"Paul Levinson's It's Real Life is a page-turning exploration into that multiverse known as rock and roll. But it is much more than a marvelous adventure narrated by a master storyteller...it is also an exquisite meditation on the very nature of alternate history." -- Jack Dann, The Fiction Writer's Guide to Alternate History

Friday, January 22, 2010

Fringe 2.13: "I Can't Let Peter Die Again"

Those words - "I can't let Peter die again" - uttered by Walter to Astrid, may be the most important words in this season of Fringe so far.   Astrid won't forget them.  We know they provide the opening to in many ways the secret mainspring of our characters - that Walter's original son Peter, in this universe, died, and Walter replaced him with Peter from an alternate universe.   It wasn't clear until tonight if anyone other than Walter knew this - anyone including Peter, who we so far have no reason to think knows this.  But now Astrid knows - at least a little.

Her character has been gaining importance in the past few episodes, and what she heard Walter say tonight will no doubt give her a more important, even pivotal role.   Should be exciting to see where and how this goes...

Meanwhile, the story tonight was good, too.  A deadly ice-age virus is unleashed in present-day Boston.  Peter contracts it.  The twist or update to this classic science fiction theme is that the virus propels its human hosts to, literally, get out into the world.  This is consistent with what we do know of viruses - they hijack cells, and get them to do their bidding, so why not viruses hijacking people?

Walter finds a cure - volcanic ash, which stopped it the first time.  Olivia must fight a crazed Peter, in an effort to get the cure to the infected before the government official in charge (the Captain on Dexter - played by Geoff Pierson) does the logical thing for a deadly, uncontrollable virus, and wipes out all the carriers.

Peter and the infected get the cure.   There's a good last scene between Peter and Olivia, where he apologies and she says he wasn't himself, and Epsiode 13 of Season Two of one of the best science fiction series on television concludes,  almost in Twilight Zone territory, already, it's that good.


5-min podcast review of Fringe


See also Top Notch Return of Fringe Second Season ... Fringe 2.2 and The Mole People ... Fringe 2.3 and the Human Body as Bomb ... Fringe 2.4 Unfolds and Takes Wing ... Fringe 2.5: Peter in Alternate Reality and Wi-Fi for the Mind ... A Different Stripe of Fringe in 2.6 ... The Kid Who Changed Minds in Fringe 2.7 ... Fringe 2.8: The Eternal Bald Observers ... Fringe 2.9: Walter's Journey ... Fringe 2.10: Walter's Brain, Harry Potter, and Flowers for Algernon ...  New Fringe on Monday Night: In Alternate Universe? ... Fringe 2.12: Classic Science Fiction Chiante

See also reviews of Season One Fringe Begins ... Fringe 2 and 3: The Anthology Tightrope ... 4: The Eternal Bald Observer ... 7: A Bullet Can Scramble a Dead Brain's Transmission ... 8. Heroic Walter and Apple Through Steel ... 9. Razor-Tipped Butterflies of the Mind ... 10. Shattered Pieces Come Together Through Space and Times ... 11. A Traitor, a Crimimal, and a Lunatic ... 12, 13, 14: Fringe and Teleportation ... 15: Fringe is Back with Feral Child, Pheromones, and Bald Men ... 17. Fringe in New York, with Oliva as Her Suspect ... 18. Heroes and Villains across Fringe ... Stephen King, Arthur C. Clarke, and Star Trek in Penultimate Fringe ... Fringe Alternate Reality Finale: Science Fiction At Its Best







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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Yes Fringe is possibly the best sci-fi show on TV and Walter is certainly the best and most entertaining character on TV.

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