There couldn’t have been a more fitting title for episode 4 – after 48 fantastic minutes of “The Arrival”, Fringe well and truly arrived. Even the opening “previously on Fringe” voice-over was a bit special, especially for those of us who thrive on the details. The opening scene set the tone – episodes of “LOST” that open with music are usually a bit special: “Man of Science, Man of Faith”, “Cabin Fever” - this episode of Fringe was no different, Patsy Cline getting us all in the mood for a crazy-good episode. Much had been speculated about the Creepy Bald Guy who appeared to be stalking Olivia through the first three episodes, and his full debut didn’t disappoint, as he continued to observe the unfolding events, from the arrival of the cylinder, to the reactions of those drawn to it. Whilst his eating habits leave much to be desired, you just know this wasn’t just a gross out moment – there are clues to be had there, just as there are from his note-taking – a recording of events in a cryptic language written from right to left. The common consensus among the fans is that he’s an alien – yet observe his attire, his watch, his viewing-piece, his gun – all fairly olden day earth objects, with a futuristic effect. Compare and contrast this to John Mosely’s weapon – a more futuristic-looking gun, with an equally futuristic beam blast. Perhaps The Observer, as he’s now officially been dubbed, is less an alien and more a time-traveller? If it were possible to hybridize time-periods, The Observer seems like he’s mastered it.
The evolution of Peter was remarkable in this episode, and hats off to Joshua Jackson, he was fantastic and believable, whether he was being the impatient cynic in the first part of the episode, or the open-minded believer, that we saw in the latter stages. The connection of Peter to ‘The Pattern’ and The Observer took us by surprise – we expected Olivia to be further connected after this episode – however it would be foolish to assume that the explicit lack of further Olivia back-story means that she’s not highly intertwined with the deeper arcs of the show – her ‘Zeno’ kayak dream in the pilot episode links her to both John Mosely and The Observer (or those they work for). Back to Peter, this was the episode where Josh Jackson finally shed the “Pacey” identity and became Peter Bishop – the mental conduit of Walter Bishop. How we view communication will be very important on this show – already we’ve had 3 different forms of ‘fringe’ communication in the past two episodes – the Ghost Network’s, ‘ghost network’, and The Arrival’s two forms of mental communication, which we’ll dub ‘nose-plugs’ and ‘mimick’. So Peter is special, he is telepathically linked to his father, perhaps this is why he’s so good a poker with an IQ of 190? Bit of an ego killer, huh?
Perhaps we should look deeper into Peter’s origin story – we know from Walter’s revelation that both he and Peter were saved from certain death by The Observer. But why was The Observer there to save them? We know that The Observer observes pattern events, so can we assume that Peter and Walter are part of the pattern? But what made The Observer break his code of conduct and interfere with unfolding events? So far we’ve seen him watch, but never touch or directly get involved. He even tells Walter that he is unable to touch the metal pod, so why did The Observer interfere with events in the case of saving the Bishop’s lives of that fateful day? Is this the first time he has interfered with the variables? Perhaps in doing so, this forever made Walter and Peter connected to the pattern? Perhaps this happening, triggered Walter’s scientific endeavours into a whole new dimension? Maybe literally.
Another interesting aspect of this episode was Walter’s decision to drug Astrid in order to hide the cylinder – the greater good, or an unforgivable act?For me, it was unforgivable, there were alternative options, yet he chose to drug the poor “lamb”. A beautiful friendship broken in a heart-beat. One senses that a man of science such as Walter is used to the burden of such decisions, it’s clear that he has so much guilt over Peter’s upbringing and the connection of his work to ‘The Pattern’. In many ways it’s understandable that he wants to make up for his past actions, but some things you just can’t undo. However, If Walter was being played by an actor less accomplished than John Noble, it would be easier to despise him after what he did to Astrid, but Walter is just so endearing at times (Root-beer float, lol), and I think in time Astrid will learn to forgive him, but it’s going to be baby-steps before we get to that stage.
One thing which is unclear is the purpose of the cylinder – we know that The Observer was there to observe, but what was the cylinder sent for? I can only speculate that it was there to gather and record data during it’s small window of opportunity. But what data did it gather, other than the current vibrations of the earth, perhaps? Maybe that’s it – Walter specifically mentioned the vibrations of the cylinder, in the previous episode he stopped the vibrating phone from ‘moving’ – a very peculiar choice of words, perhaps explained by his time spent institutionalized, however, perhaps vibrations = a form of communication, and from that we can deduce the cylinder was not only there to gather, but to communicate. With whom? – with nature? Or perhaps it is literally a beacon – as The Observer called it. The traditional purpose of a beacon is to signal – but what, or who, has been signalled?
John Mosely’s connection to the pod is also a little cloudy – on the surface it’s easy to assume that he’s a ‘bad guy’, but in a world where science is running out of control and Walter Bishop is drugging young women, it’s kinda hard to say for certain who’s bad and who’s good. So perhaps Mosely has a cause which he believes is worth the collatoral damage of a few FBI agents. It’s also assumed that Mosely is from this time, perhaps he’s not, his ‘Zeno-pattern hat’ (see here) suggests that he’s from another time, and perhaps another place. If the pod is recording data, communicating with the earth or signalling, perhaps it holds the key to unlocking something all men would want to get their hands on? One thing is for sure, the arrival of the cylinder has raised the stakes – let’s hope we haven’t seen or heard the last of this object.
The stand-out scene for me, other than the first and the last, came in the murky forest – Olivia heads off into danger and praise the lord, we have danger! OK, Mosely was a bit lame with his laser beam, but he was carrying a gigantic egg, bless him. That aside, I appreciate the intent, and the visuals were simply amazing. Even better was Olivia’s reaction when the cylinder exploded back from whence it came, and Peter’s encounter with The Observer. That, I didn’t expect. I thought we’d see him observing before shuffling back off into the forest, but (the much improved) Peter wanted answers and he wanted them now! That whole scene was so good – as mentioned earlier, The Observer literally inside Peter’s head, which by my reckoning means that not only is Walter mentally connected to Peter, but so is The Observer who saved his life. Walter is constantly berating Peter for not having an open mind, now he’s had his mind opened for him.
Special mention for Broyles- Lance Reddick is awesome, we all know this, but I feel that he’s really growing into the role and his character is showing more light and shade. His relationship with Olivia is so cute, he’s really protective of her – he’s in the business of looking out for all of his agents, dontcha know - but I think he’s got a soft spot for Olivia. I can see now why they had him and Olivia start off on the wrong foot in the pilot episode. That’s not to say there wont be any conflict in the future.
Now here’s our very brief at the good and bad from episode 4:
The Good
1) Greater level of tension, suspense and danger
2)Episode felt very serialized, whilst being wrapped up with a pretty pink bow for those casual viewers.
3) Big pay-off with both mythology and character development – put it this way, it felt more like an episode of LOST than an episode of CSI. Although CSI has it’s merits, we’re from the school of LOST – know your people JJ.
4) Superb visuals, lighting, music.
5) Potential of recurring characters – if we don’t have The Observer back for future episodes, we’ll scream louder than the nurse from episode 2! Seriously, this guy has Benjamin Linus-like potential, in his own expressionless way, of course.
6) Olivia – she’s cute, endearing, tough, vulnerable and she’s far too humble for her own good. You’ve got skills girl, don’t sell yourself short. And yes, she’s got pretty good observational skills herself. Did I say she’s cute - I love the way she speaks – the eyes, the mouth. The eyes and the mouth, people!
7) Massive Dynamic – No William or Nina, but they’re omni-present, and we love it!
8 ) John Scott – reanimated, ghost, spirit, hallucination? Whatever he is, the possibilities are so win.
9)Comic relief – Walter wanting a Root-Beer float during the most serious of moments. The man kills and reanimates me all at the same time.
The Bad
1) Could have pushed the envelope further – however I appreciate the need to hold back.
2) How is the government unable to track Walter’s movements when he steels the cylinder - Big Brother isn’t as all-seeing as I thought. All that technology in the show, but not enough CCTV cameras. Although conveniently there’s one which captures Mosely’s arrival at the lab?
3) The episodic appeasement of the show means that it often covers old ground at the beginning of each episode. Restating things which the hardcore element already know. Whilst it wasn’t as jarring in this episode, I still noticed it. Not much can be done about this I guess.
4) I feel that we need a major character turn – thought it would come when Walter stuck the needle in Astrid’s arm, but it didn’t. Other than John Scott and perhaps Walter, we are yet to see much moral ambiguity from our main characters. Even Peter with his shady past seems morally sound (although, perhaps that’s the point). If we’re going to deal with science that questions the morality of mankind, we need to start seeing just how far our Fringies can be pushed before they break, before the question the cause they’re currently fighting for. I’m not a sadist, I don’t want to see people doing bad things, but the show is crying out for it. Let’s see what science does to the best of us – perhaps I’ve watched too much “Dark Knight”, but hell, it has a good premise. In all seriousness, if this is to come then I can wait for it, I just hope that we see this angle explored with a bit more depth.
5) One of the best things about “LOST” is that they rarely waste a scene, every scene is like a set-play from which magic unfolds. This isn’t quite the case yet with Fringe – there were a few scenes which could have been replaced, shortened or lengthened.
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