(S01E09) "In case you hadn't noticed, I can be quite obsessive." - Walter to Astrid, on his current obsession with coffee yogurt.
Another great episode tonight, and some of the little symbols we see leading into commercials were actually in tonight's episode. Let's see ...
There's the moths (or butterflies, as the case may be), who showed up in a Massive Dynamic employee's hallucinations, causing him to leap through a window and down several stories, landing on top of a car. Yeah, that did not end well.
And there's the frogs, which Olivia discovered in a basement storage room, thanks to a clue sent to her by John. You know, it seems clear that her hallucinations - or memories, whatever - of John are more than that. How could a memory be sending her emails with important clues on which to follow up? Or saying that yes, he DID see her in the restaurant when she went back into the tank to rid herself of his memories.
As a side note, it also makes me wonder how many of these basement storage areas with important data are scattered around our "real" world. If Fringe is in any way true to life - and who's to say it's not? - apparently, the world's secrets are not all locked up in secret vaults somewhere.
Other thoughts:
- Olivia is on to Massive Dynamic and Nina, but Agent Broyles says they've been cooperative with everything. Maybe they're slipping HIM some hallucinatory drugs.
- Olivia was actually going to have FUN! Yep, we saw her smile and everything. But alas, it didn't last long and she was quickly back with her sad face and heavy attitude.
- Walter's obsession of the week: coffee yogurt.
- Hmmm ... who is the girl who met Peter who's being beaten up by that other guy, Michael? This storyline seemed out of place, for some reason. Did it tie in with the other stuff in this ep? Was the other guy part of the John Scott group?
- Didn't see The Observer (again!). Anyone see him? I'll play it back tomorrow and see if I can find him. Seems like he's usually in a crowd somewhere.
- Creepiest line: "I saw you. In the restaurant," written by "John" (or someone) on Olivia's computer.
Fringe' Show & Cast Photos
FRINGE Walter (John Noble), Peter (Joshua Jackson), Olivia (Anna Torv) and Broyles (Lance Reddick) enter a governement warehouse to examine a mysterious cylinder found among the debris of a construction site explosion in the episode "The Arrival." Airs Tuesday, September 30, 2008.
Fox
FRINGE Peter (Joshua Jackson), Olivia (Anna Torv), Walter (John Noble) and Broyles (Lance Reddick) return to the lab to gather more information on a mysterious cylinder found among the debris of a construction site explosion in the episode "The Arrival." Airs Tuesday, September 30, 2008.
Fox
FRINGE Olivia (Anna Torv) chases a suspect through the woods in the episode "The Arrival." Airs Tuesday, September 30, 2008.
Fox
FRINGE Walter (John Noble, L) and Peter (Joshua Jackson, R) examine a mysterious cylinder found among the debris of a construction site explosion in the episode "The Arrival." Airs Tuesday, September 30, 2008.
Fox
FRINGE Olivia (Anna Torv) chases a suspect through the woods in the episode "The Arrival". Airs Tuesday, September 30, 2008.
Fox
NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 13: Actress Jasika Nicole attends FOX's "Fringe" premiere during the 2008 New York Television Festival at New World Stage on September 13, 2008 in New York City. (Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Jasika Nicole
Getty Images
Executive Producers John Wirth, Josh Friedman and James Middleton arrive at The Paley Center and TV Guide
Jean Baptiste Lacroix/WireImage.com
Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Molly Stanton arrive at The Paley Center and TV Guide
Jean Baptiste Lacroix/WireImage.com
Jesse Tyler Ferguson arrives at The Paley Center and TV Guide
Jean Baptiste Lacroix/WireImage.com
Mark Valley arrives at The Paley Center and TV Guide
Jean Baptiste Lacroix/WireImage.com
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
11-26-2008 @ 9:11AM
Charlie Conner said...
the observer was leaning against the wall at the very beginning of the episode...at the end of the hall outside of the elevators...
Reply
11-26-2008 @ 1:52PM
0megapart!cle said...
I don't think so. At least, they didn't show him close enough where he would be recognizable. Did you watch HD, by any chance, as that would be the only chance you could definitively say it was the Observer character.
11-26-2008 @ 10:23AM
Josh.A. said...
Did anyone else notice the airline ticket they found in dead guy's home was for Oceanic airlines? Nothing better than a little Lost tie-in. There def. some fringe science involved in the whole Lost universe...
Reply
11-26-2008 @ 12:36PM
bruce said...
It's not a Lost tie-in, Oceanic Airlines is the standard fictional airlines used in TV and movies. Check out the wikipedia entry for Oceanic airlines and you'll see what I mean. Lost is just another in a long line of tv shows and movies to use the name "Oceanic" as an airline.
11-26-2008 @ 12:43PM
Josh.A. said...
bruce,
Yeah i saw that on the wikipedia - i guess tie-in is the wrong word - but with JJ Abrams ties to this show and of course Lost, one can be forgiven for linking the two - but good point about Oceanic being a commonly used airline name.
11-26-2008 @ 10:49AM
Grishny said...
I think John's "memories" are more than that; my guess is that his consciousness is at times taking control of Olivia's body and she's actually sending these messages to herself, but doesn't remember doing it.
Reply
11-26-2008 @ 11:58AM
George said...
Some interesting stuff in this episode:
* Is it wishful thinking, or did the music behind butterfly victim guy's fall, and particularly following his impact, make more than a passing reference to the theme from Mad Men? I really, really want to believe that it was, especially given the Lost reference.
* Wow, Olivia apparently uses Linux.
* As I have a couple of pet toads, I'm not entirely embarrassed to say that (a) I correctly identified the species of the basement toads (they were Colorado River Toads, btw), (b) and therefore figured out the rest of the plot, as there was only one reason those toads could've been relevant.
Great and creepy episode overall.
Reply
11-26-2008 @ 1:54PM
0megapart!cle said...
It's not Linux. For some inexplicable reason, TV producers don't like showing real world OS's in their shows (even when they show Mac computers, the on screen images of the software is almost always not OS X).
11-26-2008 @ 12:02PM
bc said...
We know Peter previously made his living as, essentially, a con artist--in some very dangerous parts of the world where there are some really nasty people. And as the proverb says, mean people suck. It looks like something from his past is catching up with him--which may be connected to the overall plot or may just introduce some problem he will need help solving and complicate everyone else's life at an inopportune time. Or, Massive Dynamic, et al., is digging up people who have a grudge just to screw with him.
Reply
11-26-2008 @ 12:02PM
Key Rick said...
no, no, I don't think the visions are self-induced at all on Olivia's part. Remember that in the first episode where John "died" in the crash subsequent to the car chase, Nina told a Massive Dynamic's employee who confirmed how long John had been "dead" to, and I quote, "Question him." Therefore, John must have been ressurected as part of "the program", so, I don't think Olivia's having visions of John's memories. I believe he's projecting images and walking around because I distinctly remember him leading her to another one of the many basement storage areas full of important data in the third or fourth episode. Then he disappeared.
Reply
11-26-2008 @ 4:53PM
MarcDom7 said...
The line "question him" was a reference to what we had just seen Olivia do in the pilot episode, which is to jump inside his mind and question him via his thoughts and memories. There was no inference of resurrection.
11-26-2008 @ 12:43PM
Kim said...
Oh.... I have an erection!
Reply
11-26-2008 @ 12:44PM
Aaron said...
Am I the only one who called 1-877-8-MSSDY?
Reply
11-26-2008 @ 2:41PM
Curtis said...
No, I called too.
11-26-2008 @ 2:23PM
T said...
While we can accept John's memories imprinting on Olivia, someone real sent those emails.
Is there a mole in the lab (the only people who know about the restaurant)?
Reply
11-26-2008 @ 6:54PM
mrkorb said...
How do we know those were actual e-mails? She didn't print them out and show them to anybody, nor did she show anybody her computer screen. They may have been just another way of her mind presenting John's memories to her.
11-26-2008 @ 6:34PM
Mary said...
When they were running through traffic - was that JJ Abrams in the car they passed?
Reply
11-26-2008 @ 11:40PM
Canadianfoodiegirl (formerly ABT) said...
What struck me about Walter's food/drink Obsession of the Week: Nobody actually likes coffee yogurt.
This adds to the brilliant wackiness of his character.
Reply
11-28-2008 @ 7:49PM
vaya said...
Could it be that the Observer was watching Peter beat up that guy? It seems by the camera angle on some shots as if someone was watching from across the street.
Reply
11-29-2008 @ 1:46AM
Tom said...
WHY IS THIS SHOW STILL ON TELEVISION WHEN OTHERS INFINITELY BETTER ARE GETTING CANCELLED RIGHT AND LEFT? Better yet, WHY IS THIS SHOW STILL ON THE AIR? This show sucks! I just watched an recorded episode from a couple weeks ago, the one with the "Red Castle" and Anna Torv gets the phone call just as she's standing in front of the red building. This is mind numbing stuff people. I WANT to like this show, but it is so bad week after week, I'm actively rooting against it now. But I am pissed of a network thinks this is worth a full season and others get cancelled.
Don't even get me started counting the ways each show rips off the X-files. I mean, there should be a copyright infringement case started each week, if not for the fact that they steal an X-Files idea and then attempt to distinguish it by turning it into a steaming lump of crap!
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