"I went to a place to eat. It said 'breakfast at any time.' So I ordered french toast during the Renaissance". --Steven Wright ... If you are a devotee of time travel, check out this song...

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Fringe 4: The Eternal Bald Observer

Tonight's Fringe - Episode 4 - was the best so far. A capsule from inside the Earth, the most important character development so far of Walter and Peter, Anna gets a call and more from the not deceased-as-we-know-it Scott, and most of it is tied together by a bald chronicler.

The opening scene is pure television gold, as the observer awaits the re-appearance of the capsule in a Brooklyn dinner. There's something about that bald observer - he not only takes measurements, but seems to have been watching most of the science fiction I have seen and read over the years, either in or just beyond the scene.

Tonight we find out, at the end, that, years earlier, he saved Walter and Peter from drowning, and as a result (presumably), they can communicate thoughts somatically - or just through touching. This has the effect of scotching Peter's plan to leave - which, of course, we knew he could not, for that would have undermined the central plot of the series, but it was good to see, anyway.

Fringe continues to pull into its centrifuge a veritable compendium of classic, 1950s or so science fiction themes. At this point, various kinds of extrasensory communication, lives after death, observing visitors from somewhere, strange skins and cicada-like capsules, and enough more that I'm definitely interested in finding out what's behind this.

-Yours truly, the slightly bald observer



See also Fringe Begins ... Fringe 2 and 3: The Anthology Tightrope






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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dr. Levison,

I first must say I thoroughly enjoy your blog, Infinite Regress. I became aware of your site through a Battlestar Galactica group on Facebook. However, I also find your political posts intriguing, especially the one concerning Joe Biden's "FDR and the TV Gaffe" post. I hope our candidate and his experienced VP will pull through in November.

Due to Hurricane Ike and his aftermath, tonight I was finally able to catch Fringe, and I must say it was extremely enjoyable. My first impression was it was going to be a sort of X-Files meets Eureka, however knowing J.J. Abrams body of work I should have expected something more. I was wasn't disappointed.

Episode 4, from what I am assuming from your post, was a great episode to basically fall into the series, especially without the character development from the previous episodes. But who can not love a bald no eyebrow extremely spicy food loving Watchman or should I say Mothman? Great show so far, but Battlestar is still #1. Can't wait for January.

Paul Levinson said...

Welcome to Infinite Regress - I'm glad you're enjoying the blog.

And I agree completely about Battlestar Galactica - in many ways, it exceeds even Star Trek.

And Lost is well worth waiting for, too.

Brian McFadden said...

I also thought that the latest episode of Fringe was great... it's really starting to pick up with cliff hangers and continuing story lines. The first few episodes started a bit slow because the problem was essentially solved by that particular show's conclusion...

...but now, I don't mind so much because Abrams is using his classic Lost calling-card with cliff-hanger upon cliff-hanger to keep the audience guessing and tuning in week after week...

...now we'll just have to wait for the baseball play-offs to end so we can see exactly what Agent Scott and the Bald Watcher are all about (Not to mention, on a completely separate side note, the return of Jack Bauer to FOX).

Paul Levinson said...

Yeah, Jack's back at the end of November!

Anonymous said...

See any parallel between "Walter" and Walter Bowart? Bob thinks there is...I'm not so sure. I think the real parallel is that "Walter" looks like Bob.

Walter Bowart Interview.
http://www.fivebodied.com/archives/audio/phatic_communion/07_Bowart/Bowart%20Bob/

Picture of Bob Dobbs
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn143/mysterybody/DSC01589.jpg

~Foo Fighter~

http://fivebodied.com/index.php

Paul Levinson said...

Always a possibility - give my best to Bob!

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