Welcome to the fourth stop on our journey back through the chronicles of Fringe. We arrive at “The Arrival” to gather new perspectives and make fresh connections.
Grab a rootbeer float. A straw. And prepare to suck whatever juice remains from an episode we have re-titled: “It Has Arrived”.
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The green and red pattern color is one of the oldest, most intriguing mysteries of Fringe. They appeared as early as the pilot episode and have had fans guessing ever since. Their meaning is currently unknown, but their significance to the mythology of the show is not to be sniffed at. In this, our first Mysteries of Fringe post, we hope to get closer to understanding the mystery of the green and red pattern by examining their appearances within the show.
Follow us down the rabbit hole, and bring cake and coffee. Or better still, coffee cake.
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Synopsis: After a deadly explosion rocks a construction site in New York City, Broyles solicits the aid of our unlikely threesome to investigate a strange cylinder mysteriously found at the scene completely unharmed by the surrounding devastation. After Olivia uncovers an unbelievable commonality between disturbing events, Dr. Bishop takes matters into his own hands and Peter is forced into field duty, it almost seems as if the untraceable object is triggering the series of odd behaviors, unexpected events and surprising revelations in “The Arrival”.
General Thoughts: This is episode where Fringe quite literally arrived – as the beacon exploded its way up from the earth’s core, the show elevated with it. In rewatch terms. Arrival held up extremely well; opening my mind to new perspectives and possibilities.
Below the fold I share my new observations and perspectives, explore the unresolved mysteries, highlight the mysteries closed by information gained in this episode and cap it off with my final thoughts on this episode retrospective.
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OK, since most people seem to think that the Observer is the biggest Fringe mystery so far, how about an Observer theory?
I’ve been thinking back to his centric episode, the one that really introduced him to us — episode 1.04 “The Arrival“, and I think that there are some more clues that no-one seems to have really gone over in great detail. We all want to know why the Observer is watching every breath we take in the Fringeverse — perhaps the song that was playing in the diner as he scoffed down a raw meat roll with 11 jalapenos, on the side, can offer us some insight? That song is was “Crazy” by Willie Nelson, later covered by Patsy Cline.
The song describes the “state of bemusement at the singer’s own helpless love for the object of his affection”.
The “object of his affection”. That gets some bells ringing doesn’t it! Immediately I can think of THREE possible objects of the Observer’s affection, which might offer an alternative explanation to his presence in the show:
1. The Beacon (aka cylinder). Seeing as the beacon object arrived mere minutes after those Willie Nelson lyrics struck, it seems very likely that this is the object of the Observers affection..the thing that he loves..the object that has left him feeling so “lonely” and “blue” (oh yes, I’ll come to that later)?
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Episode 1.14 “The Ability” was so jammed-packed with action and mythology that I think a lot of us have missed out on some of the more subtle references deployed in the episode. One such gem is The Land of Laughs book reference. It’s a reference which I’ve used to brain-dump some of my thoughts on the episode, and which ultimately gives me a new candidate for the ZFT author. Read on to towards the end to find out who.
The Land of Laughs is a fantasy novel by Jonathan Carroll about the blurring of realities:
The book concerns a schoolteacher who is researching the life of one of his favorite children’s book authors. He is warmly, and unexpectedly, greeted by the author’s adult daughter. All seems well until a dog begins talking to him, as the line between the author’s fantasy world and the reality of the schoolteacher’s life blurs. – Wikipedia
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Easteregg and Clues Round-Up for episode 1.08 “The Equation”.
Red Alert
The green and red dots reappeared in a big way in this episode. They were central to the story-line in which Agent Loeb’s group used green and red flashing lights (A, B) to send their victims into an hypnagogic state. As mentioned, the green and red symbolism has appeared in earlier episodes – “The Arrival” and Pilot episodes, to be exact. In “The Arrival” they could be seen on John Mosely’s hat (C, left) and at the bottom of The Observer’s binocular interface (C, right). In the pilot episode, the green and red dots appeared in Olivia and John Scott’s ‘dream state’, on the “Zeno” Kayak (D) which Olivia referenced as being her Uncles.
What’s Up Chachi?
When Astrid asks Peter “What’s up Chachi?”, she’s referring to his sleeves which have been cut. Chachi is a character from Happy days and Joanie Loves Chachi, famous for his sleeveless shirts.
A Staggering Display of Patterns
The St. Claire’s rec room featured some interesting patterns. The inset images above illustrate three examples of pictures and dominos being arranged in a particular ‘staggered’ pattern arrangement. Interestingly, this is the same ‘staggered’ pattern that can be seen outside Walter and Peter’s apartment building (main picture, taken from episode 1.04) – an effect created by the lights. No doubt this is intentional. There’s some great discussion here which suggests that there’s a hidden message in these patterns.
But-He-Fly Away
In the above picture we can see that the Observer (A) made another appearance, keeping up his 100% episode appearance record. Once again he seems to be observing Olivia, whilst he’s also close to the Pattern-event (or abduction) that’s taking place in the “red castle”. Also in the shot is an image of a butterfly (B) – we believe this to be the clue for the next episode (1.09).
Dungeons & Dragrons
The above screencap is of the “red castle”. We can see from the inset enlargement, that Olivia may made the connection between this building and the information provided by Dashiell, not just because of the buildings color, but also because it’s actually called “Royal Castle Carousel”.
Adam & Eve
For this weeks metaphor, we have Agent Mitchel Loeb and his accomplice Joanne Ostler (Ritz) doing their best to mimic Adam and Eve. Ostler and Loeb seem to be two people tempted by the lure and wonder of scientific possibility (and/or greed). After killing Joanne, Loeb takes a bite out of the Apple he has just pulled through the safe (a remarkable feat), and then declares “It worked” to the ’serpant’ on the other end of the phone. A definite allusion to the Biblical story of Adam and Eve, who were tempted by the serpent (Satan) into eating the apple from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Consequently they were thrown out from the Garden of Eden by God. Many potential parallels to be speculated.
Thanks to Fringe-Forum for the use of some of the images in this post.
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Here we see a potentially hidden clue on the keys to Walter Bishop’s old institution, St. Claire’s. On the set of keys (inset, top) are markings, or writings, which appear to be similar in type to those that The Observer scribbled in 1.04 “The Arrival” (main picture). Also, the keys appear to have an “A” shaped Aleph (inset, bottom left), similar to the speculated Phoenician glyph seen on Olivia’s uncles Kayak (inset, bottom middle) and worn as a lapel on David Esterbrook’s jacket (inset, bottom right).
What does it all mean? Who the heck knows, but it could well allude to the idea that Walter has been closely Observed by Creepy Bald Guy (and pals) throughout his 18 years in St. Claire’s.
Observation courtesy of GaBa at Fringe-Forum
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The episodic format of Fringe is rather frustrating as it means that we can’t always expect to have events from the previous episodes referenced in the current episode. In recent episodes we’ve witnessed potentially important events, which have so far failed to be acknowledged or referenced in the episodes that follow.
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The Fringemunks and David Wu are back with a brand new parady song for episode 1.04 ‘The Arrival’. The ‘munks get fresh to death with Mr. innovation himself, Kanye West, as they recap ‘Arrival’ with their version of his “Gold Digger” smash hit.
Drop the beat, here come the ‘munks!:
Here’s Mr. West’s original:
Nice to see David’s keeping us on our toes. Who knows what he’ll come up with next week – we can’t wait!
Thanks again to David Wu, you can download this episode 4 parady and the ‘munks entire Fringe season 1 back catalogue over at DavidWuMusic.com, and you can view the lyrics here (go on, you know you want to sing along).
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On Friday, JJ Abrams completed his live webchat with Guardian UK readers. He gave some interesting and inspiring insights into Fringe, LOST, Star Trek, Cloverfield and writing in general. Below are some of the questions posed to him, and his answers:
To you, is there an upcoming episode that you are especially proud of and you think will be a fan favourite when the series is finished? Also, I have noticed a certain formula in the structure of the episodes so far. Is this something that is going to carry on, or will there be variations on this formula? Sorry if that isn’t too specific.
From – owlwaxer
JJ – We are still finding our rhythm. If you look back at the early episodes of your favourite shows you will find they are a little bit to the left of what the show ultimately became. I feel we are still arriving. The fourth episode, The Arrival, is closer to what the show will be.Fox – not noted for their commitment to genre shows… have you plotted out as far as 7 seasons like Lost or do you see Fringe as being a 4-5 Season arc ?
from – djbollocksJJ – Yes [on Fringe]. We have a big picture which we are working to. We have a six chapter idea. That inevitably changes along the way. You make discoveries which you can’t anticipate
With Fringe, you have moved away from heavily serialised storytelling towards the procedural. What sort of challenges have you faced with this?
from – GavinElsterJJ – It is hard mostly because it is not the kind of storytelling I tend to be drawn to. It was an experiment I was desperate to try. One of the challenges is for character development to happen despite the format. One thing that gets me excited are the clues and revelations. We are trying to do some of that even in the standalone episodes.
Is Fringe going to be a big mystery as Lost is, with all the cryptic clues.
Or will Fringe be a light venture?
yamatoEvaJJ – There will be and there already is, and episode 4 begins it, the over-arcing mystery of the show. The goal is to do both – to tune in and enjoy without knowing anything that comes before it but also if you watch every week you will see things you understand and that are connected to the larger picture. We are looking at both of them.
JJ Also answered two questions from our friends at Fringe-Forum.com:
Do you have the same enthusiasm working on FRINGE that you have whilst working on LOST? Is the energy the same, if not, in which ways is it different?
FringieJJ – I have as much enthusiasm working on any new project. Obviously certain things get complicated. For example, working on Fringe I really wanted to work on the pilot but I was also working on Star Trek so I was unable to do both. It was a very surreal thing having to give up that opportunity. I was so jealous. The hardest thing for me on that was just being involved in other things. Every project is different but the enthusiasm is always at the core of why I am involved with it at the beginning.
One of the many great things about LOST is it’s international cast – the story has had characters from all different types of backgrounds and many different nationalities. Do you plan to intergrate such a global make-up into the Fringe story-line, or is this more difficult to achieve with a story that’s primarily based in Boston?
FringieJJ – It will be hard to make the show as universal as Lost simply because the international flight lent itself so perfectly to that. We do have ideas of expanding the world that Olivia travels. In the first season we have her leaving the country and travelling elsewhere. I love that and certainly hope to do that with Fringe.
Continue reading the rest of the webchat HERE.
What a great webchat! One of the best things to take away from the chat, is the fact that Fringe will continue in a similar vein to that of the excellent ’Arrival’.
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