This episode of Fringe reminded me of a skit from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. In Monty Python, Galahad follows a beacon to a castle filled with nubile young women attempting to seduce him. After numerous double entendres, and out right references to sex, everyone demands they get on with the joke. So to Fringe I say this “Get on with it!”
Don’t get me wrong I did enjoy this episode. Set in the parallel universe the villain is a serial kidnapper who steals children and drains them of their pituitary hormones to create a youth regenerating miracle drug. It turns out that this “Candy Man” kidnapper had previously taken Colonel Broyles son, and left him in a seriously unhealthy state. While investigating the latest kidnapping, Olivia is putting into motion plans to get home. Alternate Broyles is explored. Where as our Broyles is a lonely divorce, this one is a family man with a very ill son. Through the course of the episode he comes to respect Olivia, despite the fact she’s an impostor.
Walternate strikes me as having truly epic villainous potential. Though he’s friendly and compassionate to Broyles, I can’t help but wonder if it’s a politicians sympathy. He wants to get his way and is completely ammoral in his method of achieving it. He’s willing to manipulate everyone to get his way. If he’s the Secretary of Defence why is he intent in waging war with our world. Wouldn’t he want to create some form of peace? Why did this world have so many fringe disasters when our has had comparatively few? My personal theory is that he has engineered disasters in his world to achieve the level of power he has in his, to destroy ours.
As cool as it was to see the Fringe Division solve a crime, and explore the alternate world and characters lives, I want them to take the next major step in advancing the plot. What will happen when Olivia returns? What is the ancient doomsday machine? What is Walternate planning? Get on with it! Now they’re making me wait two weeks for new episodes again
On a scale of 1 to Epic, (Epic= 10) I’d give it a 6.9.