I haven't written about 'Fringe' this season, largely because it's one of those shows that I tend to sit back and just watch.
But hot damn was last night's episode good, continuing a trend of excellent episodes since the start of this season.
One of the problems with these Monster-of-the-week episodes is that the monster/bad guy themselves aren't really that interesting. Too often, they're played as stock villains, who have no real motive other than to be evil. So kudos to writers David Wilcox and Matthew Pitts for creating a villain with a real conflict, and kudos to Marcus Giamatti for playing it so well. I really felt for the poor guy as he realised that in order to complete his mission, he'd have to abandon his life as a civilian with a family.
And Anna Torv continues to shine as Fauxlivia - a character who, like Ray Duffy, is considered the 'bad guy' but also has a conscience. Torv absolutely brings me into Fauxlivia's head as she panics when things are going wrong and has to come up with a plan. It's so good to see she's been given some real meaty stuff to play.
Likewise, Broyles got a killer scene at the start of the episode, with Lance Reddick relishing the opportunity to get a bit of action. Sebastian Roché, in what I imagine was his last appearance in the show, played Newton in a more cold and calculating way than we'd seen before.
I like how they're teasing us with Peter almost discovering Fauxlivia. I think it'd be great if we found out that Peter knew all along and he was just taunting her. That's exactly the sort of cool fake-out I trust this show to play at this point.
The only minor complaint I could make about this episode was that the product placement was a little off putting. I don't have a problem with product integration - hell, I endorse it when it keeps shows like 'Chuck' alive, but shots for Sprint phones and cars lingered just a little bit too long for my liking, and it took me out of the reality of the episode.
All in all, I'm massively impressed with this season. Season 2 hit a creatively low point half way through, with lots of X-Filesy episodes that didn't really go anywhere. It seems 'Fringe' is learning how to really make itself it's own show and not just X-Files for the 00's (and now 10's).
As I mentioned at the start of this review, I won't write about Fringe often, because it's one I prefer to sit back and just watch, but I'll probably post every now and again just to comment on how I'm feeling about the season as a whole.
