Fringe - "Os" (3.16)


There is nothing extravagantly special about this episode until the very ending, when I experienced a shock of a lifetime, as I was not expecting to see Olivia's body being used as a vessel for Bell's consciousness. What a cliffhanger, and I can't wait to see how this plays out. I am just really disappointed that this happened to her now, because I found out weeks ago that we would finally meet this Lincoln Lee in "Stowaway" (3.17), and not only was I excited of that discovery in and of itself because I love Lincoln Lee, I was excited to find out how Olivia would react since she met the Lincoln "over there," but now, that isn't going to happen, exactly, because she is really William Bell. I am wondering how that is going to play out and am really excited about that for that reason, but I am also wondering where Olivia is right now; is a part of her still in there, and if not, then where is she? Where is her consciousness? For a minute, I thought that it had actually worked on Nina, since her mannerisms seem to change, but no, it did not work on Nina, and it having caused Olivia's consciousness to be dominated by that of Bell definitely serves as a much more satisfying cliffhanger than that would have, and this cliffhanger was one of the biggest surprises of the series so far.

The week before and the week during this episode's airing, I posted on both my Facebook and my Twitter account that LOST fans should tune in to "Os," since Jorge Garcia (who played the part of Hurley) would be guest-starring, and if I did hook any LOST fans who were not Fringefans, then hopefully, I didn't disappoint you, since he was not in as much of the episode as I was expecting (and I'm sure it wasn't a coincidence that he is in 3.16). The purpose was purely aLOST nod, basically serving no other purpose since he is only in the very first scene, a relatively useless, unimportant scene, but it was a lot of fun seeing him. It definitely gets the LOST fan in me feeling a bit nostalgic, even though Fringe is my love and is considerably better than LOST. I wonder if Walter is still trying to regenerate his brain cells, of if he has given that up due to Bell's "soul magnets" theory giving him a new idea. I ask that for a few reasons. Firstly, he hasn't mentioned the regeneration in a while. Secondly, the "soul magnets" idea seems to be a reasonable substitution. Lastly, while he was quite angry and irritable in "6B" (3.14), he now seems really happy, which I'm sure has a lot to do with Peter and Olivia being together, but that can't be the entire reason, because in "6B," even Astrid irritated him easily, which is not usual by any means.

One observation that I made is that Walter tells Nina what situations would likely be like "if William were here," which is likely supposed to be a parallel to "Peter" (2.15), except now, their roles are reversed. He then breaks the news to Nina that Olivia and Peter are dating, and Nina seems pleasantly surprised and then later tells Peter that he made the right choice, which we know, of course, has a lot to do with what she talks with Sam about at the end of "Concentrate and Ask Again" (3.12). I wonder, however, if they are allowed to be dating via FBI rules and regulations; after all, Walter had apparently been covering the relationship between Peter and Bolivia up (who Peter obviously thought was his Olivia), and when Broyles finds out, he seems very "put off," if you will, which could have just been that he was upset that he wasn't told. In this episode, Olivia has a lot of the same mannerisms as the other Olivia, which is because she is, "for once in her life" (referring to "Brown Betty, of course), she is happy, and the other Olivia usually seems to be very happy (with the exception of the scene during which Frank breaks up with her, that is, a scene during which we see a glimpse of our Olivia).

Olivia and Peter are so adorable in this episode, behaving like teenage lovebirds, and it's so funny when they walk out of the lab holding hands, and Olivia says, "Don't look now," when she sees Nina approaching. At the same time, though, it was all kind of heartbreaking to watch, because I knew that Peter was keeping something from her and was lying to her in the process, and that really made me fear for Olivia's happiness, because she always ends up having her heartbroken somehow. She was happy with John Scott, and that didn't work out (episode 1.01, "Pilot"). She finally told Peter how she feels, and then she was imprisoned and was therefore not able to go back to her world with him (episode 2.22, "Over There, Part 2"). Then, she finally comes home after months of hell, for lack of a better word, only to find out that Peter had had a relationship with her doppelgänger; needless to say, she really can't afford to endure any more heartbreak. The scene during which Olivia says, "It's about trust, so it's a great game if two people are playing," was difficult to watch, because it's easy to see that Olivia is very happy while we, as the viewers, know that Peter is lying to her, and also, the scene is nearly identical to a scene in "Olivia. In the Lab. With the Revolver" (2.16), except in that scene, their roles were reversed; Olivia was keeping something from Peter.

I do, however, have respect for Peter for finally telling Olivia the truth. Again, it is disappointing that Bell's consciousness dominates Olivia's consciousness when it does, not only because she would have otherwise met the Lincoln on this side but also because Peter finally tells Olivia the truth, and now, we aren't going to see her reaction right away. Will she even remember when she comes to (which I read, by the way, won't happen until a couple of episodes down the road)? My thought is that Bell did this when he pulled her over to the Other Side in "There's More than One of Everything" (1.20) and then sent her back, as we see in "Momentum Deferred" (2.04); I think, in fact, that he planned that so that he could store his "soul magnet" inside of her. Like I have said before, I really don't think that Bell is the "nice guy" that we were led to believe he is in "Over There, Part 2" (2.22). After all, he has had a lot to do with the inhumane experiments that have been taking place at Massive Dynamic, as we see in "Of Human Action" (2.07), and he even refers to Olivia in "Over There, Part 2" (2.22) as if she is still a scientific specimen. Now that he is back (based on what we see in the very last scene of this episode and based on the promo of "Stowaway"), it looks like he is still wanting to "play games," if you will.

The case in this episode is kind of interesting, and it was really neat to find out that the two components being combined which produced an ability to float has to do with the physicality of the blueverse's universe beginning to fall apart like that of the redverse. The episode kind of reminds me of "Safe" (1.10), since in that episode, the "bad guys" conduct robberies in an unconventional manner, and Peter even tells a museum employee in this episode that the "bad guys" didn't come in through the front door, as he tells the bank employee in "Safe" that they were able to get around the bank's security blockades. This is yet another "bad guy," however, who seems to have good intentions, which is why I put "bad guy" in quotes. I love the Icarus reference that Walter makes, and it's an allusion that I probably never would have made myself had Walter not made it, and the soda explosion is incredibly hilarious, mainly because of Astrid's reaction, which is actually why Walter is so funny a lot of the time. Despite the incredibly annoying Ford commercial in Olivia's vehicle, this is a decent episode, and I give it 7 Volcanic Colas.

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