"You violated the laws of nature, Mr. Eastwick, and Mother Nature is a bitch."-- Peter (Joshua Jackson)
How ironic. Fringe was intended to be more standalone than previous J.J Abrams-produced TV shows, but only episodes with strong links to previous episodes are hitting any creative highs. Maybe it's time the writers just embraced the serialized style they're obviously more comfortable with. Fringe continues its recent three-episode upswing with the rather excellent "Safe"...
Here, a gang of robbers led by FBI double-agent Mitchell Loeb (Chance Kelly), use the technology Loeb managed to get working in "The Equation", to walk through a solid wall into the vault of the Philadelphia Mutual Savings Bank. Unfortunately, after stealing a safety deposit box, one of their team fails to make it out in time, and becomes trapped halfway through the brickwork…
The Fringe team are called in to see the bizarre sight later, with Walter (John Noble) fascinated by the advanced technology required to enable a man to pass through solid matter. Olivia (Anna Torv) is astonished to recognize the dead robber as Raul Lugo (Angel David), a man she served with in the marines.
In a continuation of events from the "In Which We Meet Mr. Jones", we're back in Germany's Wissenschaft Prison, where the imprisoned Mr. Jones (Jared Harris) is visited by his lawyer Mr. Kohl (James Frain). It appears that Jones is orchestrating events with Loeb and gang back in the US, who have been collecting various safety deposit boxes around the country.
"Safe" is the best episode of Fringe yet, albeit one that relies on you having seen a sizeable portion of previous episodes. The oddity of Olivia having some of her boyfriend John Scott's (Mark Valley) memories has been the jolt of intrigue her character really needed -- and Torv looks to be having more fun here. A bar scene with Peter (Joshua Jackson) posing as her brother gives Torv the chance to actually smile and do some card tricks, which all helps humanize her. The frigid, sneery stares are still around, but the ice queen is slowly defrosting…
The Massive Dynamic throughline also develops, as Nina Sharp (Blair Brown) deduces that the body of John Scott they're artificially keeping alive is missing vital memories -- that he has likely passed onto his girlfriend Olivia. Indeed, Olivia is also wanted by Dynamic's apparent competitor Mr. Jones, whose means of escaping his German prison was a welcome display of pure sci-fi ingenuity.
Fringe has intentionally operated on the outskirts of scientific possibility, but I'm glad it's decided to take the plunge into deeper waters. We even learn that Walter designed a device that could snare people from anywhere in the Space/Time continuum -- which, admittedly, is incredibly difficult to swallow, but still great fun to muse on.
The fact Walter designed the machine because Peter was dying of kidney failure as a baby, and the only man who could cure his condition was a Swiss doctor who had died in 1936, was actually very touching. If still a stretch that Walter was essentially creating the first time-machine and teleporter in the '70s!
The performances from the main cast were strong (Walter and Peter had some amusing scenes together; Peter's interrogation of a suspect gave him a formidable streak, Olivia removed the stick from her ass); the fringe science was imaginative, enjoyable hokum; the recurring storylines took progressive steps, and the episode also paid-off nuggets of information bread-crumbed throughout the series (like the relevance of the phrase "Little Hill".)
It all amounted to a very entertaining, vigorous, gripping and creative instalment of a series that seems to be finding its feet. Maybe it's because Fringe now has a weight of backstory to exploit, maybe it's because someone told Anna Torv to lighten up, maybe it's because the writers have realized a serialized format can provide a greater cumulative punch, or maybe this was all a fluke and regular service will be resumed next time? Whatever the reason, this was the first episode since "The Arrival" that got me excited about Fringe, and made me grateful I'd stuck with the show through its more opaque moments. There's still work to be done (particularly regarding Olivia's stoic character, and the haziness of "The Pattern"), but it's nice to feel reassured by the strength of this very enjoyable episode.
7 December 2008
Sky1, 10pm
Writers: David H. Goodman & Jason Cahill
Director: Michael Zinberg
Cast: Anna Torv (Olivia), Joshua Jackson (Peter), John Noble (Walter), Lance Reddick (Broyles), Kirk Acevedo (Charlie), Blair Brown (Nina Sharp), Jasika Nicole (Astrid), Mark Valley (John Scott), Jared Harris (David Robert Jones), Paul Fitzgerald (Ryan Shawn Eastwick), Chance Kelly (Mitchell Loeb), James Frain (Kohl), Angel David (Raul Lugo), Vince Cupone (Evan McNeil), Brian Cromwell (Robert Norton), Brian Slaten (Man #1), Sean Mahon (Bartender), Belinda Sinclair (Bar Patron), Jennifer Van Dyck (Chief Technician), Rosa Arredondo (Susan Lugo), Amir Arison (Dr. Bruce Miller), Karl Kenzler (Special Agent Martin), Village Dumetz (Bradley), Frank Deal (Bank Manager Grimes), Emily Brownell (H.I Worker), R. J. Foster (Surveyer #1), Greg Schmalbach (Surveyer #2), John J. O'Connor (Surveyer #3), Evan Chan (Surveyer #4), Matthew Martin (ND Agent), Darby Totten (ND Agent #2), James Hook (ND Agent #3), Vince Capone (Evan McNeil) & Angel David (Raul Lugo)
