FRINGE RECAP 2
Season 3: Episode 4 “Do Shapeshifters Dream of Electric Sheep?”
“I Hope I Didn’t Brain My Damage”
Intense episode this week, I swear, every new episode of FRINGE this season just gets better and better. With that incredible opening, seeing Broyles in a shoot-out (a rarity on FRINGE as he’s usually just giving the orders), to the freaky car-crash moment that actually made me jump, I’d say the show continued to fire on all cylinders this week.
In regards to Broyles and Newton, did Broyles recognize the shapeshifter the moment he saw him in the hospital? I wasn’t entirely sure, but I thought if he did recognize him he might have given some kind of reaction to seeing Newton. And the more I think about it, Broyles should have recognized him as he must have seen all the reports from the FRINGE cases last year, a handful of which Newton was personally involved in.
Kudos to this show for really keeping us in suspense, especially with character deaths. Ever since Charlie died last season I’ve been worried about who else they might kill off, especially since that actor wouldn’t have to leave the show, they would just become a shape-shifter or their alternate world selves. Tonight, I was genuinely worried that Walter might be killed, and his form would be taken over by the police-officer shape-shifter. What a twist that would be! Of course, in the back of my mind I figured that would never happen as Walter, Peter and Olivia are the main characters and would not just be killed off in the 4th episode of the season, but with FRINGE, you never know.
In regards to Folivia (and yes, I am aware that it should be spelled Fauxlivia, but I like my spelling), I like that they are now trying to humanize her somewhat, laying the groundwork for her to perhaps defect to Peter and Walter’s team, especially after Newton’s warnings to her about how she cares now and might not be able to cross that line. I really enjoy how FRINGE makes a point to humanize its characters, be they good or bad, and take the time to think about how people might really react to these situations. Also, I feel bad for Peter when the real Olivia shows up, cause you know she’s gonna be pissed that he couldn’t tell the difference, and that he slept with Folovia first.
I am having a slight problem with shape-shifter physiology though, and I would love for it to be clarified if I’ve got it wrong. Last season, when a shape-shifter (screw, it takes too long to write shape-shifter, from now on they are the SS, apologies if anyone is offended by this). Anyway, last season when an SS took on Charlie’s form, he appeared to be breaking down and dying after only a few weeks in the body, making him look ill and drink mercury to keep himself alive. How is it that both Newton and the SS in the congressman’s body (not to mention the SS who was the police officer) maintained their forms for years without this degradation happening to them? Was the SS who took on Charlie’s form substandard or something? Or is this just a continuity flaw on the show?
Random things that I thought were great this week; I loved that Astrid’s name on the Massive Dynamic list was ‘Astro,” and how she just ran with it to get into the lab, that really made me laugh, even though it’s a joke that they’ve been doing for years. I also wonder if they put Walter’s lab in Massive Dynamic on the 23rd floor as some kind of obscure LOST reference (It’s one of the numbers!)
Ok, I think that’s if for my recap this week, I am saddened that we won’t get any new FRINGE for 2 or 3 weeks (but at least we’ll have baseball to watch), but I am looking forward to the next episode set Over There, and seeing what else FRINGE has in store for us this season.
NICHOLASGRAFF.com 