellation looming over “Fringe”, and wonder how the writers aren’t feeling the same anxiety. Do they realize that they’re on FOX, a network notorious for an itchy cancellation trigger finger? Or do they think that Abrams’ industry cache is going to save them?

Some critics will point to “Lost”, and note that Abrams and his production staff have run into sophomore slumps in the past. Unfortunately, that was a different situation. Specific characters were brought into the show with a plan to use them for very specific functions within the narrative, and for various reasons, that didn’t pan out. The end result was therefore something of a salvage operation, and reaction to that season varied depending on whether or not one noticed the seams. One way or another, it was a situation largely out of the writers’ control.

In this case, it’s not a question of new characters failing to gel, or a story arc not panning out as intended. It’s a conscious decision to set the larger story aside, in favor of a more episodic format. In that respect, it’s entirely in the writers’ control, and they are choosing to undermine the expectations they set up earlier in the season. Again and again, they astound me with what appears to be a lack of awareness.

Had this episode been a strong entry, it would have mitigated the damage. But the episode was yet another in a string of disappointing chapters. This felt like a watered-down version of several recent zombie-esque productions, and as I’ve noted on several occasions, I’m thoroughly bored with zombies and their kith and kin. And there were hints and shades of the infamous “black oil virus” from “The X-Files”, which I’m sure were all intentional.

But at one point, the logic of the episode completely escaped me, and I spent the rest of the time waiting for some indication of how they would resolve the problem (and of course, they didn’t even try). At one point, Walter and Astrid are testing people held in quarantine to determine if they are infected with the virus. They identify a whole bunch of people, but Peter figures out a way to defeat the test. Since the virus is driving people to leave the building so it can spread more effectively, defeating the test is the most effective means to that end.

So when the guards at the door realize that Peter is infected, and that someone has defeated the test, why in the world would they still let anyone else that passed the test leave the building? Why wouldn’t they force everyone back into the quarantine zone and declare the test invalid? Granted, Peter was ready to spew virus-laden blood as soon as he approached the threshold, but how could they be sure that all the infected would follow the same pattern? Considering that moments later, the decision to wipe out the infected was on the table, that loose containment method was awfully convenient.

If there was one highlight, it was the ongoing evolution of the relationship between Walter and Astrid. I’ve often wondered about Astrid’s character; for someone supposed so new to the wonderful world of “fringe science”, she seems to have taken to it rather quickly and quietly. Her concern for Walter seems quite genuine. In fact, Astrid has become a vital member of the team and such an important part of Walter’s stability, so often in the background, that I’m beginning to wonder if the writers have something truly nasty in mind. After all, we really know very little about Astrid.

But now that Walter has slipped in a significant way, the writers have placed themselves in a precarious position. They can’t let this subplot simmer for much longer. There are already too many plot threads on hold while the writers dawdle in the stand-alone sandbox. If the larger plot points don’t come back into the limelight soon, the patience of the audience may come to a bitter end.

Writing: 1/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4

Final Rating: 6/10

Written by Josh Singer
Directed by Joe Chappelle

It seems a lot of people were perplexed by the previous episode, which just goes to show how FOX is contributing to what is rapidly becoming an unnecessary sophomore slump for “Fringe”. As intriguing as many of the ideas have been in the second season, the whole is not exceeding the sum of its parts. If anything, I feel as though the trend has been to loosen whatever serialization was established in the first season.

At the same time, this episode reinforces my point about context. While it’s not nearly as solid an effort as the typical “Supernatural” episode, where character and plot conflicts are routinely enmeshed, this was clearly an attempt to address Walter’s anxiety in the wake of his abduction through the filter of the citizens of Edina. And in that sense, this largely stand-alone episode really only fits into this point in the overall series continuity.

Walter was just trying to push for further independence again, when the parasite incident undermined his confidence and the subsequent abduction shattered his sense of security. After all, Walter had no recollection of ever being on the receiving end of the kind of experiments he once conducted; his comfort zone has been researching and resolving those effects on others. It’s no surprise that he feels a desire to retreat from the world into a space filled with familiar and friendly faces.

So it makes sense that Walter’s first steps towards overcoming that renewed anxiety would come during a case that revolves around a group of people who have chosen to isolate themselves from the rest of the world at all costs. And, in keeping with the mythology of “Fringe”, a group that is connected to something in Walter’s past.

The parallels may have been evident, but that doesn’t make them particularly compelling. In fact, by the time I was finally getting a little bit invested in the deeper aspects of the story, the episode came to an end. Even by the time the layer of perception was added to the mix, it seemed like there wasn’t time to build up to the interchange between Walter and Peter properly.

I’m sure that part of my reaction to the episode is frustration over yet another stand-alone story. I was willing to be patient with “Lost” during its slower period because it’s success made patience reasonable. The producers were going to have more than enough time to achieve their endgame. “Fringe” doesn’t have that kind of luxury. And when the producers consistently mention that they have accelerated several aspects of the series arc for the second season, it’s annoying when the evidence of that doesn’t seem to be reaching the audience quite yet.

Writing: 1/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4

Final Rating: 6/10

Written by David Goodman and Andrew Kreisberg
Directed by Frederick Toye

FOX tried to frame this episode as some sort of “lost” episode from the first season of the series, as if the producers found it under a pile of pizza boxes one morning. At least, that’s the way they handled the description of the episode in recent press releases. There’s nothing before or during the episode to tell the audience that it takes place earlier in the series’ timeline beyond a few subtle character cues and Charlie’s jarring presence.

Fans with a good memory will recall that the first season ended not with the finale, but with the production of an extra episode that was originally going to be slipped into the early part of the second season. Of course, that was before the writers worked out the second season story arc, which effectively precluded the insertion of an episode like this. The second season has seen the characters in a different psychological space, and “Charlie” was never acting like his old self enough for this episode to make sense.

The end result is an episode that just doesn’t seem to fit. It’s still a “Fringe” episode, but it just seems out of place. I’m reminded of how editors will take previously unaired footage and insert it into a recap montage at the beginning of an episode. This feels like the full-hour version of that practice. Or, to step back into a previous era of television, like watching a re-run of an episode from an earlier season that you never knew you missed.

Unfortunately, I know better, so the lack of proper context made it hard to enjoy the episode. As episodic as “Fringe” tends to be, often to its own detriment, there are still subtle points of character continuity that keep the forward momentum flowing. As I’ve already noted, the characters have all changed slightly from who they were in the first season, especially as the danger to the world has escalated.

Perhaps this, more than anything, helps to illustrate my point regarding “X-Files” and the lessons that should have been learned from mistakes of the past. The case at the center of this episode could, in fact, have taken place at any time in the series’ run. There’s nothing about it that demands it take place in any particular season. Very little about the case pertains to the circumstance of the characters at a specific point in the overall plot.

But there’s the rub: those connections should exist. Shows like “Supernatural”, another heir to the “X-Files” legacy, demonstrate that a show like this is invariably stronger when the external conflicts of a particular case pertain to an internal conflict. Some of the most beloved stand-alone episodes of “X-Files” were centered on how hunting down evidence of a particular entity or killer provided insight into the psychological state of Mulder and Scully at that precise point in their lives.

In other words, episodes shouldn’t feel generic. They shouldn’t feel like filler. And despite some minor attempt to explore the main characters’ ideas on faith, there wasn’t much to the episode. The scenario underscored the already-established notion that human consciousness is separate from the body, and thus able to be accessed in all sorts of unusual ways. There’s nothing new under this particular sun.

Lest I forget to give credit where credit is due, the cast is still going some great work in this episode. They couldn’t have known at the time that the episode wouldn’t fit within the framework of the early second season, so they are clearly doing their best to keep up the progress from the end of the first season.

Considering that the second season has felt very uneven and disconnected, this only adds to my growing frustration. For all my criticisms over the growing imbalance between the serialized and episodic elements, the more stand-alone installments of the second season have still contained enough character context to make it clear that it belongs within the second season. The generic nature of the story and the misleading presentation This episode doesn’t fit in more ways than one.

Writing: 1/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4

Final Rating: 6/10

Written by Zach Stentz and Ashley Edward Miller
Directed by Jeannot Szwarc

With so many stand-alone episodes during the first half of this season, it’s about time that the writers returned to the season arc. This particular episode does shed some light on some key elements of the story, which is a very good thing, but it also seems to be simplistic in approach. There’s a lot of running around for what little ground was gained.

In essence, the leader of the Alt-universe super-soldiers, Mr. Newton, is trying to open a doorway linking Fringe Prime with Alt-Fringe. This would be a very bad thing, and Olivia is supposed to do whatever it takes to prevent it. As it turns out, Walter is the only person in Fringe Prime with the knowledge of how to create a doorway, and those memories were intentionally taken away from him. Mr. Newton fulfills a plan to restore those memories just long enough to get his answers, and Olivia chooses to save Walter rather than stop Mr. Newton and end the threat.

That summary doesn’t quite do the episode justice. For one thing, the method of memory restoration is interesting, because it implies a mechanism for memory that doesn’t quite mesh with how memory and consciousness has been handled previously on the series. Memory and consciousness have been a bit more ephemeral in previous episodes, implying that both are not necessarily linked to a physical anchor within the brain.

In this case, however, it appears that William Bell was able to excise small portions of Walter’s brain, thus removing Walter’s ability to access certain key memories and associations. The question is: does this imply that the information itself was held within those chunks of grey matter, or that the chunks removed were necessary for access to the information? Considering that the series is as much about consciousness and perception as it is about monsters and alternate realities, this is not an idle question.

We also get some insight into Walter’s past history. It seems very clear that Walter’s decision to open the door into Alt-Fringe and abduct Alt-Peter was a trigger point. It was the first such incursion, according to Mr. Newton, and I still believe that the abduction triggered a response from Alt-Walter that led to the war that has been heating up since. We have yet to see what kind of man Alt-Water might be, but there have been plenty of hints that the pre-psychotic break version of Walter Prime was not someone to cross. If Walter Prime had been advancing his “fringe science” all that time, who knows what kind of disturbing tech he would have created!

That leads to another interesting possibility. Was Walter’s mental collapse really all that it seems? Did he really lose his mind due to the death of a student? I don’t recall that the details of that incident were ever provided. The surgery conducted by William Bell on Walter could have further degraded his mental state, but it’s also possible that Walter’s original condition was engineered by Bell as well. If Bell was that concerned about the potential for Walter’s knowledge to be discovered by the enemy, eliminating that threat (while keeping Walter intact enough to be a potential resource later) would fit Bell’s apparent pattern.

Just as there were strengths to the episode, however, there were some inherent weaknesses. The first problem is something that might be explained later, but now stands as a glaring contradiction. If the soldiers of Alt-Fringe managed to cross over into Fringe Prime before, why do they need Walter Prime to tell them how to open a doorway back into Alt-Fringe now? The timelines still don’t quite add up for me, though I will give the writers some slack and time to explain away the apparent discrepancies.

More directly problematic within the episode, however, is Olivia’s decision not to take down Mr. Newton when she had the chance. I’m not talking about her decision once Newton made it clear that it was a choice between him and Walter; I’m talking about the moments before that. Why didn’t Olivia just shoot Newton in the head and be done with it? It’s not like Newton is technically human anymore, and she knows the potential threat that Newton presents. Capturing him, rather than eliminating him, feels like a plot contrivance, designed to ensure that the plot thread remains viable until the intended point of resolution.

Granted, the pieces of the “Fringe” puzzle haven’t always fit together in the most elegant manner; the first half of the first season seems a bit disconnected from the superior second half, after all. And I accept the limitations of the scope of the plot for what they are. I just feel like the writers aren’t quite sure how to get from point A to point B, and as a result, the seams are starting to show.

If the previous examples don’t prove the point, I can give one more. I noted in the review for “Snakehead” that the writers would need to use Walter’s decision to implant a tracking device into his neck for something momentous to mitigate the otherwise isolated nature of the episode. So I was a bit annoyed to see it used as a red herring of sorts just one episode later. It’s the sort of thing that could have used a little more forethought to give it more dramatic impact.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4

Final Rating: 8/10

Written by David Wilcox
Directed by Paul Holahan

This is one of those episodes that felt like a completely self-contained effort, but could easily become tied into the overall season arc, depending on which direction the writers choose to take. It all comes down to the relevance of Walter’s subplot: was it just a bit of character shading to provide a “B” plot for the episode, or was seeding of an important plot point?

The “monster of the week” was interesting enough, but as I’ve mentioned in previous reviews, it just didn’t seem to hold any pertinence beyond the point of having a strange and unusual creature on screen. The creature was a pure plot device. Compare this to most of the creatures featured on “Supernatural”, where some aspect of the “monster of the week” has some pertinence to a specific character aspect or relationship concern for the Brothers Winchester.

In this case, it was the origin of the creature that made a difference. Because it was being smuggled into the country by an Asian drug cartel, there was a bit of danger for Walter and Peter, and there was a personal attack on Astrid. Walter felt responsible for Astrid’s injuries, because if he hadn’t wanted to regain a sense of independence, Astrid wouldn’t have been sent to keep an eye on him.

I like the fact that Walter failed miserably in his attempt to work on his own. Walter works as a character because he is broken, and because his arrogance and mental damage keeps him from recognizing just how broken he is. He wants to be less of a burden, but it’s hard for him to retain perspective of his own capabilities (or lack thereof). I’m reminded of real-world dementia sufferers, right down to the breakdown that occurs when a critical piece of information is just out of grasp, even when it is written down on a piece of paper within reach.

It’s very interesting, then, that Walter chooses to give Peter a means of tracking him. It seems like a typical Walter solution to a problem. But what if this entire incident was meant to bring Walter to this point, so that Peter would have a means of locating Walter in some future plot twist? Or more to the point of the series mythology, what would it mean if the transponder was suddenly out of range?

In other words, I think the important part of the episode is the final scene. It’s the proverbial gun on the mantle. Peter is going to need to locate Walter at some critical juncture, and the existence of that tracking device is going to factor into it. At least, it needs to factor into the story at some point, or this episode loses much of its meaning in the context of the series.

After all, very little else in this episode had any solid connection to the rest of the “Fringe” tapestry. One might indirectly connect Olivia’s niece to her interest in saving the little girl in this episode, but it’s a thin thread. We learned a bit more about Peter’s hidden talents, but at this point in the series, we expect him to pull some cache of knowledge out of the blue.

Like I said in previous reviews this season, the writers raised the stakes when they ramped up the mythology towards the end of the first season. Since they’ve returned, there’s been a distinct lack of balance. This episode may fit into the big picture in the long run, but in many ways, it was yet another stand-alone episode.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4

Final Rating: 7/10

Written by J. H. Wyman and Jeff Pinkner
Directed by Dennis Smith

“Fringe” has been delivering an interesting second season. While the show has definitely evolved since its stumbling start, I’m not sure that the best lessons of the first season have been learned. The second half of the first season was remarkable for its deft treatment of both episodic and serialized story elements. This season, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to be gelling as well as one might hope.

I’m not going to suggest that this is some sort of sophomore slump; the season has not fallen into any self-destructive patterns. Nor have there been critical casting misfires, like the one that crippled some of the original plans for the second season of “Lost”. It’s just a feeling that the writers are still trying to satisfy the original intent: a mostly episodic structure with a few important serialized arcs.

Finding the perfect balance has always been the challenge. Networks prefer episodic formats, because it makes the show more accessible in syndication packages. (The nature of that market has changed dramatically over the past decade, but some essential rules still apply.) Shows like “The X-Files” suffered from the desire to tell a bigger story while sticking to a discrete anthology-style format. Characters would deal with momentous events in one episode, seemingly changing everything, only to shift back into a routine status quo with the very next episode. While it helps to make the show an easier sell for new viewers, it frustrates the fans that enjoy the big picture.

The flipside is a heavily-serialized show that manages to break up the story into bite-sized chunks in each episode. “Lost” and “Flashforward” are two current examples. While this allows the writing staff to tackle multi-layered concepts and complex storytelling, it also makes it hard for new viewers to jump into the series. I’m fairly sure it would be impossible for anyone to start watching “Lost” at the beginning of the sixth season this spring and make sense of it.

The balance is a constant work in progress. Even shows like “Supernatural”, where that balance has been nearly perfect since the series began, can suddenly lose the delicate equilibrium (as seen this season). The trick is making that balance a part of the DNA of every season. Shows like “Alias”, “Buffy”, “Angel” and “Supernatural” have excelled at putting together season arcs with a satisfying build and payoff, while keeping the format loose enough to allow for the episodic stories to be told.

While the season is still relatively young, I’m not feeling that sense of clear direction. For better or worse, the end of the first season made some compelling promises. It felt like the game was about to move to the next level. In many respects, it hasn’t. Even this episode, one of the best of the season, seems oddly disconnected from the whole. Only the connections to the unfolding story of Peter’s true origin keep it from being rather self-contained.

This episode was meant to expose startling information about the Observers, but I was left a bit underwhelmed. It certainly raised a number of intriguing questions, particularly about the nature of the Observers and why they are suddenly all over the place, but it was mostly speculation from the usual suspects.

I’m not at all certain that it was a good idea to pull back the curtain on the Observers in such a fashion. I think they were more interesting as something unknown and vaguely threatening, an outward sign of something worthy of wonder and dread. I really didn’t need to know about the Observers in more depth, other than their role within the story, and even that could have been saved for a moment when the revelation would be crushing. The unknown has an ominous strength that the known cannot possess.

That’s not to say this was a bad episode. I’ve always liked Peter Woodward, going back to his performances as Galen in the “Babylon 5” universe, and he made a capable Observer. He did a good job of selling the notion that a seemingly untouchable being might be compromised by emotional attachment.

That seemed to tie into the story behind Alt-Peter’s abduction by Walter, which is still unclear. I had forgotten the detail about the car accident, and how an Observer apparently saved their lives. The question is: how does this connect to Walter’s ongoing insistence that Peter was very sick as a child? I suspect that the real story is that Peter’s illness was a ruse, a way to explain the side effects of whatever process Walter used to scrub away Alt-Peter’s memories of his former life. Peter Prime may not have survived the car crash at all.

The unusual nature of the Observer’s relationship with time might also imply a unique relationship with alternate realities. Moving between realities has been shown to alter sensory perception; perhaps this is why the Observers need to spice up their food. Whatever the case, the involvement of an Observer in Walter’s abduction of Alt-Peter has been heavily implied. Is it possible that this impending collision of realities is, in fact, the result of catastrophic Observer interference?

The pieces don’t necessarily fit, and clearly that is intentional. The mystery of Peter’s abduction and its relationship to the conflict to come is a major element of the season arc. I’m just concerned that the writers are parsing the information a bit too much. The revelations at the end of the first season demanded a bit of plot acceleration, and I’m worried that we haven’t seen it yet.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4

Final Rating: 7/10

Written by Robert Chiappetta and Glen Whitman
Directed by Joe Chappelle

One of the most popular episodes of “The X-Files” was called “Pusher”. It involved a man who could use mind control, and as one would expect, this particular criminal had some serious moral deficiencies. That episode continues to be one of the most memorable for “X-Files” fans, so the writers for “Fringe” are treading on sacred ground for many.

The writers do manage to put a spin on the formula by having the mind control agent be a teenager, and giving the kind of explanation for the ability that meshes with the “Fringe” mythos. It’s been a long time since elements of The Pattern were directly linked to the activities of Massive Dynamic, so this was a welcome turn of events.

Since the end of the first season, The Pattern has largely been attributed to the activities related to immoral and illegal experiments conducted to develop both offensive and defensive capabilities for the coming war with Alt-Fringe. The role of Massive Dynamic in that scheme has never been completely clear, and this episode doesn’t necessarily change that. Instead, it adds to the evidence that Massive Dynamic was put in place to mitigate the human cost of developing an defense against Alt-Fringe.

That does much to render William Bell a more enigmatic figure. While he may consider it important to foster Olivia’s development as the most important element of Fringe Prime’s defense, there’s no indication of how far he’s willing to go to that end. We have yet to see much advancement in Olivia’s training, after all. But it makes sense that Massive Dynamic would be meant to facilitate that training, directly or indirectly.

That said, it’s hard to fathom what the current experiments in mind control are meant to achieve. Why create several versions of a single person, spread them around the country under foster care, and then conduct these experiments under those conditions? It speaks to the notion that William Bell never stopped the kind of experimentation that he and Walter started decades earlier, but it doesn’t quite seem to fit in the scheme of the conflict as it has been presented.

Having Peter be abducted and controlled made for some compelling tension, even if it was highly unlikely that he would be seriously hurt or killed. It was enough to see him try to work his way around the control and fail. Peter’s resourcefulness has always been an important part of his character, so it makes sense that he would keep testing and pushing Tyler’s ability.

More than that, it applied more pressure on Walter, who is slowly but surely losing the ability to hide what he knows about Peter’s unique background. Walter identified with the powerful emotions of losing a child, but at the same time, he was also reacting to the fact that he was, in truth, a child abductor. He’s been on both sides of that coin, and considering that Walter is not good with complex emotions, it’s hard to know how close Walter is getting to revealing the truth.

Overall, this was another solid entry for the second season, but the writers need to start pulling the threads together a bit more. Right now, the season seems to be struggling to present a clear direction, despite some key revelations along the way. Given some of the challenges to the ratings this season, thanks to an inexplicable timeslot shift by FOX, the writers need to make sure the story doesn’t get lose coherence.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4

Final Rating: 8/10

Written by Joel Wyman and Jeff Vlaming
Directed by Jon Cassar

The idea of alien creatures in “Fringe”, even if just as a riff on the ongoing exploration of the meaning of consciousness, leaves me a bit uncertain. I would have been a little happier if the “infection” of the cosmonaut had been revealed as a catalyst for the fragmentation of the cosmonaut’s own consciousness, or even just a fragment of it.

After all, the treatment of this rogue consciousness was very similar to the reports of “shadow people” in the paranormal investigative world. Granted, such phenomena isn’t said to result in people turning into ash, but there were strong similarities, particularly in terms of the video evidence and the unusual electromagnetic effects. Merging the current legends and lore of “shadow people” to this particular story could have grounded it in the semi-familiar world. (At least, for those already with an interest in “fringe science”.)

I personally think the concepts at play in the show are complicated enough without adding alien consciousnesses to the mix. If there is one thing that has marked genre shows produced by JJ Abrams, it is a tendency to expand the frame of unusual reference a little too far. Keeping the scope of the series to the bizarre fringes of technological advancement between two parallel universes should give them more than enough room to maneuver. Adding aliens into the mix expands the boundaries a bit more than necessary.

Thankfully, the alien angle is incidental to the point of the episode. The central idea is the separation of mind and body, which has been a part of the series’ DNA since the beginning. In a show where memories can be downloaded into another person through technology or an altered state (or both), a consciousness without a physical body is hardly a stretch. (It also means that “ghosts” are at least potentially real in the “Fringe” universe; hence the potential connection to the “shadow people”.)

While the alien connection may seem excessive, I can think of one interesting possibility. The alien seemed to be able to keep the cosmonaut’s body alive under extreme circumstances, all for the purpose of maintaining its own existence. This encounter in Fringe Prime didn’t have any long-term effects, but what if this alien organism was discovered under very different circumstances in the Alt-Fringe universe? There are plenty of indications that Alt-Walter and his ilk wouldn’t let moral considerations get in the way of dissecting and experimenting.

Despite some minor disappointments with elements of the plot, I did like the episode for its focus on Agent Broyles. There have been some hints along the way that he has been involved in some badass covert ops, and this episode seems to confirm it. Broyles does not seem like the kind of agent one would want to cross, which makes his frustrations at red tape all the more intriguing.

Broyles also mentioned that the Fringe Division has been around for well over four years, and that it had fallen far out of favor by 2005. Taking into account the homage to “The X-Files”, one has to wonder how seriously the writing staff is taking that joke, given how the timelines sometimes seem to mesh. It also places an age on “The Pattern” that I don’t remember hearing before. My recollection is that it was a recent development, but it makes sense that there were events and discoveries long before any connective thread was suspected.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4

Final Rating: 7/10