Fringe Season 2 - Page 5

With the Peter Bishop tombstone from last season it seems like a reasonable assumption.

It was a good episode, but also a disappointing one if you went in expecting this to be mythology based (which I did).

Yeah, the security camera footage was pretty ludicrous.

I will watch August later on but regarding to last week episode: You were abducted! Of course you need crêpes!
That line was a nod, of course, but really scary indeed.

So they get their hands on an exotic weapon, and it just so happens to run out of bullets. Real convenient.

It would have been kinda interesting if only Peter could fire it for some reason.

Broyles guessed that it ran out of bullets, but my take is that the The Observer set it so Peter could kill the assassin and that's it. It knows better than to leave that type of technology around. Remember, they aren't supposed to change the timeline. And leaving an active phaser around would do that.

True, but isn't Peter one big change to the timeline already?

Yeah, but again, I don't think The Observer saved him. He obviously knows that Peter is really Peter2. But he didn't have a hand in helping Walter abduct him.

I thought it was funny when the Massive Dynamics geek was showing the really poorly done historical pictures/carvings which happened to have the Observer in each one, but I didn't laugh out loud until we got to see the girl's last picture with her family and THERE HE WAS AGAIN.

That's a good point actually. What was The Observer doing there in the first place? It's one thing to say that once the girl "crossed his mind," he started having "feelings" for her. But if The Observers only appear at important historical events, its curious that he even crossed paths with this girl (who in these terms isn't important in the least).

The assumption is he was there to observe the quake which I guess we can now tie to Fringe events. He just needed to get a corn dog on the boardwalk before watching the carnage.

Oh right, I forgot about that. Nevermind.

He was definitely there for the quake, but I'm not sure we can assume they only appear for "Fringe" events. Didn't the lab geek say they had sightings of them dating back centuries? They seem to be observing "major" events, the ominous part being how they are showing up more and more as we approach... something (the collision of worlds, perhaps).

He'd talked about a dozen events in the history of man until recently though. If the bay area quake isn't tied to Fringe events then the Observers have some explaining to do why they haven't been seen at EVERY natural disaster.

The fellas running this show need to bring the mythos back soon. I enjoyed August, it had a good director indeed.

Who says they weren't? It seems reasonable to assume that if they've been documented at X events, there would have been 10x as many events where they didn't just happen to walk into frame of a recording device...

Cool stuff, but they might want to kick things in gear a bit, as the ratings are looking a bit scary...

next two episodes seems promising...http://www.aintitcool.com/node/43267

Last night's was eh. It started promising but honestly just wasn't weird enough for me. They should've shown that thing sucking on that kid's spleen or something. The episode seemed mostly a way to tag Walter so that when he's abducted next week, they can find him.

Yeah. Not bad, but really average. Glad to see Tzi Ma cling to his usual dirtbag roles.

Loved the emotional payoff with Walter and Asteroid. Nicely played.

I loved it. Thought the whole story moved briskly along, and had nice grisly undertones. Walter in jeopardy never fails to get to me, and like the good doctor said above, I loved the scene where he realizes Astrid was injured. Genuinely moving.

I got quite choked up, I'll admit. And I'm usually a cold and emotionless robot doctor.

Liked the monster, in that it was being grown for medicinal purposes. Thought the rest was kinda filler. I mean, it was ok development for Walter, but the tracker seemed to be the end as opposed to the development being the means.

Compared to the rest of this miserable season, it was a solid episode... until Peter decided to take on the Triad by himself armed with nothing but a lockpick.

The "Monster of the week" cases aren't doing much for me, but the characters are lifting the show above the pack. When they do return to the mythology stories, they definitely feel more like what they want the series to be.

I kinda think they should push Peter & Olivia's relationship along to whatever they intend it to be (real friends? lovers?). Her lack of a strong emotional tie to the rest of the cast is limiting. When we hit an episode like this one that focuses on the 'family' aspect of the characters (despite none of them actually being related), Olivia's left as a plot-mover on the outside of everything. Plus, if we're approaching a "shit hits the fan" moment like it appears, it'll help raise those stakes.

Ratings were up 25% this week. Complaints aside, I'd be pretty disappointed if Fringe were canceled, so that's good news.

My hearstrings definately got tugged with Walter and Astrid last night. They were both so worried about each other.

Maybe. Walter is a great character. But somehow I am connecting with this show like The X-Files. The Scully/Mulder dynamic was much stronger there.

They never learn. I can't even count how many times Olivia and/or Peter run into an extremely dangerous situation by themselves. It's pretty much every episode.

Also, I agree with Farsight in that Olivia is sort of just a plot mover. There's no emotional tie to her so I don't care whether she lives or dies - which is not what you want for a lead of show. That said, the connection between Astrid and Walter was really touching, as well as Peter realizing that his dad is really struggling with his memory loss.

This season is moving along like last season. They have four mythology eps tops. Two in the beginning, two at the end. The rest is just filler. Sometimes it can be good character filler, but mostly its an exercise in trying my patience. I wish the writers were good enough to be able to weave bits and pieces of character development and mythology in the same episode. Even when Lost is't about the mythology, it is. There's always something going on beneath the surface. This show just doesn't know how to do that, and its frustrating.

Compounded by the clockwork last-minute rescue. Every episode - and I'm not being hyperbolic here, really - has a last-minute rescue. Usually Peter. It's to the point that there's no longer anything at stake when Peter or Olivia are put in danger.

Actually like the stuff with Walter and Astrid this week. Glad they really addressed how frail and disconnected Walter is. On the other hand, the MOW stories just aren't working for me. The first season felt like it had some sort of purpose, but now the Fringe guys are just another ooky-spooky detective team, and X-Files beat that horse into a bloody pulp.

And unfortunately, with the big ratings spike they saw for this last episode, they'll probably continue pumping out MotW epidsodes this season and next.

Jesus. The first half hour was like a Middleman episode. Dr. West, Dunwich Mental Institution, Mrs. Crampton, Stewart Gordon.

I totally should have seen the Dr. Paris reveal coming, but somehow it slipped by me.

I really liked the episode. One of the strongest this season all around. It moved the mythology forward and also was a really well done one hour show as well. There were some great character moments all around - Olivia frustrated at not knowing the enemy's motivations and having to choose to save Walter, Peter showing how much he loves his dad and feeling bad for not visiting him, Walter showing how much Peter means to him, etc. A couple of random thoughts/questions:

- Did you catch the angry, potentially evil Walter that came through when his brain was fully working and he realized there were intruders in his home? You can really see how determined he was to "fix" his family when Peter died and I think this also shows how his counterpart in the mirror world could be the super-bad many of theorize. Noble deserves an Emmy nod.
- I don't quite understand what the silver bloods wanted. Yes, I know it's how to make or use the dimensional door. But do they need that knowledge to go back to the mirror world...or do they want to destroy that knowledge so Walter and co. can never go there again? If you think they need it because they want to go back that really doesn't make any sense as we know there are a few of these assassins running around. Have they just been hanging out for a few years/decades? It makes more sense that they are travelling back and forth but maybe not.
- Why are the assassins so damn polite? Evil-Charlie sure as hell wasn't. I do like the new bad guy though, he was good. Looks a lot like Gordon Ramsey to me, ha.
- Broyles led on like he knows more than Olivia about how they need Walter in the future.
- The Blight has me intrigued. I wonder why Cambridge in mirror-world was impacted by it and not NYC? Does the Blight explain why the alternate universe is at war with us? Do they need or want something we have to combat it or do they think we caused it?

My brother and I both thought "Gordon Ramsey" when we saw him.

I think the thing their working on making is more of large scale door, so more people can get through to our side.

I think these sort of answer each other. The way 'complete' Walter says 'How are things on the other side?' implies that he has something to do with it.

My theory: Walter brought some sort of biological payload with him when he kidnapped Peter and released it just before coming back, as a typically over the top Walter-esque attempt to cover his tracks. This is how the Walter of the other side (assuming he is in fact the big bad) has been able to acquire the resources to build the silverbloods and plan an interdimensional invasion. Very strong hints of Marvel's 'Ultimate Power' crossover series from a while back.

Now that's an episode. Move the mythology along and had emotional heart. And the show did not disappoint with Olivia and Peter rushing into a dangerous situation without any back up, complete with the last minute save. Gah!

Loved the William Bell reveal. I assume this means that someone (Walter #2) has found Bell's hiding spot and made him give up the locations of Walter's brain.

It's clear that people know how to travel back and forth already. Aside from the silver shapeshifter guys, Olivia's done it. So maybe the memories in Walter's brain are to create a permanent door?

As for the politeness, I was confused too. They shoot the security guard in cold blood, but just gag the resident's in Walter's old house.

And agreed that Walter had something to do with the failing of Universe 2. The show had Olivia deliver her "callous" comment that Walter became a better person after his time in the mental hospital to hammer home that Walter was a mad scientist willing to do whatever it takes to conduct his experiments. The show has been hitting these character moments really well.

So it appears that the first shot in the inter-dimensional war was fired from our side and it was bigger than a simple kidnapping. I'm guessing that the Blight was an unintended consequence of the gate and not something deliberately released by Walter.

And sane Walter looks like a proper bastard.

Sane Walter was definitely chilling. Looking forward to future scenes of vulnerable Walter side-by-side with menacing Walter.

And you know what? I don't think bastard Walter is actually gone. There was something about his look when he was getting the second cat-scan that felt weird. He may not be fully back but I think he's putting on an act.

I'm not too good at keeping track of mythology, do we know the status of Sane Walter from the other verse? Is he presumably on a mission of revenge to get his Peter back? Or is he dead? I can't remember if we've learned anything about that.

This was probably the first episode of Fringe I REALLY liked. It moved the mythology forward in interesting ways, while hitting some great character beats. Even though the Peter thing is very obvious by now (deliberately so, I think), hopefully the way it actually played out will be interesting. I have a feeling the observers had something to do with Walter figuring out how to get to the other side.

I don't recall anything overtly being said. It's been theorized by Chewers that Walter#2 would want revenge for his son being kidnapped.

I think that theory is on the money. Especially with Broyles' well placed line at the end of the episode: There's only one Walter Bishop.

I don't recall, apart from the Peter thing, has it been proven that there're 2 versions of, well... anyone?! I mean, wouldn't there be 2 Bells, 2 Dunhams, and so on?

What? There was an entire episode dedicated to Walter explaining to Peter and Olivia about the alternative universe where he explicitly talks about doubles. And yes, there are doubles of everyone.

Thanks, totally don't remember that episode.

I thought the second brain scan was a flashback to Bell originally removing the memories.