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Debris Review – You Are Not Alone and Neither Are They!
Hello, my fellow Debris fans,

Image courtesy NBC Universal

I hope you enjoyed this latest episode as much as I did. With just two episodes aired already we can clearly see the influence and parallels between that other sci-fi show that J.H. Wyman was involved in that goes by the name of Fringe.

Certain showrunners or directors have signatures within their work that makes their work uniquely theirs and Debris is no exception. Especially with the latest episode that aired entitled “You Are Not Alone”, there are definite hints of Fringe and maybe some The X-Files as well sprinkled throughout.

As the episode opens, we are in a small town called Fleetwood where certain items made of metal are being dragged toward a specific area of town.

I could not help but think of X-Men and Magneto, how he was able to manipulate anything metal to his advantage. The metal items are forming a perimeter and the whole town is being evacuated, or so the team thought!

In this episode, directed by Padraic McKinley a well known film editor who has directed several television series since since 2016, the Debris team finds what appears to be a lone survivor named Eric (David Alpay) who was the only person left in town.

Before continuing with our review of “You Are Not Alone”, we include an interesting video, courtesy of NBC, featuring Jonathan Tucker talking about Debris and discovering the unknown in space with a real-life NASA Astronaut, Mike Massimo!
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You Are Not Alone:

Riann Steele as Finola Jones, Jonathan Tucker as Bryan Beneventi – Images by James Dittiger, courtesy /NBC

Not only do Bryan Beneventi (Jonathan Tucker) and Finola Jones (Riann Steele) find Eric, but also his clone or rather clones, three to be exact. The clone then proceeds to tell different members of the team what each of the clones needs and wants. Eric tells the team that he must take care of things, he is frantic and needs to take care of his unfinished business. It is with this scene that things start to get interesting.

The debris it seems can somehow alter consciousness or rather invade the mind of the victim and extract what it needs to feed off the person. It is as if the debris almost short circuits the brain of the victim, causing them psychosis of some sort. The body and brain are connected by and electrical system as it is, so it makes sense. We are “hard wired” as the phrase suggests to certain things and the debris takes advantage of it and alters it.

David Alpay as Eric, Jonathan Tucker as Bryan Beneventi. Image by James Dittiger, courtesy NBC

Energy seems to be a theme in this episode. The energy we feed off each other, the energy of the earth and the kinetic energy of the universe that is constantly around us. Energy also makes me think of “the Force” and what that means. Life energy, spiritual energy, universal energy it is all connected. What energy Eric is putting out in the universe is coming back to him, what his powerful energy is seeking has found him and is threatening to consume him and everything around him.

The debris again is the culprit of what is happening in the town of Fleetwood. And once again Finola’s father becomes the subject of discussion. As far as Finola is concerned her father is dead, but as we found out in the pilot episode that is not true. Bryan still knows that secret and is conflicted with knowing and not telling. We also come to find out that the last text Finola received from her Dad read “You are not alone”, which is a very loaded text.

Image courtesy Warner Brothers Television

That scene when we find out about Finola and her father again reminds me of Fringe and the parallels that Wyman has here. Fathers and daughters are prevalent in both series, strained relationships and nonexistent ones are present in both. Finola it seems had a semi-strained relationship with her father George Jones (Tyrone Benskin) who had a significant part in the Orbital’s mission. In Fringe, Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) we know her biological father had little to no impact on her life unlike her stepfather. Olivia’s stepfather was not only abusive to her mother but to her as well, which made a huge impact on Olivia and her future life as an FBI agent. Add into the mix Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble) who became a bit of a surrogate father to Olivia while still trying to repair the damaged relationship with his son Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson).

David Alpay as Eric, Jonathan Tucker as Bryan Beneventi. Image by James Dittiger, courtesy NBC

The three clones of Eric King are in a losing battle, each fighting for dominance within the host. As Eric is being interviewed by the team, he mentions a ball of light that he saw and asks if they saw it too. One of the team members mentions that when people are dying, they often see their life flash before their eyes, their hopes, dreams, regrets, and everything in between. Those regrets or issues is what is making the debris act the way it is, what is making it pull the metal to make a barrier around the town and more specifically Eric’s house.

The three major issues that Eric is battling is regarding his professional goals, a major decision, and a lost love. All these issues are manifesting at the same time, bringing chaos into his life in the form of a fractured life currently. Eric is at the center of the chaos and until he finds a solution, the debris will still be manifesting itself in his clones.

Riann Steele as Jones, Jonthan Tucker as Beneventi, Chris Web as Field Officer, Jeanie Cloutier as Agent Kazemi. Image by James Dittiger, courtesy /NBC

Much like the Fringe Division of the FBI, Orbital is the department looking after the debris that has been slowly falling to earth the last six months.

Between MI-6 in England and the CIA in America, working together albeit reluctantly for reasons yet to be fully explained, hopefully the enigma that is the debris will be figured out.

Of course, it would be up to the individual agencies to be transparent with their agents, which they are not. There is a bit of secrecy on both sides of the pond and as the series progresses.

I bet we will see more and more of this conflict unfold as Debris continues to unfold in season one. Not only has MI-6 and the CIA both kept the secret that George Jones is alive (or so they think), but there are other parts of the agency that are still classified if you will.

Image by James Dittiger, courtesy NBC)

Once the agents investigate further, they enter Eric’s house and Bryan comes face to face with his own clone! Seeing this clone visibly shakes him and he has no choice but to eliminate the clone to save himself. I have a theory as to why his clone appears and I will mention that a bit later.

The Orbital team also encounters the third and final clone of Eric, This clone is focused on one thing as we find out Eric must resolve his lost love. With all these clones now in existence the team must figure out how to solve the situation.

Bryan is forced to shoot his own clone. Image courtesy NBC

Subsequent to killing the clone, Finola and Bryan discuss what is happening to Eric, that it is like what happens when a person is in survival mode. The body discards the non-essential parts of the body, psyche, emotions that are clouding the situation and leaves only what is utmost for survival. Once the team figures out that the original victim, Eric King is still alive, they race to find him, and they do. He ends up being trapped in his car that has become entrenched in the twisted metal wall surrounding his home. As Bryan makes his way to help Eric, the debris signals the metal wall via a ball of light to start compacting itself, essentially crushing whoever is in its path.

Eric surrenders to Finola. Image courtesy NBC

As Bryan is trying to help extract Eric from his car, flashes of Eric’s life are seen with one of the main parts being his lost love. With the original host still living the clones are still destroying Eric’s life as he knows it. Once Eric is saved, his clones virtually disappear, Eric found something to live for, his lost love. He resolved that that is the main part of his life that was causing the chaos, the main part that was changing the energy and creating the metal wall that became his temporary prison. All the other “debris” in his life that was not part of the love he had for his wife, fell by the wayside and that is what saved him.

That message is significant and can be applied to our lives every day. We have often heard the energy you put out is the energy you get back, what goes around comes around and other clichés that we have heard for years. Energy is all around us, in everything we do, breathe, think, manifest. If there is a disturbance in that energy (or in the force) it is reverberated in the subject’s life. Until balance can be restored, chaos will reign supreme. That negative energy will control your life, lead you down a dark path (or to the dark side). What you do with that energy is what will ultimately dictate the rest of you as a person.

Bryan calls his boss. Image by James Dittiger, courtesy NBC

As I promised I have a theory of why Bryan sees his own clone. He saw it because of the secrets or chaos that he holds within himself regarding his life as well as what he knows about Finola. He knows about her father and has been sworn to secrecy by his boss Craig Maddox (Norbert Leo Butz). That secret he keeps is causing chaos within himself, it is the conflict that Bryan must currently live with that manifested in the clone.

That secret he is keeping goes against everything he has known. As a Marine, Bryan swore an oath of loyalty and trust, how can he uphold that within himself if he cannot uphold it with is partner? The secret he is withholding from Finola goes against that loyalty he dedicated his life to. Finola joked about what she would see in his clone. Would she see the loyalty he has to her or the betrayal he has in just knowing the secret about her father? We also see a glimpse of someone from Bryan’s past which will hopefully be revealed at a later episode.

Norbert Leo Butz as Craig Maddox. Image by James Dittiger, courtesy NBC

As the episode ends, we see that Eric’s life does become whole again when he reaches out to his wife who it seems has left him. Once that part of Eric’s life becomes whole again, the debris lets go of the grip it had on Eric and his life. The clones are essentially destroyed and what is left is what was missing or balanced in Eric’s life.

Bryan’s conflict is only compounded as his boss Craig Maddox (Norbert Leo Butz) reminds him that he is to uphold his end of the bargain regarding Finola and her father. His last line of the episode is “buckle up” and I have a feeling that is not only a warning but to her but to the viewers as well.

We conclude, courtesy of NBC, with the video of Bryan confronting his own clone!

Well, Debris fans, I hope to see you this next week for the third episode “Solar Winds”! Stay tuned for more coverage by TeamWHR of Debris, the new NBC series and make sure to catch the series on Mondays at 10:00pm!
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Thank you for visiting WormholeRiders News Agency. Thanks to Kenn for video embedding and adding images for my feature article. I will be back later this season to provide additional analysis about Debris as we learn more about this fabulous new science fiction series on NBC!

Please feel free to leave a comment here or If you prefer, you may also click the social media icons below to share this news article or as many of our readers and visitors often do, visit me on Twitter by clicking the links or images avatars in this news story.

See You on The Other Side!

Until next time,

Regards,

Lori
March 14, 2021
Fringe: Review “Liberty”… The Fight for the Universe!
Fringe Fans…it has been an amazing journey, these five years of our beloved show.

I have a confession to make; I have tried to prolong these reviews as long as possible so I can keep the show alive. In my heart I never want it to end, but alas as with all great things it must eventually come to an end.

I am glad that the producers (mainly Joel) decided to break up the last two episodes into two separate ones. It makes it easier on this reviewer to be able to ease into the ending better.

Joel Wyman has often said time and time again that this show is about a family and with these last two episodes that has never been truer than now.

I suspect though that he was not only talking about the on screen family, but the off screen one as well. There are parts in both episodes where that is shown to its fullest extent.

I hope that you will forgive me if I get a little emotional when writing these reviews. This show has changed my life (and I suspect that I am not alone in that) in ways that I cannot describe.

It has given me faith again in television as a medium that can move people and can unite fans worldwide. It has restored my faith in quality writing, acting and directing, it has breathed new life into the sci-fi genre that has lost a little bit of luster.
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Liberty:

Now on with the show….I like the opening and how the desperation and urgency of the situation is felt throughout the scene. There is always great banter between Walter (John Noble), Peter (Joshua Jackson) and Olivia (Anna Torv) when they tend to get into their rhythm together.

It is always a treat because mostly Peter and Olivia are trying to decipher what Walter is saying. I love that Broyles (Lance Reddick) is still very much a part of their plan and that he is almost the shadow that moves between both worlds.

I love that he calls himself the Raven instead of Dove, which reminds me of Edgar Allan Poe and his most famous poem “The Raven”. The raven has always been a mysterious symbol as well; it has been steeped in mythology for such long time. It is very fitting that Broyles make that comment.

The scene with Windmark (Michael Kopsa) and Michael (Rowan Longworth) are great. It looks as if Michael has a slight smirk on his face, as if he almost pities Windmark in his attempt to extract information from him.

I love that Michael gives Windmark a taste of his own medicine, that he shows Windmark what it must have felt like to have been Walter or Hastings when they were both in the chair and being questioned by him.

“Liberty” features two very gifted guest stars that many science fiction fans will certainly recognize and we have covered at entertainment conventions.

The first is Peter Flemming, well known for his roles in Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. A veteran character actor, Flemming portrays an Observer Loyalist Lieutenant who reveals the detention location of Child Observer Michael’s unwittingly after Agent Broyles trickd him into thinking he is to provide an extra security detail at Liberty Island.

That boy is strong, yes he is an anomaly, and he is the one thing that will ultimately be the downfall of the Observers. Michael Kopsa is as always great as Windmark, you are almost cheering at how he gets frustrated to an extent that he cannot break Michael.

I love how the answers to Windmark’s questions just bounce back at him, it makes it that much sweeter when you know that Michael is the clear winner in that ‘battle’. It makes me giggle to know that Windmark has been bested by a child. I find it interesting that he refers to Michael as “it” just as Walter did in a previous episode.

Where Michael is being held seems like a fortress as the team stated, but as Peter quickly pointed out no building is impenetrable. The plan that arises from the desperation is one that this viewer was happy to hear.

Leave it to Olivia (Anna Torv) to come up with the plan to save Michael. It has always been her ability to see the other side that has given the team its advantage. Only with the bridge closed how would they accomplish this, is the million dollar question? Only one answer…cortexiphan.

It seems that Fringe has harkened back again to old school, which I love. It brings back parts of the past episodes that have always been my favorites. Seeing the cortexiphan, brought back all the memories of Olivia entering the tank and all the amazing things she could do with it running through her system.

Olivia was always unstoppable, not even a bullet (well, at least without Walter’s quick thinking) could stop her. Once she triggered it, stand back because she was not afraid to use it and use it fiercely.

A lot of fans were a bit frustrated with the lack of kick ass Olivia in this season, but when she did finally show that side of her again, it was great.

Anna has always had the capacity to channel that rage into action and power. Just watch her body language when she is amped on cortexiphan, it is like she was a whole person again.

Peter’s concern about the effects that the cortexiphan would have on Olivia is palpable. Olivia knows that he is worried, so is she, she knows that without Michael the plan is lost.

The second Stargate guest star making an appearance is the talented Peter Kelamis from Stargate Universe portraying Doctor”Tobin”. Tobin is called in to oversee the cortexiphan treatments given to Olivia in the lab warning she could be killed in the process if the dosage is too high. Naturally Walter overrides Tobin’s guidance and injects more cortexiphan into Olivia.

I love that Olivia reminds him that Etta died so that they could finish the plan, “both feet in, that’s what we said”. His comment of “What if I lose you, too” is so lovely, it is filled with such love that it almost stops the scene. Josh again shows his talent, his eyes reveal his pain at the thought of potentially losing her, too. She and Walter are all Peter has left, they are all the family he will ever have, now that Etta (Georgina Haig) is gone.

The points that Peter make about the Alt-universe and what if things are not where they remember and what happens if…are all valid and add fuel to his argument of why Olivia should not cross over. All good points, but Astrid (Jasika Nicole) is smart enough to figure out just how to solve that dilemma.

Walter and his brilliant inventions, it is because of that window that this whole mess started, but it is also the solution. Of course it doesn’t stop Walter from using yet another one of the wonderful (I will miss them) incarnations of Astrid’s name.

Seeing Michael in the chair and getting a paralytic is frightening. It is such a telltale about what Nina (Blair Brown) had said in the previous episode about how the Observers are animals. The way that Windmark is still affected by Michael, that he has to leave the room because the blood is still leaking from his nose is almost his comeuppance of sorts. It is almost getting to Windmark and Kopsa is great at just showing a bit of frustration.

The scene when they finally get to Battery Park to find the proper space to set up the window, to me is when the episode shifts. The team has hope again (that word again!) they might just have the chance to pull their plan off.

It is great to see Donald/September (Michael Cerveris) again. He has always had a wonderful part in the Fringe family as a somewhat outsider, but now that we know what really happened and the purpose he always served it makes his role in the ‘family’ a whole lot better.

I like that we get to see Donald constructing the device that will help him travel to the future with Michael. His careful planning and precise details would make Walter proud if he were there helping him.

It made me giggle, though because I could not help but think of that brilliant show (and one of Josh’s obsessions) Breaking Bad, on AMC. With Donald blending all the elements together, it just was hilarious, because it reminded me of the “cooking” that goes on when making meth.

One of my favorite scenes (and there are a few in this episode) is when the gang head underground to help ready Olivia for the cortexiphan. It is an intense scene between all the main characters, you can feel the tension in the air, it practically oozes off the screen. Josh and Anna are fantastic in this scene, the care that Peter shows is perfect and the pain that Olivia goes through is visceral.

When Peter is attaching the pads to Olivia’s chest, you hear her whisper to him “I’m okay”. It is such a sweet moment, because she knows him and what he is thinking without even saying it. Again, Anna and Josh are the epitome of brilliant.

Watching Anna take each and every “shot” of cortexiphan was torture, but that was the point. You felt her pain, every shift or change of her body you could feel. Every time I saw the needle go into her neck it made me cringe. It was a perfectly constructed scene.

That scene must have been so physically exhausting for her and everyone involved. Those scenes are never easy for actors to do, but I applaud her for being the trooper and barreling through it like the pro she is.

One of my favorite things about this scene is Walter (John Noble). The ability that John has to turn his megalomania on and off at the drop of a hat is proof of his immense talent. His comment about the fact that he knows about cortexiphan and the effects is hilarious, but also a bit scary. That part of himself that he has been desperately trying not to have resurface does at times. Too bad Nina (Blair Brown) is not around to rein him in.

“Sacrifice is hard, son, but you are no stranger to it,” is such a great line that Walter says to Peter. It has so much meaning, especially in the finale episode. It is basically a huge foreshadowing of what is to come and also a nod to the past and what Peter has lost in every time line.

“Neither are you dad,” Peter answers him, and knows that Walter can relate in so many more ways than he could possibly imagine. The times that Peter calls Walter dad are few but when they do happen, it makes my heart swell. It is such a beautiful moment between these two men and it shows all over John’s face.

I love that the images that are present in Olivia’s cortexiphan laden brain are of little Etta (Abagayle Hardwick) and the short time they had together. The fact that there is hope (that darned word) of them getting her back is one of the reasons, dare I say the ONLY reason that Olivia is doing what she is doing. The notion that she will have not only her “perfect little soul” back, but her husband and her life back is the best incentive ever.

The light in her eyes comment is funny. It gives Anna a chance to be snarky with Walter for once. It is also a tender scene with John and Anna embraces it wonderfully. Those two actors are always incredible in their scenes together. When you have two powerhouses going head to head it makes watching the scenes a whole lot better.

The moments of Peter saying goodbye to Olivia before she goes to the Alt-universe are beautiful. You can see in Josh’s body the worry and fear that is running through Peter.

He does a great job of manifesting it and showing it through his eyes. I have always said that Josh is great at revealing his emotions through his eyes and in this scene there is no doubt. The “I love yous” are just perfection. I guarantee every Polivia fan was squealing with joy.

Hello Alt-universe! Hello Bolivia, damn she still looks great for being 50 years old. I am so happy that Lincoln (Seth Gabel)and Bolivia got married and have a son. I was a little confused by that since we all know that she had VPE and nearly died giving birth to Henry in the episode Bloodline. Maybe things changed or they found a cure, but nonetheless it is amazing. Seth Gabel aged well…it is so great to see him again, too. I love that the producers are bringing back cast members from the past.

Am I the only one that got choked up and teary eyed when both Olivia’s hugged? I don’t know why it was such an emotionally powerful scene for me. Maybe it was because of the now friendship that they had developed despite the history that we the fans know has been a part of their past. It is as if they are long lost sisters seeing each other again, Anna does an exceptional job, as she always does when playing both versions of Olivia.

It is a little sad to see her reaction to the picture Bolivia has on her desk, it is a reminder of what she once had with Peter and Etta and will hopefully have again…if all goes as planned.

I was a little confused about how Bolivia knew about Etta and the fact that she was missing. I think there were a few scenes that may have been left out and that we will hopefully see on the DVD. I know that on twitter there were folks that had said that Bolivia and Lincoln’s son name was Trevor and that there was a scene that was shot but not shown. On well, let’s hope we get those in the DVD.

I also love the fact that the cortexiphan is affecting Olivia as she sees her little girl again at three years old standing in Bolivia’s office. It is such a jarring sight, but great to see Anna’s reaction to it.

The scene with Windmark and his superior in 2609 is great. That room is so stark; it is quite disturbing because it reminds me of a mental institution and the sterilization of what that represents. The baffling quandary of Michael and his advanced intellect is causing great concern for Windmark. He cannot accept the fact that Michael is far greater a threat than he could ever imagine.

That Michael may be the cause of their downfall. I think that even though Windmark doesn’t say it he feels it and knows it somewhere in that Observer brain of his. “There is no greater danger than that which is unknown” as Windmark states, which has been a running theme in Fringe since the beginning of the show…the unknown.

Talking about Michael like he is a thing is disturbing, asking that he be “disassembled and preserve the parts” is so creepy it sounds like something out of a Stephen King novel.

Olivia’s scene with Lincoln is great, I love that there is still a little reminder of the decision that she chose Peter over him; but that she is glad to see he has a wonderful family.

Seth is great at that tension and he shows it well, but I think he will always love Olivia, but differently now. Bolivia’s comment about “her young ass” is funny and so cute to see Lincoln react, they are completely in love and it is beautiful.

Now comes the kick ass Olivia that we all know and love and have missed (some fans have) dearly.

When she arrives again, she is clearly disoriented and keeps seeing things. Her hallucinations are some of the things that Walter warned about and Olivia has to be extra careful and know which ones are real and which ones are not.

Michael being wheeled to an examination room is eerily reminiscent of what happened to Olivia in the Entrada episode when Walternate wanted to vivisect her to see how her brain and the cortexiphan work. It is very interesting that Olivia was considered an anomaly to Walternate, a threat as well and look at what happened to her and how the show has almost come full circle again.

Olivia becomes her bad ass self as she roams through the halls looking for Michael, anybody that gets in her way gets taken out. You can clearly see the desperation and urgency in Olivia’s body as she races against time (literally) to get Michael and herself back where they belong. Anna is always at her best when she is in her kick ass mode; she has that confidence and swagger that has always made her great to watch as any incarnation of herself.

Rampaging through the hallway she fades in and out again, but after encountering an Observer and besting him, she charges toward her goal and finds Michael. The little smile that Michael has on his face when he sees her is sweet.

Just because he does not speak does not mean that he does not feel or comprehend what is going on. The contrary is the case with Michael; he is more in tune with everything and everybody that he is beyond feeling.

When Olivia and Michael make their way to escape and are caught by the Observer, you think they are done for until the team of Dunham and Lee open fire in a carefully choreographed synchronicity that you are cheering for them.

The last scene with both Olivia’s is bittersweet, again we say goodbye to the Alt-universe, we say goodbye to a part of Fringe that has always been a weird little part of the family.

Without it we would not have our beloved show, love it or hate it but know that it will forever be our Red verse! Goodbye old friend you will be missed.

Anna once again does what she does best; she is perfection as she bids herself a farewell. I love Bolivia’s retort to Olivia’s statement of “You have a beautiful family” and she says “Thank you, go save yours”…watching it again I am getting teary eyed.

It is a beautiful scene between two characters (albeit the same actress) that shows just how much each has grown over the course of the five years and the different timelines. They are not so different after all. Anna’s talent is one of the things I will most definitely miss on TV, she is a rare gem.

Arriving back with the team everybody breathes a sigh of relief, especially Peter. He has her back in one piece and he is glad. But the fight is not over as Olivia mentions that the Observers know she crossed over.

The scene in the van when Peter and Olivia have their moment together it is so…perfect. There is really no other word to describe that scene, a photo of that scene was leaked on twitter and of course it set the fandom on fire. Now we know the context of what is was and are very happy about it.

Windmark sitting at his desk as he asks the officer about how Michael disappeared is creepy. When he rats out Broyles you want to just scream, because that is very bad. But we all know that Broyles can most certainly handle himself..

It is so great to have the episode end with Donald going to see an old “friend”…December (Eugene Lipinski). I always liked his character, because he was always giving September the benefit of the doubt. He had a soft spot, so to speak, for the plight of September and the “family” he made himself a part of. The producers did a nice job of keeping that a secret too, I like how they are bringing back some of our favorite characters.

Watching that scene again floored me, here’s why, I was so excited about seeing December again that I completely missed what September said to him. When I did watch it again and September said “Walter Bishop is back and we have the boy,” makes me think that this was always planned. That what happened has happened and that the timeline needed to get reset again on order for things to be as they were. It was a HUGE HUGE HUGE revelation and one that segues perfectly into the next episode. That last shot of the door closing revealing 513 was pure genius.

Well, that is the end of this review of the second to last episode of Fringe ever. I hope you enjoyed the episode as much as I did and used enough Kleenex to warrant opening another box. I would love to hear your comments and remember Fringe is and always will live on …forever!

I hope you enjoyed my review and my previous news articles about my analysis of Fringe and I thank you for visiting WormholeRiders News Agency.

Please feel free to leave a comment here or If you prefer, you may also click the social media icons below to share this news article or as many of our readers and visitors often do, visit the WHR on Facebook or me on Twitter by clicking the links or images avatars in this news story. See You on The Other Side“!

Until next time,

Regards,

Lori
February 3, 2013
Fringe Review: Anomaly XB-6783764 Answers the Question!
Hello Fringe fans!

I hope that you are surviving the hiatus. With the New Year just around the corner, so are the last three episodes of Fringe.

It is bittersweet to know that so few remain, but also great because we will see the final battle unfold as it should be.

It has been an interesting season; we have lost a few beloved characters, gained new ones and finally got back our beloved Polivia.

It was questionable whether or not we would see Peter (Joshua Jackson) and Olivia (Anna Torv) back together, but last week’s episode showed us that their love is as strong as ever.

Come January 11, 2013, the final battle will be waged and we will see what Walter has in store and what his plan has been all along. Hopefully by the end, all will be revealed and everyone will be satisfied. I am glad that we found out that question that had been burning on everyone’s mind…who is Donald?

The answer was shocking to say the least, but a wonderful one at that. What else is in store for our beloved team? Only time and Joel Wyman will tell as he did in this appreciation video from December 13, recently re-tweeted by the great team at Fringe on FoxTV.

We also include the latest promotional trailer courtesy of FOX TV below for your enjoyment.
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Now…on with the review.

Anomaly XB-6783764:

I like the little boy who plays Michael (Rowan Longworth). He is doing a good job at conveying his empathic abilities, which I am sure again will be revealed more as the remaining episodes count down.

It must have been hard for the team to get answers out of him, since he has yet to speak a word. It does also make you wonder what happened to the connection that he had with Olivia in the past. Will it be again or is it lost to time?

Walter (John Noble) plying him with candy is fun, no doubt a desperate plea on his part to try and find out why he is so important to the team. His frustration with Michael’s non verbal communication is evident.

Walter suggests that they try and pry things from Michael’s mind via going into it as he did with September (Michael Cerveris).

It always cracks me up when John gets outrageous, because he lets Walter’s madness bubble to the surface and just peak out; John always does it to perfection. I also suspect it would be a good excuse for Walter to use more drugs.

John also has the great ability, as we saw with Walternate, to have a sinister side to him. What he feared would happen, when he told Nina (Blair Brown) about becoming the man he used to be is starting to show through. Let’s hope that Walter, the one we know and love will still be intact by the end of the series. His God complex is surely starting to manifest and take over, hopefully Donald and our team can prevent that from happening.

It is so wonderful to see Blair Brown have such an integral part in this episode. She has always been a favorite actress of mine and I am glad that she is finally being utilized the way she should be. Nina’s intentions in this episode are what make this episode so epic. Blair had explained so well about her final decision being one that she had no choice in the matter.

The gadgets that the Observers use harkens back to a past episode, Road not Taken, where Peter (Joshua Jackson) had used an old record player to extract sound waves from a window. I mentioned before that as diabolical and cruel as the Observers are they do have some of the coolest gadgets around.

Windmark will stop at nothing to extract any and all information any way he can. I must give great praise to Michael Kopsa for playing Windmark with such evil intent that he makes it so much fun to hate him. He is truly one of those characters that once his demise comes; cheering will be heard throughout all of Fringe fandom.

I think that Nina, somewhere in the back of her mind, knows the eminent danger she is potentially putting herself and the team in, but the cause and what the outstanding Austalian actress who portrayed Etta (Georgina Haig), died for is more important.

Finding a way to help the team is of the utmost importance to her and something she feels show owes Olivia (Anna Torv) and the team.

Walter’s snarky comments are abounding in this episode. Again, John manages to make us laugh even during the direst of situations. Having that extraordinary gift is something I as a director and a Fringe fan know is something to cherish. His comment of “I’m cold” reminds me of the countless times he has complained in previous episodes of the lack of warmth or food at crime scenes.

Nina has always been a very mysterious character, never quite knowing if she is on the side of good or bad. She has toed the line a few times and has definitely done some questionable things in her time.

The fact that she is and I suspect always was a part of William Bell’s (Leonard Nimoy) and Walter’s inner circle speaks volumes about why she has always been shrouded in mystery. Why she has always had these weird connections, like Peter used to, to things that are not quite explained. How she knew Sam Weiss (Kevin Corrigan) and how she happened to mention this black lab that Massive Dynamic has.

Nina’s concern for Walter is evident as shown through the conversation with Peter. They are both worried about him and rightfully should be. The interesting thing is that Nina has seen Walter the way he used to be and knows all too well what reverting back to that state can do harm not only to Walter but the plan and the team.

“Your father understands that anything worth fighting for comes with a cost” is what Nina ultimately tells Peter. How right she is, because this statement not only pertains to this particular episode but every sacrificial episode from every season. The price that they ALL have paid in one shape or form has brought them to this point in time. The picture of Etta plastered on the wall driving home the statement that Nina just told Peter.

The black lab entrance is cool. Leave it to Nina to have a lab underground where all kinds of experiments are taking place. It is of no surprise what they find down there. It explains how Nina has been more than aware of how the Observers work and she has always been one step ahead.

The scene between Peter and Olivia when he asks if she is thinking about Etta is great. Anna has a vulnerability about her that shows in her body language and she also proves how visceral she can be as an actress.

Her maternal instincts are on alert with Michael ever since they found him and in a way he is helping her heal from losing Etta. Peter’s comfort is always ever present, in the way he interacts with her and the way he looks at her. Josh again displays his talent for compassion that Peter has shown since he fell in love with Olivia.

Walter’s fascination with the ECOG device is a little disturbing, more so when he says to prep the subject and Peter corrects him that his name is Michael.

Walter seems to be slowing reverting back to his old self, glimpses we have seen throughout this season. John again being the brilliant one to just give us enough of a shadow to know that something darker looms.

One thing that I found interesting and that no one (at least not in my circle of Fringe friends) has brought up is what Michael represents. What I mean by this is that I cannot help but think of the Michael the Arc angel. If I remember anything of my Catholic schooling, it is that Michael led the armies of heaven against the forces of Satan and defeated them. To me that is what this Michael almost represents, he is the answer and the one that will be the one to ultimately defeat the Observers. It also makes me wonder why he would be so important to Walter if it weren’t for what Michael possesses. Why Donald was sworn to keep him safe, that Michael is indeed the one or dare I say weapon that the team has in their pocket, their ace up their sleeve, in a way.

I maybe reading too much into it, but it was just weird that no one picked up on that. I guess that’s because science and religion do not mix very well, that Michael had to be shrouded (sorry for the pun) in something a little less obvious. I would love to ask David Fury who wrote this episode if that was what Michael represented in this episode or what Michael represents overall. I guess that is a question for Joel as well…his is the maestro after all.

There have been many references to the Observers being like the Nazis and in some ways I can definitely see the correlation. Their methods mirror those that make them look similar to the Nazis, Windmark being the most sinister of them all. It is an eerie sight indeed, frightening to say the least.

Of course Michael’s readings are off the charts, of course he processes things differently than the other Observers, and he IS different, like September (Michael Cerveris). He is the one that is the major cog in Walter’s wheel of a plan, without him the whole thing falls apart. He is an empath; he isn’t the cold, calculating Observers that we have seen (minus September of course). He is the chosen one, the one of great importance, the one that will lead them to the final battle with the Observers…sound familiar? That is where my theory of the arc angel comes in.

The shot of the warehouse made me giggle out loud. It reminded me of the last scene in one of my most favorite movies, Raiders of The Lost Ark. I don’t know if that was intentional to make it look like that, but it was great fun to see. It also made me think that like the warehouse in Raiders, what secrets does this warehouse hold?

The scene with Hastings in the interrogation room with Windmark is very reminiscent of what he did to Walter in episode one of Season 5. It does not matter to Windmark how he gets his answers as long as he is satisfied that is his main goal. By any means necessary.

When Olivia informs Nina that she has been compromised that is when the episode really begins to shine. It is some of the best writing and acting that I have seen in a long time, mostly on Blair Brown’s part. Her decisions from this scene forward are ultimate and when the plan is set in motion there is no stopping her. She knew what she had to do as tough as a decision as it was it is what needed to be done in order to keep the team and Michael safe.

I am so curious what Michael showed Nina when he touches her cheek and she reacts. I suspect it’s the future if they do not defeat the Observers. I hope that we will get a reveal about it so that we the fans are not left in the dark.

The team needs to get back to the lab as soon as possible, especially knowing that Nina has been compromised and possibly put Michael in danger. What they do is brilliant; leave it to Peter, the reformed con man to think up that plan.

It works and our beloved team escapes for the time being. I love that Peter can still hot wire a car; it just goes to show that those con man skills never die!

Once the lab has been breached this is when one of the best scenes in recent memory takes place. Blair does some of her best work and it is so brilliant that it will be forever remembered for the power, but for also the end result.

Windmark discovering the experimented Observers is what sets him off. He calls Nina an animal…I thought pot calling kettle. When Windmark reads her he points out that she had mentioned the boy Observer, he is important to the fugitives, again my theory goes here. The fact that Windmark says that the boy is a chromosomal mistake leads me to believe that Michael has a power that is still untapped.

That Michael is the one and only thing that Windmark is afraid of even though he lets on that he isn’t. Sometimes it is those mistakes or anomalies that turn out to be the very thing that we have been looking for the whole time.

The ones that will save the universe, kind of like how Superman was an anomaly, a boy wonder and the power he possessed ended up saving the world. So was Jesus in his time, again religion comes into play, but only to make my point.

Nina’s speech to Windmark about why Observers tilt their heads is so freaking brilliant I cheered when she finished. She was so on point that you almost wanted to high five her mechanical hand for the excellent job she did.

What she pointed out was so true that it was eerie. The fact that the Observers had devolved instead of evolved is a testament to the human spirit and the relationships that we have. The way that we show love and compassion, the way we feel does not make us weak, if anything it is the one thing that defines us as humans.

Her speech is the last hurrah she has before she makes the ultimate sacrifice. She did it for love, for the love of Olivia, love of Walter, Etta and I even suspect love for William Bell. Nina truly gets the last word, in your face Windmark!

When she shoots herself, twitter went crazy! It seems that Nina after all these years had become a character that fans really loved and to see her commit the ultimate sacrifice stunned everyone, but also made her immortal to everyone. It was the second shot heard throughout all of Fringe-dom (the first being the one that killed Etta). Goodbye Nina, you will be missed, in more ways than one.

The scene when the team discovers Nina dead is so heartbreaking, but John and Anna are the two that really shine in this scene. Even though Olivia does not show as much emotion as Walter did, does not mean the loss is not great. I was disappointed to see that fans were saying that Olivia’s reaction was not as powerful as Walter’s. I do believe they were wrong, dead wrong.

Olivia’s reaction was perfect…for Olivia. What they failed to remember is who Olivia really is. She was never one to break down, on rare occasions she has. Olivia never thought herself worthy of love and always kept a distance so as to not get hurt. She had to develop the thick skin that she had in order to survive her life. I do believe that Olivia feels very deeply, probably more so than we do.

Walter’s reaction was perfect as well. John Noble made a great point during one of his many Noble Intentions videos that maybe Walter and Nina’s relationship may have been deeper than we always thought. John always brilliant as usual moves you to tears. I also love what Josh does, how Peter comforts Olivia, but in a very soft, loving way.

I made a point to someone that all the people in Olivia’s life, regardless of time line, whom she loves, always end up dead. That is my point as to why she always has that pain, it will always be behind her eyes, because she has gone through a hell that we can only imagine and never wish on another human being.

Anna Torv’s talent is undeniable; her eyes are so perfect at revealing those emotions, just under the surface. John had made the point that her subtly is brilliant and that is what makes her so good. Olivia has a quiet strength that has always been there. She carries on through unbelievable pain, she is a survivor, and she is the very definition of the word.

Where they find Michael is clever, obviously Nina made damn sure that Windmark could not find him and he was too hell bent on finding the fugitives that he did not bother to look any further. I love that once they find him and pull him out; he sees Nina and reacts as only an empath can. The single tear speaks volumes, bravo little one!

When Walter dons the ECOG it is a great scene because at first the reaction to the questions are just nods. When Walter asks Michael why he was needed for Walter’s plan, and why he was important he does the same thing he did to Nina, touch her cheek and show her.

The montage is beautiful, it is flash back of all past episodes and a virtual zoetrope of memories that Walter had either forgotten or repressed.

The final revelation to the question is what we have all been waiting for…the question that has been on every Fringe fans mind, who is Donald. I must say it was one of those moments when I audibly gasped! It was so wonderful to see Michael Cerveris again; he has been sorely missed in the fifth season. It was a little weird to see him with hair, but great nonetheless.

Okay, well now we know who Donald is, what I want to know (and I am sure every Fringe fan on the planet wants to know) is how did Donald become September? Is the boy Observer possibly September? Was September another anomaly as well that somehow slipped through the cracks?
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That would explain a lot about September and the significant role he played not only on the show but in the lives of Olivia, Peter and especially Walter. I know that Michael Cerveris said on twitter that his being Donald was the hardest secret he had to keep, but he loved the reaction of all the fans!

When Walter finally tells the team that Donald is September they are a little perplexed, how that is possible I bet they are thinking. The look on Walter’s face is wonderful, almost like a veil had been lifted from something that was clouding his memory. He almost had a look of relief and nostalgia, as if to say to himself, now it all makes sense.

Beautiful, heartbreaking episode, I am conflicted about the fact that there are only three episodes left. I am happy that we do get to see the final battle between good and evil, but I also do not want to see our team’s story end. I am being selfish when I say that I want Fringe to go on forever.

The good thing is that thanks to other mediums, Fringe WILL go on forever. I do hope that there is going to be more in the way of comic books and possibly a movie or two. Until then, we always have our DVDs and fan fiction to tide us over.

It will be a hell of a final ride and this fan is desperately looking forward to it. Have a Happy New Year Fringe fans, see you in 2013 and remember that “Momentum can be deferred, but it must always be paid back in full!”

I hope you enjoyed my review and my previous news articles about my analysis of Fringe and I thank you for visiting WormholeRiders News Agency.

Please feel free to leave a comment here or If you prefer, you may also click the social media icons below to share this news article or as many of our readers and visitors often do, visit the WHR on Facebook or me on Twitter by clicking the links or images avatars in this news story. See You on The Other Side“!

Until next time,

Regards,

Lori
December 31, 2012
Fringe: “Alone In The World” or “No One Is An Island”

Hi Fringe fans!

This just keeps getting better and better, right?

We recount Fringe with Walters Bishop (John Noble) in a dilemma at often seeing Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson) in any reflective surface such as a television.

Walter he thinks he is due for the mental home again. He also seems to call out Peter’s name at odd moments. It is as if Peter is in an alternate dimension with a very thin veil between that universe and this reality.

Walter is not sure what the heck is going on, so, he is going about his lab covering all reflective surfaces, such as mirrors and TV screens and monitors. Walter keeps hearing Peter calling out to him. Since the end of season three, no one appears to remembers Peter. Walter is fearful of his own sanity while the two universe teams and both Olivia Dunham’s (Anna Torv) are working together to save the worlds.

“Alone In The World” (Or, No One Is An Island):

We open this episode with Walter talking to his psychiatrist. He is being questioned about keeping up with the medications and I felt a small sense of foreboding when Walter says that he has, “… For the most part…with a few modifications of course..” Hmmm. something about a doctor treating himself having a fool for a patient comes to mind. It seems the Psychiatrist has been receiving reports from his agents who have been following Walter and knows about the reflections, and of Walter seeing a strange man, and hearing him, when no one else can.

The next scene is of a young boy, being chased by some local bullies. They are angry at the younger boy for telling the teacher about a stash in one of the older boy’s locker. The younger boy runs into a tunnel and the boys come in and find him. “You picked a bad place to hide, dumb ass!” one of the bullies says to the younger boy. As the boys are about to lay into him, They become bothered by something crawling on their skin and the two bullies are overcome by the growing affliction as the younger boy runs off, unharmed!

Olivia seeks information at her computer, apparently trying to use the facial recognition software as we see various faces scrolling along at a rapid rate. Olivia tells the new agent, Lincoln Lee (Seth Gabel) that she understands as he is looking over the reports and things about past cases. Olivia shares that she understands this is all fairly new to him, and how he may be questioning the world he thought he knew. Olivia is being supportive and wants to tell the agent he is welcome to talk with her if he needs to talk things over. She is interrupted by a phone call.

The next scene is at Hyde Park where the bodies of two twelve year old boys have been found. Their advanced state of decomposition leads FBI agents asking how many months they have been missing, and it has not been months, but only hours. Agent Broyles (Lance Reddick) says. The bodies look as if it has been months however! The boys were only reported missing when they did not come home the night before. They retrieve the bodies. Naturally one of the the victims is taken to Walters lab, the other to the morgue.

Investigators in the tunnel spot a third set of sneaker tracks going in and out from the tunnel. Walter is observed unzipping the body bag with Agent Astrid Farnsworth (Jasika Nicole) speculating about the pungent stench! Agent Broyles asks Walter if he is alright as the psychiatrist submitted reports about Walter to him earlier, so of course he wanted to come see Walter for himself.

Olivia phones Broyles from the local school and tells him they have a lead. Apparently a student told her the two boys who were found had been planning to beat a kid up. We now see the aforementioned boy sitting in the cafeteria drawing a fairly intricate scene in his notebook.

Back at Harvard University, the boy has been brought in from his school. We learn that his name is Aaron Sneddon (Evan Bird) and he is ten years old. He has been sitting in the lab, drawing intently in his notebook. He has told Olivia it was pretty dark and he did not see much after being chased into the tunnel. Olivia finds out he is pretty much “Alone In The World”.

The father is apparently not in the picture, while Aaron’s mother is out of the country a lot for her career work. Normally, Aaron stays at a neighbors home during this time. The school principal said the boy is “not known to have many friends”.

Olivia tells Aaron that Dr. Bishop (Walter) would like to check him over. Aaron tells her quietly that he does not like doctors. “They scare me” he explains. “You will like Walter, there’s nothing scary about him.” She smiles as Walter comes over to the boy. Walter was wearing the gloves and big apron, looking more like a figure from a horror film than a kindly doctor. I would have been leaving skid marks as I ran from the lab if I were in Aaron’s shoes!

In the next scene, we thankfully see that Walter is in a normal white lab coat, no gloves or apron, and is far less threatening looking as he explains to Aaron he is going to take a blood sample, not inject, as he holds a needle (a typical blood test). Walter gently promises the boy it is this one time only. The blood was withdrawn gently and the boy visibly relaxes.

Aaron sees a small action figure on Walters’ desk and goes to touch it and takes it down. Walter sees the boy holding the toy and hurries to take it from him. :”Please, don’t touch that!” he snaps, startling Aaron. Walter quickly apologized, explaining this used to belong to his son. “You have a son?” asked Aaron. “I did… he died.” Walter explained.

Astrid comes in and asks Walter to come with her. “You need to come take a look at this.” Astrid was moving a candle near the corpse of one of the boys, and the flame of the candle blew out. A draft from the corpse…! The LAMBDA Scale shows the corpse is blowing high levels of oxygen out into the air, and Walter notices more mold on the ribcage. He sees what is happening and orders the incubation casing to be brought there… quickly!

As Astrid and Walter throw the corpse into the hermetic casing, it is sealed in time just as the corpse exploded. The corpse has released what could be termed as spores. Walter now sees this as an aggressive fungi that killed the boys. it is seemingly trying to spread now. Astrid says that Olivia and Lincoln went to the morgue to get the other body!

Next scene is at the morgue and our Fringe duo is only getting to the elevator when Astrid called them. “Evacuate the morgue and lock it down. That body is going to explode and release spores!” As Olivia and Lincoln rush to do that, Astrid tried to call the actual room where the body is. One of the staff is eating his lunch, …While the body sits there in front of him… and he will not answer the phone!

As Olivia and Lincoln push their way through the halls, past bemused lab workers and others, the female morgue worker goes to answer the phone. NOW the lunch-eating worker sees something odd about the body and goes to investigate it. As he sees the body expanding, he calls to his colleague: “Hey, Beth.. come take a look at this.”

As Beth is picking up the phone, Olivia and Lincoln reach the doors to the morgue and we see the explosion from within. The morgue staff are coughing and passing out inside As Olivia stops Lincoln from opening the door, she says they need to lock this down and get a team in here. Lincoln says “We can not just leave them in there to die!” Olivia tells him “They are already dead!”

The HAZMAT suited team comes into the morgue and we see the dead lab workers and the mold growing everywhere on the walls. Broyles called Walter to see what they know. Walter says it is a genetic mutation, with accelerated growth and nutrition absorption.which explains the rapid decomposition of the bodies. Walter” Olivia says “What’s cortisubsfungi?”

Walter explains it is a species capable of releasing neurotoxin cells to paralyze the host. “Usually it is in insects, so the fungi can feed and lay it’s spores. Still a lower life form, it would not know or care that you’re there so long as you have not touched them” Walter explains the fungi relies on tactile stimuli of some sort.

The team notices the mold has gone to the morgue sink as well, and this fascinates Walter. It shows him that this is trying to obtain more water and expand their reach as far as possible. Broyles asked how to kill these things. Walter points out as with many species of mold and fungi, strong UV light and heat should eradicate them. Broyles orders more UV lamps and such to be brought in… “As many as you can find.”

Walter is now telling Aaron that his blood work is fine and he is now free to return home, Aaron looks depressed, and Walter says “Unless it is not good news…?”

“Nobody’s there.” Aaron says. The neighbor never talks to him. Walter says he understands what it is like to have nowhere to go. “This is the only home I know” He says as he looks about the lab.

Aaron is so depressed, Walter invites him to stay with him a little while longer. The next scene is Fringe favorite, that of milkshakes being made, tinfoil hats being worn, resulting in a much happier Aaron.

Aaron asks Walter about his son. Walter was forthright in the alternate universes and how he had taken Peter from there to this one, and how Peter had drowned. Aaron listened patiently, and quietly asked Water: “And you don’t think you belong in a mental institution?” Walter only sips at his milkshake quietly.

Next, back in the tunnel, the team finds the ‘Perpetrator’… A large cluster of the mold. The agents are waiting for the lamps and so on to be brought in. As we see the tunnel, there is a heavy ‘vein’ of the mold crawling along the drawings on the wall…. Drawings which look like the ones in Aaron’s notebook!

As the lamps are turned on, directed at the mold, Aaron, back in Walters’ lab, starts to feel uncomfortable. “It’s…. BRIGHT!…Ugh… Too bright!!” In the tunnel, the agents are finding a lot more of this organism throughout the wall. We see some is growing up the leg of one of the flood lamps. It is also going down into some grating.

Between scenes of bright lights in the tunnel, and agents asking “what’s past this grating? Anybody know?” we see Aaron in discomfort, asking “What is that?” As a flood lamp explodes Aaron falls to the floor in Walters’ lab and Olivia is saying “Burn it. Burn it all…!”

Aaron has a high-grade fever now, and Walter, with Astrid are tying to figure out what is wrong with him. Just as a large flame thrower is ignited, the agents in the tunnel get a phone call from Walter. “Stop what you’re doing!” Olivia say “What?” Walter again commands “I said Stop it… You’re killing the boy!!”

Aaron is now in an ice-bath in the lab. This technique is commonly used to stop high fevers from …in effect… ‘cooking’; the body. Once a temperature goes beyond approximately 105 F, the proteins which make up our biology will ‘denature’. Think of it like an egg: When in it’s natural state, it is gelatinous and when cooked it is hardened. All growth and processes are stopped. In humans, death would result. That is why the main goal of treatments in fever is to bring the body temperature down so the denaturing does not occur.

Now, the connection between the boy and the main part of the mold is being realized. Olivia may have an idea about why the mold at the morgue did not affect the kid, but this one is. She is looking at the cave-like entrance to the tunnel, and the graffiti surrounding it.

Walter is now asking Aaron why he lied about having been in the tunnel before the other boys were killed. “I’d say you’ve gone there a lot.” Walter says as he showed Aaron a page og the drawings. “Olivia found drawings like this …”

Aaron admitted he would go to the tunnel to get away from things. After awhile, he would start to feel better. Like he wasn’t alone. “That there was something there that was sad whenever I was sad…I know it sounds stupid”

“It’s not.” Walter indicates. “You say there was something there that felt as you felt.”

“I thought I was just imagining it” Aaron said. “Maybe I was was crazy. but it’s like it understood me…Like it wanted to …”

“Protect you” Walter said, completing the boy’s sentence.

Walter then asked Aaron if he intentionally led those boys who were chasing him to the tunnel. “It told you to bring them back to the tunnel.”
Aaron told Walter he did not know what was going to happen to them. He didn’t know what it was! Aaron was crying with remorse, and Walter, gentle Walter, told the boy he believed he did nothing wrong and comforted Aaron.

So, now we are beginning to understand this life form may be sentient and may actually have more to it than thought. Walter sees it now as a single organism with advanced communication skills, forming a psychic bond with Aaron. Walter now believes the spores and fungi are actually like neurons of our brain. The tendrils coming out of them are like Dendrites and synapses. That the ‘Fungi” is in fact a vast neural network.

Lincoln is amazed. “You’re saying this is like a giant brain….?” Walter has named it “GUS”. … For the sake of clarity. (I love Walter! He is amazing!) The stuff at the morgue had not been able to join the network and that is why Aaron was unaffected as it was destroyed. Also, the stuff going down the sink was not looking for water, it was trying to join GUS… at the mainframe level!

But this explains now why any attempt to hurt “GUS” will hurt Aaron. so now, the mission is to dissociate the boy’s psyche from GUS.

Broyles calls with news of a homeless man inflicted with the organism and the location (Roxbury Crossing) is six miles away from the origin of GUS. The grating near the homeless man is part of the Boston sewer line, and Broyles now say “We have a major infestation. We have to eradicate it now!” Walter is very upset and yells at Broyles through the speakerphone “He’ll DIE!! You understand? You’re going to KILL PETER!”

“Aaron.” Olivia says softly. Walter, you mean Aaron.” Broyles indicated he has two hours.

Olivia calls Walter and he tells her they have managed to isolate the brain waves of GUS and Aaron. The link appears to be in Aaron’s prefrontal lobe. Walter is getting set to actually remove the lobe in Aaron. Broyles said there is another attack in midtown. Two hours are now no more.

The agents found an injection point to administer a toxin to GUS. this is a HUGE network under the tunnel As this is done, Aaron tries to sit bolt-upright yelling “NO!!” and GUS has come to life below ground grabbing the toxin administrator, Agent Lincoln Lee (Seth Gabel).

Aaron’s blood pressure is falling and Walter suddenly thinks “Limbic System“! Of course! Emotions=Limbic! So now he must appeal to Aaron’s emotions to release this hold to GUS. Walter is talking to Aaron trying to get him to release the hold GUS has on him. Walter is trying to tell Aaron that he is not alone and is begging him not to leave him Walter is saying “I don’t want to lose you! Not again!”

Walter is pleading with Aaron to trust. The boy starts to believe Walter. It is working and Aaron’s vitals are stabilizing. Olivia calls from their location at the tunnel saying that something is happening. Astrid tells Walter the brain waves are now separating …

“It’s gone…” Astrid says as she looks at the monitors… “GUS is gone…”

Olivia is back in the tunnel. She indicates that the organism is dying. The toxin administrator (Lincoln) is safe. Aaron is taken off to the hospital and Walter gives him the little action figure. “We’ll meet again, very soon!” Walter promises. Walter looks away from Aaron and sees Peter in the glass housing the fire extinguisher.

Walter goes to his books and takes down a volume and the page is open to an ominous topic. Lobotomies.

Walter is set to perform a lobotomy on himself!! Olivia comes in to see this man, with tools at the ready.

Olivia does stop this activity and we see that she is visibly upset. Walter is crying that he is going insane and “doesn’t want to be re-committed”. He explains he has been seeing this stranger in reflective surfaces and is in fear that he is losing his mind again. Olivia shows Walter a drawing of who we know to be Peter. She has been seeing him too, but of course, she does not remember who he is and neither does Walter.

My Take For What It Is Worth:

How many times do we hear or read of solitary youths growing into serial killers if not just the forgotten ones of society? We usually see the neighbors saying “Oh, he was always quiet and polite. We never had a clue what was going on” to the news team on television. Or perhaps the youths who bring guns to school to teach the ‘jocks’ a lesson?

They are usually, though not always, the outcasts, alone at school and at home. Cries go out of “We had no idea it was like this…” and that is when I ask “Why not? Because you do not care enough to talk to your neighbors? Or perhaps to invite the lonely kid to come sit with you in the lunchroom?” I have to ask: Whose fault is it really when we as a people fail to reach out to each other?

It is almost like one who is searching for employment. “Oh, you need experience to work here” They are told, but are not hired.

So, GIVE THEM THE EXPERIENCE! They will never be experienced until they are given the CHANCE to work there! Just as the socially inept will never learn if they are constantly excluded from social interaction.

Now, granted, not every recluse is a violent or even cruel person. There are many ‘outcasts’ who search internally for knowledge and friendship from ‘Imaginary’ playmates as kids, or even mentors from books and TV. One will usually go to the safest option first. I grew up as a legally-blind kid and no one had much to do with me. MY ‘friends were ‘Casper, the friendly ghost’ -because I felt like he did.

I would come up to a group of ids wanting to play, but they would run away, or push me away. I loved “Astro-Boy”, “Marine Boy” anyone ‘different’ and empathized with them. Later as my reading grew stronger I relied on heroes of history and current times for their knowledge and advise. I did not wind up in a foster care system, or prison, or like Walter, a mental home.

I am one of the lucky ones. But I felt so deeply for Aaron (Evan Bird). That poor kid may have not been a homeless kid, starving and shoeless, but his poverty was greater. He lacked simple human contact and did not feel he was really loved, so he formed a psychic link to what could have been a dangerous ally. Even today at my age, I empathize with Science Fiction ‘Aliens’ having been ‘alienated’ throughout my own life.

It is… at least in my opinion, better to follow the advanced minds and abilities of the Others and Eartheaon people of wisdom and heart than what *could* have happened, really. Aaron will be okay. He is in this case a very lucky boy. I would have loved to have a “Walter” in my life, but I did have good parents and Dad was an Endineer and Machinist. He was ‘my’ “Walter”.

So please… do not be a island. We as a species are social and companionship is an essential in our needs. Reach out and at least say “Hello” to someone. It costs absolutely nothing to do so.

Thanks to Kenn for completing the staging of the the images and the links, and thanks to you for reading my review and for visiting WormholeRiders News Agency.

Please feel free to leave a comment here or If you prefer, you may also click the social media icons below to share this news article or as many of our readers and visitors often do, visit the WHR on Facebook or me on Twitter by clicking the text links or images avatars in this news story and or we will See You on The Other Side“!

Until next time,

Regards,

Celtica

October 11, 2011
Fringe: “One Night In October” and “The Bridge” When an Obsession Can Ruin Everything!

Welcome back Fringe fans! for us.

This week’s episode “One Night in October” was a peek into what season four of Fringe has in store

The writers are going to not only bring the two universes together to save them both, but they are going to bring the two together to help solve cases.

Before we begin our review, below is a Fringe special released by FOX Broadcasting called “The Bridge”. Thanks FOX!

One Night in October:

The episode is based on a fundamental debate of nature vs. nurture. John McClennan, portrayed by John Pyper-Ferguson, was at the center of this debate. In one universe he was a forensic psychology professor who studied serial killers and in the other universe he was a serial killer. Pyper-Ferguson did an excellent job at portraying McClennan and making the two very similar in personality and different in their actions.

We began this episode with a man hooked up to a machine that appeared to be pumping some sort of blue liquid into his brain. He was being asked to recall a happy memory he had of his mother. As he told his captor that his memory had made him happy, his face froze over and he had one tear rolling down his face. This scene was psychologically unnerving and filled with conflicting emotion. It was not apparent this early in the episode why the victim was being asked to recall happy memories.

Walter Bishop (John Noble) was in the lab with Lincoln Lee, portrayed by Seth Gabel, covering every reflective surface in the lab. In episode one “Neither Here Nor There” Walter began to see a man in his television. We found out this man was Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson). There is a vulnerability to Walter now that Peter is gone. Walter has always been a nervous individual, but without Peter in his life he seems to be less stable. Peter was obviously the glue that held Walter together.

Walter described the shape-shifters to Lincoln as “vile, part organic tissue and part machine. It is like everything from over there. They are loathsome, hateful, and contemptible.” Walter expressed a great dislike for the “other side”. How will Peter’s absence affect Walternate? Much of what made Walternate mean and ruthless was the fact that Walter stole Peter from him.

Astrid Farnsworth (Jasika Nicole) talked to Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) in the lab and suggested that she go out with Lincoln. Olivia was quick to make excuses on why she would never go out with Lincoln. Olivia is a character that has grown over the past three seasons. We have seen her go from reserved and a little uptight to having a carefree loving relationship with Peter. Without Peter in her life Olivia never made the transition to carefree.

Anna Torv has done an excellent job with her two characters in this show. She has had to portray the same person in both universes, but because of different choices their lives have become different. Therefore, making their personalities somewhat different. This ties into the theme of this episode of nature vs. nurture. Our environment is a product of choices and those choices shape who we are. Fauxlivia and Olivia have the same instincts that they were born with, but their environment has shaped their personalities.

The victims in this episode are being killed by cerebral hypothermia. He does this by drilling a hole in the back of their heads and injecting them with a chemical that freezes their brains. This gives a whole new meaning to the term “brain freeze”. I could not resist that bit of humor. Agent Phillip Broyles (Lance Reddick) informed Olivia of the recent murders and the fact that these murders have occurred on the other side. They requested their assistance in catching this killer.

Olivia and Agent Broyles met with Fauxlivia where she briefed them on the situation. This killer, John McClennan, had eluded them for five years. They had just recently learned who he was, but when they went to apprehend him he was gone. Fauxlivia asked Olivia and Agent Broyles if they would bring the other John Louis McClennan to the other side so that he may go through his belongings and get a “feel” for what their McClennan was like. I like the subtle change in the serial killer’s name. Have you ever noticed how serial killers or assassins have three names. Lee Harvey Oswald, John Wilkes Booth, and John Wayne Gacy just to name a few. I had never noticed this until Mel Gibson pointed it out in “Conspiracy Theory”. Interesting little fact.

Olivia was quick to point out she did not know how this would help them find the killer’s whereabouts. Fauxlivia replied with “I lived in your apartment and I picked up on a lot of things about you”. This struck a nerve in Olivia. She will have to come to terms with her abduction this season. There is no way around this if they are to work together.

There are also noticeable differences in Fauxlivia without Peter. He softened her up towards the end of season 3. There is also no baby! I kept waiting to see the baby but it never showed him. Without Peter Fauxlivia never got pregnant. We saw a hint of the old Fauxlivia when she hit a nerve with Olivia.

Olivia met with Professor McClennan in his office at West Connecticut College where he teaches. She explained to him that the FBI needed his help in profiling on a case. She told him that he would need to be sedated because it was a long ride and it would be better. The reason he was sedated was because they did not want him knowing that he had crossed into a parallel universe. This will be an interesting problem to overcome this season, and I want to see how many solutions the writers can come up with.

Agent Lee and Fauxlivia have a certain chemistry on screen. This was very noticeable in the next scene when they laugh at her wig. She was changing her hair to be like Olivia’s. Since she has red hair she has to put on a blonde wig. Professor McClennan cannot know that she was not the Olivia he met back in his office. Olivia met Fauxlivia and agent Lee outside of McClennan’s house. There was definate tension between the two.

I cannot express enough how well Anna Torv does in making Fauxlivia a different character. Olivia told Fauxlivia that her jacket was buttoned. This goes to show the differences in the two. Fauxlivia is always smiling and Olivia seems reserved and she hardly ever smiles.

This next scene showed how unraveled Walter had become without Peter. Walter was listening to a record and had the volume turned up. It was so high that Astrid had to yell at him so he could hear her. She expressed concern for Walter, and told him that she had checked his levels on his meds and they were not right. He confessed that he had been experimenting.

This scene was very revealing. Astrid has had to assume the role of caregiver for Walter because Peter never did. In the previous seasons Astrid was a sort of babysitter for Walter, but this season she has become his primary caregiver. Walter also lives in his lab which is different from the previous seasons where he lived with Peter.

Fauxlivia and Professor McClennan took a tour of his counterpart’s house. He profiled him by certain things he observed while walking through. He began to see things that reminded him of himself such as egg hatching lights that his father used back on his farm and a chair that he had when he was young.    He told Fauxlivia that the killer hated that his victims had happy lives and he did not. He took them when they are happy. It was not until he saw a picture of his father hanging on the wall that he realized there was more to this case than he had originally been told. He got upset and Olivia had to intervene and expose that there were two of them.

Olivia and Professor McClennan are in the house and she had explained to him the two universes and how he came to be there. She had told him that they are looking for his counterpart. She asked him if he could tell them anything about him that might help. He replied “I don’t just understand him. I am him. What is in him is in me.” This was where he confesses his feelings to Olivia. He has homicidal thoughts just as his counterpart does.

Fauxlivia walked in just as Olivia told McClennan that she too came from an abusive home and she could empathize with him. Fauxlivia looked at Olivia as if she was understanding why she was the way she was.

McClennan confessed to Olivia and Fauxlivia that he had the same homicidal thoughts and past that his counterpart had. He also told them about Marjorie. She was the person that helped him learn how to cope with the urges to kill that he was having. He said that his life would have been more like his counterparts without having had Marjorie in his life. He expressed that he wished he could talk to him and tell him he did not have to suffer. Olivia told him that he could not know that he existed. Professor McClennon climbed out of the bathroom window and went to find his counterpart.

In the next scene Colonel Broyles met with the Fringe team to discuss McClennan’s whereabouts. I mention this scene not because I felt it was important, but to point out that Colonel Broyles is not dead. He died last season helping Olivia escape back to the other side. I am sure this will be explained later in the season. What other things have changed with Peter gone? I also wanted to capture this to show what a nice physique Lance Reddick has.

Professor McClennan found his serial killer counterpart. He was about to drill into the skull of his next victim when the professor interrupted him. The look of surprise on his face was one that I believe many of us would have if we had been faced with the same.

The professor told evil McClennan that he remembered the night his father found the “dead things”. Evil McClennan said his father had caught him and took him home. He said he beat him 3 days straight. Professor McClennan told a different story. He ran as fast as he could until he fell down in a field. He was found by a woman named Marjorie. He said “Because of her I don’t have to do what you do to stop the pain.” He offered to help evil McClennan deal with his urges to kill people. Evil McClennan turned on him and knocked him out.

Fauxlivia had asked Olivia to ride with her to McClennan’s farm. She asked Olivia if she had told him about her childhood abuse to get him to open up. Olivia said that she had, but it was also true that her stepfather had abused her.   Fauxlivia asked what happened to her stepfather and Olivia replied “I killed him.” Wait! Before Peter disappeared Olivia’s father was alive and sending her postcards. What has changed with Peter being gone that would have caused her stepfather to be dead?

Evil McClennan had restrained Professor McClennan and he had drilled a hole in his skull. He had the same hose with blue liquid in it that the victim at the start of the show had. Evil McClennan hooked something with wires attached to the back of his skull. He asked the professor to tell him about Marjorie.

Professor McClennan told Evil McClennan “I never understood how someone so beautiful could love something so dark.” This reference was important in understanding how both McClennans felt about themselves. The professor referred to Marjorie as “someone” but referred to himself as “something”. Evil McClennan was able to feel what the professor felt.

Olivia and Lincoln find the professor but his evil counterpart was not in the room. Olivia found him in the next room visibly upset. He said “I took her from him”. He also said she “made him feel for them.”    It was at that moment that evil McClennan realized what he had done. He took his own life.

The next scene was Olivia and agent Broyles in the hospital looking at Professor McClennan. Broyles explained to Olivia that McClennan suffered memory loss of about 2 weeks and he had no memory of Marjorie. This was important because Marjorie was the one thing that shaped him into the adult he was. He said something to Olivia that let her know he may have forgotten Marjorie, but the lessons that she taught him were still in him. He said “You know what they say? That even when it’s the darkest you can step into the light.”

Olivia walked out with agent Broyles and asked how could he remember what Marjorie had taught him and not remember her. Agent Broyles replied “At the risk of sounding sentimental, I have always felt there were people that left an indelible mark on your soul. An imprint that can never be erased.”

How fitting that they would break away from that scene to Walter preparing for bed. Walter had become nervous with turning off his lights. When he turned out his lights he heard Peter’s voice. Walter does not realize the voice he was hearing was his son’s voice. Peter died in both universes when he was young. This was why Walter’s medication levels are high in his blood. He must be taking extra doses of his medication because he fears he is hallucinating. Each time Walter had heard from Peter he has said “I’m here Walter. I’m right here.”.

I am excited about the direction the writers are going with this story. Season three was all about choices. They focused on choices that each of the characters had made that led them to where they are today. They concluded with the ultimate choice of Peter stepping into the machine and bringing the two parallel worlds together. This season will be about the results of those choices.

Fringe returns this Friday 9 PM E/P 8 PM central with “Alone In The World”! Make sure to tune in live to show your support! Thank you.

I trust you have enjoyed this review of Falling Skies co-written by the managing editor WR_Systems (Kenn) due an unfortunate illness with my child as I tweeted last evening. Thanks Kenn! And as always we here at the WHR Fallings Skies team thank you for visiting WormholeRiders News Agency.

Please feel free to share this news article by clicking one of the social media icons below. You may also leave a comment here, and you may desire to visit me on Twitter by clicking my avatar

Thank you,

Redone68 (Sandra – WHR Falling Skies Team Leader)

October 3, 2011
Fringe: “Neither Here Nor There” Making Milkshakes with Gene the Cow!

Welcome back Fringe fans,

FRINGETASTIC! Last Friday, September 23, 2011 was the day we have waited for to tune into Fox Television and kick off the fourth season of the “Mythology of the Fringe Universes”.

According to TV By The Numbers (TVBTN), the new season of Fringe started with an approximate 3.8 million viewers and an average 1.5 rating for the series. For the series premiere TVBTN broke the series into 15 minute segments as follows – 9:00-9:15- 3.846 million viewers- 2.3/4 HH- 1.7/5 A18-49. 9:15-9:30- 3.209 million viewers- 1.9/3 HH- 1.4/4 A18-49. 9:30-9:45- 3.373 million viewers- 2.0/3 HH- 1.4/4 A18-49 and 9:45-10:00- 3.502 million viewers- 2.1/3 HH- 1.4/4 A18-49.

The way I see it, the Fringies are just warming up. Fox Television placed the #Fringe hashtag on the screen on the right hand corner on the broadcast again.

That was good to see, as it encourages us, to get Fringe trending on twitter! #WhereisPeterBishop hashtag was a prominent sight in my timeline last Friday night. I was impressed with the tweets flowing for the excitement for Fringe!!

The Fringe Network is helping everyone to keep our eyes open for the vanishing Peter! Just where in the heck is the elusive Peter Bishop portrayed by Joshua Jackson?!

The bridge Peter created in “The Day We Died” was with hope that they can work together to fix the damages to both Universes. This will lead to an interesting exchange. The beginning of season four is a great start with our universes colliding with the two Olivia’s (Anna Torv) together and sparks flying between them!

Olivia and AltLiv are sniping at each other about trust and the lack of the fundamental properties of a productive truce. The fireworks that Olivia and AltLiv create together astound me as to how brilliant Anna Torv is. She can just slightly change her voice for each character she plays. For example when she was acting as if William Bell {Leonard Nimoy} was inside her consciousness in ” Stow Away” that is a perfect example. She uses her own voice for Olivia but modifies her voice for a slightly gravely voice for AltLiv. Playing a role opposite from your self must be challenging and Anna does it with panache!

This is going to be a great season! I was of course curious how they would work that Peter is considered someone who ‘never existed’ into the mix of things. I can’t wait to see how they are going to make this dynamic of characters proceed with one of the anchor characters missing. The reason’s as to how they joined up Universes in this reality are a little hazy for me. Especially if Peter didn’t exist to be come a man to join them together. I’m sure all will be revealed to us as to the nature of the accord, or perhaps, it is up to us to decide how this came about.

Olivia seems harder and lonely or is that what they wish to draw attention to? Is Olivia ultimately not whole without Peter in her life? Is he really gone? This raises questions as to ‘what’ is Peter existing as, as we catch a glimpse of his ghostly presence between the two Olivia’s.. So really Where is Peter Bishop? Is he between the Universes? Is he an apparition?

The Observer’s are having a meeting of the minds to discuss the situation with Peter. Apparently they are having trouble with the fact that Peter is bleeding through the Time-line and showing up in flashes and this is a huge problem for the rest of the Observer’s.

I always get a kick out of September {Michael Cerveris} He tried so hard to ensure that things were fixed but he sure takes exception to having it pointed out to him that it was not, if his look is any indication. I believe, September has a soft spot for Walter Bishop {John Noble} and his son Peter. I’m curious as to how September is going to ‘fix’ the fact that Peter just won’t stay gone from existence. Perhaps September feels that Peter’s existence is fundamentally important to the relationships Peter is part of, and created out of love.

Agent Lincoln Lee {Seth Gabel} makes an appearance to pick up Agent Robert Danzig {Joe Flanigan} for work at his house. I get a nice picture of a very sexy man in his boxers. Now that is some nice eye candy! I personally was psyched and couldn’t sleep knowing Joe Flanigan, the star from the MGM Stargate Frachise, Stargate Atlantis was going to be making a guest appearance. I am a huge fan of Joe Flanigan’s, so I was delighted to see him on my favourite show of Fringe. Lincoln is a favourite character of mine and with this cast of favourite actors I was very happy to settle down and watch how they interacted with one another.

The interplay between the two Agents shows me that they are close and are not only partners, but friends. The family of Agent Danzing obviously adore Lincoln, much like I do. I enjoyed the exchange of wit between the two men. The closeness that these partners share reminds me of the closeness that Altliv and AltLincoln share in the other Universe.

Also Agent Scott and Olivia were very close. Lincoln and Robert get right to work and that is where we first see them in action. The sad thing is that Agent Danzing is attacked and is killed.

He is changed by some unknown process from a human being into something that we are not sure of what he is becoming. The attacker’s skin is translucent and he is just a freak of the strange and unexplained.Olivia shows up at the crime scene and the Observers are remarking on how Agent Lee and Olivia had once known each other before the altered time-line. I think there will be several changes as to how things progress and explanations will be needed as to how things happened with out Peter’s existence in this time-line.

Agent Astrid Farnworth {Jasika Nicole} is Olivia’s partner on the scene and she is walking Walter Bishop {John Nobel} through the crime scene. I noticed she called Walter Mr. Bishop rather than Walter. Why isn’t Walter at the crime scene with them? Is their relationship less than what we we are used to? As Astrid examines Agent Danzing’s body Olivia procededs to talk to Agent Lee. Lincoln and Olivia are not hitting it off very well because frankly she just seems more of a clinical being in this time-line that I might have trouble getting used to. Lincoln is distraught over the loss of his partner and Olivia seems less than concerned about Lincoln’s feelings than getting the job done. I suppose a person for her to love is the key to her compassionate side.

I was disappointed that Agent Danzing was not long for this episode. I was really hoping for more Joe Flanigan, as were a lot of “Flan Fans” that follow him on twitter and in the Stargate Fandom. But is he really dead? With Fringe I am always curious when someone dies, if they stay dead. Like Peter for example, is he really erased from the timeline? He is bleeding through after all. Perhaps we will see Agent Danzig again?.

Walter back in his laboratory with Astrid and it is a wonderful sense of being back home for a Fringie fan. Walter is hard at work complaining about things that is not to his liking which is always funny! Astrid seems to have less patience with Walter but is still his assistant. I am glad that did not change with this new timeline.

Olivia is in another room looking over Agent Danzing’s file and she seems to have an expression on her face that maybe Lincoln’s comments struck a nerve as to whether or not she is capable of understanding the relationship of a partnership.

Walter is uncomfortable with working with the other side and I had to laugh when he talked about Walternate as being not a man that can be trusted. They are alike, but hopefully not too much. I find Walter to be not as sweet… Is it the lack of sugar or that he doesn’t have that person to keep him lovable and likable? Astrid is trying to talk some sense into Walter that they need to work together to ‘find another way’ to fix the two Universes instead of destroying one or the other. That is the most important thing right to all of them now, and not who trusts who. As they are discussing the situation, Lincoln wanders into the into Walter’s laboratory.

Walter enlists Lincoln’s assistance while Astrid is out of the room. I always like to see the look on a person’s face when Walter gets a unsuspecting bystander to participate in his strange experiments. Lincoln looks a little unnerved, but I’m not sure if it’s from Walter himself or the fact he is holding a dead pigeon. Walter and his pigeons *chuckling*. The pigeon is dead and Walter injects the pigeon with a serum that animates the bird to fly out of Lincoln’s hands and flies around the room for a moment until it unceremoniously drops ‘dead’ on the floor. Walter’s smile is almost insane! He is so funny! Lincoln is wondering who these people are and Olivia is wondering what he is doing there. Lincoln had used his resources to track them down.

Olivia is angry that he is meddling in an area that is none of his business. They face off, upset with one another because one wants answers and one is angry because she doesn’t wish to give them. Olivia is going to call the Bureau and have him removed and Lincoln is about to call the New York Times. Walter tells Lincoln if he really wants a story, he should look under the dome as he is growing an ear. I think she secretly admired his courage to seek out the answers he wanted. Agent Broyles (Lance Reddick} called to let them know about another victim. Olivia is ready to let Lincoln come along for the ride and maybe he could be useful or perhaps she is just curious about him as he is about their division. Will Lincoln and Olivia become partners in this timeline? I’m very curious.

Olivia, Astrid and Lincoln go to the new crime scene leaving Walter at the lab and a communication device to walk through the crime scene with Astrid. Astrid has her ear piece in place and Walter is busy making popcorn & rockin’ it out. “Walterisms” are always funny as he tells Astrid not to let that ‘ham fist touch the body’ who was the lady who was standing ready to examine the body.

Checking the victims anus was probably not the first thing the ‘ham fist’ was going to check! *laughing* The victim was a commuter and she crashed. Olivia and Lincoln are assessing the situation and Lincoln noticed that one of these things are not like the other. I, of course had that children’s song from Sesame Street stuck in my head after that.

The witness (Natalie Grace) that was away from the others had seen more than the rest and Lincoln was the one to catch the fact that she was more subdued and had probably seen more than what the others had seen. The girl’s name was also Olivia and Olivia was able to question her and get a picture of the suspect. Lincoln’s perception of the situation encouraged Olivia to keep Lincoln and take him further into the investigation. There were more bodies then he was aware of.

Agent Broyles met them at a secret facility were Agent Lee was explained what the legal responsibilities of viewing what Olivia and Broyles were about to show him. There were a lot of bodies and they all died with in 3 days. It was quite the image. As Lincoln stood over the body of his friend Robert, he told Olivia that Agent Danzing was not just his partner for five years but he was like family. He was grieving for his friend and he wanted answers for the loss of his friend. Robert believed that every thing happened for a reason but Lincoln was having trouble finding a reason for this horrendous slaughter of people. Why are these people being skilled and what is happening to their skin?

September is busy acquiring the items he needs to erase Peter permanently from the time-line. I didn’t realize one would go to a store to do that, but the Observer’s are very intelligent and so I guess you can, if you are that smart. The dry tone that September uses to tell the clerk what he was doing, makes me laugh. I always question what the Observer’s are up to. September, Walter and Peter have had so much history together. Even though the typical Observer seems to not show that they care, we caught a glimpse of the compassion and even love that an Observer is capable of. In Season two in the episode ‘August” and the experiment September orchestrated to prepare Walter for the loss of Peter in “firefly’, we saw those feelings. The Observer’s are more complicated than we can even comprehend. Will September really erase Peter from the time line?

Olivia, Astrid and Lincoln are back in the lab and Walter is no where to be found. Walter has seen a glimpse of a man in a mirror and is terrified. This is where Lincoln got a taste of Walter’s strangeness. Olivia is the one that comforts Walter in the event of this upsetting incident, not Astrid like I was expecting. Olivia seems to have taken over Peter’s role as Walter’s guardian. Astrid and Olivia are Walter’s family and his link to him being a functional human being. Lincoln is not sure if Walter is ’all right’ in the head but Walter is brilliant and when he functions he functions very well. I can see Lincoln’s concern.

Walter seeing men in mirrors and not wearing any pants but working on a body makes anyone wonder about a person’s sanity. However Walter has a heart of gold and he is struck by the sadness of the engagement ring of the victim’s loss of a chance at love. There is nothing sadder than when two people are in love and something intervenes. Olivia and Peter have had things intervening since they first met. So there is a lot of irony in Walter’s statement.

While Walter was doing the autopsy on the victim the test results came back. Though Lincoln’s idea was wrong, it was clever and lead Walter to suppose that the victim’s may have had something in common which would explain why the victim’s are chosen for the reason that they are. Unfortunately Lincoln gets another revelation that he is quite upset about. The victim’s are not returned to their loved ones. He loved his partner and the thought of never having that closure for the families & friends, is unthinkable to him. Walter is cynical in that he says “every one dies, even twice” he is of course referring to Peter who died twice as a child. I would have thought Walter would have had more compassion with Lincoln’s assessment of the heartlessness of protecting Fringe division over the peace of mind of the victim’s families.

But I also understand Walter feelings and that he went through a lot to try to save his son and he failed. I would probably be cynical to some degree too. Lincoln is not impressed by the Fringe’s policies but he still is willing to help and he realizes that the victim’s had another correlation to each other. The victim’s all took commuter trains and that is how this murderer seems to be selecting his victim’s. A pattern is always a bonus to an FBI agent to find the killer. As they are coordinating a trap at commuter train stations to catch the translucent man, he is conducting experiments on himself. This is one ugly guy and I bet he doesn’t get many dates especially when he pulls out his own fingernails… Ewwwwwww that was just disgusting!!! *GAG* I noticed he wrote things down in a strange language. Who is this translucent man who needs metals from his victims. What is his purpose?

Olivia and Lincoln are sitting in the vehicle waiting to catch the freak and Olivia tells Lincoln about when she lost her partner agent Scott. We also got a glimpse into the back ground of this time-line and how Walter came into her life with out the presence of Peter. The conversation is cut short as the translucent man is sighted and the chase is on. Two other Agents are on the seen first and one is injured. Lincoln stays to help the other agent from bleeding out and Olivia chases after the murderer alone. She is able to shoot the freak and Lincoln runs to see what the shots are about. He is relieved to see Olivia alive and well in the window of the warehouse.

Lincoln goes back the the downed FBI agent and as the man begins to awaken he reveals to Lincoln that there is more than one of the translucent men. This is not over and Lincoln catches a motion out of the corner of his eye he races after the second culprit on his own. Lincoln is also able to triumph over the translucent being and shoots him dead. As they are loading the corpses of the translucent men up to take back to Walter’s laboratory, questions remain as to not who they are but ‘what’ they are.

It seems there is more of them as we see “Nadine Park” {Michelle Krusiec} one of the victims on the stairs seeming to shift her appearance. Is the other victims also going to appear alive and as these human things? Is this just the beginning of these curious beings? Will Agent Robert Danzing come back as a monster, only become the hunted by his own partner? I would certainly hope to see Joe Flanigan in more Fringe episodes.

Why is it there are always more questions than answers? Lol 😛

At this time, the case seems to be finished and Agent Lee is back at his place of operations in Hartford FBI headquarters. He receives an envelope that states that Agent Robert’s body is being released to the family. Does Olivia realize that something is missing from her own life? Is that why she did it? Is that why she released the body? Does Olivia feel that someone is missing from her life and that ‘feeling’ of Peter once being in her life, is bleeding through as well? I think she feels something is not right, like that one thing that is niggling at the back of your mind but you can’t quite put into words. Perhaps the question she needs to ask is what all the Fringe fans are asking, Where is Peter Bishop…?

Lincoln cannot seem to stay away and he wanted to thank Olivia for releasing the body to him. Olivia teases him about being there and is glad to see him. She sincerely hopes he can find closure in the loss of his friend. She knows Lincoln has not found the answers that he is looking for and takes him to the alternative universe crossing laboratory.

Walter may have found something within the dead body of the translucent man.Walter found some strange and unexplained technology within his body and he is quick to grasp at the thought that Walternate is up to no good. Astrid and Olivia are both curious as to what this means for them that these are a new kind of hybrid shape shifter that are human and not machines. Lincoln is obviously confused and does not have a clue as to where these beings came from. Maybe China? Now that was hilarious!

Olivia is about to enlighten him as to where they came from and she takes him on a trip to a secret military installation. Lincoln is ID’ed to get in the front door and it is quite funny as he thinks they are getting very personal. He will soon find out how strange things are about to get. Olivia admits to Lincoln that she does feel a hole in her life. And that she would find her answers by being with Fringe.

However, some answers lead to more questions. I think Lincoln seeing another Olivia come out of the door made him speechless and unable to ask anymore questions. This place that he was in was something out of this world and it is out of his Universe and into another for sure. Altlivia presents herself with a cocky swagger of confidence she seems to posses and she expels a derisive snort when she sees Lincoln.

I think she is thinking this Lincoln with his scholarly glasses and suit, that he is a watered down version of her AltLinc. Lincoln is just amazed by her presence but stands in quiet amazement with seeing the other Olivia. Olivia refrains from any explanations or introductions and gets right to the point. Olivia is direct when she hands the shape shifter’s power device to Altlivia and tells her that she doesn’t trust her. Altlivia almost seems surprised at the mention of the shape shifter’s as Walternate’s evil conspirators, but is willing to look into the situation. I’m sure Lincoln has even more questions now. What does this mean for both Universes if neither can trust one another? How can this accord hope to succeed if is there no trust?

September is outside Walter’s laboratory with the device he created from old television parts and what have you.. and prepares himself to remove all traces of Peter from existence. Mean while, Walter is concocting a bedtime drink and prepares himself for bed. Walter shuffles to his bedroom just off his lab and says good night to his guardian Donny, Opps! Timmy! Well, We don’t expect Walter to get his name right do we? LOL!

As Walter settles down to watch some television, September is activating the device. September is an Observer so their expressions on their faces are little to non existent but the look on September’s face is one of hesitation and he not only hesitates but deactivates the device and leaves. What does this mean for September?

The last Observer that failed to comply with the wishes of the other, had an assassin sent after him and August died. What will the consequences be for September? What will be done now, that September did not fulfill his responsibilities? With September not erasing Peter, Peter is still bleeding through the time line and shows up in the darkened screen of the television in Walter’s room. Walter starts screaming in terror with the man appearing on his screen. Timmy rushes in and Walter tells him that he saw the same man he saw in the mirror. Is Peter going to drive Walter insane or drive him to find out who this man really is? If anyone can uncover where Peter is, it is Walter. Will Walter be destined to save his son over and over again?

What place do these shape shifters have in the new season and in this altered time-line? How is Olivia going to find her answers she has been seeking? This new season of Fringe is going to take us on one FRINGETASTIC ride like a roller coaster through a theme park of the Universes of the strange and paranormal! I am looking forward to this wicked ride!

Fringe returns this Friday 9 PM E/P 8 PM central with “One Night in October”! Make sure to tune in live to show your support! Thank you.

Thanks to Kenn for staging the images in my review and as always I appreciate your reading my reviews and visiting me WormholeRiders News Agency. Please feel free to leave a spam free comment or a question here. I will respond to your comment or question as soon as is possible.

If you prefer, click the social media icons below to share this news article or as many of our readers and visitors often do, visit me on Twitter by clicking the text links or images avatars in this news story and or we will See You on The Other Side“!

Thank you,

SheppardsHoney (Melinda)

September 28, 2011
Fringe: “The Day We Died” – A Complete Look Back and Forward to Season Four!

Welcome back Fringe fans!

Fringe season four is right around the corner so I am going to review season three finale . Before beginning remember to include the #WhereIsPeterBishop hash tags to help make Fringe trend on Twitter!

We also will include a series of special videos previews from Fox Broadcasting sprinkled throughout this Fringe review and analysis for your enjoyment.

In a nut shell, wow! Fringe is known for its mind bending episodes and in “The Day We Died” it left me begging for more.

The show went from having one reality to the alternate reality. In the season finale Fringe brought viewers into a third version of reality: a possible future where things have become much worse for our heroes. This reality had Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson) and Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) a happily married couple.

The year is 2026! When Peter stepped into the machine and tried to turn it off, it threw him 15 years into the future. Peter woke up and went from 32 to 47 years old! His whole life changed as a result of the events of this. “The Day We Died” was an important factor in season 3’s overall direction. The season finale was the point where the old show ended and the new show began.

In “The Day We Died” Peter has come to grips with his destiny that he was the only one that could activate the machine, and that he alone could use it destroy the alternate universe to save the one he had come to call home. I am more than sure Peter did not know it would put him into an all new universe where things were completely different.

Ella Dunham (Emily Meade) was a Fringe agent and all grown up. Astrid Farnsworth (Jasika Nicole) was a full fledged Fringe agent. Olivia had Agent Phillip Broyles’s (Lance Reddick) job and agent Broyles seemed to be in charge of everyone. When Peter was thrown into this alternate universe he seemed surprised at first but after waking up at the hospital he remembered what he made Olivia for Breakfast. How can that be?

We quickly figured out through news reports that the reality that Peter had landed himself in was actually being torn apart by worm holes and vortexes opening up in London and Manhattan. This reality added a new terrorists to the show Moreau (Brad Dourif). Moreau was a leader for the “End of Dayers” group. Moreau and Walternate (John Noble) were plotting revenge on Peter and Walter Bishop (John Noble). Moreau and his group put some kind of futuristic bomb inside an opera house killing everyone. It was madness considering their world was falling apart already.

Speaking of Walter! This new reality that we were introduced to in the season finale had Walter in prison for causing the havoc that was going on in that alternate universe. The Walter Bishop we know and love was hated by many in that reality for causing all this chaos. Peter went to the holding facility where Walter was incarcerated and asked for a temporary release for Walter so he could help Peter,

When Peter stepped into the doomsday machine with the intent of destroying the twisted, yet familiar, Alternate reality first introduced in season two, he was taken aback when his consciousness was flung forward to the year 2026. In this potential future, Peter learned that the small fringe division that he was familiar with has morphed into a large, full fledged government agency, akin to what existed in the alternate universe. But as Peter lives the life of his 47 year old counterpart, he came to realize that this future had come to resemble the alternate universe in more ways then one. The entire universe is coming apart at the seams!

As the episode moved forward, we learned that in this potential future, Peter used the doomsday machine to destroy the alternate universe, in the hopes of saving the version of existence that he had come to call home. But because the two universes were linked together in a fundamental way, destroying one led to irreparable damage in the other. As a result, without both universes to balance each other out, the fabric that holds all of existence together had began to unravel. And while Peter was the man who turned on the machine, he was not the one who was been blamed for the imminent destruction of the universe. The man tried and imprisoned for that crime was none other than Peter’s father, Walter Bishop.

Because it was Walter who set the war of the universes in motion in the first place, by venturing into the other universe to retrieve Peter, causing massive instabilities in that world in the process, it was he who had been held responsible for the coming destruction. However; when a group of terrorists called “The End of Dayers” set off a bomb that rips a hole in the fabric of the universe, thus accelerating the imminent destruction of existence.

Peter realized that his imprisoned father was the only man capable of decoding the terrorists complex technology to stop them from acting again. When Walter stated that the only way he could attempt to figure out the inner-workings of the device was to get ahold of his old tools, in his old lab, Peter visited his old boss, the now Senator Philip Broyels, for help.

It was during Peter’s conversation with Senator Broyles that we are reminded of the true extent of the damage that has been done to this universe as a result of the destruction of the other one. Vortexes have been opened all over the world, leaving chaos and destruction in their wake. As Peter discussed these events with Broyles, he reminded the man that the only way future breaches could be prevented was if they understand the technology of the end-of-dayers that was causing these new breaches in the first place. He begged Broyles to grant Walter a furlough from his prison sentence so that he could return to his lab and work on this device. Although the Senator was reluctant, he granted Peter’s request, accepting that Walter was probably the only man who could deconstruct the device.

As Peter escorted Walter back into his lab, we learned a little bit more about the younger Bishop’s life in this new and not-so-improved future, as the two men discussed Peter’s marriage to Olivia, and Astrid’s ascent into a full fledged field agent. What more, when Olivia herself arrived at the lab to greet Walter, we learned that she had learned to harness her latent telekinetic abilities, as she uses them to lift a box off of the ground that Walter had knocked over.

As Walter worked away at his lab, we learned that not only would the End of Dayers attack again, but the man who was funding their operation and building their breach-making bombs was none other than Walternate,” the ruthless Walter Bishop of the other universe, who fled his home existence shortly before its destruction

The episode moves forward, and Walter learned that there was a specific radioactive isotope being used in this device that left a specific signature, and was thus easy to track. Peter enlisted the help of the Fringe Division, which tracks the isotope’s signature all the way to an abandoned camp ground, with no discernable building where this bomb could have been made. But all was not lost, as a lone fringe agent found a small black box in the middle of the grounds. When Peter got a hold of this box, and saw that there was a key inside of it, he realized that the key led to the house where he was raised, which just so happened to be the place that Walternate was last known to be living.

Peter entered the house and confronted Walternate, who told Peter that he blamed him for his universe’s destruction. He formed the End of Dayers group as an attempt to unravel this world exactly in the way that his own world was unraveled. Peter tried apologizing to Walternate, but told him “two wrongs don’t make a right, and destroying the universe that is left will not bring your home universe back.” However; when Peter attempted to arrest Walternate right then and there, the older man revealed that he was, in fact, projecting himself into the cabin from another location, via a holographic projection. He had no intent of turning himself in to the authorities. Before the hologram of Walternate disappeared, he left Peter with a final chilling message. He intended to teach him a lesson by killing someone he loved.

Meanwhile, in Central Park, Olvia and Ella Dunham had witnessed another End of Dayers attack, and had been knocked unconscious as a result of a breach-causing bomb. But when Olivia awoke to find a giant vortex in the Park’s center, she was greeted by Walternate himself, who had been in the park the entire time. He had been using the holographic projector to make himself appear to Peter back at the Cabin. Fulfilling his promise to kill a loved one of Peter’s. Walternate shot Olivia! He left her to bleed to death in the park.

After Olivia’s funeral, a distraught Peter learned that his father had discovered the truth behind the doomsday device, and the “First People” who built the device in the first place. The device was built by Walter himself, in a different timeline, and then planted billions of years in the past by himself. Also alternate timelined versions of Peter, Ella, himself, and others. This revelation led the two men to realize that the only way that there was any hope of saving the past was by bringing Peter’s consciousness into the future. To see what destroying the other Universe would do, thus allowing past-Peter to change his mind. Walter warned Peter that doing this could cause dire consequences, but relents that it could not be any worse than the entire universe ceasing to be.

This, the watchful viewer realized, was exactly what we had been viewing all along. Peter Bishops view into the potential future of him using the Machine for destruction.

The episode then cut back to the present day at Liberty Island, inside the statue of Liberty, where Peter awoke in the machine after his viewing of the potential future. We learned that in real-time, he had only been in the machine for a full minute. Peter realized that he could never save the universe by using the machine for destruction. Peter used it instead to create a bridge between the two universes. Peter said “the two warring versions of existence can settle their differences and figure out a way to solve the instabilities on the other side before they destroy them both.” Peter saw that in his vision of the future.

As Peter explained his actions to members of both universes now gathered at Liberty Island, he suddenly began to fade, and vanished from the scene all together. But as Walter and Walternate exchanged not-so-pleasant words, we realized that neither of them seem to notice that Peter had vanished. The scene then shifted to the outer rim of Liberty Island, where a group of observers stood, staring at the statue of Liberty. One observer noted that no one inside the statue seemed to remember Peter at all. Another observer responded by saying “of course no one remembers him”. Peter had served his purpose, and had ceased to exist.

This was where the finale ended. Fringe left viewers to wonder just what, exactly, that last line meant. Many questions about the show were answered during this finale. We learned who the first people where, how the machine got into the past, and the ultimate consequences of using the machine to destroy the other universe. But for as many answers as “The Day We Died” gave, it provided a whole slew of questions, in true Fringe fashion. Where is Peter Bishop? What did the observers mean when they said he no longer existed? Does he no longer exist in the way that we knew him, or does he not exist at all? If he really does not exist at all, then how will this change the dynamic of the show?

Fringe returns Friday September 23, 2011 with the season four opener “Neither Here Nor There”. In the meantime we include the full episode season three finale episode “The Day We Died” courtesy of FOX via Hulu and a sneak peak of what is coming in season 4! !Enjoy.

As always we appreciate your visiting our news sites at WormholeRiders News Agency. Thank you.

If you prefer, click the social media icons below to share this news article or as many of our readers and visitors often do, visit the WHR on Facebook or me on Twitter by clicking the text links or images avatars in this news story. In any event I will look forward to Seeing You on The Other Side” to tweet about The Vampire Diaries!

Thank you. xoxo

Dragonbayne (Angela)

September 23, 2011
Fringe: “The Last Sam Weiss” – Or Is It? Season 3, Episode 21 Analysis with Videos!

Hello again Fringe Fans!

Before I begin, make sure you join the LIVE TWEET with Jeff Pinkner, Joel Wyman and millions of Fringe fans tomorrow evening on Twitter at 9 PM EST/PST during the east and west coast airing of “The Day We Died”! Included are great Fringe videos courtesy of FOX Broadcasting. Enjoy !

Can you believe that “The Last Sam Weiss” was not the season finale of Fringe? What an outstanding episode! Let’s go through this masterpiece together! We first find ourselves in Peter Bishop’s (Joshua Jackson) hospital room with Walter Bishop (John Noble) watching over him.

Walter is concerned about Peter’s health even though Astrid Farnsworth (Jasika Nicole) tells him the doctors believe that Peter will be okay. Walter is only lured from Peter’s bedside with the promise of tapioca pudding. We then find ourselves traveling with a family in their car on a road in Holyoke, Massachusetts.

This scene is seriously awesome. We get to listen to a rock classic by The Doors (Riders on the Storm) and the colors of the stormy day are amazing.

The best part is when the kid listening to the music sees his arm hairs move up and down to the song.

I got chills! He had just mentioned this weirdness to his father when… BLAM

The car up front rolls across the road and then… BLAM… another lightning strike. The dad throws the car into reverse and backs away. He then proceeds to get out of the car to check out what’s going on. Note: Do NOT leave your car during a lightning storm!

We get a splendid view of a massive dry lightning storm. The visual effects here were pretty cool. After the title sequence, we find Sam Weiss (Kevin Corrigan) and Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) at the machine. Sam tells her that these events don’t make sense. Olivia explains Walter’s theory that the two machines are quantum entangled and their machine was turned on when the one on the other side was activated.

Sam explains that the machine thinks that Peter is already inside it and a force field has been activated to keep anything or anyone else out. He believes the machine to be “frustrated” and that this frustration is causing all the damage out in the world. When Olivia asks how to stop the machine, Sam replies, “In case of emergency, break glass”.

Sam shows Olivia the manuscript that the book was based on and reveals unpublished pages explaining that the force field can been broken by a “crowbar” hidden inside a box. Once the box is opened with the key, the crowbar will open the force field long enough for Peter to enter the machine. Sam believes that Peter will be safe inside the machine and he and Olivia leave to retrieve the box. Back at the hospital, we find that a lot of people have been hurt during the lightning storm. We see an awesome job by the make-up department on the burn victims. Agent Broyles (Lance Reddick) appears and tells Walter and Astrid that many people have been hurt in these storms. Walter agrees to leave Peter and work on the problem after Astrid quotes Ben Franklin by saying “God helps those who help themselves”. Sam Weiss and Olivia arrive at the tomb of his great great great great grandfather who turns out to have been named Sam Weiss. Sam explains that he is a descendent of a family who first found the information on the First People and the machine. The box containing the proverbial crowbar was hidden in this tomb. Sam wavers on the decision to retrieve the key and open the box because the time line seems incorrect. Olivia persuades him by mentioning that she’s armed. We discover that Astrid’s Ben Franklin quote has lead to Walter flying a kite during a lighting storm. Note: Do NOT fly a kite during a lightning storm (see photo below)! After lightning strikes Walter a second time, he tells Astrid that he’s found the missing variable (repetition). Note: Lightning has no memory and most certainly can strike the same exact place more than once. Peter finally wakes up and we find him in his hospital room looking thoroughly confused. Perhaps he should be confused by his complete lack of attention by the ICU nurses. Seriously this is the worst nursing staff in the history of hospitals. He gets up and gets dressed and strolls down an empty corridor. I was beginning to think he was dead or dreaming due to the lack of people around. He finally sees a nurse, who totally ignores his existence, and find that the emergency room is packed with burn victims. Let us all hope none of them need to go to the ICU. Peter steps outside and gets a view of the town being pounded by the lightning storm. What a cool shot! Peter leaves the hospital and hails a cab. He asks to be driven to Midtown. He’s clearly confused as to which city he is in and it turns out he’s also confused as to which universe he’s in. Sam and Olivia arrive at the museum where the key is hidden. It’s a mess and we are told that lightning is appearing out of thin air inside the building. Aside: generally if lightning strikes a building the electrical current will travel through the wiring and plumbing to the ground. We get a cute moment where after Olivia flashes her badge, Sam shows his museum membership card. The expression on Olivia’s face when he does this is priceless. Sam and Olivia enter the building to retrieve the key. Meanwhile, with Astrid’s help, Walter finds all the places where lightning has struck more than one. He overlays maps showing the frequency of multiple lightning strikes, frequency of seismic events, and multiple radiation and thermal spikes. The map shows fringe events focused around two points and a rift between them. The two points correspond to where the machines are in both universes. Walter goes to Agent Broyles office to demonstrate the effects of these two machines pulling at each other. To slow the pace of destruction, they decide it’s best to move their machine to Liberty Island (the location of the machine in the parallel universe). We find Sam and Olivia inside the museum about to retrieve the key when lightning starts striking inside the building. Sam grabs that artifact that houses the key while Olivia unsuccessfully attempts to stop a security gate from closing and trapping them inside. Sam, the bowler, saves the day by picking up a piece of debris (probably from a priceless artifact) and rolling it so that it knocks down a giant vase (probably another priceless artifact) and stops the security gate from closing (probably not a priceless artifact). Now that they have collected the key, they use it to open the box. The box opens to reveal a scroll. It appears to be a picture of Olivia surrounded by single letter codes for nucleotides, which are molecules that make up the structural units of DNA. Walter examines the scroll and explains to Olivia that she has a connection to the machine. He tells her that she must use telekinesis to turn off the force field so that Peter can get inside. Olivia must turn the machine in the parallel universe off in order to control the machine on this side. Walter wants her to practice using the typewriter that AltLiv used to communicate with the other side. He tells her to focus on a specific phrase and that the process should be like meditation. She stares at the typewriter in the mirror but nothing happens. Meanwhile, the ICU nurse FINALLY decides to check on Peter. Seriously! How long has it been since she lasted checked! NURSE FAIL! She finds his note: I AM GOING HOME. Remember that in “Subject 13” we saw young Peter leave Elizabeth the same note right before he dove into the bottom of Reiden Lake. Which universe does Peter believe is his true home? Olivia is still having typewriter troubles. When she expresses her insecurities in her control over her abilities, we get a heartwarming scene between Walter and Olivia. He talks to her like a father would to a daughter and tells her how extraordinary she is. It was a sweet and touching moment and both actors did a phenomenal job. After his pep talk, she tries again. But nothing happens! I really thought it was going to work. That’s what normally happens on television right? One person doubts themselves… along comes the father figure… inspiring pep talk… and voilà …RESULTS. Not this time! Color me surprised. About this time, the hospital finally gets around to informing the team that Peter is missing. We find Peter seemingly lost in New York City looking for a pawn shop. Peter goes into the pawn shop and is looking for a silver half dollar. He mentions that it has always brought him luck. Remember that the Peter who died as a child in the prime universe gave Walter his lucky half dollar. Walter then placed it on his grave after his death. As the team worries about Peter’s location, Olivia finds out that his credit card had been used to take a cab to NYC and at a pawn shop. Just as they are wondering why Peter would go to NYC, we find Peter stepping onto Liberty Island. Peter tells an officer that he needs to see his father, the secretary of defense. He obviously thinks he’s in the parallel universe. We find Sam upset at himself for intervening just as Agent Broyles reveals that Peter has been found at Liberty Island. Sam is told that his involvement with the team is over. We then get a shot of Sam staring out at Liberty Island with his Newton’s cradle clicking away. What’s up with that thing? Is it representing the energy passing between the two universes? I’m sure this is not the last we see of Sam Weiss. Walter and Olivia are finally reunited with Peter. He mentions that there are two Walters and that he has been confused. As Walter questions Peter to check his mental state, there are some cute interactions between Olivia and Peter. Walter finds the half dollar that Peter bought and acts really weird about it. Olivia tells Peter about the telekinesis and she mentions that she concentrated on a phrase while trying to get the typewriter to work. The scene cuts to Astrid hearing the typewriter clicking away in the other room. Maybe Olivia needs Peter to be near here to use her ability? We find out the phrase that Olivia was thinking was “be a better man than your father”. Remember that in “A New Day in the Old Town” Olivia woke up and blurted this phrase out in Greek. She explained that William Bell had given this message for her to give to Peter. Peter said that his mother used to recite this to him every night before he went to bed. After a quick pep talk from Walter, it’s time for Olivia to take down the force field. Olivia and Peter hold hands and look lovingly at each other before moving towards the machine. Olivia walks up and uses her abilities to lower the force field. Olivia tells Peter she loves him and they kiss. Peter walks up to the machine while his life for the last few years flashes before his eyes. As he looks at Olivia, he sees their history together. Peter enters the machine and looks like he’s being electrocuted! FLASH! Suddenly we find Peter on the ground during what looks to be an apocalypse! WHAT? What is going on? He bumps into something and looks down. September 2021!!! WHAT?!? He’s time traveled? A guy wearing a coat with a FRINGE DIVISION patch calls him AGENT Bishop and pulls him to the ground just before an explosion. Peter’s hurt and bleeding. He asks “where am I?. And the episode ends. SAY WHAT? What the hell just happened? Did you notice his hair was a different color? Did you notice the wedding ring? Seriously, I’m so tripped out that this wasn’t the season finale! Did he really time travel? Is he actually still physically in the machine and has just traveled mentally? Is this a different alternate universe? The machine is supposed to be able to create worlds, right? Holy cow! I can’t wait for next week! This excellent episode was written by Monica Owusu-Breen and Alison Schapker. It was directed by the great director Thomas Yatsko. I hope you have enjoyed this review of “The Last Sam Weiss.” Fringe returns Friday May 06, 2011 9 PM EST/PST for the season three finale. In the meantime we include the entire episode and “The Day We Died” extended trailer below courtesy of FOX via Hulu. Enjoy! I hope you have enjoyed this interview. As always we thank you for visiting WormholeRiders News Agency. Please feel free to share this news article by clicking one of the social media icons below. You may also leave a spam free comment or question here, or feel free to visit and chat with me on Twitter by clicking my avatar or the text links in this news article. XO Rachelle Smith, Ph.D.

May 5, 2011
Fringe Review: 6:02 AM EST Analysis with FOX Special Video, Full Episode and Comcast Now On Demand Too!

Hello Fringies!

On a different topic before starting my review; the first commercial break featured an awesome delight for my senses. There was a preview for the Green Lantern. Ryan Reynolds is Canadian and with me being a fan and Canadian also, this was an awesome Fox preview of the Green Lantern! I can’t wait until June to see this!!!

As we stop for a different commercial break we see Blair Brown’s smiling face in a commercial for the environment the advertisement is for a “Green It, Mean It“, a FOX television series and a public service announcement. We like to see our stars encouraging the use of locally grown foods and as an advocate for our environment.

Editors Note: Fringe in now available On Demand courtesy of FOX Broadcasting on Comcast xFinity cable systems in the United States. This excellent new addition to the On Demand lineup can be accessed on channel zero (0) or by clicking the ON DEMAND button and selecting “TV Series” A through F. Scroll down to Fringe and you will find the latest episodes. Thank you FOX and Comcast!

The new day dawns with a new episode of Fringe and it’s going to be a long day…. Fox Broadcasting put the twitter #Fringe hash tag on the bottom right hand corner of our TV screens for the whole episode this week. Twitter fans are there for Fringe and the response on twitter shows that fans are ready to scream and shout for the amazing program that is Fringtastically Fringe!

Ready to wake up and smell the fresh brewed coffee in this weeks episode of Fringe? Well, there might be something else brewing at 6:02 AM and it is not coffee!

Brandonate (Ryan McDonald) is busy preparing the machine for it’s dark purpose. He has his team hard at work making sure the lead casing called the Faraday Cage protects the complex when the machine is made active. He doesn’t want a lighting bolt to go flying. Faraday cage is a good name for this device as Micheal Faraday did electrifying work. Bradonate is not a favorite character of mine but Brandon Fayette is. Brandonate himself is sleazy and gives me the creeps every time I see him. There is nothing like a good, bad guy. Ryan does a really great job of playing both characters so well. Is it ultimately, our choices in life that create who we are?

Walternate (John Noble) appears in the doorway to see how his plans are progressing. Brandonate clears the room so they can discuss the plot they have conceived to be able to use the machine without Peter (Joshua Jackson) They used the blood they slyly took from Bolivia and Peter’s baby in the episode “Bloodline” to create Peter’s DNA profile to be able to use the machine. Brandonate is proud to be part of this momentous event in history to save their Universe, but at what cost will this be accomplished?

Walternate quoted Robert Oppenhiemer, often referred to as the father of the Atom Bomb. Oppenhiemer quoted the Bhagavad Gita, and said, “Now I have become death, The destroyer of worlds” after the Trinity bomb was detonated. Walternate quotes the same thing realizing that it is true in his own experiments. They are actually about to destroy a world and hopes God will have mercy on them. Walternate is willing to destroy another world and his only son. I stopped and thought a lot about what Walternate said about his demonstration and contemplation.

Will Walternate be able to live with himself? He does not seem to have all that much compassion, if he is willing to destroy another world rather than find another way. The man is willing to use his grandchild’s blood to operate a weapon of destruction. Does that that sound like a man with a soul that would have nightmares after the fact? “May God have mercy on us” but will Walternate extend any mercy to the Universe his only son is in?

As the decision to activate the machine in the Alter-Universe commences we are brought to our Universe where the effects of the machines power begin to unfold. In a field, in the town of Accord New York, the sheep are bleating in terror. As the one Sheppard calls the foreman to help him the foreman runs into a swarm of locusts on his way to the field. The two men and all the sheep are blasted out of existence by a unknown occurrence. What is going on?

Are the locusts a reference to a biblical end of days? Is this what is in store for the rest of our Universe? The Fringe opening sequence always stimulates the brain, and makes me think. What will our Universe be in for, really? What is our fate?

The bowling pins fall down, and Sam Weiss (Kevin Corrigan) is talking to one of his patrons, “Some days you have it and some days you don’t” he remarks. When Sam looks down at the bowling balls knocking together the expression on his face tells me that is might very well be not Sam’s day. He looks very serious as he takes a device from the locked cupboard and places it on the table. As the metal balls begin their pendulum dance on their own, Sam’s expression is one of disconcert. This is unsettling, and quite worrisome in fact. Sam is someone who seems to have great knowledge and insight. I may not know who or what Sam is but when he is concerned, I’m on the edge of my seat biting my nails!

Even though Sam is upset there is tranquility and peace in other parts of our Universe. Olivia is waking up to greet the morning sunshine wrapped in Peter’s arms. Olivia smiles and takes a moment to enjoy the warm loving place she is in. Olivia gets up and runs into Walter (John Noble) in the hall way! SURPRISE!!!!! Wow, gotta love that morning eye opener! GOOD MORNING!! I want to have some of Walter’s delightful concoctions fresh from the oven. Lol Walterism song, with his magic mushrooms in the stew, he is such a delight himself to wake up the sense of fun in side of me! He always makes me laugh!

Walter suggests some slippers for Olivia (Anna Torv) because the house is chilly in the morning. Olivia with an uncomfortable smile and a mumble hightails it out of the hallway. Olivia slides back into bed with Peter she lets him know that Walter is wandering about naked and cooking! Peter is not alarmed at all as he is quite used to Walter and it is…….of course NAKED TUESDAY! “The surprise is all mine” 😛

This is a warm and special moment for Olivia and Peter (Joshua Jackson). First thing in the morning is Olivia’s favourite time of day. When the day is full of promise. Waking up in Peter’s arms is a great way to wake up too. Olivia’s new confidence is emanating from her in a happy glow. Also being in Peter’s arm’s helps that glow shine brightly with the sun rising. The moment is disturbed by their phones ringing in unison. So much for a peaceful moment. The day is full of something but I’m not sure if it is positive potential, that we are looking at.

Olivia (Anna Torv), Peter and Walter meet Agent Broyles (Lance Reddick) out at the field where the sheep have been replaced by a swath of destruction. Broyles believes that they didn’t cause the damage but Walter believes they shouldn’t bet the farm just yet. Walter discovers that the granite contains quartz crystals. The rocks were exposed to a major gravitational event under extreme physical pressure.

Walter theorizes that a vortex has opened up and that their worst fears are now being realized….The world is in jeopardy! Peter is skeptical, but Nina Sharp (Blair Brown) is in panic when the machine came on by itself. Nina calls Broyles who is at the field with the rest of the Fringe team investigating the phenomena. Broyles is made aware of the machines activation and Nina gives Broyles a message to give to Walter. “Tell Walter it’s ON”

The Fringe team is puzzled by the machine turning on without Peter and feels their assumption are wrong that only Peter can activate it. So,now that the machine is “On”. Walter is certain that the machine caused the vortex to open and this is just the beginning. The world is in peril and can they stop it?

Walter, Olivia, and Peter head back to Harvard to the lab to try and figure out what is going on. Peter is frustrated and confused because he thought he was the only one capable of operating the machine as it’s only power source. All of Peter’s first assumptions about the machine are wrong but Walter comes up with a conclusion to their dilemma that is plausible. Quantum entanglement, is at work so the machine started up because of a sympathetic reaction to the machine In the Alternate Universe.

However this still leaves the question to our Fringe team as how they were able to activate their machine in the alt-universe. Astrid Farnsworth (Jasika Nicole) comes in with some disturbing news from Broyles that there are anomalies devastating our world. The decimation that has occurred, has affected Walter’s moral and is making him think that Walternate may have won this war. Has Walternate won? Has Walternate become the “Destroyer of Worlds”? I would like to think that he has not won this battle yet.

In the Alt-Universe Boliva is walking her baby Henry in his stroller and he is one cute little nugget sizing up the world. Bolivia named her baby after Henry Higgins. What a wonderful gesture of appreciation for his friendship and help to name her baby after him. Bolivia has taken to motherhood very well, and she also has a glow about her not unlike our Olivia does.

However, the special moment between Mom and baby is halted by that ever interruptive Fringe event phone call. Bolivia is off to Liberty Island to check out a Fringe event and leaves Henry in the care of his nanny. As Bolivia goes to leave I caught our ever diligent Observer (Michael Cerveris) out of the corner of my eye on the other side of the fountain. He is never far away when things are about to get interesting. Is Bolivia and Olivia becoming more like each other, in that they have found confidence with the love they have in their lives?

Bolivia and Lincoln Lee (Seth Gabel) are on their way to Liberty Island to check out a class ten event. Lincoln is quite amazed as to the magnitude of this occurrence. Bolivia is set and ready, to jump out and see to this Fringe event but Lincoln gets a call from the Secretary to stand down. Bolivia is certainly concerned about why they were asked to stand down and Lincoln is not able to offer any assistance as to why he was given the order to stand down. The information is above his pay grade but it is not over Walternate’s. Bolivia sets off to confront Walternate and to question him for an explanation. Walternate and Brandonate are discussing the effects or rather the lack of results the machine is accomplishing. I suppose they were hoping for better results by now.

As Brandonate leaves Boliva enters and Walternate is at his most cordial in hopes of catching a glimpse of his grand son. Bolivia is there to disappoint him for she is there with questions and dressed in full emotional battle gear to question the intentions of Walternate and the purpose of the weapon. Walternate holds no punches when Bolivia questions him about the lives of the people living in the other Universe. Walternate is willing to sacrifice his only son to save Bolivia’s but is that really a sacrifice for Waternate?

Does he feel resentment that Peter choose to go with Olivia and Walter instead of choosing him? Walternate lays a bit of a guilt trip on Bolivia suggesting that he is choosing for her son to live instead of his own. He doesn’t seem too heart broken with the thought of eliminating his own son.

Walter, Astrid, and Peter are trying to figure out a solution to their problem. Walter feels that Peter’s suggestion of dismantling the machine is not a viable one. The machine could tear their Universe apart with the quantum entanglement to consider with the other machine in play. Astrid points out, that this idea may not be any better than allowing the machine to tear holes in our Universe? Walter, Peter and Astrid are at an impasse as to what to do. They will need some more constructive ideas to figure out what the best thing to do is. Olivia calls Nina to figure out a way to maybe save some lives.

In the Alt-Universe they have an early detection system for tracking the anomalies by watching for electrical magnetic spikes, odd thermal patterns and radiation spikes. Olivia will go to New York and help Nina with this task of setting up an early warning protocol and hopes Walter can come up with a plan to save the Universe. Peter wants to say something to Olivia but he stops himself. I think he doesn’t want her to worry, or is that he doesn’t want her to talk him out of a plan he has formulated in his mind? Walter grasps at thoughts and ideas but Peter tells Walter that at this juncture they have only one idea to consider. Will Peter do this? The question is, can Walter really let Peter go?

Walter and Peter are discussing that very thing. There is only one way and it makes sense that Peter can turn the machine on, maybe he can turn it off. The drinks are poured and Walter tells Peter that the Observer was preparing him to let Peter go with the test he gave him with the girl and the keys. Peter feels he must try and with Walter’s help they may just be able to save the Universe. This moment between Walter and Peter is showing us how far Walter has come in accepting his responsibility for his actions but more importantly his ability to let Peter go. Walter has been preparing for this for some time. Is he ready? Is Peter ready to see what this machine really does. Are Peter and the machine’s fate intertwined? The evidence is there that Peter can operate the machine but the pictures suggest it won’t be a very good final outcome.

I felt a lump crawl up my throat with the scene between Walter and Peter. The raw power of a father and son’s love, and together willing to put a life on the line to save the Universe . A life so precious to Walter he was willing to cause irreparable harm to our Universe so he could keep his son in his life. Now he must give him up to fix his mistakes. Could I ever make that choice? The musical score gave me goosebumps and the words were a tug to the heart. John Noble can make me laugh but he has the ability to make me cry ………..I could use a drink too!

Olivia is on her way to New York to Massive Dynamics Headquarters to see Nina Sharp unaware of Peter’s plans to try his hand at the machine. She listens to the reports coming in of anomalies occurring along the Eastern sea board. This will not be easy to protect the people even with the protocol’s in place. The world is quickly showing that Walternate’s plans are indeed coming to fruition. Nina and Olivia must try to do what they can, with the resources available to them. There is an inadequate amount of amber stocked. There is only enough amber to cover eight to ten events.

Nina was trying to find someone and she finally reveals to Olivia that if Peter and Olivia were together that this wouldn’t be happening. Olivia was surprised and frustrated that Nina didn’t reveal her information before hand. Nina’s propensity to reveal only what she knows at the most dire hour is always a frustration to me so I can see Olivia’s feelings clearly. However Nina was sworn to secrecy so I’m willing to forgive her.

Sam Weiss is the expert that William Bell consulted and trusted explicitly. Nina herself consulted with Sam with matters to do with the machine. Nina reveals that Sam has great knowledge and is the author of the Die Erstern Menshen . The ‘First People’ books were written by Sam, and Nina had figured the anagram out in episode “Concentrate And Ask Again”. Olivia needs to know what Sam knows for a chance for them to turn the machine off and save the Universe. Olivia must find Sam Weiss. Where is Sam?

He disconnected his phone and closed down the bowling alley? How can one find Sam if he does not wish to be found? Sam had said at one time he was older than he looked. I’m sure he learned a few things about cloak and dagger in his many years. Is he an Agent for the Observer’s? This question always pops into my head when I think of Sam. I believe Sam to be a larger part of this whole picture than we all realize. Who does Sam answer to? Only to himself?

The world is about to rip apart and there is a feeling of dread and loss in our hearts. I’m worried about the out come of Peter’s fate, whether Olivia can find Sam and the pain that Walter is feeling. Fringe lifts us up and makes us laugh. It also makes us cry. But there is always time for love. Watching the two young lover’s in a chase and ending up in each other’s arms made me smile. That’s kinda of amazing. Jack and Genie are not so amazed when the look up at the sky and see all the Easter colours parading across it.

I would be alarmed too if it wasn’t for seeing Sam. Seeing Sam made me think that he is not gone but perhaps busy working on the problem. That is an encouraging thought. Sam is looking through a magnified screen like Walter had, for seeing into the other Universe, but it is smaller. Sam is concentrating quite hard and doing some very complicated math. Unfortunately he does not not look pleased with the his total of zero. Sam’s expression tells me more than I wish to know. Perhaps the outlook is not the greatest but here is still hope, right?

Bolivia is holding Henry and singing to him. Awww He is the cutest little nugget. Bolivia loves him and it shows in her face. I think she has realized that Walternate may not be the best Grandfather for her son after all. That a man capable of sacrificing his own son and an entire Universe might not be the honorable leader they have blindly followed.

I am thinking, Bolivia is seeing things from the perspective of a Mother. She sees the potential there could be to save both worlds, if someone was just willing to try. Bolivia and Lincoln have a bond and Bolovia trusts him beyond anything. Even though she jokes about saving his life and that she was only trying to save her fifty dollars, you can see that she trusts Lincoln with her most precious treasure, Henry. Lincoln and Bolivia are not sure that Peter can help change Walternate’s mind but there has to be someone willing to try. Lincoln hugs her and doesn’t want her butt to get hurt. They are closer than ever, and Lincoln’s love for her is evident in his face as he wishes her to come back.

Olivia and Bolivia are becoming more and more alike in some ways. They are both willing to do what they feel is the right thing. They both are more confident of who they are.

Bolivia is about to embark on a mission that she is not sure will work or even accomplish what she hopes it will. Bolivia sneaks into Liberty Island lab to get the device Walternate used to get to the other Universe. She comes face to face with Brandonate and puts a gun to his head. She wasn’t taking no for an answer and threatened to shoot him in the leg if he didn’t talk. I was kinda hoping she would shoot him, but no such luck. Brandonate tries to lie to her about when the patrol comes but he should have known better than to try to fool a seasoned trained professional.

Bolivia is able to get the devices from Brandonate but the danger is very real. The chances of her using the device to get to the other Universe and get back safely is chancy and not to mention the danger of molecular cohesion breakdown. Bolivia pistol whipping Brandonate was a highlight. She was unable to activate the device and she was captured! What will Walternate do with her?

While Olivia is on the hunt to find Sam and finding dead ends and an empty apartment. Walter and Broyles are discussing the machine and if Peter can really turn it off. Walter thinks it is possible but he is not sure. Broyles asks Walter a hard question.

How does Walter feel about what Peter is about to do, not as a scientist, but as a father? This is one emotional charged scene where Walter uses Agent Broyles ‘s first name which shows how emotional Walter is. Walter blames himself that it was his inability to let Peter go 26 years ago, and that is why Peter must do this now. Walter is unsure that Peter will be able to break the machine’s power source and he does not wish Peter to suffer if things do not go according to plan.

The machine is so powerful and will Peter be able to beat the machine? I am feeling a lot like Astrid at this point, scared and worried. Astrid wants to know if Peter wants her to call Olivia but Peter is sure she will find out soon enough. Peter does wish to leave Olivia a message, Astrid the ever optimist tells Peter to tell Olivia himself.

Peter seems to be the only calm one in the room. Peter even teases Broyles if this works he wants to be considered officially retired. Walter offers Peter sedatives to calm his nerves and I’m thinking Walter is the one that needs them more. Walter rubs electro conductive gel showing Peter how much he loves him with the gesture. A father must always try to keep his child from harm and Walter has always done things with Peter in his mind. Walter has never been able to let Peter go and this is the moment where Walter must.

They do not say the words to each other but the love flowed between them like an electrical current itself. As Peter steps forth towards the machine Walter, Broyles and Astrid, his family, will be standing there waiting for him. Peter walks towards his destiny and reaches out to grasp his fate and the machine rejects him and catapults him into the air and to the lab floor below. Walter is beside himself. The Doctor’s bring Peter to the emergency room and Walter is adamant that they do their best. The doctor assures Walter that they will do their very best, but Walter is unconsolable. Olivia rushes to the hospital and Astrid is there to greet her with the news. Peter went through a myriad of tests and the Doctor’s are confidant he will be all right.

They just cannot figure out why he is still unconscious. The machine rejected Peter and seems to be protecting itself or something. Olivia asks about Walter and Astrid tells her he is taking it very hard. He is in the chapel and he is talking to God as he feels he has no where else to turn. Walter was encouraged by the sign when God sent him the White Tulip. Walter found solace in the thought that God my have forgiven him for the wrong he had he had committed against he Universe. Walter knows what he did was unforgivable and he doesn’t deserve forgiveness but he was willing to let Peter go, willing to let him die. Walter feels this should count for something. Walter begs God to take him instead of Peter because he changed, punish him for his crimes and to spare our world.

Walter is not religious but in the hour of darkness we sometimes turn to faith to question the torment with in our soul and beg for answers to help us. The Fringe episode aired on Good Friday and as a Christian I can’t help but wonder if there are implications in reference to the meaning of Good Friday. Jesus asked God why he had forsaken him, I wonder if Walter feels that God will not answer his prayers, also?

Olivia sits in the hospital waiting room and as she hangs her head in defeat, and despair the new day dawns and the sun shines across the floor. She steps out to greet the sunrise and to see if this world is indeed full of promise. It might very well be, as Sam climbs the stairs to greet her. Sam is here to help and he asks Olivia to trust him now. They have little time and must hurry to the machine. Olivia takes one final look at the sunrise and at the hospital door and follows after Sam. What is Sam about to do? Can he stop the world’s destruction?

Walternate walks down the darkened hallway to the cell that once housed Olivia but now imprisons Bolivia. Walternate thinks that Bolivia and himself are alike in some ways for they are both willing to make sacrifices for the greater good. Bolivia doesn’t think he understands her at all. Walternate is willing to let Peter die to heal their world just as Boliva is willing to leave her son and risk her life to do what she feels is right. Walternate has given up on his ideals to do what is pragmatic. Where as Bolivia still is clinging to the ideal that killing billions of lives is not the greater good.

Which begs the question, when did Walternate give up his ideals? When he lost Peter? When Peter chose to go back instead of stay with him? Walternate advises Bolivia that since she is the mother of his grandson, she will remain imprisoned for her own good until this is over. I think Lincoln would have something to say about that if he finds out.

The choices we make are sometimes for the greater good but being pragmatic can only get us so far before they cloud our judgment of what is decent and right. That is when we begin to abandon our ideals. What humanity is left?

Fringe returns Friday for the second to last episode of the season “The Last Sam Weiss” on FOX at 9 PM EST/PST. Make sure to tune in for what is sure to be a lead in to the cliff hanger season finale!

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SheppardsHoney (Melinda)

April 28, 2011
Fringe Review “Lysergic Acid Diethylamide” LSD Season 3, Episode 19 Analysis with Episode and Special Fringe Videos!

*Furiously Rubs Hands Together* Everyone ready? LET’S MAKE SOME LSD!!!! FRINGE Fans!

Hey Fringies!

Did you catch the #Fringe hash tag at the bottom right hand of the screen above the Fox Brodcasting insignia! I think it is a shout out THANK YOU to the loyal Twitter fans from Fox Broadcasting. We make #Fringe trend Worldwide! Give yourselves a pat on the back! Fringies are Fringetastic Fans!

We are back home in our own Universe in this #319 episode of Fringe but we are in for a ‘TRIP’ in more ways than one! Lol

We begin our trip with the Fringe team racing to save Olivia Dunham’s (Anna Torv) life and William Bell’s (Leonard Nimoy) {Belly’s} consciousness. Walter Bishop (John Noble) and Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson) with Astrid Farnsworth (Jasika Nicole) are in the Lab at Harvard wiring up a dead body and Olivia’s head to transfer Belly’s consciousness to. The musical game between Olivia (Belly) and Walter is humorous.

The expressions on Olivia’s face are so in tuned with the mannerisms she is trying to convey, of the different personality within her. The smile she gives and that voice she is using is amazing! Walter calls out to Astrid and calls her ‘Astro’ Where she replies “just about Wally” (first time for that). The expression on Walter’s face was priceless! Hilarious! He certainly was not expecting it from Astrid.

I was curious to see how this experiment would play out. Having a dead body to work with I’m sure it would be interesting. They begin the experiment with affirmation from Belly that he is ready! Aye Aye, Captain! The dead body does a lot of shaking but the experiment fails leaving them without a viable solution to their dilemma.

Peter is concerned for Olivia’s safety, as he should be. I know I would be. During a conversation between Belly and Peter shortly after the experiment the real Olivia’s consciousness appears and a fast trip to the hospital is where we head. This is where we see The Observer (Michael Cerveris) for a brief moment as they rush Olivia to the emergency room.

As the medical staff begins their work and proceed to kick all nonessential staff out, we experience a breath taking moment! Peter tells them she is his ‘girlfriend’. How could I, as a Fringie, not jump all over that? Peter expressing his relationship so easily is a happy moment for me.

The Doctor must have got the shock of his life when his patient made the disclaimer that the woman he was living inside of would die if he shocked him. I lot of shocking going on! What a Trip we are in for with the opening sequence already having us riveted to our seats and biting our nails!

Agent Broyles (Lance Reddick) is just as concerned as Peter is, that Belly is leading them no where in their attempts to free Olivia’s consciousness and get William Bell’s consciousness into the computer. However the only thing keeping Olivia alive IS Belly’s consciousness! The team is in a position that they may lose one of their own and they must come up with a viable solution and fast. They only have approximately a day to get Olivia back, before she is lost forever……How are they going to rescue her? How crazy will the scheme be to get her back?

Chi was not something I would have thought of. Belly thinks the process might work but Walter is thinking acupuncture but he knows it won’t work. Belly proposes something a little more unorthodox than Ancient Chinese medicine, but a way to go IN! Peter is very concerned about Olivia’s mind and Astrid and Peter are very uneasy that Belly’s ego will be a concern when it comes down to Olivia’s consciousness verses Belly’s own. Cheating death is something we would all love to do, but some more than other’s….. Exactly is how strong is Belly’s will to survive?

Well, kids, Whole Brain emulation! Apparently putting someone’s consciousness into a computer is pretty self explanatory if you have the right theories. Walter and Belly want to go into Olivia’s brain to save her. I guess it’s not to difficult for Walter since he has done it before in ‘The Arrival’ and in ‘The Transformation’ season one. This time it is different. They have to find her… with in her own mind. Walter and Belly will need a guide to find their way through the mind’s maze and they need someone who knows her. Peter will have to go in! This might be a weird time to ask, but have you ever gone on a LSD trip into someone’s else’s mind? Talk about the mind blowing first trip on LSD!

Astrid is always there and has quite a list of things to acquire to get this journey started. Peter is concerned about kicking things loose in Olivia’s mind and Astrid is the reassuring one as always. Astrid is forever the stead fast assistant of this brilliant, mad hatter team. Sugah, sugah! There is nothing like accelerating the process and getting under way. This will be a sweet trip indeed.

Agent Broyles shows up to see how things are going. There are drugs, LOTS of them! Peter has begun his lovely trip into the world of la la land! Peter touches Broyles head and thinks he might be an Observer! Lol Yes, Broyles is bald, but it’s okay Peter, he is one of our guys! *Laughing* Peter’s expression’s are one for the books!

Fringeception begins with Walter on top of a bus and Peter looking dapper and sexy with his black waistcoat and sun glasses. Walter is dancing around after a grab to the crotch from Peter! Well, he did help him down from the bus! They will have to be careful though. Even though this is someone else’s consciousness, “touchy feel-y” of the privates is a no, no! “Crotch me pants” *laughing* Walter sure got his feathers ruffled, with that and that is so comical!

Peter and Walter are in Olivia’s mind and there is a plan. Unfortunately it is a fly by the seat of their pants plan. The wardrobe of every one reflects Olivia’s style. Cortexifan children have the propensity to blend in, so this task might not be as easy as they first surmised. A morse code signal from the Twin towers flashes in their faces and finds out that Olivia has found them. The Twin towers?

Are they in the Alternate Universe in Olvia’s mind? Walter digs in the garbage, much to Peter’s disgust, but no, Walter is not looking for a snack but something to answer the morse code. He comes up with a shiny pudding wrapper! Walter messages her to stay there and they will come to her. Is it really that easy to find her and get out of there? Where is William?

Broyles is observing Olivia, Walter and Peter’s peaceful countenance and is very skeptical that the transfer of Belly’s consciousness to a computer is something that can be accomplished. However Broyles interest is caught by the wonder of Walter’s licorice. The swirl! Bernini Spiral! This is beyond hilarious! Broyles thought to help out Astrid and is now on a trip of his own! He is gone to his happy place. Broyles on LSD is quite something to behold. Astrid is wonderful in this episode, she is the corner stone of this team and she is the only one in the room that is not ‘stoned’. Someone had to have theirs wits about them, eh? 😛

Meanwhile Peter and Walter seem to not be getting anywhere, they are not any closer to getting to Olivia. The Twin Towers are still the same distance away from them, from when they started to walk there. Olivia’s mind’s landscape is a reflection of her emotions. Perhaps she does not wish for someone to get to close?

Walter sees Olivia’s step father and realizes that Peter and himself are in a lot of trouble. I believe this is manifestation of her step father in her mind is something that represents fear with the need to protect herself. Is that why we can’t find her? Peter and Walter find themselves running for their lives in Olivia’s mind. I don’t think it was a coincidence that Henry’s Higgin’s Taxi cab was there as an escape route for them to get away. Henry helped Olivia get away in “Abducted” so it is only fitting that there would be a representation of that help of escaping, in her mind. Walter jumps in to the driver’s seat and takes them both for a high speed race to Olivia.

What a car chase, who knew Walter could drive like a stunt driver! Nice skid mark Walter, as they arrive in a glorious power turn in a perfect 180. Vrooom! Walter is so proud of himself, on his successful driving skills and his great skid mark! Walter and Peter get out of the car and go into the building they meet up with Nina Sharp (Blair Brown).

Walter is pleased to see a familiar face after witnessing the scary people that they just met. As they follow Nina, she helps them to an elevator that will take them to their destination the quickest. Peter realizes that it is a trap and Walter just about walks right into it. Peter saves Walter and pushes Nina into the dark elevator shaft. Perhaps Olivia feels Nina’s help means well but leads them further into a deep dark hole of nothing but trouble?

When Peter and Walter arrive at the door they come face to face with Belly instead of Olivia. But he is a CARTOON! “How Wonderful!” Is the thought bubble above Walter’s head! I chuckled at that, gotta love the comic(cal) way that was done. When people are tripping they usually watch cartoons, right?

Belly lied to get them there because he was doubtful that Peter would try to find him. Belly ran into the same problem that Peter and Walter ran into. Olivia’s deepest fears are taking over and causing her inner most self to become confused and she is allowing her fears to run rampant. She is hiding from the step father and all her fears? Olivia pretends to be unafraid but I know from countless episodes she is damaged by her childhood and has so many fears. It is why she was afraid that Peter loved Bolivia. She showed her vulnerability in ‘Concentrate And Ask Again’. She showed her fear on her birthday. When she would get those awful birthday cards from her step father.

How can anyone find someone who is hiding in their own mind? Peter must use his knowledge of Olivia to find her. Where would Olivia go if she is scared?

The monitors are beeping away in reality but reality is far away for Broyles as he is in a full blown LSD trip. Astrid softly catches Broyles attention. Broyles is just so out there. The reality that he is in is infinite and he sees death. The vulnerability we see in Broyles is quite a far cry from the commanding presence that he usually shows us. He even asked Astrid to hold his hand. That moment I felt like I would hold his hand if he asked. Vulnerability is in all of us and sometimes it takes a revelation of self to expose our inner most feelings. Plus the LSD is helping.

Peter, Walter and Belly cartoon character’s must escape the Tower and get to Olivia. They are running out of time. They look out from the roof top at the beauty of the Alternate Universe before them and see that Olivia could be any where. Peter thinks though that Olivia went to Jacksonville. That would be one of the last places someone would look for her, so it would be the first place she would go. They are ready to start their trek to Jacksonville but the roof door slams open and out comes zombies after them!

Brandonate (Ryan McDonald) is the representation of the evil slimy jerk he was to Oliva in this Alternate Universe. Brandonate as a zombie was a perfect choice. He is one character that gives me the creeps! Shudders and all. Zombies are scary and disgusting, just like Brandonate himself. Belly, Walter and Peter race to the Zeppelin to get away but Peter, ever the hero, stops to fight Brandonate zombies to give Walter and Belly time to escape. A zombie chopped up in a fan is always gross, whether in cartoon or in real life special effects. Ugh! Peter fights them off and does a spectacular swan dive and grabs onto the last rung of the Zeppelin’s ladder. *phew*

They are underway in the Zeppelin and Walter reminds Belly of his hatred for saying good-bye’s. Walter felt he should have known Belly’s last good-bye was a lie. Walter does not want to lose Belly. Walter feels he needs Belly and is uncertain of how he will go on with out him with Peter’s life at stake with The Machine. Walter and Belly made paramount mistakes in their youth and Belly feels that Walter is capable and prepared to make the choices he must in the coming future as he is armed with the power of humility.

There is nothing like a good friend to point out the things they must, to someone they care about, that they do have the integrity with in themselves to make the right decisions with out them. This was a profound scene showing the depth of Walter and Belly’s friendship that began in their youth. Together, they were there for each other to check and balance and that is what friendship is about. Somehow this conversation between Walter and Belly feels like a goodbye to me.

They are not alone on the Zepplin! There is a saboteur. Peter goes to investigate the fuel gauge and comes face to face with an unknown assailant that is pointing a flare gun at him. Walter approaches Peter who is on the floor at the mercy of this man when the man asks Peter his name and then blows a hole in the Zepplin. Walter is sucked out of the hole created by the Flare Gun and the unknown man and is catapulted to his cartoon death on the frozen lake. Astrid is there to reassure Walter when he wakes up from his trip. But damn he is back!

Belly and Peter must proceed on their own and Belly knows his way around. However Peter knows Olivia and knows she would not have gone to the Day Care center. Belly wants to ride a motorcycle and Peter wants to find Olivia, so they hop on a bike for a ride to the rescue. I liked this play between Belly and Peter. They rub each other a little bit, yet make a good team. The shared love they have for Walter is what seemingly makes Peter look beyond Belly’s faults.

Having Walter back in the lab is a great thing for Belly. As Walter begins to ready the computer to down load Belly’s consciousness I am captured by the vacuous look on Broyles face. Broyles is out of it. The hallucinations are coming to life and with that so is Broyles. Walter and Astrid are working on the solution to the computer hook up and a pretty little birdie alights upon Walter’s shoulder unbeknownst to him as it is only in Broyles’s mind. Broyles starts to whistle at the birdie and with a wave and smile….. Oh! THAT smile,

I loved that huge gorgeous drug induced happy smile! *laughing* Walter and Astrid pay him no mind as they continue to work. Walter and Astrid are racing against time to make sure everything is in place to accept Belly’s consciousness and Walter’s agitation is showing with his dropsy fingers. He will have to jury rig something to get this experiment to work. Will it work? Will Belly’s consciousness be transferred to the computer?

Belly and Peter are racing on the motorcycle to find Olivia. Peter thinks Olivia is in the one place that she would feel she would be safe. Olivia lived on a military base, and the last time she felt normal was the day before she met Walter and Belly at the Cortexiphan trials. Olivia longed for a normal life with a mother and father just like Bolivia had. She did have some normalcy living here on the base with her family, in a house with a red door. Her real father painted the door red, to mean good luck. I‘m thinking Peter and Belly are going to need some good luck. Peter is certain he will find her there, and it is comforting to know he is so certain in his knowledge of Olivia’s mind. It is always nice to get more of a back story on the characters of Fringe, I like the connection that it instills.

As the sun begins to set they arrive at the military house with the red door. Will Olivia be behind the door waiting for Peter to rescue her like Peter believes? Now comes the moment of truth……and Peter steps forth into the reality of Olivia’s mind. He is no longer a cartoon, but himself and Olivia is standing there to greet him with an embrace only lover’s can have. Olivia is so afraid. People have been tricking her and she is uncertain. But is it? Is it really who Peter thinks? Peter realizes it is not the real Olivia.He looked deeply into her eyes and realized she was not Peter’s Olivia. Olivia had played a trick in order to protect herself from harm.

She knew the real Peter would recognize her. Peter recognized the gorgeous cute little girl that was sitting at he table to be the real Olivia. Peter and the little Olivia hold hands. When Peter had entered the house and Peter turned back from cartoon to real person made me think that only true love is real. Peter recognizing her was a moment that was marvelous but with her being a lil girl was not so much romantic but a sincere belief in their friendship that has progressed to the point that they are part of one another. So, Is every thing all right now? Are they both safe?

Unfortunately not and their reunion is short lived as Olivia’s step father and fears begin to ascend upon them. Peter and Olivia must run for safety. Peter clasping Olivia’s little hand runs out the red door and turns back into cartoon characters. Peter shouts at Belly to run as young Olivia and Peter are running and almost get hit by a hummer speeding towards them. The hummer crashes into a pole instead of into them, luckily. The chase to capture young Olivia and Peter is intense. They go to run and her small hand slips from Peter’s.

The hummer hot on their trail is on a collision course to crush her small body but Peter lifts and tosses her to safety but is struck himself. As he is struck by the vehicle Peter’s cartoon character dies and is thrown out of Olivia’s mind in a most violent way. Peter wakes up in the lab, in his chair fighting, desperate to save Olivia and Walter rushes to console him.

Peter is beside himself that Olivia’s step father and her fears are going to get her. Walter is the rational one, assuring Peter and Astrid that saving her is up to Belly now. Peter is devastated that he lost her. He just can’t believe he lost her but he can’t go back. It’s up to Belly now. Peter and Astrid discussed earlier that Belly had a massive ego and Peter was concerned that Belly might let Olivia die just so he could go on living. Should we be afraid that Belly might chose his own consciousness over Olivia’s?

Cartoon Belly and cartoon young Olivia are fleeing the nightmare of step father and her fears but Belly falls to the ground and tells Oliva to run. Olivia stops and makes a stand but she is confused that they listened to her and stopped. Belly tells her that he was right after all that she is indeed as strong as Walter and he always suspected. Olivia becomes a full grown woman instead of the scared child that was there before.

Belly explains that Olivia had never felt safe and she was her own worst enemy when it came to her own fears but she is strong enough to overcome them and be the strong self assured person she should be. Belly must leave and Walter is right on time to pull the plug on this trip into Olivia’s mind. He gives Olivia a message to give to Walter. What does the message mean? Is Olivia’s consciousness safe and intact and nothing got kicked loose in her mind except the knowledge that she is stronger than she always believed herself to be?

The lighting flashes and the thunder rolls inside her mind and Olivia comes out of her place of darkness and emerges whole and in the safety of her Fringe team. Peter is there to greet her and Olivia is content in the memory that Peter came for her. Walter is ecstatic that there is only one consciousness and Olivia is home safe with them again. While Broyles blows bubbles in his drug induced state, Astrid calls Walter’s attention to the fact that Belly’s consciousness did not, in fact transfer to the computer.

Olivia told Walter the message that Belly gave her before they parted. Belly told Olivia to tell Walter “He Knew The Dog Wouldn’t Hunt” This message makes Walter realize that Belly knew that the experiment to save himself would not work and that he wouldn’t be coming back. Belly does hate good byes. In a matter of a few minutes we feel a myriad of emotions, humour, to the triumph of recovering a lost friend to the sadness of losing another.

Belly does not have an ego so big that he did not realize the hope that Olivia represents to the Universe. The one Cortexiphan child success story that was created to protect our Universe was more important than his own life.

Walter is devastated to lose, his long time friend, Belly and Astrid is there to help him through if he needs her just like she will always be there for her team. I just wanted to grab Walter and give him a big HUG. *Tears* Losing a friend that you love is one of the hardest things to face, especially one that was always there for you to supply you with check and balance to your soul!

Olivia and Peter are together in each others arms free from the strange dream she feels she was in. The bond they have is stronger than ever with Olivia’s recognition in the knowledge that Peter came for her. Olivia is not afraid to move forward and they will be doing it together no matter what comes.

But what is coming? Peter is curious about the drawing Olivia made of the unknown man that was in the Zeppelin. Who is this man? Olivia drops a bomb that she does not know who he is, but feels this is the man that will ultimately lead to her death.

Wow! That is a way to end an LSD trip, by finishing it off with blowing your mind! Will this unknown man be someone who will try to kill Olivia? Why didn’t he kill Peter on the Zepplin? Every one else they encountered in Olivia’s mind was determined to cause Walter, Belly and Peter harm. He sabotaged the Zeppelin but had an opportunity to take Peter out but didn’t…… Could this ‘man’ be Peter and Bolivia’s son? And is this the end of William Bell? See what Leonard Nimoy himself says in this clip courtesy of FOX Broadcasting.

Tune in for more Fringe on FOX this Friday April 22, 2011 with the return to the battle between the universes in “6:02 AM EST”.

In the meantime enjoy the sneak peak of “6:02” and the complete LSD episode courtesy of FOX via Hulu.

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Thank you,

SheppardsHoney (Melinda)

April 20, 2011

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