FOX
(Season 1, Episode 5)
The “Monster of the Week” is a guy named Joe who has electromagnetic abilities. I tell you this because even though a good portion of the beginning of the episode was spent with Walter divining this fact through experimentation, it had already been revealed to the audience.
Showing us this guy running around with these abilities right off the bat really weakened the impact and dramatic potential of all those scenes with Olivia and Phillip and Walter and Peter as they investigated and talked and tried and figure out if it was possible. It’s like revealing the murderer at the beginning of a murder mystery and then trying to feel all tense and excited as it’s slowly revealed. I just wanted them to get past figuring out what we already knew and move on with the story.
John Scott made yet another triumphant return to freak the hell out of Olivia. This time, he turned off the lights first to lure her out of her office. So now John is going to be her creepy helper with inside information who may or not exist outside of her psyche. It’s nice that Olivia has some importance to the larger story being developed. It’s a shame that this is through her connection to John as opposed to any of her own qualities.
But there has to be something more to John’s presence, and what he’s doing, than what Walter suspects. After all, he led her to his secret cache of files in which we learned that he knew not only about the pattern, but about the elusive Dr. Fisher, who may play an integral role in “the pattern.”
Is there another “The Company” out there, like on Heroes and Prison Break? Maybe they’re the ones behind the pattern, concocting these experiments like the one that turned Joe into Lightning Lad. Hopefully as the series progresses we’ll keep getting little hints as to what their ultimate goal is. And hopefully FOX won’t pull the plug on the series before we get some answers.
Bits and Pieces
So what do you think? Is Fringe getting better? Are you more willing to stick with it now that you know FOX has given it a full season commitment? Ratings are solid so we may actually even get the entire story before it goes off the air.
Clacked by Jason Hughes 
on Oct 15, 2008 @ 10:00 EST5EDT
I’m really liking this series and am in it for the long haul. This wasn’t the best episode to date but I was very tired and nodded off once or twice. Maybe I’ll watch it again when I’m more alert. I missed the observer sighting altogether.
If only Olivia would show a little more genuine emotion. Her facial expressions are so flat, like she’s overmedicated or something! She’s definitely the weakest link of a very strong cast. JJ Abrams usually picks great female leads (Sydney-Alias, Kate-Lost) but the casting of Olivia is a dud. She’s just increadibly boring!
Last night’s episode reinforced my opinion that signing up for a science experiment is never worth the $25.
Like Kim, I’m in it for the long haul.
It was touching moment when Olivia confided in Walter about her John visions. I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of him, but I’m not sure that Walter is right about why he was there..
Loved how Walter made Olivia’s necklace float. It was almost as cool as the tracking pigeons.
Sure they revealed the mystery right away but that was so we could spend time wondering about John.
The Observer was back. He walked out of the elevator right before it crashed. I wonder what that means? Was he there to observe Joseph? If so, for who?
I was surprised to see Astrid willing to be alone with Walter after the last episode. But apparently she forgives and forgets. And Walter still can’t remember her name, but at least he now knows what letter it starts with.
Walter continues to check with Peter about his health which reinforces my belief that he experimented on his son.
I love the show! Cool science fiction mysteries, but I think Walter is hilarious, in this episode, he looked like he was dancing and then out of nowhere, he shocks peter in the face by rubbing his socks against the carpet. I thought he was doing some kind of thinking and definitely didn’t see the shock coming. I am planning on sticking with the show for as long as they keep it up.
That is EXACTLY what I was thinking. Dancing or pretending to exercise. Then he zapped him an I laughed out loud. Love those moments on the show. The dynamic between Walter and Peter is worth the watch, no matter the story. That said, I’m still having trouble with the pained acting in the role of Olivia. Maybe she’ll snap out of it as the show progresses. Fingers crossed!
Yeah, this show is just great. Noble is so compelling as the mad scientist… just dig watching the guy.
I agree with you on the DVR skip cues, very handy! But I didn’t get the sense that they were trying to figure out if what electro-guy was doing was possible throughout the episode; Walter had that figured out in the elevator – I felt most of the time was spent figuring out how to track him. The pigeon releasing scene was great, as was the repeated reference to remembering electro-guys name (menken? isn’t that from mad men?).
I’m wondering if when we look back on the three episodes or so before the observer was revealed to us that he will be at the scenes as they happen, like the elevator last night? If they didn’t think to do it beforehand, they should add him in digitally for the dvd release…
I forgot to say that all networks should have limited commercials, or at least tell us how long the break will be. It seems like some commercial breaks are five minutes long.
I, too, am loving “Fringe”, it’s probably my favorite new series. I’m with everyone who says Anna Torv’s acting, or at least facial expressions, are somewhat lacking. It’s like her entire face has been botoxed into submission.
Of all the characters, Walter has to be the most fun to watch all thanks to John Noble’s wonderful acting. His voice, being somewhat reminiscent of Vincent Price’s, just adds to his creepy, mad scientist persona.
Personally, I wish they’d start fleshing out the Astrid character some more. With Olivia being so wooden, maybe the actress who plays Astrid could take up some of the slack in the female character department. Even with limited screen time, Astrid’s shown much more facial mobility than Olivia and she’s pretty darned cute to boot.
I’m also hoping that we get some answers about the Observer before too long. It would be frustrating to have mysteries being too drawn out like another Abrams property whose name gets LOST in my memory.