Fringe - "Enemy of My Enemy" (4.09)

"Enemy of My Enemy" is a really fantastic episode and is definitely the best episode of the season so far. The general consensus seems to be that "Back to Where You've Never Been" was the best episode of the season until we saw this one. As most probably already know, "Back to Where You've Never Been" was initially intended to be the fall finale but was pushed forward to January because of baseball, while "Enemy of My Enemy" was intended to be the winter premiere, and it's definitely apparent because the two episodes are very much like a two-part episode; "Enemy of My Enemy" pretty much picks up right where "Back to Where You've Never Been" leaves off. I was honestly expecting Colonel Broyles to be made in this episode and to die trying to free Blueverse Lincoln from captivity, and I expected that because I figured that it would parallel his having helped Olivia back in the third season. Something that I absolutely love about this episode is the scenes that parallel earlier scenes in earlier seasons. For example, Broyles shows Jones' file to Olivia during a scene that is nearly identical to a scene from "In Which We Meet Mr. Jones" (1.07). Also, Jones refers to wanting to avoid "unnecessary deaths," and he uses the exact same term during "Ability" (1.14). The final parallel that I noticed is Elizabeth saying to Walter that "the last time I saw you, you were trying to save a boy; now, I've come to do the same," which parallels what Olivia says to Colonel Broyles in "Entrada" (3.08) as she pleads for her life.

I love Peter's line in this episode as he argues with Blueverse Lincoln; he says, "I lost a universe!" in reply to Lincoln having said that he lost his partner. Some people interpreted that a bit differently than I did, though; some people, like Darrell of the Fringe Podcast, interpreted that as his home, the people that he loved, and so forth, but I immediately interpreted that as the Redverse because the decision that he made led to the Redverse's destruction, although I could be wrong because he incorrectly thinks that there is an alternate place to which he needs to travel, so in that sense, he could be using the words interchangeably, but I don't think so. I love the scene between Peter and Jones; Jones is so surprised when Peter points what he knows of Jones, and the look on his face says it all. "How do you know that?" is definitely what he's wondering, but he quickly recovers and regains control. I don't understand what Jones wants, though, what he's trying to do. Is he trying to destroy the Redverse? If so, why was he sending Shapeshifters to the Blueverse? I really expected the money that Jones was distributing to be the sealant from "Ability" (1.14), since he was distributing that via money, and that may have been another intended parallel. Obviously, Colonel Broyles is assisting Jones, and I have my theory as to why. He doesn't seem very happy to be working with Jones, which is evident from the scene in which he looks at him as Jones looks through his car window; he doesn't look very happy, to say the least. My theory (which existed before people said the same on the podcast)

Based on the ending of the episode, we know that Jones does know Olivia. She has apparently never met him, but he knows her because he is behind Nina's ploy to pump her full of Cortexiphan. Therefore, since he knows Blueverse Olivia, he must have been pretending not to recognize Redverse Olivia. What Jones does as far as the people at the clinic is incredibly graphic, and at first, it reminds me of "The Cure" (1.06) when the people's heads explode, but then, the Fringe Podcast pointed out that it was like the pilot episode, and I experienced an "a-ha" moment because that is definitely closer, and that may have been what it was supposed to have been. Obviously, Michelle Krusiec's character is now gone, and I'm disappointed because Krusiec tweeted that we would eventually learn Nadine Park's actual name and that it is really cool, and we haven't learned it, and I doubt we will. I tweeted her and asked her, and she said that she's not sure what she's allowed to say and what she isn't and suggested that I look online, and I did, but I didn't find anything, unfortunately. We might, but I doubt we will ever learn her real name, so so much for that teaser. I am definitely really excited to see where Jones being the enemy of both universes will take us, and I knew knew that this was going to happen, probably right around the same time, if not before, xerophytes offered the theory.

Olivia asks Astrid to run September's blood, and it's annoying that in the following episode, "Forced Perspective" (4.10), the blood doesn't tell us anything other than the fact that he was alive in 1919, which we already knew. There are definitely some great scenes in this episode, though. I like the scene in which Blueverse Lincoln (who is so much cuter with glasses) is happy to see Redverse Olivia and Redverse Lincoln happy together (although not romantically), and that scene is really funny because you can tell that he sees a chance to hook up with Blueverse Olivia. Another scene is Kick-Astrid asking Peter if he is really from a different timeline, and when he says that he is, a brief "cool" is her response, and it's so funny. Another scene is the one in which Walter and Elizabeth talk, and Walter, in despair, says that he can never be forgiven for what he did because he asked God for a sign of forgiveness, and it never came (confirmation that "White Tulip" is yet another episode that never happened), and Elizabeth replies by saying that she forgives him and that if she can, God can; that is one of the most beautiful scenes of the series so far. There are some people that don't think that she really forgave him, that she just manipulated him toward some endgame, but I don't agree with that.

Another scene that I absolutely love is the scene near the end of the episode when Walter and Peter talk, and they seem to come to terms with the fact that Peter is here, and they have a very nice scene that parallels the scene between Peter and Walternate (whom I actually kind of like in this episode) near the end of "Back to Where You've Never Been" (4.08). During this particular scene, Peter says to Walter that he was surprised to find that Walternate was not the man that he thought he had been but that he is not at all surprised to find that Walter is the man that he thought that he had been. That scene totally made me cry. Peter now wants to help these versions of the Blueverse and the Redverse solve their problems, but now, Walter also wants to help Peter go home, so hopefully, this means that the original timeline will be restored, but at this point, I am convinced that it will be. I totally didn't see Nina working with Jones coming, but I'm not surprised, and some people are saying that it's because she's a Shapeshifter, and I disagree; Nina has always been rotten, and people that aren't acknowledging that are ignoring episodes such as "The Dreamscape" (1.09) and "Of Human Action" (2.07). I'm more convinced than ever that it's Redverse Nina behind the typewriter; almost every time we see Nina doing something naughty, she's communicating with someone, which is why I also think that the Observers report to one version of her. I absolutely love this episode and give it 10 hilarious Kick-Astrids.

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