What happened?
Searching for the next videotape Olivia and the Fringe unit find a small community living in the forest that have dedicated their lives to recording as much of history as possible before The Observers - or The Invaders as they are called - can erase and change the record. The cost of this is prolonged exposure to an incurable virus that mutates their skin.
When the final piece of videotape is located deep in the mine and The Observers have managed to work out what the Fringe unit are up to, it falls to one of the community members to retrieve the tape at the cost of his own life.
Thoughts
I'm not going to go on at length about this episode because I feel like it's one that's better forgotten sooner rather than later. Frankly, I thought this was one of the worst episodes of Fringe that I have ever seen. I thought the community in the woods thing, gathering data, just felt weird in a bad way rather than an interesting way. And I also thought that the make-up effects on their skin looked weak. Seriously, it looked like bad low-budget sci-fi from the 60s. Anyone new tuning into Fringe for the first time would have seen absolutely nothing that would make them think this was one of the more sophisticated shows around.
The plot itself, with the father misdirecting the gang so he could emerge to do the heroic thing, was wholly predictable. It was so predictable I think my brain went into snooze mode, watching it go through the motions, to the extent that I can barely even remember how the conclusion went.
Shit title, too.
The characters seemed to have little memory of events that had occurred previously. I thought that Etta was particularly bland this week, and considering she was at her most interesting last week that was a shame. Oh there was a whole subtext going on about Olivia and Peter living up to the ideal that Etta and other surviving members of humanity had held for them, and there's definitely something interesting to be mined out of that idea, but that wasn't in evidence here. The idea that Etta is meeting her long lost parents and near-comic book level of hero all in one mix, countered by the reality that they are just people all along is a contrast that has a lot of potential. I don't want Fringe to stop exploring that. In the same way Olivia and Peter need to recognise that Etta is not the little girl they lost but, instead, her own woman who has shown tremendous resource and survival capacity.
Not that she showed much of it this episode. Mostly Etta just hung around on the sidelines, letting everyone else do their thing. Ho-hum.
So, anyway, after all was said and done, the gang got another piece of videotape and ostensibly that was the only thing to take away from this episode.
That's it. That's all I've got to say about it. I'd really like to muster up the energy and interest to write more, say more, and for all that my dopey brain can't recall I'd like to go and read a bit about this episode and see what others made of it. But I can't be bothered. And this blog is as much about my reaction to the TV shows I watch as it is a resource for analysis and reaction. So my reaction is one of deep can't-be-arsed and, fingers crossed, a hope that this was just a blip piece of filler and Fringe will be back on top of its game next week.
What was the best part?
When it ended.
Oh, all right. The part where the kid flicked through the comic book and showed us how Olivia had been interpreted by a new generation was interesting. If it paves the way for her being considered something of a hero brought back to life that's a concept I can get on board with.
What do I think will happen next?
The hunt for videotapes continues. The Observers are evidently hotting up the trail and turning the screw, which needs to happen to give this mini-quest some urgency. But I feel that Fringe needs to hurry this all along and get the plot wheels turning. It does have something interesting and unexpected up its sleeve yet, right?
No comments:
Post a Comment