“I am tired of being reactive.” - Peter Bishop
And with that quote, Fringe has declared, loudly, boldly, its plans to delve even deeper into character based drama. Peter, the closest the show has to an everyman, has never been as well defined as I feel such a major character should be. So not only was the twist of him being the one stalking and killing the shape-shifters a good decision in terms of the episode, but I believe that watching Peter delve deeper into his dark side as he attempts to wrestle control of his life from the hands of fate are going to be a good move for both the character and the show.
The show was wise to make room for this new character arc by (somewhat) closing off another one, that of the strained relationship between Peter and Olivia. Now, some may claim that this had ended too soon, and I can see that. Olivia only found out about Peter/Fauxlivia two episodes ago, and if she was really in love with Peter as much as the show seems to think she is, then it should take a long time for her to mend her broken heart.
There are, however, a few counterpoints to this. First, while we have no idea how much time passed in the shows universe over the past three episode, though I perceive there was a jump of a few weeks between “Marionette” and “The Firefly.” Secondly, Olivia is a woman who a) is in enough control of her emotions that she wouldn't let them entirely dictate her actions, b) maintains her ability for rational thought, and could thus conceivably dissolve her irrational blame of Peter fairly quickly, and c) let's face it, really loves Peter. Third, I don't believe (given the ways that these scenes played out) that Olivia had FULLY moved one, just that she is starting to do so.
It of course helps that all of the scenes between Peter and Olivia were played out beautifully once again by Jackson and Torv. They hits all the right notes of trepidation, remorse, and unrequited loved so well that we were able to take in all components of their relationship.
In the end, if they end up playing Peter's descent into darkness against the rebudding of the romantic relationship (and I have strong sense that they will) it should all make for some great television, and I will be willing to forget any initial misgivings.
Yet for all of these great elements, there were a few others that kept this episode from being truly great episode. While I am glad that the show has gone ahead and gotten the building of The Machine (does it have an official name? If not, that's what I'm calling it) out of the way (as opposed to having the team race around the globe, collecting all the various parts), its reveal never felt as impressive as it should have, especially the point when we saw it start to kick on upon close proximity with Peter. Nor did it help thing that this episode essentially treated it as a McGuffin for Peter's character change. I'm sure The Machine will do something(s) impressive before the season is out, but for now it has failed to live up to its hype. Also, the episode dropped the point about Fauxlivia still having the remaining piece, and I hope this doesn't mean that the show has forgotten about it.
The rest of my complaints are quibbles, but I would be failing in my critical duties if I didn't touch on them. A) Maybe this was me, but the jump Olivia made in decoding Fauxlivia's journal (or whatever) seemed a bit too sudden, or perhaps the show didn't take the few extra second to explain it fully. Or maybe I just missed it. B) While I laughed at Walter's sudden yearning for bananas, the rest of “Walter's acting like a monkey” jokes were painfully broad. I hope they don't stretch out Walter's attempts to rebuild his brain longer than they have to.
What did everybody else think?
Additional Thoughts:
Fringe's numbers for last Friday were almost exactly what they were when the show was airing on Thursdays in the fall. (While said numbers were never that great for Thursday, they are excellent for Friday.) Assuming the audience doesn't dip over the next few weeks – and let's face it, if you watch one episode of a Friday show when it airs, you're likely to watch all of them when they air – we should be able to hold on for a few more years.
Can I just say how happy I am that Brandon was not the Shape-Shifter Slayer? I always liked the character, and I am glad he gets to stick around. (I was, however, formulating a theory where Brandon-as-the-killer would make sense, but that's moot now...)
Walter is partial to grape flavored chewing gum
Glad to see the show embracing the name “Fauxlivia”
This has to be the first instance where the words “This test is perfectly safe” were not used as foreshadowing
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