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1.04

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.

Like, what happened to John Mosely’s (Rouge) pulse gun that was last seen leaving the foot of Olivia as she kicked it away from his smiling corpse? This is potentially useful information – where and what ‘time’ did the gun come from and was it made by Massive Dynamic, are just a few of the questions that spring to mind.

Another plot-line which has so far failed to be acknowledged satisfactorily, concerns Walter attacking and injecting Astrid with God knows what, the young rookie was rightfully pissed with him, in fact she could barely look at him when he went to apologise to her. By the time that we see them in the next episode, they’ve apparently kissed and made-up again, the only sign of resentment from Astrid was her “rats with wings” retort. So what happened off-screen, did Walter serenade her into forgiving him, or is Astrid just as forgetful as Walter? I would have liked to have seen how they resolved their broken relationship. Even more than that I would have liked to have seen Astrid make Walter suffer a bit longer before forgiving him – she needs some lines right? Drawing out her resentment for a few episodes would have given her more involvement.

The one that really bothers me though is Clause Penrose. I’m fine with him escaping into the night, I’m even fine with him escaping into the night, leaving a trail of blood from the bullet wound and still leaving the FBI clueless. But I want some carry-over. He’s still out there at large, possibly cultivating more creepy Christopher’s as we speak, the very least I expect is for someone to mention him. Perhaps Peter can give us a snarky throw-away line, or Broyles can gravely express his concern that too many of their targets are escaping, getting killed or exploding back through the earth.

I guess we have to accept that a lot of these ‘discussions’ will happen off-screen, which to be fair, happens a lot in “Lost”. I’m fine with that, the writers can’t bog the story down with every detail. But in “Lost” you get the sense that these fairly important things will eventually be referred to again – yes, even the black and white stones that are probably still in Jack’s sweaty pocket!

I love Fringe, the creators are doing a very good job, but for the show to remain credible and trust-worthy in the long-run, we need important elements to have more continuity in the subsequent episodes. Like Peter’s battered and bruised face in “Power Hungry”. Now that was great continuity – more of THAT please!

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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!:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

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 – djbollocks

JJ – 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 – GavinElster

JJ – 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?
yamatoEva

JJ – 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?
Fringie

JJ – 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?
Fringie

JJ – 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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The Arrival gave us a good opportunity to get up close and personal with Mr. Personality himself, The Observer. Some have speculated that he is an alien, others have suggested robot or cyborg connections, whilst others are unsure. The robot idea is an interesting one – he certainly resembles a robot at times, and his lack of any personality or emotion is often associated with robots (although there are people out there who hope to change that!). With this in mind I thought I’d take a look through the one of the websites referenced in the show – GlowingMonkeys.com. I think we should keep an eye on this site, if only to get a better understanding of the type of seemingly unbelievable and improbable sciences that the creators themselves are feeding on.

One article on the site links to a story on a life-like robot, who rather shockingly resembles our Observer (see above pic for comparison). But my point is not that they look a-like, but that the technology and initiative is out there - life-like robots are possible and the technology is only going to get better in the near future. I’m not saying that our creepy bald guy is definitely a robot, but it’s certainly a possible direction that they could take his story – especially with Massive – “What do we do?..What don’t we do” – Dynamic and the robotically armed Nina Sharp on the scene.

Feel free to weigh in – what are your thoughts? Is The Observer a robot, an alien or something entirely different? The poll awaits.

What Is The Observer?

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Here’s our round-up of the clues and eastereggs from episode 1.04 “The Arrival”.

UNLOCK YOUR HIDDEN..

In the opening scene there is a poster plastered on a signpost (A, B). Partially (and intentionally) obscured by the location titles the poster says: “UNLOCK YOUR HIDDEN POTENTIAL”, followed by what appears to be “BETTER HEADING” (certainly the letters HEA can be seen) and a phone number with some of the digits hidden from view. Each episode so far has contained subtle clues for the next episode, this would appear to be the clue for episode 5, which airs on October 14.

THE ‘OTHER’ PATTERN

In the pilot episode we saw a colored pattern (green, green, green, red) on the kayak in Olivia’s dream state (C). This same pattern was seen in two different places in The Arrival – first it was on the (bottom left)interface of The Observer’s binoculars (A) and again on the hat of John Mosely AKA ‘Rouge’ (B). These occurrences seem to link Olivia (or her uncle) to the company/peoples that both The Observer and Rouge represent. Since The Observer and Rouge appear to be on opposing sides, it’s been speculated that they are also from opposing ‘times’. The Zeno kayak had a heavy time-travel connotation, so perhaps The Observer and Rouge are from different time-lines? The Observer’s items (gun, hat etc) appear to be from the early 1900′s, yet in other ways he seems very futuristic (the effect of his gun and his mannerisms being an example of this. Whilst Rouge is apparently from our time (according to his crime report), yet his beam gun and thought-extractor has a futuristic effect.

MYSERIOUS WRITINGS

The Observer’s writings have been speculated to be Korean, Hebrew and Sanskrit by fans and waitresses alike, but in actual fact they appear to be a made-up language for the purpose of the show. It’s been noted on Fringe-Forum.com that the symbols are not repeated throughout the text.

We get two different views of the writings, one from The Observers point of view (A) and the other from the waitresses point of view (B). The text appears different in each point of view, this is either a continuity error, or it might carry hidden meaning.

MASSIVE HIGH

Massive Dynamic may have been absent from the episode, but in actual fact they weren’t. A Massive Dynamic sign can be seen on the crane at the construction site where the cylinder arrived from. This is another example in a long line of examples of Massive Dynamic owning everything – “What do we do?..what don’t we do”. It could also be speculated that Massive Dynamic were also expecting the cylinder to arrive and arranged for the area to be excavated, at the expense of a few construction worker lives.

BLU(E) RAY

Throughout the series we’ve noticed the fleeting appearance of a blue light – it was very prominent in The Arrival. It was seen when The Observer announced the arrival of the cylinder, during the Rouge-attack sequence and several other scenes.

A blue light can also be seen on the cylinder as the team are inspecting it.

The very first occurrences of this blue light were seen in the opening title credits of the pilot when the words “OBSERVERS ARE HERE” briefly appears, and when Olivia’s uncles kayak appears during her ‘dream state’ with John Scott.

The main constant in all of these ‘blue light’ appearances seems to be The Observer – or in the case of the title credits, the reference to ‘observers are here’ – and Olivia. We detect a time-travel theme, particularly if the ZENO kayak is representative of Massive Dynamic’s PEARL system. More on the blue light at Fringe-Forum.com

CYNICS TO BELIEVERS

The name S.E. Kramer can be seen on the warehouse where the cylinder was initially being kept. This is a shout-out to Popular Mechanics writer and Fringe cynic S.E. Kramer, who attempted to debunk the science portrayed in the second episode. The Fringe creators have a sweet sense of humor.

WHERE’S WALDO?

The various photos of The Observer – It took Broyles team 1 year to spot him, yet Olivia did it in only 3 weeks. Further evidence of her connection to ‘The Pattern’? It’s worth speculating whether or not these sightings are of the same ‘Observer’, or many – after all, “Observers (plural) Are Here”

GRAVE CONNECTIONS

Robert Bishop, August 21, 1912 -  December 11, 1944. It’s difficult to know who Robert was, but Grandfather of Peter, father of Walter could be a good bet. Rouge makes an interesting comment to Peter before he begin digging – “It’s a shame you never got to meet him”. Does this mean that Rouge, however, DID meet him – further evidence that Rouge is from a different time?.

The other gravesstones are diffiuclt to make-out, but they appear to be: S. Miloz Nski, 1868-1917H. Ilozynski 1879-1995S.U. Miloz Nski 1805-1969. We’re not 100% sure if we’ve got these dates correct, as it would mean that some of these people lived very very very long lives! Casey Peretti, 1902-1990 (a possible shout-out to the TV show As The World Turns). The middle-right gravestone is extremely difficult to read, but we’ve included it for reference (for a clearer image, see here).

OLD BLUE..GREEN..SILVER EYES

In episode 2 – The Same Old Story, Walter says that most male new borns have blue eyes, in this screen-capture of Peter from The Arrival, he appears to have green eyes (A). Is this down to the lighting or did they change the color of his eyes in post production, and if so, why..

In Peter and Walter’s final scene of The Arrival, Walter’s eyes develop a strange silver glint (B) (near the end of the scene). Again, is this the lighting playing tricks, or did they add this in post production, and to what ends? It worth noting that so far throughout the series, there has been A LOT of hints and allusions to the eyes, so these occurrences must surely mean something?

FRINGE ITEMS

Some of the items belonging to The Observer and Rouge: The Observers binoculars, modern interface yet dated external aesthetics (A). The cylinder – described by Walter as having perfect dimensions (B). The Observers dated time-piece (C), which is actually a real-life Majestron brand (D) pocket watch. Rouge’s nose-plugs of persuasion (E, F) which were used to read Peter’s (and subsequently, Walter’s) thoughts – a very crude instrument, yet once again it’s futuristic in it’s effect. Rouge’s beam-blast gun (G) (futuristic in appearance and effect) and The Observer’s gun (E) (traditional in appearance yet futuristic in effect).

Thanks to that source of all things Fringe, Fringe-Forum.com, for several of the screencaps/clues used in this post.

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It’s time for our latest Fringie of The Week contest! Last weeks ‘Ghost Network’ 3-way-tie means that Walter holds 3 victories, Peter 2 and Olivia is off the mark with 1. Vote for your favourite Fringe character from episode 1.04 “The Arrival” using the poll below:

 

1.04 The Arrival - Fringie of The Week

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No new episode this week (Presidential debate), so this one stays open til the eve of episode 5 (Oct. 14).

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The dear Dr. Bishop has posted his latest lab notes post episode 4 – The Arrival (click on image to read).

Whoever writes these notes is getting better at being more mystical and cryptic, but this weeks notes are a lot of fun to read, with much with which to speculate.

Walter focuses on his bald friend - The Observer, as well as Peter’s ‘knowledge’. In particular he states that “the boy brought me whole flies when I only asked for wings” – Does Peter heighten Walter’s genius? Who else is Peter’s mind connected to?

Walter also mentions asking ‘Fisher King’ for answers – in Arthurian Legend, The Fisher King was the last in a line responsible for keeping the Holy Grail safe. Interesting that Walter should make this reference. Is the cylinder The Observer’s equivalent of the Holy Grail? Perhaps this shed’s more light on the importance of the cylinder?

Just like in the previous lab notes, Dr. Bishop once again makes reference to ‘walls’ - “The Walls, the walls, push back the walls!”. This could be a further reference to the Fringe comic (issue #1) where William Bell sees the wall ‘move’.

What’s with the spilled coffee? The letters H.A are legible on the broken mug. What did this spell – Harvard? Or something else?  There is also two photos of the cylinder, the last time it arrived, and a sketch of the cylinder with some equations.

There are also some other interesting notes in there – click on the above image to see what you can find.

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In The Arrival you may have picked up on the fact that the Fringe creators gave the Popular Mechanic writers a shout-out (here for image). This seems to have done the trick, as even Popular Mechanics struggle to debunk the scientific credibility of this weeks episode. In all fairness, credit to the Fringe creators for being so on point with the cylinder story-line.

Could a metallic cylinder survive a major explosion unscathed?


Crane accidents at New York City construction sites are all too commonplace these days, but when a crane collapsed and killed three people at the start of “The Arrival” in Williamsburg in Brooklyn, its cause wasn’t a strap failure or faulty weld, but an explosion. The fiery eruption happened when a mysterious cylinder blasted through an unused subway tunnel and into a gas main. When the dust settled, the cylinder was the only thing intact among the rubble.

If the cylinder was at the center of the explosion, how did it not break apart, melt or bend in that fireball? “It was probably kryptonite or unobtainium,” jokes Jack Waddell, the president of Florida-based BlastGard. Waddell’s company produces BlastWrap, a lining consisting of mineral-filled pockets that, when placed on an object, mitigates shock waves and quenches fireballs. According to Waddell, something like BlastWrap would have worked in this situation because the cylinder was right where the blast began. “The sooner the mitigation process starts, the greater the degree to which it prevents the full development of the energy release.”

Assuming this cylinder wasn’t wrapped in Waddell’s perlite-pellet blanket or some similar protective lining, he says the shape of the object might be a reason for its safety. “It’s the perfect vessel to survive because it manages internal and external pressure more efficiently than any shape on the planet,” he says.

Alan Pense, professor emeritus of material science at Lehigh University’s ATLSS Research Center, is no stranger to superstrong materials either. Engineers at the center have been experimenting with high-melting-point steels and oxides that can bend, stretch and compress without breaking. But superstrength might not even have been necessary for this object.

“It’s not outlandish at all,” he says. “In order to melt a structure, you have to have a very high temperature—close to 3000 degrees Fahrenheit—for an extended period of time.” This is a hard threshold to reach, so in a normal, contained explosion, the material would typically survive. “Now, if you had a nuclear explosion, there’s no question you could melt anything.”

Is it possible for the cylinder to tunnel through the earth’s core?


The mysterious cylinder may be able to survive fiery explosions, but what about its supposed ability to tunnel through the planet at any point in the world and come out on the other side? On the show, another cylinder—discovered in 1987—quickly disappeared when it shot like a missile down into the Earth’s core.
ahren
“The idea that you could somehow send something through the Earth’s core is very unlikely because there are no materials I know that can survive that temperature,” Pense says. The inner core is thought to have a temperature up to about 13,000 degrees Fahrenheit, which is hotter than the surface of the sun. When refractory materials that can handle very high temperatures—bricks, ceramics and so on—begin to melt at 5000 F, it seems impossible for a material such as this cylinder to survive the trip.

Even if melting weren’t an issue, Pense says the metal might dissolve into the core. He explains that when you throw salt on an icy road, those two solid materials are not at a temperature where they would individually melt. But if you clamp them together, they form an alloy where they are in contact and they dissolve. “What you may find is that these materials, when put in the iron core of the planet, may dissolve into that.”

Pense wonders if perhaps the cylinder isn’t going so deep that it actually hits the Earth’s core. “We can drill many miles into the Earth’s surface and not melt the drilling equipment or the piping, so certainly it could travel at that level,” he says. But then, what about its ability to tunnel through the core at all? “What would be the energy source?” Pense asks. “How would it eliminate the material in front of it? Would it get so hot that the rocks would melt? That’s not a good idea because you might begin to erode the surface of the cylinder.”

Thanks: Popular Mechanics

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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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Fringe improved on last weeks ratings as it received 10.4 million viewers and won all of the target viewer groups for it’s hour:

House dominated the evening in terms of the youth demos, and Fringe won the demos for its hour and was second in demo performance only to House, though the House lead-in is definitely helping as Fringe slipped by about 800K viewers and more than 10% in the demos from the first half hour to the second.

The Arrival was an exceptional episode, let’s hope that the show continues in this vein – if it does, ratings could rise even higher.

Source: TVByTheNumbers.com

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