TV and film companion novels have always been a mixed bag. Some are great additions to the mythos of a world, adding nuance and back story for fans hungry for “more.” Most, sadly, are none of those things. Writing a good book is a difficult enough task in and of itself; trying to fit a story into an existing world and include the proper amount of fan service makes it damn near impossible.

Fringe: The Burning Man tells the story of a young Olivia Dunham. The bulk of the story is centered during her teens, but there are a couple of chapters at the beginning and end of the novel that cover younger days and the beginning of her time with the FBI. Fans of the show know the woman that Olivia becomes, and the arc that The Burning Man theoretically might be more a part of that history than the cortexiphan trials that made her “special.”

I’m not saying that a story with Olivia needs Walter or Peter to be good (and neither would Peter or Walter’s story need the others). But an interesting and compelling story, The Burning Man is not. I was never a fan when Fringe took the fringe science to the extreme, and we get that in spades here. Also, the story was a bit discombobulated, jumping back and forth between different arcs and antagonists. If you were to ask me what exactly what the novel was really about, the best I could come up with is, “Olivia had a really crappy childhood.”

I don’t doubt that author Christa Faust is talented; she’s a multiple award-winning novelist with a nice bit of variety on her resume. But there’s nothing about A Burning Man that makes me want to pick up the other books in the series, The Zodiac Paradox (Walter’s novel, on bookshelves now) or Sins of the Father (Peter, due out on November 5^th). I have much higher hopes for the recently announced Veronica Mars companion novels; hopefully I won’t be as disappointed as I was here.

(The preceding piece was based on a complimentary copy provided to CliqueClack for the purpose of review.)

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I don’t normally bother with spoiler warnings, because I’m one of those people who thinks that you should be visiting a television and pop culture commentary site if you’re avoiding spoilers for a particular show. But in this case, I’m going to make an exception. If you’ve not watched this weeks Fringe, you should move on now.

No, seriously … don’t keep reading; you’re not going to be happy with me.

Now that you’ve made it this far, I have a question for you: did anyone see that happening? Despite wondering all summer why Georgina Haig wasn’t made a series regular, I know I sure didn’t. Even as word started to circulate on my Twitter feed that there was big happenings in this episode – including potentially a major character death – I didn’t think Etta would be in any type of danger. Frankly, I thought that Broyles was the character in the most danger.

Think about it: Broyles hasn’t been connected to the core Fringe team since the time jump. He’s been working behind the scenes on their behalf, and the reunion that we saw tonight was a foregone conclusion. What kind of emotional rollercoaster would result from Broyles reconnecting with the team only for him to die in some heroic way the character deserved? As a fan of the show, it feels weird to say that I would have preferred the death of a character that has been around since the first episode, but I’m still pretty shell-shocked from Etta’s death – and I watched the episode on two days ago.

In many ways, Etta represented the union between Peter and Olivia that the audience was never really privy to. Fringe has done a wonderful job reinventing itself several times during its run, but a complaint that many fans had was that these changes interrupted getting to see their favorite couple together and happy for any extended period of time. Even in the timeline that we’re now watching, Peter and Olivia were separated by time, space and amber for many years. Their happy time raising young Etta was cut short – and we didn’t even get to see that.

But Etta was the living symbol of a time that Peter and Olivia were together as well as an emotional anchor that both characters shared in this tumultuous future. She a wonderful dynamic with both of her parents – though her relationship with her mother, with its interesting give and take, was on display much more often. I can only imagine the lasting effects her loss will have on both Olivia and Peter. One thing forgotten in this time jump is how many of their friends and family the might have lost as well. Unless I’ve missed it, we’ve not heard anything about Rachel and Ella. Etta’s death might be in the forefront, but its far from the only loss they’ve had to endure.

From a more practical perspective, their mission of saving the world just got much more difficult. Etta was their guide in the future, doing everything from translating to teaching. Broyles is the obvious candidate to step into that role where he can, but Peter, Olivia and Walter are going to need to be a great deal more self-sufficient moving forward.

Considering the many characters that have come and gone as Fringe transitioned through multiple worlds, universes, realities and timelines, I was surprised at how much of an impact Etta’s death had on me as a viewer. While I think that she obviously important to the story – and to her parents – I think it’s more than that. Georgina Haig did a wonderful job in a tough role, and will be missed as Fringe comes to an end this season.

Did you get attached to Etta as I did?

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