Fringe 4.02: "One Night in October"

[icepixie]

I liked this one a lot more than last week! Not that I didn't like last week, but it had the awkwardness of a pilot--since we're seeing newish versions of these characters--and moments of confusion that weren't necessarily meant to be confusing. Anyway, this worked better all around for me. Mostly, I think, because I kind of loved Olivia working with the alternate Fringe team. Her and Fauxlivia not fighting was actually really fun! As was her and AltLincoln. I'd actually love to see more of this.

I do have to wonder why they're spending all this time on monster of the week cases, though. I mean, two universes destroying themselves vs. a serial killer...serial killer's bad, sure, but I would think "saving the universes" is a bit higher priority. Shouldn't Walter, at least, be working on fixing things in the lab? I am very confused!

Anyway. Shorter things:

This Walter seems even more unhappy than...Peterful? Walter about Olivia's abduction. Maybe she was even more like a daughter to him since he didn't have a son.

...Okay, that attribution is just ghastly, so from here on, I'm going to refer to the universes like so:

Our side, with Peter: Blue
Our side, without Peter: Cyan
Their side, with Peter: Red
Their side, without Peter: Pink
The bridge: Yellow or amber

Back to the episode: aw, Lincoln got clued in! And BWAHAHAHAHA to Walter referring to him as Kennedy! Please let him keep doing this with different presidents!

Awww, poor Walter, scared of any reflective surface.

I'm really loving how cyan universe Olivia and Astrid are so much closer. Can we keep this dynamic when Peter comes back? Because really, it makes me SO. HAPPY.

Although Astrid shipping Olivia and Lincoln is a bit odd. I have to admit, from the way Olivia & co. seemed to talk about his "great loss" of a partner last time, I was sort of wondering if this Lincoln is gay and had an unrequited crush on his partner. (I also wonder if AltLincoln might start transferring his feelings for Fauxlivia to Ourlivia, since she's still with Frank. That could be fun...)

"Maybe your type just doesn't exist." Show, I should wag my finger at you for that anvil, but it's so cute that I can't bring myself to do it. (Other shows I watch, you should take notes on how to drop your anvils!)

Okay, I think I missed something here: did they say that Fauxlivia made the bridge when she was over here? I think Lincoln was trying to repeat back an explanation or something, but I either wasn't listening carefully enough or they left something out. Did we get an explanation for why the bridge is there even though Peter never existed?

Oh oh oh, AltBroyles is alive! Yay! I have a feeling he won't last the season, though.

Oh, Fauxlivia, that was NOT the right thing to say. No need to remind poor Ourlivia about taking over her life.

Awww, Lincoln is totally still crushing on Fauxlivia. He's kind of adorable. I definitely like him better than his counterpart.

The two blonde Olivias in identical suits standing next to each other, but still very obviously different people just from the way they were standing was simultaneously one of the weirdest and most amazing things I've ever seen. Anna Torv is INCREDIBLE.

Heh, Walter looks like he should be advertising stereo speakers or something.

Yeeeeah, the moment I saw the photo album on the table, I figured the guest character would see a picture of himself or his family or something. BTW, just me, or did the actor look a whole lot like Michael Shanks circa 1999?

"Mrs. Bug Lady." Awwwwwwww, Scarlie got married!

Oh, man, team, you just ruined this guy's life. Now he knows he has the potential to be a serial killer. That's gotta screw you up. (Although of course further into the episode, we learn he at least knew that before...)

Shouldn't have have left the guy alone...whoops.

Uuuuuggghhh, stop with the swirly cam in the Fringe Division control room!

OMG, Cyan Ourlivia actually killed her stepdad! Wait, so did not meeting Peter as a kid turn her down that road? Because that's the only thing that would have changed. Dammit, show, I wanted to leave that episode as uncanon as possible, because it was dumb!

And that's definitely something Fauxlivia didn't pick up from living Ourlivia's life for a few months...

(I want a few scenes where they just chill together in a coffee shop or something, because I am really enjoying them as wary allies who might, if things go well, one day become something like friends. Show, can you do this for me? Because I really need to see it. Astrid should come too.)

I don't quite understand what the serial killer was doing. He was...experiencing their memories? But he needed to use antifreeze to do it? And it left them either dead or with holes in their memories where he'd accessed them? Okay, whatever, a macguffin, but I also don't understand why, if he experienced the memories of 20+ people before and made them his own, he never hit upon something like compassion and had his freakout about how he could now understand that he was hurting people. I know it serves the story that it was his doppelganger's memory that cracked him, but logically I don't follow it. (Although...in that memory, did she find some animals his doppelganger had killed or something and then forgive him? I couldn't quite tell what was in that box she opened, but if that was it, I suppose it makes more sense.)

Hmmm, how convenient that the professor doesn't remember going to the alternate universe. Too bad about Marjorie, though. I totally figured he would become a serial killer--he had that flat voice that seems to indicate it on TV--but then they surprised me at the end.

Awwwww, sentimental Broyles! "Some people leave an indelible mark on your soul." Which is called PETER. Again, show, I should be annoyed at the anvils, but all I can do is sit here and coo.

Peter talked to Walter! OMG YAY! Keep trying, Peter, you'll get through eventually!!!

In the preview, was that Darren Tyler at the very beginning? IMDB doesn't say anything about it, but I think it was! Oh, I'm really looking forward to next week now! (Exclamation point!)

Comments

[rowdycamels.livejournal.com]

This one was better! Last week was definitely exposition-heavier, and the case didn't have a whole lot to do with the arc, and we didn't get much Blue/Red (Cyan/Pink? btw, "cyan" = adorable) interaction. All fixed this week!

serial killer's bad, sure, but I would think "saving the universes" is a bit higher priority.

Yyyyyup. Nice that they had Broyles explain that "science division" is working on it, but... I guess Walter's so caught up in the haunting that his own work on the shapeshifters isn't going anywhere. And he doesn't have Peter to focus him. : ( I'm surprised Astrid and Olivia aren't pushing him about it, though.

This Walter seems even more unhappy than...Peterful? Walter about Olivia's abduction.

Eh, I didn't really see that. Remember Blue!Walter's rant about Fauxlivia? This was basically a repeat of it, minus the Evil Vagenda. I do like that Astrid's taken over some of Peter's reverse-parenting, though. Any excuse for more of Astrid and Walter interacting is a good thing!

And BWAHAHAHAHA to Walter referring to him as Kennedy!

I love that this implies Walter's mnemonic for Lincoln is "the assassinated one." I hope that wasn't foreshadowing!

Awww, poor Walter, scared of any reflective surface.

It's very Jewish-mourning of him...

Although Astrid shipping Olivia and Lincoln is a bit odd.

I get the impression that this is one of a long string of prods. I too read our!Lincoln as a bit gay, possibly because of the parallels they drew between Lincoln/Robert and Olivia/John Scott. The bromance angle is equally plausible, though. And alt!Lincoln/amber!livia... yeah, I see that coming, too.

"Maybe your type just doesn't exist." Show, I should wag my finger at you for that anvil, but it's so cute that I can't bring myself to do it.

They fall so gracefully, and land with little "plink"s! Seriously, why can't Castle be more like this?

Okay, I think I missed something here: did they say that Fauxlivia made the bridge when she was over here?

Wait, what? I didn't hear that! But yeah, I'm still wondering how the bridge was created, if they didn't have Peter. That's too big to be handwaved.

Oh, Fauxlivia, that was NOT the right thing to say.

That was TAUNTING. And then the smirk! So evil! I love it!

The two blonde Olivias in identical suits standing next to each other, but still very obviously different people just from the way they were standing was simultaneously one of the weirdest and most amazing things I've ever seen. Anna Torv is INCREDIBLE.

I KNOW, RIGHT?? And when Lincoln went to get Fauxlivia and found them together, you could see his eyes flick between them for a split second, but then he was all, "Aha! This one!" without them having to say anything. And Fauxlivia's little grump!flail out of her jacket buttons was just perfect.

[rowdycamels.livejournal.com]

(part two) (*facepalm*)

BTW, just me, or did the actor look a whole lot like Michael Shanks circa 1999?

...That is correct.

"Mrs. Bug Lady." Awwwwwwww, Scarlie got married!

Were we supposed to take that literally? That's awful fast. But the fact that they're still together is adorable. Now we just need Scarlie back on screen to make things even awesomer!

OMG, Cyan Ourlivia actually killed her stepdad!

OMG!! Now I have to go back and watch that stupid episode a second time, arg! So many things are referencing it this season!

And that's definitely something Fauxlivia didn't pick up from living Ourlivia's life for a few months...

Well, probably no one knows about it, except maybe Walter and Astrid. I wonder how the cortexiphan arc went down without Peter in it? Did Olivia still have to open the Machine? Can she use her powers without Peter?

as wary allies who might, if things go well, one day become something like friends.

Awww!

I know it serves the story that it was his doppelganger's memory that cracked him, but logically I don't follow it.

I guess he was... stealing memories, trying to get at happiness vicariously? And the hypothermia was a side-effect of the mad-science. I guess his doppelganger's memories were close enough to his own worldview to "click" somehow and let him see how he could change. (And yeah, she found his box of dead animals, like his dad did, but she told him it was okay, and he had alternate choices, which I guess had never occurred to him before.)

"Some people leave an indelible mark on your soul." Which is called PETER.

Awwwww! And yet... this Olivia is still different from Blue!Olivia, so what's the mark? The sense of absence? That's a sucky mark. Amber!livia did seem less cold this week, except for when she interacted with Fauxlivia, but I think that's the same cringe-y anger/inferiority that Blulivia showed in the same situations.

Peter talked to Walter! OMG YAY!

And I get the impression that that wasn't the first auditory attempt, what with the blasting Mozart at the beginning...