#202: 'Night of Desirable Objects'
Wr: Jeff Pinkner & J.H. Whyman
Dr: Brad Anderson
Synopsis: The Fringe team travels to Pennsylvania to investigate an underground tunnel full of human remains. Meanwhile, Walter experiments using frogs to travel between realities.
Review: Fringe treads water for the second week running with 'Night of Desirable Objects', which sees the show return more explicitly to the formula it adopted in the early stages of its first season. Once again, we take a trip down X-Files lane as the gang investigate an unusual occurrence in a sleepy town, and any mythology elements, any movement in the progression of the ongoing story arc, are relegated to the narratalogical second division. In theory, there's nothing wrong with this set-up; some of Chris Carter's show's greatest achievements are to be found in its stand-alone hours, but it doesn't seem that the Fringe writing staff have yet discovered how to make their 'curiosities of the week' actually hold the viewer's attention for the duration of the programme's forty five minutes.
Too often, as here, the plot feels like it's stretched thin, lacking the sort of substance and intrigue that pushes the need to advance the ongoing plot to the back of our minds. The central conceit, that people are going missing 'on the spot' (so to speak) in Lansdale, may be deftly executed – Brad Anderson uses long shots, pregnant silences and disconcerting set pieces (the scarecrow, the train) to manufacture a potent level of eeriness – but it's regrettably predictable. The 'human mutation' storyline has been done so many times in the show already – some successful ('Inner Child'), some not so much ('The Transformation') – that it feels tired; it no longer surprises us and as such, it's a struggle for the viewer to invest in it, to be as apparently psyched as Walter by the whole thing. Worryingly, it also becomes obvious from the moment that we first see Hughes's boots trawling through the underground 'tunnel' that he has a distinct emotional investment in the case, and it's only a few beats later before we put two and two together and realise that his apparently dead son is still alive and (very much) kicking. Consequently, the ultimate pay-off in the graveyard falls depressingly flat: the fact that the boy is not in the coffin is built up as if it's the most shocking of revelations when actually, it couldn't be any more signposted if it tried. This sort of thing smacks of lazy writing; it really wouldn't take much to expand the scope of the plot, to incorporate further minutiae to help disguise these developments.
Even more problematically, it becomes clear at various points in the episode that Whyman and Pinkner are struggling to keep their script afloat. There are a number of disposable scenes included that, in more complex and interesting hours, would undoubtedly end up on the cutting room floor. The most notable of these is Olivia and a fellow agent discovering the body of Mr. Hughes in a sequence that opens the act immediately following the depiction of his suicide. It adds absolutely nothing of relevance to the plot as the viewer is already privy to all of the intricacies. Seeing Olivia connect the dots is superfluous; the same effect would be created if she was simply informed by someone else, or if we returned and she was already in acquisition of the knowledge. Curiously, the converse is true of the narrative's denouement; there is simply not enough here, as we spend all of two minutes with the creature before it meets its ungainly end by being speared by a police car. There is a minor scuffle between it, Peter and Olivia and hilariously, that's it. While the 'monster' had previously secreted paralytic venom to ensnare its prey and clearly has the geographical and psychological upper hand in the situation, it decides to sit back and rest on its laurels when faced with our protagonists, just jostling them about a bit and dragging Dunham off for a tet a tet or something. Ergo, the story's resolution is completely anti-climactic and far too sudden. Could we not have learned more about the creature's genetic make-up, something about what makes him tick or simply spent more time involved in the struggle?
It's somewhat frustrating that too little time is spent on important sequences like this one, and the development of the mythological elements of the narrative (we still don't know the specifics of Olivia's encounter with William Bell), when Whyman and Pinkner manage to incorporate pointless rehashes of previously established minutiae, such as the inclusion of a scene in which Walter tells the audience about the existence of parallel universes; you know, just for those who have forgotten or have only just joined the show. 'A New Day in the Old Town' tried this trick too and frankly, it's irritating; would it really hurt the production staff to give their audience some credit, or to leave the recapping to the 'previously on Fringe' segment?
Naturally, there are elements of 'Night of Desirable Objects' that are somewhat more successful. Aside from the superlative execution of the more macabre portions of the narrative, there's also much to be gained from the character beats too. It's good to see Olivia suffering the after effects of her car accident. All too often, television sacrifices believability for the sake of re-establishing the status quo, but thankfully, not here; Anna Torv is excellent at depicting Dunham's fatigue, the fact that she's run down, and it really helps the viewer to invest in the story. Elsewhere, Walter and Peter's burgeoning relationship continues to provide a number of decidedly sweet moments, particularly Peter's offer to take his father fishing which could have seemed mawkish in the hands of lesser actors but is actually rather moving here. And finally, Agent Francis's transformation remains thoroughly entertaining; it's great to see the mysterious 'back room' again, with its typewriter-to-another-world, and kudos to Kirk Acevado for choosing to underplay the character's new-found evilness instead of hamming it up.
Once again, Fringe decides to slam the brakes on rather than speed down the highway. The writing staff have abandoned the forward momentum they initiated towards the close of last season in favour of returning to the bog standard 'monster of the week' formula from which the show began. There are minor developments in the ongoing narrative but they simply aren't enough, especially when one considers the wafer thin nature of the remainder of the plot. While 'stand alones' can often prove more successful than the big, revelation-heavy episodes, they have to contain enough meat and a weighty enough concept to keep the viewer engaged. Sadly, 'Night of Desirable Objects' has neither of these: the 'human mutation' trope is highly unoriginal and its execution is mired in predictability – the viewer figures out the 'mystery' and can piece together the denouement within the first fifteen minutes. With a little more work and an amping up of the plot, this could've been a triumph but as it is, it's distinctly average. 6.3
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