Fringe - "Ability" (1.14)

Before I begin discussing this amazingly epic episode, I would like to warn those who have never seen Fringe but would like to see it that they should not read any further, since this blog entry does contain spoilers. This is one of my two favorite season 1 episodes, the other being "The Road Not Taken" (1.19), and it's honestly difficult for me to choose which I prefer over the other. If I had to choose, though, I might go with "The Road Not Taken," but even so, it would be an incredibly close call, because this episode is beyond epic, and I give it ten rigged light-boxes. The very first scene of the episode takes us back to "Safe" (1.10), which I love. We are reminded of what Jones did to escape from prison, and then, after the intro, we see Olivia show up at the lab, having just found out. During this scene, and even throughout a lot of the episode, she seems uncannily happy, very happy. She smiles a lot more often, especially around Peter, and she just seems generally lighter. This might be because of the ending of the previous episode, "The Transformation" (1.13), since Olivia finally met closure regarding John Scott, closure that she desperately needed. During this scene, Peter says to Olivia, "How come when nobody knows and it doesn't make sense, they come to us?" This is definitely a memorable quote; it is, in fact, in the promo that was aired at the end of "The Transformation." Beyond a memorable quote, however, this episode has so much to offer.

When the team is discussing Walter's teleportation device, Peter says to Olivia that it is meant to travel through time, and that makes no sense to me. If it's meant to travel through time, then why does it teleport people? Perhaps, when Walter created it, his intention was to create a time-traveling device, but he accidentally created a teleportation device, instead. When they soon come to the realization that Jones most likely teleported out of prison, I love Walter's expression. Olivia asks him, "You're saying that Jones, in theory, could have zapped himself out of prison?" Walter hesitates but finally affirms the question. His hesitation, however, says that it is actually a lot more complicated than that but that if he were to go into detail and be more precise, he'd lose her. The Observer is very easy to spot in this episode, as he is seen moving out of the way of the news vendor's panicked attempts to reach for help as all of his orifices begin to seal, and speaking of the sealant, I am really wondering if the sealant is why Loeb attempts to take immunologists out in "Bound" (1.11). It's the only explanation that makes sense to me, seeing how the sealant affects the immune system. Like Broyles says to Olivia in "Safe," they were trying to take out the firefighters before they started the fire, and I am assuming that this is the fire.

Olivia decides to visit Loeb since he and Jones were working together, and Loeb says something extremely memorable to her. First, he tells her that it doesn't matter whether or not she finds Jones, since he is just part of the army. Then, he tells her that "what was written will come to pass" and that nothing she attempts to do will change that. I love this scene and find myself wondering what Loeb is talking about. When he says "what was written," is he referring to what is written in the ZFT Manuscript? Is he referring to the two universes colliding with one another, going to war with only one surviving in the end? In this episode, Walter has his usual "two thoughts" that come to mind, and, as usual, his second thought is completely unfocused and irrelevant. This time, his first thought is that what the team is seeing might be a mutation of some sort, and his second thought is that of coffee cake, "tiny pebbles of cinnamon sugar." A bit later, after Olivia discovers the existence of the ZFT Manuscript, she says to Peter, "I was hoping that you might have one of your weird connections." Peter, either unsure of what she means or feeling judged, says, "Weird connections?" This is where we get some great Polivia dialogue, as Olivia says to him, "They're always a little weird," to which Peter replies, "Well, you're always a little weird." As they seem to do often, they're definitely flirting.

Finally, Peter admits to having a "weird connection," and his connection is most definitely "weird." His connection goes by the name of Edward Markham, a strange little man who sells books as a living, notably books that are very rare and/or collectibles. This seen is classic, as Markham, convinced that she is more than just a friend of Peter's, says to Olivia, "Five dollars I can name at least one item on your nightstand, Olivia Dunham. Don't tell me. You're going to like this. I'm never wrong; it's a gift. Okay, Toni Morrison novel, something by Obama and/or the current issue of Bon Appetit." She doesn't confirm whether or not he is wrong, but she smiles and says that she is reading Advanced Forensic Science and that she keeps it next to her gun, adding emphasis on the word "gun." She soon goes on to say that "Peter says you're good," to which Markham replies, "Well, he also says that you're just a friend." Olivia consequently smiles, which is just great because she doesn't smile all that often, but as previously mentioned, throughout most of this episode, she seems generally happier than usual, especially when she is around Peter. I really wish that she would have taken him up on his offer of going out after the bomb incident.

The scene in which Jones turns himself in reminds me so much of the film Se7en, and I'm sure that the similarity was intentional. There are a lot of cultural references throughout this series. Also, I said this about the previous episode, "The Transformation," as well, but this episode is very Aliasy. A drawing of Olivia is found, which reminds me so much of Page 47 of the Rambaldi Manuscript, which features a drawing of Sydney. Also, Olivia discovers in this episode that she was a Cortexiphan subject when she was a child, given a drug to enhance her mental capabilities and give her "superhuman" abilities. The Cortexiphan trials in general remind me of Project: Christmas, an effort made by Sydney's father to cultivate spies at a very young age. During the scene in which Jones and Harris are speaking in the interrogation room, I now find myself wondering whether or not Jones knows that Harris is ZFT. If so, do they put on a show in order to avoid being heard? After the FBI agent is killed by the sealant, Jones says to Olivia that he tried to prevent that but that Agent Harris needed to be convinced, and I have no idea what he means by that. Speaking of ZFT, though, I am wondering if ZFT is trying to help prepare this universe for the upcoming war, but if so, why is it killing off people in this world? Are they experiments, to see if their weapons will work against the Other Side? Are they simply seen as unfortunate but necessary casualties?

As I have said before, Jones reminds me so much of Hannibal Lecter, and he is incredibly creepy. He says to Olivia, "Don't worry, Miss Dunham. If I wanted to harm you, I would have long ago." How long has he known her? Has he known her since she was a child? If so, then why wouldn't he have met Walter, since Walter was so heavily involved in the Cortexiphan trials, and speaking of Walter, has he forgotten about the Cortexiphan trials? Why doesn't he share his knowledge of them? He has also kept the existence of the alternate universe a secret from everyone and seems surprised by his "discovery" of it when he reads about it in the ZFT Manuscript. Is this just to avoid any suspicion whatsoever, so that Peter will not discover his origins? If no list of Cortexiphan subjects was kept (which we discover in episode 2.16, "Olivia. In the Lab. With the Revolver."), then how does Jones know that Olivia was a Cortexiphan subject? There are so many questions about ZFT in general that will hopefully be answered eventually, but killing Jones off in the season 1 finale is the dumbest move that this series has ever made. How did he get out of his hospital room, and why is there a gigantic hole in the wall? We may never know because his character was killed off in the finale, which, again, is frustrating.

Anyway, returning to the creepiness factor that Jones emits, Olivia calls Astrid so that she can talk to Jones, and when Astrid puts him on, Jones says in a whisper, "Hello, you." Then, after Olivia seems to successfully turn the light box off, Jones asks Astrid, "She did it, didn't she?' to which Astrid replies, "It seems she did." Jones then says, "My girl." It is incredibly creepy, but I remember wondering at that point whether or not Jones was possibly Olivia's biological father. Olivia only ever mentions her stepfather but never her biological father, so it's possible that she doesn't even know who he was, so it's plausible. However, it's not likely that if Jones were her biological father, he would have been killed off in the season 1 finale. When Olivia talks to Harris and begs him to allow her to speak with Jones under his conditions, the two of them are seen as dark, shadowy figures, and I love this; I think that it is so artistic. The two of them don't know that much about each other and are essentially complete strangers, and I think that that is what the shadows are meant to represent.

The scene during which Jones is first brought into the lab is great because first, Peter says to Walter, "Walter, put the cow away would you?" and then, an unidentified agent asks Peter, "What is this place?" and Peter answers, "It's a freak show." What is the strange PDA device that Nina is seen using to conduct research on Cortexiphan, I wonder? She claims never to have heard of Cortexiphan, which is why she looks it up on her device, but this is definitely a lie. I think that she is well aware of it, and when she says that Bell abandoned the trials in 1983, I think that that is a lie, too, or at least an intentional misleading. I think that Cortexiphan is still being administered to children and that Massive Dynamic is administering it (citing Christopher Penrose and Tyler Carson as evidence), so even if Bell did abandon the trials in 1983, she didn't. There is also our frequent "47" reference in this episode, since the bomb is located at 923 Church Street on the forty-seventh floor, and when the lights are finally turned off, thereby preventing the bomb from detonating, it isn't until Peter comes back (which I think is so sweet, since he simply couldn't leave her), there are some who speculate that either Peter is the one who turned the lights off or the two of them did it together, but I don't think so. I think that Peter is just there as a plot device so that someone would believe her.

I would like to quote exactly what Walter reads from the Manuscript, because I think that it is unbelievably epic, since this is the episode that we learn of the existence of the parallel universe. The Manuscript reads, "We think we understand reality, but our universe is only one of many. The unknown truths of the way to travel between them has already been discovered by beings much like us but whose history is slightly ahead of our own. The negative aspects of such visitations will be irreversible both to our world and to theirs. It will begin with a series of unnatural occurrences, difficult to notice at first but growing, not unlike a cancer, until a simple fact becomes undeniable; only one world will survive, and it will either be us or them." This brings with it so many questions. Obviously, who wrote it? Since Walter realizes that the typewriter in his lab was used to write it, did he write it, or did Bell? If our universe is one of "many," then why is it that only two realities are at war with one another? I am assuming that Walter stealing Peter from the Other Side is what started the war (especially since we now know that Walternate is in charge of the war on the Other Side), but that makes me wonder when the Manuscript was written. It had to have been after 1985.

Near the very end of the episode, Astrid, seemingly proud of him, tells Walter that she hasn't failed to overlook the fact that he actually created a teleportation device. Walter then says that he guesses that he did. Astrid, however, continues, saying that despite the fact that the device kills you, it's pretty cool. Walter seems surprised by this and says, "It does something unthinkable, but it doesn't kill you." It makes me so angry that Astrid doesn't insist on knowing what it does do then because I certainly insist on knowing. Jones says in the season 1 finale that the teleporter may be killing him but in the meantime is making him something special. If Walter says that it doesn't kill you, then why does Jones say that it does, and, as asked previously, if it doesn't kill you, then what does it do? Also near the end of the episode, Nina calls Olivia and tells her that the Cortexiphan trials were also conducted in Jacksonville, Florida, and although she has a very innocent demeanor, it's a show because she definitely played Olivia the whole time. Right from the start, she knew of the existence of Cortexiphan, and she knew that Olivia was a subject, but Nina did what Nina does best, which is manipulation. She really is, in so many ways, the Ben of Fringe. Anyway, as I said, I think that this episode is monstrously epic and is one of my favorite season one episodes. Stay on the fringe.

Fringe - "The Transformation" (1.13)

Before I begin discussing this episode of Fringe, I will advise those who have not seen Fringe but would like to see it to not read any further, as this does contain spoilers. "The Transformation" is one of my favorite episodes from season 1. I think that the episode brings about a great deal of closure, primarily regarding John Scott and thus Olivia's persistent need to keep returning to the tank, which, by the way, says a handwritten warning (Watch your hands. Heavy Doors. Save your fingers. Close with Care., which I would say Walter most likely wrote) on it, something that I didn't notice the first time that I watched this episode on television. The episode also ties in to episode 1.03, "The Ghost Network," since the glass disk once again makes an appearance. The title of this episode is very fitting, as well, as this episode kind of does "transform" the season into a new season. From this episode onward, season 1 is much better than it is between the pilot episode and the horrendously disastrous episode 1.12, "The No-Brainer," and based on discussions that I have had with fellow Fringe fans, I say that I think that most people would agree with that. In addition, there is much in this episode that must have given Polivia shippers quite a lot to be happy about, and the episode also has a lot of similarities to the TV series that fueled my interest in J.J. Abrams, Alias. There are a great deal of concepts and plot elements in this episode that mirror those of Alias (as well as deliberate shout-outs to the series), and I absolutely love Alias, so I love finding those and making note of them. "The Transformation" is simply all-around a great episode, a severely under-appreciated one, in my opinion, and I give it 9 porcumans.

 

There are a couple of mirror images of the pilot episode, both of which I think are intentional. The first is that the first scene of this episode begins with and involves an incident on a plane which ends up crashing as a result. During this first scene, there is a man who looks a lot like Miles from LOST, but I can't tell whether or not it's him. Anyway, I'm not really sure what is going on with Marshall Bowman (whose name, by the way, is the first Aliasshout-out in the episode, since it is a combination of the eventually married characters Marshall Flinkman and Carrie Bowman). Does he conduct the test in the bathroom to see if he was infected? Why was he infected? Did the dealers know that he and Daniel Hicks (and probably John Scott, as well) were NSA and were getting too close to catching Conrad? Bowman tells the flight attendants that he doesn't have the time or the permission to explain what's happening to him. I understand why he doesn't have the time, but what does he mean when he says that he doesn't have the permission? Does he not have permission because of his involvement in a Black Ops Division of the NSA? The flight attendants most likely assume that he is on some sort of drugs, just as a side-note, and the main reason that I say that is that the flight attendant calls someone for assistance and says that Bowman wants drugs but "seems to be on something already." I mean, I probably would have assumed that he was on drugs, as well. The second reflection of the pilot episode, anyway, is, of course, Olivia's return to the tank. It's not her first time back in the tank since the pilot episode (that would be episode 1.09, "The Dreamscape"), but I still think that it is a deliberate reflection of the pilot episode.

Speaking of the tank, though, the last time that Olivia spoke to Walter about going back into the tank, he refused, saying that it was too dangerous, so I wonder what convinced him this time to allow her to go back into the tank. We don't see because the scene cuts from Olivia telling Peter to tell Walter to prep the tank to Olivia actually getting into the tank, so I don't know. During this extended sequence (which reminds me very much of Alias), we, of course, discover that John Scott is not who we have been led to believe, that he was actually a member of a Black Ops Division of the NSA. Now, I have two thoughts regarding this revelation. The first is that in the pilot episode, Scott suffocates Richard Steig to death near the end of the episode, and the second is that, also in the pilot episode, Scott tries to kill Olivia by forcing her vehicle off the road. As far as the first thought is concerned, I have two possible explanations. The first explanation that I have to offer is that perhaps, not even his good intentions, as secret as they may have been, could have stopped him from exacting revenge. The second explanation that I have to offer is that maybe, it was an NSA "mission" to kill him. As far as why he tried to kill Olivia, though, the only explanation of which I can think is that he was being careful, pretending to kill her so as not to blow his cover but intentionally not succeeding. It really annoys me that Olivia doesn't ask him about this, but I can't allow myself to see it as a plot-hole.

After Olivia is pulled out of the tank due to her vitals spiking, she clutches onto Peter and says his name, which I find so adorable. This is definitely a scene for Polivia shippers, as is Peter's consistent concern for Olivia. He doesn't want Olivia to trust what John tells her in her consciousness because he is afraid that it will get her killed. I think, though, that he also secretly wants Olivia to forget about John and move on so that maybe, there will be a future between the two of them. He says to her, "What if he's still lying to you? Have you considered that?" He is so protective of her. Peter never lets Olivia down; he is always there for her, and when (thanks to Astrid convincing her, resulting in Astrid smiling in a suspiciously sinister manner) Olivia decides to trust what Scott tells her in her consciousness, he does not appear to be very happy about it. I really like the relationship between Olivia and Charlie, too, even though I really only see it as a friendship (I was never much of a Cholivia, especially after seeing in episode 1.16, "Unleashed," that Charlie was married). In this episode, it is once again made clear that they have a very trusting relationship with one another. She definitely wouldn't tell just anyone about her shared consciousness with John Scott, but she eventually comes around and tells him because she knows that she can trust him (Charlie, by the way, is the one who notes that there were 147 passengers on the plane, the number 47 serving as another shout-out to Alias).

The Alias nods don't stop there, either. Olivia and Peter go undercover in order to apprehend the dealers, using fake names, and Olivia even styles her hair differently than she normally does; this is something that Sydney and Vaughn (or whoever happens to be on the mission with Sydney at the time, but in the later seasons, it is usually Vaughn) do in just about every single episode of Alias. Also, it is agreed that the signal that Olivia will give if she needs the team to storm in is the word "Christmas," and I definitely think that this is an Alias nod, in reference to Project: Christmas, a series of tests conducted on children with a striking similarity to the Cortexiphan trials. I think that those are all of the Alias shout-outs, though, at least all of the ones that I caught, so moving on, I want to talk a little bit about Nina, since she does make an appearance in this episode (I love it when she does). When Broyles and Olivia go to Massive Dynamic so that Olivia can see that Scott is in a suspended state (a first step toward closure to which she finally comes at the very end of the episode), Nina says to Olivia, "For what it's worth, it was not my decision to keep this from you," putting a little bit of an extra emphasis on the word "my," so I wonder whose decision it was. If Broyles knew about this, which he did, then why didn't he tell Olivia? Perhaps, it was he who decided not to tell Olivia, but why? Anyway, Walter unfortunately doesn't have a whole lot of Walterisms to offer in this episode, but while he's watching Olivia and Charlie interrogate Hicks through the one-way mirror, he says, "This is wonderful, don't you agree? It's just like a good detective movie!" I absolutely love that line.

Broyles tells Olivia near the end of the episode that despite the success of the case, Scott's status as a traitor to his country will remain the same, since there is no proof to indicate otherwise, and that kind of gets me thinking about what Scott says before he dies in the pilot episode. He tells Olivia to "ask yourself why Broyles sent you to the storage facility." Did we ever get a definitive answer as to what he meant? I don't think that we have, and it makes me suspect Broyles of foul deeds because what if Broyles somehow knew that sending the two of them to the storage facility would, in the end, blow Scott's cover? What if, for some reason, he was trying to take John Scott out? I know that it's far-fetched, but it's something to think about because I still don't know what Scott meant when he said that. Also, Walter says that the drugs that he administered to Hinks cured him, which, as he says, is more than he can say for his own concoction. This makes me wonder if he takes certain drugs in hopes of curing himself of his insanity? I've never heard of drugs curing insanity, especially not the kind that Walter does, but I'm wondering if, in his mind, he'll one day wake up completely cured of what St. Claire's did to him as a result of his recreational drug use (which I suppose isn't really recreational if he does indeed hold this belief). Then, after Olivia asks to go back into the tank one final time so that she can say what she needs to say to John (a request that is, once again, granted), Walter tells Olivia that her mind is finally succeeding in purging itself of Scott, and I wonder how he knows this, what evidence he has. Anyway, the scene between Olivia and Scott near the water is so sad and so sweet, and Olivia needed that closure so that she could move on; we all did. Anyway, stay on the fringe.

"Excellent Soap / Strangers on a Train" (Fringe #2)

As per usual, I warn those who have not read the Fringe comics but would like to read them against reading any further, as this does contain spoilers. The first half of the second comic, titled "Excellent Soap," opens with Bell trying to convince Walter that his father knew Albert Einstein and that Einstein didn't wear socks, but Walter doesn't believe him. It's some nice comic relief right at the beginning of the comic, but I can only imagine how much worse it must have gotten between the two of them during their days as partners. We get a glimpse of that in the season two finale, "Over There, Part 2," which is a fantastic scene. It is obvious that some time has passed between the first comic and this one (I would imagine at least a year). The relationship between Walter and Bell indicates as much, since it is much different than that in the first comic, and Walter refers to Bell as "Belly." I remember how during the first season, when this comic was first released, some fans speculated that Bradbury was an Observer due to his attire, despite the fact that he has eyebrows and hair on his head. As much as it interested me (since it is possible that they could have used a wig and fake eyebrows), I was pretty sure that he was not an Observer. However, their choice of attire could very well be related to the Observers, something upon which will be touched in this entry.

 

I wonder if the professor to whom Walter speaks is significant at all or if we know who he is. I find it interesting how the comic leaves him unnamed, even though he does seem to be significant somehow. That scene would not have been included if he were not, I don't think. He seems to be someone that Walter trusted, someone that he went to for advice and for guidance. Walter refers to him merely as "professor," so we know that he was one of Walter's professors, but I don't have any kind of relationship with any of my college professors, yet there seems to be a father/son sort of dynamic between these two. Like I said, there is a great deal of trust. In this comic, he is a very old man, and this is the 70s, so it is incredibly unlikely that he is still alive (my point being that it is incredibly unlikely that we will see him in the TV series, but perhaps Walter will mention him), but I find it worth thinking about. In whom would Walter put that much trust? What was special about this professor? I also remember wondering if Rachel Matheson was actually Nina Sharp using an alias, and I don't think that I was the only one. She is young (right around the age that Nina would have been, in fact), and she has red hair. If it weren't for the fact that a later comic disproves such a theory, it would definitely be a theory that I would still have, because it would explain how Walter and Bell met Nina. Like I said, though, it unfortunately holds no validity any longer.

 

Bell makes a comment in this comic that I find to be monstrously ironic. He seems to be very uneasy about the situation involving the Fresh Start Soap company secretly conducting scientific experiments, and when he is asked about his uneasiness, he says, "I'm just not entirely comfortable with this kind of power in private hands." I don't think that I even need to say why that is ironic, and if I do, then you probably don't have any business being on this website. It's also odd because once again, we are led to believe that Walter has not been entirely truthful in the picture that he has painted for us of he and Bell as younger men. In the comics, Walter doesn't seem to care much about the potential consequences of his pursuit of science, while Bell is uneasy and cautious. Bell doesn't trust the soap company and doesn't want to do anything for it until he is given reason to trust it, while Walter is more than willing to help it, despite the fact that he knows very little about it; the teleportation machine has him drawn in. I also wonder if what happened to the chimpanzee is what happened to Jones; if so, then a newly found strength would explain how he was able to break through the wall of his hospital room like the Incredible Hulk in "Ability" (1.14). He was most likely cuffed to his bed, which means that he broke free of that, too. The final observation that I would like to make, although probably not significant, is that the heads remind me of the frozen heads in "Momentum Deferred" (2.04). This story leaves us with the possibility that Rachel cannot be trusted, as she tells Walter and Bell that she wishes that the two of them had not found the heads in the jars, heads that are still alive.

 

The second story in the comic is titled "Strangers on a Train" (most likely a reference to the film Snakes on a Plane) and opens with a man named Johnson waking up on a train with an injury on his head, missing an important briefcase. He is told by his superior that he had better find the suitcase or else his next warning won't be so kind, so he is under a great deal of stress to find the lost briefcase. Finally, he is led to a man who gives him a device to locate the briefcase, but when he does, he realizes that it is he who has the briefcase, another version of himself, which suggests that he is in some kind of time loop, since he hits his alter-self on the head and then runs with the briefcase, leaving him in the same state in which he was at the beginning the story. Usually, the "stand-alone" stories don't make it very clear as to what the time period is, but the fact that the briefcase says Fresh Start Soap on it is, I think, meant to indicate that it takes place around the same time period (if not during) the first part of the comic. This is to what I was referring when I said that the company could have a connection to the Observers. In "Fracture" (2.03), Gordon tasks his soldiers to lift a briefcase, which was all a plot to destroy the Observers, and we see that the Observers' Couriers wear long trenchcoats. I definitely prefer the Walter/Bell stories to the "stand-alone" stories, but at the same time, I do like how the "stand-alone" stories tie in to the Fringe mythology in one way or another, and this one definitely does, earning it a rating of nine walked dogs. Even in the comics, there is much to think about, much to theorize about, and much to be excited about, which isn't too far off from the TV series.

Fringe - "The No-Brainer" (1.12)

Before I begin discussing this episode, I will warn those who have never seen Fringe but would like to see it not to read any further, as this entry does contain spoilers. Not much about this episode will tell you much about the overall Fringe story, of course, but I like to be courteous, anyway. Aside from the bit about Jessica Warren, the mother of the young woman who was killed in the accident about twenty years ago, Carla Warren, this episode has very little to offer and is pretty much completely and totally “stand-alone,” which is incredibly annoying, especially since it interrupts a nice little arc that the season has going for five prior episodes in a row (“In Which We Meet Mr. Jones,” “The Equation,” “The Dreamscape,” “Safe” and “Bound”). I will admit, though, that the first scene is pretty engrossing, and it definitely caught my attention the first time that I watched the episode. I mean, a very cool-looking three-dimensional hand coming out of a computer screen and killing a teenaged boy by the name of Gregory Wiles is pretty dang interesting if you ask me. I also love how “Spaceman” by the Killers can be heard during this scene, since I love the Killers and I love that song, but Gregory's mother is ridiculously stupid. If you're leaving the house and you check on your son to tell him that you're leaving, you don't leave anyway even though he's staring at his computer screen and not answering you. I mean, I know that he's a teenager and that teenagers tend to be dismissive like that, but I know that I would check to ensure that he is okay.

As usual, Walter serves as very satisfying comic relief. When we first see him, he is very excited about his opinion about Darwin, which is an ill opinion, and after relaying his opinion to Peter and Astrid, he is expecting them to be as excited, as well, saying, “Thoughts! Peter?” Very shortly after this, Astrid tells Peter and Walter that Olivia needs them, and as Walter stands up, he can be seen zipping his fly. That makes me wonder why the heck his fly was down in the first place but also makes me wonder whether or not I want to know why. Later in the episode, he tells Olivia that what happened to Gregory could be a result of Syphilis and then says to her, “You do always have your sexual partners wear a condom, I hope.” As I have said before, he is so quick to say whatever it is that's on his mind without first thinking about the consequences, such as who could potentially be offended. He also tells Peter at the automobile retailer that he wonders “if they sell cars here with those seats that warm your ass.” This is a reference to the second episode of the season when, near the beginning of the episode, Walter is “in the car fiddling around with the seat warmer,” where he says to Broyles, “I've never seen a feature like this before. It warms your ass. It's wonderful!” Lastly (and I have to mention this), he says to Peter in regards to Olivia that “I hope she doesn't notice the $2,000 for the baboon seminal fluid I ordered. I hope I can recall why I ordered it.”

Anyway, talking a bit about the case (there unfortunately isn't much to say, since, as I said, there is no apparent connection to the mythology whatsoever), when Olivia and Charlie first speak to Gregory's parents, Gregory's mother talks about her son using the present tense, which is interesting. Even though he is dead, the parents seem to be relatively calm, and since the mother speaks of Gregory using the present tense, I think that they are in denial, and it has not yet hit them that their son is gone and that he's never coming back. This is why she speaks of him using the present tense; she has not yet accepted the fact that he is dead. This episode, needless to say, is utterly disgusting, as a lot of Fringe episodes are, as is made evident when we see the second victim, who has liquified brain matter all over his face where it has seemingly dripped out of his cephalic orifices; it's just plain disgusting. I have to say that, near the end of the episode, after Olivia catches Brian Dempsey by freeing Luke (since she knew that he would go directly to his father), Peter comments on how stupid Luke has to be, and Olivia says that it's to be expected, since he is nineteen, and I am utterly offended. Not all nineteen year-olds are stupid, you know. Sure, I have made some really stupid decisions in my life, but in the past year, which has been my nineteenth year, I have made some of the best.

Near the end of the episode, after Brian Dempsey has killed himself and his son is arrested, Peter is in the car with Olivia, ready to leave the scene, and he can't seem to understand the situation. He says, “Why would the kid protect a murderer like that?” since Luke was aware of what his father was doing but lied to the FBI about it. Olivia simply says with a smile, “Because it's his father,” obviously trying to convey a point to Peter and making a rather obvious parallel, which brings me to my next point of interest. Jessica Warren is, as was stated previously, just about the only piece of the mythology that we get in this episode, which isn't much, but I remember when I first saw this episode on television, and it was so exciting to wonder what the letter says and who is really on the phone when Peter answers it near the beginning of the episode, since it was obvious to me that he is lying when he says that it was someone who had the wrong number, as I'm sure that it was to just about everyone. Peter doesn't want Jessica to speak with Walter, though, and just the same as it is made clear in “The Equation” (1.08), it is clear once again that Peter genuinely cares for Walter and doesn't want him to get hurt. He is, of course, missing the larger picture, a picture which Olivia tries to get him to see, which is that he is undermining Walter, believing him to be unprepared for something for which he very well could be prepared, and Olivia ends up being right in her assessment when Jessica and Walter do meet, talking about how much they miss Carla, sharing an embrace (which is so sweet), a scene that is made so much more emotionally intense now that we have finally met Carla in episode 2.15, “Peter" (2.15)

Something that this episode does make me wonder, though, is why Harris is so insistent on holding Olivia back from this case when, since the case doesn't seem to have any ties to ZFT, he doesn't really have any involvement. Obviously, based on what we learn in episode 1.19, “The Road Not Taken,” we know that Harris was a mole working for ZFT, so what advantage does he have here? Was Brian Dempsey working for ZFT, perhaps? Is it an attempt to try to stop Olivia from investigating the Pattern, or, since she put him away for molestation charges, is it just power play? It could just be a power play in this case because as Broyles notices, he definitely has a “personal vendetta,” and it's interesting how in the pilot episode, Broyles torments Olivia because she put Harris away, but now, he is on her side and threatening Harris, telling him that he will risk his career in Olivia's name. Quite some time ago, it was suggested by The Fringe Podcast that Olivia is now like family to him, and sometimes, one sees family members as free reign to pester, but if someone else steps in and tries, that is a “no-no,” invasive of one's own territory, and I agree with this. Broyles seems to have developed a very paternal relationship with Olivia, one that I admire very much. It is a relationship that is made evident throughout season 2 when, always in regards to Newton, Olivia feels that she has made a bad decision and Broyles consequently comforts her, and I hope to see more of that in the future.

In this episode, we once again see Peter performing the coin trick, the trick that involves rolling a coin across his knuckles. It's odd, because prior to episode 2.15, “Peter,” I never really noticed it before, but it is something that we see Peter doing in a few episodes throughout the first season, and I never thought anything of it before. This is not the only tie-in to “Peter,” though, since, as previously discussed, we meet Jessica Warren in this episode, and in “Peter,” we meet Carla Warren, her daughter. When I first saw “Peter,” I did not realize at first that Carla was the frequently talked about lab assistant who died in the fire because even though I definitely remembered Jessica, I didn't remember her name, and prior to “Peter,” I'm pretty sure that “The No-Brainer” is the only episode in which Carla's first and last name is mentioned because even though she is frequently mentioned, her name is not. Anyway, both Olivia and Peter are so good with Ella, and, as I know that I have mentioned before, Olivia forming special bonds with children is something that we see frequently throughout Fringe. Does it simply relate to the fact that she was a child when she was a part of the Cortexiphan trials, or does it show that she has a very prominent maternal side to her, possibly hinting at a future little Olivia or little Peter? I don't know, because there is that look and exchange of greetings shared between Peter and Rachel near the end of the episode, a look and exchange of greetings that is then followed up on in episode 1.16, “Unleashed,” with Peter telling Olivia that he and Rachel have spending a lot of time together, something that seems to make Rachel jealous.

Obviously, though, during season 2, the relationship between Olivia and Peter reaches new heights, and Rachel isn't even part of the equation. In fact, so far (season two, at this point, has aired up to episode 2.17,”White Tulip”), we haven't even seen Rachel save the season premiere (“A New Day in the Old Town”) when Rachel tells Peter that Olivia always liked him. Is the small interaction that we see between Peter and Rachel during season 1 simply meant to throw us off, to take our minds off the possibility of there being something between Olivia and Peter, or is what Rachel tells Peter in the season 2 premiere enough to tell Peter that whatever they had can't be pursued? Speaking of Rachel, though, I do wonder if she is a mole, and this is one of those episodes that I recall really making me wonder about that. As I remember The Fringe Podcast mentioning, Rachel seems to try to coach Ella in this episode, trying to convince her that what she is claiming happened did not happen. The only problem, however, as far as this episode is concerned, is that as I mentioned in regards to Harris, this case doesn't seem to have any ties to ZFT, unless Brian Dempsey was ZFT, so why care? Why trouble yourself so much trying to keep Ella quiet? One could say that since she doesn't have any ties to Fringe Division, she is just an ignorant mother who doesn't believe her young daughter's crazy imaginative stories, but I don't think that Rachel is ignorant. Something about her tells me that she may have sinister motives, and hopefully, if that is the case, that story will unfurl soon. Anyway, I give this relatively horrendous episode four beakers of brain goo (a no-brainer, indeed) and advise you to stay on the fringe.

Fringe - "Bound" (1.11)

Before I begin, I would like to advise against reading any further if you have not seen Fringe would like to see it, since this entry does contain spoilers. Well, something that I really like about this episode is that it is sort of like a part two to “Safe,” since it picks up right where “Safe” leaves off. It's a pretty decent episode, and I ultimately give it eight 8-balls. My only real complaint, however, is that this episode marked a return from a lengthy hiatus, and my anticipation, as I'm sure everyone else's was, was very intense, and within the first ten minutes or so of the episode, Olivia frees herself from her captors. I was hoping that her abduction was going to be a major season 1 plot, but we get almost nothing except Loeb telling her at the end of this episode that they were trying to save her and then Jones telling her in “Ability” (1.14) that they were trying to figure out whether or not she had been given Cortexiphan as a child. It was a little anti-climatic for me, and I know that I'm not the only one who feels that way, since I recall Darrell of The Fringe Podcast saying pretty much the same during the episode of the podcast that covers “Bound.” The only other downer that this episode has to offer is the introduction of Harris's character. He is, of course, mentioned in the pilot episode, but this is the first episode in which we actually meet him, and of course, he really turns out to be everyone's favorite character. Actually, we all hated him and loved seeing him burn to death in “The Road Not Taken" (1.19).

Anyway, I wonder what's up with the “old man” mask that Loeb wears. I mean, I obviously understand the purpose of him wearing a mask; it's to protect his identity, but why that mask? Does it signify something in particular? Am I missing something? Loeb's henchman, or whoever he is, is incredibly stupid. When you're holding someone against his or her will and have reason for them to be held, you don't release him or her from his or her restraints. Olivia asks if she can have some water, which is fine, but then asks if she can be released from her restraints so that she can sit up and drink, and I can't believe that he falls for that; that's just plain stupid. She, of course, smashes the glass over his head and then takes him down in a rather epic fashion (a fashion that is very reminiscent of Alias), and it serves the idiot right. Olivia then takes the cylinder and hides it, which is incredibly smart. It shows us that she is very good at thinking on her feet, even in a heightened state of emotion. It's good that she does, too, because if she hadn't hidden the cylinder, Harris's men undoubtedly would have confiscated it, and Harris most likely would have denied its existence. The plot would not have gone in that direction, though, simply because that would have clued us in very early, too early, that Harris might have been a mole, which, of course, he was.

Am I the only one, by the way, who finds it incredibly creepy that when Olivia wakes up in the hospital, Harris is seen sitting there in front of her bed watching her? What a creeper, and speaking of that scene, I find it very annoying how that scene shows us flashes of Peter and Walter as Harris makes mention of them, as if we don't know who they are. It's quite obviously expository information for those new to the show, especially since, as I said, “Bound” was the first new episode that aired after a lengthy hiatus, but I, someone who had been watching the show since the pilot episode, was and am very annoyed. Anyway, Olivia does not seem at all happy that Rachel is in town, and I wonder why that is. When she actually meets up with Rachel and Ella, she seems very happy to meet them, hugging them and telling Rachel that the two of them are more than welcome to stay with her. However, it is very clear that when Charlie first tells Olivia that a woman named Rachel is there to see her, Olivia does not appear to be pleased, and after she speaks with Rachel and Ella, she gets into the elevator, and she doesn't seem to very pleased at this point, either. I can't figure out why, though, she would be upset that her sister is here to see her.

Well, this episode's science is rather disgusting, to say the least. Immunologists are killed by very large slugs that grow rapidly inside of them and then crawl through their mouths. As Peter says, it's “disgusting.” It is very similar, I suppose, to episode 2.09, “Snakehead,” and that is an incredibly disgusting episode, too. For the first and, so far, only time in Fringe's history, it is an entire sixteen minutes (and then some) before we see the intro, which is odd. Olivia escapes, she shows Peter and Walter where she hid the cylinder, and Kinberg, the first victim, is killed before we see the intro. Anyway, there is a very interesting line in this episode. Peter asks Walter why he just doesn't kill the super-slug (which, as we find out later in the episode, is a super-sized cold virus), and Walter says, “You can always kill it, son. You can't always bring it back.” Astrid then says to Walter that “you probably could.” This is a great line because it foreshadows what we learn in the season 1 finale, that Peter died, and Walter consequently brought him back (which we now know was from the Other Side). Olivia demonstrates some of her typical behavior, such as getting right to the point when speaking to Tara Coleman, asking her, “How long were you seeing him?” She also, which I love, asks Broyles if she can enter his office after she has already entered, which Broyles notes, saying, “I hate that, knocking and asking while you're coming in.” That's Olivia for you.

It's not too long before ZFT, via its super-sized cold virus, claims its second victim, another immunologist by the name of Russell Simon. Now, I'm thinking that when Harris found out that Olivia was planning to put Simon in protective custody, he had to have signaled Loeb to give Simon the “powder” in a glass of water after “agreeing” to “keep him safe.” Obviously, when this episode first aired, we weren't supposed to have considered that, but now that it has been almost a year since “The Road Not Taken” (1.19) has aired, we are all obviously well-aware that Harris was a filthy mole. Olivia, of course, becomes even more driven after the second victim, and there is yet another great Polivia scene in this episode. Peter seems very concerned as to why Olivia was being held, and Olivia says, “Who cares about me?” She is not concerned as to why she was abducted; she just wants to stop the killings, but Peter says, “I care about you.” That is so adorable. I also love, though, how Charlie calls her Livvy; that is so adorable, too, but not in the same way. Olivia and Charlie were like best friends. I don't think that there was ever anything between the two of them, and I think that showing us in episode 1.16, “Unleashed,” that he had a wife was intended to tell us that. They trusted each other, and Olivia turned to Charlie when she needed help, which he always provided. It's really sad that he is gone, but he's only gone in this universe, and I have reason to believe that by the season 2 finale, we will see Charlie again.

Returning to Rachel, though, after she tells Olivia about Greg leaving her and Ella, Olivia comforts her and tells her that they can stay with her for as long as they want and then detects something. She detects something and asks Rachel, “Is there something else, something you're not telling me?” Rachel says that there isn't anything else, but come on, Olivia detected something, and if Olivia detects that something is wrong, then something is wrong. Is this scene meant to hint that Rachel is a traitor, that there is another reason why she is there besides Greg leaving her? I definitely think so, and I think that it has to do with Ella being given Cortexiphan. It's possible that Ella is even a clone, as we have seen in episodes 1.02, “The Same Old Story,” and 2.07, “Of Human Action.” It is very likely, I think, that Rachel's reason for suddenly showing up in Olivia's life, besides her situation with Greg, of course, has to do with Olivia's stepfather, a story that, as has been promised, will eventually be told. I am really hoping so because that will make one intense story, which is not to suggest that the story is not already intense as it is. A family tie, though, between Olivia and the enemy would elevate the story to an even higher level, and, as I said, it's something that has been promised, so I am psyched for that.

During the scene in which Olivia and Samantha Loeb are talking in the Loebs' kitchen, I love it because they are obviously playing around each other. Olivia is aware that Samantha is possibly a traitor, and Samantha is aware that Olivia is aware, but they still continue the show, and it's almost comical. For example, Olivia tells Samantha that she is in the area because she is working on a case, and Samantha asks her what the case is. Before answering, Olivia looks deep into Samantha's eyes, looking for something, anything, and then says, “Suspicion of a double agent.” At this point, their tea is ready, and Samantha stands up. I love the symbolism here because the tea is boiling, just like Samantha is inside, red hot with annoyance and fury. One thing of which I can't seem to figure out, though, is why Loeb tells Samantha to kill Olivia if Olivia was so important. Is this a plot-hole, or did he expect Olivia to prevail? Was the grief displayed in the interrogation room fake? If so, then he is a top-notch player; I'll give him that. I love how Samantha calls for Olivia after being instructed to kill her by saying her name in a manner that sounds as if she is playing “Hide and Seek” with her, and Olivia suddenly shows up behind Samantha and says Samantha's name in the same manner; it's just so funny to hear it out of Olivia, obviously gloating inside that she has prevailed, and, as usual, she does, but, also as usual, she seems to have a much more difficult time taking down a woman than she does a man. The man whose head she smashed a glass on near the beginning of the episode, for example, seemed to have been a piece of cake, yet she struggles for quite some time with Samantha before finally shooting her in the head.

When Olivia finally does apprehend Loeb, I find it awesome how she just can't help herself; Loeb smiles, and she pistol-whips him. What's behind his smile, though, I wonder? Surely, he must have been thinking that Samantha was dead since Olivia is alive, but that's why I say that his display of grief in the interrogation room may be an act. It may be that he smiles at Olivia with a similar attitude as Jones's attitude when Olivia successfully turns the box of lights off in episode 1.14, “Ability.” “That's my girl,” Jones said. However, when he seems to lose control in the interrogation room, he says to Olivia, “Do you not understand the rules, what we're up against, who the two sides are? Tell me at least you know that.” Similar to how Nina says in the previous episode, “Safe,” that “we are in a race against highly motivated individuals,” I wonder who he is talking about. I am assuming that he is referring to the parallel universe, but even so, why did he need to kill those two immunologists? Was it so that they wouldn't interfere with the sealant in “Ability” (1.14)? Even if that's true, what was the sealant for? Hopefully, we eventually have answers to these questions. Walter, anyway, continues to try to get Olivia and Peter to start dating, this time by consistently telling Olivia that Peter was really worried about her while she was gone, which clearly embarrasses Peter. The last scene of this episode, by the way, is so adorable, a scene in which we see Olivia and Ella curled up together, fast asleep. It really warms my heart. Anyway, stay on the fringe.