Thursday is a big day for TV. My two favorite shows go on; Fringe and Community. November 11th didn’t disappoint. In its third season Fringe has been dividing itself between two parallel universes. This episode focused on our universe, and the mystery revolving around an ancient doomsday machine. Its a question that’s been looming over the series since last season’s finale. More is revealed about it. Apparently it may be a relic of a race of human beings who evolved before dinosaurs and were then wiped out. The alternate Olivia, struggles to keep her cover, by maintaining a relationship with Peter Bishop. The villain, a shape-shifter distinguishable with heterochromia, is using elements of the device to blank people’s memories.
Astrid gets a great moment to shine, and cracks a code which has existed since the dawn of time. Walter playfully nicknames her Watson, and Peter Holmes but in the end it is Watson who makes the great leap forward to break the case. Astrid has always been a cool supporting character it’s nice to see get a little bit of lime light.
Peter has some great moments with alternate-Olivia. He does some incredibly sweet things for her. He gets her coffee in the rain, makes her breakfast in bed, etc. It makes me wonder if the villain is starting to fall for the man she’s using. She comes across as a hardened soldier postulating that when it comes down to it, one of the worlds will have to be destroyed. For her it’s an us or them. Peter’s optimism that he will find a way to save both worlds seems to unsettle her. What if alternate Olivia questions her mission. The people she’s been lead to believe are villains are really no different then her.
The strongest point of this episode seems to be the ominous sense of foreboding hovering over the whole story arc. The tension is palpable and I want to know whats going to happen next. Will the bad Olivia be revealed? What exactly does this ancient machine do? Are our heroes playing right into the hands of the alternate Walter? Whats so special about Peter? Though they better get to the answers quickly the suspense is killing me.
My only real complaint is that I want to see more crazy Walter antics. He makes the show worth watching, and though he was a little silly this episode, he can do so much better.
On a scale of 1 to Epic, (Epic= 10) I’d give it an7.5.