Fringe is Back With Even More Mysteries
It’s been a long wait for some answers regarding last spring’s season finale of “Fringe,” and it looks like it’ll be a bit longer before we get those answers. Yes, the major cliffhanger last season was that FBI Agent Olivia Dunham finally made it through to the other universe where she met William Bell…in the World Trade Center. Apparently, the White House was destroyed in the other universe instead of the World Trade Center. Unfortunately, this episode starts off with Olivia shooting through the windshield of an SUV that was apparently unoccupied only seconds before. She is basically on the brink of death until she suddenly awakens, stating (in Latin), “Be a better man than your father.” To make matters stranger, Olivia does not remember her encounter with William Bell, let alone what was said. Damn, ain’t that a bummer.
There’s a more immediate plot being investigated while Fringe division is threatened with being shut down. Peter finds himself forced to step up into the leadership role as new series regular, pushy junior Agent Amy Jessup, who begins poking her head into Fringe division’s history. Ultimately, Peter welcomes her into Fringe division and allows her to help with their investigation into a shape shifter who wants Olivia dead. The premiere episode also served as a transition, as it seems Jessup’s role is replacing that of Agent Charlie Francis, Olivia’s loyal partner. SPOILER ALERT: the shape shifter manages to kill Charlie in the climactic hunt, and then replace him, unbeknownst to the other characters. Plot hole though, is that to pull this off, the shape shifter would have had to transform Charlie’s dead body into the form they had last been in, but I guess the transformation goes both ways? I guess that’s the case. END SPOILER ALERT.
As for the second the episode, while the story was sort of a disappointment, it did give Olivia a chance to step back into the action, solving a case about mutated children…super babies…yeah, well, if you can’t do it on “Fringe,” where can you do it? The episode was significant in serving the ongoing storyline, as Olivia began to exhibit abilities from being experimented on as a child, such as enhanced hearing. She is also lead to a bowling alley at the end of the episode to meet Sam Weiss, someone else who was part of the experiments and has therefore developed abilities as well. He may serve as a guide for her as the season goes on and she continues to develop. Other than that, Charlie still has a presence on the show as the shape shifter, taking advantage of being close to Olivia. He is communicating with someone from the other dimension through a typewriter, who is encouraging him to make her remember what happened when she crossed into the other dimension. Is this Bell? Possibly, but it could be awhile before that is confirmed or denied.
It’s anybody’s guess how long it will be before we finally figure out what Bell has been up to, what his motives are, and what he discussed with Olivia. Hopefully answers will come sooner rather than later, but in the meantime there’s plenty to explore, such as Olivia’s developing abilities and perhaps coming in contact with other soldiers like Sam Weiss, as well as Peter being the Peter from the other dimension, as confirmed in the season one finale. Agent Jessup will no doubt stir up some trouble for the Fringe division, and it appears she’s not joining the show without her own mysterious demons that will likely tie into the plot. And then there’s Walter…what would this show be without Walter’s disturbingly funny one liners?
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Sep27