"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?
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