Just as in Daniel Keyes' classic "Flowers for Algernon" - probably the best standalone science fiction short fiction ever written - it ain't easy. Walter does a little better than the mouse and the protagonist in "Flowers for Algernon," but he doesn't get his lost intelligence back yet either. He's taken the chimp DNA that Bell had experimented with, not Walter's own.
Still, Walter's sharp enough to come up with a good name for alternate, bad Olivia on the other side - Fauxlivia. So we now have a nice evil pair over there - Walternate and Fauxlivia.
The other part of the story tonight concerns Peter and the ultimate weapon, and shape-shifter soldiers from the other side, over here, who are getting snuffed. The shape-shifters were never my favorite part of Fringe - they're poor man's Terminators - and neither is the ancient, ultimate weapon. Not that I don't like mining ancient vastly advanced civilizations - see a little of my 1999 novel, The Silk Code - but their involvement in this all-powerful weapon threatening us now is a little comic-bookish.On the other hand, Peter's role in bringing forth this weapon is much more intriguing. We see, tonight, that it's turning him into a different kind of person - especially ironic and compelling, since Olivia seems to have gotten over Peter and Fauxlivia, and all but tells him she's ready to resume their relationship....
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 ... Fringe 3.7: Two Universes Still Nearing Collision ... Fringe 3.8: Long Voyages Home ... Fringe 3.10: The Return of the Eternal Bald Observers
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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The Plot to Save Socrates
"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News
"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book
1 comment:
Hey Paul -- I'm so amazed at your prolific covering of all these shows. I was reading through your take on Fringe (I can't wait till tonight's season finale), and I see that you picked up on the Flowers for Algernon feel that some episodes give off. Me too! http://tvgeekarmy.com/post/viewPost/marys_week_in_tv_geek_a_quick_and_fringe-y_round-up/701b4691296d9edc9dc780858b1a6773
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