Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
'Fringe' star 'unsure about romance plot' (Spoiler)
Anna Torv has admitted that she is unsure about the resolution to the current romantic storyline on Fringe.
On the Fox sci-fi drama, Peter (Joshua Jackson) is torn between Olivia (Torv) and her parallel world doppelganger, known as Fauxlivia.
"I don't know who he should choose, I really don't," Torv told GiveMeMyRemote. "Fauxlivia's kind of fun. I wouldn't mind spending some more time with her."
Asked about the recent rumours that Fauxlivia is pregnant with Peter's child, the actress replied: "I think that we're about to find out something that's going to make that decision a whole lot harder for Peter. That's all I can say."
Torv's co-star Jasika Nicole (Astrid) recently revealed that Peter and Olivia's relationship will grow more complex in future episodes.
Fringe continues on Fridays at 9/8c on Fox.
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On the Fox sci-fi drama, Peter (Joshua Jackson) is torn between Olivia (Torv) and her parallel world doppelganger, known as Fauxlivia.
"I don't know who he should choose, I really don't," Torv told GiveMeMyRemote. "Fauxlivia's kind of fun. I wouldn't mind spending some more time with her."
Asked about the recent rumours that Fauxlivia is pregnant with Peter's child, the actress replied: "I think that we're about to find out something that's going to make that decision a whole lot harder for Peter. That's all I can say."
Torv's co-star Jasika Nicole (Astrid) recently revealed that Peter and Olivia's relationship will grow more complex in future episodes.
Fringe continues on Fridays at 9/8c on Fox.
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Monday, February 7, 2011
Fringe - 3.12 Concentrate and ask again - Live+7 DVR Ratings
18-49 Live+SD (rating): 1.9 18-49 Live+7 (rating): 2.8
Post Airdate 18-49 Rating Absolute Increase From DVR Viewing: 0.9
Post Airdate 18-49 Rating % Increase from DVR Viewing: 47%
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edit:
the info above about the ratings is for Firefly and not for Concentrate and ask again. I have no idea why TVByTheNumbers put the old Fringe ratings to the new tv ratings.
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Post Airdate 18-49 Rating Absolute Increase From DVR Viewing: 0.9
Post Airdate 18-49 Rating % Increase from DVR Viewing: 47%
===============================================================================
edit:
the info above about the ratings is for Firefly and not for Concentrate and ask again. I have no idea why TVByTheNumbers put the old Fringe ratings to the new tv ratings.
source
Sunday, February 6, 2011
FRINGE: Should Peter Pick Olivia or Fauxlivia? Anna Torv Weighs In
After the events from “Concentrate and Ask Again,” viewers now know that the fate of the universes depends on whatever version of Olivia wins Peter’s heart. If he chooses our Olivia, Fauxlivia and Over There apparently will be destroyed. If he goes back to Fauxlivia, the universe and the characters that we spent the better part of three seasons with will go away. No pressure at all there, Peter.
Of course, as of now, the only characters that are aware of Peter’s upcoming choice are Sam and Nina. And while fans have their own opinions on which woman Peter should end up with, I caught up with FRINGE star Anna Torv (Olivia/Fauxlivia) at the Writers Guild Awards and got her to weigh in on the debate.
According to Torv, the issue might not be as black-and-white as we might think…
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A Big Reveal on Fringe “Concentrate and Ask Again”: Review and Recap
Fringe doesn’t always focus on the season’s overall storyline--in season three, that’s Peter’s relation to the doomsday machine and the ‘other’ side--and that’s okay. In episode 12 of the season, Concentrate and Ask Again, the FOX drama spent more time on a disturbing medical murder case. That’s not to say the team isn’t working on the mystery of how the doomsday machine is controlled. They definitely are, but it’s not the main focus.
In the main storyline on February 4, three men are committing biological attacks against those they hold responsible for giving them a DNA pathogen that kills their unborn children. Murder on Fringe is always unpleasant, but this is downright creepy. A single cloud of powder causes people’s bones to disintegrate.
As Walter (John Noble) tends to do, he lightens the mood. He forgoes his diet so he can eat chicken wings and break their bones using the biological agent. But things turn serious again when their first suspect Aaron Downey ends up in a coma. Walter has a solution: find Simon (Omid Abtahi), the child he once experimented on--like he once did with Olivia (Anna Torv), because Simon can read minds.
The only problem is that Simon gets sick every time he reads minds, which is constantly because he can’t control it. But that’s a moot point. Luckily, he can’t read Olivia’s.
Simon ends up helping and brings the Fringe team to a fundraiser where the two other terrorists are. The storyline is wrapped up incredibly fast--because that’s not the point of the episode.
Even though ‘the first people’ were only mentioned on Fringe "Concentrate and Ask Again" in the beginning and end of the episode, a lot of important things were revealed. Nina (Blair Brown) went through all of William Bell’s artifacts and found yet another ‘first people’ book. In doing so, she put something together. Sam Weiss (Kevin Corrigan)--the infamous bowling alley owner who once helped Olivia--wrote every one of those books.
That means he knows how the doomsday machine works. Peter’s (Joshua Jackson) frequency determines how the machine will react. And how is this frequency determined? By who he decides to end up with, Olivia or Faux-Livia. Whoever he chooses, it’s her universe that survives.
And as all viewers know, nothing is for certain--ever--on Fringe. Peter spent the episode trying to convince Olivia that he does not care about Faux-livia at all, but the mind-reader Simon knows better. He tells Olivia the truth: “He still has feelings for her.”
While the main story line of this showing of Fringe wasn’t the most compelling, the FOX drama more than made up for it by the big reveals. Viewers now know what to root for, what Peter needs to realize--choose Olivia!--and how the world can be saved.
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In the main storyline on February 4, three men are committing biological attacks against those they hold responsible for giving them a DNA pathogen that kills their unborn children. Murder on Fringe is always unpleasant, but this is downright creepy. A single cloud of powder causes people’s bones to disintegrate.
As Walter (John Noble) tends to do, he lightens the mood. He forgoes his diet so he can eat chicken wings and break their bones using the biological agent. But things turn serious again when their first suspect Aaron Downey ends up in a coma. Walter has a solution: find Simon (Omid Abtahi), the child he once experimented on--like he once did with Olivia (Anna Torv), because Simon can read minds.
The only problem is that Simon gets sick every time he reads minds, which is constantly because he can’t control it. But that’s a moot point. Luckily, he can’t read Olivia’s.
Simon ends up helping and brings the Fringe team to a fundraiser where the two other terrorists are. The storyline is wrapped up incredibly fast--because that’s not the point of the episode.
Even though ‘the first people’ were only mentioned on Fringe "Concentrate and Ask Again" in the beginning and end of the episode, a lot of important things were revealed. Nina (Blair Brown) went through all of William Bell’s artifacts and found yet another ‘first people’ book. In doing so, she put something together. Sam Weiss (Kevin Corrigan)--the infamous bowling alley owner who once helped Olivia--wrote every one of those books.
That means he knows how the doomsday machine works. Peter’s (Joshua Jackson) frequency determines how the machine will react. And how is this frequency determined? By who he decides to end up with, Olivia or Faux-Livia. Whoever he chooses, it’s her universe that survives.
And as all viewers know, nothing is for certain--ever--on Fringe. Peter spent the episode trying to convince Olivia that he does not care about Faux-livia at all, but the mind-reader Simon knows better. He tells Olivia the truth: “He still has feelings for her.”
While the main story line of this showing of Fringe wasn’t the most compelling, the FOX drama more than made up for it by the big reveals. Viewers now know what to root for, what Peter needs to realize--choose Olivia!--and how the world can be saved.
source
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Rating News: Fringe dipped
They’re back: The CW’s Smallville and Supernatural returned Friday night, the latter facing Fox’s Fringe.
Smallville (2.4 million, 1.0 preliminary adults 18-49 rating) and Supernatural (2.3 million, 1.0) both matched their last original ratings, but Fringe (4.3 million, 1.6) dipped from its rating from the last couple weeks.
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Smallville (2.4 million, 1.0 preliminary adults 18-49 rating) and Supernatural (2.3 million, 1.0) both matched their last original ratings, but Fringe (4.3 million, 1.6) dipped from its rating from the last couple weeks.
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'Fringe' recap: Punch Buggie Blue (LA Times)
I finally get to write something I’ve been wanting to write for a very long time: looks like “Fringe” has been doing pretty well in the ratings the past couple weeks. Now I don’t claim to be an expert in Nielsen ratings. Half the time, I can’t even spell It, but I do know that since “Fringe” moved to Friday nights, it has been winning the night in viewers 18-49. That’s the coveted age group that, I guess, is most affected by commercials. Which very well might be true. I spent most of the night craving a chicken wrap from Carl’s Jr.
This week, “Fringe” veers from its larger story of the battle between two universes to deal with the more immediate threat of a gas that causes a person’s bones to disintegrate. I don’t care if you have a giant doomsday device that could destroy reality, when people start turning into piles of organs, you stop and check it out.
Before “Fringe” dives into the deboning gas, it gives us a little treat: Nina Sharp traveling down to the storage space of Massive Dynamic. There’s a few fun Easter eggs. She flips through William Bell’s diplomas, which are right next to a copy of Dr. Spock’s “Baby and Child Care.” She opens a safe that contains old photos and the napkin that has the original sketch for the Massive Dynamic logo. She’s really after a book about the First People, but that all has to wait while Fringe Division stops people from turning into meat bags.
This week, “Fringe” veers from its larger story of the battle between two universes to deal with the more immediate threat of a gas that causes a person’s bones to disintegrate. I don’t care if you have a giant doomsday device that could destroy reality, when people start turning into piles of organs, you stop and check it out.
Before “Fringe” dives into the deboning gas, it gives us a little treat: Nina Sharp traveling down to the storage space of Massive Dynamic. There’s a few fun Easter eggs. She flips through William Bell’s diplomas, which are right next to a copy of Dr. Spock’s “Baby and Child Care.” She opens a safe that contains old photos and the napkin that has the original sketch for the Massive Dynamic logo. She’s really after a book about the First People, but that all has to wait while Fringe Division stops people from turning into meat bags.
Everything starts when a former Marine sends a birthday present to the scientist who once ran secret military weapons experiments. The experiments that tested this deboning gas. The former Marine and several others were inoculated against the gas, but it caused a genetic defect that caused their unborn children to lose their bones as well. As far as reasons to go on a crazy science revenge trip, this one seems pretty solid.
Being the incredibly competent investigators they are, Fringe Division quickly uncovers the culprit through video footage from the post office where he sent the package and the military quality of the weapon. (I’m so glad that everyone on “Fringe” is so good at what they do. It makes the story move so much faster.) They track down the former Marine to his home, but he gets hit by a car and suffers extreme brain damage before they can question him. Darn.
Luckily, Walter knows of a way to interrogate the comatose suspect. There’s another test subject from the Cortexiphan studies who might be able to help named Simon Phillips. Walter kicked Simon out of the study early on because he showed signs of being able to read minds, and Walter was afraid that Simon would find out he stole Peter from the other universe. Makes me wonder why Walter didn’t go get Simon before. I’m sure there were dozens of cases they’ve investigated so far that could really have benefited from a mind reader. I guess Walter might have wanted to keep his secret safe, but after it was out, why not?
Simon the mind reader helps Olivia figure out the next target is the general who oversaw the experiments. She brings Simon along to save the day even though being surrounded by all the people in Boston is like getting needles stuck into his mind-reading brain. He may look like a heroin addict going through withdrawal, but Simon helps point out the former Marine’s accomplices, and Olivia shoots them both, each with just one bullet. Like I said, it’s so nice that she’s good. No need to waste time with a shoot out.
While she’s spending most of the episode kicking butt, Olivia also displays major vulnerability as she continues to struggle with the relationship Peter had with Fauxlivia. He brings coffee the way Fauxlivia liked it. He joked around with her. He had a relationship with her. Olivia tells Nina she saw Fauxlivia’s life and friends and wonders if maybe Fauxlivia is the better Olivia. I love how “Fringe” delves into the consequences of that swap. The crazy science is fun, but the human response is what makes it so fascinating.
I’m curious to hear your reactions to the final revelation of the episode. Nina confronts Sam Weiss that it really seems like he wrote all the different First People books and Sam tells her that Peter can create or destroy universes based on which Olivia he chooses. I know there will be a lot of opinions. I know I’m upset. That’s the one thing Sam is going to tell Nina? I’m sure Peter and the Olivias and destroying universes is important, but I want to know more about the First People! And Sam himself. Get that mind reader back in here.
The Tingler At the beginning of the episode right when the doll sprayed the deboning gas, I got a text message on my phone, which was set to vibrate. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. Freaked me out. It made me think that some show should do that. Set up automatic texts to be sent out to people who subscribe to it during the episode. Similar to what William Castle tried to do for the movie “The Tingler.” It would be one way to get people to watch live and sit through the commercials. I’d much rather have that than 3-D.
Astrid action Was Astrid in this episode much at all? I remember her scolding Walter for using his tests on the deboning gas as an excuse to eat fried chicken, but that’s about it. Makes sense. They didn’t spend a lot of time in the lab this week. Though they really need to start taking Astrid out to crime scenes more often so Walter has someone to drive him home. After hearing how Walter’s mind works through Simon this week, I don’t know if I trust him behind the wheel.
Spot the Observer Did you spot the Observer this week? “Fringe” caught me with a distraction. The Observer strolls into the party right before Olivia stops the deboning vest bomber. It’s during the overhead shot, when I was too busy noticing that the layout of the room was the same as the layout on the farm where they tested the vest. Now that I know the Observer was there, I can’t help thinking 1) it’s guts of the Observer to get that close to possibly being deboned, and 2) I wonder if Simon was able to read the Observer’s mind. What could he have learned? What would the Observer’s mind be like? These are two characters we need to bring together.
How could I not mention Walter and William Bell worked for Richard Nixon!?! Nixon’s wife wouldn’t stop hitting on Walter!?! This is why we need flashback episodes of “Fringe,” or a whole spinoff series. I still want to hear more about Walter’s father during World War II. Hopefully these good Friday night ratings will give “Fringe” extra life to explore.
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Being the incredibly competent investigators they are, Fringe Division quickly uncovers the culprit through video footage from the post office where he sent the package and the military quality of the weapon. (I’m so glad that everyone on “Fringe” is so good at what they do. It makes the story move so much faster.) They track down the former Marine to his home, but he gets hit by a car and suffers extreme brain damage before they can question him. Darn.
Luckily, Walter knows of a way to interrogate the comatose suspect. There’s another test subject from the Cortexiphan studies who might be able to help named Simon Phillips. Walter kicked Simon out of the study early on because he showed signs of being able to read minds, and Walter was afraid that Simon would find out he stole Peter from the other universe. Makes me wonder why Walter didn’t go get Simon before. I’m sure there were dozens of cases they’ve investigated so far that could really have benefited from a mind reader. I guess Walter might have wanted to keep his secret safe, but after it was out, why not?
Simon the mind reader helps Olivia figure out the next target is the general who oversaw the experiments. She brings Simon along to save the day even though being surrounded by all the people in Boston is like getting needles stuck into his mind-reading brain. He may look like a heroin addict going through withdrawal, but Simon helps point out the former Marine’s accomplices, and Olivia shoots them both, each with just one bullet. Like I said, it’s so nice that she’s good. No need to waste time with a shoot out.
While she’s spending most of the episode kicking butt, Olivia also displays major vulnerability as she continues to struggle with the relationship Peter had with Fauxlivia. He brings coffee the way Fauxlivia liked it. He joked around with her. He had a relationship with her. Olivia tells Nina she saw Fauxlivia’s life and friends and wonders if maybe Fauxlivia is the better Olivia. I love how “Fringe” delves into the consequences of that swap. The crazy science is fun, but the human response is what makes it so fascinating.
I’m curious to hear your reactions to the final revelation of the episode. Nina confronts Sam Weiss that it really seems like he wrote all the different First People books and Sam tells her that Peter can create or destroy universes based on which Olivia he chooses. I know there will be a lot of opinions. I know I’m upset. That’s the one thing Sam is going to tell Nina? I’m sure Peter and the Olivias and destroying universes is important, but I want to know more about the First People! And Sam himself. Get that mind reader back in here.
The Tingler At the beginning of the episode right when the doll sprayed the deboning gas, I got a text message on my phone, which was set to vibrate. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. Freaked me out. It made me think that some show should do that. Set up automatic texts to be sent out to people who subscribe to it during the episode. Similar to what William Castle tried to do for the movie “The Tingler.” It would be one way to get people to watch live and sit through the commercials. I’d much rather have that than 3-D.
Astrid action Was Astrid in this episode much at all? I remember her scolding Walter for using his tests on the deboning gas as an excuse to eat fried chicken, but that’s about it. Makes sense. They didn’t spend a lot of time in the lab this week. Though they really need to start taking Astrid out to crime scenes more often so Walter has someone to drive him home. After hearing how Walter’s mind works through Simon this week, I don’t know if I trust him behind the wheel.
Spot the Observer Did you spot the Observer this week? “Fringe” caught me with a distraction. The Observer strolls into the party right before Olivia stops the deboning vest bomber. It’s during the overhead shot, when I was too busy noticing that the layout of the room was the same as the layout on the farm where they tested the vest. Now that I know the Observer was there, I can’t help thinking 1) it’s guts of the Observer to get that close to possibly being deboned, and 2) I wonder if Simon was able to read the Observer’s mind. What could he have learned? What would the Observer’s mind be like? These are two characters we need to bring together.
How could I not mention Walter and William Bell worked for Richard Nixon!?! Nixon’s wife wouldn’t stop hitting on Walter!?! This is why we need flashback episodes of “Fringe,” or a whole spinoff series. I still want to hear more about Walter’s father during World War II. Hopefully these good Friday night ratings will give “Fringe” extra life to explore.
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Fringe gives us the most important love triangle in two universes
Fringe doesn't do anything normally, so it makes sense that television's best freak show would do love triangles in a skewed, horrifying fashion. Last night, we learned a lot more about the show's central romantic dilemma... and it all spelled more heartache for Olivia Dunham.
Spoilers ahead!
While "our" Olivia was being held prisoner and temporarily brainwashed in the other universe, her counterpart from that universe impersonated her, and seduced Peter Bishop. And ever since Olivia got back to "our" universe, she's felt jealous that the other Olivia got to experience the blossoming of romance with Peter — and he, in turn, has kept insisting that he only liked Fauxlivia becuase he thought she was the "real" Olivia. But Olivia's either been sensing that Peter's not telling the whole truth, or she's just been consumed by paranoid jealousy.
So last night, we finally got to the crux of exactly why Peter might prefer Fauxlivia to Olivia. As Olivia puts it in the most brutal scene ever, Fauxlivia is just like Olivia... only better. Fauxlivia is more fun to be around — because she wasn't experimented on and basically tortured by Walter Bishop and William Bell as a child. The fact that Olivia has nobody to confide these fears in besides Nina Sharp is sort of a sad statement in itself.
No doubt there's a whole Cosmo article devoted to this topic: Many guys' turnoffs include dealing with the results of your childhood abuse at the hands of their dads.
Seldom has Fringe gotten so raw and fucked up in dealing with Olivia's trauma at the hands of Walter Bishop — and certainly, we haven't delved into this topic in quite some time. One of the show's M.O.s is to leave a particularly incendiary topic out of the way for a few months, only to bring it back in the most knife-twisting way possible
As with some other recent Fringe episodes, "Concentrate and Ask Again" has an "A" plot, but the real story of the episode is all dealing with Olivia's fear that she's just not as lovable as the other Olivia — and the reason for this isn't anything she's done, but what was done to her. She can't shed her scar tissue and become as carefree as the other Olivia, any more than she can learn how to fly.
So the main plot of the episode is mostly just an excuse to confront Olivia with a foil, in time-honored television fashion — someone whose presence illuminates the stuff she's going through. Basically, there are three ex-soldiers who took part in testing an experimental weapon that leaves people without bones. And as a result, all three men found that when their wives became pregnant, the babies turned similarly boneless. So they seek revenge against the men who did this to them, using that same weapon. But the mastermind of the scheme gets hit by a car and is stuck in a coma — leaving Walter Bishop to find an unconventional way to question the comatose man.
The horror element of the bone-melting weapon, delivered via talking dolls which certainly deliver the creep factor (as Peter helpfully notes) is pretty great.
But it's a bit of a contrived set-up to create a need for a telepathic interrogator. All of a sudden, the entire FBI is a bit useless at investigating stuff, even basic things like figuring out who the other two men were. And Walter suddenly doesn't have any other bright ideas about tracking the bioweapon or reading the comatose guy's brainwaves. Come to think of it, didn't Nina have a way to question a dead guy back in season one? You'd think questioning a comatose man would be easier than questioning a dead man. But this is all nitpicking, really. It's all just an excuse to introduce a new character, Simon.
Simon was a Cortexiphan patient, just like Olivia — but he developed a different ability, telepathy. For the past 20 years, he's lived out in the middle of nowhere, becuase it hurts him too much to be exposed to the barrage of other people's thoughts all the time. He provides a handy foil for Olivia, because they were both severely damaged by their experiences — the difference is, she's high-functioning and reasonably adept at dealing with people, while he's a wreck. And in a sense, Olivia is the opposite of Simon — she's closed off from people, and can't tell what's going on with them even when she's standing right next to them.
Simon's other purpose in the story, of course, is to remind us that Walter didn't just inadvertently wreak massive damage on a whole universe — he also purposefully experimented on children and committed other atrocities. And this is the part of himself that Walter is trying to get back, by regenerating the pieces of his brain that William Bell took out. In true Walter Bishop style, he becomes more quirky and lovable the more we learn about his revolting past — making weird inappropriate comments about farting in his hazmat suit and needing to pee, plus the weird oversharing about Richard Nixon's wife hitting on him. He's just such a sweetie — how can he be a monster?
But really, Simon's main function is to serve as a foil for Olivia — and like all foils, he teaches her a valuable lesson. Or rather, she learns a valuable lesson while trying to teach it to him — she keeps telling him that he has to live his life, and that he should go and talk to the woman that he's been pining for from afar. But in the end, the lesson she learns from all this is that she should open up to Peter. And she does make an effort, at one point, but he just repeats the same line he used before — that he feels manipulated and betrayed.
Peter's clearly not telling the whole truth. But just to clinch it, Simon shares something with Olivia that's going to make it harder for Olivia to trust him and open up to him. Because Simon's read Peter's mind, and it turns out that yes, Peter does still have feelings for the other Olivia.
Meanwhile, Nina Sharp is investigating the mystery of the books about the First People, which has been on a slow boil for a while. She finds one more of these books in a safe inside William Bell's hidden inner sanctum. (And nice in-joke, having a book by Dr. Spock next to William Bell's diplomas.) The combination of the safe is 052010# — what happened in May 2010? I guess that's when William Bell died, but is there some other significance to that date? Besides the book, the contents of the safe include a red toy car, a sketch of the Massive Dynamic logo, a picture of young William and young Walter, and another picture of young William with young Nina — showing she really was close to his heart.
Each of the books is identical except for the name of the author — and Nina finally draws the obvious conclusion, that the different names comprise a code. This leads her to Skeevy Bowling Alley Guy, who we haven't seen since he helped Olivia get over her universe-lag. Turns out S-BAG was the author of those books, which makes him a lot older than he appears. He tells us something we already know — the mysterious ancient superweapon can be used for creation or destruction — but then follows it up with a new piece of information: how the weapon is used depends on Peter's state of mind when he activates it. And which universe survives will depend on which Olivia Peter is in love with — so it's more important than anyone realized that he choose "our" Olivia.
On the face of it, this is kind of a lunatic soap-opera twist, even by Fringe standards. But on the plus side, it does open up some pretty fascinating story possibilities. Will Nina tell either Olivia or Peter what she's learned? How can she play matchmaker and get those two crazy kids to work it out? Was Fauxlivia's mission merely to convince the Bishops to work on building the superweapon — or was she actually assigned to seduce Peter? Does Walternate know his son's love life is literally universe-shattering?
Most of all, though, it puts incalculable amounts of pressure on Olivia to be the person that Peter wants her to be. He keeps showing that he's willing to try again with her, but she's the one who's holding back and pushing him away because she doesn't want to be compared with the other, more fun version of herself. Can Olivia get over her wounded pride — and get past the lingering trauma from her childhood? After watching this episode, it seems more unfair than ever even to ask.
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Spoilers ahead!
While "our" Olivia was being held prisoner and temporarily brainwashed in the other universe, her counterpart from that universe impersonated her, and seduced Peter Bishop. And ever since Olivia got back to "our" universe, she's felt jealous that the other Olivia got to experience the blossoming of romance with Peter — and he, in turn, has kept insisting that he only liked Fauxlivia becuase he thought she was the "real" Olivia. But Olivia's either been sensing that Peter's not telling the whole truth, or she's just been consumed by paranoid jealousy.
So last night, we finally got to the crux of exactly why Peter might prefer Fauxlivia to Olivia. As Olivia puts it in the most brutal scene ever, Fauxlivia is just like Olivia... only better. Fauxlivia is more fun to be around — because she wasn't experimented on and basically tortured by Walter Bishop and William Bell as a child. The fact that Olivia has nobody to confide these fears in besides Nina Sharp is sort of a sad statement in itself.
No doubt there's a whole Cosmo article devoted to this topic: Many guys' turnoffs include dealing with the results of your childhood abuse at the hands of their dads.
Seldom has Fringe gotten so raw and fucked up in dealing with Olivia's trauma at the hands of Walter Bishop — and certainly, we haven't delved into this topic in quite some time. One of the show's M.O.s is to leave a particularly incendiary topic out of the way for a few months, only to bring it back in the most knife-twisting way possible
As with some other recent Fringe episodes, "Concentrate and Ask Again" has an "A" plot, but the real story of the episode is all dealing with Olivia's fear that she's just not as lovable as the other Olivia — and the reason for this isn't anything she's done, but what was done to her. She can't shed her scar tissue and become as carefree as the other Olivia, any more than she can learn how to fly.
So the main plot of the episode is mostly just an excuse to confront Olivia with a foil, in time-honored television fashion — someone whose presence illuminates the stuff she's going through. Basically, there are three ex-soldiers who took part in testing an experimental weapon that leaves people without bones. And as a result, all three men found that when their wives became pregnant, the babies turned similarly boneless. So they seek revenge against the men who did this to them, using that same weapon. But the mastermind of the scheme gets hit by a car and is stuck in a coma — leaving Walter Bishop to find an unconventional way to question the comatose man.
The horror element of the bone-melting weapon, delivered via talking dolls which certainly deliver the creep factor (as Peter helpfully notes) is pretty great.
But it's a bit of a contrived set-up to create a need for a telepathic interrogator. All of a sudden, the entire FBI is a bit useless at investigating stuff, even basic things like figuring out who the other two men were. And Walter suddenly doesn't have any other bright ideas about tracking the bioweapon or reading the comatose guy's brainwaves. Come to think of it, didn't Nina have a way to question a dead guy back in season one? You'd think questioning a comatose man would be easier than questioning a dead man. But this is all nitpicking, really. It's all just an excuse to introduce a new character, Simon.
Simon was a Cortexiphan patient, just like Olivia — but he developed a different ability, telepathy. For the past 20 years, he's lived out in the middle of nowhere, becuase it hurts him too much to be exposed to the barrage of other people's thoughts all the time. He provides a handy foil for Olivia, because they were both severely damaged by their experiences — the difference is, she's high-functioning and reasonably adept at dealing with people, while he's a wreck. And in a sense, Olivia is the opposite of Simon — she's closed off from people, and can't tell what's going on with them even when she's standing right next to them.
Simon's other purpose in the story, of course, is to remind us that Walter didn't just inadvertently wreak massive damage on a whole universe — he also purposefully experimented on children and committed other atrocities. And this is the part of himself that Walter is trying to get back, by regenerating the pieces of his brain that William Bell took out. In true Walter Bishop style, he becomes more quirky and lovable the more we learn about his revolting past — making weird inappropriate comments about farting in his hazmat suit and needing to pee, plus the weird oversharing about Richard Nixon's wife hitting on him. He's just such a sweetie — how can he be a monster?
But really, Simon's main function is to serve as a foil for Olivia — and like all foils, he teaches her a valuable lesson. Or rather, she learns a valuable lesson while trying to teach it to him — she keeps telling him that he has to live his life, and that he should go and talk to the woman that he's been pining for from afar. But in the end, the lesson she learns from all this is that she should open up to Peter. And she does make an effort, at one point, but he just repeats the same line he used before — that he feels manipulated and betrayed.
Peter's clearly not telling the whole truth. But just to clinch it, Simon shares something with Olivia that's going to make it harder for Olivia to trust him and open up to him. Because Simon's read Peter's mind, and it turns out that yes, Peter does still have feelings for the other Olivia.
Meanwhile, Nina Sharp is investigating the mystery of the books about the First People, which has been on a slow boil for a while. She finds one more of these books in a safe inside William Bell's hidden inner sanctum. (And nice in-joke, having a book by Dr. Spock next to William Bell's diplomas.) The combination of the safe is 052010# — what happened in May 2010? I guess that's when William Bell died, but is there some other significance to that date? Besides the book, the contents of the safe include a red toy car, a sketch of the Massive Dynamic logo, a picture of young William and young Walter, and another picture of young William with young Nina — showing she really was close to his heart.
Each of the books is identical except for the name of the author — and Nina finally draws the obvious conclusion, that the different names comprise a code. This leads her to Skeevy Bowling Alley Guy, who we haven't seen since he helped Olivia get over her universe-lag. Turns out S-BAG was the author of those books, which makes him a lot older than he appears. He tells us something we already know — the mysterious ancient superweapon can be used for creation or destruction — but then follows it up with a new piece of information: how the weapon is used depends on Peter's state of mind when he activates it. And which universe survives will depend on which Olivia Peter is in love with — so it's more important than anyone realized that he choose "our" Olivia.
On the face of it, this is kind of a lunatic soap-opera twist, even by Fringe standards. But on the plus side, it does open up some pretty fascinating story possibilities. Will Nina tell either Olivia or Peter what she's learned? How can she play matchmaker and get those two crazy kids to work it out? Was Fauxlivia's mission merely to convince the Bishops to work on building the superweapon — or was she actually assigned to seduce Peter? Does Walternate know his son's love life is literally universe-shattering?
Most of all, though, it puts incalculable amounts of pressure on Olivia to be the person that Peter wants her to be. He keeps showing that he's willing to try again with her, but she's the one who's holding back and pushing him away because she doesn't want to be compared with the other, more fun version of herself. Can Olivia get over her wounded pride — and get past the lingering trauma from her childhood? After watching this episode, it seems more unfair than ever even to ask.
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Fringe 3.12: The Wrong Coffee (TV)
Fringe 3.12 was ostensibly about a bone-dissolving compound - as in dissolving the bones seconds after anyone breathes it in, leaving the victim just about instantly filleted. On a deeper level, the episode was about the few satisfactions and many perils of mental telepathy - that is, how difficult a normal life is if you can read everyone's minds - with Fringe taking a page from True Blood. But the deepest and most long-range significant level of Fringe 3.12 was about who Peter really loves - Olivia or Fauxlivia - and why that is so important not only to Olivia but our universe.
Fauxlivia is still on and in Peter's mind, whatever he may say to Olivia to the contrary. We see this early on in the story, when Peter brings Olivia a coffee with milk - she likes her coffee black, with sugar, and the realization that Fauxlivia liked her coffee with milk certainly is not sweet to Olivia. The telepath - someone whom Walter kicked out of the experimental children's group (of which Olivia was a part) because he didn't want anyone to read his mind and know he had kidnapped Peter - reads Peter's mind, writes down what he finds, and gives the paper to Olivia. She reads that Peter still has feelings for her alternate self.
This a tough situation for Olivia, to say the least. She feels she has been damaged by the experimentation done upon her as a child. She has trouble expressing her feelings, and is more withdrawn than Fauxlivia, who smiles and acts more easily. So who will Peter choose? Good, slightly damaged Olivia, or bad, totally together and more vibrant Fauxlivia? And will it help Olivia's cause if she confronts Peter about his mind-read feelings?
But Fringe raises the ante another notch, with the revelation - from the guy in the bowling alley to Nina - that Peter's choice of Olivia vs. Fauxlivia will do much more than determine Olivia's happiness. It will determine which of the two universes will survive.
A nice profound development, in an episode which did have at least one cool touch and one hilarious bit of secret history. The cool touch with was the book on the shelf by Dr. Spock, as Nina looked at pictures of her and William Bell. And the secret history? Walter says that Pat Nixon came on to him. Can't get much better in cracked secret history than that.
Fauxlivia is still on and in Peter's mind, whatever he may say to Olivia to the contrary. We see this early on in the story, when Peter brings Olivia a coffee with milk - she likes her coffee black, with sugar, and the realization that Fauxlivia liked her coffee with milk certainly is not sweet to Olivia. The telepath - someone whom Walter kicked out of the experimental children's group (of which Olivia was a part) because he didn't want anyone to read his mind and know he had kidnapped Peter - reads Peter's mind, writes down what he finds, and gives the paper to Olivia. She reads that Peter still has feelings for her alternate self.
This a tough situation for Olivia, to say the least. She feels she has been damaged by the experimentation done upon her as a child. She has trouble expressing her feelings, and is more withdrawn than Fauxlivia, who smiles and acts more easily. So who will Peter choose? Good, slightly damaged Olivia, or bad, totally together and more vibrant Fauxlivia? And will it help Olivia's cause if she confronts Peter about his mind-read feelings?
But Fringe raises the ante another notch, with the revelation - from the guy in the bowling alley to Nina - that Peter's choice of Olivia vs. Fauxlivia will do much more than determine Olivia's happiness. It will determine which of the two universes will survive.
A nice profound development, in an episode which did have at least one cool touch and one hilarious bit of secret history. The cool touch with was the book on the shelf by Dr. Spock, as Nina looked at pictures of her and William Bell. And the secret history? Walter says that Pat Nixon came on to him. Can't get much better in cracked secret history than that.
Fringe Recap: Jellyfish and lipstick (EW)
Filled with clues, jokes, poignancy, and lipstick, “Concentrate and Ask Again,” this week’s episode of Fringe, can be viewed as completing a trilogy of episodes that bring together a lot of the show’s mythology. “The Firefly” brought the Observers back; “Reciprocity” was a fairly massive Massive Dynamic info-dump; and this week we learned more about Nina Sharp and the Cortexiphan drug trials. What tied them all these together? The doomsday device, and Peter and Olivia’s connections to it.
“Concentrate and Ask Again” had a Fringe Division case as its dramatic motor. Various people in positions of power were being targeted for death — a death that left the victims without any bones. The unifying factor among the victims and perpetrators were that they were involved in a secret government project called “Operation Jellyfish” — a jellyfish, Walter told us, being a fish that has no bones. To locate the people involved, Walter suggested using a Cortexiphan patient who could read minds. A damaged soul who lives in isolation because he can’t turn off his ability, he was used by our heroes to track down the villains.
I’ve intentionally simplified this plot because it wasn’t, at bottom, all that fascinating by itself. In fact, by the time the hour reached a climax that featured an Olivia dolled up for a swanky social function, her mouth rimmed with blood-red lipstick, a gun beneath her formal dress, Fringe could have passed for an episode of Undercovers.
No, what made the hour transfixing was the cascade of details. Early on, Nina went to a Massive Dynamic room containing many William Bell items, including framed diplomas from Yale and Princeton (!), an old photo of a young Belly and Nina arm in arm, a bookshelf containing tomes ranging from Dr. Benjamin Spock’s Baby and Child Care, the classic Boomer-era, “permissive-child” advice book as well as a couple of Carlos Castaneda mind-blowers. And, oh yes, a first-edition of the First People text.
“Concentrate and Ask Again” had a Fringe Division case as its dramatic motor. Various people in positions of power were being targeted for death — a death that left the victims without any bones. The unifying factor among the victims and perpetrators were that they were involved in a secret government project called “Operation Jellyfish” — a jellyfish, Walter told us, being a fish that has no bones. To locate the people involved, Walter suggested using a Cortexiphan patient who could read minds. A damaged soul who lives in isolation because he can’t turn off his ability, he was used by our heroes to track down the villains.
I’ve intentionally simplified this plot because it wasn’t, at bottom, all that fascinating by itself. In fact, by the time the hour reached a climax that featured an Olivia dolled up for a swanky social function, her mouth rimmed with blood-red lipstick, a gun beneath her formal dress, Fringe could have passed for an episode of Undercovers.
No, what made the hour transfixing was the cascade of details. Early on, Nina went to a Massive Dynamic room containing many William Bell items, including framed diplomas from Yale and Princeton (!), an old photo of a young Belly and Nina arm in arm, a bookshelf containing tomes ranging from Dr. Benjamin Spock’s Baby and Child Care, the classic Boomer-era, “permissive-child” advice book as well as a couple of Carlos Castaneda mind-blowers. And, oh yes, a first-edition of the First People text.
Anna and Josh Interviews Sky
It looks like those interviews are older but they have been uploaded to youtube a few days ago. So I thought I post them here. Maybe you haven't seen them yet :-)
Friday, February 4, 2011
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