"Miss Dunham, what we're doing, what you have askedme to do, is pushing the boundaries of all that is real
and possible. We're not roasting a turkey."
-- Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble)
Spoilers. "The Dreamscape" succeeds because it's a loose sequel to the "Pilot" and returns to four of Fringe's more captivating ideas: LSD mind-trips inside a sensory deprivation tank, the presence of John Scott's (Mark Valley) memories tethered to Olivia's (Anna Torv) mind, the involvement of Massive Dynamic in events, and Peter's (Joshua Jackson) mysterious past...
Written by Julia Cho and Zack Whedon (brother of Buffy creator Josh), another compelling teaser becomes the episode's highlight: Massive Dynamic employee Mark Young (the ridiculously-named Ptolemy Slocum) gives a presentation to company big-wigs, before hallucinating a swarm of butterflies that attack him with their razor-sharp wings, and eventually force him out of a high-rise window to a messy death. Terrific, movie-quality FX in this scene, incidentally.
After taking Mark's body back to his lab, Walter (John Noble) notices that the strange cuts all over the victim's body came from the inside. Later, Olivia receives more e-mail communication from her dead boyfriend John -- or rather, as Walter reasons, the remnants of his memories still tied to her subconscious after they linked minds in the "Pilot". John's e-mail contains an address that leads Olivia to find a container of toads that can be used to create a potent hallucinogen. Walter hypothesizes that Mark was murdered using this drug, and the hallucination was so realistic that it has a psychosomatic effect (his body created the wounds his mind was experiencing.)
Olivia wants to purge herself of John's influence in her mind, so arranges to undergo a more dangerous version of the LSD "trip" Walter created, where she enters the eponymous "dreamscape" and is able to witness some of John's memories -- that may also hold the answer to who killed Mark Young, and why.
Elsewhere, Peter meets with an old friend called Tess Amaral (Susan Misner), who is worried for his safety now he's back in the country. After noticing bruises on her wrists, which he correctly assumes were inflicted by someone called Michael (David Vadim), Peter later assaults Michael and warns him off Tess -- signposting his return, rather stupidly. The specifics regarding Peter's relationship with Tess and Michael aren't clear, nor is why he's such a target for assumed criminals, but it's a welcome step forward for this storyline after numerous references to Peter's ominous history. Hopefully it won't be as bland as Peter owing some gangsters money, or suchlike.
"The Dreamscape" certainly trades on past glories, but that's fine with me. It's about time the series started to pull some its plot-strands together, and it felt like we made some progress. The Pattern has always been a concern of mine, but it now appears to be a smokescreen for Massive Dynamic, who are better positioned as the villains once again. Olivia certainly doesn't trust Nina Sharp (Blair Brown) now, and mention is made of the company's CEO William Bell -- who I'm sure we'll meet later in the season. Interesting to note Broyles' (Lance Reddick) reticence at Olivia's theory regarding Massive Dynamic, as we know he has some kind of understanding and involvement with Nina.
The sequences inside Olivia's subconscious were good fun, as she stood as witness to some of John's memories, including their first date together in a restaurant. The fascinating outcome to the experience was how memory-John looked at Olivia (something Walter claims is an impossibility), but in the spine-tingling climax Olivia receives an e-mail from John confirming he saw her. Something Walter doesn't know is that John isn't actually dead -- he's being kept alive by scientists at Massive Dynamic -- so it seems he's able to communicate mentally. This should result in some enjoyable developments to come, as I'm sure a rescue of John from Dynamic and a tearful reunion for Olivia is being planned as the season 1 finale.
Overall, I felt this was the most entertaining episode since "The Arrival", even though it relied on old ideas from the "Pilot". The notion of Olivia being shepherded around by John's memories is something of a lazy shortcut for the writers, but the investigation was still enjoyable. I also hope they bring Charlie (Kirk Acevedo) into the series more centrally, as he makes a good partner for Olivia and it would be nice to see him involved at a deeper level.
There were some amusing scenes for Walter (the erection gag) as usual, and the chilling Nightmare On Elm Street-style deaths of "imaginary violence" were the high-concept cherries on top. A fun, pulp sci-fi highlight of the series. Fringe still has problems that aren't being corrected, and still hasn't coalesced into a great show, but this episode built on its existing good ideas and scenarios very well.
30 November 2008
Sky1, 9pm
Writers: Julia Cho & Zack Whedon
Director: Frederick E.O Toye
Cast: Anna Torv (Olivia), Joshua Jackson (Peter), Lance Reddick (Broyles), Kirk Acevedo (Charlie Francis), Blair Brown (Nina Sharp), Jasika Nicole (Astrid), Mark Valley (John Scott), John Noble (Walter), Yul Vazquez (George), Susan Misner (Tess Amaral), Ptolemy Slocum (Mark), David Vadim (Michael Kelly), Cindy Katz (Charlotte), Tom Riis Farrell (Gregory Worth), Carlo Alban (FBI Tech Agent), Juliet Pritner (Forensics Agent), Catia Ojeda (Melanie), Robert Arcaro (Brian Cole), Harry Sutton, Jr. (Paul), Dianne Zaremba (Nurse), Matthew Martin (Agent #1) & Darby Totten (Agent #2)
