"Imagine If... Astrid Was a Spy?" (Beyond the Fringe Chapter #2B)

I want to start by saying that I absolutely love the cover of this comic, as I wonder whether or not I am the only one that is reminded of Catwoman. The leather outfit is primarily what does that for me, but also the position and the rope (or whatever that would properly be called). However, the comic itself has a very strong Alias feel to it, and I know that I have said this before, but if you are a Fringe fan that has not seen Alias, please do see it, as I think that you will find it to not only be an amazing show but also to be beneficial to your appreciation of Fringe. There are many Fringe season 1 substories, for example, that intentionally (I say intentionally because Alias is a series in which J.J. Abrams, Jeff Pinkner, and J.R. Orci were all involved.) parallel Alias storylines, such as Olivia needing to sort through John Scott's memories in the tank. Also, Alias is indirectly mentioned from time to time, as well. Back in season 1, the "villain" in "The Transformation" (1.13) is named Marshall Bowman, a combination of the names Marshall Flinkman and Carrie Bowman, a couple on Alias, and in season 2, Peter, in "Grey Matters" (2.10), mentions a girl named Sydney that lived across the street from him when he was a child, and Syndey is the name of the main character on Alias.

 

I was so shocked and surprised when I found out that Astrid was working for Nina, and I wondered whether or not Nina still worked for Massive Dynamic in this universe, which does end up being the case. Astrid is an agent of Massive Dynamic, to what end we don't know. I love how Astrid stands up for herself, though; she tells Nina that Walter means too much to her, that Fringe Division means too much to her, so she doesn't want to work for Massive Dynamic anymore. Nina tells her that that is not a decision that she gets to make, but Astrid continues to rebel, and eventually, she finds something that she could really use. She finds information that implicates Nina as a criminal, and she blackmails Nina, warning her that if she doesn't let her leave the agency, she will spill what she found, which results in Nina caving. I wonder what it was exactly that Astrid found. What nasty business is Nina involved in this time? Astrid goes to Cairo to obtain information from an agency that is posing as a technology company (sound familiar?), and apparently, Nina is involved in this company somehow. Is the company Massive Dynamic, or is Nina involved in something overseas? It must be that Nina is rotten regardless of the universe or timeline, and that tells me that my theory regarding Nina being the face behind the interdimensional typewriter is, in fact, the case; she's rotten no matter what.

 

Something that this comic really makes me wonder is whether or not anything like this has ever happened in the Blueverse. We wouldn't really know if it had, would we? Astrid stepped down from her role as a Massive Dynamic agent in the comic, and she told her that she would never do any work for her again, so is it possible that something similar happened at some point in the first three seasons? My boyfriend Ray thinks that Peter's Shapeshifter killing-spree back in "Reciprocity" (3.11) is due to the promise that he made to Nina back in "The Cure" (1.06), and I think that that is a very real possibility. We just can't trust Nina, and if you return to episodes that involve interaction between Nina and Astrid, it is usually very brief and awkward. People used to theorize that Astrid was the "lovechild" of Nina and Broyles, but I don't think that that is the case because we learn in "The Day We Died" (3.22) that Astrid knew her father; that isn't to say that he wasn't her adoptive father, but I really don't get that impression at all. I also wonder about the lab fire in this comic. It is caused by edible plastics. Walter mixes a bunch of different liquids and heated them; he then asked the agent in the lab for a saline solution but was given something else instead, something that the agent thought was a saline solution. This caused a fire, and I wonder if this is how the fire that killed Carla Warren happened. Ultimately, I give this comic 9.5 Astrid Bristow Catwomen; I really enjoyed it.