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FRINGE RECAP 3

Season 3: Episode 5 “Amber 31422

“In this house we obey the laws of Thermodynamics!”

Thank God the Giants won the world series so niftily, otherwise we would have had to wait another week for a new FRINGE, and I was already having withdrawals. It’s great to have the show back, and I’m loving all the FRINGE hype I’m seeing on FOX.

THE WOES OF THE WALTERNATE

So Walternate is more and more looking like a fascist dictator about to be overthrown by his people, as evidenced by his and Broyles’ discussion about a possible revolt by the masses if they learned that the people trapped in amber could be resuscitated. Combine that with his eerie comments about nature not recognizing good and evil and I think he might be a little bit further over the deep end that I had realized before. I would still like to hear more about his plan regarding the “doomsday” device that Walter and Peter are building in Earth A, but seeing his work and dealings with Olivia “Over There” is still pretty fascinating, as it shows how brilliant and powerful our Walter could have been by now if he hadn’t been thrown in the nut house.

OPERATION OLIVIA

I recently read a recap from EW’s Ken Tucker than mentioned how Olivia’s mental projections of Peter are very similar to her projects of John from Season 1, claiming that part of her mental powers are her mind’s ability to retain these various personalities and use their specters to teach her things. I really like this idea, especially as it gives precedent to the whole “her mind is projecting an image of her lover to help her along” thing, and suddenly Peter appearing to her and telling her she doesn’t belong “Over There” makes a lot more sense.

I am also very curious to see what other powers she will demonstrate and use, as so far in the show they’ve hinted at or shown her capable of starting fires (Jacksonville), having a photographic memory (may or not be from cortexiphan), ability to see things from “Over There,” and lastly the ability to travel safely from one universe to another. Will she eventually have control over the fire ability? Will she ever get the ability to force her emotions on people like that Nick guy had?

Story wise, I’m pretty sure by this point that Olivia has once again remembered who she really is, but is now smart enough to know that she’s trapped and has to continue to pretend to be Folivia otherwise they’ll try to brainwash her again. I’m excited to see what direction this takes her cases with the Fringe Division from “Over There,” as she can now operate very much like her alternate self in our world, in that she helps solves the case but has an ulterior motive for doing so, and is more vested in her own interests.

BATTLING BROYLES

Alternate Broyles is to me, one of the most intriguing characters “Over There” as he knows everything that’s going on, but unlike Walternate, doesn’t seem entirely at ease about it. He seems almost exactly like his Earth A (Our world) counterpart in that he’s a good person who’s only trying to look out for the safety of the people around him and to protect his country. I’m very interested to see where he draws the line in terms of Walternate’s ultimate goals, especially with his dealing with Olivia, who I think Broyles has a certain respect for, regardless of where she came from.

Do I think Broyles will eventually rebel against Walternate and the DOD? For sure, I’d love to see him as some kind of rebel leader “Over There” fighting against the corrupt government, freeing people from amber, and, alongside Lee and Charlie, forming the core of Olivia’s allies “Over There” who will help her stop Walternate’s plans. But who knows? Maybe he’ll end up being spineless and just go along with whatever Walternate tells him, proving that the Broyles from our side is far superior.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I still want to know what Alternate Astrid’s deal is, and whether she has some kind of super-brain or what. I hope we get a back-story soon.

I really liked the idea that Olivia’s brain’s rebellion took place on her niece’s birthday, and that her love of her family is what will restore her identity. It ties in nicely to a lot of the themes in FRINGE about what one does for family, no matter the consequences.

Lastly, I want to bring up the idea of FIRST PEOPLE, a concept that we first saw in the red titles for season 2 finale, and which the producers have stated is part of the overall mythology of the show. Some theorize that the FIRST PEOPLE made the “doomsday” device that Walternate has blueprints for, some that Sam Weiss (Olivia’s Yoda from season 2) is one of these FIRST PEOPLE and cannot be trusted, and I personally cannot help but wonder if perhaps The Observers are FIRST PEOPLE. Only time will tell, but it’s something to think about, and something to look for clues about as the season progresses.

Alright, I think that’s it for this week, it’s good to be back, and I look forward to the rest of this season!

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 4^th 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 23^rd 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.

Before I get into the recapping and theoretical malarkey that ran rampant throughout my LOST recaps and will undoubtedly continue here, I’d like to start off by laying down my ground rules for these recaps, much as I did for LOST.

#1, I will not spoil any future episodes with information I may have heard about it, I will only speculate and theorize.

#2, Though not every title will contain some form of the word “graph,” I will try to make every title just as entertaining, and this season’s theme will begin with the title shown below, and I honestly don’t think it’ll be that hard to guess.

#3, MOST IMPORTANTLY, if you don’t watch FRINGE, don’t read these. I highly recommend the show, and think you should watch all of the Seasons so far (there’s only 2!), but don’t read if you’re not into it yet, because if at some point down the road you do begin to watch, I’d hate for you to have ruined everything for yourself.

#4, Deal with the terms, Walternate = Walter from Alt. Univ., Over There = Alt Univ., Folivia = Alt. Olivia (more to come later)

FRINGE RECAP 1

Season 3: Episode 3 “The Plateau”

I BEAT THE SMART KID(S), I BEAT THE SMART KID(S)!

Welcome to the FRINGE recaps, and welcome to Season 3, which has already shown itself to be incredibly involved and full of the mythology that was usually doled out so sparsely in the previous seasons.

First of all, I’d like to say that it’s great seeing Charlie working with Olivia again, and makes me all the more nostalgic for Season 1 episodes where he was her loyal sidekick. And of all the alternate universe characters, I think he seems to be the most human, and the most concerned about the well-being of Olivia, which just makes him all the more valuable a character for getting her home. Am I the only one who thinks Charlie is figuring it all out? I thought for sure we’d see a scene at the end where Charlie would be connecting the dots about why THIS Olivia didn’t follow the oxygen protocol,  although maybe that’s a scene for a future episode. Is there any chance that he’ll come back to our side with Olivia, and take up where his counterpart left off?

While we’re on the subject of Olivia, where is her mind at right now? Does she think she’s crazy? Is there a chance she’s just going along with everything until she finally sees a way to go home? Is she maintaining her old identity (even if she’s only doing it subconsciously) because of the cortexiphan in her brain? Once she and Walternate learn how to use her abilities to travel between the worlds, will she revert to her old self and flee?

Now let’s talk about the villain of the week, who I’d like to call “The ‘Special’ Equation.” (think about it for a second) I bought into the whole leaving a pen and it would start a chain reaction leading to all those deaths, and I was even willing to buy into the whole he threw a bike off the bridge so the truck would slow and swerve for his escape. But in all honestly, no matter how much math and equations the guy had figured out, how would he know EXACTLY what Olivia’s death would look like if he’d never been down that alleyway? It was more of a vision to me, and THAT is what I think made it more of a FRINGE case, in that somehow his equations ability got merged with something a little more supernatural, which is how it would get accelerated to the point where he can only communicate with computers now.

Now maybe it is just me, but should we be rooting for Walternate because of the destruction of his world and the loss of his son? I mean Over There is pretty messed up, the need for personal oxygen tanks just the latest sign in a long list of how much the world is decaying because of Walter’s crossing over to save Peter’s life all those years ago. And while I do think Walter’s crossing over can be rationalized to the point where he’s not a monster because he didn’t know what would happen and he did manage to save Peter’s life, the fact remains that he ruined Walternate’s life, and potentially, Walternate’s world. Seeing this, I honestly hope Walternate gets humanized a bit this season so he doesn’t seem so genuinely evil, I mean after all, he is a grieving father who’s world is crumbling, I think he deserves a bit of sympathy.

Oh, and while we’re talking about the various Over There characters, is Astrid some kind of genius Over There? She was pretty amazing with the math equations herself, and they seemed to always be calling her about percentages and statistics, and I wonder if MAYBE she was dosed with the Over There equivalent of cortexiphan, implemented by Walternate in some early attempt to create his own Olivia.

On the Mythology front, it is great to see Walternate explain his plan concerning Olivia to alt. Broyles, though I cannot help but feel even Walternate knows that Olivia’s mind can never be fully brainwashed, not with her unique abilities. But it does make sense that he wants to learn how to cross between worlds safely, as once that occurs the real war between the two worlds will undoubtedly begin. I do wonder though, how exactly Walternate managed to cross into our world to take Peter back last season without it causing as much damage to our world as Walter’s crossing did to theirs, or whether the fall-out from that crossing on the alt. world is what forced Walternate to seek out an alternate route for traveling between the two worlds. I’m moving on now, I’m sick of typing ‘Walternate’ and ‘worlds.’

And I like how Olivia’s mind is conjuring images of the Fringe team from her own world, as it keeps Peter and Walter in the show despite these episodes being set Over there, and it subtly keeps the Peter romance going despite the fact that they are so separate and he is currently sleeping with Folivia (though he doesn’t know it.)

Ok, that’s it for this week, looking forward to next week’s episode set back in our own world, and for (hopefully) Folivia to be found out soon, so Peter and Walter can mount a rescue effort to get the real Olivia back. Stay tuned!