The primary aspect of this episode that really disappointed me is that they did almost exactly what I said in my last entry that I was really hoping that they wouldn't, which is that in this episode, Charlie's "shapeshifter" body snatcher is killed off, which effectively ends Charlie's story, in this reality anyway. We do, of course, hopefully still have the alter-Charlie to deal with, a Charlie who, for one reason or another which has not been divulged yet, has a scar on the side of his face. At this point, my thought is that his scar is related to what happened to him in this reality, as in the shapeshifter killing him and throwing his seemingly strangled body into the furnace, but that's really all I have to offer. I have no idea whatsoever how the two are related or if they even are. Anyway, I'm wondering if this shapeshifter will even be given a name eventually. Like I said, Charlie is dismissively disbanded in the premiere episode, and now, even his doppelanger is seemingly dismissively disbanded; all it takes are a few failed gunshots to his heart and then one fatal one to his head in just one scene.
It is really nice to see Broyles act as a fatherly figure for Olivia at a point that she really needs it and comforts her, assuring her that Charlie's death is not her fault. He really seems to be undergoing some type of change; in "Fracture," he actually smiles near the end of the episode when they effectively prevent Burgess from crystallizing and exploding, and now, in a vehemently caring and gentle manner (for him), he comforts Olivia; it's a bit odd, but anyway, my point here is that I really would have liked to have seen the "evil Charlie" mythology pan out throughout more of the season than merely the first four episodes, and even that only consisted of three, since Charlie was not in last week's episode. He had better get some sort of ceremony to commemorate him; if John Scott was given one back in episode 1.03, then seriously, Charlie had better get one. Perhaps then we could see Olivia grieve with a bit more intensity. Granted, they don't have a body since it's by now burned to ashes, but they didn't have Scott's body either; Nina did at Massive Dynamic.
Speaking of Charlie not being in last week's episode, by the way, this week marked the second week in a row that Jessup was not on the show, and in the second episode ("Night of Desirable Objects"), the most recent episode in which she was featured, she didn't even have a speaking part if I am remembering correctly. Don't assume that I'm complaining, of course, because trust me, I'm not. I really do not like Jessup from the small amount of time we have seen her in action. As has been previously mentioned on The Fringe Podcast, if you notice, like Olivia, Jessup seems to stick to dark colors such as grey and black. Olivia will occasionally wear something like pale blue, but you'll never see her in pink or yellow or orange or even green if I am correct; it's always dull colors. My point, therefore, is that I am being left to wonder if perhaps Jessup is a Cortexiphan child as well, and if so, what the writers' feel they are achieving by adding another Olivia to the show. She is not needed, and I read somewhere (I believe it was Entertainment Weekly) that Jessup's purpose is to add a spiritual element to the show's mythology, but as most of us in the Fringe community seemed to agree last season, fans don't really want this; leave religion out of Fringe. I am assuming, based on the scene near the end of 2.01, that she is looking for ways to tie Fringe Division cases to the Bible, and again, based on the aforementioned scene, she is seemingly managing to do so successfully. I honestly just don't feel that adding this component to the show is going to do anything constructive for it. Forgive me for the comparison (even though I'm sure the writers would eat it up), but we really don't need a Scully on the show either.
As I said before, we receive a great multitude of answers from this episode, too many to list off, so I'll just try to hit the key points here. Previously, we wondered what happened between Bell and Olivia at the conclusion of the first season when we see that Olivia is standing inside the World Trade Center, which, in this reality, was never struck down, and now, we know what happened, and we know what was said. That actually leads me directly into a theory that I want to share, and that is that I think that William Bell may be Olivia's father, and I say that because as far as I know, Olivia has never mentioned her father before. In "The Ghost Network," she mentions her stepfather, but not once does she mention her father if I'm correct, which leads me to believe that there's a chance that she doesn't remember him, and the kind of warmth that he shows her seems to be incredibly fatherly which I interpret as meaning more than just having conducted the Cortexiphan trials on her when she was a child. Based on this episode, he really seems to love her, as in compassionately love her like a father would love his child. Here, another question is answered because we find out why Olivia speaks in Greek to Peter when she wakes from her "coma." William Bell tells Olivia to say that to Peter to help get him on her side and that he would know what it meant. We, of course, know that it means "be a better man than your father," which leads me to my next theory. As I said last season, I think that Bell is actually Walter, and Walter is actually Bell since they at one point in time switched consciousnesses; why else would Bell want Olivia to say this to Peter?
Another question that is answered for us in this episode is why "Charlie" had seemed to be in severe pain, and kudos to Courtney of The Fringe Podcast for calling it almost entirely. "Charlie" had been in pain because he had been taking on his appearance for too long, and he can't shapeshift because his device is broken. Therefore, he was beginning to permanently become Charlie because you're only supposed to take on an alternate appearance for a certain amount of time. We also now know where the shapeshifters are from and what they want; they are from the alternate reality, and they are taking part in a war against this reality; we just don't quite know why yet. Their purpose, based on what Nina says to Olivia about Bell believing that no two objects could occupy the same space simultaneously and that therefore, if the two realities were to collide, only one would survive, is to eliminate our reality, but the question as to why still remains. Speaking of Nina's demonstration involving the two snow globes, I found it to be quite odd that (a) she conveniently happens to have two identical snow globes on hand at the time (I mean, they couldn't have meant much to her since she, with no hesitation, slammed them into each other), and that (b) conveniently, only one of them breaks when she forces them to collide so that her analogy would make sense. I suppose that I just found it be somewhat funny by all senses of the word.
Returning to Charlie once again, Kirk Acevedo's acting in this episode is incredibly exquisite. We have never seen him like this before, and between "Night of Desirable Objects" and this episode, I have been extremely impressed, especially by the scene in this episode in which he empties thermometers he just bought of their mercury and pours it into a Slusho container to drink; that scene is, to say the least, creepy! Even my brother, Cody, said that it made him shiver. We have never seen Acevedo take on that kind of persona, and he really pulls it off, and it's sad that he's no longer on the show now, minus the scenes that we will hopefully see of him in the alternate reality. Last season, when Acevedo apparently posted something on his Facebook about having been fired from the show, the writers' response was that it was absolutely not true and that, if anything, we would literally be seeing a lot more of him in the second season, so what I'm thinking is that he somehow found out about Charlie being killed off in the premiere episode and then reacted by assuming that he was off the show, which I think is what most people would assume in that situation.
This story involving Rebecca surprised me because I didn't think that we'd be seeing any more of her; I figured that the small amount of time in which we see her in the premiere episode when Walter shows the team the video of her talking about the shapeshifters was all we were going to see of her, but no, we get to meet her in present day time, and she has a strikingly odd resemblance to Lena Olin, who played Irina Derevko on Alias. Speaking of Alias, our "forty-seven" shoutout this week is Walter saying that he found that 47% of the shapeshifters' blood is mercury. I don't think that there is a reference every single week, but there is quite often. For example, in episode 1.14, "Ability," the device that Jones arms is located on a 47th floor. In the premiere episode, the camera very quickly shows a yellow sign that says "47" on the street during the scene near the beginning in which Jessup is questioning Peter and giving him a hard time. Last week, on "Fracture," Walter says that he stopped counting the needlemarks in Gillespie's feet after forty-seven. I'm always listening for it, and I know that it's been on the show more than in just these instances. Yet another example is when Broyles tells Olivia in the pilot episode about forty-seven children having gone missing for years and then suddenly showing up not having aged at all.
Anyway, allow me to return to my point. I like Rebecca's character because she gives Walter a love interest, but at the same time, if Walter needs a love interest, then why can't we just find out who Peter's mother is already? At first, I wondered if Rebecca is possibly Peter's mother, since she says that she saw him somewhere before right before the drugs kick in and she comically says, "Whoa, here we go!" Also, she gives him an odd look near the end of the episode and then brushes it off, but that doesn't make sense because you would think that Peter would remember her, so that was when I dismissed that theory. I suppose that it's possible that in this reality, Rebecca is his mother, and in another reality, someone else is; therefore, in this reality, he wouldn't recognize Rebecca as his mother because he's not originally from this reality. However, Rebecca saying that she has seen Peter somewhere before doesn't fit in that case because you would think that she should most definitely know where.
The episode initially kind of frustrated me because I thought that we were supposed to know whose head it is at the end of the episode, and I had no idea whose it is; it wasn't anyone I recognize. Throughout the episode, when the shapeshifters are discussing the head that they need, they describe the head as belonging to someone who tried to cross over into the alternate reality, and since the keyword there is tried, my assumption was that they are talking about Jones, but that definitely isn't Jones at the end of the episode, which is disappointing because first of all, since we have no idea who that is, it made for somewhat of a lousy cliffhanger, and second of all, I want Jones back so badly; he is one of the coolest villains ever, and we had better at least get to see, like Charlie, alter-Jones. Before that, however, the next episode is titled "Dream Logic," and it apparently involves a man who is convinced that his boss is a horned demon, and I am incredibly skeptical about this episode because, again, I really don't mean to draw this comparison, but there is an X-Files episode with an almost identical plot, so they had better do something with this to set it apart and make it unique. Also, I just recently found out that after "Dream Logic," the show is going on a hiatus for at least two weeks, possibly more, due to the World Series. The week after "Dream Logic," FOX will air the second season premiere, "A New Day in the Old Town," but then, the week after that, it won't be on at all. This is disappointing news, but hopefully, episode 2.06 will be worth the wait. I thought that it was odd that Fringe Bloggers didn't have any promo pics for anything past "Dream Logic," and now, I know why. Well, until then, stay on the fringe!
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