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Fringe: Safe

So this episode aired just over fifteen years ago, and Josie posted her Fringe reviews fourteen years ago. That’s nearly as long as Walter was institutionalized. Wow.

FADE IN:

INT. HOMELAND SECURITY FIELD OFFICE - FRINGE DIVISION

OLIVIA: Let's start with the robbery. I mean seriously, you use the ability to move through solid matter to break into a bank vault? Feels like an obvious but kind of boring use of the technology to me.

RANDOM GUEST STAR #1: It isn’t like we had a choice. The script called for action, not intelligence.

OLIVIA: All right, I guess that makes a certain kind of sense, but our plots are usually a bit more complex and convoluted.

RANDOM GUEST STAR #1: Well, the writing this season isn’t that subtle, but trust me – the plot will get weird by the end of the episode.

WALTER: Like the toy soldier I put in a cup of rice used to demonstrate that all matter is mostly empty space?

PETER: Walter, not during an interrogation.

OLIVIA: Where were we?

RANDOM GUEST STAR #1: You were talking about convoluted plots. Well, you are going to… I really shouldn’t say.

OLIVIA: You mean the plot revolves around me?

PETER: It always revolves around you, Liv. Especially when it comes to the whole sharing your memories with your traitorous dead lover.

OLIVIA: That's not true. You two totally steal all my scenes.

WALTER: It's not my fault I'm one of the best realized characters ever written.

PETER: Not this season. You've been spouting off some really random sexist shit lately.

OLIVIA: You think that's bad? I don't even react to it. Anyway, back to the sheep. Guest Star, why did you do the thing? I mean, you had to know walking through walls would be dangerous.

RANDOM GUEST STAR #1: I just do the job he gives me.

OLIVIA: I bet it’s awful working for someone like that.

RANDOM GUEST STAR #1: Yeah, Jones is the worst. I mean he made us do all that cancer-inducing bank robbery stuff just so he could escape prison with flair.

OLIVIA: I heard he killed James Frain. Real shame, such a good actor.

PETER: He was doing a lot of genre TV work at this point.

WALTER: I believe I won't work with him again until Sleepy Hollow.

OLIVIA: Walter, that might be a bit too meta for this bit.

WALTER: Oh, sorry. I forget that the fourth wall isn’t something we break.

RANDOM GUEST STAR #1: So, can I go now?

PETER: Nah. You are gonna be forgotten, likely to die off screen from the massive amount of radiation you were exposed to when you decided to walk through steel using untested fringe technology to steal pieces of a transportation device for some shady guy and a really corrupt federal agent. Tough luck.

OLIVIA: So, Walter – any other tidbits you wanna let us know about?

WALTER: Well, your nickname was Han in boarding school, as in Solo. The Fibonacci sequence is one of the foundational elements of the universe and can be found in a lot of naturally occurring things, such as the branching of trees or the pentagonal shape of flowers. My son Peter was dying of a disease called Hepea. I was obsessed with finding a cure and discovered a Dr. Gross had developed a cure for it in the mid-1930s. So I was the one that created the transport device intended to pull Dr. Gross from his time to the present which is what Mr. Jones used to escape prison.

PETER: Um, Walter... what the hell?

WALTER: She asked for tidbits.

FADE OUT

So I started re-watching Fringe last week when it dropped on HBO Max, and realized we didn’t have a review of this episode. This is kind of an important episode, but also a bit dull, with Loeb acting as the heavy and not really pulling it off that well. The biggest take away is that Mr. Jones is a bigger player than initially expected, and everyone wants what was in Scott’s head. Which means they want Olivia. Her kidnapping was shocking, but felt a bit hollow since this isn’t even halfway through the season. Massive Dynamic not being responsible for the kidnapping was also a bit unexpected because Nina Sharpe is being so duplicitous and creepy. So what memory are they after?

For me, the highlight of the episode was the team dynamic is beginning to solidify, with Peter and Walter especially. Peter is starting to understand the way his father’s mind works and it is just lovely. Even more fun is Walter’s interactions with Astrid, which are odd and slightly paternal. He doesn’t really show affection towards her, but he clearly appreciates her help, although I don’t really understand her role in the group yet. Is she Walter’s assistant or Olivia’s?

Quotes. Well, one quote:

Peter: “Walter seems to think if we can examine this guy’s flesh at the cellular level, we might be able to figure out how it is that they pass through solid matter.”
Walter: “What we perceive as solid matter is mostly empty space. Just as we may perceive that a life is full, that is actually a series of empty encounters.”
Peter: “He’s been like that all day. It’s been awesome.”

I have no idea how to rate this one. Given it is a season one episode, it would probably rank in the 2-3 range. Not bad, not great but except for some nice dialogue and character interactions, and the big ending stuff was kind of forgettable.
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Samantha M. Quinn spends most of her time in front of a computer typing away at one thing or another; when she has free time, she enjoys pretty much anything science fiction or fantasy-related.

8 comments:

  1. I remember watching this opening bank heist scene in 7th grade science class as a representation of atoms and matter and the fact that it's mostly empty space. It was an excellent demonstration, and I will always remember this because of that.

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  2. I thought Josie was referring to herself in third person and had to reach the first comment here before noticing the strangeness of her marveling at her own review >_> lol

    I loved the beginning of the scene with the box of Peter's/Walter's toys, after we see him pouring the rice. Walter does a half-snarl and barks "No talking!" when Peter asked him a question with his toy gun, it was really charming and kept making me grin even after rewinding it for the 10th time xD

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  3. Replies
    1. lmao. Yeah man, no diminishing returns. I only stopped because I was getting self-conscious about repetition Dx Hyper-awareness is a real party pooper.

      10 times... that's as many as five 2s. And that's terrible

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  4. I liked the interaction between Peter and Olivia in this episode, especially at the bar. It was so rare to see Olivia looking genuinely relaxed in this first half of the season, before her sister and niece showed up. It also had one of my favorite Peter lines of the whole series, "You violated the laws of physics Mr. Eastwick, and Mother Nature's a b---h."

    ReplyDelete

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