Review: Fringe season one finale (#120: 'There's More Than One of Everything')

120: 'There's More Than One of Everything'

Teleplay: Jeff Pinker & J.H. Wyman
Story: Akiva Goldsman & Bryan Burk
Dr: Brad Anderson

Synopsis: Someone close to Fringe Division is attacked, and bioterrorist David Robert Jones returns. Meanwhile, Walter inexplicably disappears and Nina asks Olivia for a favour.

Review: After ramping up its game with lots of talk and, to quote a certain Dr. Bishop, postulation about alternate realities in 'The Road Not Taken', Fringe continues to keep its foot firmly on the accelerator here, delivering the goods by predicating its entire narrative on this most fascinating of concepts and even giving us a glimpse into the secondary universe that we've been promised since the season's halfway point. The story ratchets along at a whirlwind pace, resolving loose plot strands cleanly and efficiently while simultaneously throwing a truckload of fresh mysteries our way that ensure our return for its recently announced second season. The attack on Nina Sharp is addressed and dealt with immediately upon our introduction to the episode - no dicking around at home with Olivia while she reads her niece a metaphorically relevant story and waits for the inevitable phone call from Broyles that will interrupt her. We get concrete answers from this too, as a brief history of David Robert Jones's association with Massive Dynamic is delivered in pleasingly succinct fashion, and some form of honesty is finally allowed between all the parties involved in the investigation of Pattern incidents, as Nina comes clean about her knowledge of parallel worlds and William Bell's whereabouts. It's good to see Broyles, Olivia and most particularly Agent Francis trying to come to terms with the theoretical absurdity of the whole thing: the scene in which they all add a sentence or two to the explanation is masterfully paced, with the simultaneous ringing of all three of their phones making for some excellent comic timing.

It's a shame that Nina's revelation about Bell is delivered somewhat artificially. Olivia's line, "I'll turn this world upside down looking for him" feels far too much like a feed into Sharp's reveal, making the next piece of dialogue ("Ah, but he's not in this world!" or words to that effect) rather predictable. And while the triad of narratives that make up the main thrust of the hour - Jones's, Olivia's and Peter's - come to their apex at a refreshingly speedy pace, it is somewhat ridiculous that Agent Dunham manages to find the connection between all of the Pattern cases and Jones's recent exploits within, what, a few hours? The fact that she's wearing the same clothes in the scene where she has her "Eureka!" moment as the one in which she starts asking for every single file 'linked to biology and science' (some of which go back twenty years), and that she manages to arrive at Raiden Lake at virtually the same time as the Bishops, would appear to indicate that very little time is supposed to have elapsed. Well colour me sceptical, but surely with such a massive array of cases to work through, and the fact that "a dozen of [Massive Dynamic's] best analysts have spent the better part of two years looking for a connection", this should maybe take a little longer? What, can Cortexefan induce super speed now or something?

This is a fairly minor gripe, however. The remainder of the narrative is so thrillingly engaging that one is able to suspend disbelief and put certain illogical elements to the back of the mind. Jones's antics, in particular, are a wonderful conceit and the writers exploit their potential to the maximum. While his death is certainly a delight to watch, even if it does feel like a lot more could've been done with the character, it is the revelation of the child's body that is the most
memorable moment, and one of the most horrific the show has ever given us. There's something about the angle of the splice and the fact that the victim is an innocent youngster playing football that really curdles the blood, which in turn strengthens the gravitas of the threat at hand. Then there's Walter and Peter's scenes which, despite being a little cheesy in places (how predictable that the boy's reminisce about pancakes would be just what his dad needed to jog his memory!), stand up well thanks to the very considerable talents of Messrs Noble and Jackson. The scene in which the pair discuss the function of Walter's device is beautifully shot, making expert use of chiaroscuro to visually reflect the hour's central motif. Their faces are shot half in shadow and half in light (significantly, the vice versa of each other), which echoes the binarity of the alternate reality concept: two worlds co-existing but different, one to which we are privy ('in light') and one to which we are not ('in shadow').

The revelation that Peter is from the parallel world is a masterful one too, tying together a large number of character beats from the season, ranging from Walter's intermittent reiteration of his son's sickness as a child to Peter's lack of memory of certain events. It is carried out with the most sublime delicacy, telegraphed in only the most subtle of ways and therefore coming as a distinct, but ultimately very pleasing, surprise. And speaking of surprises, was anyone actually shocked by Leonard Nimoy's appearance? The media have been all over this one for a couple of weeks, spoiling what would've undoubtedly been a superlative fangeek spazz out moment. Still, at least we finally caught a glimpse of the legendary William Bell and, from the looks of things, the parallel universe. There are some lovely touches here, from the presence of the Twin Towers to the fact that President Kennedy is alive and well. Oh, and the scene in which Olivia 'crosses over' in the elevator is fantastically eerie and mysterious; don't know about you, but the moment when it briefly fills with people really creeped me out.

A pretty awesome effort all round then, striking just the right balance between weaving together the season's disparate narrative strands and maintaining a sufficient level of mystery to keep us all stoked for the arrival of year two. As a finale, this is just what the doctor ordered. I think I just made myself cringe. 8.9