Fringe: Over There, Part 2

“Is that what this is about?”

This was a beautifully written, beautifully acted, beautifully directed, and beautifully scored episode. Sure, this was about the coming storm, rifts between realities, and the end of the world. It’s also about individual characters encountering each other and realizing things about themselves. I didn’t know a Fringe episode could make me cry. This one did.

Three scenes really stood out to me. First on the list is the one between Peter and Oliviate. When he last saw Olivia, they were sussing out whether or not their relationship could become a relationship. As he spoke with Oliviate, he kept forgetting and remembering that she wasn’t his girl, all of which was beautifully expressed by Joshua Jackson.

Second-best? Any scene between William Bell and Walter. They felt comfortable together, like old friends who don’t really like each other but still speak in the same rhythms. Transitioning from their conversation in the car to the wasteland surrounding Boston…I know I’ve mentioned the Fisher King before, but that is definitely Fringe’s biggest intertext.

The most touching scene was between Olivia and Oliviate. I cried when they talked about their mom and their sister, and watching them play off each other, each one wondering just how similar and how different they were, and then Patty-Duking it out—usually, I hate double fight scenes, but that was incredible. Just incredible.

I can’t come up with enough superlatives to describe Joshua Jackson’s acting or the great way his character was written. Little moments, like when he referred to the regular reality as “yours” when talking to Olivia. The loneliness of talking to himself as he figured out the MacGuffin, because he has grown used to having a team (and how much he’s changed since we first met him!). Kissing Olivia, and the sadness of that kiss. Was it a goodbye kiss? Or a hello kiss?

We won’t find out for a while. Trapping Olivia Over There, and replacing her with Oliviate definitely qualifies as the greatest lengths any show has gone to in order to increase the will-they-or-won’t-they suspense. How long will it take Peter, Walter, and Astrid to figure out Oliviate is not their Olivia?

I haven’t talked much about the mythology we got, mostly because (while interesting) it just couldn’t compare to the fabulous character interactions. But, quickly, here we go: Walternate wants to kill us all to get revenge on Walter; William Bell has universe-hopped so many times he’s like a ball of pure energy; Walter opening the door has led to the deaths of thousands of people from Fringe Events; Walternate still has a device of infinite potential for destruction, but without Peter attached, it's useless. And since our Olivia is over there, all of this stuff will still matter next season.

This is Gonna Sound Crazy:

• Bell: “We’ve accomplished a lot together, Walter. But she may be our greatest achievement.” Walter obviously didn’t agree with the objectification inherent in this statement.

• Olivia: “We both leave our hide-a-key in the same place.”

• Peter: “What’s a little universe-hopping between friends?”

• Olivia: “I used a grenade. I think I bought us a few minutes.” And saved the producers the money for the explosion.

• Bell describing his guns to distract Oliviate and AlternaFrancis, and then the payoff when he used the 77-model gun.

• Oliviate all tied up was shot like a bondage fantasy.

• Walter came back to his reality, and set about milking his cow. I guess that’s his post-vacation ritual.

Thoughts on the Season

My ratings for Fringe have been off the charts lately, which I never expected to happen. Even as recently as episodes fourteen and fifteen, I felt like the show was rather ho-hum: J.J. Abrams’s dictate that Fringe should avoid the ‘literal impenetrability’ of Alias meant that the mythos was constantly being shuttled aside in favor of stand-alones. Don’t get me wrong, Fringe does those well. But there are some episodes from this season (and season one) that I just don’t remember—and that doesn’t matter.

But in the past six or seven episodes, the writers seem to have realized something important: one of the benefits of developing a complex mythology is that it gives you a chance to show the characters reacting to that mythology, and bringing all of their issues and craziness to those reactions. Sometimes, this can spell disaster (FlashForward), but sometimes this delicate balance between myth and individual people can be great storytelling. That’s what the past few episodes of Fringe have been, and I hope we continue to see that kind of greatness next season.

Eight out of four Atom Bomb Leonard Nimoys.

Josie Kafka is a full-time cat servant and part-time rogue demon hunter. (What's a rogue demon?)

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