As I indicated in my preview of this episode, Fringe is back and in fine form! It’s as if last season was all setting up this new focus and direction for the team, and I couldn’t be more excited. All through The X-Files, it felt like Scully and Mulder were always chasing the answers, always two steps behind.
The first season of Fringe felt much the same way. But now, now there’s a whole other world out there filled with possibilities, and secrets, and answers, and William Bell. Fringe has as many mysteries as ever, but I suddenly feel better knowing that the gang is going to be running toward them, rather than just cleaning up after them.
And of course, there’s Walter eating a licorice stick held in blood-soaked surgical gloves. Oh, we wouldn’t have him any other way. I think the joy of Walter was captured perfectly in the surprise birthday party he threw for Peter in the lab. And Astrid, good sport that he is, probably was the one who had to put the party hat on the cow. I love the elements of whimsy.
They complement the much more serious events, like Olivia’s near death. But tell me, how kick-ass was it to see her come flying out of the windshield of her car, hours and hours after the accident? Good lord, I want to know what happened over there. What did Bell say? What did she learn? Why is it worth killing her over?
Col. Broyles looks like he’s going to be explored a bit more, as is a possible prior relationship with Nina Sharp. Is Global Dynamic perhaps not the corporate evil we would have been led to believe? Or are they, but now maybe they need Broyles and his team to face this upcoming … whatever it is.
I liked the shape-shifting soldier. I like the concept of him, even if I’m not quite so thrilled that he’s so easily infiltrated the FBI — specifically by taking on Charlie’s form. Shades of Sylar/Nathan over in Heroes there.
But I actually like Agent Amy Jessup even more. I’ll forgive Peter just traipsing into Fringe Division with her in tow spilling secrets for two reasons. One, he’s not a government agent. Two, the Division was technically inactive at that time. But I still like her.
She’s got all the tenacity of Anna Torv’s Olivia Dunham, with four times the personality. Olivia’s come out of her shell a lot, but boy was she cardboard when we first met her. Not so Amy. I hope she sticks around, and injects the show with a fresh sense of wonder and normalcy.
Okay, Astrid’s normal, but she’s always cooped up in that lab. Walter’s the mad scientist, Peter’s a genius from another dimension, and Olivia is whatever Walter’s experiments have turned her into. She’s connected to the pattern, which negates her ability to be the “everyman” perspective for the audience. Is Jessup perhaps to be that?
Clacked by Jason Hughes 
on Sep 18, 2009 @ 11:00 EST5EDT
I liked the reference to the X-Files at Broyle’s Senate hearing
Was that also a shot of Mulder looking up into the UFO lights from the X Files seen on the TV in the guy’s apartment at the start of the show?
Really? I thought Megan Markle was really bland.
Me too.
I also like how going to the other dimension you are fine, but coming back screws up your head? Talk about stalling.
I liked Charlie as the everyman – hate that he is evil now.
too bad there are no more limited commercial interruptions :(