This week's episode gives us a bit of progress on Peter's Machine and reintroduces us to Olivia's dreams of Peter.
Peter and Walter have been working on "the machine" issue and need authorization to test out Peter's ability to control it. In the case-of-the-week world, a highway suddenly loses all power and it causes a jetliner to crash. Then as suddenly as it blows up, power is restored. Spooky.
The team is dispatched to investigate with Broyles, Olivia, and Astrid out in the field. As Astrid tries to communicate with Walter remotely he surprises the gang by showing up with Peter. And the show gets closer to what some people actually want to see.
Anyway, so there is something freaky going on in the town Westfield. Walter, Peter, and Olivia go to an eatery so that Walter can get rhubarb pie but soon Walter is in a fight for his life when he is attacked by a knife-wielding demon-eyed freak. Peter jumps in to help but is overpowered. But Olivia saves the day with a well placed shot to the back. So very brave of her.
Inside the eatery, they find a badly injured man named Cliff who is in need of medical attention. They try to take him to the hospital but find themselves reentering the town over and over. Cliff tells them they can't leave. Apparently they can't. Suddenly FRINGE has turned into SUPERNATURAL.
The gang nurses Cliff back to health and he tells them a tale of the town going schizophrenic. He also tells them that a few townspeople are immune to whatever is going on. As they start to get ready to go and investigate Olivia reveals a memory of a case that Walter doesn't remember, but Peter does. And at this point they should all realize that Peter is in the right universe! But they don't.
They try to start up their car but the elecromagneticwhatever won't let them so they go on a stroll through schizombie town. Not long after going on their brisk walk, Olivia gets infected and begins to mumble and whine so this is just like season 1 now.
Our friends-until-the-end go to the local school where the semi-healthy are holed up. There Walter inspects an infected and discovers that they are duplicating body parts or something, like I give a shit. They also mentally go in and out of the past and present.
Next we actually get a moment between Olivia and Peter where she asks a question one would think she would have asked weeks ago. What is the other Olivia like? Peter's explanation and her reaction to it is a nice moment that almost reveals chemistry between these two. But it also reveals that when given the right moment, and the right material, Joshua Jackson is one badass acting motherfucker and should be given this amount of dialogue in every episode.
Just as the two lovers are getting familiar with each other, a chick kills herself. Walter then explains to Peter and Olivia that what's happening is that the current universe, at least in this town, is merging with the alternate universe of the same town or some shit. Those who don't have doppelgangers in the town on the other side are not affected. Suddenly a time rift opens up and shit starts shaking and rolling.
The towns are attempting to merge! People's gonna die!
Thankfully, Peter comes up with a solution. Father and son team up to find the center of whatever I wasn't paying attention. Olivia says some stuff. Peter and Walter draw on a map. The school gang goes on a bus. A schizombie attacks and Walter mace saves the day. In the end, the producers spend half their budget on a totally pointless world-is-ending action sequence.
The town is totally wiped out minus one bicycle shop that is the "eye of the storm." The FBI then finds some of Jones' devices around a perimeter of the town, supposedly set there to make this all happen. I guess he's testing shit so he can destroy bigger crap later. At least they saved the remaining townspeople. Too bad they will have to murder them all to keep their mouths shut about this whole thing.
As the episode closes out, we get a happy exchange between Walter and Peter, but it is evident that Walter is dreading the day he successfully helps Peter get back to his universe. Spoiler, Walter, he won't. So Peter goes to Olivia's place to check up on her and she is all bubbly and familiar and kisses him, seemingly remembering her life with him. And for some strange reason Peter recoils in horror!
Now, I am a man and I've been in love before, so I understand that perhaps he thinks this isn't his Olivia and so he doesn't want to get any strange, even from the girl who is just like his Olivia, but one would think he would allow himself a bit of indulgence. Come on, buddy! Regret it later! Which you won't since this is the girl you love.
Anyway, if I had to rate this one I'd give it:
89 out of 100
Sure, there were some weak points but by the end we had at least gotten forward momentum, plus some good scenes between Peter, Olivia, and Walter. Not to mention that we are finally getting a payoff. Now, what will that mean to the story going from this point on? We shall see. How quickly will they pull this back? Will Olivia remember everything only to lose those memories? Will Peter continue to not figure out the most obvious answer? Tune in!
At least I am excited about next week. That's probably part of why the score is higher.
