āFringeā recap: labor pains
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Itās crazy to think that at one point I complained that āFringeā needed to āget to it faster.ā Back in Season One and much of Season Two, the show would only dish out hints at the overarching mythology in each episode. Tiny morsels delicately rationed out. Now āFringeā rushes through nine months of pregnancy in just a single episode. Why waste time? There are tons of great drama we canāt be waiting around for.
Fox officially announced it was renewing āFringeā for a fourth season Friday morning. If you need a reminder of why, all you have to do is watch āBloodlines.ā Weāre back āover there.ā In case youāve forgotten whatās happening in the red universe, Fauxlivia is pregnant with Peterās baby, Walternate is putting together the pieces he needs to destroy our universe, and Lincoln has taken over Broyleās job as the head of Fringe Division. If you had any doubts about the quality of āFringe,ā just look at how much life they have brought to the alternate reality. They took these doppelgangers who could have existed as villains and made them just as compelling as the characters in our reality. Itās almost hard to say who the bad guys are.
As if carrying the child of a man living in another universe wasnāt enough, Fauxlivia also has to worry that sheās a carrier of VPE, or Viral Propagated ā¦ um, something that starts with E. The doctor said it kinda quickly and I didnāt catch it. Whatever it stands for, VPE is the condition that caused Fauxliviaās sister Faux-Rachel to die in childbirth with Faux-Elle. If Fauxliviaās also a carrier, thereās a high chance that she, the baby, or both might die during the delivery. Fauxlivia waits for her test results, contemplating the impossible decision she will have to make, but thatās all cut short when sheās kidnapped from her apartment.
How about that kidnapping? Did it make you jump? It totally caught me off guard.
While Fauxlivia is injected with crazy chemicals and plans her escape, Lincoln and Charlie do their best to track her down. The Lincoln/Charlie relationship might be one of my favorites on the show. Those two guys seem so natural and fun together. Charlie teasing Lincoln about his new job, and then Lincoln cracking jokes about Charlieās dates with ābug girl.ā I enjoy watching the red universeās Fringe Division as much as ours.
In more great āget to itā moments, Lincoln and the Fringe Division begin to find out about the Fauxlivia/Olivia switch. Searching for clues on Fauxliviaās disappearance, their Astrid points them to a taxi that has been driving past her apartment repeatedly. Of course, that cab belongs to Henry Higgins, the cabby that helped Olivia escape back to our reality. Henryās story leads Lincoln to Walternate, who spills the beans on Fauxliviaās mission into our reality, which prompts Lincoln and Charlie to question what else they might be kept in the dark about.
Fauxlivia manages to escape (āFringeā villains need to learn that you canāt keep either Olivia tied to a gurney for very long), but not until after her captors have sped up her pregnancy. She bursts out into Chinatown as she kicks into labor. I sure hope that the bystanders in our universe would be much more helpful to lost pregnant women than the ones over there. She makes it to a hospital just in time to give birth to the next of the Bishop line. Boy, that kidās going to have a crazy life.
Besides propelling the āFringeā mythology several leaps forward, āBloodlineā managed to squeeze in a couple great moments of acting as well. Anna Torv continues to impress. There might be some debate over her Leonard Nimoy impression last week, but you canāt deny the power of that speech she gave trying to convince the obstetrics nurse to let her go. Or how about the moments she had with Amy Madigan about her fears over VPE and being a mother. Iām one of the people who doubted Torvās acting chops in Season One, but I never will doubt her again.
After this episode, my biggest fear is that everything thatās been said about the device will be true, that one of the universes is going to have to be destroyed so the other can live. Of course, my gut reaction is that I want our universe to thrive, but Iām starting to care just as much about our friends āover there.ā
Blast from the past ā āFringeā has been doing an excellent job of dipping back into the first season and bringing new life to technologies that could have been forgotten as ācraziness of the week.ā āFringeā brought back the mysterious amber from Episode 3 āThe Ghost Network,ā and gave it a whole new life. While I donāt think the show came out and claimed the connection, the process they used to accelerate Fauxliviaās pregnancy reminded me a lot of Episode 2, āThe Same Old Story.ā Thatās when Walter, Olivia and Peter investigated a baby that aged 80 hours immediately after birth. Am I the only person who caught that connection?
Now that āFringeā has earned itself a fourth season, there will be much more time to revisit some of those technologies from the first year. Are there any favorites youād like to see again? My vote is for the werewolf-like monster that crashed the plane back in āthe Transformation.ā
Astrid Action ā Astrid 2 or Bad Astrid or whatever you want to call her is starting to get as much screen time as our own Astrid. Her security clearance was knocked up a few levels so she could be trusted with the fact that Olivia is carrying Secretary of Defense Walternateās future grandson. It doesnāt matter which universe weāre in, I always enjoy watching Astrid pop up.
Spot the Observer ā Those bald watchmen werenāt hiding very well this week. Even Fauxlivia caught a glimpse of one. While the Observers stepped out of the shadows slightly, they didnāt give much of an indication of why. Just the cryptic comments that āit is happening.ā With only four episodes left in the season, āitā better get hurrying.
[Update: Thanks to everyone for catching that I said Fauxlivia gave birth in the hospital. How could I forget that incredible scene. Anna Torv, Seth Gabel and Andre Royo were each amazing. Just shows how great this episode was. I couldnāt even remember everthing I loved.]
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-- Andrew Hanson