Comic-Con 2011 panels: DEXTER, FRINGE, SPARTACUS, TORCHWOOD, TRUE BLOOD & THE WALKING DEAD

San Diego Comic-Con is winding down for another year. I'm sure most of you have been watching and reading the coverage online in some capacity, but I thought I'd embed a few videos of various panels that are relevant to DMD's own coverage. Below are the panels for Dexter, Fringe, Spartacus, True Blood, Torchwood and The Walking Dead. Most were filmed using the "wobbly-cam" that's all the rage, so the quality's not great, but I commend Starz for ensuring their Spartacus panel was professionally recorded in its entirety. (You can click through the subsequent "parts" of each video via YouTube.)

A few more panels may be added soon, when they become available. But in the meantime: enjoy!

'FRINGE' 3.22 – "The Day We Died"

As expected, Fringe's third season finale offered the chance of reinvention for the show, going forward, while also working surprisingly well as a potential series finale if Fox hadn't renewed it. Although the conclusion would have required fans to assume a positive outcome regarding the ultimate fate of both dimensions, with Peter (Joshua Jackson) as a forgotten instrument of peace. It was, of course, a very entertaining and exciting finale, once again having fun with a premise that allowed the cast to play slightly different versions of themselves, although there were a few gaps in logic that didn't snap together very tightly.

Continuing from last week's excellent cliffhanger, Peter entered the Doomsday Machine and found himself transported to the riotous streets of New York, beneath the One World Trade Center of 2026 A.D. Intriguingly, Peter was unaware his consciousness has jumped forward in time (shades of Lost), so we instead settled into a regular storyline revealing the worst case scenario for Fringe's present-day characters: a world where Peter's activation of the Doomsday Machine triggered the unavoidable destruction of the alternate-Earth, with Walternate (John Noble) trapped in the victorious dimension while traversing the dimension as a peace envoy. Unfortunately, it became obvious that the annihilation of one universe has turned its counterpart into a ticking time-bomb, as tears in the fabric of reality grow worse and the prime-Earth faces a slow, agonizing Armageddon. A situation exacerbated by a doomsday cult called the "End Of Dayers", led by an extremist called Moreau (Brad Dourif), whose group are funded by Walternate and given destructive canisters to place at various "soft spots" to accelerate the universe's destruction.

Similarly to when we first crossed "over there", there was the usual fun in seeing the differences that have happened to the characters over 15 years. Olivia (Anna Torv) is now the head of Fringe Division and can wield telekinesis (a sadly underused skill here); Peter is her doting husband (even in the future the character's a bore); Walter's become "the universe's most reviled man" and imprisoned as punishment for destroying reality (that must have been one crazy trial); Broyles (Lance Reddick) is a compassionate Senator with a milky eye; Astrid (Jasika Nicole) is a bonafide field agent; and Olivia's niece Ella (Emily Meade) has grown-up to become a rookie FBI agent. There also appears to have been some remarkable advancements in the anti-wrinkle cream industry, too, if the youthfulness of everyone is anything to go by. Walter should be in his, what, mid-70s here? And did either Olivia or Peter look over-40 to anyone? Considering the expensive use of CGI to make John Noble look younger in prequel episodes, why couldn't the production afford some facial crinkling and paint some flecks of grey into a few people's hair?

In terms of the performances, only John Noble was really given the opportunity to stretch his character anywhere interesting. His future-Walter was a broken man, paying penance for being the catalyst of a disaster beyond imagination. Even when his thick beard was shaved, you could sense the crushing weight on Walter's conscience through Noble's eyes. The fact his lips were clenched half the time had me consider Walter has perhaps suffered a stroke at some point while in prison, although that affliction seemed to ease off as the story progressed. Everyone else wasn't too far removed from the people we know, and it was a shame the story didn't really have the time to explore the character of Ella to any great extent. Considering the fact season 3's finale has been delivered in three parts, it's frustrating this episode itself wasn't twice as long. The majority of the previous two episodes was nothing but preamble, when the time could have been used to really sell these future-people.

It's also an unfortunate by-product of episodes like this that death itself doesn't mean very much, as you know everything's easily reversed. Consequently, the shock assassination of Olivia and her funeral (hot-on-the-heels of Doctor Who, what is it with Viking funerals lately?) just didn't connect emotionally, and there was very little sense of jeopardy because we were waiting for the inevitable reset button to be pressed.

The most successful moment of the whole finale was the last five minutes, with Peter returning to the present-day and using the Machine to connect the two universes with a bridge -- thus allowing for all the characters, and their counterparts, to share the screen for the first time. In particular, we were given the long-awaited spectacle of both Walter's staring each other down... but also the prospect of them working together to prevent their mutual destruction, which is something many have predicted would happen for awhile now. The juicy curveball thrown into the mix was the apparent erasure of Peter from their timeline, apparently by design of The Observers.

Overall, "The Day We Died" was one of those episodes where you can't deny the pleasure of watching everything unspool, and how it provokes crazy theories when the credits roll – mostly about how the writers are going to handle the fallout next year. But it was also deserving of more screentime to do everything greater justice, as it was essentially an hour of fan-fiction-y suppositions. Plus, as I'll explore in greater detail in the "Asides" below, quite a few of its explanations don't make much sense. Or, with the deletion of Peter from reality, could potentially cause major headaches for the writers unless they've properly thought out the repercussions... or have another reset button their finger's poised to press. It also totally wasted guest-star Brad Dourif, which is almost a criminal act in my eyes.

Asides

• Do we accept this finale's explanation that the First People were members of the Fringe team from 2026, who sent the Doomsday Machine back in time? If that's true, they seriously went around the world burying it in different locations and then wrote an elaborate code in a book about a fictional civilization? Or, at the very least, inspired those stories? Sorry, I don't buy it. Sam Weiss is going to be very annoyed when he hears about all this, too.
• Additionally, the situation with the Doomsday Machine remains a huge paradox, because nobody actually built that thing. It just exists, stuck in an endless time-loop? I think it's safe to say Fringe's writers introduced the Doomsday Machine without understanding its history themselves, and this finale's rush to answer everything (perhaps out of fear they'd be cancelled) didn't give them time to think up something that makes actual sense.
• I guess we'll have to wait until season 4 to see any development regarding the strange man aboard the Zeppelin from a few episodes ago, who Olivia was convinced is a man destined to kill her... but hasn't mentioned him since. It now seems ridiculous the writers bothered to include that unnecessary revelation, if they don't have time to answer it.
• If Peter's been erased from existence, having served his "purpose" for The Observers, it stands to reason that the entirety of Fringe's history now has to be altered from the audience's perspective. For instance, Olivia can never have arranged for Walter to be released from a mental asylum with Peter's permission, if Peter never existed. But if Walternate never had a son for Walter to kidnap in 1985, why are they still in this mess with both realities collapsing? I predict we'll see the emergence of a different timeline in season 4, kind of like the situation with the "sideways universe" of Lost's sixth season.
• I take it this event was the loss of Peter that Walter was being prepared for by The Observer? But if so, why was any preparation necessary if nobody will even remember Peter as part of the process? You can't grieve for someone you don't know existed.
• The One Word Trade Center? To signify it's the only one in existence now? Stupid. There's an actual Freedom Tower being built on that site, so why not just show that?
• The character of Moreau must surely be a clue to something, as it's an obvious reference to The Island Of Dr Moreau, which was all about genetic engineering.

written by Jeff Pinkner & J.H Wyman (story by Akiva Goldsman, J.H Wyman & Jeff Pinkner) / directed by Joe Chappelle / 6 May 2011 / Fox

'FRINGE' 3.21 - "The Last Sam Weiss"

The penultimate hour of the three-part conclusion to season 3 was a more enjoyable and eventful hour than last week's preamble. It was a little slow to get going, but then launched into a sprint that took us towards a key moment we've been waiting this whole year for: Peter (Joshua Jackson) stepping into the Doomsday Machine, as intended by the mysterious First People who built that contraption eons ago. It was a very enjoyable episode, despite some perfunctory story beats, and actually turning Sam Weiss (Kevin Corrigan) into a less interesting character than hoped. He's just the latest in a lineage of people who keep naming their children "Sam Weiss", sworn to protect a few artifacts and secrets they don't fully understand themselves? He's just Oded Fehr from The Mummy movies? I'd hoped for more.

This week, the alt-Earth's Doomsday Machine's activation was still causing unnatural disasters in our universe, here exemplified by a static lightning storm that caused chaos on a main road and hospitalized dozens of people with third-degree burns. Peter was hospitalized for the majority of the episode, recovering from having attempted to get inside the "malfunctioning" Machine to deactivate it, while Walter (John Noble) realized the end of the world can be delayed if they move their Doomsday Machine to the same location as its counterpart: Liberty Island, New York City. The reason being that both devices are acting like separated magnets, so the damage they cause can be localized if they're unified. Meanwhile, Olivia (Anna Torv) went on a mission to find a so-called "crowbar" that can supposedly turn their Machine off, according to an rare parchment written by the First People in Sam Weiss's possession. However, after retrieving the inconspicuous tool from an ancient stone tablet in a museum, they discovered it only opens a mysterious box containing a scroll suggesting Olivia herself is the "off switch" -- if she can wield her latent psychic abilities and turn the alt-Earth's Machine off remotely, allowing Peter to step inside their own universe's device. Got all that?

"The Last Sam Weiss" was another of those episodes that, when you stop to think about it, amounted to a simple by-the-numbers treasure hunt. And there's still no serious contemplation about how a pre-human civilization could have predicted Peter and Olivia's birth, and how they'd both be capable of interacting with a machine created and buried millennia before they existed. Of course, the fact the denouement shows that Peter entering the machine has transported him to the year 2026 is perhaps hinting the First People were time-travellers. More evidence that the First People and The Observers are one and the same, or is Fringe about to widen its mythology to encompass a new group of beings? It's not that I expect solid answers, but it would be nice if the characters at least commented on the extreme weirdness of this whole situation. Instead, they hardly bat an eyelid that scratchy illustrations of Peter and Olivia have been found on scrolls that predate the dinosaurs.

Still, despite a few disappointments, it was another episode that built that sense of excitement Fringe does so well, as events reached a crunch. I particularly like how the World Trade Center keeps being used as a symbol of momentous change in Fringe's mythology. Its existence signified the emergence of an alternate Earth when Olivia crossed over in season 1, and now Peter's jump into the future was confirmed by seeing a memorial to the WTC on the war-ravaged streets of the city. I have no idea why the Doomsday Machine has revealed itself to be a time machine, exactly, but hopefully that will be explained next week. Perhaps Peter must first see what the end of the world will bring, before deciding which universe will suffer that fate?

Overall, "The Last Sam Weiss" was a bit of a mish-mash, but it contained some memorable moments, and the ending was a genuine thrill. I'm a little frustrated Olivia's "super powers" continue to feel like lazy ways to get the story going, Peter's subplot as he made his way to New York in a deranged state of mind was a pointless addition, and Sam Weiss's background was a real disappointment -- particularly considering he got his name in the title. But I can't help responding positively to the idea Olivia and Peter are not only lovers, but prophesied instruments of creation/destruction. Hopefully the next episode will deliver the knockout punch we're waiting for, as Fringe's season finales have traditionally given us momentous changes.

written by Monica Owusu-Breen & Alison Schapker / directed by Thomas Yatsko / 29 April 2011 / Fox

Next time...

'FRINGE' 3.20 – "6:02 AM EST"

There are only three episodes left this season, and "6:02 AM EST" was primarily an hour that refreshed our memory of pertinent storylines and moved the characters into positions for the big finale. There were some great character moments to savor and a few surprising moments, but overall this episode was only "good" in the sense that it focused on the nitty-gritty of season 3's concerns (the Doomsday Device in particular) and made some welcome adjustments before the real fun begins...

This week, Walternate (John Noble) finally managed to turn his Doomsday Machine on using the DNA of his newborn grandson as a substitute for Peter (Joshua Jackson) himself. The activation then caused a sympathetic reaction from our universe's machine ("quantum entanglement", see), which in turn caused a short-lived vortex that destroyed a local farmer's herd of sheep -- a minor example of the universal damage the Machine's capable of if Walternate uses it so erase his neighbouring dimension entirely (an act that would eclipse Oppenheimer's use of the atomic bomb.) Elsewhere, Nina (Blair Brown) pointed Olivia (Anna Torv) in the direction of bowling alley mystic Sam Weiss (Kevin Corrigan), who himself has become aware the Doomsday Machine's functioning and busily conducted some ominous outdoor experiments. Meanwhile, Peter decided that the only solution is to hope he isn't the key that can turn the machine on (as they've long assumed), but the fail-safe to turn it off, as he volunteered to enter the machine on a probable suicide machine.

There were some big events in this episode that fans have been awaiting all year for regarding the Doomsday Machine, but in many ways they were handled disappointingly. The use of Walternate's grandchild to cheat the machine was predicted weeks ago, and felt like an undramatic cheat. It remains to be seen if that entire storyline with Fauxlivia falling pregnant only existed because it's almost impossible to get Peter back to the other dimension in a logical way. But there's still lots of potential in the sci-fi soap storyline of Olivia discovering her boyfriend's fathered a child with her inter-dimensional doppelganger, and it was refreshing to see that Fauxlivia has changed her opinion on Walternate and his methodology -- perhaps because she's become a mother and understands the value of life. Maybe it was a mistake to give Fauxlivia a sudden relationship with Lincoln (Seth Gabel) however, as it's neatened the love-triangle into a less prickly square.

If I'm honest, Walter's constant blubbing about his past transgressions and fears that he'll lose his son have started to lose their impact, with Noble expected to deliver another spin on the same basic scene with co-star Jackson. However, having Walter (the epitome of a "man of science") seek some comfort from a nearby chapel, urging God to punish him for his crimes but save their world, was an effecting moment. Beautifully played by Noble, even if the quality of writing didn't quite deliver the knockout emotion that scene was promising. I note that three staff writers are credited on this episode (David Wilcox, Josh Singer, Graham Roland), so it's a shame not one of them could craft dialogue that took full advantage of Walter grappling with his spiritual side.

So where does this episode leave us? Both Doomsday Machines are activated, poised to annihilate their opposing universe (will they cancel each other out?); Peter isn't even able to touch the machine without receiving a life-threatening jolt of electricity (so much for that plan...); Fauxlivia wants to defect to the other universe to warn them about what's about to happen, but has been caught and imprisoned by Walternate (is her warning even required?); and Sam Weiss has returned to help Olivia with the machine in some way. Lots of stuff to keep your mind brewing on what the remaining two episodes have in store for us -- although knowledge Fringe has been renewed for a fourth season would suggest both universes will survive. Or will they perhaps merge? It'll be interesting to see what the writers have in store for us, as every season of Fringe has ended in a way that's rejuvenated the following season. Is there a way for Fringe to pull the same trick again, or are we going to resume the "warring dimensions" storyline without the use of these fortuitous ancient machines?

Asides

• Fauxlivia's son is named Henry, after Henry the taxi cab driver who helped during the birth.
• I liked the mention of Walter receiving a sign from God in the white tulip he was mailed during season 2. A moment he evidently sees as a miracle, but which audiences know was the result of a complex time-travel storyline he has no knowledge of (see: "White Tulip")
• Still no sign of an explanation for why Peter (well, his DNA) triggers the Machine, which was built aeons before human civilization began. They do have an explanation, right?

written by David Wilcox, Josh Singer & Graham Roland / directed by Jeannot Szwarc / 22 April 2011 / Fox

'FRINGE' 3.19 - "Lysergic Acid Diethylamide"

This has to be one of craziest episodes Fringe has ever produced, and that's saying something for this show! "Lysergic Acid Diethylamide" (hereafter "LSD") was a bizarre cocktail of Inception and The Matrix, partly told in an animated style akin to Richard Linklater's A Scanner Darkly. The storyline itself was very simple and didn't deserve this kind of expensive attention, although a part of me's happy there's a mainstream TV show prepared to take creative risks -- reminding me of how The X Files used to deliver episodes built around gimmicks (monochrome horror homage "The Post-Modern Prometheus", the uninterrupted takes of Rope-esque "Triangle".) Unfortunately, those episodes told compelling stories in their own right, whereas "LSD" was just an hour of weird, often distracting, nonsense. Perhaps that was intentional, given the drug taking...

The crux of "LSD" was a race-against-time to find Olivia's (Anna Torv) cowed psyche, before the inhabiting soul of William Bell took up permanent residence in her mind. This mission entailed Walter (John Noble), "Bellivia" and Peter (Joshua Jackson) dosing themselves with LSD and entering Olivia's mind to find Olivia's consciousness, with plenty of winks and nods to the movies Inception (a dream-logic New York where citizens are dangerous figments of a subconscious) and The Matrix (Peter wore a long black coat and chose to wear Neo-like shades.) The biggest indulgence came when they finally discovered Bell's own psyche, holed up in the World Trade Center, which had taken the form of a cartoon. Indeed, the bulk of the episode thus transformed into full-blown animation, allowing the show to deliver a few stunts it would otherwise be too expensive to produce in live-action (like an escape from, uh, zombies using an airship), and to get Leonard Nimoy involved in the show by voicing Bell's caricature.

As a playful exercise in giving audiences something unexpected and fun, "LSD" was a success. I certainly didn't expect the show to produce a credible animated special under the constraints of network television (how long has this episode been in production?), but when you take away the nifty presentation this episode wasn't anything very special. In fact, it was a disappointing conclusion of William Bell's storyline that didn't even give him a final scene to match his live-action "death" in season 3's finale.

And in considering Bell's return to the world of Fringe, you have to wonder what the ultimate point of it all was. Walter has been tormented by a fear he's singularly incapable of solving the issue with Walternate's "Doomsday Machine" all year, but when his prayers were answered with the spiritual return of "Belly", the old friends barely even discussed this threat to reality. Instead, the arc was dominated with a need to immediately get rid of Bell to save Olivia! The whole storyline felt like a triviality at the end of the day, and "LSD" didn't contain anything to make it feel retrospectively worthwhile. It was intermittently very funny -- especially with Broyles (Lance Reddick) tripping out on LSD in the lab, slack-jawed and whistling at an imaginary Disney-esque birdie -- and contained some entertaining visuals and creative risks. But remove the gimmickry and you're left with a hollow story, and a weak second-death for William Bell.

A memorable episode, but only visually, as there was very little to get stuck into emotionally and intellectually. Frankly, it was an anti-climactic resolution of Bell's story that confirmed the idea of his beyond-the-grave return was a wasted opportunity. Hopefully the remainder of season 3 will return to the issues with the alternate universe that were so rudely interrupted by Bell's pointless encore.

Asides

• I liked the moment when Peter saw Nina's (Blair Brown) robotic arm, which came as a surprise to him. If memory serves me, Peter is unaware of Nina's prosthesis in the real world, so perhaps assumes this was just a quirk of Olivia's mindscape?
• Who is the strange man in the airship who attacked them, later identified by Olivia only as someone she believes is going to kill her? Any theories?

written by J.H Wyman & Jeff Pinkner (story by Jeff Pinkner, J.H Wyman & Akiva Goldsman) / directed by Joe Chappelle / 15 April 2011 / Fox

'FRINGE' 3.18 - "Bloodline"

I wonder if the idea of an accelerated pregnancy was pursued because the writers weren't sure they'd get a fourth season, so decided they should draw as much of the current narrative together as possible in the remaining time. "Bloodline" was one of those episodes that offered things we've seen before (inscrutable doctors kidnapping someone to perform a bizarre medical procedure, as Fringe Division tried to locate the victim), but it was a notable episode for how much it enlightened the alternate characters, and pushed Fauxlivia (Anna Torv) into a brand storytelling direction.

In case you'd forgotten (as it's been weeks since we were last in the alt-universe), Fauxlivia is pregnant with Walternate's (John Noble) grandchild, after sleeping with his son Peter in the other universe. "Bloodline" set up the possibility that Fauxlivia's inherited viral propagated eclampsia (VPE), a lethal virus that killed her sister during childbirth, before she's kidnapped by mysterious doctors and taken to a secret location to have her pregnancy accelerated. Meanwhile, Fauxlivia's colleagues at Fringe Division did their utmost to find her, with Lincoln (Seth Gabel) and Charlie (Kirk Acevedo) coming to suspect kindly cab driver Henry (Andre Royo) is the abduction. When it became clear that's not the case, Lincoln and Charlie were nevertheless perturbed by Henry's story of having helped Fauxlivia escape, and his belief she's suffered recent memory loss. It's enough to plan the seed of a theory that, as Charlie once absentmindedly speculated, their Olivia was once replaced by the Olivia from the other dimension...

As I said, Bloodline wasn't offering us much that felt original, as I recall Olivia being kidnapped by scientists and having to escape back in season 1, and this storyline felt similar to how things played out there. But it was still an entertaining ride, brilliantly performed by Torv -- particularly because the stakes for Fauxlivia were so high because she could die if forced to give birth. It was also fascinating to speculate on who wanted to expedite her pregnancy, and the twist that it was a secret operation sanctioned by Walternate, worked well. Perhaps it should have been obvious in retrospect, given the very limited options, but I guess I was too distracted by Fauxlivia's plight to give it too much thought.

It was also a nice touch having Walternate earn our admiration earlier in the episode, by restating his policy never to experiment on children, only to show he's not above risking the life of his own grandchild's mother. But you have to now wonder why Walternate's was in such a rush: simple impatience? A desire from the writers to get the story moving quicker without nine months of waiting? Or is Fauxlivia's love child going to be capable of operating the Doomsday Machine, if Peter becomes a dead-end?

One lasting effect of "Bloodline" was moving many of the alt-universe characters to a position of mistrust. Charlie and Lincoln are now very suspicious of Walternate, knowing he sanctioned the exchange of Olivia's without telling them, and they'll perhaps come to realize the situation with the alt-universe isn't as black-and-white and the Secretary has made it seem. Will they collaborate with our side one day? Olivia should also be worried people are after her baby, even if we know the danger has actually passed.

Overall, Bloodline had much to recommend it, particularly in Torv's tough performance, but also because it deepened the emotional stakes of the season. Lincoln admitted he loves Fauxlivia (which complicates the whole love story element of the series, now he's been added to the Olivia-Pete-Fauxlivia triangle), the birth of a child undoubtedly means big changes to the makeup of the show (especially when Peter learns he has a son), and Walternate's grip on the propaganda he's been feeding everyone is undoubtedly going to slip now he's exposed as a liar to key Fringe agents.

The great thing about Fringe this season is how it's found a way to make the characters and their tangled relationships rise above the simpler pleasure of sci-fi craziness. It was missing this level of emotional complexity and humanity in its earlier seasons, but I'm so glad it's found a more compelling voice now. And respect to Fox for giving Fringe a fourth season, allowing this confident voice to continue, despite the fact its Friday night ratings have fallen to lows of around 3.5 million.

Aside

• More alternate universe fun: Francis Ford Coppola directed Taxi Driver, not Martin Scorsese; The West Wing's about to begin its twelfth season; and Henry reads "Opus The Penguin" comic-strips, not "Opus".

written by Alison Schapker & Monica Owusu-Breen / directed by Dennis Smith / 25 March 2011 / Fox

Fox renew 'Fringe' for a fourth season

Fox have renewed the sci-fi drama Fringe for a fourth season of 22 episodes, despite its inconsistent performance since moving to Friday nights since mid-season. The news was broken by writer-producer J.H Wyman via Twitter. A recent episode actually delivered the show's lowest ever rating (3.64m), but Fox clearly have faith in this show and believe it's profitable.

'FRINGE' 3.17 - "Stowaway"

This episode did little to dissuade me that Fringe hasn't hit a rough patch since mid-season, but the freak-of-the-week was an interesting source of empathy: a woman called Dana Gray (Caprica's Paula Malcomson) who, after surviving a family tragedy, realized she can't die. As if to compensate for a somewhat forgettable story attached to an intriguing concept, the episode was reinforced by the continuation of last week's crazy William Bell twist and a familiar face joining Fringe Division...

I liked how the title alluded to the two situations unfolding here. Dana was a suicide hotline telephonist who, after surviving two lightning strikes, developed super-magnetized atoms that prevent her body decaying or suffering enough damage to bring about death. Her desire to be reunited with her dead family led her believe the only way was for her soul to "stowaway" with that of other people's at the moment of death, by encouraging depressed people to go through with suicide bids. This idea of a soul hitching a ride bled through to the B-story, with William Bell's consciousness having now possessed Olivia (Anna Torv) while he tries to find a suitable, permanent host body (ideally a severely brain-damaged patient with no hope of recovery.)

This is unquestionably an inventive way to bring William Bell back onto the show, seeing as Leonard Nimoy's character seemingly died at the end of season 2, but I'm still having a tough time swallowing it. I know it may seem crazy that I can accept so much of Fringe's pseudo-science every week, but draw the line at this latest twist, but it's somehow true. It just seems like a jarring way to bring Bell back without having to worry about Nimoy's availability or health issues. Still, Anna Torv's croaky performance (while still unintentionally hilarious at times), wasn't quite as bad as it threatened to be from last week's cliffhanger. Torv's proven her acting chops this season (playing two very different characters) and, while I doubt her Nimoy impression marks a career highlight, she's making the best of a ludicrous development. But it's still damned unsettling to see Torv flirt with Jasika Nicole like a lecherous old man, with Walter (John Bishop) giggling like a schoolboy beside him, so I'll be glad when Bell's consciousness is hosted by someone else -- preferably male. What's Zachary Quinto up to?

Of side interest was the "our side" debut of Lincoln Lee (Seth Gabel), a character we've only previously met in the alternate-universe as a key member of the Fringe team. In our world, Lincoln's a skeptical Federal Agent who gets embroiled in the Dana Gray investigation, going from bewildered Scully to a fascinated Mulder -- primed to become a semi-regular consultant. As one of the many people that prefer the alt-Fringe team, I'm glad Lincoln's set to become a bigger part of the series in both universes. The series doesn't really warrant more than three investigators (even Astrid's been cooped up in the lab this season, after playing a more active role in the field last season), but Lincoln will hopefully be used sparingly and cleverly. It's fun to try and predict if he's been brought in because something's about to happen to Peter's character and Fringe will need a temporary partner for Olivia? Or will Lincoln suffer some kind of mental trauma that means Bell's consciousness will be placed inside him?

The core storyline, trying to find and stop Dana from helping more people to die, eventually resulting in a bomb threat aboard a train packed will 300 people/souls, wasn't one of Fringe's best. The mystery itself was spoon-fed well and Malcolmson was fantastic as the conflicted Dana. However, I was a tad confused Dana didn't perceive her inability to die as a gift from God, who may want her to do good in the world using her "super power", particularly as she's evidently inclined to believe in New Age mumbo-jumbo.

Overall, "Stowaway" was mostly average with enjoyable wrinkles and moments, but the A-story didn't hold my attention all that rigidly, and I was disappointed the return of William Bell didn't kick the mythology into top gear. We've been led to believe that Bell/Bishop are an unbeatable scientific duo, but this episode didn't get me excited about their reunion. Maybe it's because there's too much distraction with Torv playing the role. If Nimoy were in these scenes, I'd have been happier seeing him make gauche jokes about placing his consciousness into Gene the cow and letting Astrid milk him. How about you?

Asides

• First there was Olivia. Then there was Fauxlivia. So do we now have Bellivia?
• The flaw in William Bell's plan to survive death: if he hears a bell, his consciousness starts to slip. Thank God there wasn't a fire drill at Harvard.

written by Danielle Dispaltro (story by Akiva Goldsman, Jeff Pinkner & J.H Wyman) / directed by Charles Beeson / 18 March 2011 / Fox

'FRINGE' 3.16 - "Os"

This was one of those episodes that washed over me because we've seen too many iterations of this formula. It's Fringe 101: a brilliant scientist with humane intentions, who starts to commit crimes to keep his dangerous side project alive, attracting the attention of Fringe Division in the process, although we gradually realize the "bad scientist" is just a flawed genius with similarities to our own Walter Bishop (John Noble.) Sound familiar?

The crackpot-of-the-week was Dr Crick (Alan Ruck) who realized he could combine osmium and lutetium (rare heavy metals) to create injections that cause human subjects to levitate. Crick targeted paraplegics with his pioneering medication, instantly earning their loyalty when he required them to rob various institutions of the uncommon metal elements needed to perfect the process -- and develop a lasting cure for his own disabled son. As I said, there was nothing here that Fringe hasn't covered before; it was a familiar story dressed up with different visuals. More interesting was the subplot's development, with Walter becoming infuriated by the limitations of his intellect and wishing that friend/colleague William Bell was still around, leading him to wonder if Bell's old theory of "soul magnets" could be used to draw his friend's consciousness back into a host body.

But while that subplot was certainly intriguing, it was also the biggest load of codswallop I've ever heard spoken on Fringe. The show usually has some core science that sounds plausible, to help you suspend disbelief, but accepting that Bell's disembodied "spirit" can be summoned by, ironically, ringing a bell he bequeathed to Nina (Blair Brown), was a step too far. It was too silly for words; not helped by the unintentionally hilarious final scene, with Olivia (Anna Torv) doing her best Leonard Nimoy impression as Bell's soul possessed her and spoke to Peter (Joshua Jackson) from beyond the grave. Is this how they're bringing William Bell back on the series? At the very least, I hope the show pulls a Caprica-style visual trick and has Nimoy reprise his role, as the idea of listening to Torv croak more of her lines already has me giggling.

Truly, this was a very dumb and formulaic episode. How does levitation restore the ability of paraplegics to move their legs and walk in weighted boots, exactly? Why would they be so keen to get injected by a creepy guy with a goatee who approaches them? Why didn't Dr Crick have to turn to crime to source his precious metals? Surely people would be only too happy to help him legally, if a breakthrough like levitation is on the cards? Imagine the applications for transporting heavy goods and building structures! And don't get me started on the gibberish about William Bell and his incorporeal soul -- particularly as a recent episode had Walter state, categorically, that he doesn't believe in ghosts. What's a ghost, if it's not a disembodied consciousness?

Only a brief summation of thoughts this week, as my enthusiasm's at a low ebb. Alan Ruck did good work with a weak character, managing to make Dr Crick work far better than he did on the page, and it was good to see Olivia and Peter behaving like a loving couple (that won't last), but the rest of the episode was by-the-numbers twaddle. I expect more from Fringe, which has hit a very inconsistent patch mid-season, made worse by the fact its first 8 episodes this season were buzzing with confident freshness. Hopefully the show will turn things around as the season finale looms into view. But so far, in terms of quality, season 3's becoming the mirror image of season 2.

Asides

• Did anyone else think of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country in those scenes where droplets of blood floated out of a shot robber's body? Appropriately, a movie that starred Leonard Nimoy, of course. Guest star Alan Ruck (famous for his role in Ferris Bueller's Day Off) also appeared in Star Trek Generations, to stick to the Trek theme this week.
• Excellent special effects for the levitating, have to say.

written by Josh Singer & Graham Rolandwri / directed by Brad Anderson / 11 March 2011 / Fox

'FRINGE' 3.15 - "Subject 13"

One of the most unforgettable episodes of Fringe was "Peter", set entirely in 1985, that explained exactly why and how Walter (John Noble) crossed over to the alternate-Earth and kidnapped the other dimension's version of his dead son. It was a brilliant, poignant, pivotal episode that left an indelible mark on the series. In many ways it marked the moment Fringe really found its heart and, since then, hasn't looked back. "Subject 13" is an attempt to catch lightning in the same bottle, twice. The fact it mostly succeeds just goes to show how far this show's writing has improved in the past few seasons.

The entire episode again took place in 1985 (meaning a reprise of those joyously retro opening titles), a few months after Walter stole the sickly Peter (Chandler Canterbury) from "Walternate" to cure him, but has clearly decided it's best to keep Peter in this universe. His excuse is that it's too dangerous to risk another crossing, which is certainly true, but you sense that the bigger reason is Walter refuses to lose his son a second time. Unexpectedly, "Subject 13" reveals that Peter wasn't oblivious to everything that has happened to him, as he senses Walter and his mother Elizabeth (Orla Brady) aren't his real parents, and has an obsession with finding his way home -- which he believes is at the bottom of the frozen ice lake he almost drowned in shortly after arriving in this universe with Walter.

A large part of this episode was spent watching the struggle Elizabeth faces every day, trying to convince Peter he's really her son; tormented because she knows success will ultimately mean their relationship is based on a lie, while also aware she's an accomplice in a kidnapping. Walter is similarly conflicted, if slightly more determined to keep Peter around for longer than planned, despite telling his wife that his experiments on children in Jacksonville with the mind-altering drug "cortexiphan" holds the key to safe inter-dimensional crossings. One young girl who's particularly responsive to the treatment is precocious Olivia (Karley Scott Collins), the eponymous Subject 13, whom Walter comes to realize can jump to the other dimension when she's in a heightened state of love and fear. This mental state is hard to reproduce in the lab, as the only time Olivia's successfully crossed was when she was being chased by her abusive stepdad.

This was a great hour of television and another highlight of Fringe that successfully developed the show's back-story in several ways. It never really crossed my mind that Peter would realize he's been taken from his real home, but that was rich territory to explore. And while we may have heard about Walter's experimentation on kids, it's quite another thing to actually see it. There was a brilliant extended sequence shot on Betamax, with Walter forcing Olivia to undertake various physical and mental challenges to provoke a dimension-jump. It perhaps could have been tougher to watch, but it still made its point.

The performances were really good, too -- especially from Orla Brady, who occasionally drops into the show to play Walter's wife. She was the real standout here; acing the role of a conflicted mother who just wants her son to love her. Both child actors were also strong, which was such a relief. Chandler Canterbury and Karley Scott Collins resemble Joshua Jackson and Anna Torv well enough, but more importantly they really feel like Peter and Olivia as children and have a nice chemistry together.

"Subject 13" does throw up some potential issues with the continuity of the series, but I trust the writers enough to predict another flashback episode will explain things. For instance: it seems ridiculous that Peter and Olivia, as adults, don't recall the fact they met each other once, or that Peter's memories of ever doubting his parents' identities have vanished. My guess is that their memories will be removed at some point (maybe once Walter realizes Peter's never going to stop questioning his whereabouts), as otherwise this is quite a serious problem for the show. That said, some of the original setup of Fringe now looks very coincidental -- such as the extreme improbability that Olivia lost her memories of being experimented on, grew up to become an FBI agent, and found herself tracking down Peter to help get his father released from a mental asylum, who just happens to be the "Dr Walter" she knew as a kid. Oh, and Walter's insanity conveniently means he forgot Olivia Dunham was ever his cherished Subject 13.

Suspension of disbelief is clearly required, as Fringe currently has to bend itself into a shape that fits the beginnings of the show in eason 1, but I'm okay with that. It helps that sci-fi is robust enough to have audiences accept things like convenient memory loss, and what ultimately matters is the here-and-now. I'm sure the writers would make changes to Fringe's pilot, if they had planned these three seasons out in such detail, but that's obviously too much to ask. And I prefer a show that can adapt, evolve and improve if it means episodes like "Subject 13" get made.

It was also very interesting to see the aftermath of Peter's kidnapping from the perspective of Walternate. As the alt-Earth's safety czar, it's big news that he couldn't even keep his own son safe, and we find him a deep state of depression -- mainly because he has absolutely no idea where Peter's gone, or who took him. "Subject 13" answered a key question about Fringe's back-story very well: how did Walternate come to realize his son was taken by his duplicate from a neighbouring dimension? In a spine-tingling scene, Olivia was shown to be the reason, after she unwittingly crossed to the other side and left her sketchbook of drawings with Walternate, believing he was the other Walter. A drawing of Olivia standing in a field of white tulips with Peter, handed over by a little girl who vanished into thin air is more than enough for Walternate to hypothesize the truth and start plotting a rescue.

Some say Fringe is in a bind with Walter's character during this period of time, as it wants to present him as something of a cruel man (he experiments on kids), but it all takes place during a time when he's a grieving father who has our sympathy over his kidnapping of Peter. And in this episode, there was a great moment when Olivia trusted Walter enough to reveal she gets beaten at home, leading Walter to threaten Olivia's stepdad with serious repercussions if he dare touch her again. But I rather like the fact Walter's a character with contradictions. Nobody's 100% hero or villain in real-life, so Walter's one of the most faceted characters on TV in many ways. You can feel disappointed by some of his behaviour and decisions, but also elated by his obvious affection for those closest to him.

A fantastic episode of a brilliant season. What say you?

Aside

• Always nice to see Sarah-Jane Redmond, formerly demonic villainess Lucy Butler in Millennium, as Walter's lab assistant Ashley.

written by Jeff Pinkner, J.H Wyman & Akiva Goldsman / directed by Frederick E.O Toye / 25 February 2011 / Fox

'FRINGE' 3.14 - "6B"

It's worth mentioning the elegant beauty of Fringe's teasers. It's rare to see teasers that do as their name suggests these days, which the investigative sci-fi genre is particularly adept at. You watch the opening minutes of Fringe with the giddy expectation of seeing something startling and gruesome. In "6B", we followed two New Yorkers attending a party in an apartment block, and were thrown various red herrings (like a woman going into anaphylactic shock over the hors d'œuvre), before six partygoers (apparently) jumped off a balcony and hit the ground beside a horror-struck doorman. An impulsive mass suicide? You'll certainly keep watching after the advert break to find out...

Fringe investigated the "jumpers", with Walter (John Noble) quickly theorizing they died because the balcony they were stood on temporarily vanished, hence why the fallers were joined by tables and chairs. It transpired that the apartment block is the epicenter of inter-dimensional cracks (similar to what the alt-Earth has to deal with on a daily basis), and Walter is frightened the block's an early sign that their universe is starting to suffer more noticeable damage. However, Olivia (Anna Torv) developed a different theory when she realized an elderly resident called Alice Merchant (Phyllis Somerville) could be to blame, as her grief for the recent loss of her husband Derek (Ken Pogue) is tearing a hole in reality and allowing her to see her late spouse's (or, rather, his surviving doppelganger from "the other side".)

Season 3 of Fringe has found interesting ways to keep the case-of-the-week stories anchored by personal touches and deeper relevance for the regular characters. Obviously we had Walter's innate guilt that these tears in reality are ultimately his fault (which resulted in him being particularly sarcastic to everyone), but there's also Olivia and Peter's (Joshua Jackson) rocky relationship, in light of Peter sleeping with Fauxlivia, which appears to have come to a temporary resolution now Olivia's accepted Peter back. Undoubtedly, it won't be long before their rekindled romance is dealt another blow, when Fauxlivia's pregnancy becomes known.

This wasn't a bad episode, although it was noticeably slow to hit a stride. A show like Fringe needs to be several steps ahead of the audience at all times, but once Walter theorized the balcony had vanished I was already ahead of the investigation in linking everything to cracks in the fabric of reality. And from there, I was ahead of the curve when it came to realizing Alice was seeing what she believed was the "ghost" of her dead husband. The story didn't hide its hand very well, giving the audience too much time to think ahead, which meant all the characters looked obtuse for the majority of "6B". Admittedly, it didn't help that this episode opened with memory-refreshing clips of relevant episodes from the show's history, which means you were primed for a story involving the "glimmers" Olivia sees when in a heightened emotional state.

Still, it was great seeing our Walter realize he's just as willing to use the "amber" his counterpart created to seal reality-cracks, knowing how it can be more trouble than it's worth. I'd also forgotten that the amber was seen way back in season 1's "The Ghost Network", which we were reminded of here. "6B" built to a rather tense and exciting finale, with Broyles (Lance Reddick) poised to use the amber before Alice unwittingly creates a vortex that destroys half of Brooklyn, while Olivia and Peter tried to convince Alice that her belief in the spirit world is misplaced. A great example of the show keeping its eye on the personal angle of the show, as Alice's torment was surprisingly affecting, with touching work from guest star Phyllis Somerville as she severed her emotional tie to her life partner.

A potentially great episode, undone by some limp storytelling and predictability, but still satisfying enough to leave a good impression. Do you agree?

Asides

• Did anyone else notice the clear similarities between this episode and Doctor Who's "Army Of Ghosts"? Both involved people from other dimensions being mistaken as ghosts, and Walter smashing a pane of glass to demonstrate the worst case scenario of inter-dimensional instability echoed David Tennant's own demo as The Doctor. There were also touches of Ghostbusters throughout, particularly when we saw Walter floating around the apartment with what resembled Egon Spengler's PKE meter.
• Interesting to hear that Walter doesn't believe in ghosts -- although I assume he believes in the possibility that people can somehow be recorded on the environment for later playback. Maybe he does. There's a story in that.

written by Glen Whitman & Robert Chiappetta / directed by Thomas Yatsko / 18 February 2011 / Fox

'FRINGE' 3.13 - "Immortality"

This marked out first return trip to the alternate-Earth in what seems like forever, but it was unfortunately a so-so installment. "Immortality" wasn't a crushing bore, and it delivered some important developments, but the investigation at the heart of the episode didn't capture my imagination, and I found Fauxlivia's (Anna Torv) state of mind to be a letdown given the repercussions of her sojourn to prime-Earth on Olivia and Peter.

This week, Fringe Division were assigned to investigate the murder of a man at the Empire State Building's dirigible station, after he was discovered in a toilet cubicle having been eaten from the inside-out by "skelter beetles" (a species that died out a decade ago when the world's sheep became extinct, losing the beetle their natural host.) The investigation soon led them to suspect Dr Anton Silva (Alon Aboutboul), a brilliant scientist who was close to curing avian flu using an enzyme the skelter beetle produces, who may now be trying to continuing his work by genetically-manipulating beetles to hatch within human subjects. A crime Silva's rationalizing because many other famous medical breakthroughs cost innocent human lives.

Meanwhile, Walternate (John Noble) is told that their synthetic version of Cortexiphan (the chemical found in Olivia's brain that gives her the ability to traverse dimensions) is beginning to work on young test subjects, briefly giving one young man telekinesis before he dies. The secret to long-term success appears to be giving the drug to younger people, preferably children, but this is an avenue Walternate won't consider exploring.

There were some good themes at play in "Immortality". Silva and Walternate are both scientists determined to help the world, but while this episode reveals that Walternate still has principles he's unwilling to break, even if it will cost him the success he craves. But how long can he put his ethics first, if experimenting on kids is the only way to protect the dimension he believes is under threat? Contrarily, Silva's not above killing a few people for the greater good of creating an enzyme that will save thousands of people from dying of avian flu. This is all well-trodden ground as a moral conundrum, but still able to inspire some debate. The fact is, many of our modern technological marvels (particularly in the field of medicine), only exist because pioneering scientists ignored their morals. Grave robbing in the 1800s to satisfy the need for fresh cadavers to dissect, the awful experiments on unwilling Jews in Nazi Germany, etc.

What intrigued me about this episode (from a character standpoint) was seeing Fauxlivia go about her business, with no sign that she's fallen in love with Peter. We've been led to believe from Fauxlivia's recovered journal that she developed deep feelings for Peter, but there was little sign of that here. I guess it's possible Fauxlivia just isn't the kind of person who pines for a lost love, and was quickly distracted by the return of her boyfriend Frank (Philip Winchester) from his trip to North Texas to help with the outbreak of a disease? Whatever the case, I think it was a shame Fauxlivia didn’t show clearer signs of missing Peter, considering how anguished her doppelganger is over the whole situation. However, the late reveal that she's actually pregnant with Peter's baby makes for a brilliantly soap-like twist, providing Walternate with a solid reason to coax Peter back to this dimension of his own free will (which is apparently important if the doomsday machine he's creating is to work properly.) And seeing as we know Peter's love for Olivia or Fauxlivia will decide which dimension is destroyed, will he choose the woman he loves, or the mother of his child? Or is Fauxlivia both?

Overall, this was the kind of episode where I appreciated the information it delivered, but it was wrapped up in a mechanical storyline that didn't grab me. It was ultimately an hour of filler that used the time to lay some groundwork for fresh ideas the show will return to in the near-future.

What did you make of this episode, and its developments with an inter-dimensional pregnancy? The Walter's now have a grandchild to fight over! That can't be good. And how will Olivia react when she discovers Peter's got her alternate pregnant?

Asides

• Can someone clarify: is the doomsday machine created by The First People only in existence on our Earth, or is there a duplicate in the alternate-Earth? Basically, is Walternate creating his own version based on the schematic he has of the device, or is he assembling his dimension's excavated machine? I mean, Walternate does possess the power unit Fauxlivia stole from our dimension, so that suggests he has nothing on his side and has been sending soldiers to our dimension to recover the parts he needs. That's the situation, right? Or is the device's pieces split between universes?
• This show really loves Twin Peaks! Two more in-jokes this week: Walternate's mistress Reiko was played by Joan Chen (who played Josie Packard in Twin Peaks), and someone ordered "a piece of cherry pie" at a diner (which is Agent Cooper's favourite dessert). C'mon, they can get Kyle MacLachlan on this show, surely. Or Michael J. Anderson?
• Does anyone else think the show would have cast Mark Valley as Fauxlivia's boyfriend, if he wasn't (a) busy making Human Target and (b) recently divorced from Anna Torv? It would have been more fun to see Olivia's dead fiance John Scott back on the show, as an alternate-Earth counterpart, in an ideal world. I just struck me because Philip Winchester even resembles Mark Valley.
• I'm always taken by the atmosphere of Fringe Division in the alternate-Earth, as it's so fun and easygoing. This is a world where bizarre events have become so commonplace that everyone acts like they have a very normal, routine job. It's one of the key things that gives alt-Earth its off kilter weirdness.

written by David Wilcox & Ethan Gross / directed by Brad Anderson / 11 February 2011 / Fox

'FRINGE' 3.12 - "Concentrate And Ask Again"

We're still in a period adjustment right now, which is giving Fringe a slightly deflated feel after the superlative dual-Olivia storyline. Recent weeks have been about accumulating knowledge and cementing emotional foundations, ready for the show to tap-dance all over it. But we're not quite there yet, and "Concentrate And Ask Again" was another hour that, while largely more enjoyable than "Reciprocity", likewise suffered from a feeling a perfunctory plot was in support of a need to deliver information for future pay-off.

There was another outlandish investigation this week, with Fringe Division called in to trace a bomber who targeted a pharmaceutical scientist with an exploding doll that released a blue powder that immediately turned the poor man's skeleton to dust. Suspicion soon fell on a former US marine with a grudge against those responsible for experimenting on his colleagues (as part of "Project Jellyfish"), which ultimately resulted in the stillborn death of each subject's future children. Aiding the search was Simon (Omid Abtahi), a reclusive man who was given Cortexiphan by Walter (John Noble) back in the '70s; a fact that's been hidden from authorities because Simon didn't actually complete the trial. Simon, now blessed/cursed with the ability to hear people's thoughts, which is an especially incapacitating skill in crowds, found himself bonding with fellow guinea pig Olivia (Anna Torv), who persuaded him to help them interrogate their powder bomber, after he was caught but fell into a coma.

There was much to enjoy about "Concentrate And Ask Again", even thought it stuck to a largely predictable formula with its main storyline about finding and thwarting a gang of bombers turning a bone-destroying powder against its creators. The fact something that sounds that bizarre sounding can be considered predictable is, I realize, amusing on the surface. But it wasn't really the A-story that worked about this episode (beyond the wonderfully gruesome visual of victims snapping and crumbling into floppy skin sacks), it was the decoration around the edges. In particular, Simon was a really engaging character, in a story that treated the ability to read minds in the most plausible way I've seen on sci-fi in a very long time.

We're so used to seeing telepathic characters on the likes of Heroes and True Blood, but I applaud Fringe for making you realize just how impossible it would be to live with that ability. The aural effect was also very nicely handled (especially the weird pre-echo of spoken dialogue), and Abtahi's sweaty, jittery performance really sold the trauma of his character's daily existence. Simon's kinship with Olivia (whose mind he can't read) was also very sweet, with her insisting he should risk asking a girl he's noticed out on a date, even if he eavesdrops on some disappointing thoughts from her. Even better was Simon's upsetting insistence Olivia's wrong to be optimistic about him and his condition, because it's just impossible to live in a world where everyone's an open book. I hope Walter creates some kind of psychic dampener for Simon and he's brought into another adventure one day, although I suspect the extremity of his debilitation was partly to ensure Fringe can't go knocking on Simon's cabin door every time they need to question a suspect!

We also had some significant movement on "The First People" book, with Nina (Blair Brown) noticing that each international copy's author is an anagram of Sam Weiss (Kevin Corrigan), the "bowling alley mystic" who helped Olivia get over her mental block in early season 2. This was a reveal I've heard a few people correctly predict, from those fans who remember Sam's unexplained role in the show last season, but it was still nice to get that confirmation. But I'm still confused about the explanation Sam gave for the "doomsday device" that has been excavated and assembled by Massive Dynamic; the fact it can create or destroy realities requires huge suspension of disbelief, which I can manage, but it's more the fact the machine's attuned to Peter (Joshua Jackson.) Why? Is it because he's spent the most time in both universes? Also, Sam's warning that Peter can be used to destroy a reality based on which Olivia he loves the most, while a brilliant way to give this grand dilemma a personal touch, doesn't make much sense to me at this point.

Overall, "Concentrate And Ask Again" has much to recommend it, mainly in the smaller moments, subplots and subtleties: like Simon (a man of Arabian descent) being the one thwarting terrorists, or Olivia getting to wear the kind of elegant dress that Peter clearly appreciated seeing Fauxlivia in. And, of course, Simon's reveal to Olivia that Peter still has feelings for her doppelganger nicely set up what should become a love-triangle with consequences that extend to the destruction of an entire universe itself. It's Valentine's Day next week, and in the worlds of Fringe that could be a catalyst for Armageddon!

written by Graham Roland & Matthew Pitts / directed by Dennis Smith / 4 February 2011 / Fox

'FRINGE' 3.11 - "Reciprocity"

There were some elements of "Reciprocity" I really enjoyed, and it was fantastic to get forward momentum on the "doomsday device" that Massive Dynamic have managed to piece together, minus the supposed power source that Fauxlivia stole. It's a little ridiculous this machine (apparently built, dismantled and hidden by the "First People" hundreds of millions of years ago), is still in working order and was so easily reconstructed by another civilization so easily, but I can go with it.

Unfortunately, while this all delighted me, this week's storyline was ultimately rather dull and designed to make Peter (Joshua Jackson) feel more integral to the show. It's a pity, but Peter has always been the weak link on Fringe: a character almost entirely built on what he means to other people (the son Walter stole and raised as his own; the man both Olivia's fell in love with; the vital cog for Walternate's doomsday device.) The series introduced Peter as a mysterious prodigy who's been around the world and has connections in the underworld, but you rarely get a flavour of that. Occasionally, Fringe will remember what Peter was originally supposed to be and, if it helps the story, have him take Olivia (Anna Torv) to see one of his off-the-record contacts (like that eccentric bookkeeper) who may be able to deliver enough exposition to aide the plot.

"Reciprocity" again pushed the idea that Peter has some weird communion with the First People's technology, as his very presence seemed to awaken the machine and gave him an instant nosebleed. It's all quite fascinating. Is the machine reacting to Peter in particular? It would appear so, otherwise Walternate could just use someone else to power it and destroy the prime universe. Or is Peter "special" because he's spent so much time in a dimension he wasn't born in? But again, Peter's really just being used as a plot-device: a human battery. This episode was primarily about trying to stop someone who's killing various shape-shifters trying to destroy the data contained in Fauxlivia's journal that she left behind, with the twist being that the serial-killer was Peter, who claims he'd fed up being reactive to situations, making Walter (John Noble) hypothesize the doomsday device has someone "weaponized" him. If true, it's again unfortunate that Peter only exhibits interesting qualities when he's under the influence of strange technology and not because of natural, explicable changes in his persona.

It was also rather laughable how Josh Singer's script tackled an early situation with a "mole" in Fringe Division, as the episode had spent such a conspicuously long time on a scientist character Walter took an instant dislike to that the mystery was spoiled before it even had a chance to be nurtured. There was one moment where the guilty scientist was framed in the shot seconds after the declaration of a mole was made, which was almost comical. They might as well have stuck an Austin Power-style mole on the actor's cheek and referred to him as "Dr. Mol" throughout the whole episode.

Overall, "Reciprocity" was an episode of good moments hanging from the backbone of a weak storyline. It appreciated Olivia realizing Peter is embarrassed about having fallen for Fauxlivia's wiles, and deciding to give their relationship another chance, too. It risked becoming torturous to keep having Olivia chastise Peter for being unable to tell her apart from her doppelganger, so I'm glad the writers have ended that. Having Olivia realize that Fauxlivia genuinely loved Peter, from what she's written about him in her journal, was also a good move. Now it's clearer to us that Fauxlivia wasn't faking everything while on her mission and the sci-fi love-triangle has some integrity to it.

What did you think? This wasn't a bad episode, but I thought it was a largely underwhelming way to deliver some information.

Asides

• I loved the moment when Walter himself referred to the alternate Olivia as "Fauxlivia". Fringe's writers apparently use "Bolivia" in scripts, but obviously realized that the wittier term "Fauxlivia", coined by fans, was a better option. I'm glad. It's also just fun to see a form of interaction going on between the show and its audience.
• Walter's now re-growing the brain cells William Bell extracted from his head, in order to improve his IQ. But didn't Bell just take away chunks of Walter's brain containing specific memories?

WRITER: Josh Singer
DIRECTOR: Jeannot Szwarc
TRANSMISSION: 28 January 2011, Fox, 9/8c

'FRINGE' 3.10 - "The Firefly"

Back from hiatus, Fringe finds itself in a precarious position, shunted to Fox's Friday night "death slot" with an episode wryly entitled "The Firefly", possibly in salute to Joss Whedon's sci-fi drama that died in the same timeslot in 2002. The good news is this comeback hour managed to slightly improve on its previous episode's rating, so if Fringe manages to maintain that audience its future isn't so bleak.

"The Firefly" was a strong episode marking Fringe's return, taking the form of a puzzle for Walter (John Noble) to solve, set by the ubiquitous inter-dimensional Observer (Michael Cerveris). The brainteaser was set in motion when the bald Observer transported a young man from 1985 to 2010, in order to speak to his aged father Rosco (Christopher Lloyd), an ex-rocker now in a nursing home and grieving the tragic death of his son. However, this miraculous reunion for Rosco is spoiled by the fact he can't remember details of his encounter with his dead son, so he's taken into FBI care to allow Walter (a passionate aficionado of Rosco's band) the opportunity to try and restore his memory.

The curious thing about this episode is that its storyline was, ultimately, a rather tenuous test for Walter Bishop, but that didn't seem to matter. There's an argument to be had that "The Firefly" was a thin excuse to have fun with The Observer, and potentially hook any Friday newcomers by promoting the character's freakishness and super-powers (snatching bullets in mid-air during a bank robbery, starting cars with a simple touch), and I wouldn't argue against that too strongly. In many ways this was a simple lark, well told, but it also did a great job making us realize the extent of the damage Walter's caused when he crossed to the other dimension in 1985 to kidnap the alternate-Peter.

The existence of another Peter in this reality has caused ripples of change that have altered the course of established future events, exemplified with The Observer's story that Peter existed to catch a firefly in a jar, denying someone else from catching the same insect, and in a butterfly effect something so minor ultimately caused Rosco's son to be killed by a careless driver. And, of course, Walter's not entirely to blame, because The Observer himself interfered in the timeline by saving Walter and Peter from drowning when their car fell into an icy lake. Walter and The Observer are both culprits of this whole sorry mess, which it seems The Observer is trying to put right by preparing Walter for the loss of Peter a second time.

My opinion is split on the guest-star appearance of Christopher Lloyd, which obviously meant this episode had Dr Emmett Brown interacting with Dr Walter Bishop, which probably caused a few fanboys to jizz their pants. Lloyd was good throughout, turning marvelous in a key scene where he recounted the tragedy of his son's death 25 years ago, and we realized he lost a son so Walter could have his. I think Lloyd did a great job with such a thin character. To create some added fun, they made Rosco the former keyboard player of a band Walter used to adore, but beyond a few moments of hero worship and bonding over strawberry ice cream, the idea didn't really take flight.

Overall, "The Firefly" was a great episode of limited ambition, helping to crystallize some of Fringe's issues regarding Walter and The Observer's disruption to this dimension and its timeline. Any newcomers will probably have been baffled by most of the events, but they'll hopefully come back for more because of how enjoyable wacky this hour was. It opened with Walter, trousers round his ankles, listening to "Phenomenon" at 2 o'clock in the morning, about to inject himself with a lime green serum. That's the best introduction to this show you could hope for. There was even a brilliant in-joke for Twin Peaks fans, when Walter referenced his friend Dr Jacoby from Washington State, before wearing a pair of Jacoby's red-and-blue-lens spectacles. If the presence of Back To The Future's "Doc" didn't tickle your inner geek, the idea Fringe takes place in the same universe as David Lynch's surreal classic surely will. I'm now hoping Agent Cooper gets assigned to a case with Olivia (Anna Torv).

Another damn fine episode of Fringe in what's shaping up to be a remarkable season of high quality sci-fi, now the show's started to ensure every story impacts the lead character's emotions while testing their mettle. What did you think?

WRITERS: J.H Wyman & Jeff Pinkner
DIRECTOR: Brad Anderson
TRANSMISSION: 21 January 2011, Fox, 9/8c