(S01E16) "Psychedelics? No, not since Thursday." - Walter, responding to Peter's question as to whether he's on something.
Fringe just gets better and better! This week's episode was one big, long freak-show-horror-movie-mystery. Although they once again didn't have anything about the pattern or the missing Nina Sharp or Massive Dynamic, we know it's coming. We know this because Leonard Nimoy is on tap to play the mysterious William Bell, Walter's long-lost lab partner. Wheeeeee!!!!
So this episode was a bit of a public announcement that we'd BETTER KEEP AN EYE ON THOSE ANIMAL LABORATORIES, because lord knows what's going on in there. They could be creating bizarre genetic experiments that will terrorize a town as big as Boston and everyone in it.
But I really appreciated the special effects, the tension, the underlying current of Olivia reading a monster story to niece Ella, and everything else. It was pretty awesome.
Other stuff:
- Yuk, yuk, yuk. When Peter cuts a piece off of Walter's omelette to eat it, turns out it has an HUMAN EAR inside it! Just the thought of it's making me gag. And I wonder who's ear it was.
- Likewise with the little creepy-crawlies that invaded Charlie's body. I must say, he did an admirable job of keeping it together, though. I would have been freaking out royally seeing those things crawling around under my skin. Makes my skin crawl just thinking about it.
- Nice to see Charlie's home life. For a while there, I thought he and Olivia might have something going. Not the case, apparently.
- Walter: "The claws of a lion and the fangs of a snake ... reminds me of a woman I once knew in Cleveland. Her name was Harriet."
- Olivia being jealous over the friendship between Rachel and Peter. And then lying to Peter that she's not jealous.
- Peter and Walter arguing about all the weird stuff Walter does in the lab, which threatens Peter's life – you know, like taking a bite of an "ear omelette," washing your face in acid in the sink, that sort of thing. Well, we know Walter's been doing experiments on Peter since he was a baby, so that's nothing new.
- Walter eating something out of the car where the bloody bodies were found in the woods. Blech.
- Walter meeting the beast in the sewer. That was intense.
- The larvae implanted into humans by the creature's stinger. All in all, this episode was one gross thing after another - and I loved it.
- I saw The Observer! Did you?
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)
4-15-2009 @ 8:14AM
CRVBOY said...
Saw the Observer!
But can somebody please hire a dialogue coach for them for next season?
It's pronounced WALL-THAM not WALTHUMB.
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4-15-2009 @ 8:27AM
bruce said...
Observer was pretty easy to spot in this episode.
Walter was growing the ear in the omelette - so it was not anyone's ear. At least that's how I heard it. Growing human body parts in omelettes... about as logical as anything else they do on Fringe (I don't mean that in a bad way, I don't watch the show because of its realism).
The biggest question I have is whether it was Walter Bishon or William Bell who typed the ZFT manual with that old typewriter in the lab. Walter didn't remember writing it, though he must have had some memory of what that typewriter's typings looked like (with the screwy 'y') to think to check. He's forgotten that he made and hid a teleportation machine so I can believe he forgot writing a book. Though he has said nothing about interdimensional beings and you'd think he would.
So did William Bell write the book, set up Walter with the lab explosion, write the ZFT bible and start both ZFT and Massive Dynamics (with all of Walter's fringe-tech)? Are all these ZFT splinter cells associated with Massive Dynamic?
Also don't you find it a little odd that Olivia has not asked Walter anything about that medicine she'd been tested with as a child (forget the name of it)? It seems like she'd ask Walter what he thought about what Nina Sharpe told her.
Anyway, great episode and great show. I heard they're already working on eps for season 2, so hopefully that means Fox is not going to cancel this show. It looks like I'm going to lose every other show I like... TSCC, Life, and probably Chuck.
Reply
4-15-2009 @ 9:29AM
Eludium-Q36 said...
Bruce, you and I seem to think along the same lines with this show and "Lost", too. But I think you're holding back on what you want to say. Try this on for size ...
{flame on -- don't read if you're a rabid fanboy/girl}
Great, another X-Files episode, monster of the week creature feature, doesn't move the ball forward at all for The Pattern, ZFT, Observers/Warriors, etc. Why can't ANYBODY in Hollywood do an authentic, serious scifi series ?! It can't be that difficult! I am SOOO tired of this retreaded tripe!
Not only that, but it was just plain hard to watch anyway: the banter between Peter and Walter was downright hostile, Olivia's sister is again in boring adorable-mode along with her daughter, it's half-way through the episode before Peter and Olivia finally determine "we've got to find this thing", right, after only like five people have already been torn apart but now they're only moved to action because their buddy Charlie might explode.
I could go on with the failings of this episode but the point's made. I fear the only Pattern episode we're gonna to see again this season will be the finale. If they're going to keep up with this show strategy I hope they're cancelled, we've already seen the X-Files in the '90s we don't need it re-hashed only ten years later, heck, the X-Files is still in syndication!
{flame off}
And that's how I feel about what they're doing with this series. Some may like it even love it this way, but not me, been there done that.
4-15-2009 @ 11:28PM
Tom said...
Eludium-Q36:
Amen, brother. And not only is the X-Files still in syndication (in today's cable universe, it always will be), its a constant reminder that Fringe is such an inferior product.
I don't understand the love this show gets. I watched it this week, because with BSG & TSCC gone, Dollhouse a house of horrors, and only LOST chugging along with any strength, there was little else to watch (honorable mention to Bones, which has been really good, but alas, its more of a procedural). But I thought this episode was a new low, again a complete ripoff of an X-File already done before, and just UTTERLY, RIDICULOUSLY BAD!!! But then I come on here and people are eating this shit up! I can't believe it!
Good shows are getting cancelled people! Good Shows!
I would implore people to do something, anything to save "The Sarah Connor Chronicles" (althought that looks to have concluded). But try something. I implore everyone to go out and buy Season 2 in droves when it comes out on DVD. If republicans can hold tea parties en masse, then we should be able to mobilize to save good shows, right?
LOOK:
All you people out there who support this show, you are causing FOX to cancel shows like TSCC in favor of more crap like FRINGE. Believe me, you all have it already on the way. You all are responsible for the dumbing down of television, you and everyone who watch American Idol and reality television.
SAVES SARAH CONNOR!
4-15-2009 @ 9:45AM
Ian said...
American Idol over ran again and that clipped the ending from my DVR. I am getting seriously upset!
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4-15-2009 @ 9:47AM
Lisa said...
I always forget to look for the observer - where was he this week?
Reply
4-15-2009 @ 9:53AM
Steve said...
He was in the background of the TV report on the "bobcat" that had been sighted
4-15-2009 @ 10:09AM
shadowracer said...
I could be wrong, but I think that Fringe was the first primetime show to ever feature a Manticore (that's what it was right?).
Reply
4-15-2009 @ 11:19AM
djrock3k said...
I believe you're thinking of the Chimera, a beast composed of many animals. A manticore has a human head and the head of a snake for a tail.
Mabye in a future episode...
4-16-2009 @ 9:39PM
ChaoZ said...
Dark Angel had an organization called Manticore, is that close enough?
4-15-2009 @ 10:40AM
MDR said...
American Idol! Don't Infringe on Fringe!
This is the second time I've tuned in to Fringe and had to watch the end of American Idol. From just these two viewings, I have to say those "singers" stink. Big time. AI should spend less time on looks and more time on talent. See Susan Boyle.
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4-15-2009 @ 10:44AM
nate said...
if you guys remember the story about the "fringe code" (the symbols that appear at the end of each block correspond to letters), the code spelled out peter this week. since it wasn't really a peter episode i wonder if it could imply something about him being genetically modified or something. they've hinted that not all is kosher with him in the past.
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4-15-2009 @ 12:02PM
George said...
I really enjoyed this episode (I even, ahem, found an additional copy so I could find out what happened after my TiVo cut off the last 60 seconds. Damn you, American Idol!). Some good scares, good laughs and a lot of cringes, and also some surprisingly strong CGI work. I'm a lifelong Doctor Who fan so it's not in my nature to fault an otherwise strong show for weak effects, but Fringe generally sets a high bar.
I'm starting to feel bad for Peter, though, as it seems that he's only around to (a) chide Walter for saying/doing inappropriate things, and (b) deliver lines that begin with "Are you seriously suggesting that..." My wife has started saying "Drink!" each time he rolls out one of those lines.
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4-16-2009 @ 12:33AM
bruce said...
George: Peter also has some sentences that start off with the oh so irreverent "Let me guess..."
I've been complaining for a while now that Peter's antics may have made sense in the pilot and maybe the first 2-3 episodes, but by now he should have no doubt that Walter is an absolute genius who can do absolutely anything, and as such he should quit being a whiny little sarcastic ass towards and about his dad. At this point it seems the only purpose of the Peter Bishop character is to provide comic relief... but it's completely unnecessary as Walter is quite hilarious on his own. What's the point in having the hilarious actions of a mad scientist constantly being followed by a sarcastic comment from his son, who is otherwise irrelevant to the plot? Maybe at some point in the future we'll learn something interesting about Peter's past, both criminally and genetically, but as for now he's completely pointless and should just shut up and help. The fact that Joshua Jackson has such an irritating fratboy voice makes this far more irritating than it probably would otherwise be.
4-15-2009 @ 12:36PM
Europa said...
Is there some official FOX site/link/email where we can complain about AI going over? Just plain inexcusable. Only sports should run long. And you're right. The few singers I've been forced to hear do to the show running past 9PM have truly been awful. Each time I think, "They're down to the final bunch. All those auditions in all of those cities and *this* is the best talent they found?!" :0
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4-15-2009 @ 12:51PM
Stuart said...
OK am I missing something here? Charlie is STRAIGHT? During the 1st couple of episodes Olivia & he were discussing the fact that the guy she was secretly seeing (the one that became translucent and is now housed at Massive Dynamics) said "I love you" Charlie replied, "yes he told me that too...."
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4-15-2009 @ 1:17PM
bruce said...
Eludium-Q36: Yeah in fact I do agree with everything you said. Very well put. I hate "monster of the week" episodes that don't advance the plot-arc. I hated them in X-Files and I don't like them here. There have not been too many here, and sometimes we find that some episodes fit in somewhere in the arc later on. Bankrobbers stealing something... turns out to be transporter. But yes, enough with the sister and her daughter in "cute mode" - it's gotten nauseating. You'd think she would have had them move out after the little girl almost got killed by the brain-melting computer program, but no. Two episosed ago the sister had something important (bad, it seemed) to tell Olivia, she started but Olivia's phone rang and she had to leave. So far nothing about that, unless she was going to simply tell Olivia that she and Peter talked to each other. But I don't think that's what it was, plus the sister seemed quite nonchalant about the fact that Peter called her in this episode. So I'm still waiting to hear what serious/bad news the sister has for Olivia.
I still enjoyed watching the episode but we're only 16 eps into the series, and there was nothing else on TV last night... in retrospect you're right, it actually sucked for an episode of Fringe, compared to what we know the show has to offer. I was expecting at least one little twist at the end, but nope - nada. I really hope that we get more than 2 more interesting episodes this season... i know the last 2 deal with William Bell and MD. I can't tell if next week's episode will be another monster of the week ep or not. I hope it has something to do with Olivia and that drug tested on her as a child. We'll see. I'm already bored of "the tank" though. There's nothing interesting about that anymore.
And how come the FBI has not changed its interrogation practices now that they know that they can interrogate dead people (and apparently they'll always give you the answer to your questions)? Surely Broyles, at the very least, knows what Olivia and the Bishops are doing down there.
Anyway, yeah, I do indeed agree with everything you said about this ep and the show in general. Though if "it's been done already" is your litmus test for whether you'll watch a TV show, I assure you that you'll never be turning your TV on again....
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4-15-2009 @ 6:12PM
Eludium-Q36 said...
Ha, my "been there, done that" remark was meant in the specific sense, not the general. Fringe wants to be X-Files + 10 yrs. No thanks. Similarly, Amy Poehler's new show "Parks & Recreation" is getting slapped for being too similar to "The Office" and even "Reno 911".
Some people like the same formula with different characters/environment. I don't. I like to look deeper into a series to "feel it out", to understand its underlying themes and messages. And shows that copy other shows don't satisfy that so they're of no use to me; but again, that's just me (and those like me). Others watch for different reasons, it all comes down to a big "whatever" anyway.
4-15-2009 @ 11:50PM
Tom said...
Or why could a guy get attacked and injured by a chimera and not kept under 24-hours of observation just to be sure. Its not like he was in a car accident and checked out and released. He was stung by a giant bat/snake/tiger and sent home with a few bandages that his wife thought were cute. (This show is so f#@king stupid!)
Eludium-Q36: I agree, ripping things off is offensive, especially when its unoriginal and done as poorly as Fringe. But it is a fact of life in Hollywood since time immemorial (e.g. Paul Blart, Mall Cop and Observe & Report--neither of which I have seen--and about 5,000 other movies). But I'll forgive a project like Parks & Recreation, because its from the same producers on the same network and its at least contemporaneous--they are trying to give the viewer more of what they obviously like, and spin-offs are the way of the world in LALA land. My only complaint with P & R was that it wasn't quite as funny.
If I was Chris Carter, who himself was INSPIRED and INFLUENCED by "Kolchak: The Night Stalker," I would sue anyone and everyone involved with Fringe, which goes so far beyond influence as to be FRAUDULENT and OUTRIGHT THIEVERY.
4-15-2009 @ 4:43PM
Suetu said...
Okay, I'm a wuss and I don't watch horror movies.
This episode scared me so bad that after Walter locked himself away from Peter and Olivia and it got really tense and I knew a monster was going to jump out at him--I had to turn the channel. It was freakin' me out.
I turned back to see the very end, but I never saw what happened when it attacked Walter. What happened? Did you ever see the whole creature? Thanks in advance to anyone willing to fill in the blanks!
And, again, the fact that I'm a wuss is uncontested, but kudos to Fringe. That's the first time in my life that something on broadcast television scared me enough to change the channel!
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