Tonight she's back in our universe, in a car that crashes in New York City, without much memory of how she get there, or where she had been. This raises a major, so far unaddressed question: what happens when two versions of the same person from different universes come to inhabit the same universe? Of all of the characters in Fringe, only Peter has made the move from one universe to another - kidnapped from the alternate universe to this one by his father Walter, after the Peter in this universe had died - and Peter seems to be doing ok. But what happens when two live versions of the same person end up in the same universe? Does the universe expel one of them? Is this what happened to Olivia?
Tonight's episode 2.1 was about different versions of the same person in more ways than one. Olivia's loyal partner Charlie is killed by a murderous shape shifter (from the alternate universe?) who almost kills Olivia in the hospital. The shape shifter takes Charlie's shape, so Fringe Division now has a double agent par excellence in its midst.
But it almost didn't survive tonight, courtesy of a jackass Senate committee that almost put it out of business. (Penny-pinching myopic Senate committees ... hmmm ... sounds a lot like some the of Senate committees in our reality, outside of Fringe, which are often on the verge of strangling crucial, beneficial programs.)
Peter comes to the rescue, with some evidence - broken tech from the alternate universe - which he found on the scene of Olivia's cab crash. The Senate committee told Broyles it needed some evidence, and this could be it.
So Fringe is off and running in the strange night. All of the regular gang are back (albeit Charlie now as a villain shape shifter), and we learn in a nice reveal that Nina and Broyles had and may still have a physical relationship; we have a bright, attractive new agent Amy Jessup; and an intriguing new mystery on top of everything else:
Why did Olivia, when she first woke up, speak to Peter the same Greek advice that he recalled from his mother?
Looking forward to more.
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
And this Fringe 101 refresher that I wrote for scifiwire earlier today... and Fringe Bloggers Roundtable about Season One Finale I participated in last May ...
8-min podcast review of Fringe
5 comments:
We've already seen two versions of the same person in the same universe. When Walter went back to the institution, the other Walter was there and talked to him.
You mean in Episode 8 - it was one of the best episodes of the first season.
But I can't quite recall Walter meeting himself. And if he did, was he really meeting another version of himself, or just dreaming that he was?
I miss Charlie! Agent Charlie Francis was my favorite character! Dammit -- he can go like this. Why did they turn him into a double agent.
I foresee the Greek Phrase becoming a code between Olivia and Peter.
It's interesting. When Olivia first uttered it, I did not recognize it (I am of a Greek background). When Peter repeated it back to Olivia, I understood it immediately. I guess, Peter's pronunciation was better!
But, you're right, Fringe is leaner and meaner this year. And I find the new agent interesting, especially with her little notations out of the Bible!!! Was that verses from the Book of Revelations she was citing? That's throwing another little wrench into the whole "works", don't you think?
While Walter is lying down on the bed in the institution, the other Walter comes into his room and speaks to him. Walter sees the other Walter again later in the episode, watching him from across the street (or across a courtyard of some sort. It's been a while since I watched the episode.) Walter #2 looks healthier and far more lucid.
I think at the time we were supposed to think that Walter was just hallucinating or dreaming, but in hindsight I'm convinced it was alternate-dimension Walter. I think that we're going to see him again this season. Since I fully expect Peter to find out about his true origin this season, it wouldn't surprise me if Peter meetis his real father in S2.
Good analysis, anon - you may well be right.
Hey MP - yeah, the new agent and the Bible is definitely a harbinger of what she'll be doing in the future. Like everyone else in Fringe, she's not just another agent.
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