Season 4, Episode 9
“Something About the air on this side, it tastes sweeter”
One of the major criticisms of my reviews (or if you prefer, criticisms of my criticisms) that I hear from people is that I often times can't just write about what a show is, rather than how it's disappointing me by what it's not. This is something that I notice many critics struggling with, and though I always thought of myself as someone who can turn into what ever curveballs shows throw at me, this season, a variety of shows (Fringe, Glee, How I Met Your Mother) are testing me at various times, and I've admittedly been faltering in that department. But I still maintain that there's a difference between wingeing about a development you don't like, and commenting when said development is hindering individual episodes, and it's important to talk about the latter without falling into the former.
The problem with Fringe's fourth season from reviewing standpoint is that so much of it has leaned on the development of Peter's disappearance (and later, his reappearance) that's it's become hard to talk about anything else, and I've been repeating same criticisms just so I have something to say. “Enemy of My Enemy”, then, is an interesting episode for me, because it has a lot of things that I like, couched in some developments of which I'm still unsure.
By all accounts, this was a pretty good episode, and a solid follow-up to last week's important and likable game-changer, even if the very nature of what it was trying to accomplish meant that the quality couldn't be quite as high. This was in large part a table setting episode, meant to take the big reveals of last week (which was meant to air as the mid-season finale, mind you) and work them into a story that can provide forward momentum. In succeeded on this account, and provided some pretty great character moments in the mean time.
Last week I mentioned how that episode seemed to succeed in part by taking what we new about the season three versions of these characters, and subtly contrasting that with the version presented to us in this season, and while I'm still not sure that getting to know these versions is going to be important in the long run, it seems to have worked for the short. Since the show has finally been able to make us more comfortable with the characters, it becomes easier to sit back and enjoy the ride that the show is taking us on. To that end, watching both Fringe Divisions attempt to track down Jones was a good deal of fun, for the simple fact that all this alternate timeline stuff didn't interfere needlessly with the onscreen action.
Even better, this feels like a culmination of the season so far, at least on a plot level, to the extent that this finally feels like the show is delivering on the possibilities that it promised back in the premiere. Both Fringe Divisions are working together, and Peter is able to interact with, and get reactions out of the people in these new reality. The best was of course Peter's conversation with Jones, where the show finally made the best use of the former's status as an outsider in all of this, by both unnerving Jones and showing us just why his paradoxical existence might be a problem. And knowing that Alt-Broyles is either a traitor or a shape-shifter? And that Nina is directing Jones' actions? Talk about raising the stakes.
However, there exists a problem with all of this, in that the show still hasn't earned the emotional connection that it wants us to make. Yes, we're more comfortable with these characters, but that's just because they're reflecting the versions of them that we actually care about. It doesn't magically turn them into those versions, and there still exists an uneasy divide between the audience and what's happening on screen. The fairly lengthy conversation between Alt-Elizabeth and Walter felt like it was something that was supposed to be moving, but I mostly was just bored. It's not only that there talking about things that are just slightly off from what I know, but also it's been so long that the show asked me to care about anything close to this (as in over a year ago in terms of when episodes aired) that they can't just suddenly throw me into the deep end of the pathos pool and expect me to swim. There needs to be some build, some time for me to stick my toes in the water and get used to the water once again.
What doesn't help is that the show has yet to define exactly what this reality is and how it functions. There is a well-known theory which goes that with every choice we make, we create two or more universes, one for the choice we make, and the other(s) for the one(s) we didn't. If this were the case, it would seem as if the Amber Timeline exists independently of the Prime Timline, and that would make sense given Peter's insistence that he “go back” and explain how it is that the Observers seem unaffected by Peter's disappearance and subsequent return.
However, there was a moment tonight where Peter was talking to Amber Olivia*, and she began to get a gooey eyed around him, and I began to worry. Are we supposed to care about this? Are Peter's interactions meant to be important to his return to his timeline? Is he supposed to be making these characters “wake up”? Could this possibly mean that there's really only one timeline, and Peter has to alter it back to it's original state from within? Or is it just more pathos that ultimately has no effect on the people we care about? And how does this make Timelines different from Universes in show's parlance, given that both seem to be differentiated based on differing series of events?
There are so many questions that still need to be answered for this season for Fringe to really make sense, and while I love a good building mystery, the show's refusal to answer some of these basic questions causes confusion, not intrigue. And when confusion happens, when it's not clear why things have to happen in the narrative sense, or what they mean metatextually, it becomes hard to take any of it too seriously. Because if you do, then you're just going to hurt your brain – like I just did.
Next Week: Another standalone case. And just when things were starting to get good.
Quotes and Other Thoughts:
*Even though technically every character we're seeing on screen, outside of Peter, is “Amber _______” (or in some cases, “Amber Alt-________”), I haven't been referring to them as such because it would be just way too tedious. However, I made that distinction here as part of my questioning, because Olivia is only Amber Olivia, really, if the first timeline theory is true, but not if the second one is.
“I have high hopes for the Parmesan ice cream.”
Last week I mentioned how that episode seemed to succeed in part by taking what we new about the season three versions of these characters, and subtly contrasting that with the version presented to us in this season, and while I'm still not sure that getting to know these versions is going to be important in the long run, it seems to have worked for the short. Since the show has finally been able to make us more comfortable with the characters, it becomes easier to sit back and enjoy the ride that the show is taking us on. To that end, watching both Fringe Divisions attempt to track down Jones was a good deal of fun, for the simple fact that all this alternate timeline stuff didn't interfere needlessly with the onscreen action.
Even better, this feels like a culmination of the season so far, at least on a plot level, to the extent that this finally feels like the show is delivering on the possibilities that it promised back in the premiere. Both Fringe Divisions are working together, and Peter is able to interact with, and get reactions out of the people in these new reality. The best was of course Peter's conversation with Jones, where the show finally made the best use of the former's status as an outsider in all of this, by both unnerving Jones and showing us just why his paradoxical existence might be a problem. And knowing that Alt-Broyles is either a traitor or a shape-shifter? And that Nina is directing Jones' actions? Talk about raising the stakes.
However, there exists a problem with all of this, in that the show still hasn't earned the emotional connection that it wants us to make. Yes, we're more comfortable with these characters, but that's just because they're reflecting the versions of them that we actually care about. It doesn't magically turn them into those versions, and there still exists an uneasy divide between the audience and what's happening on screen. The fairly lengthy conversation between Alt-Elizabeth and Walter felt like it was something that was supposed to be moving, but I mostly was just bored. It's not only that there talking about things that are just slightly off from what I know, but also it's been so long that the show asked me to care about anything close to this (as in over a year ago in terms of when episodes aired) that they can't just suddenly throw me into the deep end of the pathos pool and expect me to swim. There needs to be some build, some time for me to stick my toes in the water and get used to the water once again.
What doesn't help is that the show has yet to define exactly what this reality is and how it functions. There is a well-known theory which goes that with every choice we make, we create two or more universes, one for the choice we make, and the other(s) for the one(s) we didn't. If this were the case, it would seem as if the Amber Timeline exists independently of the Prime Timline, and that would make sense given Peter's insistence that he “go back” and explain how it is that the Observers seem unaffected by Peter's disappearance and subsequent return.
However, there was a moment tonight where Peter was talking to Amber Olivia*, and she began to get a gooey eyed around him, and I began to worry. Are we supposed to care about this? Are Peter's interactions meant to be important to his return to his timeline? Is he supposed to be making these characters “wake up”? Could this possibly mean that there's really only one timeline, and Peter has to alter it back to it's original state from within? Or is it just more pathos that ultimately has no effect on the people we care about? And how does this make Timelines different from Universes in show's parlance, given that both seem to be differentiated based on differing series of events?
There are so many questions that still need to be answered for this season for Fringe to really make sense, and while I love a good building mystery, the show's refusal to answer some of these basic questions causes confusion, not intrigue. And when confusion happens, when it's not clear why things have to happen in the narrative sense, or what they mean metatextually, it becomes hard to take any of it too seriously. Because if you do, then you're just going to hurt your brain – like I just did.
Next Week: Another standalone case. And just when things were starting to get good.
Quotes and Other Thoughts:
*Even though technically every character we're seeing on screen, outside of Peter, is “Amber _______” (or in some cases, “Amber Alt-________”), I haven't been referring to them as such because it would be just way too tedious. However, I made that distinction here as part of my questioning, because Olivia is only Amber Olivia, really, if the first timeline theory is true, but not if the second one is.
“I have high hopes for the Parmesan ice cream.”
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