Fringe: The Arrival
By fred | October 1, 2008
(S01E04) Long before anyone saw the first episode of this new series, J.J. Abrams & co made sure to tell everyone that Fringe wouldn’t be anything like Lost, read that it wouldn’t be a show you need to watch every single week in order to understand something, because otherwise you would rapidly get lost and have no clue of what’s going on. This would be a show you can watch an episode, any episode, without having watch any of the previous one, and still fully enjoy it.
That was the plan, but I’m not sure they’re really sticking with it. Not that I’m complaining, I love a show with a good mythology and a story that last longer than an hour, but it seems to me as if, while every week as its new “mystery of the week”, the ongoing conspiracy or whatever actually is “The Pattern” is undeniably growing. And again, as far as I’m concerned I think it’s a good thing.
First, we needed to give Peter some motivations for staying around, the guy’s supposed to be a genius so being a baby-sitter had to be not exactly his dream job, especially with Walter. This was done in a very classic way, so much that as soon as he went to Olivia and said he wanted to leave, you knew exactly what would happen to him next.
But it worked, now Peter really believes all that his father is saying, and more importantly he believes that there is something bigger at play here, and needs to understand it. Yes, apparently some people are working on something, they have been for a while, and they have access to technology not even Walter can understand ! It might also seem that there’s a way going on, two sides fighting each other, even though we have no idea who they are or what they’re fighting over.
The addition of the Observer was a very good thing, because so far the science and answer to everything on Fringe was always a man-made experiment, usually based on previous work by Walter himself. Hopefully this was a much needed opening to other sources for the roots of those events and science experiements, hopefully now it won’t always be the work of Walter enhanced and perfected by the people of MD, but things completely different, things even Walter can’t understand.
Of course, the Observer having been around for so long and with a technology apparently very advanced years ago, there definitely seem to be people coming from somewhere else, should that be another time, another planet, or a parallel universe. Either way, it made things much more exciting that they used to be. Any theories on what those cylinders could be ? Where they came from ? What’s their goal ? Apparently they were planted there long ago, and sometime they get up, transmit for a while before going back down to disappear… and I got nothing.
But if introducing the Observer was a good thing for the show, I have a problem with how things work between Olivia and Broyles, and the fact that she doesn’t even seem to find that to be a problem. She spotted the guy, and when she comes to tell him about it, once again his answer is along the lines of “oh yeah, we’ve known that for years now, here, have a look!”
Why the Hell is he always waiting for her to find it, so that he can tell her what he knows about it already ? Is that his idea of team work ?? Isn’t that just wasting her time, and limiting their chances to move forward if she figures in 2 days what took them years ??
Other things about this episode :
- Who could the Observer be reporting to ? I assume it can’t be MD or anyone like that, since they didn’t exists by the time he was already… observing. And are they really only observing ?
- Why couldn’t he touch the device himself ? Some special defense mechanism against what ? Is he not even human ?
- At first I thought the scene between Peter & Walter at night was a bit too forced, but in the end it was just too funny to pass on. There’s no question in my mind that the two best characters of the show are those two, they make the show, and their interactions are always lots of fun, especially given that Walter is, well, crazy. I wonder if/how their relationship will change now that Peter is more open to his father’s theories now. The last scene illustrated a change already, as they both had met with the Observer… although of course, Walter actually talks to him now, and there’s still a lot more he doesn’t speak of, I’m sure.
- Speaking of crazy, I love how whenever Walter needs something, he thinks he should just create it in the lab. Needs medications? Feels like having a great beer? It’s all to be done in the lab first… (though he did have his beer in a bar)
- Look, the cow’s still here!
- So John is haunting Olivia now ? Calling her on her cell and just showing up… But he’s been dead for more than a few hours now, hasn’t he? I wonder what this is about…
