Television Breakdown: Graves of the Unknown Lost

Fringe: Stowaway

Last week, Fringe brought us into a new chapter in its mythology with the unexpected and polarizing return of William Bell through Olivia's body. This week was on course to be either a sign of a downward trend, or a return to the brilliance this show's been acclaimed for. Thankfully, it turned out to be the latter, and then some. The writers and directors of this show have not gone astray, and remain on task to make these major shifts in reality come out organically and emotionally. Stowaway was brimming with light comedic moments, unexpected occurrences, and greater mythological meaning in terms of both the show and the religious ways of the universe.

The case of the week kicked off with suicide hotline consultant failing to help one of her patients, who was either played by Greg Grunberg or an effective lookalike of Greg Grunberg. As she jumps of the building with him, she crashes into a car, and gets out relatively unscathed. This brings in the Fringe division, minus Olivia Dunham of course, but with the added bonus of William Bell and the Lincoln Lee on our side. We've been getting to know the alternate version of the character throughout this season, and it's safe to see that we like him pretty well. In this universe, you couldn't help but be endeared by him learning of this world he never knew existed.

The Lincoln on this side is kind of a regular sensible detective, and though we don't really get much into his character's background, the same could be said of his character over there. All that we get about him comes from our experiences with him. The two characters are wildly different, and with this episode Seth Gable, only a recurring character on this show, gets more roles that Joshua Jackson. The poor guy just can't catch a break. On a semi-related note, Peter is less than excited by Bell taking over his new girlfriend's body, and you wouldn't expect him to just go about his business as usual. Things have shaken up for this team, so Lincoln coming in to fill the void offers an interesting kind of relationship for Peter to have while he's living without Olivia. I also love the shout out to Hartford, Connecticut. I love that this entire saga takes place on the familiar terrain of New England, even if it's shot in Canada.

This wasn't so much a Walter and William centric episode, but we did get some hilarious moments between the two. They clearly work better when they're together than when they're not. I love the ongoing joke of William flirting affectionately with Astrid, but he needs to back off (Walter&Astrid4Ever). While I'm on the subject, props to Anna Torv for yet another groundbreaking performance in her banner year for this season. I know that she can only send in one episode for Emmy consideration, but her best work varies across this entire season. Picking just one episode to exemplify her talents would be absurd.

As for the obligatory freak of the week, I get the feeling people are going to pound on it for lacking certain thrills, but I thought it was especially powerful. Perhaps not in the immediate sense, but by the end of the episode, you got an idea for why this has all been happening. The whole idea of fate has had a heavy weight on this show, with predestination playing a major roll. We all have freedom of will, but there are paths that life presents us that put us in position to change the overall outcome. There were some beautiful and emotionally affecting moments in this episode, with several ideas of religion and why God does the things he does. I prefer the portrait of such in A Serious Man, but the Fringe version is a close second.

The title of this episode could have meant a great many things, and I think we all assumed it was about William Bell or Lincoln Lee stowing away with our main group. The ultimate reveal of the title was simply fantastic, and I like these mini-revelations that this show has delivered us. Stowaway moved at as fast a pace that could be hoped for, and it had a lot of material to get through. We were surprisingly left without Nina, which should be remedied when she finally sees William again in I assume two more episodes. There were quite a few things we didn't get to this week, but good things come to those who wait. This was a perfect episode for where the series is right now.

9.5 out of 10

Glee: Original Song

In the long line of infamous comments I often indulge in, this was one of the worst episodes for Rachel, and made me hate her even more. She's just so annoying and obnoxious, even if she's self-aware of such. One of the best moments of this episode was Quinn playing it straight to Rachel. I love Quinn, because she's an actually believable human being who knows how the world works. It's a Black Swan aspiring scene where Quinn tears down Rachel's fairy tale fantasy of life, because that's the world Rachel lives in. She's optimistic that absolutely everything will work out, even though it clearly won't.

There were a lot of things I liked about the episode, but it was far too Rachel centric. I loved Kurt's moment with Blaine, and you couldn't help but be overjoyed in that unexpected moment. Even more so, I loved the funeral scene for Kurt's bird. It was shot so beautifully, and I couldn't help but admire it for its bleak atmosphere. Most of this episode came down to the original songs, and it varied in excellence based on the excellence of those songs. I have the breakdown of each listed below.

"Misery" - The latest hit from "Blaine and the Pips" is always welcome, but I think everyone can agree that Blaine has been getting a lot of the attention. (B+)

"Only Child" - Rachel's second song doesn't beat out "My Headband". It comes off as pretentious and annoying, just like the character. (D)

"Blackbird" - So Kurt's bird died, and that emotionality came out in the most honest of ways, and I'm always a sucker for this song. (A-)

"Trouty Mouth" - I want to hear the full version of this song. Santana's got soul, charisma, and an excuse to make jokes about Sam's mouth. (A)

"Big Ass (Heart)" - It's a work in progress, but I love the feel it's got. Also, Puck is awesome. (A-)

"Hell to the No" - Coming off the joy of Kurt/Blaine's kiss, this was probably the most jamming enthusiastic number they could've picked. Also, whatever happened to Mercedes fueled stories? Is she really done? (B+)

"Jesus Is My Friend" - And to reprise Mercedes' key phrase, hell to the no. Go to hell. (F)

"Candles" - I love Kurt and Blaine, but this number wasn't exactly a good duet for them. Kurt's voice just didn't work enough for it. (B-)

"Raise Your Glass" - I've hated this song for as long as I can remember, but it's the last of the currently overplayed songs on the radio, and there's nobody more suited to it than "Blaine and the Pips". (B)

"Get it Right" - The song is great and all, but I hate to no end how much Rachel cries. I get it. It's emotional. Just shut up already. (B)

"Loser Like Me" - So it looks like Glee ended up doing "Raise Your Glass" twice. This song is has more or less the same overall meaning of that one, and they both are tiring and irritating, no matter how important this was to the story. (C+)