Fringe – Choosing sides is no longer easy

This episode was pretty hyped when they cast real life twins Shawn and Aaron Ashmore to star as, dare to guess, twins. Given that we now have most of the cast in dual roles, I’m not sure why they thought that casting twins as twins was such a coup, but the story did lend itself to Olivia questioning what’s really happening to her, so I’ll give them that.

We were in the alternate universe again, joining Olivia as she struggles for her very sanity. I love that the alternates have turned out to be good people, as it makes the two separate story lines not only palatable, but a toss up. If it continues on this path of alternating between worlds week by week, I’m going to become increasingly attached to both sets of characters. If I then have to choose between them, I believe I might be a bit pissed.

I have not really understood how amber stops the anomalies (that Walter caused) from spreading. Just from earth sciences class, I know it has preservation qualities and time kind of stands still in amber, which is why it’s so cool to find bugs and such inside of it. The reveal tonight was that using amber not only stops time in its tracks, but apparently everything else with the human body as well. Without food, water or air, the captured continue thinking and survive. They can be saved. Suspension of disbelief is warranted, as this is Fringe, but I wish they had explained a bit more exactly how that works. Using twins as the catalyst to learning this secret worked well. They could easily pass as one another, thus throwing the team off and eventually allowing the “evil” twin to set things right, by freeing his brother while he became encased in amber. They couldn’t both be out due to the enormity of the secret, and the “good” twin couldn’t stay out lest they spend the rest of his life experimenting on him.

Speaking of experimenting, Walternate is using a water tank to do just that on Olivia to learn about her ability to travel between worlds, much like the one Walter used in season one to join Olivia with her partner, John Scott. Peter is still inside Olivia’s head, giving her pointers. As he notes, she seems to listen to what he says when it comes to cases, but not when it comes her own situation. She finally got the message, and demanded another dunk in the tank. With the knowledge Peter provided about the twin towers falling in our world, she made it to the other side and viewed the changed landscape. That is still, to me, one of the most powerful series symbols of the difference between the two worlds. Given the tale of the twins previously told, our Olivia now has the upper hand in what this could mean to her and Fauxlivia, as well as the rest of the characters. Only one of each will likely survive whatever happens as both try to bring their worlds back into balance.

I remember how excited I was coming into the season knowing we would be jumping between worlds, and how certain I was that I would be rooting only for our original characters. As the story gets deeper, it’s really picking up speed and I no longer have expectations; I’m just enjoying the ride.

Clacked by Carissa Pavlica
on Nov 04, 2010 @ 23:53 EST5EDT