Fringe – Where do we go from here?

Oh geez. Even the Dexter-like trappings used to hold down victims while their donated organs were stolen didn’t incite the pain that Olivia was experiencing as she felt the intense presence Fauxlivia injected in her life. After months away, the excitement of returning to her life was nothing that she could have imagined. Even though she knew, logically, that Fauxlivia was living her life, learning to what degree it occurred was really jarring.

Peter certainly has a lot of balls. He wasted no time in telling Olivia the truth — that he thought Fauxlivia was Olivia; that she was quicker with a smile, less intense; that he believed her explanation about seeing herself on the other side changed her view of the world. On her part, she just let it roll off her shoulders while she was with Peter. What happened when she got home was another story.

Anna Torv showed her acting chops once again when she got back to her apartment after finding out about Peter and Fauxlivia. She felt violated. You could see it slowly dawning on her — just how much her life was invaded. As she ripped the sheets off her bed and stared into her closet, she thought of Peter’s description of Fauxlivia though Peter’s eyes. The subtle differences that seemed to give more life to the woman he loved, rather than herself. When she finally broke down and cried, it was the deepest emotion we’ve seen Olivia suffer since the show started. None of the near death experiences on the other side compared to the hurt of knowing the man she loves was in love with her alternate self.

The case that reunited Olivia with the Fringe Division paralleled what she was feeling. After a man tried to piece together the woman he loved from her donated body parts, once he succeeded in reanimating her, he said could see in her eyes it wasn’t really her. He didn’t know who it was, but she wasn’t the person he lost. This just made everything worse for Olivia. To her, Peter not knowing he had the wrong girl is unforgivable. And Olivia doesn’t want to live her own life anymore, because she no longer feels it’s hers. Frankly, I’m torn between them both.

From the first moment Peter was tricked, I wanted to know why in the hell he couldn’t tell she was an imposter. The woman he started with wasn’t quick with a smile and she was ridiculously intense. But, I guess if faced with the possibility that someone slightly different, but looking the same and acting somewhat lighter was the same person, I’d have fallen for it, too. Even though Fauxlivia was only the job, when acting like Olivia she gave the impression that she had moved in the opposite direction. She enjoyed music and dancing, watching TV and snuggling. It would be hard to pass up those opportunities when the person you wanted presented them to you. Hell, I talk myself into things in relationships all the time; why would I expect differently from Peter?

Peter and Olivia are kind of like Booth and Brennan on Bones. They have feelings for each other, but as they are they wouldn’t make each other happy. When Fauxlivia took over, the possibility of them being happy seemed more likely. After everything she went through on the other side, maybe Olivia will be able to see something in life other than the job. But even if she does, will she ever be able to forgive what happened while she was away?

The bummer of it all is we have to wait until the end of January to see what happens next. The next new episode will be on Friday, January 21st in the new time slot. I’m hoping for a change of luck in 2011 for Olivia, Peter and Fringe.

Clacked by Carissa Pavlica
on Dec 10, 2010 @ 08:28 EST5EDT