Fringe Reviews Roundup 303: The Plateau

Here are a roundup of reviews for the Fringe episode The Plateau.

• TV Overmind: Fringe 3.03 “The Plateau” Review
• MTV: 'Fringe' Recap: Episode 3.03, 'The Plateau'
• Entertainment Weekly: 'Fringe' recap: 'Real is just a matter of perception'
• LA Times: 'Fringe' recap: That wasn’t supposed to happen
• Salon.com: "Fringe" recap: A break in the Pattern?
• TV Squad: 'Fringe' Season 3, Episode 3 Recap
• TV Without Pity: I've Seen the Future, Brother, and It Is Murder
• Movieline: The Mad Science of Fringe: Olivia vs. Rainman
• Give Me My Remote: FRINGE: ‘Real is just a matter of perception’
• AV Club: Fringe: The Plateau
• i09: Fringe just keeps getting better and better
• Den Of Geek: Fringe season 3 episode 3 review: The Plateau

New This Week

• Polite Dissent: Fringe — Episode 3 (Season 3): “The Plateau” 
• Spoiler TV: Fringe - Episode 3.03 - The Plateau - Recap
• SF Scope: Miscalculation—Fringe's "The Plateau" 
• Pink Raygun: Fringe: The Plateau

See any reviews we need to add? Leave a link in the comments.

Fringe Reviews 302: The Box

Here are a roundup of reviews for the Fringe episode The Box.

• Salon.com: "Fringe" recap: What's in the box(es)?
• Entertainment Weekly : 'Fringe' recap and review: William Bell sends Walter a message and 'The Box'
• TV Squad: 'Fringe' Season 3, Episode 2 Recap (VIDEO)
• TV Without Pity: Weekend at Bolivia's
• BSC Review: Fringe: “The Box” – review 
• Movieline: The Mad Science of Fringe: Help Us Help You Understand the Music Box of Death
• Give Me My Remote: FRINGE: Peter and Olivia Take a Step Forward, Walter Gets More Than He Bargained For
• LA Times: 'Fringe' recap: Over Here
• AV Club: The Box
• i09: Why do people keep handing Walter Bishop the keys to the deathmobile?
• Den Of Geek: Fringe season 3 episode 2 review: The Box
• Crave Online: FRINGE 3.02 'The Box'
• TV Overmind: Fringe 3.02 “The Box” Recap

Fringe: Review of The Box

“Distraction.”

Nothing is what it appeared to be in this episode, and—as with last week—I’m not sure we have all the answers yet, either. Our Theme of the Week is distraction, but it’s distraction used for deception: not just the characters deceiving each other, but also the writers deceiving us.

Read more »

Review Of Fringe 302 'The Box'

If I had been asked to name this episode, I would have entitled it 'Distraction,' because all of the Fringe-related characters were quite distracted, with at least one thing apiece, in 302 except for Astrid, who seemed to be able to pretty much stay on task.

Walter was distracted by, of course, the strained post-reveal relationship he now finds himself in with Peter. Astrid told us Walter has not explained his side of the 'Peter' story to his surrogate son since they returned from 'Over There,' and she demanded he do so immediately, which was very Astrid. As if that wasn't enough distraction, Walter Bishop was distracted by the posthumous reading and revelation of his best friend, William Bell's will. It was quite telling that he did not respond to Peter's asking of what he received, but instead revealed the information instead (twice) to Astrid.

Read more »

Why You Should Be Watching the Doubly Delicious 'Fringe'

by Maureen Ryan, posted Sep 23rd 2010 3:00PM


Reviews of new shows are full of hedges and what-ifs. Unless we're sent multiple episodes of a new show, critics can't always tell when iffy programs have the potential to become pretty good or even wonderful.

No hedging here: 'Fringe,' which begins its third season at 9PM ET Thursday, has evolved into a terrific show. Now that the Fox drama is consistently telling enjoyably complex and emotionally compelling stories, I'd hate it if 'Fringe' got lost in the fall shuffle.

So I'll start off by begging you to watch 'Fringe,' pretty please, and then I'll share some non-spoilery thoughts about the first two episodes of the third season below.

The third-season premiere doesn't start off with some giant disaster -- 'Fringe' has, thank goodness, moved away from the bombastic storytelling that afflicted its first season in particular. Still, 'Olivia' and 'The Box' are very entertaining hours. And if you're worried about catching up to where things stand on the show, Thursday's episode does a good job of recapping where the characters are and explaining where Season 3 will start from. (A slightly spoilery explainer clip is here, and you can also watch several season 2 episodes, including the two-part finale, here.)

Overall, season 3 appears to be building on what worked really well in season 2, and now the show has taken the character who was the least interesting when 'Fringe' began and made her and her dilemmas very intriguing indeed.

In the middle of its second season, 'Fringe' began focusing intently on two things -- first, on the parallel universe called 'Over There'; and second, on the relationships among FBI agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv), eccentric scientist Walter Bishop (John Noble) and his acerbic son, Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson).

Those twin engines drive Season 3, and they intersect and blend to the point that 'Fringe' feels like an atmospheric chamber piece. It still has action and suspense and all that good stuff, but themes of identity, loyalty, hubris, deception and missed opportunities reverberate through the show like intersecting melodies in a well-crafted musical composition.

The most resonant horrors on the show these days aren't giant bacteria or menacing mutants. Perhaps 'Fringe,' which began as (and still sometimes is) a show about FBI agents investigating weird phenomena, will engage in those kinds of monster-of-the-week stories in future, but those episodes are rarely examples of 'Fringe' at its best.

No, the most effective horrors involve betrayals that are perpetrated on the characters, sometimes by the people they love most. Over There's troubles -- and there are many -- were caused by Walter's desire to find and save a copy of his son, because in this universe, his son died. The fallout from that tragic choice and the characters' tentative steps toward intimacy and trust have given the proceedings much more meaningful stakes.

If I have one fear, it's that 'Fringe' will be forced (possibly by a nervous network) to stray too far from its mythology-driven stories, which are much more memorable than the standalone outings. It's still possible for the show to falter, but given how good the second half of season 2 and the start of season 3 are, I'm giving the show the benefit of the doubt.

What's especially impressive in Season 3 is how cogently and clearly events in the two different universes are handled. It's not hard to tell which is which and it's not hard to follow how the two worlds are connected, and those connections have only deepened the mythology in pleasing ways.

Thursday's episode spends time with "our" Olivia, who is stranded Over There (and 'The Wire's' Andre Royo does great work in a supporting role). Next week's hour focuses on Over There's even more driven version of Olivia, who has taken up residence in Walter and Peter's world and has a very definite agenda.

It's nice to see a parallel universe that is, for once, not an excuse for a show's cast to overact and ham it up. If anything, Over There is quieter but it's also more unsettling and even subtly menacing.

The directors of the show do a terrific job of making Over There feel different, via odd angles and a color palette that somehow seems a little off. But the dilemmas there, as in the "regular" universe, hinge on tangled relationships and difficult memories. And it's even more clear that Walter's choices had awful repercussions Over There, which is on a war footing mostly thanks to his hubris.

The two universes offer Noble, in particular, many opportunities to display his continually amazing range. Over There's "Walternate" is a commanding, efficient leader -- the man that Walter might have been had he not been consumed by personal tragedies and his own ambition.

And Torv, given the opportunity to play two different Olivias, both of whom are faced with interesting dilemmas and challenges, rises to the occasion. For the longest time, I couldn't see why 'Fringe' had cast Torv, but now that the actress has a lot to play in two juicy roles, every scene with Olivia or "Bolivia" (as the writers apparently call her) is charged with new tension. She manages to make the two characters different, even in their gestures, and I have to say that I'm a fan of the red hair she sports Over There.

Now that Olivia is in an alien world and a Bolivia with ambiguous loyalties is here, every scene with those characters has an additional weight and tension. To say more would be to give away too much, but in these two hours, at least, there are layers of meaning, suspense and drama that I never thought 'Fringe' would have.

The pilot for 'Fringe' never hinted at these developments. But the magic of TV is that having faith sometimes pays off.

Source:TVSquad

Fringe Season 2 Blu-Ray Unboxing

Here is a quick look at the Fringe season 2 Blu-ray box and insides. The 22 episodes (plus one bonus season 1 episode) are spread across 4 Blu-ray discs.

Blu-ray.com has an in depth review of the contents, but aside from the episodes, you'll find:

• Audio Commentaries: for "Momentum Deferred," "Brown Betty," and "Over There, Part 2."

• The Unearthed Episode: The unearthed episode from Season 1 is presented on Disc Four rather than amongst the official second-season eps, making its appearance far less jarring and far less confusing.
  
• Analyzing the Scene: Mini-documentaries offering episode-specific peeks into the series' production. Six all-too-short featurettes are available alongside "A New Day in the Old Town," "Momentum Deferred," "Of Human Action," "What Lies Below," "Brown Betty," and "Over There, Part 2."
  
• Dissected Files: Deleted scenes from "Night of Desirable Objects," "Grey Matters," "Olivia, in the Lab, with the Revolver," "Northwest Passage," and "Over There, Part 2."
  
• Beyond the Pattern: The Mythology of Fringe: A beefy, extensive and entertaining Season Two documentary.
  
• In the Lab: John Noble and prop master Rob Smith take viewers on a tour of the Fringe Lab set and show off the gizmos and gadgets therein.
  
• Unusual Side Effects: Watch the cast giggle and snicker through a familiar mix of miscues and bumbled lines. You can see the Fringe season 2 gag reel here.

BTW, did anyone else have any trouble finding the Fringe Season 2 Blu-rays/DVDs? The first store I went to (Walmart) only carried the DVDs - and they were sold out! The second store I tried (Best Buy) didn't have the Blu-rays on display with the new releases, or in the regular TV section.

Did you buy you Fringe Season 2 yet? If so, which version did you buy?

Which version of Fringe Season 2 did you buy (or plan to buy)?

Episode Review: What Lies Below

A 75,000 year old virus finds its way free, the result of drilling for oil, and seemingly waits to seek out the maximum number of victims before it kills the host and infects the population. Peter and Olivia quickly find themselves under quarantine along with the other employees of Vitas Petrol on floor sixteen.


It's not long before the episode picks up its pace. As the infected person begins screaming, Peter stumbles backwards and trips on the dead body from early, covered in blood. Olivia walks in and sees him, covered in blood. Scrubbing the blood from his skin, Olivia walks in, telling him, “be careful.” It’s obvious she’s worried and if he’s not infected, the blood on him, scrubbing at roughly would break skin and seep in to infect him. I was wondering how Peter would come to get infected and it was believable enough that he might find himself tripping and forced to fall on the body. Why didn’t they grab something to cover the victim though? I suppose no one had an extra blanket around. If it were me, I’d be avoiding the front, knowing that the corpse is infected and wouldn’t want to come within twenty feet of it. I might have also found a key and locked anyone possibly infected in a room. Maybe they’d have been mad but that is the idea of being quarantined.


When Walter discovers a test to determine whether those quarantined are infected, Peter steals Olivia’s swab from the table after her results come back negative for infection. He swabs his mouth with the swab Walter hands him before switching it, already knowing the truth, having seen drops of blood from his nose. They attempt to head out of the building but are quickly stopped when Peter’s nose begins to bleed again. He is stopped from leaving the building and dragged back inside, screaming, “I just have to get outside!” It’s the first moment we really see an infected Peter, acting out from the virus.

Once outside, Olivia finds out that the state department has authorized the army to go in and contain the infected because it is a level 6 contamination. With twelve people still inside and infected, Olivia phones Astrid who is with Walter and still inside, telling them to get out that the army will be coming in soon. Astrid ignores Olivia’s plea, knowing her only choice is to stay with Walter and help him develop a cure. It is then that Walter slips up, admitting to Astrid, “I can’t let Peter die again, and he’s going to.” Together they focus on the original virus, what killed it so long ago, sulfur from a volcano thousands of years ago. Finding horseradish in the fridge, Walter is able to test his theory and then they quickly contact Olivia to get the CDC to make the cure. That was probably the fastest cure developed but I give the writers credit, it was entertaining. I was just wondering why they couldn’t all eat a spoonful and be cured. Guess it doesn’t quite work like that. Any other cures you can find for diseases in your fridge?


With time running out, the only option Olivia finds herself to have is going back into the building, turning the ventilation system back on as they deliver Fentanyl gas to knock everyone inside unconscious to buy them a few hours to produce the cure. Peter, now fully infected and acting nothing like himself, sees Olivia on the security cameras coming into the elevator and in the building. Stepping out into the parking garage, Peter is already there waiting for her. He attacks her and though she ultimately fights back, he finally gets the gun from her, has it poised and says to her “stay down.” Even completely infected he doesn’t shoot her and realizes he can’t. Once Peter leaves with her gun, Olivia heads to the ventilation system, turning it on, nearly out of time. Moments later they are unconscious and then Walter is administering the antidote. If being in contact with Peter had infected Olivia, she seems to have recovered quite quickly from the antidote. Though she wouldn’t have had the virus in her system very long (a few hours given the time it takes to create the serum) she looks quite well considering how fast it affects the host.

When Peter wakes up, though he doesn’t look too hot, he is once again himself. Olivia asks if he feels better and he turns to look at her and tells her he’s sorry. She shakes her head and answers, “you weren’t yourself.” Peter stares back, his skin still quite pale and sweaty telling her “it’s lucky for me that you were.” It’s good to see Peter back to his old self. I’ve heard unconfirmed reports that this episode was filmed when the cast and crew (including Joshua Jackson) were infected with H1N1. Could that have been why it worked so well?


The final moments of the episode seemed to answer the question that had been nagging at us. Walter heads out and Astrid follows. She asks him what he meant about letting Peter die again. He tells her quite sharply, “some things are meant to be left alone, Agent Farnsworth.” After everything Astrid has seen while working Fringe Division, it should be evident what he’s talking about. Will she be able to keep such shocking news to herself? It seems Peter will probably be finding out soon and to the audience, it’s about time.

All in all, an excellent episode. Though the show has been airing a lot more stand alone episodes, this one could certainly bring in a casual or newer viewer and hopefully get them hooked. My question is, at what point do you stop trying to bring in a new audience and cater exclusively to the one you already have? I’m guessing Season Three.

Episode Review: Johari Window

The episode recently had the title changed from Edina City to Johari Window. I have to say that Johari Window is a much better title, given the episode's significance with the theme of Perception.

The show starts with a young boy, Teddy, walking alone along the road outside of the woods. An officer, seeing him, rolls down his window and insists to give him a ride. As night falls, the officer glances in the rearview and the boy has suddenly changed, metamorphosed into a deformed boy. Taking him back to the station, they snap a photograph of the boy moments before his parents come in, looking quite deformed like the boy, killing all three officers before taking Teddy with them. At first light, it seems like some sort of story regarding werewolves, perhaps not the four-legged creatures but the transformation that occurred in the back of the squad car at night.

I love when episodes show continuity and Johari Window gave us exactly that when we first see Walter and Peter following the opening sequence. Walter, is afraid to come out from the car, remembering what it was like to get abducted and asks Peter, “what if he’s in there?” Peter assures his father, that he’s not in there and he won’t let him get kidnapped again. That’s a pretty big promise to make, considering they work Fringe Division and it seems lately someone is always in-danger.

It is Walter that suggests as they enter the town of Edina, “there may be werewolves in these hills.” Standing outside, Olivia stops Peter and Walter, asking about the humming sound she’s hearing. Walter, in typical fashion begins humming and singing some odd random song. The sheriff finds them a moment later and tells them what is better known as the Edina hum is from the military base. Olivia answers, “well that’s one mystery solved,” and somehow we all know that this will tie into the episode.

Driving to the hotel, a truck comes from the opposite side of the road, attempting to run them down. Olivia runs their car off the road in an attempt to avoid the incoming collision but manages to wreck the vehicle, rendering herself unconscious. Peter, grabs her gun and fires at the deformed man outside as there’s gunfire shooting back at him before the man drives off. The EMT’s seemingly glaze over Olivia and surprisingly for someone that lost consciousness; she doesn’t go to the hospital to get checked out. You would think standard FBI protocol would dictate you get fully checked out by a doctor. Of course though the windshield was broken everyone seemed perfectly unharmed. I find it just as interesting how many cars they’ve wrecked this season. Olivia has crashed two, Peter one. Remind me not to lend my car to either of them.

A short time later they recover the vehicle that had come head-on with them. Walter at this time makes a discovery for a butterfly, one he’s never seen on this continent before. This certainly stands out as strange. It is in the same woods that they find the body Peter had shot. The man, though dead, looks like nothing more than a man and Walter suggests they killed someone with metamorphoric abilities. They take both specimens back to the lab, in hopes of understanding how they change.

While back at the lab, Broyles contacts Olivia with information that there was in fact military testing done in the 70’s and inside the file that Olivia has acquired, we learn it is Project Elephant, the same tune of sorts that Walter had hummed earlier in Edina. We all knew we hadn’t heard the last of Walter’s singing and we suspect he was involved in the experiments. Back at the lab, the butterfly looks to have turned into a deformed moth and the body is once again deformed, in the same way when Peter had shot at it. Walter, putting the moth under the microscope realizes it has no metamorphic ability, just a deformity. This seems to stump him but our minds are reeling with the obvious Edina Hum. Astrid soon realizes the song Walter keeps singing is a mnemonic and they quickly recover the old file that he had once worked on. Go Astrid! We finally get to see a little more of her in this episode.

Peter and Olivia head back to Edina, looking through census numbers. Peter realizes something is not quite right with the numbers. At this point, I had already figured the entire town of Edina was like Teddy. Meanwhile Walter and Astrid, take the moth back to Edina. Pulling over on the side of the road, the moth looks to turn back to a butterfly. Astrid asks how this is possible and Walter tells her, “the man, the moth don’t change at all. What changes is our perception of them.” Perception, one of the main themes we repeatedly come across in Fringe.

Talking to Peter on the phone, they begin to understand it is the Edina Hum allowing us to see the people that are deformed as if they were ‘normal’. Walter, against Peter’s wishes, seems to get over his recent fears and heads into town with Astrid to find the source. It’s good to see the change in the episode for Walter, feeling more secure in himself once again. You can't really blame him for being fearful but it's good to see he seems to be doing his own investigating.

Walter, knowing who started the tests back in the 70’s and who was capable of creating such a generator to hide their deformities seeks out the daughter of the scientist, Rose, which happens to be Teddy’s mother. Walter sneaks around the house while Astrid plays a game of Operation with the boy as he attempts to find the generator. I found the game itself, Operation, quite amusing for Astrid to play. Seeing as how she helps Walter and his autopsies, there probably wasn’t a better game out there.

Soon Peter realizes the only change in the population seems to be a small number, births and deaths, that no one ever leaves this town. Peter now realizes and tells us that everyone in Edina is one of them. The officer chases after them, shooting at Peter and Olivia, wanting to keep the town’s secret. In the midst of all the shooting, Walter manages to turn the generator off and everyone’s true self is revealed. The town’s secret is no longer hidden. It doesn’t seem to stop the sheriff from still wanting Olivia and Peter dead. Now that their secret is out it shouldn’t matter but he has decided it is worth killing for. It is Rose that takes the final kill shot at the Sherriff, left with no other choice as he was going to kill Olivia and Peter.

We learn that the original pulse in the 70’s deformed the whole town and Rose’s father couldn’t live with that. He came back to Edina to perfect the machine, essentially the Edina Hum. The people that chose to stay in Edina, given the pulse, would be able to look beyond their deformities and live ‘normal’ lives. Walter comes to understand the importance of the pulse, what he did in shutting it down, how others would see them for their deformities and how it would affect their lives. He wants it kept secret, not made public. Broyles tells Walter that if he did not find the machine, there’s nothing to report. Walter seems to understand and thanks Broyles. I like how we always get a little insight into our characters. Walter is suddenly becoming more concerned for others and no longer only thinking of himself and his experiments. Broyles looked beyond the investigation and the report as did what he agreed was best for the town of Edina.

Peter tells his father that he’s proud of him for speaking up for those people, that he didn’t have to do that. Walter ends the episode by saying, “I’m glad you choose to see me the way you do. Very glad, indeed.” This just reminds us that Walter has yet to come clean with his own son about where he’s from. Peter’s perception of his father, will undoubtedly change when he does find out the truth.

For a standalone episode, it was nice to see it was about Perception, given it is one of the main themes of Fringe and from what we currently know about Olivia’s ability. The episode seemed to leave us with more of a moral dilemma in that is it better to hide what people are and perceive them as ‘normal’ or let their true selves be shown and gain for acceptance. Walter was probably right in that people would come in and want to study them, test them. Their lives would never be ‘normal’ again.

Episode Review: August

After three standalone episodes, Fox promised a return to Fringe's core mythology this week with a much-hyped Observer-centric storyline. The episode itself was certainly thin on the "answers" and "revelations" promised by promos and press releases, but August proved to be one of the show's best outings ever, regardless.

Pinkner and Wyman gave our new Observer a great defining moment in this ep's teaser, when we see his reaction to the war veteran's gift. The emotion in his eyes was a stark contrast to what we're used to seeing from our old pal, September. And while we all knew from the promos that he was helping Christine Hollis instead of kidnapping her, it was still a great twist that August's motives were so personal. Which raises a few questions.

First, why are the Observers immune to emotion? September seemed concerned when August uttered the word "feeling". And further, what happened to August that transformed him into something more human? We know he witnessed Christine's parents' death, and that her noble suffering inspired compassion in August's cold Observer heart, but surely every Observer has witnessed a host of traumatic events without shedding a tear.

And while the narrative was certainly compelling--and while August and Christine certainly stole the show from our series regulars--we're really left with more questions than answers at the end of the night. The Massive Dynamic geek's Observer-talk was well-delivered, but didn't we already know that there was more than one Observer, that they show up for important events in history, and that their appearances have been increasing exponentially in recent months? The episode's reveals seemed more designed to fill in new viewers than anything else. Those of us following the show from Season 1 are still left wondering: why are they here? What are they looking for? Where do they fit in relation to Fringe's other mythological entities, like the shapeshifting hybrids, the alternate reality, the Last Great Storm, and William Bell?

I guess we'll have to wait a few more weeks for clues to those mysteries, since Snakehead looks like another standalone. At least the monster of the week looks like a Ceti eel!

Other Thoughts

-Would the Observers really need to speak out loud to each other?

-August's bullet-grab = awesome.
-Could the casting department have picked someone more threatening to play the Observer's hitman? Even Walter could outrun that guy. He reminded me of a segway cop.

-I loved that Christine Hollis was an MFA student like myself. The actress also did a great job conveying simultaneous fear and gratitude.

-How ridiculous was that Ford Taurus product placement?!

-Is the He-Saved-Us-From-Drowning story just Walter's cover for September's help in stealing Peter from the Alternate Reality?

Fringe Reviews and Recaps: Of Human Action

Here are a handful of reviews and recaps for the Fringe episode Of Human Action.

Fox: Official 'Of Human Action' Recap

Associated Content: Fringe Ramps Up the Tension in Latest Episode
IGN: Fringe: "Of Human Action" Review
LA Times: 'Fringe': Inside Massive Dynamic (mentions FringeTelevision.com!)
NY Magazine: Fringe: Mind the Mind Control
TV Fanatic: Fringe Review: "Of Human Action"
TV Squad: Review: Fringe - Of Human Action
Airlock Alpha: 'Fringe' – Of Human Action

Fringe Episode Review: Of Human Action

The episode starts out with Tyler Carson, a fifteen year old boy that has been kidnapped by two men, that are using mind control to hold him hostage and killing anyone that gets in the way. When the Fringe team arrives we learn Tyler’s father, James Carson works for the Aerospace division of Massive Dynamic.

The next scene was interesting in that it is Walter’s first actual contact with Massive Dynamic. He hasn’t seen or heard from Bell in decades but just being in the building, his presence is heavily felt. Early on we gain references and parallels to Peter’s childhood and Walter raising him. It’s the father of the kidnapped boy that says, “What I do here, it's -- it's my life. It's the only -- Tyler's mother died when he was just a boy. And now if -- if I lose him, I don't know what I'd do.” I imagine Walter was much the same way in that his work was his life. Certainly we know Peter was sick and it was his work that he tried using to save him and eventually used to bring the alter-version of him to this world. Though we don’t know much about Peter’s own mother, we do learn that Bell had been the one to introduce them at Neruobiology Conference in Berlin.

Click here to read the rest of the review...

The episode continues with a convenience store robbery and finally a ransom call from the kidnappers demanding two million dollars. Nina Sharp states that “Massive Dynamic will cover any ransom.” At this point to me, the alarm bells were going off. How many businesses would eagerly offer two million dollars to cover a ransom demand. That’s awfully generous. It’s Olivia that doesn’t buy the fact the kidnappers are after money and believe it’s a distraction for something bigger.

Walter determines the cause of the mind control is an auditory signal and white noise should be able to protect oneself with headphones and the constant pulsating noise. I do love how Walter seemed to save everything of Peter’s, including a teddy bear that emits the sound of the womb—in essence, white noise. Were those teddy bears even around when Peter was born?

The boy isn’t with the kidnappers and Peter leaves Walter to chase the money only to find himself suddenly under the control of the fifteen year old boy. It was the kidnappers that had actually been kidnapped. Imagine trying to explain that to the police and FBI.

The intensity of the episode seems to pick up now as Peter is under the boys control and when he tries to fight it, the boy just becomes reckless, swerving them through traffic, about ready to kill them. Peter gives in, willingly driving the car, learning quickly Tyler can control all or part of him. Peter tries to get inside his head, deflate the situation. It’s Peter that says, “Do you really think that you're the first kid whose father didn't think he was good enough, or smart enough? Take a number.”

We find out it’s up to Walter to disable Tyler as the cocktail he’s taken from Massive Dynamic, the hormones, and his ADD medication have given him the ability of mind control. Walter can’t seem to work, worried about losing his son again and it is Nina that finally is able to get through to him.

The search continues and we learn Tyler was lied to about his mother and it was his desire to find her, to be a family that started this whole charade. When they meet up with her, Tyler tells her he wants to go away with her, anywhere. When Seth, her new husband, sees Tyler and asks what’s going on, Tyler loses it and forces Peter against his will to pull the gun. Broyles sees the situation from outside the window and goes into the house. Broyles uses the stun gun to disable Tyler’s ability but in his effort finds himself shot by Peter, in the arm—due to Tyler’s ability. It doesn’t end just yet as Tyler forces Peter back to the road and we find Olivia, Astrid, and Walter trying to get close enough to disrupt Tyler’s brainwaves. Peter sees it working beside him and knowing he might not have much time crashes his father’s car into a telephone pole. Thankfully Peter is okay and the boy though unconscious is also given a sedative to keep his power disabled.

In the final scene, we see Nina typing on an old computer a letter to Bell that Tyler #3 displayed the ability of mind control and before they grew aware of his ability had searched out his surrogate mother. Suddenly it all makes sense. This was another experiment by Massive Dynamic.

I think this episode worked well in both a stand-alone and bigger overall story-arc. Nina writes to Bell in regards of the “Penrose-Carson experiments” and for those that have followed the show, may remember Penrose from early season one. I believe the episodes with character driven stories, where their emotions tie in and relate to the cases leave us feeling much more satisfied and invested as viewers.

Fringe Episode Review: Earthling

Let me start by telling you how surprised I was that my DVR a week ago said Fringe would be on---and on the actual day it was to air, the guide for the HD feed said MLB World Series. Oddly enough the standard feed still said Fringe. I had found out that morning the show would be airing, thankfully news travels fast on the internet. Though not fast enough for everyone, as chatter was made that many who don’t watch it live, seemed to miss out on watching it on their DVR.

So the episode, definitely a stand-alone monster of the week type story. I for one was impressed with the special effects. I don’t believe special effects need to make the show but I liked how it was done. Watching the wife’s hand at the beginning touch her husband and watching his body fall apart while turning to ash in her fingers. It was also one of the first times I could recall a special effect not making me grimace from the gore.

Broyles has a softer side. I rather liked the beginning, seeing him interacting with the young boy at the restaurant. We know from last season he was married and has children. It’s clear from this scene he’s not just the tough, no-nonsense guy we’re used to seeing. He likes kids, not a huge surprise but the rather warm interaction was what caught us off guard. It stood out to me and no wonder since we find out this case was the same one that tore apart his marriage and ultimately ended it.

Russian Fringe Science. Now there is an interesting thought. Even Walter says “I’m always amazed at their advancements. Even 40 years ago.” It’s possible we haven’t seen the end of this. Though I don’t imagine it’ll be anytime soon, it could always be a theme revisited, perhaps in season three.

In Earthling, we find out the cosmonaut brought home an organism with him from space and it was his brother that stole the comatose cosmonaut from a Russian secret quarantine facility. We’re left wondering how his brother knew what was happening to the cosmonaut and how he would have abducted him from any type of secret facility. So much for it being a secret and for the brother believing he died in space. We learn that the organism needs radiation in order to survive and in stealing that radiation from people, it in essence turns them to dust after passing through them. I find it interesting their physical form doesn’t change until something touches them (a hand, a fly, air from the fan). I suppose it makes for nicer special effects then just letting them turn to a pile of ash at the moment of transfer.

I also find it strange that the surveillance at the hospital picked up the shadow organism. Why is it that surveillance video could see it but no one else in all that time at the hospital had witnessed it. Also if he’d been working at the hospital for years, why had there been no incidents? We saw the batteries that the brother was hooking up to the cosmonaut after he took him from the hospital and brought him to a hotel room. Was he getting enough radiation at the hospital and finally he needed more? How many coma patients get regular doses of radiation? Yes the cosmonaut was in a coma but why not focus on a cancer ward where radiation would probably be in higher doses more often? Perhaps that would have been the shadows next move.

In the end, in order to stop the organism that has become one with the cosmonaut, it is Broyles that is forced to shoot him--as the brother that kidnapped the cosmonaut is now dead--and he does so without a second thought. This certainly gives us a glimpse that there is perhaps a darker side to Broyles. Is it because this case has haunted him for the last four years or was he just doing what was entirely necessary to stop more lives from being lost? Fringe Division returned the cosmonauts body in a lead case to the Russians and we find out in the very last scene that in fact, a shot to the head, did not kill a comatose cosmonaut or the entity. Confusing, much? Just a little. I could understand the organism being alive but shouldn't the lead case---or rather coffin have prevented the entity from escaping? Why send it out into space? Do the Russians assume that the organism, being closer to the sun, getting higher levels of radiation---where they found it in space---is safer?

I do enjoy a good stand-alone episode but this one left an avid viewer like myself, feeling as though it came up short. Perhaps the stand-alone stories are the writer’s attempts at bringing in casual viewers without overwhelming the new audience. Maybe it’s the fact I’ve been following the show since the beginning, eagerly waiting to learn more about the shape-shifters, observers, the alternate reality, William Bell, Olivia’s ability, and Peter’s childhood. There’s still so much great story-telling and this show in its second season could easily attract new viewers.

Episode Review: Dream Logic

Hello fellow afringionados; it's good to be back. After last week's almost-perfect foray into Fringe's growing mythology (Momentum Deferred), this week's episode was a fine example of the things that are worrying me in Season 2.

Fringe works best when it's a half-breed between a serialized (think Lost) and a procedural (think Law & Order) drama. In one of these hybrid episodes, our beloved characters will tackle an individual threat while simultaneously uncovering the greater mystery and following their own personal story arcs. Yet this season, clearly, Episodes 1 and 4 grapple with the show's mythology, and just as clearly, Episodes 2, 3, and 5 featured "standalone" storylines with no larger stakes or consequences.

It's not that these standalone eps are bad--the direction this season has been top-notch every week--it's that they feel irrelevant. Maybe the show will prove me wrong, and the Colonel from Episode 2.03, for example, will turn out to be a major player in the Last Great Storm. That would be great..I love Stephen McHattie! But regardless, three out of the first five episodes of Season 2 have felt irrelevant.

In Dream Logic, our disposable villain was a brilliant sleep researcher with multiple personalities that becomes addicted to the vicarious experiences of his patient's stored dreams. Apparently, he's so addicted, he doesn't even wait for his patients to fall asleep before taking a hit of the ole neural cap. As a result, they enter a waking dream state. But can someone explain why this causes them to consistently experience waking nightmares? And then respond to them with extreme violence? When's the last time you were physically violent in your dreams?

The last-act twist revealing Dr. Nayak as the villain was a bit trite, since we all saw that coming from the character's introduction. Our patience was tested even further by the unfortunate return of Bowling Alley Yoda, Sam Weiss, who wins my vote for the worst series character. Olivia's not the only one who feels like time is wasting every time he opens his mouth. And this week, the Magic Business Card Word Jumble was hands-down my all-time least favorite part of the show.

A few other gripes. What happened to Agent Jessup? Why feature her so prominently in the season premiere? We haven't seen her since she stumbled upon a bible in Episode 2.02. And the new-viewers catch-up dialogue is getting pretty distracting, like when Walter felt the need to remind Peter that St. Claire's was the mental hospital in which he was interred. Another problem this season: characters have a new habit of telling us about their past in long monologues, which never makes for riveting television. If it's relevant information, we should see it, like we did with Peter's dream/memory at the end of the episode.

Gripes aside, I was intrigued by that scene, because it's not at all how I imagined Our Walter stealing Their Peter and bringing him across the divide between realities. Jerking him from bed? Why? Hopefully we'll revisit Peter's past soon (and not in a monologue). I also loved the humanizing scene between Olivia and Peter featuring a toothbrush.

Our next episode, Earthling, will hopefully bring us back at least tangentially to the War Between Realities. With more shapeshifters out there, and with their Ralph-Fiennes-Lookalike leader now re-embodied, shouldn't the Fringe Division be focused on finding them to the exclusion of all else?

Stray Thoughts

• Jasika Nicole rocks. Use her.
• Dr. Nayak's grad assistant, Zach Miller, was a shout-out to two of Fringe's new writers, Zach Stentz and Ashley Miller, who wrote last week's stellar episode and the upcoming adaptation of Marvel's Thor.
• Has the science been dumbed down a bit this season? It seems like most cases are being solved by force (Peter or Olivia's fists) instead of Walter's brain these days.
• I wish Olivia's business cards had spelled "Can I get a box of tissues?" instead. We miss you, Kirk.

Fringe Reviews for Momentum Deferred

Here are an assortment of reviews for the latest Fringe episode Momentum Deferred:

• MTV: 'Fringe' Episode 2.04: 'Momentum Deferred'
• LA Times: 'Fringe': From whom the bell tolls
• Zap2It: 'Fringe': The last great storm is coming
• Entertainment Weekly: 'Fringe': Olivia eats worms, Leonard Nimoy rings a Bell
• New York Magazine:  Fringe: Head Case
  

Episode Review: Night Of Desirable Objects

Adam Morgan is out this week, so this week's guest episode review is by fringeobsessed.

A second episode in a series' new season has a tough job in keeping the momentum going that started in the premiere. Episode 2.02 entitled "Night Of Desirable Objects" pretty much meets that goal. Although there is not a lot of action in this one, we find out where the characters are at this point in time both mentally and physically.

Unlike any previous Fringe episodes Peter has chosen a case to pursue after researching the FBI's missing persons files looking for Pattern-like occurrences. He finds a cluster of 6 missing persons in two month's time in a northeastern suburb of Philadelphia. Four of the missing were said to have vanished into thin air [like Olivia Dunham?]. He meets with Broyles on a busy Boston street to discuss it (apparently he didn't requisition an office). We learn in the scene that Peter had requested a list of items from Broyles to use at his disposal in finding and hopefully solving Pattern-related cases. Broyles informs Peter that everything on his list has been approved (including new housing for him and his father-hmm) except for a C130 transport plane. Now you may ask yourself why Peter would need one. Do you remember back in the pilot episode when Olivia read off Peter's former jobs on his bio? Among them was "cargo pilot." Is this an old Peter 'con-man' Bishop request? Peter does not argue with Broyles about the plane, saying they will not need it for the Pennsylvania case. Broyles asks the younger Bishop how Agent Dunham is doing. Interestingly, Peter replies "Olivia?" implying that they have a closer relationship by calling her by her first name. After a pause he says "She'll be fine," but Broyles is not so sure and shoots Peter one of those Broyles looks.

Another title for this episode could have been "Off-Balance,"as all of the characters seem to be off their mark after the events of the premiere, except maybe Nina Sharp, it's just too hard to tell with her. We see Peter come to rescue Olivia from the yucky memories of the New York hospital/her accident/the shapeshifter. There is a very touching P/O scene where Peter sees Olivia's trigger hand shaking but doesn't comment on it. He tells her out loud minutes later that she'll be fine. A little denial here? Barely after they arrive back in Boston he asks her if she'd like to go for a ride, i.e. back to work. Evidently it's too soon as the second time they return to PA and suspect Andre Hughes' house she nearly shoots Peter in the head (misses him by what, an inch?) just because she heard something. Peter's look is priceless. Later in the episode Broyles tells Peter that Dunham's report says that her gun went off. Peter's answer? "It was a misfire." But Peter's poker face apparently is not working anymore when it comes to things Dunham. Broyles sees right through his meager attempt at lying, and gives him another one of those Broyles looks.

Walter is still quite off-balance in this episode, well, more than usual. He appears quite driven with Astrid's assistance trying to re-create Olivia's car crash/disappearance with the aid of a toy car, IV bags as weights, a pulley system, a frog, and 5 Polaroid(another fine Boston-base company)land cameras. He tells Olivia she was missing for an hour and thinks she was in an alternate universe. In his most interesting line he gets choked up and says "When I saw you lying there...I don't know what I'd do without you!" This is in reference to the premiere when he freaked out seeing Olivia's dead body. But is he really talking about her, or his pre-deceased Peter?

The shapeshifter is alive and still in Charlie Francis' image. He was spying on Olivia and Peter as they exited the hospital(interesting to note that Peter seemed to sense this). But is he well? Several times we see him grab his chest or stomach area with a grimace. Maybe there's a time limit to the body-change process? He visits the Selectric typewriting store and uses the spooky mirror/typewriter in the back room. He tells whoever's on the other side of the looking glass that the target trusts him completely and still believes he is her partner. Towards the end of the episode we see "Charlie" driving Olivia home from the Philadelphia crime scene. She tells him maybe it's a good thing she can't remember things from her other-worldly experience but he disagrees. He tells her she should remember and he will be there to help her. Creepy. Speaking of creepy, the featured creature supposedly is a 17 year old boy-mutant that has the DNA also of a scorpion and a mole-rat. The visual effects people did another great job on this one.

In the most unusual event of the episode Nina Sharp sneaks up on Olivia from behind while she is getting dressed at her follow-up doctor's appointment and tells her she is pleased that Olivia is making progress. Without being asked Nina writes something on a piece of paper and gives it to Olivia telling her that she may need this man's help at some point to put her back together, and that "Sometimes the physical injuries are the easiest to get over." Olivia assumes it's a psychiatrist and tells her the FBI can take care of that. In typical Nina Sharp style she just smiles and says "Oh, he's not a psychiatrist" and offers no further explanation.

Not THE best episode ever, but it moved things along and helped us get a snapshot of where everyone is at present(we hope).

Other Thoughts:

Best line: Walter Bishop to Sheriff Golightly(couldn't someone have picked a better name?): "We're all victims of our own gene pool. Someone must have peed in yours."

Best scene: The look on Peter's face when he realizes how close Liv's bullet came to his head.

Best new thing: Agent Dunham has super-hearing! Imagine what a pain that would be.

Biggest disappointment: A tie between Astrid only getting a couple of lines, and Agent Amy Jessup apparently only investigates Bibles.

Error?: The information in the newspaper clipping on Eveline Hughes' and her son's death is repeated at least once in different columns.

Episode Review: A New Day in the Old Town

Ever since the now-infamous tag scene at the end of Fringe's first season, I've been eager to see where the writers would take us. To make an analogy with Abrams' other epic series--Lost--the creators "opened the hatch" when they introduced an alternate universe. And while the Season 2 premiere featured plenty of new meat to chew on, it wasn't as mythologically beefy as many fans may have expected. Was it good? Absolutely. But it was a transition episode for the show's characters and their fictionalized world, and that's not always a great way to start a season (see Lost's fourth season premiere). Luckily, except for one glaring narrative misstep (see below), Fringe is still a blast, transition or not!

For starters, what a great teaser. Not only do we get a new shape-shifting villain, but Olivia's trans-reality trip is revealed to be more complicated than we thought. Given the car accident she was in (and the momentum preserved when she came back), I'd say the moment she crossed over last season wasn't in the elevator (perhaps that was a different trick altogether), but when she nearly crashed on her way to New York. It looks like she did crash in our reality, but not in William Bell's.

Now, for the one thing that almost ruined the episode. How many of you actually believed Olivia was dead? I know the writers want to establish high stakes, but the stakes have to be believable. In this day and age, if Anna Torv was leaving the show after this episode, we'd have known about it months ago. The result? A ponderously slow first half-hour with almost no suspense. We all know Olivia's going to make it (Peter and Broyle's toast "to Agent Dunham" made me cringe), so let's just get on with the crazy science, the plot twists, and the Walterisms, shall we? (The threat of Congress shutting down Fringe Division was just as bad, but fortunately not as pace-killing).

That being said, Olivia's Greek proverb upon waking was almost worth the trouble. Its connection to Peter and his mother was intriguing, but I've got a feeling it had more to do with Olivia's own father...a figure completely missing from the show, but someone I expect to become relevant in good time.

So what do we think about this new addition to the cast? Other than the network's financial concerns and Markle's sex appeal, I see no reason to replace Kirk Acevedo (both Charlie and Amy are "Audience POV" characters...they vocalize questions and concerns that the writers anticipate we'll be thinking to ourselves). Not that the actress is untalented, she just isn't given much to do in this ep, though I'm very intrigued by her biblical research. It reminded me of a scene in The Dreamscape when Walter mysteriously asks for a bible, and is later seen with it in his hotel room. Does the book of Revelation predict the Pattern?

And one more thing. Who's giving the shapeshifter his orders? Who wants Olivia dead in the Alternate Reality?

Early pacing problems aside, the last twenty minutes of A New Day in the Old Town--the invulnerable super-soldier, Dunham loading her gun, the last-minute Charlie reveal--really revved me up for Fringe this season. You could feel the show evolving into something deeper, richer, and more exciting than ever before. I think we're in for a treat.

Stray Thoughts

• Best Line of the Night: "They said I could ride with the body. Can I?"
• Best Scene: the trans-universal typewriter!
• Loved seeing Peter get physical with the FBI security guard. Can we get some more of that, please? And a few less one-liners?
• Michael Giacchino's score rocked. Especially that leitmotif in the final act, beginning just after Peter and Broyles' conversation on the Capitol steps.
• I wonder how Rachel will figure into this season?
• Never saw the Nina/Phillip thing coming. But I'm looking forward to those two becoming more developed characters. Same goes for Astrid.
• I hope Shape-shifter Charlie (Sharlie?) sticks around for a while!

Adam Morgan is a writer for the page and screen in Chicago who blogs at Mount Helicon.

Fringe Blu-Ray Reviews

High Def Disc News has a very positive review of the "Fringe: The Complete First Season on Blu-ray", which will be released on September 8th, 2009.

VIDEO: translates very nice to Hi-Def ... The amount of detail present in close-ups is at times maybe worth considering 4.5 out of 5 video quality .. much better than the off-air broadcasts on FOX in what I believe is still 720p ... fans of the show that watched it when it aired on FOX are in for a treat here with a whole lot less compression.

AUDIO: the show actually pulls off some impressive (at times) surround sound, with Foley and other noises or background chatter, etc making good use of the rear channels as well as using the subwoofer to deliver bass when needed. The show is pretty intense at times thanks to it’s wonderful Score of original music done by Michael Giacchino (who also did the music for “LOST” among other things).

EXTRAS: Overall, wow, what can I say? There’s a great deal of very detailed, informative and lengthy supplemental material presented here that is sure to keep fans of the show like myself very busy... after you get done watching the season.

HDDN also has 1080p screenshots, and the list of special features:

• Audio Commentaries - Episodes 1, 3, & 17
• "The Massive Undertaking" - Behind The Scenes
• "Dissected Files" - Deleted Scenes
• "Deciphering the Scene" - Sidebars during the episode
• "Evolution: The Genesis of Fringe"
• "Behind the Real Science of Fringe"
• "The Casting of Fringe"
• "Robert Orci’s Production Diary"
• "Fringe Visual Effects"
• "Unusual Side Effects: Gag Reel"
• "Gene the Cow"
• "Fringe Pattern Analysis" (HD) is made up of dissected clips from episodes "The Ghost Network", "Power Hungry", "The Equation", "Safe", "The Transformation" & "Unleashed". This allows the viewer to take a closer look at these six select scenes from this season and then dissect each scene using notes, photos and diagrams.

Update: Here is a new review from Blu-ray.com

Fringe Episode Review: Season 1 Finale

Wow. What a way to end Fringe's sensational first season. In the tradition of the best television finales, There's More Than One Of Everything wrapped up a few mysteries, but asked twice as many questions. Major praise to Fringe vets Brad Anderson, Akiva Goldsman, Bryan Burk, Jeff Pinkner, and JH Wyman for crafting a real thriller, as well as the entire cast and crew (that poor, New York crew...) for a stellar first season. When's the last time a series was this promising after a single season?

"Jones always felt that he was special..."
I doubt I'm the only fan who will sorely miss Jared Harris' delightfully villainous David Robert Jones next season, but at least he went out with a bang. The finale revealed that Jones was one of Massive Dynamic's first employees, that he looked up to Bell as a kind of father figure, and that his wreckless bioterrorism has been an attempt to prove his worthiness to Bell.

Of course, this tells us more about William Bell than it does about Jones. Up until last week, we'd been led to believe Dr. Bell was the Big Bad in charge of ZFT, but now it looks like Jones took things into his own hands. Walter and Nina might be right about Bell's benevolence, despite the mountainous evidence to the contrary.

"I lost something very precious to me..."

Well we can finally put the clone theories to bed. Turns out the Peter we know isn't from our world. Peter Prime died in 1985, so Walter crossed over to steal a different Peter from the AR (alternate reality). The obvious question: is AR-Walter searching for his own Peter? Could that be the doppelganger we saw in St. Claire's?

Also, how did Peter die? Walter's often referred to Peter's childhood sickness, so I suppose we can assume that did it, but was his sickness a result of something Walter did? Or a result of Peter's specialness?

"William Bell is not in this world."
How mind-blowing was this? Nina's lines weren't the most tactful, but the concept is killer. The narrative possibilities in upcoming seasons are...endless! According to the Many-Worlds Interpretation of quantum physics (which Walter describes in The Road Not Taken), there isn't just one alternate reality, but an infinite number of them, based on every single causal possibility in space-time.

Which makes you wonder. What's so special about the AR Bell's hanging out in? Is it even the same one Olivia was glimpsing last week? I doubt it. And most importantly, is it the reality that the ZFT manifesto warns against? Our enemy in a trans-reality war?

I don't think so, but let's hear your theories in the comments. After all, the date on Bell's New York Post was May 12, 2009, and the ZFT manifesto warns against a reality "who's history is slightly advanced from our own.: My guess is that Bell's using this particular AR to accomplish something that will help us in the coming war against a different AR: the AR of the Observers.

Stray Thoughts

• Best Walterism of the Night: Wait...there weren't really any good ones this week!
• I absolutely loved Mr. Jones in this ep. He looked like a Batman supervillain.
• Given Walter's amnesia in this ep and others, is it possible someone deliberately tried to erase parts of his memory? Or do we chalk it all up to madness?
• Charlie's hat was great, as was his dogged pragmatism during all this alternate-reality talk.
• Nondescript black vans are always a bad omen, kids.
• Poor Boston. May 12th, and it's still the dead of winter! I know, I know...they shot this months ago.
• Anna was really beautiful this ep. Not that she isn't every week!
• President Kennedy's alive! Along with Len Bias! Yet the stock market is closed, and the White House was apparently destroyed. Are we to assume that Flight 93 hit its target in Bell's AR, but the planes headed for the WTC didn't? Could the Pattern experiments we saw on airplaines this season have been trial runs for preventing the Twin Towers' destruction in Bell's AR? I'm really stretching now...
• I could feel JJ cringing at the expositionary dialogue in this ep to catch up new viewers! A necessary evil.
• Give Michael Giacchino an Emmy for this score.
• Leonard Nimoy sure looked happy!

Adam Morgan is a writer for the page and screen in Chicago, who blogs pseudo-daily at Mount Helicon.

Fringe Episode Review: The Road Not Taken

Sorry for the delay on this review, but May (like December), is when all things happen at once.

Since Fringe returned on April 7th with Inner Child, we've gotten one great ep after another, and the roller coaster continued this week with The Road Not Taken, a brilliant serial-procedural hybrid that featured several compelling mysteries, Emmy-worthy performances, and some real pay-offs for devoted fans. Oh, and some shameless cross-promotion for a little movie that came out this week.

"Blonde girl about 5'7. Really well-done. Melted fillings."

Spontaneous human combustion? Nah. That was The X-Files. This is Fringe.

So Susan Pratt and Nancy Lewis were part of the same Cortexiphan trials as Olivia and Nick Drake. It looks like Cortexiphan affects more than just perception! Sure, Liv can see into alternate realities, but she, along with this week's twins, can also excite molecules until they conflagrate. What other kinds of mind-tricks are ZFT recruits capable of? And why did William Bell think these super soldiers were necessary to win the imminent inter-reality war?

"Each choice we make creates a new reality."
Walter confirmed it: Fringe doesn't just take place in our own universe, but in the meta-universe. The world we've occupied since the Pilot is only one path of causality, out of an infinite number of possible timelines, akin to Hugh Everett's Many-Worlds Interpretation of quantum physics.

The narrative implications are endless. Is there an alternate Boston where John Scott is still alive? Where Peter and Walter weren't rescued from drowning by the Observer? Where history as we know it is remarkably different? That certainly seems to be the case with the reality Olivia glimpses in The Road Not Taken. Here's everything I noticed about it:

Dell is still a ubiquitous computer manufacturer. Everyone wears kevlar. Things are...bluer. There seems to be no trash pickup. Lots of graffiti. Lots of smoke and fire. The FBI communicates via red bat-phones. Kirk Acevedo is mean. And scarred. And giving shoot-to-kill orders. The city of Boston is being both evacuated and quaratined (which seems a contradiction).

My biggest question about Olivia's visions: is this reality the one with whom ZFT prophecizes a war? The one they created super soldiers to fight? If so, I'm confused. Where do the Observers fit in? And what's so special about this particular alternate reality, when there are an infinite number of them in the meta-universal manifold?

"William Bell is not the enemy."
Look out, we've got another Ambiguously Powerful Figure from JJ Abrams, the same man who brought us Arvin Sloane and Benjamin Linus. All of Season 1, the writers have establish Bell as a morally corrupt Man Behind the Curtain of Massive Dynamic, the Pattern, and now ZFT. But in The Road Not Taken, both Nina Sharp and Walter defend Bell's character, assuring viewers that he's been misrepresented.

Who do we trust? Will the apocryphal Chapter of Ethics really prove Bell's innocence? I have a feeling Bell's intentions may be benevolent, but his means, unethical. Maybe we'll find out in next week's finale. And if Bell's not evil, who's responsible for ripping out the Chapter of Ethics and corrupting ZFT? Mr. Jones?

Stray Thoughts

• Best Walterism of the Night: "When he was five, he built me a popsicle napkin-holder. Dreadful design. Utterly useless."
• How slick is Lance Reddick? The man could kill someone with a glance.
• Interesting cameo from Clint Howard. I imagine Akiva Goldsman talked him into it. Did this shameless Trek plug bother anyone?
• How many of you cheered when Sanford Harris went up in flames?
• Blair Brown was awesome as Nina Sharp in this ep, and I think John Noble deserves an Emmy for this performance. The coffee-shop scene particularly.
• Nina seems to be limping all of a sudden. Just how much of her is robotic, do you think?
• Nice to see Astrid out of the lab! Get that girl a gun next season.
• I liked the return of the light box. Here's hoping we see ZFT Test #2 next year.

Adam Morgan is a writer for both the page and screen in Chicago, and he blogs pseudo-daily at Mount Helicon.

Fringe Episode Review: Midnight

Greetings, Afringeonados! I'll be honest: I wasn't too excited about Midnight after last week's promo, which made it look like standalone filler that might try to appeal to American Idol holdovers with club music. But I should've known better, as the creative minds behind Fringe delivered another solid hour of television.

There were a few rough spots (Two Singles Together?), but fans got plenty of Walterisms, gross-outs, and mythological teasers to keep us happy until next week's penultimate showdown.

"Maybe we're looking for Dracula..."

The writers did a nice job playing with our expectations in Midnight's cold open (the in media res scenes before the opening credits). Fringe's usual "pattern" is to introduce a villain early and follow him on a crime spree, and we were certainly led to believe Captain Britain was a killer (thanks to casting, wardrobe, and that knife). He's even a predatory creep at the club, and we're led to believe his intentions are criminal. That is, until Valerie Boone breaks his neck.

I literally clapped. It was so unexpected, just like the scene where she opens up a mouth full of shark's teeth and feasts on another poor guy. She's an interesting mix of vampire and succubus, thanks to another "dosing" by ZFT, who've previously infected civilians with super-sized cold cells, orifice-sealing goo, and porcupinesque monster genes. Makes for some thrilling standalone threats, but how do these dosings fit into the big picture?

"Why would ZFT want you to create something like this?"

Well, according to Dr. Boone, XT43 was synthesized to "create a human nightmare...to show off." The biggest question being, to whom? It seems more and more like the Pattern is ZFT's attempt to demonstrate their technological prowess, a warning to the denizens of the parallel universe who will soon fight us for survival: "Don't mess with us. We can do some freaky stuff."

It's analogous to the old space race between the United States and the Soviet Union, as each faction vies to prove itself technologically superior to the other. That would make The Pattern an inter-dimensional Cold War.

"I was able to gather some names..."

Talk about a last-second revelation: now we've got a tangible link between Massive Dynamic and the Pattern, via William Bell's funding of ZFT. It's becoming clear that calling ZFT a "bio-terrorist organization" is a bit of a misnomer. Ostensibly, their goal is to intimidate the enemy in order to save mankind. To borrow a line from Spock (!), "logic dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." For the followers of ZFT, sacrificing a few innocent civilians is necessary to protect the human race as a whole.

Questions: are we certain that the Observers are the citizens of this parallel universe? If so, do we have "Observers" of our own in their world? Reconnaissance usually goes both ways!

Stray Thoughts

• Best Line of the Night: Astrid. "When you finally meet a nice girl, I would avoid bringing her home for as long as possible."
• I can't listen to the opening theme anymore without hearing Dujeous' lyrics.
• How come the first special effects shot of Valerie's teeth was so cool, yet the second time (when she attacks Olivia), they looked so...fake?
• Ari Graynor was great in this ep, but what's the deal with Greg? Will Olivia's family wind up playing a larger role than we think?
• Loved seeing Walter show off his lab to a fellow mad scientist. And did Dr. Boone's voice remind anyone else of Benjamin Linus? Only slightly, of course.
• I think my favorite part of Midnight, other than the neck-snap and that first teeth-attack, was when Broyles burst into the interrogation room. A small moment, but I'm desperate for Lance Reddick to get more physical.
• Also loved how Astrid's knowledge of the Boston club scene wound up solving the case! And Jasika's really coming into this role, doing a lot with the little the scripts give her. I hope she gets a gun next season.
• Anna looks good in a leather jacket. Definitely enhanced the Gothic atmosphere. And who knew Liv could speak Mandarin?

Adam Morgan is a writer for the page and screen in Chicago who blogs pseudo-daily at Mount Helicon.