Fringe: S04 Ep12 – Welcome To Westfield

What happened?

Fringe division were called out to investigate an aeroplane crash as a result of electromagnetic phenomenon. Olivia, Peter and Walter found themselves trapped in a nearby town that had become locked in a merger with the alternate universe. They managed to find shelter in the ‘eye of the storm’ as the whole town was devastated. Investigation pointed towards it being the work of Mr. Jones.

Having had dreams and strange memories that ought not to belong to her, Olivia seemingly reverted to the behaviour of her erased timeline persona when Peter came over, greeting him with a kiss and plans for their regular nights in.

Thoughts

Now this is how you do a standalone episode: a self-contained story that is formed from the overarching serial plot and feeds into the wider mythology. It's probably as perfect an episode as Fringe could ever get to that sweet spot between hooking in casual viewers and pleasing longterm fans. Aside from a bit of a weak resolution (I reckon Fringe could have really strung out the predicament and drama and done its first two-parter ‘to be continued’ episode here!) this was great stuff.

The episode opened with Olivia caught in a dream about Peter that would turn out to have wider ramifications at the episode’s conclusion. Quite a lot of Fringe episodes lately have started out as dreams, and I think it’s actually having a bit of fun posing the question of the savvy audience about whose dream it is before it’s revealed. Olivia dreaming about being in a relationship with Peter and it being the first signs that her ‘alternate reality’ self was bleeding through into this reality was very subtle stuff.

The matter of one reality merging with another was at the very crux of what was happening in the main plot of this episode, but here *Fringe* excelled in subtly interweaving the main plot with the subtext of how it related to a main character. They’ve not always been successful for me when doing that, but this episode was a masterclass in getting it right. They got it so right that it actually came as a surprise ending!

More on that later.

Walter, Olivia and Peter’s diversion into Westfield was, again, subtly introduced. Walter was, as usual, thinking with his stomach and fancied trying out a local diner’s pie and so off they went. Nothing seemed amiss until the diner scene had concluded. And what a great scene it was. Nicely weighted, deliberately paced. The cook had an uncertain quality about him that kept things edgy, only for Peter to go and make a grim discovery. In the meantime Walter was chatting amicably, amusingly, and for a while we were of the belief that Walter was the one that was to be considered odd in the eyes of the cook. Until it turned out he was serving at a counter with an unseen body at his feet and his short term memory kept disappearing!

It transpired that the whole town of Westfield had been caught up in a kind of snowglobe effect that merged it with its equivalent town in the alternate universe. It’s unclear why this meant Olivia and co could drive into the town but were then unable to drive out of it, mind. The insinuation from the townsfolk was that this had been going on for some time, days, so the only ‘rational’ explanation is that Olivia and co in the car just happened to drive into the town during a downtime in the electromagnetic effect and then got themselves stuck there.

Probably best not to get too bogged down in the details of that one.

Mr. Jones was behind the whole enterprise. I have to wonder if the same effect wasn’t also occurring for Alt-Westfield. Did that town, too, eventually get wiped out and erased at the end? If so, what did Mr. Jones prove? That he had the power to locally harness this power and destroy worlds? What’s the point in that? Unless Alt-Westfield wasn’t destroyed at all, and Mr. Jones was actually demonstrating a way in which the universes could be merged and one of them emerge victorious over the other. Perhaps this was a display of power to demonstrate how a war with Over There could be won.

Olivia’s memory aberrations were, naturally, put down to exposure to the town’s strange events. Only when it transpired that the townsfolk were only going a little loopy on account of being merged with their counterparts in the alternate universe then it probably should have dawned on me earlier that Olivia’s behaviour didn’t fit that. Such a revelation didn’t occur to me whilst watching, though, since I was just enjoying the episode for what it was. And, like I said, the ending felt a little rushed (impossible situation quickly resolved with a quick trip to the eye of the storm following some rapid theorising!) but it still held my attention enough to make me unaware of the misdirection.

So Olivia at the finish was acting and behaving just like the Olivia that Peter knew. I have to assume this has something to do with the cortexiphan Nina has been injecting into Olivia without her knowing about it. I wonder if perhaps a side effect of it is that she has become more attuned to the world that Peter came from to the extent that she is pulling over attributes of her other self from it. I can’t imagine that Nina’s plan was for this to occur, since this Nina really ought to have no clue about the universe that Peter came from (I have assumed that Nina’s cortexiphan dosing is to enable Olivia to cross over between universes that they currently know about!).

I don’t expect this change in Olivia to be permanent – probably, like the residents of Westfield, she’ll have no memory of her change in character. I do expect the bleed through effects to continue, though, and probably become more pronounced, until the source of the issue is found (or it’s discovered that Olivia has once again been exposed to cortexiphan and this is what is allowing the changes to take effect). There is the farfetched notion that Peter is the one ‘dragging through’ the Olivia he knew and, possibly, this could become a stronger and more widespread effect. Peter’s appearance in this universe may cause it to become filled with the consciousness of the universe he left behind. . .

OK, now I just wrote that, I agree: it sounds absolutely dumb!

What was the best part?

The diner scene was the best moment for me. Fringe took it’s time with it, and let the atmosphere blend from innocuous and lighthearted to a horror movie style build in tension. It worked so well because it had the measured pacing and took the time to deliver the goods patiently for better effect. The guy who was playing the cook was an inspired piece of casting, too – he totally nailed it.

What do I think will happen next?

I expect Peter’s alarm at how ‘his’ Olivia has emerged in the Olivia of this world has to drive events in the next episode. I simply cannot imagine a situation where the next episode picks up a new story of the week and everyone just allows all of what has gone on here to temporarily rest on the back burner. Mr. Jones and his schemes may take a backseat, but I have to have faith that the immediate matters with Olivia are going to be picked up. To what end? As stated, they’ll either figure out that Peter is the one creating the anomaly (which may hurry them to complete the machine (even though Walter no longer seems keen to give up his son)) or they’ll discover cortexiphan in Olivia and that’ll open a whole other can of worms. I don’t imagine Olivia and Nina are going to be the loving, mother-daughter relationship once that secret is out!

The Walking Dead: S02 Ep10 – 18 Miles Out

What happened?

Rick and Shane transport their prisoner to a remote location to leave him there, but he reveals that he knows Maggie. Rick and Shane fight over what is to be done but before a decision can be made walkers attack them. The trio eventually escape, with no clear decision reached about what to do with the prisoner.

At the farmhouse, Maggie and Lori tend to Maggie's suicidal sister but feel that Andrea’s intervention almost ruins their efforts.

Thoughts

Heavy symbolism heralded the head to head between Rick and Shane. The episode began with them driving to a crossroads and there Rick confronted Shane directly. A crossroads meeting point for this crucial tipping point in their relationship. The symbolism certainly wasn't subtle!

Well, actually, the episode really opened with a 'flashforward' teaser of full-on zombie mayhem. It's become a bit of a tired trope for me, for shows to lead in with a teaser of an exciting event that will then be got to later on. It’s like sticking a promotional advert at the start! I’m already watching – there’s no need to dangle the promise of excitement to keep me there! (I realise the same is not true for all television audiences and, naturally, it is those potential floating, casual watchers they are trying to ensnare.) The Walking Dead did eventually live up to the prospect of zombie mayhem, of course, which was just as well!

But back to Rick and Shane, in the crossroads discussion that saw them air everything and yet really resolve nothing. By the close of the episode there was the sense that, rather than becoming clearer and united, they had forged an impasse between them. Shane, in particular, was just flat out unwilling to back down in his head to anything Rick was saying. He can’t. He just cannot get past the idea that Rick is the man making wrong decisions and, furthermore, that Lori and he had something special and the child she is carrying is his. In a sense, Shane’s attitude towards Rick’s leadership is his most easily fixable problem, and he ought to recognise that whatever there was with Lori disappeared the moment Rick returned. Telling Shane outright to forget the notion that the child she is carrying isn’t his, though, that’s a much harder thing to ask of him. If he deep down suspect it’s his then he’s never going to get over that.

If zombies hadn’t turned up when they did then it’s hard to say how the fight between Rick and Shane would have been resolved. Most likely inevitable outcome appeared to be that one of them would have been killed – only the thing is Rick, being Rick, would have had to be pushed right up to that point to go through with it. Shane, being Shane, would have probably killed Rick more readily. And even after the zombies had attacked – if their roles had been reversed and Rick had been in the bus and Shane was getting away in the car – I don’t believe that Shane would have returned to save Rick the way Rick saved Shane.

Will the act of saving his life be enough to force a change in Shane? I don’t see it. I just don’t see there being anything that will stop Shane in the long run other than him completely parting from the group or being killed. The way things are going, there’s a good chance that Shane and Andrea may find themselves exiled and choose to depart together.

The farmhouse subplot didn’t quite work for me, this episode. Andrea and Lori were being paralleled as the female equivalent of Rick and Shane, but this felt forced. Andrea simply had to be more uncompassionate and single-mindedly bent on Maggie’s sister in a way that didn’t feel natural. Andrea’s most natural reaction would have been apathy not direct intervention. Yet it transpired that she managed to ‘prove’ the girl wanted to live after all, but the net result was that she was no longer welcome in the house, same as if the girl had killed herself!

For all the unsubtle symbolism of the crossroads scene, I was confused by the seemingly important shots of Shane staring out of the car window at the walker in the field. The episode even ended on this view so it had to be meaningful but I didn’t quite get the point being inferred. Was it futility? Was it to highlight the isolation? Was the fact that Shane kept quiet about it somehow suggesting that there was a clear and present threat he wasn’t willing to share? I don’t know. It felt profound but I couldn’t get the measure of why.

The episode also ended undecided about what to do with the kidnapped kid. He was presented as a likable innocent, although there was a certain zealous quality about his killing of the walker as he repeatedly stabbed it to death. I liked that. Painting him as a complete innocent, caught up with the wrong crowd, would allow us to side with Rick’s view that he might be worth allowing to live and join them. Let’s not forget that he was on a roof taking shots at them with a rifle. Shane’s view that killing him to make sure there was no risk to the safety of the group does have a grim logic backing it up.

Final point to end on was another small, almost innocuous moment that might prove to be extremely significant. I refer to the moment where Shane found the two walker bodies and noticed that they didn’t have any bite marks. He didn’t conduct a massively thorough search of the bodies, but his observations were noted by me all the same. Fact is, why would The Walking Dead highlight this if it were irrelevant? Answer is they wouldn’t. And, furthermore, Rick’s reaction felt just a tad like he was brushing it over quickly so it didn’t linger.

My conclusion is that this ties into what Jenner, the CDC man, whispered into his ear. Up until now I really had no firm kind of idea what Jenner may have said. Now I believe that Jenner told Rick a rather terrible prospect: that the virus which makes the dead walk has either become airborne or is, somehow, already present in everyone.

The airborne one feels too ghastly to contemplate. (Our heroes can all become zombies just by breathing the wrong air!?) So I am plunging more on the idea that Rick has learned that everyone, most likely, has the virus in them, laying dormant, and that when they die, no matter what, they will become a zombie. I do believe that Rick shot dead the two people in the bar, and shot them in the head. If he hadn’t done that would they have eventually reanimated as walking corpses? As far as I can remember we have never seen anyone die of anything other than a zombie attack so this principle has never been shown on screen to be disproved.

If true then it presents a dire situation indeed. It means that, unless a cure is found, no matter what Rick does to lead his people to safety they will all die eventually and, as such, become walkers. If humanity survives, walker’s survive with them. Unless, as in Lori’s unborn child, perhaps those born into this world will somehow have escaped the contamination. . .

What was the best part?

As ever with The Walking Dead the most exciting parts are often to do with the walkers. As much as the character drama really, and rightly, drives the show (and special mention has to go to the crossroads scene and the fight itself between Rick and Shane) the moment those zombies poured through the broken window the entertainment level went up several notches. This episode’s unique zombie killing moment came when Rick found himself pinned down by a couple of slain walkers whilst a third walker that he couldn’t get a clear shot of tried to take a big bite out of him. Solution: shoot the attacking zombie through the mouth of one of the dead ones. Works every time!

What do I think will happen next?

Aside from my hunch that humans are already walkers-in-waiting, the crunch decision concerns Rick and Shane and the kidnapped boy. Unless there’s some convenient escape clause (like the boy escapes, or Rick and Shane kill him when he makes an attack) I expect Rick is going to have to make a straight call on it. And whilst it’s been totally in keeping with his character to imagine he will try and make him a new member of the group I am actually going to predict Rick will kill him, perhaps also to gain more of Shane’s loyalty. I doubt Shane will be pacified for very long no matter what.

Fringe: S04 Ep11 – Making Angels

What happened?

Alt-Astrid travelled to the other side without approval to meet with her counterpart following the death of her father. Alt-Olivia goes to retrieve her, but not before the pair linger with the Fringe Team over here as they resolve a case concerning a customs worker that had discovered Observer technology which allowed to him to see people's terrible futures and kill them.

Observers reclaim the item following the man's suicide and also discuss the fact that September had disobeyed orders and allowed Peter to remain.

Thoughts

A rather offbeat episode with a rather refreshing switch in focus to one of the generally overlooked characters. It’s a strange time for Fringe to suddenly switch up into being lighthearted (well, as closed to lighthearted as it’s ever likely to be – aside from that ghastly musical episode they did!) and quite interesting that they’d devote an episode to a minor character. Don’t get me wrong, I liked it: it’s just that in a fourth season (when, at time of writing, there’s question marks about whether this will be the last) it’s not what you’d expect. This kind of episode bears more of the hallmarks of an earlier season filler tone.

It definitely was good to see Astrid getting some time, though. Too often she’s basically the fourth person in the room to make things happen, do oddjobs, or just simple be there to ask the question or provide a reaction. Fundamentally she’s there to humanise Walter and keep him relatively likeable despite his more shady qualities. But now I’m talking about a different Walter from another universe. . .!

Alt-Astrid is perhaps nearly as far removed from her counterpart as Walternate is from his Walter. Most of the other characters might have different emotional outlooks and dispositions but they are, generally, the same person. Alt-Astrid, however, is so mentally different and distant due to her phenomenal mental prowess that it has affected her relationship with her recently-deceased father. I do find Alt-Astrid just a tad too unhuman to completely buy but this episode went some way to addressing that. It didn’t quite land at an explanation as to why Alt-Astrid is a near-robotic person but it did provide emotional bewilderment peering out from behind the statistics and factors.

Astrid is the one that possesses a less ferocious intellect, but her emotional awareness is far superior to her counterpart. The excellent ending surprise that showed Astrid had delivered a compassionate lie to Alt-Astrid was really nicely done. Astrid remarked that her own relationship with her father was not too far removed from Alt-Astrid’s strained, oblique one. To then show that Astrid and her father were the epitome of unconditional love and understanding really credited her as heroic in her own small way.

The episode had a lot of fun with the relationships, squabbles and petty jealousies between the counterparts. I expect it was Fringe getting into these matters which was what made it so enjoyable for me. From the moment Astrid shrieked at seeing Alt-Astrid and Olivia remarked about how she found it odd that no one normally did that (a very arch piece of dialogue more for the audience’s benefit than something the character would say) the episode was setting itself out as one that had a little bit more self-referential knowing.

Alt-Astrid was there to voice opinion and reflections on the nature of Walter and Astrid’s relationship, for example. She made the good observation about how Walter basically spoke through Astrid at crime scenes. I thought she was going to make an acute criticism of how used Astrid was, but that didn’t quite transpire. I got the impression that was what the scene was hinting at but neither Alt-Astrid nor the show really wanted to go there.

There was jealousy from Astrid at how people were so impressed at Alt-Astrid’s calculations, and there was jealousy from Walter at how Peter was stepping into the middle of the action and calling the shots. The jealousies, particularly Walter’s towards Peter’s, felt a little manufactured for the purposes of what the episode was trying to achieve. It does seem somewhat incredulous that Peter has become the main man about the place, though. A few episodes ago he wasn’t allowed to wander free without a guard present!

Walter’s near-hissing at Altlivia was a lot of fun, and whilst she was perhaps freer and more flirty than I might have expected I didn’t mind. They pretty much kissed and made up by the episode’s end, which was more than can be said for Olivia and Altlivia. Olivia maintained a cold distance, viewing her counterpart with caution and, I detected, a touch of fascination.

Yes, I did like all of these elements in the mix. I’ve said it before but there’s a good show to be made and mined out of seeing how all these characters mix, react and interact with one another and Fringe tends to want to push that aside and get on with plot. This episode did it the other way around and whilst it might not make revelation-hungry, thrillseeking fans happy I found it very entertaining and eminently watchable.

The plot itself with the mathematician that had found the piece of Observer equipment was an interesting story that ultimately flopped for an tidy finish. The guy’s belief in God didn’t ring true with me, although Fringe has quietly maintained a curious attachment to the notion of God that may turn out to be something more meaningful. What was interesting was pursuing the concept of how The Observers see and experience time. It’s become accepted knowledge that they are able to see time happening all at once, and yet here we had some clarity to suggest they managed it via technology rather than something biologically intrinsic to them.

I’m not sure if this is what the episode was truly laying out, but that seemed to be the way of it for me. They have a device that allows for them to have such vision that would explain how they do what they do (like speaking words as someone else says them, as shown here). And if they can do these things without that device then it begs the question: why have it?

So if The Observers have, in some part, derived their abilities from technology then that paves the way for better explanation about their origins. The suggestion is that they can see all events happening at once, but only where they focus on it. This would explain why they were not aware that September had disobeyed the order to allow Peter to bleed through. And the fact that we saw an Observer appears and disappear through a kind of portal also suggests that, whilst they can see everything happening at once, they can’t be everywhere all at once!

Suddenly these mysterious beings are looking a whole lot less omniscient! But this is a good thing. The less God-like they become the better, and will make their previous behaviours far more comprehensible.

What was the best part?

Quick and simple one this, and purely because it made me gasp: seeing the Observer step into the world via some kind of invisible portal and then disappear back into it. We’ve seen Observers every episode, but we’ve never seen them do that!

What do I think will happen next?

Fringe being Fringe I find it hard to believe we’ll get immediate payoff to what will become of September at the behest of his colleagues now they know he has disobeyed them. And since this episode pretty much delivered some interesting character views and repaired some relationships, there really wasn’t a great deal of progression. So my prediction for how the next episode will play out hasn’t really changed: construction must continue on the machine from Peter, and the two sides ought to be working in earnest to find Mr. Smith and foil what he’s all about. My gut tells me they can’t let that plot thread left unaddressed for another episode, so hopefully we’ll be back on his trail next time out!

The Walking Dead: S02 Ep09 – Triggerfinger

What happened?

Rick, Glenn and Hershal survive attacks from man and zombie and escape town – taking with them a blindfolded but injured man from the group that attacked them. Bringing him back to the farm further aggravates Shane, who perceives Rick as a danger to the group. He also tells Lori he believes the child is his and they had a special relationship before Rick returned.

Lori is adamant that she wants nothing to do with Shane and her unborn child is Rick’s no matter what. She tells Rick that Shane is dangerous and may present a threat to him in taking Lori and the child as his own.

Thoughts

Once again, for me, The Walking Dead delivers another top notch episode that combines tension, strong characters and truly grisly events to great effect. This episode was like a mirror flip of last week’s, with the real tense action occurring at the beginning and allowing the talking to close things off. Although when it comes to Shane’s increasingly volatile nature leisurely conversations aren’t easily forthcoming.

The reveal that the two guys that Rick had killed in the previous episode were part of a larger, gun-toting group was a surprise. It certainly further cemented what a wise move it had been not to let them into the farm group; no doubt they’d have sought to infiltrate, compromise and overthrow the group and take the farm for themselves. I did like how the gang outside were kept vague and unknown – speaking through closed doors and viewed in shadows. Their numbers were kept elusive and their threat all the more menacing. When it comes down to it real people are far more dangerous and scarier than ‘walkers’ are (although I’d rather be shot dead than have my face eaten off as I screamed like what happened to one of the attackers).

The debate about what to do with the injured man between Rick and Hershal was interesting. Whilst it was clear that Hershal and Rick were in clear alliance and working together (good to see) Hershal’s instinct just to shoot him and leave him certainly felt merited. Considering this same guy had been shooting them it’d be an understandable response. Rick, however, is more interested in keeping his conscience relatively clear. He could tell himself that the two men had drew on him first before he killed them (and he was right) because for him, for now, there’s a line over which he will not go in outright murder for self-preservation. The matter of Shane may bring that level of self-preservation morality to its utmost limit.

I liked how the matter of cutting the leg off and cauterising the wound and so forth was dismissed for the more immediate ‘pull leg off railing and run’ technique. Honestly, I can’t believe that wasn’t their first thought! He was already a dead man if they left him anyway, so yanking the leg clear and taking their chances that way improved his odds immeasurably.

Shane, of course, does not share the view that any attempt to save him should have been made. The line Rick won’t cross has already been crossed by Shane in killing Otis. I can see his point of view. Andrea addressing the issue that it wasn’t necessarily what he was saying that was the problem, it was the more the way he was saying it that created so much friction and antagonism sounded close to true. Unfortunately Shane’s feelings for Lori betrayed much about him. He is fuelled by the memory of the good time they had in those early desperate days together, and his belief that Lori also feels the same are crucial. Throw in the fact that he surely believes the unborn child is his and, yes, I think she was right when she told Rick that he could present a credible, irrational threat to him.

Lori’s presence of mind against the threat here went some way to addressing how she almost got herself killed following the car crash. Her getting out of the car and getting the gun to fend off the attacking walkers was creditable, but at the same time she stumbled out of the car having killed one and didn’t notice the other one shambling along behind her! I mean, really. In that situation you’d have thought your senses would have been blazing and your survival instinct have you panicking and checking all around you for threats. Still, she did manage to save herself from the mess she got herself into so I suppose I’ll chalk that up as a minor plus point.

Glenn didn’t fare so well when it came to saving his own skin (although when the zombies were closing in around them he did OK with some well-aimed, long range shotgun blasts!). His change from being the plucky survivor to a rabbit frozen in the headlights due to his improbable state of falling in love (although the farmer’s daughter is pretty hot so, you know, I’ll cut him some slack) has hit him hard. Their relationship is a tad frustrating for its forever dodging of a straight love story, but really that’s a more sophisticated path for the two to take and ought to make their eventual union all the more rewarding.

Or potentially heartbreaking, should one of them not make it. . .

Another unlikely love relationship doesn’t threaten to blossom between Carol and Daryl. His switch to outsider is just about believable, although I think his character has been given a short amount of screen time to really make us comprehend where he is at right now. But I like how Carol has emerged as brittle yet strong, and not willing to just wither away following her devastating loss. This is a woman with incredible courage, and a willingness to live and make the best of the life she has left. Whilst Daryl’s ungracious sulk and scathing outbursts are brutal, she takes it and perseveres. I have to hope that perseverance will be rewarded.

What was the best part?

Lori’s escape from the car could have been the standout moment, but her bungling her own fight for survival and only just making it made it more frustrating than entertaining. So the plaudits have to go the intense peak of the walkers closing in around Rick, Hershal and Glenn whilst they debated what to do with the man impaled on the railings. This many episodes in, this many walker attacks down the line, and The Walking Dead can still make its action sequences inventive and exciting.

What do I think will happen next?

Rick appears to be being steered on an eventual collisions course with Shane, and with just three episodes to go I have to wonder if this isn’t something that will come to absolute head for the finale. I expect skirmishes to be forthcoming, but the all-out one-on-one showdown isn’t quite ready to be brought to the boil, I think.

I still believe that Hershal’s farm cannot remain a permanent residence for the survivors for much longer and the open road beckons. And I still believe that really the only thing that can force them to move on, especially now that Hershal and Rick are seeing eye to eye, has to be a threat from outside that overpowers them. To that end I still anticipate either a zombie infestation descending on the farm, but there is now potential that the gun-toting gang we barely saw this episode will make another appearance.

Fringe: S04 Ep10 – Forced Perspective

What happened?

A girl with the power to foresee tragic events helps the Fringe department to stop a disgruntled father exploding a bomb at a courthouse. As a consequence the girl, Emily, dies.

Olivia is pre-occupied with her appearing migraines, and the message The Observer gave her. Nina tells Olivia she will give her some fantastic new drugs for her migraine, whilst Peter states that he cannot imagine how an Observer could be wrong about their predictions.

Thoughts

Given the serial-based, revelatory dynamics of recent episodes it felt like a weird step backwards to get this generally ‘standalone’ episode. Sure, the usual tricks of folding the case of the week into the ongoing concerns of the characters was present (Emily’s ability to see the future that she seemingly could never avert fed into Olivia’s pressing concern about The Observer’s prediction) but I can’t help but wonder why they continue with the conceit.

I understood the need in Fringe’s early days to have self-contained episodes that could snag new, casual viewers and get them interested in the show. But this is Season 4 now, off the back of a run of serialised episodes, so who on Earth is going to watch the show now and suddenly get converted? There’s bigger risk of alienating existing viewers than there is of gathering new ones, surely. I know I, for one, was rather blah about this one.

Besides, this episode did also contain callbacks to Nina’s duplicitous scheming against Olivia and remarks about The Observer that would invariably lose any newcomer to the show in an instant. So, fundamentally, I am baffled by the concession to these standalone stories that diminish the quality of the overall show. Like Emily dying at the end; a quick-fix resolution that looked and played like a tacked on afterthought to be able to put a lid on the whole plot and forget about it for next week.

All that being said, Emily’s ability did produce some wonderful moments. Perhaps the concepts were just so good the show creators couldn’t bear to not make the episode! Probably not likely. But the eye-catching opening scene with the man getting improbably skewered by a girder was deliciously unpleasant. Likewise the sequence where Walter hypnotised Emily and she drifted around a frozen moment of explosion was really cool.

It definitely felt like a cop-out that she died at the close. If they had made more of the idea that her having foreseen an event that never came to be somehow short-circuited her brain, as though breaking the laws of this reflecting echo of a horrible event meant she couldn’t continue, that might have worked. Instead Walter just remarked about some increased release of blood oxygen that had always been there and that explained that. Weak, if you ask me. A more philosophically, paradoxical ending was possible and yet eschewed.

Disappointingly the blood sample of September didn’t yield anything like the level of new information I anticipated. Aside from telling us that these beings were incredibly old there really wasn’t anything gleaned at all. And, really, after four seasons of the show pretty much everyone watching had kind of figured The Observers were hardly likely to be anything other than timeless!

Peter was on hand at the end to deliver more information to Olivia in a few glib remarks than this universe knew entirely, although his statements about how The Observers existed outside of time and human terms of experience (although hopefully correct) didn’t feel quite like something he could have known or explained in such a blasé fashion. The scene was really just working towards delivering its payoff line that only resonated with the previous statement September made: that Olivia had to die.

Again, this ‘news’ didn’t conjure any tension or drama for me. Just like the episode where The Observer hit her with the news the first time – there’s been no further development or explanation to qualify it and as such it just hangs like an empty threat.

More of a sinister threat to Olivia’s wellbeing is the betrayer with a kindly smile, Nina, the woman who Olivia considers as close to a mother as she has. Oh, when Olivia finds out what Nina has really been doing to her it’ll either be too late or it’ll be carnage – but either way the sense of betrayal will be crushing.

We’re still no closer to understanding what it is Nina is up to, though it’s a safe bet that the pills she is going to give to Olivia to help with her migraines are going to be part of phase two. (Indeed, the migraines will probably cease due to the phase one attacks being stopped. But Olivia won’t know that and instead just figure the drugs she is using are working wonders! It’s a cunning plan, really.)

Ultimately this was a filler episode, albeit one that did at least have the courtesy to acknowledge the bigger drama still at play. But filler is still filler no matter which way you dress it up and what’s fundamentally true is that I could have missed this episode and still tuned in the to the next one being completely aware of what’s going on so far. That’s not the mark of a great episode, not for a drama series, not this late in the game.

What was the best part?

Whilst the use of a standalone story was what made this a weak episode, it’s fair to say that it was within the story of Emily were the strongest moments. Whilst the pre-credit skewering was a cracking scene, the best sequence was with a hypnotised Emily exploring the exploding courthouse. It looked stylish and eerie and was far and away the most compelling part. Runner-up award goes to Nina paying Olivia a visit and being the all-caring mother figure harbouring shadowy intentions.

What do I think will happen next?

There’s a few plots at play. Nina plying Olivia with drugs for phase two. That plot dovetails into the ongoing mission to find and stop Mr. Jones, too, that everyone was all gung ho about last episode and has dropped like a hot brick for this one (I guess the other universe was picking up the slack!). There’s also Walter and Peter getting to work in earnest on making him compatible with The Machine and the ominous remarks of The Observer’s warning of certain death to Olivia.

All of these are big pieces on the board and any one of them could earn the status of season finale material. Right now it feels like they’ve been put in place but I have no idea where they’re going.

The Walking Dead: S02 Ep08 – Nebraska

What happened?

Rick is forced to venture into town in pursuit of Hershal who has taken to drinking following the slaughter of the barn zombies and a crushing sense of hopelessness. Rick eventually talks him round, but not before they encounter two survivors that also want to join them on the farm. Rick shoots them both before they get the chance to shoot him.

At the farm, Hershal’s wife has entered a catatonic state. Whilst some of the group bury the dead they knew and burn the rest, Dale tells Lori that he is certain Shane was responsible for killing Otis. Lori leaves in a car to find Rick but crashes en route.

Thoughts

The Walking Dead is back after its mid-season break and it’s returned with. . . well, more of a canter than a spring, let’s put it that way. Not that I’ve had any trouble with the pacing of the show but I know the internet is teeming with its detractors at how it seems to be dragging its feet. Yet without the more leisurely pace how would we ever get to know the characters? And how would scenes like the meeting in the bar carry so much tension and effect if The Walking Dead was quickly-edited and injected with the pace of, say, 24? It just wouldn’t be the show it is and I like the show how it is.

Events kick off immediately after the devastating gunshot that ended zombie Sophia. The episode was primarily concerned in dealing with the effects that had on the group. From Daryl’s withdrawal to Hershal’s despair, it’s fair to say the effects weren’t good. I didn’t quite buy Glenn’s remarks about how, because it was Sophia, her death had caused such upset. I mean, I get that was what the episode was stating but it didn’t quite feel earned with what we had seen before. I don’t recall the group all fondly hugging Sophia and loving her youthful presence as the life and soul for them in dark times. Up until she went missing I didn’t even know her name!

Shane’s sense of being perceived as the right man always viewed in unfairly negative ways only became more pronounced this episode, too. He has a case to defend himself with. Aside from putting a crosshair on Rick to rid him of his love rival, Shane’s actions have been brutal (killing Otis) but generally for a purpose. In principle emotional terms I do tend to side with the view that Shane is bad news, but at the same time his conversation with Dale, rebuking his moral authority stance and generally useless practical help, does make me realise where he is coming from.

It’s not so much that his behaviour is completely wrong but his hot-headed anger and unreasonable outbursts make it hard to consider him an ideal leader of the people.

The love romance between Glenn and Maggie continues, again not quite as good a sell as the show’s creators perhaps expect of the audience. Maggie’s sudden dependency and professed love for Glenn feels unearned and more a product of plot necessity than organic development. I buy that they have potential, and I get that Glenn being torn between Maggie and the group provides some dramatic meat, but as a real deal loving couple they’ve got some way to go. I expect that Maggie is willing to go with Glenn and his group as things stand – though when it comes to it I expect her and maybe one or two others from Hershal’s group will be hitting the road with Rick’s tribe before too long.

Lori hit the road in a more literal manner this episode, cementing her position as the show’s most unintentionally annoying character. Barely a week goes by without her doing something dumb. This time she decided it was of the utmost importance that she go and try and find Rick to tell him to hurry bringing Hershal back (as though without her prompting him he would just be kicking back taking his sweet time!). Along the way she takes her eyes off the road, mows down one walker and then flips the car. Terrific. In a world full of problems that’s the kind of problem you really need to avoid!

It seems unlikely that it would have been just one solitary walker she hit, which means her crash is bound to have alerted other walkers to her position. I can well imagine a scenario where she escapes, is chased, and leads a whole bunch of the undead back to the farm, if anything just to compound what a complete idiot she is!

Meanwhile Rick was in the bar with Glenn and Hershal. Their conversation was interesting; Hershal’s despair was countered by Rick’s sense of duty when it came to how they continued. But, of course, the real talking point and the highlight of the episode came about when the two survivors turned up in the bar and ushered in a dialogue-heavy few scenes that were thick with tension.

I liked how we stayed with this scene for lengthy periods. In fact, the naysayers that argue about the pacing of the show would do well to take a long sober look at how well this particular scene worked precisely because of the measure and stately pacing. The faux-friendly jostling of introductions gave way to the two survivors masking their smiles to hide the ruthless instinct that had got them so far. As they tried to pick up the clues about where Rick and his group were located an impasse was inevitable. The proverbial immovable object (Rick) meeting the unstoppable force (the two survivors).

The moment Rick shot the pair of them just jolted me with the abrupt coolness of it. In fact, once I watched the episode through, I actually rewound back to that moment just to see it happen again. It was so fast, so slight, so brilliant. Further demonstrating that Rick is the natural choice for leader (you can imagine Shane might have got out of that situation but would it have been as elegant, and would Hershal and Glenn both made it, too?). He has now crossed new boundaries – dispatching real people in the same manner as walkers. At least he let them make the first move; he’s not a mercenary murderer and still just a man trying to keep himself and his family alive.

What was the best part?

The entire scene in the bar with the two survivors. Interesting conversations with a constant tension and rising unsettling feeling. As it played out it was clearly reaching an untenable point between Rick stoutly rejecting to give the two shelter, and the survivors being unwilling to take no for an answer. The result was Rick being quicker on the draw and me on my sofa going, “Whoa!”

What do I think will happen next?

The previews clued me in a little to what I probably would have concluded needed to happen: it’s time to hit the road. It appeared that Hershal’s farm was getting besieged by walkers, perhaps attracted to the area after Lori’s crash, or all the gunshots Rick fired in the town, or just from all the gunshots at the barn massacre – possibly they just happened to be wandering by! Either way, their arrival should only usher in the necessity for our survivors to hit the road again. Quite how many of them will survive is another matter. If Hershal’s wife doesn’t snap out of things soon then I don’t see her making the journey. . .

Fringe: S04 Ep09 – Enemy Of My Enemy

What happened?

Mr. Jones allowed himself to be captured by Fringe Division in order to reclaim a hard drive disk that Brandon held, a disk that contained information on where to mine necessary materials to open a gate between universes and potentially use the same principle as a weapon.

Fringe Division’s attempts to keep track of Mr. Jones fail but the two sides agree to unite against their common enemy, with Peter presenting himself as the wildcard element Mr. Jones won’t have factored for to give them the advantage. Meanwhile, it is revealed that Nina is in contact with Mr. Jones, and they discuss how phase 2, involving Olivia, is almost ready.

Thoughts

Another strong episode, and one that finally sees the key characters from both sides unite and start working together! I suspect there’s reluctance to have too many scenes that involve the key characters and their counterparts being in the same room because of the logistics of filming such things, but there’s no doubt that they are really cool to see.

Like that end scene in the boardroom, I could have spent so much longer with each character viewing their counterpart across the table – it makes you want to know what they think of how they look, get them talking about their differences. . . It’s actually a really fascinating concept that this show, in pursuit of its story arcs and cliffhangers, has seemed to largely ignore. I suppose it would be a rather frothy, superfluous concern but, you know, that still doesn’t stop it being fun to watch and, really, a little bit of fun is exactly the kind of thing that Fringe could use once in a while!

Hey, couldn’t we all?

Mr. Jones seemed relatively nonplussed, as ever. It seems that this Mr. Jones pretty much went through the same thing we saw him go through in Season 1, with the difference here being that Olivia and Peter had nothing to do with him and so he was able to achieve his ends without hassle. Somehow he found a way to stop the decay he was riddled with, albeit with residual scarring, and now he’s on track to complete his mission.

Unlikely as it seems, Nina Sharp is also in on it with him. I could wonder if this means Nina, as I suspect of Broyles, is a shapeshifter. I believe Mr. Jones mentioned there were 47 of them in existence so there’s plenty that are unaccounted for. Thing with Nina is that she’s always possessed a shadowy quality about her so you can believe bad things, duplicitous things, about her without the requirement of a proxy posing in her stead. I would presume she isn't a shapeshifter and, since she's in touch with Broyles, perhaps he actually isn't either.

The re-appearance of Mr. Jones does make me wonder what, if anything, there is of the Alternate Universe’s Mr. Jones. If there are always two of everything then there ought to be two of them, should there not? Yet there was never a sign of him in the old universe’s Over There and the same goes for this one. Not only is that a curious omission it’s also bizarre that no one from Fringe Division has raised the matter. I mean I remember one episode not so long back where they used an alternate from one universe to help catch his serial killer counterpart in the other, yet here it’s as if he’s the only one. . .

What is Mr. Jones’, and Nina’s, endgame? I can only assume they seek to destroy Over There to preserve their side. Mr. Jones did make that remark about how the air tasted sweeter when he was back on his home side, certainly positing a bias for one universe over another. Going back to the war between universes does feel like a backwards step, though, but I can’t really imagine what else it could be. He certainly seemed incredulous at the sight of Peter, so the ‘former’ universe doesn’t seem to be one that’s in his realms of plotting.

Peter is shaping up as an interesting proposition. I think he’s perhaps behaving with a tad too much cool and swagger considering his situation but in the same breath I can’t deny that it’s fun to see. He’s just an eminently more capable person. In the gunfight that occurred he was swiftly handed a gun (I recall there was once a big deal about ever letting Peter have a firearm!) and took out a guy with cool aplomb. He’s got to be right about his own sense of importance – indeed the reason he did bleed back through may entirely be due to this important function he has yet to fulfil.

Things are looking up for Peter all over the place, with Walter having now come around to leaving the lab and assist his boy. What’s the betting that Walter and Peter wind up living together sooner rather than later? As for whether or not it’s a good idea to let Peter start meddling with The Machine is another matter. My instinct tells me if it really does achieve the goal that Peter intends then it can only eradicate this current timeline and revert back to the old one. I don’t see that happening. It feels like we’re to be invested in this universe now and the only lingering sadness is that poor Olivia, Peter’s one true love, has been lost. It’s only that truth which gives me reservations in wholeheartedly believing these new dual universes are immutable.

Walter came around due to the conversation he had with Elizabeth. In the space of two episodes she has shown herself to be a remarkably wonderful woman. She knows Peter isn’t really her boy, and yet him being an approximation of the Peter she lost is enough for her love to exist. Like any mother, she will do whatever she can to help her child. And so she journeyed to another universe to persuade the man that kidnapped her boy, and decimated the universe, to forgive himself like she had forgiven him and help Peter.

It was a really tender, moving scene actually. The little details from Walter’s look of elation at first seeing Elizabeth to knowing how she liked her drink with honey sweetener; it was lovely dialogue matched by top performances. Certainly better-handled than Lincoln and Olivia's relationship, that once threatened to potentially emerge into something lovable but has been given short shrift. I guess there’s just not the room for it at the moment but, if Fringe does plan on making these two an item, it needs to work harder at selling them as a couple.

There was a little bit of business introduced that I can only hope will be revelatory in the next episode or two. Olivia handed Astrid a small sample of blood, presumably collected from where September sat bleeding, and asked her to go and check it. I’d be amazed if it came back human, anomaly-free, so I can just hope that whatever weird results are returned are the kind from which better estimations to what exactly The Observers are can be breached.

What was the best part?

Not often I’d plump for a scene that’s basically just talking and acting, but the moments between Walter and Elizabeth were really a cut above the already decent performances Fringe regularly showcases.

What do I think will happen next?

The universes’ united front against Mr. Jones would appear to be the driving plot at present (though with Fringe and its occasional standalone episodes there’s always the risk that big plots get inexplicably sidelined for a week whilst some one-off investigation takes priority!). I am guessing that Olivia is being drugged and primed for her innate capability to cross over between universes (a facet of herself this Olivia doesn’t know about) to be used in this ‘war’ I am figuring Jones and Nina are gearing up for. Outside that, blood results of September might hopefully yield interesting revelations about what he, and The Observers, are all about to move that big mystery forward some.

Fringe: S04 Ep08 – Back To Where You’ve Never Been

What happened?

Peter travelled to the other side in the hope to appeal to Walternate for help in using The Machine to get himself back to his proper universe. Initially accompanied by Lincoln Lee, an attempt on their lives forced them to split. Alt-Olivia and Alt-Lincoln investigate the possibility that Walternate is behind the new shapeshifters, unaware that this universe’s Mr. Jones is behind them.

Walternate confides in Peter that he is not behind the shapeshifters and Peter’s opinion of him changes. Meanwhile Olivia, waiting at the gate, is confronted by The Observer who has been shot, apparently dying, and he tells her that in every possible future he has seen she must die.

Thoughts

Oh, that was especially nice in hindsight. I am thinking particularly of the remark Peter made to Lincoln just as they were stepping through the gate. Lincoln asked what would happen if the gate closed before he was all the way through and Peter remembered a time he had killed a man by cutting him in half in that same manner. That man was Mr. Jones and, lo, he did turn up at the end as the surprise reveal villain.

Well, it was a surprise to me anyway. Hence why I thought it was a clever bit of foreshadowing.

His face looked a little worse for wear. Possibly that’s because this version of Mr. Jones underwent similar ordeals like we saw during the first season, when he escaped from prison, only in this timeline he managed to not fall apart as rapidly and monstrously as he did that time. Hopefully that’s one of the many things on a growing list of things that will get explained in due course.

The bulk of the episode was all about maintaining the potential for Walternate to be the man behind the shapeshifters, to the extent that he was even keeping it from his own people (namely Altlivia and Alt-Lincoln). The scene where Peter finally met up with Walternate was really great at maintaining that grey area. It was very disconcerting how, whilst speaking, Walternate was constructing the strange looking stun gun. All the time I was thinking, What the hell is he going to use that for? And all the time Peter saw it and didn’t even mention it!

It transpired that Walternate was aware that higher positions in power had possibly been infiltrated by shapeshifters, and Alt-Brandon was the first one he took down. I liked that Walternate turned out not to be villainous – quite the opposite. It’ll potentially give Peter the ‘father figure’ to bond with in this version of the universe, and with his ‘mother’ around as well I can’t help but wonder if he may begin to feel like this world may be a place he values.

Of course, there’s still the matter of his Olivia, which is what is fundamentally driving him to get back to where he belongs. I still think it’s doing his character a dis-service that he seems too blasé about the fact that returning to his home and erasing this universe will, in effect, be eradicating the existences of billions of people. Perhaps, like his mother, he believes that all the universes we have seen, and more, remain in parallel existence and one doesn’t replace the other.

September’s remarks at the end of the episode did lend themselves to reaching that kind of interpretation. As he sat bleeding out from a gunshot wound (another one of those mysteries to be explained; add it to the list!) he made remarks to Olivia about all the many versions of consequences and worlds he had seen. The inference depends entirely on how many different versions of events he has observed. If, when he says Olivia must die, he is talking only of this current version of the universe that emerged when Peter was erased, then we’re back to the fact that Peter undoing what happened would eliminate billions of lives.

It’s a pickle, no doubt about it.

Altlivia and Alt-Lincoln’s investigation ultimately dovetailed into an apparent rendezvous with Mr. Jones for the next episode. That ought to be spicy. And there’s the extra revelation that Alt-Broyles is most likely a shapeshifter (failing that he’s a covert ally of Mr. Jones, but I am more inclined to believe the shapeshifter theory). If Altlivia and Alt-Lincoln don’t make it back that’s going to leave regular Lincoln Lee still stuck in the windowless room!

I definitely did enjoy the episode, although it was a shame that the surprise at the end of the previous episode, with Olivia being attacked whilst unconscious by Nina, was relegated to her moaning about having a headache. Again, yet again, another mystery on the ever-growing list. . . But finally going Over There in this universe for some proper show and tell was much-needed (and holding off all this time really seems to have just been to generate the mystique that Walternate was a bad guy when he appears to not be).

I liked the reveal of Mr. Jones. His was a menacing figure of the first season that has felt abandoned, so it’s good to see him back. Less interesting for me was The Observer’s remarks about how Olivia needed to die. It was too ambiguous to be dramatic for me. Since this Olivia isn’t really our Olivia then her having to die doesn’t slam home like I think the creator’s wanted it to.

Intrigued to know about how September got shot, though. A case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time? Or an act of murder by one of his fellow Observers following the infringement in meddling with what was supposed to happen regarding Peter. An Observer-centric episode would be very welcome to clarify it all!

What was the best part?

I have to go with the scene where Peter and Walternate talked alone, whilst he coldly constructed the shapeshifter killer gun without a word of explanation. Delicious stuff.

What do I think will happen next?

I’d imagine the matter that September brought to Olivia’s attention is one of those that gets dropped in the immediate next episode or two, at least. I would expect there to be more time spent Over There. I do wonder if maybe Mr. Jones and his shapeshifters isn’t something that gets tackled and ultimately resolved in an episode or two, allowing the two universes to start talking more and firm up some trust.

American Horror Story: S01 Ep5 – Halloween Part 2

What happened?

The missing Violet had actually just ventured out with Tate on a date, and a desire to lose her virginity. Tate seemed unable to complete the act, however, and then a gang of ghoulish teenagers arrived with a bone to pick with Tate – talking of how he had shot them years ago. Tate got angry and denied it, but flashes of some disturbing memory returned to him.

Constance had to cope with the death of Addy and told Violet stated that Tate was her son. Meanwhile Ben and Vivien had to contend with Hayden who took a turn for the violent until the home security officer arrived and took her away. She disappeared as the sun rose. And whilst the Burns Man’s fate was left unknown, other spirits returned to the house before the sun rose, all apparently trapped in that place. Ben and Vivien, still in disbelief at such supernatural possibilities, were not reconciled; Vivien demanded he was to leave and yet Ben was adamant he was not giving up on his family.

Thoughts

So. . . Tate’s definitely a ghost, right? I mean, those kids claimed he had killed them many years ago (fourteen, I think, or something like that) and since he hasn’t aged I have to figure he is a ghost just like them, only he is bound to the house. The revelation that Constance was his mother had occurred to me, but it did make me struggle to make sense of the phone call I thought Ben had had with one of Tate’s parents when he was discussing continuing treatment. Either I didn’t quite grasp who was on the other end of the phone or there’s something of an unclear issue there.

Constance being Tate’s mother wasn’t otherwise that troubling – she had mentioned there had been one good son so Tate was a natural fit. Quite what it means for Constance’s ghost status is another matter. I am still thinking that she is alive, as was Addy (I think). I believe the real tragedy of Addy’s death, for Constance, was that she died outside of the grounds of the house and so could not return as a spirit in the same way Tate and Moira have.

I did like the gang of teenage ghosts, though. Their make-up effects were disgusting, and their anger and appearance really menacing. The demand for answers was all they wanted, something Tate seemed unable to provide. Is he actually unaware of what he did? He really seemed shocked by the memories himself? I am guessing he is aware of his ‘spirit status’, considering he was aware of when he could leave the house.

The ending with all the spirits we currently know about returning to the house before sunrise produced mixed feelings in me. I liked the detail of the two nurses, for example. But it made me think that we really ought to have been seeing a lot more ghosts returning to the house because I am absolutely certain there are going to be more deaths and more ghouls showing up before this season is done. Indeed, if the episode tradition maintains as it has so far then I can expect them in the next episode!

So the continuity-freak in me would have preferred to have seen glimpses of other ghosts just to give a sense that there was more, but that was my only problem with it. In principle the underlining of the fact that these are people that once had lives that got stopped in the moment and now they are stuck, bound to the house in a limbo, is a nice one.

Interesting thought I’ve had: If Tate is unaware of what he is, then maybe that lack of awareness allows him to move more freely throughout the world. I only suggest that because perhaps even Ben, Vivien and Violet are already dead, too, and are unaware of it and that’s why they are free to move around, too. It’s pretty crazy, I know, but then this show is full on nuts.

Throwaway question: What the hell was that hand that reached out from under the bed for Violet?

Ben’s mistress was a nice turn up of craziness. The scenes of her apparently exploding the dog in the microwave (for a while I thought she really had and the dog we saw afterwards was a spirit dog!) and bathing in the bath, choking up her own rotting insides, they were just all great touches of grisly style. American Horror Story these past two episodes actually felt more like a film than it usually does. I can’t help but be impressed by how it just goes for it and manages to pull it off. What so easily could have been a total, tasteless mess is instead a riotous, demented joy.

We didn’t get to see what happened with Burns Man. Last we saw of him was when he was confronted by the gay guy, just when he looked set on striking a few pyromaniac matches. Maybe the scene was supposed to state that Burns Man got stopped in his tracks and so went on his way – or maybe the next episode will reveal what it was that actually occurred to him. I doubt he’s dead, though. Whilst Hayden may now be permanently gone (big question mark about that) Ben’s life isn’t going to free of the Burns Man that easily.

Of course, Vivien and Ben have some serious differences to sort out. I expect things won’t be rosy between them for a while, but since he is determined to stay and make things work then he’ll be around for the foreseeable. So they’ve all survived Halloween, except for poor Addy (again, question marks over whether we’ll see her again) and there’s been just a touch more clarification about the nature of the spirits in the house. It’s near impossible to guess where the show goes to next, but I am absolutely loving it so far. I am now entrenched with the mindset that each episode, when I start it, is going to be a cracker, as that has been the case so far. I can’t think of any new series, just this many shows in, that has had me thinking the same way.

Let’s hope the next one’s a cracker then!

What was the best part?

For me it was the scenes with the murdered kids returning to interrogate their murderer, Tate. From the image of the five of them striding towards the house to chasing Tate before they came to demanding why he had done it. It sets up further intrigue around his character, and what exactly he is and what he thinks he is. A whole episode could have been formed around this central plotline – but this show likes to move quicker and have more going on to allow that to be the case, which is both a good and bad thing for various reasons, but mostly a good thing.

What do I think will happen next?

Sheesh, honestly I don’t know! I mean how Ben and Vivien get along will be a backbone, but quite where the next ghost is coming from, or what crackerjack scheme Burns Man will present, or what Tate might do. . . These are all elements in the mix and I’ve not even touched on the doctor and his wife backstory of the house! No, there’s just too much madness to even attempt to make predictive sense of. Better to just strap in and enjoy the ride for now.

Doctor Who: Christmas Special 2007 – Voyage Of The Damned

What happened?

It’s Christmas Day on Earth, but unknown to the planet the cruiser Titanic drifts by in space. With the ship having crashed into the TARDIS, The Doctor has got onboard as a stowaway and merged in with the rest of the guests enjoying their holiday. The party is cut short when the captain deliberately lowers the shields and attracts meteors to strike the ship.

Crippled, with few survivors, those that are left are at the mercy of the robotic Host, picking them off. It’s up to The Doctor with a small band of people to discover that Max Capricorn, the owner of the ship, is behind the attack due to his failed business. The Doctor, with the help of a waitress, Astrid, stops Max.

Thoughts

I didn’t think much of this episode. I mean, I can be charitable and say that since it’s just an Xmas episode, one that exists kind of outside the regular show and the events there, then it doesn’t deserve to be viewed with the same critical expectation. It’s just a good family show, featuring none other than Kylie Minogue, for people to sit down with on Xmas Day having eaten their festive dinner whilst helping themselves to a nice drink as the kids play with toys and watch the telly.

Viewed in that context it’s a lot easier to let slip its misgivings, but that’s not the context I viewed it in. And I think I already tend to allow Doctor Who off the hook a bit more than other shows given it’s got a kind of daft charm all of its own making that affords it some slack. So why should a Christmas Special be considered permissible just because it’s, well, a Christmas Special? If anything a one-off show is exactly the kind of thing that plays to Doctor Who’s strengths.

Thing is, I can’t quite place exactly what it was about this episode that resulted in it falling so flat for me. I rather liked Kylie Minogue as Astrid (she was rather simplistically characterised so Kylie didn’t really have much to work with, but I felt like there was a spark between her and Tennant that really buoyed their interplay), and the Host angel robots were sinister enough villains that were memorable. The moment they showed up in attack, displaying the previously unseen ability to fly, was pretty cool.

The collection of core characters were an assorted bunch. The clichéd self-centred businessman was irritating – but then that was his function. More bizarre was the strange affection between the short alien cyborg thing with Astrid which didn’t exactly do Astrid any favours since it made it seem like she was ready to throw herself at anyone – Timelord Doctors, midget aliens, she’s up for anything!

I think really it was just a problem with tone. I couldn’t get in to the action because there was a slightly tongue-in-cheek aspect to it all (understandable, it’s Christmas Day, it’s a family show – it would be wrong to expect an episode like Blink!) that stopped me. And I suppose it didn’t help that the mastermind behind it all – Max Capricorn – had the sole motivation of doing these terrible things, taking all of those lives, purely so he could ruin his business and upset shareholders.

If you’re going to have one-off villains for a one-off Xmas day episode then just make them more unreasonably evil, like the Syrcorax, and give the casual viewers something to boo and hiss at before The Doctor saves the day.

What was the best part?

I’m really struggling to come up with a part of this episode that I could label as the best part since the whole thing rather left me cold. Honesly, I think the glorious stupidity of The Doctor discovering the captain’s mate was called Alonso, and so joyously declaring “Allons y, Alonso!” That was the best bit. Doesn’t say much, does it?

What do I think will happen next?

Series 4 will happen next, that’s what. Proper Doctor Who and none of this trifling Xmas day fare!