Fringe - "Everything in Its Right Place"

Season 4, Episode 17

“I guess I just became the man I wanted to be.”

Fringe has been turned upside down this season. Whereas the show was praised in its second and third seasons for sliding into the mythology curve and giving us deeper and more complex storylines, and the standalones became even more reviled by contrast, the opposite seems to be true this season. True, there have still be a share of stinker standalones this season as well, but’s it’s interesting to note that arguably two of the greatest episodes this season haven’t really been about the mast plot. Now, that’s an argument that might depend on how you have taken to the direction this season (as you know by now, I haven’t been a fan), but I think we can all be in agreement that the show has stepped up it’s standalone game. We can add “Everything in Its Right Place” to that pantheon, sure, but the fact that it’s so good outside of the mythology points to larger problems.

Apart from a few niggling plot point – like explaining why there are suddenly two Lincoln Lees in the picture, and why the two sides are suddenly working together, and that whole David Robert Jones connection – “Place” felt like an episode that could have been dropped into last season with very little problem. It was a fairly straightforward procedural-ish hour that managed to hit a few relevant moments of pathos while still keeping the case itself brisk and entertaining. We’ve actually spent very little time Over There this season, and I think that’s been to the show’s detriment. As was exemplified with “Making Angels”, despite all of the changes that the Amber timeline has brought to the show, one of the things that hadn’t changed is Fauxlivia’s kickass and fun nature. This episode traded in heavily on that by keeping the core of the action so squarely Over There that it became easy to forget about Peter’s disappearance and reappearance, and just focus on the action that originated within the episode.

Well, with one exception. Last week, I took umbrage with the fact that the show seemed to be doing some overly subtle work with Lincoln’s characterization (that is, the subtly threw me off, not the character), but I think I might be coming around to what the show appears to be doing in this last leg of the season. Though back in the fall it often felt as if Seth Gabel had been added to the cast in order to make up for Peter’s absence and subsequent marginalization from the action, the character’s really come into his own in the past couple of episodes. In fact, the show hasn’t really done anything with Lincoln prior to these episode, since his appearance before this season were mostly related to his alt-self, and thus no character work had been done on him. It’s this relative obscurity that allows the show to suddenly launch and character investigation into him and not have it feel like a reversal or any sort of break in the action. Lincoln is a clean slate, and that opens the show up for a lot of possibilities that don’t feel like a forced break, as is the case with the show as a whole right now.

That this knowledge comes from the contrast between Lincoln and Captain Lee* isn’t perhaps the most surprising method, given the show’s fascination with dualities, but I still think it’s a fairly interesting one. The show has often danced around the issue of what makes people different universe to universe, mostly by having the character versions similar enough to one another that we can chalk it up to something akin to “regional differences”.** But this episode takes on that question head-on, by have the beta male Lincoln and the alpha Captain Lee state that they shared a lot of the same experiences (at least until the age of 18), but somehow the differ in terms of agency and life outlook. And though the dialogue provides a lot of philosophical self-actualization bullshit, the real implication of the hour seems to be that it was Fauxlivia that cause Capt. Lee to change so much. I’m not sure that I buy that, as it’s a overly simplified explanation that fails to take the complexity of the world into account, but if it ends up being the case, I look forward to seeing Lincoln grow under her influence.

That being said, I’m not sure that I was entirely moved by the death of Captain Lee, since, as the flipside to why getting to know Lincoln has been so effective, we knew so little about the alt-version of the character that it’s difficult to feel a great deal for the loss of that character.*** I understand why the characters should be sad, but I don’t personally feel that way, and I think that lessens my involvement with Lincoln’s fate, and whether or not he becomes a worthy successor to Capt. Lee. But that’s just a small misstep in terms of what was overall a great character piece for Lee, and will hopefully be a turning point for the season as well. The show has proven that it can tell great stories that have nothing to do with Peter’s disappearance, and I would be happy if the show just sort of forgot about that thread and went on telling better stories in this realigned universe.

However, that hope doesn’t take into account the other factor at play in the episode, where we continue to learn more about David Robert Jones’ master plan, which apparently now includes manufacturing completely biological shapeshifters. Now, I don’t have a problem with Jones as any sort of big bad, or his beasties for that matter, as it give the show a Buffy-like goal for the season. My problem is that Jones, and the fact that he’s alive in this universe, is directly tied to Peter’s disappearance, and I don’t think that the show can keep the focus on Jones without bringing up the disappearance question, whether they want to or not. Oh sure, it can be placed on the back burner, but eventually the show’s going to have to get back to it, and that’s going to be an ugly detour from what has started to be a much lovelier path.

*As I shall be calling him for this and probably no other posts. In fact, since I’m tired of saying “alt-whomever”, let’s rename other while were at it. Alt-Astrid is now Asterisk, Alt-Broyles is now simply Broils, and Alt-Nina shall from henceforth be referred to as Nita. Walternate’s too awesome of a moniker to pass up, and while Fauxlivia is probably too negative of one for where that character is now, I really don’t want to call her Bolivia, so that name stays as well.

**Assuming of course that the cause isn’t explained by some other factor, as with Walter and that he William Bell did with/to him.

***It could also be because Lincoln’s shooting and death both took place off-screen, and/or a whole other myriad of storytelling/directing/editing decisions, including the pacing of the whole damn thing.

Quotes and Other Thoughts:

I know this is a sci-fi show, and “the possibilities are endless”, but Millard Fillmore being an important enough president to land on currency? That’s just ridiculous.

Anybody else think/hope that when Asterisk went and talked to Broils that she has figured out his role as a double agent? Anybody else still hoping that's true?

I couldn’t have been the only one who couldn’t get that Radiohead song out of their head when they learned about this episode’s title, right?

“Seriously, your superhero is an insect?” “Because nothing says ‘badass’ like a flying rat?”