TV DeathRay Archive

“I’m calling from New York. I just saw a woman disappear in front of my eyes. Her name is Olivia. She has a message for you. She’s trapped in the other universe.” – Cleaning Lady to Peter on the phone

Darn it all! Just when you think she’s home free, Olivia gets yanked back “over there.” That was really smart thinking, though, and thank goodness for the woman in the store who did what Olivia asked, despite the complete insanity of it all. For a minute there, I thought maybe she didn’t have time to get her message out before being pulled back to the tank.

Where do we go from here? I wonder if Peter will be totally miffed to learn he’s been sleeping with the wrong Olivia. And I had a feeling Olivia would find an ally or two on the other side — love the dynamic with Henry the cab driver — but I sure didn’t think it would be Broyles, thanks to her “FBI” slip. After a couple of meh episodes, things got pretty exciting there at the end.

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I dunno … DO shapeshifters dream of electric sheep? I’m still unclear on that after watching this episode of Fringe. One thing I AM clear on, though, is that Newton is starting to bug the heck out of me. I actually stood up and cheered when he downed the blotter paper at the end and went into his Joe Cocker convulsions. Now if Faux-Livia would just follow suit, I’d be one happy camper.

Yes, Faux-Livia is starting to bug the heck out of me, too. For one thing, she’s just annoying. For another, she’s kidding herself if she thinks no one will pick up on the fact that she’s a fraud. Like when she nagged Walter to go get something to eat so Terminator cop could steel the silver disc from Senator Shapeshifter’s ass. The real Olivia would never do that. She’d be laser-focused on getting the job done. She’d be all over that guy’s ass.

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I dunno … how could someone predict a Rube Goldberg chain of events that would cause someone to get hit by a bus? And have it happen several times in a row? And hinge on a ballpoint pen? Even someone who’s been taking an experimental “smart drug” that causes his IQ to catapult into the upper stratosphere? Call me crazy (or dumb, either way), but there are just too many variables for that to happen as it did on last night’s Fringe.

Let’s take this just a little bit further … So, say you absolutely know when a bus arrives at a certain destination (but, really, what about a flat tire, the driver suffering a heart attack or some other unplanned event?). But let’s say, hypothetically, that it would be on the same schedule every day. The odds of predicting the exact moment when Faux-Livia would be running by a forklift loaded with cement blocks at a construction site? Amidst all the other variables involving people, machinery, weather, and everything in between? Not gonna happen, dude. I don’t believe it, no way, no how.

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Well, it’s official: Listening to Jan Hammer’s theme song for Miami Vice makes us dumber. I guess I should start listening to more opera. I did love hearing Walter sing, though.

And, thank you, Fringe. Last week’s premiere didn’t exactly knock my socks off, but I needn’t have worried — although I’m treading cautiously into the future. Now that Walter is the head honcho at Massive Dynamic, I hope they don’t abandon our beloved basement lab at Harvard. Where will they put Jean?

I’m also not sure I like the idea of switching back and forth to and from the alternate universe. Last week’s episode was over there, this week’s was over here, and it looks like we’ll be back over there next week. I look forward to the Walterisms and interplay among the Fringe crew, and it’ll burn my shorts if we don’t get a dose of that every week.

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