Fringe - 'Do Shapeshifters Dream of Electric Sheep?' (Season 3, Episode 4): A monster's love

“Sometimes monsters aren’t all that bad. Sometimes, if you get to spend some time with them they can be very surprising. They can be incredibly sweet and pure and capable of great great love. And then, one of them might actually become your best best friend” - Ray (a shapeshifter)

Charmingly constructing its title by borrowing from the title of the Philip K. Dick novel 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?', this excellent episode, like the novel, explores than unrelenting SF question of can an artificial life form (in the novel, replicants, and here, shape shifters) have emotions in the same manner that humans do?

Right from the episode's opening we are shown that these creatures are capable of love and kindness - the senator shapeshifter is kind to two young girls who are selling lemonade, without any ulterior motive as far as we can see. And his kindness is ultimately his downfall, since as he smiles as the girls' shouts that he forgot his change whilst looking in his rear view mirror, he is hit by another car and hospitalised.

We are then presented with another shapeshifter, this one living under the guise of a family man, who has clearly grown and retains strong emotional ties with 'his' child and wife. I found this man's story and the way he alters his mission (he doesn't shape-shift during it in the hopes that he can return to his family life afterwards) quite moving. And his ties are also his downfall; with Newton taking care of this potentially compromisable part of his organisation.

Through the theme of can an artificial being becoming too emotionally attached when undercover, we of course explore at the same time whether alt-Olivia has or is succumbing in the same manner. Newton - before his death, which I feel is a great loss for the show - confronts her on this and accuses her outright of warming to the enemy, stating that ultimately it would be here downfall; and based on the demise of the shapeshifters featured in this episode (both due to them loving humans), it seems that alt-Olivia is likely destined for the same fate. It makes me wonder if she will do something drastic now to try to disprove Newton's accusation (to herself); we know she is capable of killing innocence in cold blood, so I'm fearful about what she might do to any given member of our main cast when put in a corner.



I don't know how to read into alt-Olivia mounting Peter at the end; it could be her embracing her emotional ties to him, thinking 'stuff the consequences', but it is probably more likely her trying to disprove Newton (to herself again) by performing an act of deep emotion while retaining an aloofness to it in her mind - essentially a test for herself; can she remain emotionally disciplined even when sleeping with him.

Share

Fringe – 'The Plateau' (Season 3, Episode 3): Probability juggling

“You know why you didn’t die today, right? Because you didn’t know the protocol... You did something that he couldn’t factor in; you kept running. You know why you did that... you’re not from this world Olivia.” – Peter [Olivia's subconscious]

Right from the off this was an excellent episode. Watching who was clearly this episode's antagonist manipulate probabilities towards securing a fatal outcome was immersing, and by the end of the opening you could just tell this would be one of those way above par Fringe episodes.

Walternate here reveals at least the first part of his plan for deluding our Olivia with regards to her identity – because she holds one capability that Alt-Olivia did not; the ability to cross between universes easily. If this is the only reason for undertaking such extensive effort to get her to believe that falsehood, I found it a little underwhelming. Also, surely making her reach ‘the plateau’ and fully become Alt-Olivia would mean she lost everything Olivia-like about herself, including the ability to cross over? And if she retained it somehow, then during the tests that they are about to put her through, using Peter’s clothes as a stimulant, surely such items would also remind her of her true identity, meaning as the experiment succeeds she’d essential turn against them anyway?

It is also revealed here that Alt-Olivia had a partner (in the relationship sense), with whom our Olivia is now with. The key question here is does her partner know that it isn’t his Olivia (i.e. has he been told)? If he hasn’t been told then surely someone as close as a partner would be able to tell the difference? And if he has – his insistence for her to tell Broyles could be sign that he has been told, or could simply be the caring worries of a partner – why is he so ok with the change? By threat from Walternate?

Probability manipulation/prediction as a topic here was an excellent choice. Everything this show boils down to is the fact that how a single decision, however minor, made in different ways can and will branch off into separate universes. Showing us Milo's perspective as he observes all the possible outcomes of a given situation - them using a segmented screen to show us all the variable outcomes at once - reinforces and highlights for us the idea mentioned above; that an infinite number of universes exist for each outcome of every possible decision we make (the 'many worlds theory').

This makes me wonder if this show will ever venture into focusing on more than two universes at a time. Charlie Jade managed three at once successfully (even if this confused some people, making them calling it 'complex' and probably thus was a minor contributing factor towards the show's cancellation), so I think at least one more could be added to the mix without things getting out of hand. After all, isn't the plot hole here that really there should be a bunch of other Walters who also stole a Peter from other universes, and subsequently a bunch of other Walternates bent on destruction? With all of those trying to cross over into other universes, why has only this one managed to access ours? Shouldn't there be a storm of them knocking at our Walter's door, thinking him the perpetrator of their theft?

Neatly slipped in is another reminder of just how different this universe is to our own, with Olivia’s mention (presumably through the implanted memories) of “how much did you pay for those?”, referring to some avocados; implying that avocados are considerably rare and thus expensive in this universe.



Overall, I think this is the best episode of the three we’ve had so far for this season. The Alt-universe (and thus odd numbered) episodes are proving more interesting so far.

Share

Fringe - ‘The Box’ (Season 3, Episode 2): Ruthless actions

"You don't have to remind me whose side I'm on" - Alt-Olivia

Two episodes in and the game we seem to be playing is a slow and exploratory one. There is minimal forward momentum with the story arc; we even here have an episode that feels like a return to the stand-alone, case-of-the-week episode format – the only difference being that the object in question here plays a part in Walternate’s larger endgame. Last week we got to explore the alternate universe’s characters via Olivia’s struggle there, and this week we get to explore how Alt-Olivia is fitting in and accomplishing her mission in our universe.

I believe I read in SciFiNow magazine that for the first stretch of this season all of the even numbered episodes will be set in our universe and all of the odd numbered episodes on the other side, which the season has indeed so far followed. I think this is a cool touch – not only for the significance of the ‘odd’ number in relation to the universe that is 'strange' to us, but also because we are being given both a healthy dose of this new toy – the other side – without losing touch with our own.

Perhaps inspired by Matheson’s short story and Richard Kelley’s recent adaptation of such, the curiosity of what lays inside a mysterious box getting the better of you premise is only really used, I think, to parallel the decision that Walter must make about whether to further ‘cross the line’, as Bell suggests, and whether to look inside the safety deposit box.



For me, the key thing to take away from this episode is that Alt-Olivia far more unlike our Olivia and indeed far more ruthless than we perhaps thought; shown by her action of shooting the deaf man in cold blood, as well as her distracting Peter with her sexual allures. Before this execution of an innocent man, she seemed like she could hold the potential to warm to our side and universe, even if perhaps not straight away, and possibly even change sides. Early on here though, she tells Newton (though it is more directed at us, the viewer): “You don’t have to remind me whose side I’m on” – a statement that we should really have accepted at face value. Her encounter with the third man puts to rest any hopes we might have had – she is loyal, she is ruthless and she is deadly. Whereas we can see from where Walternate’s maliciousness and disregard for human life stems – the theft of his son – it is far more shocking to see Olivia act in this manner. Could small, differently made choices made in her life really have turned her into this?

Alt-Olivia also doesn't seem to be playing her undercover role very well - several times in this episode she acts differently to how our Olivia acts, on purpose; with the dance, the music admiration, and even the way she now wears a fringe like with her original hairstyle, leading me to believe that Peter will definitely figure out her true identity, if he hasn't already. She is making it far too easy for him, and I really can't see how such a highly trained professional could be so foolish and careless. Either meaning that maintaining her cover is perhaps less important to these people than we thought, or that this is perhaps a minor plot error at play?

Share

Fringe - 'Olivia' (Season 3, Episode 1): Identity crisis, Collateral-style

"Sometimes you just gotta believe in what you can't see" - Henry

'Fringe' is back for a new season and this will be the first show that I attempt to discuss every week, hopefully keeping up with every episode. Now, I fully realise that I don't have the TV analytical skills of someone like Alan Sepinwall, who can spot every popular culture reference (and there are always many) within a Chuck episode without blinking, and who offers key insights into such things as the writers' thoughts, but you'll just have to make do with the skills I do have.

Firstly, it's great to see the guest appearances for this show getting better; last season giving us such acting (and nerdy SF-reference) greats as Peter Weller, and now, interestingly - since there there is no clear geek culture link that I can see - Andre Royo of The Wire fame.

This episode shouted Michael Mann's Collateral at me continually; with the taxi driver hostage to a fugitive situation, whom towards he the taxi driver then becomes sympathetic and ever more entangled with, to the point of almost being complicit, and the taxi driver having a profound effect on the thoughts of our fugitive, etc.

Olivia struggles with her identity until she eventually buckles and seemingly believes that she is indeed alt-Olivia (presuming she isn't duping Walternate and co.), which we're told is a key move towards Walternate's unknown endgame.

Seth Gabel's character Lincoln Lee is treated to more characterisation here (and how cool does he look all scarred up and not giving a damn? - that's got to hurt like hell, no matter how good medicinal technology is in this universe), something that was necessary since this show has for a long time resisted introducing new long-term characters (though it could perhaps be argued that it is all the better for this) - presuming Lee is here to stay, since we know we are going to be treated to a great deal of time spent in the alternate universe this season.

I grew so used to Anna Torv's hazel coloured hair in this episode that seeing Alt-Olivia's blonde hair at the end gave me the same repulsed reaction I had when I saw the hazel do for the first time. I'm forced to conclude that they both look good on Torv, but just should never be viewed in quick succession of one another (something we unfortunately won't be able to avoid).

Overall, this was a great character piece for Olivia, excellently portrayed by Torv, which allowed us viewers to spend some much deserved time exploring this alt-verse, whilst also setting up some key plot scenarios to take forward. A great start to the season.

Share