In a slight departure we visit the other side, with no characters from our universe to have any interest in. Fringe’s alternate universe is always fascinating to see. The slight modification to our heroes, and the change in technology and culture help flesh out the sci-fi elements of the show. Despite the fact this episode centered around a mad scientist causing people to spontaneously spew bugs from their bodies, “Immortality” true strength lies in the perspective it gives us on the characters. We get to see the other side of the characters living on the other side, allowing them to become more sympathetic.
In my book Walternate and Folivia had fallen into villain territory. My theory has always been that Walternate has engineered disasters to gain power and his eventual revenge. Both Walternate and Folivia know our world isn’t at war with theirs yet they pursue an very militaristic agenda. I was convinced that Walternate was willing to do anything to either save his world, or destroy ours. He’s always seemed so cold and unyielding in his mission. His use of the machine seems poised to destroy our world, once he recovers Peter. When he experimented on Olivia and planned to carry out a vivisection I hoped she could generate a pyro-kinetic event and nuke him. In this episode we see has an edge of humanity left in him. Though he has been conducting human trials of cortexiphan he refuses to experiment on children. He has a heartfelt conversation about the moral boundaries of his work with his mistress. Maybe I’m wrong about him planning the disasters to gain power. As for Folivia, I’d written her off as a sociopath. In her introduction she fatalistically laughed at being encased in amber, and seemed to enjoy the fact she was replacing our Olivia. When she told Peter not everything about their relationship was a lie, I couldn’t help but think she was just the standard Fem Fatale. She stole everything that should belong to our Olivia. Yet here we see her with her boyfriend Frank. She is genuinely happy to see him, and excitedly accepts his marriage proposal. I won’t spoil the ending but lets just say when lingering fallout from her relationship with Peter ruins her engagement I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. Wait I hate her! She’s evil! How come I feel sorry for her? I guess she’s human after all.
As for the twist, it was one hell of a twist. It sets up some great potential for further drama. It also makes Sam Weiss’s warning from the previous episode a little less melodramatic and more logical. Either way check it out for yourself!
On a scale of 1 to Epic, (Epic= 10) I’d give it a 7.8