Fringe – The universes are about to collide and I cannot wait!

The first thing that hit me about “The Abducted” is that I didn’t know, until the Fringe Division showed up on screen, which universe we were in. They’re kind of morphing for me, and I think that’s cool. I guess the city “New Yonkers” or something should have given it away, but I figured I don’t know all cities’ names. In any event, when it turned out to be the alternate universe, it didn’t make a lick of difference to me, because I enjoy both so much now. Both story lines are so solid that I don’t miss one group over the other, and all the actors are knocking it out of the park for both sides of their characters. Fa la la … I love Fringe!

Our characters on the other side sure have gone through some crap. More than one has has a child abducted? It was quite a surprise to find out that Broyles’ child was abducted (by this episodes big bad, Candyman), and how it affected his work and home life. Our Broyles doesn’t have a family, does he? I liked seeing that part of the character, and it gave Lance Reddick a chance to wander off the standard acting fare for a bit. Good work.

Why didn’t I know that Broyles knew Olivia wasn’t their Dunham? It just never dawned on me. At the beginning of the case, he really felt at a disadvantage not having his entire “team” together during such an important, and personal, case. What he learned is that when it comes to Fringe Division, and lives of the innocent, Olivia doesn’t care who’s side they’re on — as long as she can do something to help. What’s great about Olivia is even though she now knows she is trapped there, and being used, she still gives every case her all. After asking Henry the cabdriver for help to get to Liberty Island, when she is “this close” to trying to make her escape, she has another thought about the case, and goes back. She’s not thinking about herself, but about the innocents. The same can’t be said for Fauxlivia, as up to this point she always seems to be working an angle first, the case second.

Broyles catches Olivia using a term long gone in his universe — FBI — and knows she knows who she is. But by this time, she has proven herself to him. He, too, now has doubts about their universe versus our universe — good vs evil. There is gray, and he knows it and shows his appreciation to her by letting her walk away. Just one more thing that makes the damned characters over there so endearing. I actually like alternate Broyles better than our Broyles. I’ve said it before, but I’m a repeater. I’m going to be hard pressed to let these guys go. The ones in the know (Olivia, Fauxlivia, Broyles) are going to have to be jaded about the big story — that only one universe can prevail. They’re forming attachments that challenge what they are otherwise being told. I really hope the Fringe writers are working this into the future.

My question to you: Are you still as sure, after the end of this week’s show as you were last week, that Peter has known the truth all along? I’m more convinced that he talked himself out of it and believed Olivia just changed after meeting her alterself. The look on his face wasn’t easily revealed, but I felt from his eyes that, in that second, he was reliving everything that happened over the past month or so, and he was shocked. You?

Clacked by Carissa Pavlica
on Nov 18, 2010 @ 22:00 EST5EDT