Fringe Summer Rewatch: #112 "The No-Brainer"

Join us for our Fringe Summer re-watch, where we review every episode of Fringe during the summer hiatus. Comments are welcome as we dig into the connections made over three seasons.

The "No-Brainer" episode doesn't appear to be essential to our beloved series, but it's a well-written and interesting episode.

The Fringe team investigates a series of crimes that turn out to not be Pattern-related(but could have been just the same), and Peter is hit with a situation that tests his ability to do what he thinks is best for Walter.

A nefarious computer programmer named Brian Dempsey designed a computer program that not only kills the viewee, but also turns their brains into awful-looking, liquified goo. First it's a teen-ager in Springfield, MA, then a car salesman in the same area, then a father in Chicago. When the third body is discovered, it's Olivia who conencts the dots, as victim #3 was Brian Dempsey's former boss. Unfortunately, Olivia Dunham has to dance around Sanford Harris again, who is back in Boston and threatening to shut the Fringe Division down if they can't come up with a suspect in the next 12 hours.

There's an interesting subplot that starts out with Peter intercepting a hand-written letter to Walter that turns out to be from Carla Warren's mother. (Prior to this episode, all we know from the 101 episode is that an assistant died in the Harvard lab 17 years prior to Walter's incarceration in St. Claire's.)Peter crumbles the letter and throws it into the lab's trash can as Astrid watches. As soon as Peter leaves, Astrid retrieves it from the trash. After the rotary phone rings on the lab wall scenes later, and Peter tells them it was a student looking for financial aid, Astrid waits until Peter again leaves and gives the note to Olivia, telling her she thinks she knows who was on the phone.

As Peter and Olivia return from examining the second body, Peter notices an older woman standing in the snow near the door to the Kresge Building. He tells Liv he'll meet her inside. Peter approaches the woman and asks if she's Jessica Warren. She acknowledges. A short conversation ensues and Peter makes it clear to the woman that her request to speak with Walter will not be honored.

Somewhere in this busy episode, Brian Dempsey sends his killer program to either Ella's or Olivia's laptop(it's not clear which). The "What's That Noise?" box shows up in the middle of Ella's software. First she yells for her mother, but after she gets told "One minute, Ella," and her mother never materializes, the young girl gets impatient and clicks on the start button. The program goes full throttle and the very creepy hand comes out, but when we return to Ella she looks uneffected. No liquid brains to be found anywhere. Meanwhile Peter has used another of his "weird connections" to discover the real time program is being downloaded to Olivia's internet address. He calls her right away and they both race to get there ASAP. Olivia gets home first and barges into her apartement with her gun drawn. Rachel drops pasta on the floor, shocked and swearing, as Olivia asks if there's anyone else there. Olivia finds Ella staring at the laptop screen, as she tells her niece
everything will be OK. Peter gets there and Olivia asks him to check out the back exit. The level at which Ella seems mesmerized by the screen is reminiscent of the victims of the green-green-green-red hypnosis in 108, "The Equation." Ella wasn't even aware that Olivia had returned home.

Olivia has called Charlie. She explains what she saw and how Ella seemed hypnotized by the images. Charlie goes to call Computer Forensics. Peter is busy entertaining Ella in the living room, as Rachel openly flirts with him. Olivia comes in and tells her sister to get her niece checked out as soon as possible. Ella tells them she saw a hand coming out of the computer. Olivia walks closer to the laptop and sees the green light in the "on" position for the camera. Brian Dempsey is watching her. He
says "That's right, Sweetheart, I'm the one you want."

Despite the busy schedule of trying to solve the case and find Brian Dempsey, Olivia finds a minute to confront Peter in the lab about his impromptu visitor. You can see Peter bristle form the get-go, but he encourages Olivia to give her opinion:"You really think it's a good idea...to put him through that?" Peter asks her.

"Well, I was thinking that it's all unresolved. For him. For her, and I was thinking that it must be hard for her too, to come back to the place where she lost her daughter."

"What's your point?" Peter asks impatiently.

"That you underestimate him, your father-and you shouldn't."

With that Peter practically huffs as he leaves Liv's office. Even Astrid can feel the tension as she comes in at that moment to talk with Olivia. It's really the first bonafide fight I believe Peter and Olivia have, and it's crisp, and genuine-feeling.

Of course Brian Dempsey can't be found at his house, and is unemployed, so Olivia brings Luke Dempsey back in for more questioning. Harris interrupts Olivia before she begins the interrogation, telling her what to do. The best line in that scene is Peter's as Harris finally leaves Olivia to do her job. "Every time that guy opens his mouth, I like him more and more."

Luke won't give up his father's hangout and asks for a lawyer, as Olivia predicted. She tells Charlie to wait 5 minutes and then let him go. Peter makes a face. "Did I miss something?" he asks. Olivia replies, "Just trust me," and Peter responds with a look that says our favorite conman really wants to.

As Olivia predicts, Luke makes a phone call in the Federal Building for a taxi. She tells another agent she needs to hear the call, and, as she listens in she hears an unfamilair Springfield address repeated by the taxi dispatcher. Just then Peter appears. Olivia tells him Luke just called for a cab. "One guess where it's taking him."
Peter says, "Oh come on. He cannot possibly be that stupid."
Olivia's reply, "He's nineteen." Peter thinks about that for a second and shrugs.

Thank goodness Luke Dempsey did hail that cab. It gives our favorite dysfunctional couple an hour and a half to continue their argument on whether Walter could handle Jessica Warren's visiti or not. And Peter jumps right in where they left off in her office. (You can read the second part of their argument in the "No-Brainer" transcript via the link below.) http://www.fringepedia.net/wiki/The_No-Brainer/Transcript

Peter tells Olivia off pretty well and she leaves it at that, then turns all FBI, telling him to stay in the car, reminiscent of her doing the same in "The Same Old Story," and "Power Hungry."

Peter encourages her to call for back-up, but Olivia doesn't want Harris to have a chance to sabotage things for her. Reluctantly, Peter stays in the car, until minutes later when he hears sirens approaching-probably figuring it's Harris.

Olivia gets all the way into Dempsey's computer lab and he sticks a gun to her head.
He tells her she messed up everything, and points a second gun at himself. Olivia tries desperately to get Brian to look away from his killer program, but he's insistant wanting to finally see what he created. Peter is confronted by Luke with a metal pipe as he enters, and as he tries to negotiate with the youth there's a gunshot. Peter's off like a shot himself to check up on Olivia.
He sees her bent over in the lab and yells "Dunham!You OK?" And Olivia is, but Brian's been fatally wounded and Olivia tries to explain to Luke that he went into a trance and shot himself. Luke tries to run out of the warehouse but is apprehended by Harris and company.

Peter watches as the Feds cart Luke Dempsey away and our favorite smart guy says something pretty stupid. "I don't get it. He knew he was killing those people. Why would the kid protect a murderer like that?"

Olivia answers as though the answer is obvious, "Because it's his father." Wow. If you've watched through Season 3 this is so reminiscent of the conversation between Peter and Walter in 322, when Walter says "I just wanted to say...at the trial, you spoke on my behalf..."

Peter does set it up that Jessica Warren gets to speak with Walter Bishop, and Peter is quite gentle with Walter about it, saying, Now, look..if you need me, I'll be right here," which is almost word for word what he said to Olivia in "The Dreamscape." (It does make you think that Peter Bishop may not be far from his little family after all, doesn't it?) Depsite Peter's earlier protestations, Walter handles himself beautifully, and comforts Mrs. Warren when she cries.
He starts to lead her somewhere in the lab and says "I'll tell you everything I remember about our time together," as Peter watches on, impressed.

The episode ends with Olivia and her sister Rachel talking in Olivia's living room.
Sweet little Ella comes in and Olivia tricks her into a big goodnight smooch.
Rachel escorts Ella to bed when Olivia's doorbell chimes. There at the door stands a slightly buzzed-looking Peter Bishop. Interestingly, Olivia never invites him in, but seems quite curious why he is there.

Peter explains he's had a few and that he walked to her apartment in Brighton. (FYI, that could have been quite a hike if their hotel was in the Cambridge area.) He tells her he may have been afraid to have his father back in his life. Also, Peter says he thought about what it would be like to have Walter speak with "that woman." Peter seems not to be able to finish any of his thoughts, except this one: "I wanted to say that I'm sorry. You were right. Thank you." Wow!
Did anyone see that one coming?

Interesting Things About "The No-Brainer"
This is the second episode of Season 1 that has a big father-and-son theme.
Here a father is doing(and has done) something wrong that is killing people, and the son doesn't know about it. When the son finally finds out, he's shocked and horrified.(Sound alot like "The Man From The Other Side"?) More surprisingly, the son protects "a murderer like that," as I mentioned earlier.

I was expecting some kind of tie-in to Massive Dynamic, and Nina Sharp telling us they knew all about Brian Dempsey's program, weren't you? Doesn't it seem likely that if a rogue computer programmer with an agenda could create something like that, that a multi-billion dollar company trying to control the universe(or universes, perhaps) could do the same? Maybe they already have and we just don't know about that yet.

We meet the first of several of what Olivia later calls Peter's "weird connections" in this episode. A young man named Akim, who is apparently an expert at locating the origin of computer programs-even with damaged hard drives. Peter does coin tricks in this episode also, and produces a coin that makes Akim exclaim, "You could have sold that for a fortune." If you've watched through Season 3 that should remind you of Peter's liberty dollar in "There's More Than One Of Everything," "Peter," and "The Last Sam Weiss." And Peter's reply to Akim is quite interestingly worded: "I kept it to remind me never to wager with anything that I couldn't bear to live without." Wow! If you've watched through 322, "The Day We Died," that makes you think that applies also to Peter's sacrificing himself so that he wouldn't lose Olivia.

Unanswered Questions That Arise in "The No-Brainer"
Why does Jessica Warren, the deceased lab assistant Carla Warren's mother, pick this time to contact Walter Bishop? What were the details surrounding her death in the lab?

How did Brian Dempsey get ahold of Olivia Dunham's email address?

Why did Ella's brains not liquify after viewing the "What's That Noise" program, like the other victims' did? Is Ella a "First Person?"(You'll get that if you've watched through Season 3.)

Peter picks up on Rachel's flagrant flirting with him. Is he affected by it?

If Peter Bishop Never Existed ...
He would not have taken the damaged hard drives to Akim. Therefore, they would not have discovered that the killer program was being downloaded to the laptop at Olivia's web address, and no one would have burst into Olivia's apartment quickly after Ella viewed the program. Would that have made a difference?

Who would have opened the envelope in the lab from Jessica Warren addressed to Walter Bishop? Would Walter himself have opened it? How would he have handled the situation?

Fringe Summer Rewatch: #111 "Bound"

Join us for our Fringe Summer re-watch, where we review every episode of Fringe during the summer hiatus. Comments are welcome as we dig into the connections made over three seasons.

“Bound” is really, I think, where Fringe kicked off. After what seemed like an eternity between this episode and the previous one (over a month between the two), it picks up straight after Safe. This is really the first time we’ve had an episode like this, one not completely standalone, and it proved there’s more to Fringe than simple Monster-Of-The-Week stories.

It starts off lightheartedly enough. You know, the usual drugging of bugs which I’m sure is a nice family pastime for many of you, until Astrid spoils the fun we all know Peter’s secretly having by informing them Olivia has gone missing.

Olivia gets a spinal tap to determine whether she had Cortexiphan in her system – the results, we know, were positive.

Broyles orders a search for Olivia which isn’t necessary as she breaks herself out anyway, stealing a few samples and killing/knocking out a few guys in the process. She hides the samples and calls Broyles before she’s surrounded and taken by the man who is secretly our favourite character, Sanford Harris.
His talk with Olivia in the hospital provides a nice little recap for any new viewers, telling us about Walter’s insanity, Peter’s having been arrested seven times and the fact this all started off with John Scott, Olivia’s former partner and lover.

Then there’s a little conversation with Charlie which reminds us that it was Olivia who was the reason behind Harris’s arrest for molesting three women. In the Pilot, we see Broyles is resentful of Olivia for that, calling Harris’s crimes a “small lapse in judgement” so I think it’s interesting now to see with whom his loyalties actually do lie.

We’re introduced to Olivia’s sister, Rachel, and Olivia’s niece, Ella, who gives Olivia a Magic 8 Ball. It’s nice, I think, that they introduced these characters because it shows a different side to Olivia which we haven’t really seen since the first scene of the Pilot. I think both of these characters are important because at the time Olivia was getting a lot of criticism from some fans for being wooden and two dimensional – her family gave her an extra dimension, they showed there is more to her than her work.

Olivia seems to remember Peter exists and calls him to tell him that she needs Walter to identify the samples she stole.

Suddenly we’re at a college and there’s a giant slug tearing its way out of a professor’s oesophagus.
The giant cold virus is a particular favourite Monster-Of-The-Week of mine for no reason other than I’ve never found anything that really shouldn’t be as cute and adorable as I found that. Apart from the worms in Snakehead. But that’s a story for another time.

Peter, Olivia and Walter go to investigate the giant virus and after Walter catches it and takes it to his lab and he tells us that the slug was developed from the same materials as those samples Olivia stole earlier.

There’s one line that stands out to me here: “My boy, I'm not even sure that we all exist on the same plane of consciousness.” As a lot of Fringe is focused on perception, and what is or isn’t real is referenced quite a lot (especially in earlier episodes) it makes me wonder whether, now we’re up to season three and looking back, if we were being given some sort of clues either about the Observers or about where Peter’s consciousness may have gone or even if those two places are one and the same.

We then see Broyles showing us exactly where his loyalties lie, and they’re not with Harris. It just shows how far, after only eleven episodes, these characters have come.

We find out from the TA the unfortunate professor was having an affair with that he had just got a big job with the CDC to oversee the country’s preparedness to fight off an epidemic, which reminds me a little of Frank from the alternate universe with their many epidemics.

Mitchell Loeb tells Olivia he’s going to coordinate the investigation on her abduction before she brings in a man she believes to be the next target, Russell Simon. After a bit of bickering with Harris (who doesn’t love having him around, right?) Peter calls to tell her they’ve made a breakthrough – all the victim has to do to be the next lucky home for a giant cold virus is ingest the “yellow powdery stuff” from the vials Olivia stole. Which is just what Simon does. After the organism tears its way out of Simon’s mouth we go back to the lab where Walter tells Peter and Olivia just exactly what it is, “a single specimen of a virus for the common cold”.

We see Rachel talking with Olivia about how Olivia has “always been the strong one” which is proven later in the series, after all Olivia goes through. Olivia asks about Rachel’s ex, showing that while Olivia is focused on her job, she’s also got a family she cares about, too.

At the office, Olivia drops Ella’s Magic 8 Ball and notices Loeb’s shoes have the same white spot as her abductors’ because apparently people wear their work shoes when performing a kidnapping. A bit contrived, but each to their own. There’s a lovely scene next with Charlie and Peter, where Charlie asks for Peter’s help in tapping Loeb’s phone, and, of course, Peter knows a guy, which is pretty useful because the minute he starts listening in, he hears Loeb telling his wife to kill Olivia, who is at their house. There’s a fight between Samantha Loeb and Olivia, and Samantha ends up shot through the head.

They lure Loeb to them using Samantha’s phone and arrest Mitchell, but not before Olivia pistol-whips him. Loeb is brought in for questioning and tells Olivia that there are two sides to a war and that she’d just blown their plan, and that he hadn’t kidnapped her, he’d saved her, but wouldn’t explain further.

Although it’s not really one of the more memorable episodes of early season one like, for example, The Arrival or Ability, it’s one of my favorites because it took the characters to a bit of a new level, it fleshed them all out a little such as Olivia with her family, or Peter, trusting the FBI enough to contact someone from his shady past to put a wire tap on an agent’s phone.

The title of this episode is interesting, too. Who is bound to what? Loeb to ZFT? Broyles to his agents rather than his old friend? Olivia to her job? Or Peter to his new role in the Fringe Division after a life of being a nomad? This episode shows he cares about more than just answers.

If Peter Bishop Never Existed:

We know Olivia’s a good fighter, but without Peter’s wire tap and warning for Olivia, would she have come out of the fight with Samantha unscathed?

Fringe Summer Rewatch: #110 "Safe"

Join us for our Fringe Summer re-watch, where we review every episode of Fringe during the summer hiatus. Comments are welcome as we dig into the connections made over three seasons.

If there were an award for the Fringe Season 1 episode that starts out swinging, episode 110, "Safe,"would surely win it. Written by Jason Cahill and David H. Goodman, this episode has tons of energy.

"Safe" picks up where "The Equation" leaves off, for Double Agent Mitchell Loeb and his "Chess Club" of hirees take the magical formula for making boundaries penetrable and use it to steal the last pieces of Walter Bishop's hidden transporter machine. In safety deposit theft Number 3, one of the magnets gets stuck and Raul Lugo takes time to free it, but he gets stuck in the wall on the way out. Leader Mitchell Leob takes only a second to be distressed, in the next he shoots the poor man in the head, and the remaining men take their leave.

Sometime later the Fringe Division arrives, and if you like great Peter/Olivia banter(with classic Walter Bishop interruptions) some of the best in the series occurs when they enter the crime scene at the bank in Philadelphia. (You can read the transcript here: http://www.fringepedia.net/wiki/Safe/Transcript.)

As the team stares at the poor man in the wall, Peter delivers the phrase, "Just when you think things couldn't get any weirder." If that sounds familiar, it's a slightly different form of what Olivia says from her hospital bed in 201, after Peter tells her she spoke the Greek phrase his mom used to tell him every night.

Olivia suddenly realizes that she knows the victim. Peter thinks she's joking, but Liv proceeds to tell them his name, where he lives, his wife's name, and even that she's been to his New Jersey home. Peter gives her that look, and we get a squirmy feeling in our belly, or at least we should.

About a third of the way into this episode we see the familiar site of Wissenschaft Prison in Hamburg, Germany, and suddenly this plot spins a whole new direction. What in the world does incarcerated Daivd Robert Jones have to do with anything, we ask ourselves.

"Safe" has some lovely humorous spots, and Peter and Walter trying to buy a saw at a tool store in greater Philly is one of them. Walter snarks about Peter's lack of roots and Peter verbally retaliates, as a doe-eyed associate asks if she can help them. Walter tells the innocent what they need, and trying to be helpful, she asks what they are cutting. In true Walter Bishop style he tells it like it is. "Human tissue. Flesh and bone. It's more sinuous than you may expect."
The girl's eyes go wide as Peter flashes her his con-man smile anad tries to minimize the blow, but Walter's no help. The girl gives them blunt directions and dashes up the stairs. Peter does damage control by yelling "No need to call the police," as the girl speeds away up the stairs.

Jones talks condescendingly to his attorney in his cell, paying seemingly no attention to his appeal info. Instead he makes a written list of things for his attorney bring him, including dramamine and suntan lotion, which leaves us scratching our heads.

Olivia Dunham goes to interview Raul Lugo's widow in New Jersey, and that knot in the belly from earlier starts to expand. Olivia tells Mrs. Lugo she hadn't seen Raul in years, adding that they served together in the Marines. She goes on to tell Susan Lugo that they have met before when she had dinner at that very house, the night Raul became First Lieutenant. Susan gets defiant and says "No, you weren't here." Olivia insists she was, and proceeds to describe the events of that evening and the arrangement of the furniture. Susan acknowledges but insists it was just her, Raul, and his friend John(Major squirmies now! Remember Walter's words about complications from the tank?) Olivia asks "John who," but I'm sure she already knows the answer, which is "John Scott."

One thing I look forward to in the series is a front-row seat to some of Walter Bishop's science discussions/experiments. This time it's making a plastic figure disappear into a beaker full of dry rice, on top of a vibrating football table. It's epecially fun when Walter tells Astrid he's gonna repeat it and asks if she'd like to watch, to which she gives a swift "Nope." Peter does not interpret the scientific Walter-speak. This time around Walter explains everything to us, that the robbers were able to weaken the atomic structure of the vault wall and pass through it, but not without the possible consequence of becoming radioactive.

Olivia informs the team the safety deposit boxes were purchased annonymously 23 years ago. If you've watched through Season 3, you know that goes back to the magic year of 1985 and the enormous Peter-related events of that year. Peter keeps the momentum flowing by asking Olivia, "Okay...so what's our next move?" Olivia tells him she got some names from the widow, including Raul's best friend who happens to work at a bar in Cambridge. This makes a great segue into one of my very favorite Season 1, P/O scenes, that just happens to take place in "Safe."

Olivia and Peter enter the bar in Cambridge to interview Raul's best friend. Always in charge, Olivia tells Peter to "Just go along with this, okay?" to which he responds "Sure thing, boss."
She introduces Peter as her brother, Rick( the bartender doesn't seem convinced of his sibling status. )What ensues is another great batch of P/O banter with two especially enlightening double-meanings-if you're caught up through 3.15, "Subject 13.":

Olivia:Drew, I gotta tell you, I never forget a face.
Peter:It's true, she doesn't. It's kind of creepy actually.(Foreshadowing of seeing "Peter" in S4 or S5?)

Olivia tells Drew the bartender she remembers him being best man at Susan and Raul's wedding. Drew seems impressed. Peter's response:"It's incredible, right? She's been able to do that since we were kids. Remember that?" If you've watched "Subject 13" you know it's a fun and ironic answer, since the two of them don't seem to remember their meeting and interaction as children.

Olivia is throwing down the double whiskeys so fast Peter can barely keep up as she pumps Drew for information. She does learn Raul spent time at a VA hospital before her source gets back to tending the bar. Olivia calls Broyles and recruits his help, and tells Peter they should go. Peter tries to get her to slow down and tosses the gauntlet:"...what's the rush? Two is your limit?"

Olivia gives Peter Bishop a look we've never seen before(her nonverbal reply to provocation?) and one-ups him, "Is that a dare?" Two scenes later finds Peter performing card tricks for her, and it's obvious both of their defenses are down. Peter tells her "so top that," and not missing a beat Olivia grabs the deck and launches into a demonstration of her ability to count cards. Our conman is truly impressed, and you can almost hear the cogs in his head as he's probably thinking about how to exploit that talent. Olivia tells Peter once she sees numbers she can remember them for the rest of her life. After a couple of examples she tells him the 3 safety deposit numbers that were burglarized and a realization sobers Peter's alcohol-laden brain.
He tells her in a serious tone "I know those numbers."

If you read my commentary on "The Dreamscape," you may remember I mentioned that Walter misunderstood that Olivia wanted to get to Peter's bed when she came to wake Walter late at night. After the bar scene in "Safe," Peter and Olivia go quickly to a sleeping Walter, and Peter shouts him awake. Walter sees the two of them as he comes awake and says, "Do you two want to use the room?" Peter is all business and lets it go, but there is this adorable smirk on Olivia's face and possibly a little blush. Peter asks Walter about the pattern of numbers that includes 233, 377, and 610. Walter chastises Peter for not staying in college, saying that everyone knows it's the Fibonacci Sequence. Peter keeps Walter focused, telling him they also the numbers of the safety deposit boxes that were stolen. After some outloud thinking Walter has an epiphany-the safety deposit boxes are his!

Peter and Olivia drag Walter to the Federal Building where Charlie Francis has learned that Walter lectured in 1985 at Syracuse University. Charlie hands him pictures of banks near the university to see if any look familiar and asks, "Does any of this trigger anything in your mind?"
Walter's answer is a big foreshadowing of the events of 322:

Yes, but not about banks. Think back 20 years-imagine yourself then, imagining yourself now-20 years into the future. In your wildest imagination, could you ever think you'd be here?!

OK, so in 322 we moved ahead 15 years instead of 20, but it's close. Charlie's expression is priceless as he whispers to Liv, "Is he stoned?" Olivia tells Charlie to be patient with him as Walter proceeds to lick the photos. Broyles pops in and tells Olivia that Lugo was an inpatient at a VA hospital for 6 months after he split with his wife, and the plot moves on.

As the Feds hunt down the members of The Chess Club they discover 3 of them bought tickets from DC to T.F. Green Airport(yup, a real place) in Providence. Liv's dialing in a blink and asks Peter if he can ask Walter what bank he might have used in Providence. Peter tries the direct approach and gets nowhere. Then he gets a thought and asks Walter in a different way, and Walter very quickly tells Peter the name of the bank he used and its location.

This time Charlie and Olivia get lucky, catching the burglars leaving the bank, and Liv shoots one in the leg as he tries to catch up to the getaway vehicle. But Olivia gets frustrated because she can't make him talk in interrogation, as Peter watches in the two-way mirror. Peter tells Charlie to call Olivia out, that he wants to try something. A little alpha male contest ensues on Charlie's part, but Peter keeps his cool, and Charlie obliges him.

The scene of Peter Bishop interrogating Ryan Eastwick is reminiscent of his lovely interrogation of Richard Steig in the pilot episode, and you wonder what body parts he's gonna crush this time around. Peter asks to see his hands, and Eastwick places his shackled, shaking hands on the table. Peter says "Let me see if any of this rings a bell for you," and Peter proceeds to list the symptoms of the first phase of radiation poisoning. He's gotten Eastwick's attention now, and Ryan starts talking as Charlie and Olivia look incredulously at each other. Eatwick tells Peter he overheard their unnamed leader say he was going to Westford. The lightbulb pops on for Olivia. She tells them there's an abandoned airfield called "Little Hill Field," and reminds them "Little Hill" was the codename Mr. Smith gave to Mr. Jones(via Peter) in "In Which We Meet Mr. Jones."

While Charlie and Liv approach Westford, MA from different directions, Walter's in the lab desperately trying to remember what was in his hidden safe deposit boxes. Peter does his first coin trick of the series which triggers Walter to remember Peter's "near death" from a rare form of bird flu and his making of a machine to cross the space-time continuum to retrieve a bird flu expert who dies in 1936. Walter tells Peter he thinks the machine was what was in the safety deposit boxes, adding, "In theory, it could retrieve anyone from anywhere."

David Robert Jones gets ready to transport out as Charlie approaches Westford from the South and Olivia from the west, but she never makes it. A black SUV comes from nowhere and cuts her off. When she tries to make a run for it she gets tranqued in the back and goes down. It's funny, sometimes news takes a ridiculous amount of time to travel in the Fringe universe, but here, it seems like only second later when Phillip Broyles contacs Nina Sharp on her private phone to tell her that Olivia Dunham's missing. He is accusatory in tone, and Nina resents it whether she should or not. (We are purposely misled in a tiny earlier scene, when one of Mina's scientists tells Nina they think John Scott shared consciousness with Olivia before he died. They hypothesize that some of John's memories that they need are stored in Olivia's brain.) But by the end of the episode we realize Liv's abduction is Jones's doing.
Jones:"Do you have her? Agent Dunham?
Loeb:She didn't even put up a fight.
Jones:Well then. Let's not keep her waiting.

Interesting Things About "Safe"
The conversations. There are several conversations in this episode that are very smooth, and you give you further insight into the main characters' relationships and personality quirks.

Walter's speech about Peter being severely ill as a child, etc. while not only being huge foreshadowing of the "Peter" episode(in Season 2), propels us further ahead into Season 1, towards that moment in 1.20, "There's More Than One Of Everything."

If Peter Bishop Never Existed....
I doubt that they ever would have figured out which bank in Providence Loeb's men were hitting. Therefore, Charlie and Olivia probably wouldn't have had a chance to catch Ryan Eastwick, and learn of Loeb's plan to go to a field in Westford.
Following this progression, the Feds may not have discovered that David Robert Jones was transported to Massachusetts.

Interestingly, Olivia Dunham may have still been abducted.

Jones gets zapped from Hamburg to Westford in the blink of an eye as we marvel at the scene. Loeb in awe, greets his boss.

Fringe Summer Rewatch: #109 "The Dreamscape"

Join us for our Fringe Summer re-watch, where we review every episode of Fringe during the summer hiatus. Comments are welcome as we dig into the connections made over three seasons.

"The Dreamscape" is the second Season 1 episode written by Julia Cho. This time she teams up with Zack Whedon(his first time writing for this series)and the result is another busy, yet well-done episode.

There are really 3 sub-plots in this one. Olivia and the Fringe team try to solve the murder of an up and coming Massive Dynamic scientist(Mark Young), Olivia continues to be haunted by her dead partner and lover, John Scott, and Peter Bishop gets a blast from his past. The great thing, like most Fringe episodes, is that the lines between these subplots get deliciously blurred, and you hardly notice you're going back and forth.

Mark Young appears to have committed suicide by jumping out a window at the Massive Dynamic building in New York, but we learn his internal injuries came from the inside out!(How's that for gross?)The question remains how and why? In a twist very reminiscent of 105, "Power Hungry"(which Cho also co-wrote) John Scott supplies the answers. He sends Olivia an email with a basement(yes, again) address. Apparently, like Walter Bishop, John Scott has more than one storage place around Boston. But there's no hands in jars at his, only frogs, or more correctly, toads. Going with her gut Olivia turns them over to a very lucid Walter who informs her the venom under their skin contains a highly potent hallucinogen. Since Peter's busy with sub-plot number three, Olivia simplifies it for us: "So you're saying that Mark Young hallucinated being cut on his body, and then his mind made it actually happen." If you've already seen Season 3, this should smack of Olivia as Bolivia getting herself home in "Entrada", and Peter actually making a bridge between universes in 322. But again, I can see this being taken a step farther in Season 4 or 5, such that Liv hallucinates Peter is there, and then he is. (Wouldn't that be fun?! )

Olivia gets Walter alone and tells him John Scott led her to the toads. She asks him how long his memories will be in her head. He tells her it could be years. A conversation about possible therapy ensues and Olivia guesses correctly it would involve her going back into the tank to purge Johns' memories. She pushes Walter to do it. As she's getting cozy in the brine with just Walter and Astrid in attendance(Peter's still preoccupied) Astrid asks her if she's OK about doing this. Olivia tells her she wants the memories to stop, but if John's memories can help then she hasn't been deceived for nothing.

They hit paydirt with Olivia's dreamscape(except she's screaming her lungs out when John Scott turns and murders one of his accomplices). Fortunately Peter returns to the lab in the middle of the action and throws the tank doors open.

Olivia gives Broyles the details on suspect George Morales and the dangerous Massive Dynamic-developed drug. Broyles tells her to keep going. Nina Sharp actually cooperates and gives the Feds Mark Young's project folders. Olivia stares at his Masssive Dynamic business card(more on that later) and gets the idea that M-O-N-A-R-C-H in Mark Young's appointment book might represent a phone number. She matches letters to numbers and dials. Olivia recognizes the voice, and in a real plot stretch, the location is able to be traced long after the call has ended.

By pinging Morales's cell Charlie Francis and Olivia are able to track Morales down. He gets hit by a cab and ends up in the hospital. In what is one of the most important scenes in the episode Morales tells Liv he'll give her all the information he has on William Bell and Massive Dynamic in exchange for physical protection. Straight out, Morales tells Olivia "Massive Dynamic is Hell, and its founder, William Bell, is the devil." She accuses him of telling her what she wants to hear.
In an effort to get her attention, the words start pouring ouf of Morales's mouth:

"Really? Did I invent ZFT? Flight 627? The Northwoods Group? John Scott? The Pattern? The whole thing is a hoax. It's all a smoke screen so Massive Dynamic can do whatever it wants to whoever it wants. Do you understand that?"

We get the idea that Olivia gives into Morales's demand. But while she goes to confront Nina Sharp, again, Morales hallucinates that John Scott cuts his throat, and in an interesting special effect, a poor nurse actually witnesses Morales's throat cutting itself.

Earlier in the episode Peter gets a phone call that makes him wrinkle his brow and go into a private room. We get some well-earned backstory in this episode, and meet one of his former flames, Tess Amaral. She tells him she has to meet him. After a pause, he tells her he can't get away right now, but Tess pursues with, "Then when?"

Two scenes later Peter and Tess greet each other in a coffee shop with a kiss. He tells her she looks good, she tells him he looks older. Peter makes a joke about it, pointing out that Walter's first words when he saw him were that he looked 'fat.' Tess gets serious and tells him if she can find him then they can too. Peter shrugs it off and asks if he can get her something to eat. Tess responds with "Nothing changes with you huh? It's the same old Peter, you just play it fast and loose until it's too late." But Tess is wrong. Peter Bishop is a bit more grounded now. He's got a dysfunctional little family keeping him in Boston. We learn from Tess that Peter just upped and left her. She sarcastically points out that leaving a second time shouldn't be any harder than the first. The following dialogue ensues:

Peter:I know you think that, Tessa, but you have to trust me, it was harder than you think.
Tess:Trust you? I'm not sure I ever even knew you.
(Needless to say, that last line is great irony if you're caught up all the way through 322.)

Peter's agenda changes when he grabs her wrist and she winces. He pulls back her sleeve and sees the heavy bruising on his wrist. "Michael?" is all Peter asks. Tess tells him things have changed and that they'll do worse to him if he doesn't leave.

Peter catches up to Michael on the street a bit later and roughs him up. With an angry face we're not accustomed to(but that foreshadows "Dark Peter" in "Reciprocity,") he tells Michael that if
he touches Tess again he'll kill him. Near the end of the episode Michael approaches another thug who comments on his injuries. Michael tells him that Peter Bishop is back in town.
This leaves the door wide open in the future for some organized crime retaliation against our favorite dumb, smart guy. Or does it?

The episode ends with a hyper Olivia waking Walter Bishop in his hotel room. Our Liv likes closure, and she wants Walter to put her back in the tank again to get more answers.
She says to him, "Can you come out? Um, I need to go back in." In a Walter moment reminiscent of the scene in "Safe" where Peter and Olivia hurriedly try to rouse him, Walter misunderstands, thinking she's trying to get to Peter's bed. She explains that she needs more answers. But gently, Walter refuses to encourage her into the tank again, telling her repeated use of the tank is too dangerous. Olivia counters that lives could be lost if she doesn't get the answers, but Walter returns that if she keeps going into the tank the life that could be lost is her own. He tells her there are no guarantees she'll get the answers she wants, and that she can't interact with John, can't just ask him questions.
Olivia reminds him that John saw her in the restaurant and again, Walter denies this, saying it's not possible.

A tired and defeated Olivia returns home. She turns off her computer and climbs into her bed, as her computer clicks back on. Out of curiosity she goes back over to it. There is an email from John Scott that reads "I saw you in the restaurant."

Interesting Things About "The Dreamscape"

1)The second "benchwarmers" scene of the series happens after the tank incident. Peter is sitting on the lab bench looking at Olivia worriedly. Olivia, standing, wringing her wet hair out, looks unrealistically calm. Peter asks, "You OK?" which is one of his trademark questions to her in the series. She tells him they have a lead and she needs to see Broyles. He asks if she'd like any company. In true Dunham fashion she turns him down with a smile. Peter replies with, "Olivia, if you need me, I'm here." This is more than just a trivial statement. This is a promise. And I have a feeling Peter Bishop hasn't made too many promises in his life. I'm hoping this is also foreshadowing, that even if Peter Bishop never existed, that our Olivia somehow knows in her head that if she needs "him," he's there.

2)The phone number on Mark Young's business card 1-877-8-MSSDYN, used to really work!
If you dialed that after this episode first aired, you'd get a recording that you have reached Massive Dynamic! But now if you dial you get, "The subscirber you have dialed is not available,
or has traveled outside the calling area." Don't believe me? Try it. Click on the link to hear one of the former phone messages: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZfa2Y02-5s

3)Isn't it unnerving when Walter laughs at his test subject under hypnosis on the tape?That smacks of foreshadowing of Walternate's sadistic nature that we see in "Over There:Part 2", and also in "Olivia," and "Entrada." Equally unnerving are Walter's words as the subject develops second-degree burns from an ice cube: "Cruel probably, but very enlightening."

4)There really is an airport in Massachusetts called the Marlborough Airport, but in actuality it has only 1 runway, and it's the shortest runway in the state!

5)This is the first episode in which Walter Bishop discusses religion. He talks about 'the spirit' again in "Midnight," and of course there is the huge topic of religion/forgiveness in "Peter," and "White Tulip." But here the words "and a new spirit I will put within thee," foreshadow William Bell's spirit intruding upon Olivia's body in "Os," "The Stowaway," and "Lysergic Acid Diethylamide."

6)Nina Sharp's reaction and words when Olivia goes to confront her near the end imply that she knows the FBI's witness, George Morales, is already dead. We have always sensed a cold power about Nina, but in this episode it seems she does have control over whether some people live or die.


As Yet Unanswered Questions That Arise From "The Dreamscape":
George Morales mentions 'The Northwoods Group?' Is this the group Broyles is addressing at the beginning of 102?

Why does Olivia visualize the butterflies moving in the display cases in Mark Young's home?

Walter denies at least twice Olivia's admission that John Scott could see her in her dreamscape while in the tank? Why is he so adamant that John cannot see her, and that she cannot intereact with him?

Why did John Scott kill the African-American man that seemed to be working with him?

If Peter Bishop Never Existed....
No one would have warned Michael not to further hurt Tess Amaral. She could be dead by now.

I think Walter still would have figured out about the Massive Dynamic drug compounded from the toad venom, and that Mark Young was murdered. Interestingly, most of this episode unfolded without Peter Bishop's interaction. (Keep that in mind as you watch Season 4.)

Fringe Comic-Con Panel - Full Video

Fringe fan NowKnow411 has uploaded the entire Fringe panel from Comic-Con to YouTube (in three parts).

Fringe Summer Rewatch: #108 "The Equation"

Join us for our Fringe Summer re-watch, where we review every episode of Fringe during the summer hiatus. Comments are welcome as we dig into the connections made over three seasons.

The Equation is an episode I didn’t think would link too much across episodes but I was pleasantly surprised to see quite a few concepts span throughout the series. The episode starts off with a boy named Ben riding home with his father in the pouring rain. Ben is busy in the backseat writing sheet music when he asks his dad not to be upset and if he could slow the wipers down because it’s messing with his tempo. Ben’s father is distracted when he sees a woman along the side of the road who seems to be having troubles with her car. He pulls over to help in any way he can and when he goes to check the engine, flashing green and red lights put him into a “hypnogogic state” where everything around him drops out. This episode becomes a race to rescue young Ben who the Fringe team as determined is being used to solve and equation that many before him had been used to try and solve. We see the first real fight between Peter and Olivia when Olivia is given ultimatum of finding a new lead or having Walter help them by going back into St. Claire’s to try and talk information out of an old friend at the institute. In an act of incredible bravery, Walter agrees, going against Peter’s wishes for him to not go back. Walter survives his short stay at St. Claire’s and seems unsettled after his stay and requests distance from Peter and to have some of his own space. In the end Walter’s adventure back into his nightmare pays off and Olivia gets the information she needs to save Ben, but not in time before the final equation falls into the wrong hands. At the end we learn this equation is used to help sold objects back through other solid objects when Loeb demonstrates the success by pulling an apple from a solid vault. We don’t learn until the episode Safe later on in season one.

I have to say one of my favorite parts of this episode is when Peter discovers the link between music and math since I am a huge music/math geek myself. It was great to see something that most of us can relate to (music) in a case and put into sciencey talk (thank you Peter). Ben's song ends up being a larger part of the Fringe theme song that every episode begins with and that we've all grown to love. It certainly makes me dance in my seat in anticipation.

Highlighted themes I saw in this episode were:

• What a son would do to save his mother. This made me think of what Peter might've done to save his own mother had he been given a better opportunity.


• Minds coming together on one thing having never met or talked. Much like the two different universes coming to similar ideas and concepts.


• Walter goes back into his worst nightmare to save a boy. Sound familiar? It definitely should since we all know the great lengths Walter went to save Walternate's son.


• “The easiest lie to remember is the one closest to the truth.” This seems to be like the Pre-Fringe team Peter theme, but also a theme we see with Fauxlivia. Definitely something they have in common. Makes you wonder if before the "Fringe team" had ever been created, would Peter have still chosen our Olivia over fauxlivia?


• Driven to insanity to find a solution. Insanity seems to be a very common thread throughout the series, but what can you expect with a show like Fringe?


• “It was just a dream. A bad dream.” –Dashiel. How many times have various characters thought they were dreaming, whether they were or not?


• Peter stands up for Walter finally, showing that he’s willing to show he cares. The beginning of a truly beautiful relationship that only builds.


• The apple used in the experiment is also a fringe symbol.


• “Numbers make everything work.” So true!

Questions that came up in this episode are:

• What does the St. Claire’s director, Dr. Summer, want with Walter now that he is gone? Why is he so upset over him being gone? (Significance in his name, Summer?)


• When Walter sees “himself”, is it really him or Walternate he thinks he sees.


• Who put the equation into all of the people’s heads?

If Peter Bishop never existed in The Equation episode…

• They might never have discovered the true link between Ben’s music and the equation by Dr. Dashiel.


• Astrid might’ve been driven crazy by Walter’s obsession with Christmas music.


• Walter may not have gone back to St. Claire’s in order to get the information from Dashiel and Ben would likely not have been saved from the same fate as the other kidnap victims.

Fringe Comic-Con 2011 Red Carpet Interviews by TheFutonCritic

TV guru site TheFutonCritic interviews the cast of Fringe at Comic-Con 2011. Interviews include Joshua Jackson, John Noble, Anna Torv, Jasika Nicole, Blair Brown, Lance Reddick, & Seth Gabel.

Visit their Comic-Com video page to see all of their other interviews (and click on some ads while you are there to thank them!).

Fringe Summer Rewatch: #107 "In Which We Meet Mr. Jones"

Join us for our Fringe Summer re-watch, where we review every episode of Fringe during the summer hiatus. Comments are welcome as we dig into the connections made over three seasons.

Meeting Mr. Jones is another key moment in the Fringe mythology. So important, that J.J. Abrams co-wrote the episode with Jeff Pinkner. There is a slight monster-of-the-week plot humming in the background, but when a viewer takes a serious look, it is amazing at how this episode sets up future developments for plot and characters.

My Observations:

Walter asks Peter for gum or mints… Then when that fails, he asks a surprised Broyles. After looking at Mitchell Loeb‘s strange heart problem, Walter says his breath is atrocious, so he can‘t study him at the hospital. Even back at the lab, Walter is fixated on gum, which Peter provides. By Season 3, Walter hasn’t lost his ease at asking people for gum. (Reciprocity - Walter asks MP for gum, preferably grape.)

Peter comes up with a solution to stop the organism from constricting Loeb’s heart. Walter is impressed, “You may have found your true calling - working with me.” Peter at this point in time won’t have any of that as he states loudly, “I certainly hope not!” As the series progresses, Peter embraces his place as one of The Bishop Boys. Both of them work together in the hope of saving their universe.

One thing that stuck out to me was Walter talking about the perfect DNA code sequence embedded among the organism’s genetic profile. Kind of like a signature of sorts. Walter mentioned another such signature in The Bishop Revival. I also can’t help but think that Peter’s DNA is not all natural either, but that could be discussed at another time.

Astrid finally starts to develop character-wise, although Walter refers to her as Olivia’s “friend” at this point. Astrid reveals her love for cracking codes. Astrid’s not the only one. Olivia knows what a “Caesar shift” entails.

This skill comes back into play in Season 3. In 6955 kHz, Astrid cracks the code for the meaning of the numbers transmitted by the number stations, and she learns the locations of the machine parts. In Reciprocity, Olivia figures out who the shapeshifters are by figuring out the OLIVE code used by Fauxlivia.

In this case, the code sequence is ZFT. Olivia mentions this name to Broyles, and he tells her about David Robert Jones, a scientist with a specialization in genetic weaponry, that had recently been arrested in Germany for the possession of state secrets.

Olivia shows her tenacity with Broyles when she demands more information about ZFT. When Broyles tells Olivia that Germany is denying the U.S. access to Jones, Olivia says she may be able to get to him. This amuses Broyles who asks:

“Do you have super-powers that you’re not telling me about?

Wow, the power of such a seemingly unimportant statement placed in context with the rest of the series! The Day We Died showed that Olivia had honed her telepathic abilities.

Also, it struck me that Olivia would not accept Broyles’ taunting her that she could not get in to see Jones. Of great interest is her insistence that she made a promise to Loeb’s wife. Olivia always keeps her promises, to the best of her ability. The most important promise of all in my opinion? It is when Olivia promised Alternate Broyles that she would find another way to save both universes. Although, it went wrong the first time, I have no doubt that Olivia will keep that promise in Season 4.

One silly connection? Broyles tells Walter that he appreciates his work. Walter goes off on a tangent about once having had a fruit cocktail in Atlantic City. Even though he isn’t a fruit cocktail kind of guy. In The Last Sam Weiss, Walter complains to Astrid about no one having a classic fruit cocktail anymore…

When Broyles was concerned about Walter’s fruit cocktail rambling, he brings his concern to Peter. Peter takes the opportunity to let out all of frustration about taking care of Walter.

When Olivia was with Lucas, I couldn’t help but grin at her cell phone ringing. Seems every time she gets romantic, she’s interrupted by a darned cell phone. Season 3 is a prime example of this.

When Olivia meets Jones, he tells her that she and he are basically pawns for someone else. He taunts her: “The people that I work with are loyal to the end. Can you say the same?” I can’t help but wonder if this was about someone other than Loeb.

One interesting moment at the end between Olivia and Peter. As Samantha Loeb is reunited with her husband, Peter tells Olivia, “Look at that,” and they both smile. In The Firefly, they both glance at an older couple enjoying each other in a retirement home and Peter remarks to her, “That's sweet…” To me, these observations show that both of them admire and desire a strong love.

Lies Told to Peter:

As the team prepares Joseph Smith for a procedure, it dawns on Peter that Walter had hooked him up to car batteries as a child. Peter is very upset that Walter side-steps the issue, that he is almost to the point of tears. What was the real reason Walter did this? Was it to cause a memory wipe for Peter, who does not remember the events depicted in Subject 13? When Peter is drugged and hooked up to the apparatus, he momentarily calls Walter, “Daddy.” Was Walter’s glances at him out of affection for the term, or disgust with himself for what he did to Peter as a child?

Unanswered Questions:

This is an incredible long shot, but I wonder if Jones didn’t have something to do with the machine, since his specialization was genetic weaponry. Nina Sharp had said that the machine had William Bell’s design signature. Jones was a protégé of Bell. But in The Day We Died, Future Walter says he sent the machine back through through the worm-hole in Central Park.

Who wanted Jones to meet with Olivia?

If Jones did not infect Loeb, who did? And how to Jones know how to kill the parasite?

If Peter Does Not Exist?

Would there be a ZFT, even if Peter was not in the picture? Jones had no interest at all in Peter, but was highly interested in Olivia… Would Olivia have possibly continued rekindling her relationship with Lucas if Peter had not interrupted them? Peter saved Loeb’s life at one point; could Walter have done the same thing that Peter did, or would Loeb have died? Peter was able to figure out Little Hill. Maybe someone else in his place could not do so, causing Jones to withhold the treatment form Loeb.

Fringe Photos from Comic-Com 2011

I have added an bunch of Fringe Comic-Con 2011 photos to FringeFiles.com in the Live Events section. There are photos from the Fringe panel, Fringe autograph session, and some from the red carpet. As more photos come in, they will be added there, so check back often!

Fringe - Entertainment Weekly Comic Con 2011

EW's Sandra Gonzalez interviews Fringe stars Anna Torv, John Noble, Jasika Nicole, Lance Reddick, Blair Brown, Seth Gabel and of course Joshua Jackson.

Joshua Jackson, Jaskia Nicole, & Blair Brown at Comic-Con

Here are a couple of very short clips of Fringe stars Joshua Jackson, Jaskia Nicole, & Blair Brown at Comic-Con.

The Fringe panel by a Comic Con Virgin

I am posting this article on behalf of our in-the-field reporter Zort70. - D

I have been looking forward to this trip for many months, it had been a long time in planning and took even longer to arrive at this moment.

I travelled, mainly to meet with a bunch of LOST fans who I had go to know very well over the last few years, but also to experience the often read delights of Comic Con. It was something I've wanted to do for a very long time and the LOST fan meetup was an added bonus which made my mind up for me.

Unfortunately my first experience of Comic Con on Thursday wasn't a happy one. We decided to travel in a little later in the morning and walk round the main trading floor before getting in a queue for the Game of Thrones panel, this turned out to be a fatal mistake and after queuing for 3 and a half hours we missed getting in to the panel by 30 people ! The next day we were determined to get in and see what we wanted, we got there at 7am and still queued for 3 hours but got to see everything we wanted to, including a LOST panel where Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse turned up, but that's another story.

Fast forward to Saturday and the day of the Fringe panel, we travelled in again for 7am and again queued for 3 hours but got in. To give you an idea of how long people were waiting the line went all along the convention centre in managed queues and then went onto the street and curved all around three of the harbour walks next to the convention centre. They estimated around 8000 people were in the line when we started to be let in at 10am and the panel room held only 4500. This meant we had to sit through all the panels on the day to get to Fringe, but they were mostly enjoyable and it wasn't too much of a chore :-)

So the time for the Fringe panel arrived by that time we had moved down progressively nearer the front of the hall. The panel started with a few clips of previous seasons, nothing new in there as far as I can tell on first viewing.

Then the cast were introduced one by one to tumultuous applause, each coming on stage and looking delighted to be there. There was one notable exception, and I'm sure you can guess which person it was, yes Joshua Jackson was notably absent.

The moderator of the panel told us that they needed to recast the role of Peter and proceeded to show the Peter Bishop Audition reel. This clip was of various people auditioning to take on the role of Peter and included Zachary Quinto, Jorge Garcia, Paul Scheer, Damon Lindelof and even Rebecca Mader !

The short clip ended with a figure with an observer hat, suit and a pale complexion and slowly lifted their head, of course it was Joshua Jackson. He then entered onto the stage with the hat and suit (but not the makeup).

The panel proceeded as all the panels I have seen before, with all my 2+ days of experience at Comic Con, and questions were asked by the moderator and by people in the room. T-shirts with Save Peter on them were given out but no real clues as to what would happen in the new season were given and a specific point was made that the producers wanted the new season to be a surprise.

The actors obviously get along very well and even new regular Seth Gabel seemed to be well integrated into the show. Jasika Nicole sang a little and Lance Reddick did an impression of Olivia channelling William Bell

Then all too soon the panel was over, the cast got a standing ovation and stayed on the stage for a few minutes more for photographs but had to leave to make way for a screening of the new Fox TV show Alcatraz and it's pilot episode.

Apart from the main panel there had been official autograph signings and even an unscheduled appearance of some of the cast on some lawn outside the venue which surprised everyone that was walking past and knew who they were.

As a first time Comic Con attendee I can say that a couple of things so far have made it worthwhile, and the Fringe panel was definitely one of them.