WRITERS: Jeff Pinkner, J.H Wyman & Josh Singer (story by J.H Wyman, Jeff Pinkner, Akiva Goldsman & Josh Singer)[SPOILERS] This was easily the most entertaining episode of Fringe in many months, possibly in the entirety of what's been a mediocre season. In essence an '80s-set flashback that explained exactly how and why Walter (John Noble) came to steal his "son" Peter from the alternate-universe, it managed to avoid being a strict visualization of information we already knew, or had construed. While not a totally surprising installment throughout, it was a huge amount of fun with some surprises up its sleeve...
DIRECTOR: David Straiton
GUEST CAST: Orla Brady, Jenni Blong, Curtis Carvaggio, Michael Cerveris, Sterling Cooper, Serge Houde, Eugene Lipisnki, Quinn Lord, John Shaw, Jamie Switch, Jams Watkins & Peter Woodward
Before its second ill-timed hiatus interrupted us, "Jacksonville" ended with the reveal that psychic Olivia (Anna Torv) had sensed Peter wasn't from her universe, as he bears the telltale radiance of something belonging to the other dimension. In "Peter", Walter arrived at Olivia's home to explain himself, and make her understand his reasons for keeping Peter's true origin a secret from everyone, including Peter himself.To illustrate Walter's story, the episode jumped back in time to 1985, where we saw Walter working as a scientific advisor to the US army, currently demonstrating his latest creation: a high-tech "window" that can literally peer through the fabric of our dimension into the alternate universe adjacent to their own. Using this device, Walter's already been able to snoop on the other side's more advanced scientists, copying their work to recreate a slim-line cell phone, and promises the army similar technological breakthroughs are possible using this furtive plagiarism.
But the tale really began after Walter and his wife Elizabeth (Orla Brady) lost their young son Peter (Quinn Lord) to the genetic illness he was born with, that Walter had been unable to find a cure for in time. This despite the fact he'd been regularly using his "window" to eavesdrop on his so-called "Walternate", who's likewise been trying to save his own version of Peter from the same fate.
As the Bishop's grieved the death of their son, Walter later noticed through his "window" that "Walternate" had perfected a cure for his Peter's condition, but was distracted from making the discovery by the appearance of the mysterious, bald Observer (Michael Cerveris) in his lab. As the only witness to the successful experiment, Walter decided he couldn't let Peter die "again", so resolved to recreate the cure himself and deliver it by traversing dimensions using a portal. Choosing to ignore the warnings is assistant Dr. Warren (Jenni Blong) and Nina Sharp (Blair Brown) about the dangers of inter-dimensional travel, Walter made the jump to the other universe regardless, but, after making contact with his "dead" son and being mistaken as that universe's Walter by Alt-Elizabeth, Walter felt compelled to kidnap Peter and take him back to his own reality.
While a good 85% of the events in "Peter" were either predictable or just putting images to a story we already knew, the episode managed to involve enough fresh elements to make it all worthwhile. It was fascinating to realize that The Observer was visiting Walternate and had, I assume, altered time by distracting him during his experiments. To make up for his goof, I'm guessing this is why The Observers allowed Walter to kidnap the alternate-Peter, because the boy's obviously special and had to survive in one of the two universes. It was also fun to realize that Peter's childhood memory of surviving a car crash into a frozen lake and being rescued by The Observer was actually a little jumbled in his mind, as he'd really fallen through the icy lake's surface after being stolen from his own universe. It actually felt plausible that Peter wouldn't quite remember things as they actually happened, or realize he'd traversed dimensions.
But the person holding this whole thing together with John Noble, who can always be relied upon to boost any given episode by virtue of his presence, as it's a trick he pulls off nearly every week. "Peter" was a particular highlight because the story gave him opportunities to take his character into new areas: we saw him pre-breakdown, as a more confident and arrogant man; we saw him as a father to a younger child, but also as a loving husband; and we came to understand why he'd do something as reckless as cross to the other universe just to save one boy's life. Of course, doing so set in motion what appears to be an inter-dimensional war a few decades later, but you can understand why he'd risk making the trip.Overall, while "Peter" certainly had a few weak moments and often just illustrated events we already knew had taken place, it was nevertheless one of the more purely enjoyable, amusing, witty and emotive episodes Fringe has done just lately. Certainly a high point for this season, it reminded me of the more experimental episodes The X Files used to do occasionally, and with news that there's even a "musical" episode planned... maybe Fringe is developing the confidence to surprise and delight us in ways that break its formula.
Asides
- The '80s-era interpretation of Fringe's opening titles was a sublime touch, as was the decision to give the show's signature "hovering, three-dimensional legends" a retro font. However, wouldn't it have made more sense to ditch the snazzy CGI altogether for an authentic '80s-era Fringe episode?
- Irish actress Orla Brady, here playing Walter's wife, might be familiar to UK audiences for her role in the drama Mistresses, where she co-starred with Anna Torv.
- There was no sign of the '80s-era William Bell, most likely because I doubt any makeup artist could make Leonard Nimoy look 25 years younger these days, but it'll be interesting to learn why he decided to follow in Walt's footsteps and cross to the Alternate-Earth, but actually stay there. And if a cosmic balance has to be maintained, who from the alternate-universe got zapped to our world to keep equilibrium? Incidentally, while I love the geekiness of casting Nimoy in this role, a part of me wishes they'd chosen someone who could be more involved in the series, as Nimoy's old age has undoubtedly meant Bell's role in Fringe has been negligible.
- It amuses me that the main differences between our world and the alternate world are geeky trivia; such as the Empire State Building being used for its intended purpose as a dirigible docking port, and that Eric Stoltz was never replaced as the lead in Back To The Future. I guess that means Michael J. Fox is currently starring in Caprica, right?
- Does anyone else find it bizarre that in 1985 we couldn't make slim-line mobile phones, but could create a window into another universe? That surely goes against the principle that progress is linear!
- Fun to learn that Nina lost her hand after it was plunged into Walt's portal and "de-phased". I assume she had to have it amputated once that happened.
6 APRIL 2010: SKY1 (HD), 10PM
