Fringe Rewatch 407: Wallflower

Join us during the fall/winter break every Friday for our Fringe Winter Rewatch.

Here is one of those standalone episode I miss most, besides the ones OVER THERE. As I was saying last week, we are still setting up for what is to come this season. What is Fringe without Nina Sharp and the part that Massive Dynamic plays in this story?

Migraines plague Olivia. How long has she been having them?

After a late night trip to the pharmacy, she spots Agent Lee sitting in an all night diner. He tells her what has been keeping him up at nights over coffee. "I used to believe just a few months ago that, I understood the world we lived in. I mean There were basic truths that I thought were... well... true. I used to sleep like a baby. Blissful ignorance." Blink. Blink. "You know, eventually it will just become your life." It was the same for her, but she doesn't really lose sleep over it like he does. I noticed Olivia never took her eyes off of him the whole time he talked.

Later we see Jack Zoephel hurrying home. He is scared by something. He tells his wife on the phone that he thinks someone is following him. Just as he opens the building door, Jack is rushed in by an invisible assailant. The police arrived less than 2 minutes later to find him dead. One of the officers start shooting at something in the same vein as Sue Storm from Fantastic Four.

Then you have Peter shopping for supplies under supervision and limited civilian interaction. He find these restrictions annoying.

Meanwhile, Fringe Division is called to the crime scene. The officer, who thinks he shot at the killer, tells the science team that he did not actually see anything, but was too afraid to admit that it could be a phantom. In a nod to the season 2 episode Dream Logic, (which apparently never happened in this universe) the victim was completely drained of pigment, prompting Walter to theorize that he may have been scared to death.

At Olivia's prompting, Astrid tells her that the job gets to her too. Astrid sees the company psychiatrist. Olivia realizes she doesn't really talk to anyone. "I'm starting to think that that's weird. That's just not normal, is it?" Back to the case at hand. Lincoln finds trace evidence of blood, proving their perpetrator is no ghost.

Somewhere in a makeshift lab, there is a shelf of personal items. Off to the side there is a tub of liquid. A perfectly normal looking young man emerges from it. Later on, he waits to board an elevator on the 14th floor. He only gets on when a woman he recognizes is there. As soon as she disembarks, the man begins to fade from view.

There have been 3 other bodies similar to the victim, found in the surrounding area over the past 2 weeks, but police never made the connection. Walter finds a mucus-like substance on the corpse. They are chromatophore cells found in octopi or chameleons, cells that allow certain creatures to blend into their backgrounds. Another mystery. The blood sample match that of a baby that was born in 1989. Baby boy Bryant was born with an unclassified genetic variant. He supposedly died 4 days later from complications from his genetic abnormality. What we see from the scene, in the records room, Lincoln taking care of Olivia.

An interview with the nurse, who signed off on his death, revealed that the baby was taken by a private insurance company Cyprox, Incorporated, which was a subsidiary of Kelvin Genetics. (See Season 1 Episode 16 Unleashed) And Kelvin Genetics was now Massive Dynamic.

At Massive Dynamic headquarters, Nina confirms that the boy had been taken for genetic experimentation. The nature of his abnormality allowed chromatophores to be implanted into his system, making him able to blend into his surroundings. While there were military applications, the experiments did allow him to live. It wasn't until a fire in the lab ten years ago, Nina and William Bell would not have learned about Eugene, the name the researchers called him, which was short for unknown genetic disorder. She assumed he had died then.

It did not escape Nina's notice that Olivia seemed to identify with the child's plight. Maybe it would have been better if he had died. "All his life he didn't have a proper name."

We then see Eugene has secretly entered the home of the woman from the elevator.

At the Bishop house, Lincoln brings plans for the machine responsible for the bridge, which Peter believes will be powerful enough to send him home. Peter is grateful for Lincoln's kindness. The scene also reveals how appealing Olivia is to Lincoln.

Back at the lab, Walter shows off his newly purchased octopus. Will the FBI never learn to give the man a budget? Olivia ponders whether Eugene is killing people to steal their pigment to make himself seen. It makes sense to Walter, who surmises that Eugene was using the chromatophores to absorb the victims' pigment. To overcome his condition, he would have to kill again. And he does. His next victim is Ned Ryerson, who we saw earlier on the elevator.

Walter demonstrates what he has learned about the experiment done to Eugene with a pair of lab mice. If Eugene succeeds in curing himself, he will surely die from the genetic abnormality he was born with. The good news is they should be able to find him with ultraviolet light.

In the massive manhunt, it is Eugene who finds Olivia first when she falls through the floor. "All my life... I've been watching them live theirs. Watching them... fall in love. To be looked upon by the right person... to connect... and to see in their eyes kindness. Happiness. And recognition. That's when you exist." He rejects her help and blends among the residents, however, the agents locate where he lived in the building. They find items he has collected from the residents he watched. It was never about being cured. "This was about being seen."

"I thought you weren't coming today. I see you everyday." Better late than never. Poor Eugene does not fade out, because he succeeded in curing himself at the cost of his own life.

Olivia tells Nina that they've found Eugene Bryant's body. "All he wanted was to be like everyone else. But how could he? He could never be like anyone else. Not after what they did to him." Nina knows that Olivia is thinking about what was done to her. "Do you think the Cortexiphan trials stunted my emotions?"

"Life is an experiment you have to find out where you belong." Nina wasn't far off with that remark. "Find your own place in this world." She goes on to tell her, "When the time is right you will know." This just tells me that Olivia has not reached her potential and her innate abilities have yet to be activated.

Back at the Federal Building, Peter drops off new glasses for Lincoln and then Olivia considers stopping by the diner later for a possible rendezvous.

While Lincoln waits at the diner, Olivia is delayed indefinitely. She is incapacitated in her apartment. Once she is unconscious, 2 men enter with little difficulty. They tamper with her security system, to remove signs of them ever being there perhaps, and inject her with Cortexiphan. Then we see Nina Sharp as the one who probably let them in. She closes the door after they leave. The look on Nina's face look was like the one she had in the season 2 episode Brown Betty. They leave Olivia with no memory of the last 2 hours. Of course, all this might only give Olivia a nasty headache, because in this universe, I have a feeling that they don't really know what Cortexiphan does to her, without the proper stimulus.

Fringe Rewatch 406: And Those We've Left Behind

Join us during the fall/winter break every Friday for our Fringe Winter Rewatch.

In my opinion, Fringe is a long-running mystery that will never give up it's secrets until the very end. It used to be a private escape. But today, it's very hard to throw away an episode after watching. I missed that a lot. So I appreciate the time taken to set up the season for all the players involved. From a storyteller's point of view, I need episodes like these to establish where the characters are. Here Peter is embarking on a journey all his own.

It is weird that much of what I imagined has come true. I am not referring to Olivia not knowing Peter. I have come up with that scenario myself in fan fiction. What I imagined was a train coming from nowhere, not so much from the past.

On with the episode. Is it a dream, or a memory? Part of the future vision Peter saw in season 3's The Day We Die. The perfect day in the park for Peter until Olivia tells him, "Too bad it has to end." Why? "You can't ignore the problem, Peter. Ignoring it won't make it go away." What's the problem? "You, Peter. You are the problem."

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Fringe Rewatch 405: Novation

Join us during the fall/winter break every Friday for our Fringe Winter Rewatch.

Novation:

noun

1.

Law . the substitution of a new obligation for an old one,usually by the substitution of a new debtor or of a new creditor.

2.

the introduction of something new; innovation.

Peter, though happy to be back clearly looks resigned to whatever Broyles has in mind for him and doesn’t even put up a good Bishop-fight over his newest living arrangements at the FBI headquarters.

Olivia discovers Walter hooked up to a machine that is beeping wildly and you can tell by the look on her face that she is having flashbacks to the lobotomizing incident prior to Peter’s return. When Walter abruptly wakes up, Olivia startles and he explains that this is the only way he can sleep since the “stranger” has come into their lives. A stranger that Broyles has denied him access to.

This is when Olivia informs Walter that not only does the stranger refuse to talk to anyone but Walter but he is claiming to be Walter’s long dead son, Peter Bishop. When I first imagined the scene of Walter finding out that the stranger is claiming to be his son, I expected a lot more emotion and I have to admit his look of mild shock was disappointing.

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Fringe Rewatch 402:One Night In October

Join us during the fall/winter break every Friday for our Fringe Winter Rewatch.

Episode 402, titled 'One Night In October' is my favorite Season 4 episode to date.
Ironically, it aired on 09/30/11. (It would have been cute if it had aired on one night in October.)

The Importance Of A Second Episode

Season 4 starts off with a look into the new timeline (milestanfield, I hope you don't mind if I borrow your abbreviation of the 'new timeline,' 'NTL,' and use it here) through the Blue Universe's Lincoln Lee's eyes.

I remember commenting on episode 102, 'The Same Old Story,' this past summer how important a second episode is to a new series. Well, the same goes for Season 4, which executive producers Pinkner and Wyman have mentioned in an interview is like a new series, especially for new fans just tuning in for the first time.

Just like 102, episode 402, 'One Night In October' has the monumentous task of giving us new, critical insight into our beloved characters, and propeling the storyline in a forward direction. And while it is obvious within the first few minutes that 402 was not written by the Pinkner/Abrams/Kurtzman/Orci team, I do give writers Alison Schapker and Monica Owusu-Breen praise for writing this brilliant episode, and I may finally forgive them for writing that depressing, garden, P/O scene in 'Marionette.'

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Fringe Rewatch 401 Neither Here Nor There

Join us during the fall/winter break every Friday for our Fringe Winter Rewatch.

Fringe episode #401 "Neither Here Nor There" begins the fourth season with Olivia and Bolivia exchanging case files and information since they are now supposed to work together. It is quite apparent that even though an alliance has been formed from the bridge, things aren't exactly smooth between the two of them. Immediately we find out that even in a Peter Bishop-less world, Olivia was still kidnapped and Bolivia infiltrated Fringe Division. There's still plenty of reason not to trust them over there!

Meanwhile the Observers are in a diner, discussing the fact that Peter was erased from the timeline and yet continues to bleed through. It is Septembers responsibility to end it completely and so later he builds a device used to erase Peter from the timeline completely.

In this new universe, the amberverse we quickly catch up with Lincoln Lee and his partner that soon becomes victim to a Fringe event. The Olivia that he meets is obviously different than his first encounter with Olivia (who had the time happened to be Bellivia). With the new timeshift, he has no recollection of meeting her and it seems to be the case vice versa. Olivia appears tougher and an almost colder sense. She refuses to tell him the Division she works for (Fringe) or the apparent case they've been working on. Instead she demands the body be taken back to their facility (without so much as naming it because this Olivia appears much more secretive) and Lincoln as she leaves catches her license plate. We know that we're not done seeing him. He's obviously very stubborn and wants to get to the bottom of what's going on.

Quickly we learn that the events of the bridge, the agreement between both sides to work together has only been going on for one week. Walter meanwhile is in the lab and injects a dead bird with a serum. It appears to come back to life, though Walter tells Astrid that it is still dead even as it is flying around the lab. Lincoln comes into the lab and the bird drops to the ground appearing dead once again. Why is Walter injecting a dead bird? What is he hoping to do, bring life back to the dead? Is this perhaps a Brown Betty reference from the second season?

Of course Olivia is rather unhappy to see Lincoln in the secret lab at Harvard. He threatens to expose the lab and her department if she doesn't bring him along as Broyles calls about their next assignment. She answers him with a rather snarky, "Okay, come. You can get fired later." Clearly she doesn't have time to deal with him.

At the next crime scene we find another body, much like Lincoln's partner where the body has a semi-translucent appearance. Shortly after, Lincoln meets up with Broyles and Olivia. He is given a higher level of clearance before being shown the bodies -- all two dozen of them at a secure facility.

Olivia and Lincoln return back to the lab. It's then that Walter first witnesses Peter's reflection in the mirror. He seems to go quite insane at the ordeal, which makes sense considering he believes them to be hallucinations. Lincoln asks if Walter is all right. Again we get more insight into this new amberverse, "Well, that depends on your definition of alright. He's functional. Except when he's not. But he is often quite brilliant. He just never had anything to tether him to the world." This new insight seems rather sad in regards to Walter. He's not the same man that our Peter grew up with.

As the case further unfolds, Lincoln rejects the idea that Fringe Division can't return the bodies to their families. He's upset by this, moreso than anyone else because his FBI partner and friend died. He knows that his family would want closure. Olivia admits to him that the reasoning is they would have to file documentation and it would draw attention to Fringe Division. She knows it may not be a good answer or one that he wants to hear but it is the truth. This Olivia appears quite blunt at times yet honest (as honest as she can be considering earlier she couldn't give information about the department of the FBI she worked for).

In the end, Olivia does try and help Lincoln by releasing the body to the family. Maybe it's the fact the case got to her-- as she discussed her old partner John and the similarities with the translucent skin, perhaps she remembered her own loss (as she never found out he was a trader and instead he died a hero in her mind). Or perhaps it was the fact that Lincoln did help her with the investigation and it was his partner that had died. Whatever the reason, she pulled strings and had his body released to the family. I can only wonder how his family reacted to seeing him and what excuse the government made for the way he appeared.

The final scenes of the episode had Lincoln get fully credentialed for the other side. He was taken to the bridge and sees a real glimpse of over here and over there at the same time when he looks up to the sky. Bolivia comes out from her side -- I have to wonder if she was called in advance or just happened to be ready for Olivia's own appearance. Olivia hands Bolivia a device, asking her to look into it. Olivia tells her that it came from a Human Shapeshifter as we've learned that this is the result of the massive amount of bodies we've seen. Olivia suspects Walternate and Bolivia tells her she'll look into it. We've yet to learn much more and can't help but feel suspicious in handing over the technology and asking for their help.

The very final scene has Walter sleeping in a room in his lab. A room he's very clearly made into his bedroom. Agent Timmy stands guard outside, never leaving Walter completely alone. Walter tries to watch television and as he shuts it off, we see Peter's reflection. The Agent comes rushing in after a loud scream and the sound of something shattering. We see that Walter has thrown something at the television and the reflection is now gone.