Fringe 4x5-Novation--My Thoughts

Novation means, "the introduction of something new". A new universe, a new Walter, Olivia....a new Peter.

I must say that this episode was slightly disappointing. After the big reveal 3 weeks ago, I expected more. This was too...science-y. It focused too much on the Truss-Nadine plot and not enough on the Peter plot...although what we did see of Peter was wonderful.

I'm also having a difficult time relating to the characters I know and love. They've changed SO much because of Peter's non-existence, I feel like I'm almost back to season 1 and having to get to know them all over again.

To be honest, I miss MY Walter, Olivia, Astrid, etc.

But I digress! Onto the episode!

The human shape-shifter is back and she kidnaps Dr. Truss, a former Massive Dynamics employee. It seems that Truss was working on a project that involved cellular regeneration and replication.

Nadine, the shape-shifter, convinces Truss to help her with a story about how his research cured her cancer but left her cells unstable, so she's still dying.

Back at the FBI office, Peter meets with Walter and that...doesn't go well. Peter realizes that he was SUPPOSED to die in both timelines and that because he was saved, he created a paradox and had to be deleted. 

It's interesting to note that no one remembers the Observers either.

Olivia and Lincoln go talk to Nina to find out more about Truss and we learn that Nina raised Olivia and her sister after their mother died. VERY interesting!

Nina explains what Truss was working on and tells them that Bell shut down the project.

At the FBI building, crafty Peter rigs his intercom and overhears Broyles, Olivia and Lincoln talking about shape-shifters. Peter chimes up and tells them that he knows all about the memory discs that are implanted in the shifters and that's he's even decrypted a few himself.

He offers to help if they'll allow him to talk to Walter again. Olivia agrees and voila, Peter is once again working with the Fringe Division!

In a touching scene, we see Walter back at the lab going through an old metal lunchbox that belonged to his son. Inside we see the coin and Walter walks it along his fingers as he taught Peter to do as a boy.

Nadine takes Truss to a lab that her people built according to his plans. He has everything he needs to continue his work. He quickly figures out what's wrong with her and tells her he can help.

Nina visits Walter at the lab and tells him they need to try to get past their differences. Walter tells Nina that he's hated her for 25 years...that he blames her for Peter's drowning...and that over the years he's realized that he deserves to be punished.

He tells her that when he saw Peter at the FBI offices, he saw his son in the man's eyes and felt 'indescribable joy'...and that he doesn't deserve that joy.

So sad.

Back at Fringe Division, Peter is a huge help when he finds that these aren't just plain old memory chips.

These new shape-shifters can change into anyone they've ever taken. They replicate their victims down to the molecular level, making it impossible to detect the shifters from the real people.

Back with Truss and Nadine, he injects her and she reacts badly, changing into his ex-wife. Truss freaks out and tried to run, but she stops him. 

She explains that she didn't tell him the whole truth. His research did create her, but she's not done. He needs to complete his work.

He tries to fake a new serum but she's too smart for that and breaks his hand.

Peter finds a tracking system inside the shifter and Olivia and Lincoln find Truss.

Nadine takes the serum and flees, with Olivia hot on her heels.

The shifter pulls some crazy Spiderman moves and apparently jumps off the roof and into the water below.

Of course, we find out that the conscious agent is indeed Nadine when they pull a body out of the water, and when we next see the ambulance, it's empty.

Back at FBI HQ, Olivia experiences some kind of time-shift when she's handed the hourly reports twice by the same person.

Olivia is then rejected by Lincoln when she asks him out for a bite to eat. She's obviously having an off night.

Walter once again goes to see Peter and Peter asks him to help find out why no one remembers him.

Walter lovingly takes Peter's face in his hands and says he's always wondered what his son would look like as a man...and then says he doesn't deserve Peter and that he can't help him.

Back to the shape-shifter, she injects herself at the train station and the serum works.

We next see her in a uniform at a typewriter...and of course, she gets a reply from the other side.

It seems a lot more shape-shifters are on their way!

Questions I have after watching:

How will Peter get Walter to help him?

How will Peter make the others remember?

Will Walter accept Peter?

Is Olivia interested in Lincoln?

Who is Nadine taking to in the alternate universe?

What are the shape-shifter's plans?

What was that time-shift Olivia experienced?

The glyphs spelled- STILL

What does that mean? I have NO idea.

And did you spot the Observer?

Fringe-Subject 9-My Thoughts

Finally, with Subject 9, we're back to the Fringe I know and love! The best episode so far this season.

We open in Olivia's bedroom, where she wakes to find a big blue ball of energy hovering over her bed. As she points her gun at it, it disappears. She finds that all the metal in the room is in the middle of the floor.

At the lab, Walter is conducting an experiment with a peanut (and Astrid mentions shrimp, which was a great Buffy nod!) and mentions watching the Matrix, which was another great shout out.

Olivia tells Walter about the energy ball and she shows a burned spot on her arm where the energy touched her and asks Walter if it's possible she's causing it.

Walter avoids the question and walks away. Finding a letter from St. Claire's in the pocket of Olivia's jacket, he steals a peek and realizes they want Olivia to make the decision to commit him again. He quickly hides the letter back in her jacket before she can see him.

Back at Olivia's apartment, Astrid and Olivia are taking readings. On his monitor, Walter sees Olivia get trapped in the bathroom a minute before it actually happens.

Again, the large ball of energy appears in front of her before it poofs away.

Many differences come out in this episode, a big one being that apparently Olivia has always remembered the cortexiphan trials and she's never met any of the other cortexiphan children.

Walter tells Olivia of a boy who had an astral projection ability (remember that from the title sequence?), but the ability had a side effect that created a distortion in the magnetic field that would attract metal objects to himself.

Walter explains that maybe, because of the deep bond the cortexiphan children shared, this boy may now be targeting Olivia because she was the favourite child.

Olivia and Astrid head to Massive Dynamic to see what Nina knows about 'Subject 9'. Finally, we get to see Nina again, and it appears that she's a very different Nina.

Walter has a great one-sided exchange with Nina in Astrid's ear full of venom and anger. I laughed!

In this reality, Nina and Olivia appear to be VERY close, with Nina being a mother-figure to Olivia, even mentioning being a part of Olivia's teen years.

Weeeeird.

While searching through Massive Dynamics files, Olivia tells Astrid about the cortexiphan trials and that she got out when she ran away.

They find Subject 9's file, who is a boy named Cameron James.

They head back to the lab, where they find Walter waiting by the door with a suitcase. After being confined to the lab (by choice) for three years, he now wants to go help Olivia talk to Cameron.

He tells Astrid, "Claire, would you please man the cameras in my absence."

Astrid replies, "Really? Claire? That doesn't even start with an 'A'"
Yes, that made me laugh out loud.

Walter and Olivia arrive at Cameron James' apartment and find it empty. Walter notices there' s no metal at all in the apartment and it appears Cameron has changed his name to Mark Little.

After a weird bit of flirting from Walter, the neighbour tells them Mark will be back in the morning.

Olivia and Walter find a hotel where Walter promptly has a major freak out, screaming, smashing lamps and overturning furniture because of his germophobia.

Olivia calms him down and Walter apologizes, saying Elizabeth, his wife, used to say he was a man of contradictions. He then tells Olivia that she killed herself after Peter died as a child.

Olivia decides that maybe going out for root beer floats is a better idea than staying at the hotel.

I love the exchange between Olivia and Walter at the cafe. Their relationship is so loving and so caring and it's a real joy to watch.

Walter tells Olivia that he read the letter from St. Claire's. Olivia tells him that whatever she decides to do, she's only trying to do what's best.

Suddenly, the big blue ball appears in the cafe.

Olivia and Walter escape through the broken window and the energy ball follows Olivia, disappearing when it's hit by a car.

Olivia pulls rank on the local PD, showing the lieutenant a paper with Broyles name and Broyles boss's name on it.

Whoever Broyles boss is, he must be pretty powerful because the cop backed right off.

Olivia and Walter head back to Little's apartment. As they talk along the way, we find out that in this reality, none of the cortexiphan children's abilities lasted any longer than 24 hours.

Olivia goes inside, leaving Walter outside on a bench. Little tries to run when Olivia mentions the name Cameron James.

As he's running, he bumps into Walter who's come inside and recognizes him. Olivia catches up and tries to shake the truth out of him, asking him why he's doing this to her.

Walter tells Olivia not to kill the guy and Little recognizes Olivia's name. He tells her it's not him that's doing anything.

He can no longer astral project but he still has the awful side effects.

As he's talking, the energy ball appears and then disappears when Subject 9 gets upset and shouts, stopping it.

Walter thinks Little may be able to neutralize the energy with some amplification from a power sub-station.

Little tells Olivia that when his powers first came back, he thought something was attacking him and he wonders if it's Olivia bringing on the energy balls. Olivia says she never had side effects from the trials as an adult.

The energy ball once again appears after they arrive at the power station and Little tries to neutralize it. Olivia sees a man inside the energy ball and fires her gun into the air to break Little's concentration and the energy ball disappears.

At Reiden Lake, in an awesome display of symbolism, a naked Peter comes up from the bottom of the lake he once went down in.

A man and his son in a fishing boat rescue him as the Observer watches on.

Olivia tells Walter that she can feel the man didn't want to hurt her and that he needed her help.

Broyles calls Olivia to tell her about a man that was found in a lake. The man apparently knows more than he should about Fringe Division and he's asking for Olivia by name.

At the hospital, Walter notices that the letter in Olivia's jacket pocket has been filled out and the look of relief on his face when he sees that she won't be committing him is just wonderful.

Olivia walks into the hospital room and we get our first glimpse of Peter this season, and may I say he's a sight for sore eyes.

"Olivia, thank God you're here", he says.

His face drops when Olivia replies, "Who are you?"

Of course, that's where it ended, in classic Fringe fashion. And then we find out that we have to wait TWO WHOLE WEEKS for the next episode because of the stupid baseball playoffs. Argh.

Questions:

-Where was Peter?

-Who is Broyles boss?

-Why does Peter remember?

-How will he make everyone else remember?

-How did Peter get through?

The Glyphs spelled RESET.

Fringe-Alone in the World--My Thoughts

I find that on many shows, episode 3 is where it finally starts to get it's stride back. This season of Fringe is no exception.

This was a solid episode...The best of the season so far.

We open with a visit from Walter's Doctor from St. Clair's. It was painful seeing Walter so scared. We know he's not crazy and it's difficult to watch as he tiptoes through his visit, terrified that anything he says will get him recommitted.
(First Peter sighting in the shrink's shiny clipboard.)

In the next scene, we watch as two bullies chase a boy into a tunnel. The bullies are quickly attacked by some weird kind of fungus.

Back at Fringe HQ, Olivia is scanning the facial recognition database for a match. Was I the only one who noticed that the drawing taped to her computer looked veeeery familiar? And how quickly she closed the window...Not at all suspicious.

Broyles pays a rare visit to the lab to check up on Walter. While they're talking, Walter suddenly hears Peter's voice say, "Walter, I'm scared. I want to come home.", along with other cries for help.

Olivia and Lincoln track down the third boy, Aaron, who escaped unharmed and bring him to the lab for an exam.

Walter and Aaron quickly bond over milkshakes and tinfoil hats. Walter tells Aaron about his son. It seems both Peter's died as children.
Real-universe Peter died of his childhood disease and alt-Peter drowned when Walter tried to bring him over from the other dimension. September wasn't there to save him.

Astrid calls Walter over to have a look at the body. The fungus seems to be growing quickly and they get it into the incubator just as it explodes and can spray spores everywhere.
They call Olivia, who's on her way to the morgue to get the other body. The call comes too late and that body explodes too, killing the morgue staff.

Back at the tunnel where the first attack happened, the Fringe crew starts to examine the scene. When the floodlights are turned on, Aaron, who's still at the lab, starts to complain about bright lights. When they start to set fire to the fungus, Aaron spikes a fever and passes out.

Walter then deducts that the fungus is a 'living brain' and is somehow attached to Aaron.
He believes the fungus is a giant neural network, which he decides to name 'Gus', and that it's attached itself to Aaron because they share a loneliness and feelings of isolation.

Broyles finds a dead homeless man six miles from the tunnel and they realize that Gus is right over the sewer system.
He gives Walter six hours to figure out how to kill Gus without killing Aaron, but changes his mind when Gus reaches the subway platform.

Olivia, Lincoln and a redshirt try to inject Gus with poison, but Gus kills the redshirt and attacks Lincoln.

Back at the lab, Walter figures out that Gus is attached to Aaron through emotions and that it's Aaron holding onto Gus, not the other way around.
In a very touching scene, Walter tells Aaron that he'll always be there for him and that he'll never leave him. Aaron lets go of Gus and the fungus starts to die, letting go of Lincoln in the process.

Later at the lab, Olivia walks in as Walter is attempting to give himself a lobotomy. Walter confesses that he's been hallucinating and he's terrified of going back to St. Clair's.
Olivia asks him what he's been seeing and after some coaxing, he tells her he sees a man.
Olivia takes a sketch form her pocket (that same familiar sketch she was running the facial recognition on!) and shows it to Walter.
The sketch is of Peter, who Olivia has also been seeing in her dreams.

The two realize that this is someone they must find.

Thoughts I had during the episode:

-I still wonder where Nina is.
-I loved the banter between Lincoln and Olivia after the fungus let him go. "Do you want to talk about it?"
-Gus! Ha!
-Walter kept confusing Aaron with his son, even calling him "Peter' once or twice. :(
-No scenes with the alt-dimension this week. I didn't miss it!
-Seeing David Fury's name in the opening credits almost made my heart stop. He's known for writing and directing episodes of Buffy, Angel and the first season of Lost (he wrote Walkabout FGS!)
-Where the heck was Aaron's father? Who was giving consent for all these procedures?!
-The relief on Walter's face when he realizes he's not insane is just wonderful to see.

The glyphs before the commercial breaks spelled out, 'REBORN'. And did you spot the observer?

Fringe-One Night In October--My Thoughts

What makes you who you are? Is it your DNA? Your upbringing? Nature or nurture, right?

If you life had been different in almost every way, would you still be you?

That's what One Night in October was about. Well, that and more, of course!

The episode opens with a very dark, disturbing scene. Two men are in a dank room, talking.
We can see one very scared man strapped to a chair while the other asks him about his happiest memories.
As the camera moves, it's revealed that they're both hooked to a weird tube (into their BRAINS!! EW!) full of blue liquid.
We then watch as the scared man seems to freeze to death. Blech, right? Also, SAD!

Cue the cool orange opening sequence!

Back at the lab, Walter is having a hard time. He's covering all reflective surfaces, and no one asks why. It's just Walter being Walter, right? Um, not this time, folks!

Astrid and Olivia have a little heart to heart about Lincoln, and when Olivia says that he's not her type, Astrid asks, "Do you ever think that maybe your type doesn't exist?"
Well, no. He doesn't at the moment, does he? ;)

And Walter calls Lincoln, "Kennedy", because he's apparently still bad with names, which really was hilarious.

In the FBI office, Broyles tells Olivia about dozens of murders in which the victims brains seemed to freeze solid.
When Olivia is surprised she hasn't heard about these murders, Broyles explains that they're happening on the other side and he wants her to go work with them for a joint operation. Oooh, neat!

Broyles and Olivia meet with Altlivia for a debriefing. Altlivia explains that on her side, the man behind the murders is serial killer, John McClennan. On the original side, John McClennan is a prefossor that specializes in serial killers.
Interesting, right?

Altlivia wants to bring Professor John over to her side to get a profile on their serial killer, who is Professor John's alt-self. Of course, he can't know where he's going or who he's profiling. That would just be bad!

Olivia goes to talk to Professor John, who agrees to be sedated and journeys to the other side.

Olivia and Altlivia switch places, with Altlivia sporting a pretty blonde wig.

The killer is then shown stalking a mother and daughter at a gas station with ridiculously low prices.

Back at the lab, Walter is trying to lose himself in some very loud Mozart, a scene reminiscent of an old cassette tape commercial.

Professor John and Altlivia go through Serial Killer John's home where Professor John profiles his alternate self as a lonely, brilliant, demented man.

At the gas station, Killer John kidnaps a woman in broad daylight.

Altlivia and Professor John explore the house and John concludes that the killer kidnaps happy people.
He then discovers a photo of his father on the wall, panics and runs out. He sees Olivia and a street that's been buried in Amber.

Olivia explains the truth to the professor...That his alternate self is a monster...and Professor John confesses that he, too, had been a dark person because of the abuse he suffered at the hands of his father.
If it hadn't been for the kindness and love of a woman named Marjorie, he may have turned out just like Killer John.
He realizes that Killer John probably had no Marjorie, and he wishes he could tell his alternate self that things could be different for him.

The Fringe Division  then learns that another woman has been kidnapped and when they go back to get Professor John, they find him gone.

They go back to the field office, where Alternate-Broyles is alive and well! *gasp!*


Alt-Astrid figures out the probability of where the professor is, but Olivia uses the photo of his father to find the correct location.

Professor John finds and tries to comfort his alternate self just as the killer is about to drill into the poor lady's brain.
He tries to convince the killer that there's another way, and they discover that the reason they turned out so differently is because, after finding a cache of dead animals when they were boys, their father came after them.
Professor John ran away from their father and was found by Marjorie.
Killer John was discovered by their father and beaten for 3 days.

Of course, Killer John being a killer, he doesn't listen to the professor about there being a better way, and he knocks the professor out and hooks him up to the weird tube machine.

As the professor tells him about his life with Marjorie, the killer withdraws years worth of memories, kindness and love from the professor.

The Fringe team finds the killer who feels so much guilt and remorse, shoots himself dead.

The team takes the professor back to the original universe to recover. At the hospital, they discover that Professor John can't remember the last few weeks...or Marjorie.
They worry that he'll now turn into the killer his alternate self was because he no longer remembers the woman that impacted his life so importantly.
But although he can't remember her, he can still feel her influence on his life.
The Fringe team knows he'll be just fine.

Broyles tells Olivia that there are people who leave a mark on a person's soul that can't be erased.

And back at the lab, Walter is getting ready for bed. Ah, poor Walter.

The reflective surfaces are all covered with cloth and blankets, including the TV. He thinks he's safe.
Until he hears a voice that he doesn't know and can't shut out calling to him, "Walter, can you hear me? I'm right here."

Dun dun DUN!

I actually enjoyed this episode more than the premiere. I found it fascinating to see the differences between the alternates and WHY they're so different.

The big differences I noticed in this episode:
-Alternate Broyles is alive!
-Altlivia is still with Frank
-Charlie married Bug Lady!
-Olivia killed her step-father!
-Olivia was kidnapped from the original universe and brought to the alternate universe.

Hearing that Olivia KILLED her stepfather has made me believe that Altlivia is what Olivia would have been without the abuse she suffered as a child.

Questions for this episode:
Again, WHERE IS PETER?!
And, hey, where's Nina? We haven't seen her yet either!

The glyphs spelled out LIMBUS, which I found means 'edge' or 'border'. Is that where Peter is? The edge of the universes? Or perhaps it means 'limbo'?

And lately, did you spot the observer?
Here he is, in the hospital!

Fringe: 'Neither Here Nor There'--My Thoughts

Believe it or not, I wasn't a Fringe-watcher until recently. I knew I should be. I knew it was a show I would like. Hell, it's made by the same man who gave us Lost....of course I'd love it!


But I'd just never made the effort...until this summer. I downloaded and caught up on all three season in a matter of weeks, so now I watch alongside everyone else! Hooray!


So, here are my thoughts on the season 4 premiere--


It felt very much like a pilot episode, which I think was the point. There were TONS of nods to the pilot in this episode.


Did you all catch Peter flash in during the exchange between Olivia and Altlivia at the beginning? Whoa!

December says to September that it's their responsibility to make sure events play out as they were intended "before your intervention". Which intervention? When he interrupted Walter from finding a cure for Peter or when he saved Peter from drowning?


Oooh, orange opening!
The list of words in the intro: 


Existence
Quantum entanglement
Philosopher's stone 
 Psychometry
Viral therapy
Ethereal plane
Gravitons
Time paradox 
Psychogenesis
Bilocation
Psychic surgery
Transgenetics


I'm not even going to pretend I know what most of those mean! ;)


Olivia doesn't know Lincoln. Hmm.
And I like this Lincoln. Yummy geekiness.


How about that new observer with September? Younger than the rest, I think!

This Olivia seems sad and a little colder. More detached...except with Walter. Then her warmth comes out.
On the flip side, Astrid seems more cold towards him, and lacks the patience she used to have with him.
AND she seems to get out in the field more, which I like.


Another glimpse of something that may have been Peter in the lab, after Walter disses Walternate.
I've gone through the scene frame by frame on my HDTV, and to me, it almost looks like it's a quick flash of three different people bleeding through.
It's very blurry and distorted, though, so it may just be Peter. 


Walter's growing an ear again! Ha!


Astrid, "I'm going to, ahh...I'm gonna need to check her anus." LOL!


Poor Walter, hiding in the tank from the man in the mirror. :(


It seems that John died from the toxin...and it seems like Olivia is still in mourning. I'm guessing she didn't get the closure from the consciousness transfer in the deprivation tank.


Anyone notice Olivia wearing color? Blue. Not just black. Another difference.


Walter is also much more sad and quiet. He doesn't have the spunk and humor he usually has. Not knowing Peter has definitely changed everyone!


Holy crap, human shape-shifters?!


LOVED the amazing job they did with the bridge between the worlds. The two different windows...awesome.


Walter, afraid to leave the lab, has made it his home. I just want to hug him! :(


Oooh, September has a change of heart! He cares for Peter! I'm seeing a possible Observer revolt happening in the future!


And then we have Peter on the TV screen.

Peter must be doing something, wherever he is, to find a way home. It has to be his doing, right??

While I enjoyed this episode and I think I can manage a few more without him, I do hope they bring him back soon.

Here's the trailer for 'One Night in October', next weeks episode. It looks AWESOME!