Friday, April 9, 2010

Fringe: Olivia. In the Lab. With the Revolver. Review

After last weeks monumentally good episode, it was nice to see the writers keeping the momentum going with this episode. I wouldn't want to start watching Fringe with last nights episode though, because it relies very heavily on the mythology of the series. There are names like Intrepis Pharmaceutical, Nick Lane, and Nancy Lewis that only somebody with vast knowledge of the season 1 episodes would be able to fully comprehend. The pacing is rather slow for most of the episode, and the Clue reference in the title only takes up a short 3 minute scene.

It feels like they tried too hard to keep people excited after last week's major episode, and forgot to make the episode exciting. Still this is a quality episode with a solid, if familiar plot. The bad guy in this episode is an old cortexiphan test subject, who has the ability to infect people with his cancer. I wouldn't have been as hooked on the episode if the first person he killed wasn't Diane Kruger (Inglourious Basterds)! The path of the villain for this episode is much like Nick Lane's in Bad Dreams. He has this great and terrible power that he doesn't have much control over, and he wishes death upon himself rather than killing more people.

This episode also deals with the consequences of the last. Olivia's stance on the whole Peter debacle is very interesting and complex. She's knows that Peter deserves to know the truth, but at the same time she doesn't want to ruin the "awkward family unit" that she, Peter, and Walter have going so well. By the end of the episode she is able to come to terms with the fact that "some Pandora's Boxes are better left unopened", only to find that Walter has decided that it is time to tell Peter the truth. I don't think we'll be getting to that immediately next episode, but we're getting close, and the less prepared we are for when it comes the better. My Grade for Olivia. In the Lab. With the Revolver. is 8.2 out of 10.

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