"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...

Friday, November 19, 2010

Fringe 3.7: Two Universes Still Nearing Collision

Some typically good alternate universe touches in tonight's Fringe 3.7 - my favorites were Broyles'  son in the alternate reality enjoying The Shadow (last heard by a mass audience at home in our America in the 1940s), and the "Peter Bishop Act" making kidnapping a Fringe Division crime over there.  And the central story moved, well, not quite far enough along.

We had a great final scene at the end of episode 3.6, with the Statue of Liberty turning from our oxidized green to the alt reality's burnished copper, and the Twin Towers gleaming in their background.  (The plane got the White House not the World Trade Center towers in their September 11.  Thanks to Bryan for pointing this out in the comments to this blog post.)  We also heard Walternate indicate that he was close to killing our Olivia, who has already come to realize who she is.

So tonight's episode might have been about Olivia trying escape Walternate's clutches - which it was, but through the long detour of kidnappings, including Broyles' son.  Olivia's help in nabbing the bad guys gets Broyles not to turn her in, when she reveals to him what he already knows - that she's from the other side (the revelation is accidental - she tells one of the kidnap victims that she's FBI, which ceased to exist a decade ago over there).   But I was looking forward to something more dramatic from alt-Broyles - maybe a direct confrontation with Walternate over not killing Olivia.  Well, maybe we'll see that the next episode.

Meanwhile, Fringe continues to do a good job dusting off golden age and earlier science fiction tropes and bringing them in the 21st century.  Last week, we had an advanced human tech-savvy society in pre-historic times (I happily explored a bit of this in my 1999 novel, The Silk Code), and tonight we saw old men staying younger by draining the energy from kids.

But the central continuing story of the two realities in collision is still the big draw, and I'm looking forward to seeing more.  One question which had been looming bigger and bigger - why doesn't Peter in our reality realize he's sleeping with alt-Olivia? - became moot:  Olivia's failed attempt to escape at least got word to Peter that she was trapped.


5-min podcast review of Fringe

See also Fringe 3.1: The Other Olivia ... Fringe 3.2: Bad Olivia and Peter ... Fringe 3.3: Our/Their Olivia on the Other Side ... Fringe 3.5: Back from Hiatus, Back from the Amber

See also reviews of Season 2: 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 ... Fringe 2.13: "I Can't Let Peter Die Again" ... Fringe 2.14: Walter's Health, Books, and Father ... Fringe 2.15: I'll Take 'Manhatan' ... Fringe 2.16: Peter's Story ... Fringe 2.17: Will Olivia Tell Peter? ... Fringe 2.18: Strangeness on a Train ... Fringe 2.19: Two Plus Infinity ... Fringe the Noir Musical ... Fringe 2.21: Bring on the Alternates ... Fringe 2.22:  Tin Soldiers and Nixon Coming ... Fringe Season 2 Finale: The Switch

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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2 comments:

Bryan said...

sept 11th did happen over there...except the target was the White House....notice the first time we see the WTC and Dr Bells office has a paper that says Obamas move into NEW White House....

Paul Levinson said...

Excellent point, Bryan - thanks - I'm correcting in the blog post, with credit to you.

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