Lost and I have an interesting relationship. I’ve only seen a handful of episodes. Though I have to admit that the show was engaging, each episode raised too many dangling mysteries without enough payoff. On top of that, too many friends of mine sequestered themselves from the world to follow each addition to the series (I’m talking to you Tony). I couldn’t to it. I refused to take part and become addicted knowing I’d have to wait years for a resolution.
I some times forget that Fringe is done by the same people as Lost. The majority of the episodes before season 3 were episodic. Of course they were building towards something, but I could watch each episode individually. Also didn’t have to wait forever to find out why a damn polar bear was in the god damn jungle! Fringe’s season 3 has evolved into a much longer story arch. There are more hanging plots, and unsolved mysteries. We’ve finally got to see what I’ve been waiting for since the end of last season, the ancient machine. All we know is that the machine has some kinda of mysterious and dangerous purpose. In this episode we see the machine built and it reacts to Peter. We still don’t know what it does, or why Walternate wants it. I supposed I shouldn’t complain about the rate of disclosure. Olivia, Peter and Walter are not trapped on an island after all.
Besides an update on the construction of the machine, the plot of this episode surrounds the the shape shifters. The FBI was able to hack into the database Bolivia was keeping. They have a list of the shape shifters ready to be captured and interrogated but someone is assassinating them off before they can be apprehended. Only the FBI and massive Dynamic have access to this database, which means there’s a mole in their operation. I won’t spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen it, but the reveal of the mole’s identity was a phenominal twist. I’d also like to reiterate how awesome I think the shape shifters are. The fact that they’re artificially built people, part biological and part technological is a cool concept, and their mercury blood is a great visual.
Besides dealing with enemy shape shifters, moles, assassination, and ancient machines we’re treated to more Walter craziness. He gives the Olivia impostor an official nick-name. He calls her Folivia (combining Faux and Olivia). Though I think Bolivia (Bad+Olivia) is an acceptable name I enjoyed that Walter renames the other universe parallels. Our villains are Folivia and Walternate. It has a nice ring to it. “Reciprocity” continues Walters attempts to regrown his missing brain tissue. Apparently, William Bell prepared for this and created three formulas to stimulate brain growth. One was based off of Walter’s DNA where as the other two were made to test on lab animals. When Walter snorts the wrong one, he starts displaying chimpanzee behavior, such as showing dominance and wanting bananas. It’s light hearted moments like this that give us a break from the increasing darkness, and are quite invaluable at maintaining Fringes enjoyability.
Am I the only one out there, who thinks that Walter Bishop should start a children’s program akin to Mr. Wizard, or Bill Nye the Science Guy. He could teach mad science, and inappropriately espouse drug use. It could be the most politically incorrect, hilarious program on television.
On a scale of 1 to Epic, (Epic= 10) I’d give it a 7.7