Fringe 3.16 - Os - Review

Fringe 3x16 - In Which Hurley Gets High and Walter Rings William’s Bell

After the week long hiatus, Fringe came back in full swing. We got a dribble of mythology scattered throughout – a few references to The Machine, a few of Walter’s ‘oh dear the universes are colliding and it’s all my fault' rants and we also got to see more of what Peter had been up to since his shiftercide spree. But mostly, this episode had a good old fashioned monster of the week feel to it – with the case focusing on floating thieves and a physics-defying compound.



THINGS THAT MADE ME HAPPY:

Duuude! – Hurley/Kevin the security guy and Walter smokin’ up a bong in the teaser was epic. As a Lost fan, I didn’t realise how much I missed seeing Jorge Garcia take up most of my screen until I saw him laughing it up with Walter. It was a great cameo, as was the tail end of Walter’s anecdote. It was the seventies. Indeed. This scene also expanded on some of Walter’s self-doubts and his growing frustration with his inability to stop whatever is happening to the universes and thus save Peter, which really is the focal point of Walter’s arc this season.

What Goes Up… – I personally thought that this was one of the coolest and Fringiest cases to date. The floating bodies throughout the episode were really well done. I also enjoyed the return of the gore. Dr Crick sawing off that poor dead guy’s leg was fantastically gruesome.



O Icarus of the fearless flight – This episode brought back a familiar plot line. Dr Crick unknowingly takes advantage of the fact that nature is going through a bit of a rough patch and creates a substance lighter than air, while allowing paralysed men to fly before butchering them for the sake of science, progress and most importantly, his dear son, Michael.


Now, this certainly wouldn’t be the first time we’ve seen the ‘scientist pushing moral boundaries for the sake of a loved one’ plot. Think “White Tulip”, “The Same Old Story”, even “Night of Desirable Objects” touched on it. Of course, all these cases mirrored Walter and Peter’s situation in some way. Here we got a reference to Icarus, given wings by his father and then killed when he flew too close to the sun. Personally, I think it was Icarus’ fault for over-reaching, which is interesting if we consider that Peter is Icarus in this analogy, Peter who is currently creating daisy-chain patterns with shape-shifter disks in his secret underground lair, although when last we saw him, he was sharing his dirty little secret with his new girlfriend.

Can`t Get Enough of Your Love Baby – So Peter and Olivia have finally changed their statuses on Facebook to ‘in a relationship’, which I assure you, has gotten many, many likes. And they were so adorably couply in this episode, despite Peter hiding his shiftercidal tendencies for most of it. I swear, every time Olivia smiled, a double rainbow appeared on the horizon. I was pleased that the writers were able to balance out Olivia’s character by allowing her this relationship (however short-lived it may be) and proving that a female character can indeed be in a relationship, and be a happy and angst-free without it impinging on their badassness – as proven when she Dunhammed that window above Crick’s head.



Nina’s reaction at the new couple was particularly interesting since she’s the only one who knows about Weiss’ foreboding message. Although, quite honestly, after ‘6B’ and certainly after this episode, I find it difficult to imagine that a ‘love triangle’ is still in play. Peter and Olivia are clearly in an established relationship and even if he does have latent feelings for Altlivia, I doubt that he would ever acknowledge them. The only ‘triangle’ I can realistically foresee, is
Peter being torn between Olivia in this world and perhaps his responsibilities as a father in the other, but even then, I doubt it would come down to something so simple. Either way, I hope Sam Weiss checks his Facebook notifications.

Wina – Firstly, I’m starting to believe that Nina might be a shape-shifter due to the puzzling fact that she is the only character on this show that actually looks younger since the pilot. Blair Brown looked pretty foxy in this episode, but that’s neither here nor there. I loved Nina’s interaction with Walter in this one. From the comedic to the dramatic, they hit every note perfectly. Nina convincing Walter that it was and still is his imagination and not his intellect that makes him remarkable was a significant moment, because it gives us insight as to why Walter is as brilliant as he is and perhaps foreshadowing that it is this creativity and imagination that will lead him to the breakthrough that will save the universes.



Walter’s hopeful, “Belly?” to Nina at the end was lol-worthy as was Nina’s “No, Walter, it’s still me.” and their slow turn to the door as they anticipated Belly’s arrival was so well-timed and hilarious. The actors have great chemistry.

Ring My Bell – “All he needs to do was to prepare someone by inserting microscopic soul magnets inside them and-and he proposes using injections, food, cup of tea. What if he did that? What if he’s done that?”



So William Bell implanted his soul magnets into Olivia. Firstly, that’s kinda gross. Secondly, it’s just rude. I mean, if someone inserted their "soul magnets" in me without permission, I’d have them arrested, you know what I mean?

Personal feelings aside, this was one of the greatest sci-fi moments I’ve ever seen. I’m guessing that the tea thing was done purposefully way back in the beginning of season two because the writers knew that they would eventually get to this point, and if so, this show just went from great to spectacular. I’m trying to reserve my judgement until next week’s episode, but at this point, I’m convinced that Anna Torv deserves pretty much every award on the planet. Her Nimoy impression was fantastic. In fact since she’s already got the voice down, JJ should really reconsider his casting for his next Star Trek film. I vote Anna Torv.




THINGS THAT MADE ME NOT SO HAPPY:

The Worth of Agent Farnsworth – So Astrid’s been fairly side-lined in the last few episodes, then in this one she was quite prominent, which I rather enjoyed. Until it occurred to me that she was prominently doing all the dirty work. Walter asking her to pick up the corpse and put it on the table, Walter asking her to dispose of the excess blood, Walter needing her to clean up his spilled soda volcano.

We get a hint of her frustration with her mumbled line, “Is this what I went to Quantico for?” so I’m hoping that the Astrid abuse is there for a reason and will be rectified in due course, because while I love the Walter/Astrid relationship, we’ve seen how interesting her character can be in episodes like ‘6955 kHz’ when her skills are utilised to benefit the team, not only Walter’s stomach.

END NOTES:

This episode wasn’t phenomenal, but it was a nice jump back to the old case-heavy structure, which I always enjoy between the mythos-heavy episodes. And the last scene definitely whets my appetite for next week’s episode, which I imagine is going to be all kinds of hilarious. All in all, another good week of Fringe.




RATING:



8.8 of William’s bells