"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, March 18, 2011

Fringe 3.17: Bell, Olivia, Lee, and the Cow

Well, the most exciting part of Fringe 3.17 tonight was likely supposed to be Olivia channeling Bell - and Anna Torv did put in a fine performance (in addition to the excellent portrayals of Olivia and Fauxlivia she's already given us this season) - but my favorite part was seeing Lee (Seth Gabel) at work in our reality.  He's outfitted here with glasses, but his persona came through.   He might even be Lee from the other side - the one we know as leader now of their Fringe division - but my guess is we saw his alternate self here, attracted to our Fringe for the same reason he became a Fringe agent over there.  Nice work, in all cases.

Meanwhile, Bell is inhabiting Olivia, whom Bell assures us is just fine.  But there is a need to get him into a more suitable vessel, and it occurred to me before the characters even said it that it might be the cow (occurred to me because Bell said his new host did not even have to be human).  Finally, a use for that cow, other than as an emblem of Walter's charming nut-cased-ness!   But at the end of tonight's episode, Bell learns that his transfer to another living body may not be easy - it may be that any time a bell rings his soul is summoned somewhere.

Caprica also has a role in tonight's show - at least, Paula Malcomsom played the sympathetic villain tonight - a woman who will do just about anything to join her husband and son, killed in accident, which she was in, too, but for some reason didn't die.

Actually, that reason has something to do with the deterioration of our universe because of Walter's breach, which brings me back to wanting not standalone stories, but more of the riveting central story 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 ... Fringe 3.7: Two Universes Still Nearing Collision ... Fringe 3.8: Long Voyages Home ... Fringe 3.10: The Return of the Eternal Bald Observers ... Flowers for Fringenon in Fringe 3.11 ... Fringe 3.12: The Wrong Coffee  ... Fringe 3.13: Alternate Fringe ... Fringe 3.14: Amber Here ... Fringe 3.15: Young Peter and Olivia ... Fringe 3.16: Walter and Yoko

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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3 comments:

M.P. Andonee said...

I am starting to develop a theory of where Fringe is heading, and hold on to your head, it's off the WALL and you might not like it Paul (Happy Early Birthday, BTW).

I think all the doubles are important. In fact, I will dare say, that the two most important doubles, are the ones that are not there: Peter, and Olivia's baby. I think our Olivia is going to have a baby too. And I think, the baby and Peter are going to become critical in the final story. I also think, the preview we saw gave a hint of what is going to happen. I never believed that there are only these TWO worlds, ours and theirs. Who are these people who steal Faux-Olivia's baby in next week's episode? How much do you want to bet that they are from an Alternate-Alternate Reality. And how much do you want to bet that in order for BOTH our universes to survive, the baby (NOT Peter) will have to somehow MERGE the two universes, NOT destroy either one.

I know, my theory is far out, but it has been gnawing on me, because of the constant introduction of the duplicates in both Realities. And while, in some ways, Walternate seems evil, can we really say what he's doing is out of spite, or rather to protect his world? What would you do? For the most part, the writers have portrayed the other reality in a fairly decent way, no matter Olivia's imprisonment. Yes, the Mercury Soldiers are an Abomination, but if you're fighting a perceived war, what means would you use?

It's like the old J. Michael Straczynski argument in "Babylon 5", that once people heard the argument "The Shadows" made, maybe up to 50% would be sympathetic to it.

What do you think Paul, am I way out on a limb here?

Paul Levinson said...

I think both Olivia's having Peter's baby is a very good guess.

As to the baby unifying the universes - that's intriguing, but we wouldn't find out about that until years into the story right? (Unless the baby grows up quickly - but that would be taking a trite page from V.)

But I very much like your 3rd-reality idea - you can put into that the Eternal Bald Observers.

All in all, some good hypothesizing ...

Darell Phillips said...

Paul, I've been watching Fringe but not wearing my detective cap strapped on like with a few other shows. Lately though I can't help it with what's jumped out. I saw a clue to Genesis 2:17 in the bomb's location and with the fate/free will discussion see the machine as a "Genesis Device" that is universal rather than planetary as in STII and STIII.

Besides the homage of Bell's raised hand to STII when last we saw his body I also have parallels (pun intended) to the classic ST episode Return to Tomorrow. I cannot wave off the mention in it of Adam and Eve and the end where Spock's consciousness is in Nurse Chapel. I'm taking all of this Star Trek Genesis as not only an homage to Leonard Nimoy's career but as a clue to perhaps the underpinning of Fringe's mythology.

Is a Revelation/Genesis Ouroboros in the future of Fringe? I think they were prepared for it in case of a cancellation but we now have another season of 22 episodes to "observe" more of this great series.

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