203: 'Fracture'
Wr: David Wilcox
Dr: Bryan Spicer
Synopsis: Peter, Olivia, and Walter race against time to investigate the bombing of a train station. Walter discovers something unusual about the human remains.
Review: Another week, another bog standard episode of The X Files Lite. This edition's 'curiosity' is distinctly weak: we are treated to a wafer thin story about a one-dimensional ex-army general who has a bit of a grudge against the Observers, harnessing the powers acquired by a select few of his former officers when under experimental treatment in order to blow up the parcels being sent between the bald-headed ones... which, of course, kills his compatriots in the process. This all just feels far too familiar. We've figured out exactly who is behind what by the end of the first act, so the rest of the episode just feels like water treading, stumbling around watching the crackpot Fringe division dodge the answers completely. Peter's miraculous contacts are proving to be a bit of a nusiance too; how many times is he going to 'know someone who can help.... ILLEGALLY'?!
Olivia's sub-plot with the crazy bowling alley dude also seems to drag on and on... "oh sensei, teach me to remember Spock!" Euck. I give Fringe til episode ten to get to the point when Dunham remembers every last detail and then another ten hours to actually return to the parallel universe... by which point, it'll be the end of the season again and we can start the cycle over. At least 'Fracture' begins to join the dots with the Observer and his kind, but the notion that they are in some way 'against' us poor humans is made out to be a big revelation when in fact, it feels like anything but. This notion has crossed the viewer's mind many a time before... we knew there was at least something odd about him anyway. So, again, this is a passable episode but it feels like we've seen most of it before. Surprise us Fringe, go on! You know you want to. 6.0
204: 'Momentum Deferred'
Wr: Zack Stentz & Ashley Edward Miller
Dr: Joe Chappelle
Synopsis: Agent Dunham, still recovering from her traumatic visit to the alternate reality, is given a concoction by Walter to help her remember. Another woman being experimented on by Walter is introduced. Meanwhile the Fringe team look into a series of robberies that are linked to shapeshifting.
Review: 'Momentum Deferred'! Hah! What an unfortunate pun, eh? How apt a title! Fringe has been doing exactly that for the last three weeks, kicking all the crucial narrative development to the curb in favour of delivering a load of half-arsed stand alone episodes that lack weight and feel like they've been written on the back of a beer mat. Fortunately for the somewhat ailing show, this episode doesn't live up to its title. Instead, it manages to be easily the best thing that the writing staff have done since season one's finale and in fact, it might even be better than that. Barely anything about the script feels blase or predictable, with the possible exception of Walter's encounter with his former experimental subject, which comes across as a little too tacked on, as if Miller and Stentz felt like they couldn't go an entire episode without including some sort of emotional investment for everybody. Mind, it does give John Noble an entirely new set of emotions to play around with so perhaps we'll forgive it.
Everything else, however, is fairly riproaring and beguiling stuff, and just to make things even more palatable, loaded with actual answers. The shapeshifter storyline is pulsatingly dramatic once you've got past the absurdity of it all (I mean come on, wasn't this supposed to be about 'fringe science'? Things within the realm of possibility? Mercury-blooded robotic shapeshifters from a parallel universe? Um, yeah, see that all the time!) The story moves along at a brisk pace, starting in curiosity as Curtis from 24 rummages through a bunch of severed heads and ending in the unfortunate death of Agent Francis at the hands of good old Dunham. We get a truckload of Leonard Nimoy, which can be nothing but a good thing, and his dialogue with Olivia actually offers up a whole host of explanations, as well as fresh intrigue, which is definitely refreshing to see.
More often than not, this show spends time piling on the questions rather than answering them, so this feels like something of a treat. You start to feel like your patience and persistence is paying off - writers and producers, this is what we need to see more of, and if you insist on doing hours that are independent of the central mythology, at least load them with the abundant level of intrigue and number of layers that we see here. You can do it guys... now don't let us down again. 9.2
205: 'Dream Logic'
Wr: Josh Singer
Dr: Paul A. Edwards
Synopsis: A man attacks his boss after a disturbing dream and the team travels to Seattle to investigate. Meanwhile, Broyles needs to meet with Nina Sharp.
Review: It is notoriously difficult to follow centre-piece episodes, especially when your subject matter is far, far removed from the driving force of a show's ongoing narrative. Stand alone hours are probably the bane of most writers' existence for that solitary reason: you need something truly original, really engaging, in order to compete with the heavyweights. Unfortunately, while 'Dream Logic' really tries its hardest, it just can't seem to come up with the goods. Singer's script has a nice twist, sure: making the crime's investigator and supposed victim actually be the perpetrator is a good touch, but its realisation is ultimately too illogical and, well, silly. The revelation causes the plot to sort of fizzle out and it quickly becomes apparent that there's nothing or no one left for the guy to 'feed' from; yes, it's rather admirable for him to effectively take his own life, but it sort of deflates the narrative, eradicating all the forward momentum that was generated by the intricacies of the investigation. Quite literally, we receive the epiphany one minute and the story is over in the next. It fails to pay off the rather well-handled build up and makes the episode as a whole feel a bit disappointing.
There are other problems too: the constant reliance on Peter's mysterious connections is actually referenced and even made fun of, but it's starting to be far from a joke. It seems that whenever the writers corner themselves, they whip out this convenient trope in order to move things along, and it's far beyond the point of being amusingly transparent. The premise of the episode is also a little lacking, wrapped up as it is in such a bloody predictable set of intricacies. Once again, we have some experimental scientists treating those with problems and lo and behold, it goes wrong! It was only two episodes ago that we saw this very story unfold in the rather lacklustre 'Fracture' and it really is only the minutiae, the window dressing, that differ. Consequently, the major beats of the plot lack oomph and the storytelling just feels lazy. In fact, Fringe did this plot umpteen times in its debut season so by now, we're all so anaesthesised to it that it fails to truly engage. This is why hours like 'Momentum Deferred' are so welcome, because they try something different with the formula; they deviate from the pattern (to coin a phrase.) Yes, there is a lot of good here - the acting's top notch, the genuine emotion generated by Charlie's death is quite moving - but what we need, Fringe, is for you to surprise us... not to become stuck in a rut. 6.2
206: 'Earthling'
Wr: Jeff Vlaming & J.H. Whyman
Dr: Jon Cassar
Synopsis: The Fringe team investigates instances of victims being transformed to ash by high-energy discharges, and discover a connection to Broyles' past.
Review: Two weeks away, one lengthy Pattern-orientated recap and what do we get? A bloody stand-alone, that's what, completely bereft of any shapeshifting parallel universe robots or Leonard Nimoy cameos. Still, at least Whyman and Vlaming's script is far from a duffer and contains more than enough that is sufficiently interesting to keep the viewer's ever-increasing frustration at bay... for the most part. The concept - that something is quite literally turning people to dust - is actually quite an eerie one and it's deftly handled by both writers and director alike. Jon Cassar, 24 stalwart and king of suspense, does a masterful job of ramping up the tension, making skilful use of chiaroscuro, long shot, slow camera movement and particularly, the suitably monotone and brusque underscore to construct something genuinely chilling. The scenes in the hospital, in particular, stand out as some of the most terrifying in the show's short history. Whyman and Vlaming take their time with the setup too, limiting the number of murders and making each one more methodically menacing. There's a palpable feeling of unease undercutting the whole story, magnified greatly by the unusual and largely unexplained origins of the mysterious creature.
Moreover, this is a distinctly miserable script: the Fringe Division don't really save the day, they merely keep the 'creature' at bay. Things essentially fall apart for the poor victim as Bishop realises that there is no solution; that he is as good as dead... and then, of course, his poor brother quite literally bites the dust. Hardly the stuff of feel-good TV. It's distinctly pleasing to see such brave narrative decisions being made, and it gives the episode an extra edge (well, that and its focus on Broyles, one of the most criminally underused and under-developed characters on the gogglebox!)
The only real gripe is the dubious nature of the 'explanation' which feels a little tacky and convenient, rather like the similarly themed X Files episode 'Space', which 'Earthling' seems to be based upon. For all there is an element of intrigue to be found in the lack of concrete answers, it also threatens to drive Fringe too far into conventional sci-fi territory. The last thing we all need is for little green men to start showing up, only to find that they're long lost acquaintances of Walter's or something. And no, that's not just because the show is in desperate need of less similarities to Chris Carter's baby. Still, a competent effort and a good example of how to do these pesky non-mythology episodes well. 8.4
207: 'Of Human Action'
Wr: Robert Chiappetta & Glen Whitman
Dr: Joe Chappelle
Synopsis: The Fringe Division investigates an unusual kidnapping with connections to Massive Dynamic.
Review: A considered, intelligent episode that manages to incorporate that oh-so-important ingredient that so many other stand alones choose to ignore: complexity. While the revelation that the boy is the one behind the somewhat horrific attacks is easily deduced (or, at least, it is to this writer... maybe I've become too accustomed to the type and style of swerve commonly used in American television drama), it isn't treated with an unnecessarily verbose fanfare, so we aren't left scratching our heads at exactly why we're supposed to be so impressed or surprised. Instead, the writers make the reveal and move on, taking the story in a completely different direction by using Peter as a vehicle for the necessary exposition regarding the child's reasoning. And significantly, this doesn't happen at the end of the third act, or even halfway through: no, less than twenty minutes have passed before the puzzle has been pieced together, giving the episode a chance to take a breath and try something new. It's decidedly refreshing to see; all too often this season, Fringe's plots have seemed threadbare, with basic conceits barely fleshed out, stretched painstakingly thin over forty minutes ('Night of Desirable Objects', I'm looking at you.) It's extraordinarily frustrating for the viewer, feeling rather like our intelligence is being insulted, but thankfully, this is almost entirely avoided here.
The sequences between Peter and Tyler are very nicely executed, featuring some believable, evocative dialogue that helps to both three-dimensionalise the boy's character and add some interesting dimensions to the Bishop family dynamic. For once, the child actor (Cameron Monaghan) is actually quite good, managing to pull off teenage angst and trauma pretty well. We also get a chance to peer into the deeper psychological ennui of Walter's relationship with his son: John Noble is just excellent here, delivering some deeply moving moments with the aid of very little dialogue. As per, kudos is to be given to the director and cinematography guys, this time for doing some decidedly disturbing in the execution of the 'mind control' scenes. The moment in the convenience store is perhaps the most memorable; when the poor customer pours boiling water over his head and runs straight into the glass, you just can't help but gasp at the horror of the whole thing. There's some commendable use of music too: the dissonant strings that soundtrack the police officers' suicides amplify the scare factor considerably.
The only real bugbear is the rather tacked-on ending. While it is nice to see yet another twist in the tale and one that, admittedly, isn't all that expected, it does threaten to cheapen the story somewhat. Fringe has so far managed to avoid demonising Massive Dynamic to too great an extent, and while this plot development doesn't necessarily constitute a besmerching of the organisation, if we see too many of these last minute reveals regarding their dodgy scientific experiments, it could become both repetitive and detrimental to the show's integrity. And guys, how many more times are you gonna pilfer from the X Files back catalogue? Multiple child experiments? 'Eve', much? (Look it up...) 8.6
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