Review: Fringe #119 ('The Road Not Taken')

119: 'The Road Not Taken'

Teleplay: Jeff Pinkner & J.R. Orci
Story: Akiva Goldsman
Dr: Frederick E.O. Toye

Synopsis: Olivia begins seeing visions while awake that aren't really there. She uses these visions to help solve the case of a woman who spontaneously combusted. Meanwhile, Walter tries to prove that Bell isn't involved with the ZFT, while sightings of the Observer increase.

Review: A somewhat beguiling episode this, feeling more like a small piece of a very large and complex narratalogical puzzle. Oh sure, there's the rudimentary 'curiosity of the week' to contend with - here, it's the somewhat limited but rather cool looking concept of pyrokinesis - but it's mere window dressing, a little garnish to flavour the more mythology-based substance of the plot. This is certainly a refreshing turn up for the books: the tendency of most Fringe episodes is to relegate the season-spanning narrative to B or C-story status (if it's even featured at all), giving the tiniest of clues as to the general course of things but not really moving anything on. Not so here. 'The Road Not Taken' is veritably bursting at the seams with progression: wham! We resolve the issue of Walter's malfunctioning 'y' key on 'his' typewriter, confirming that he has nothing to do with the ZFT manuscript. Bam! Cortexefan comes back to haunt Olivia again as she starts 'slipping' between worlds, experiencing the consequences of decisions she didn't make. Sock! Nina Sharp gets herself in a tizz because sightings of the Observer are on the rise. Kersplat! Walter finds missing pages of the manuscript that potentially indicate William Bell's innocence... and then he's carted off by the Observer because 'it's time'. And, erm, thunk! Nina's shot by some masked dudes at episode's end. It's all addictively frustrating stuff, giving us narrative movement at the expense of concrete answers and guaranteeing that we'll return next week for the undoubtedly explosive finale. It's a shame that there are some missteps here, however: the revelation that Sanford Harris has been working for ZFT (well, we presume) all along is just too convenient a plot twist, an easy way of getting rid of a thoroughly irritating character. While I'm glad to see the back of him, seeing as he functioned as little more than a personified road-block for Olivia, and the plot, to circumnavigate, this could've been executed in a far more organic and believable manner. Then there's Peter's magic sound recreating device which, while certainly rather cool, just seems completely outside the realms of possibility in any way, shape or form. I'm starting to tire of the ridiculousness of the 'psuedo-science' in the show and all the technobabble that comes with it; can't we have a little more grounding in reality, please? I know that's not what the programme's essentially about but we were promised at least a semblance of believability. This just appears ridiculous. Oh and the Star Trek thing? Gratuitous, embarrassing and unnecessarily self-congratulatory when you consider a certain spoiler regarding next week's episode. It's a shame that these less desirable qualities mar an otherwise exciting episode. Given a little extra attention, this could've been a classic. 8.5