There’s a number of things I could say about this week’s Fringe, and I will in a moment… But first, given that this is the last episode before a relatively long (two month or so) break, and particularly as the series hit a ratings low with this episode, my thoughts naturally turned towards how this season has been so far. And the answer is: quietly spectacular.
Bit of an oxymoron, right? But more and more, I’ve been noticing how purposely silent this first half of the season has been. Sure, there’s been action beats, and tonight even there were packs of dogs barking and howling as they chased an invisible fugitive. But just as much time was spent on Olivia struggling with a migraine, walking through the nearly empty streets of Boston at three in the morning, before bumping into Agent Lincoln Lee. And even then, they mostly sat silently drinking coffee in an “okay” diner.
This isn’t the only time the show has eschewed dialogue, or noise of any kind, and this meditative, careful pacing is in direct contrast to the amped up insanity of Season Three. And I like it. It may be self destructive, as you won’t grab a lot of casual viewers by just focusing on an actor’s face for a few minutes, or refusing to explain most of what’s going on emotionally – and even physically – in a scene. But it’s highlighted some beautiful acting from the cast, who have grown tremendously over the past few years.
The other dominant theme, that’s becoming quite clear? There’s no easy reset button on Peter’s situation. Or maybe there is, as the promos for the rest of the season would have you believe. But right now, Peter is lost in what he thinks is a third alternate universe, but truly, it’s his own universe… He just never existed. And with Peter amping up to rebuild the Machine that wiped him out of existence in the first place, while healing “Over Here” and “Over There,” if he’s successful… Well, all hell is going to break loose. Who even knows what can happen? That’s an exciting place for a show to be, and will definitely have me, and a dwindling number of viewers eagerly tuning in come January.
As for this episode? In brief, because it was a relatively small, sad, story: a patient from a satellite lab of Massive Dynamic was turned invisible, because he suffered from a malady that made him allergic to light. Years later, he’s figured out a way to suck the pigment off of people, but because of this, the longer he becomes visible, the quicker he’s dying. Oops.
This dovetails nicely with a number of plotlines… Olivia can’t “see” the migraines she’s getting, or that Lincoln Lee likes her. Peter can’t see that he is already in his own universe, and later gives Lincoln new glasses so he can see Olivia better. But in a greater sense, Olivia figures out it’s about being noticed, about someone feeling something towards you. Which leads her to let the guy go, despite him killing a ton of people. Visible once more, he steps into an elevator, encountering the girl he’s been in love with from afar… And she talks to him. And tells him it’s a beautiful day. “The most beautiful,” he says. She steps out of the elevator. Silently, he slumps to the floor, and slowly, happily, dies.
See, silence again?
Anyway, I’m ignoring most of the big reveals – I’ll get to those in the notes below – but this was another really sweet, sad, and kind of crazy (invisible mice!) episode of Fringe, which is to say, a damn good one. I just hope more people start watching it, because come January, things are about to hit the fan.
RANDOM NOTES:
- So… Nina is doing what to Olivia, exactly? And for how long? And particularly given that last shot, how likely is it that William Bell and Nina knew exactly what was going on with Invisible Guy’s experiment all along?
- Seriously, what is going to happen if Peter rebuilds the Machine? If he hooks himself up, he’ll… Break the Universe apart again, maybe? Rewrite time? Erase someone else from history? A lot of this, I think, depends on finding out just what happened with the Machine now, and how it worked in this rewritten timeline, which we still don’t know. It needed Peter to activate it before, how did it get activated now?
- I liked Lincoln’s 50’s G-Man glasses way better, myself. Sorry, Peter.
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