Fringe: Transilience Thought Unifier Model-11

"What a miserable future."

Though this quote is taken a bit out of context, I think it's an apt description of future Earth in 2036.

Yes, we are picking up where last season's future episode Letters of Transit left off.

The episode opens with Peter dreaming about the day the Observers invaded Earth. It also turns out to be the day Peter and Olivia lost their daughter Henrietta (who, as we know, Peter has been reconnected with).

Many sequences in this episode were splendid. Walter's interrogation, though difficult to watch, was an amazing to sequence to get into the mindset of the Big Bad Observer (same one who threatened a much aged Broyles in Letter of Transit) as well as the amount of will power Walter had in resisting the torture. Unfortunately, it had dire consequences.

The rescue sequence was executed well. The plan was good (really cool technology, faking the dead thing was). Peter, Olivia, and Etta executed it rather flawlessly. Everybody got out alive and relatively unscathed.

I know some people probably didn't like the reveal of a tumultuous relationship between the wonder couple, but even though an outline of what happened (Peter apparently abandoned the team after Etta's disappearance), the events leading up to it were not explained, which I think leaves us open for some good flashbacks in future episodes.

That last scene with Walter after they figure out the torture has erased chunks of his memory, including the plan to defeat the observers, was immensely powerful. Him sitting in his underwear in that dilapidated taxi listening to the music was fantastic enough. Then he saw that dandelion, a weed most people utterly hate, and I'd like to think those tears were him feeling hope for what may come in the future.

Some quick observations:

1. Marcum proves his overwhelming creepiness with his purchase of Olivia and hoping to be her knight in shining armor like she was Sleeping Beauty. I shuddered.
2. I completely forgot Simon sacrificed himself to free Peter and ended up in the Amber. Hopefully the brown shirt traitor bringing up the recovery of Simon's body means we may get to see more of him to come.
3. Maybe the most important one, I think Etta may not be 100% stable. She seems to have much more of Peter's personality than Olivia's, and I don't think it's any more obvious than in during the rescue sequence when they have the following exchange: "What happened to him?" - P "Occupational hazard." - E "That's my girl." - P. I'd say Etta is somewhere near the point where Peter was during his murder-all-the-shapeshifters phase. She's been fighting this war for likely near as long as her parents have, and she is still quite young (23-24) so her actions are still more influenced by her emotions. This may prove to be problematic in the future for the Fringe team.
4. Glyphs spell out D-O-U-B-T. I have feeling we'll be seeing much of that in future episoded.

Overall, I'd give this episode a 9 out of 10. I liked it. The pacing kept things moving. We had some great scenes. I look forward to seeing if Wyman can keep the story going now that it's serial for these last 12 episodes. If the rest are close to this premiere, I think season 5 is going to come along just fine.

Fringe "Nothing As It Seems"

The team investigates a case that Peter recognizes from his world. Olivia deals with the fallout of allowing her memories to take over.


The return of Porcubat. This time less crispy.

Fringe "A Short Story About Love"

The metal capsule makes its return!

I've been lukewarm on season four. It isn't because the season as a whole has been poorly written. Or the cases and main story line have been bad. With the return of David Robert Jones (one of the shows greatest villains), the humanization of Walternate (I still think "Alter-Walter" is more fun to say), and some double crossing that has still yet to see full fruition (Alt-Broyles being a baddy), this season has had its good moments. The relationships Olivia has with Nina and Walter are both aspects I'd say are enjoyable.

I'll admit that I've been underwhelmed with the Blue Universe Lincoln. He's kind of whiny, a little Olivia obsessed (though who isn't), and just doesn't stack up to Red Universe Lincoln (who's a badass). But the biggest problem I've had with season four has to do with what was revealed by September to Peter in the second to last scene. Took the show fifteen episodes to tell the audience something (something important, I might add) that any of us with a brain knew since "Back to Where You've Never Been". Peter is in his universe. Has been the whole time. Now can we move on to more pressing issues?

Dragging out a story line isn't something new to television. Fringe didn't do anything special here. But that doesn't make it any less annoying. The blame, in my opinion, should be placed on the 22 episode seasons that networks put their shows through. Thirteen episodes always struck me as a better length for Fringe. It suits the serialization that the fans love without taking away the characterization, creating a tighter story that doesn't have to be filled with "Monster/Bad Guy of the Week". But, fifteen episodes into season four is a little late for that. Hindsight is always 20/20.

Anyway, onward to this week's episode.

"'Lovey Bad Guy' hated cleaning that mess"

I named this week's "M/BGotW" "Lovey Bad Guy" because I can't recall his actual name at the moment. The story wasn't really that particularly interesting because it only served as a "lesson" for Olivia, making her not want to give up on her love for Peter. I didn't really get why he was attacking the couples. His explanation sounded like your basic crazy talk from a crazy man. Though he did kill his victims in an original way. Dehydration cannot be a fun way to go!

"Love" had bountiful scenes of good conversation between the characters. Olivia and Nina had a good scene to start the show in the diner for their weekly breakfast that Olivia can't remember. But their last scene was great. Even though Olivia has decided to allow her original memories to have full control, she isn't willing to give up on her relationship with Nina. I'm hoping they can start rebuilding the relationship before Nina's original memories begin to take over as well. A close relationship for Olivia (especially Mother/Daughter) can only be good for the show and its characters.

The other great scene happened between Peter and Walter when Walter extracted the disk from Peter's eye (creepy). It was rather touching that Walter showed such respect to Peter for what he deemed to be the ethically correct decision. It also gave the show a chance to revisit the Greek phrase (not even going to try the Greek) "Be a better man than your father". I think if Peter is better than Walter is now, he's a pretty damn good man.

And for the shippers, we got one of the most Shippertastic TM endings ever. The looks towards each other at a distance. The walk turning into a run. Peter lifting and spinning Olivia around. The kiss. The only thing it was missing was a sunset and the beach. Even my cold heart melted some.

This week's glyphs spell out: QUILL.

Let me know what you think about tonight's episode and the big reveal!

You can follow me on twitter at: @Jake_Collin