Small Glass Screen: Week 2

Fringe: The Box (Rating: 5.44 million viewers)

You can travel all the way into another universe where Cats is Dogs, and the World Trade Center still stands, but sometimes it's just nice to come home. I actually missed the blue title design. There are subtle changes in color that the alternate title sequence has yet to cultivate. It is a bit strange to make the jump back to our universe after spending so much time over there, and I was worried that the writers would neglect to make our side as interesting as theirs. Fortunately, we have Bono and they don't. Clearly, we rock so much more. We grew up on this side, so it will always have a place in our hearts.

The Box transforms the typical case-of-the-week format to integrate the new events in the mythology. Walter and Peter are unknowingly in the midst of Fauxlivia, who is following out Walternate's sinister plans to an unknown end. It turns out that Fauxlivia and Thomas Jerome Newton (so glad they didn't kill him off in the finale) are pulling the strings of the entire debacle this week. A piece of the "doomsday device" that was introduced in the finale has found its way to our side, and it possesses a great deal of destructive power on its own.

It's been a while, but I'm so glad to have our Walter back in center-stage. I know that we got no shortage of John Noble last week, but he's just not the same quirky yet tragic character we've grown accustomed to over the years. There have always been references to Oppenheimer in Walter's character, but as the episode opens, we see that connection more relevant than ever. Walter knows that he's responsible for the plight of the other universe, and that's really taking its toll on our lovable scientist. On the lighter side of things, this episode marks the first time Walter has referred to Astrid as Aspirin. Nice to know the writers aren't all spent out of ideas.

Adding on to Walter's emotional baggage is the reading of William Bell's will, which gave a nice send off to Nimoy's character, even if he isn't gone for good. Of course, Bellie leaves Walter something valuable: Massive Dynamic. All these years while Walter's mind was rotting away in a Mental Institution and William was building his legendary company, he always had the intention of giving it to his best friend. The most weighty line of this episode is Bell's last message to Walter: "Don't be afraid to cross the line." It may not have the same emotional depth of John Locke's "I wish you had believed me" on Lost, but it's pretty close. When compared with last week's premiere, this one is something of a step down, but it's still far above most of what came in season 2 and nearly everything in season 1, despite garnering the second lowest rating of the series.

Final Question: William Bell's last will and testament mentions Bell's "old friend Isaac". Please tell me this is a character we'll meet at some point!

9.0 (-.2 for the fart joke)

The Event: To Keep Us Safe


Right now, I'm going to make the assumption that I probably won't be staying with The Event past the first season. It's a nice enough adventure, and the twists and turns should keep me with the series until we finally learn what exactly "The Event" is. However, I have a feeling this show will be a lot like Heroes, and just get snuffed out by the end of the first season. It is impressive though that the series has already taken our minds off the mysterious title. We're left thinking about extraterrestrial beings that may or may not come from outer space and exactly who is working against them, and to what end. The acting is occasionally quite hammy, and the script is close to it, but it's likable enough to stick with.

7.9

Mad Men: Hands and Knees


With only a few episodes of Mad Men left this season, the writers are certainly shaping things up for one hell of a finale. This episode had several developments that were shocking to say the least, and the only major disappointment was that Peggy was mysteriously missing in action this week. We got a bit of a follow up on last week's unexpected alley-sex between Roger and Joan, with Joan once again pregnant, and once again deciding to get an abortion. It's clear that Roger feels something with Joan that he couldn't have with anyone else, but he's also immature and quick to avoid any sort of chaotic disruption. However, by the end we don't know if Joan actually went through with it. We'll know soon enough, I'm sure.

Meanwhile, Don gets into some unexpected trouble when the Defense Department decides that they need to know who he is before the deal with North American Aviation can go through. Pete has been working on this account for years, and he's forced to make a big sacrifice in order to keep Don out of the gutter. A small misunderstanding at his apartment pushes Don into a panic attack, and he luckily has Faye there to calm him down. One of the biggest developments of the episode was Don revealing the truth about his identity to Dr. Miller. It was unexpected, but it pushes there relationship into a place where he could never be when he was with Betty.

The collapse of the North American Aviation deal has more negative consequences than assumed at first, as Roger learns that Lucky Strike is consolidating their advertising budget to do it themselves, therefore making Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce unnecessary to them. This puts the future of the company in huge question, as Lucky Strike was one of the major accounts keeping them afloat. The final aspect of this episode was Lane Pryce's interaction with his father, who has come to bring Pryce back to England. Things come to a head at Lane's apartment in a shocking way. The dynamic between Lane and his father is stressed to say the least, and Jared Harris turns in one of his top performances on the show since the beginning. This episode went into deeper and darker territory, and found its place as the second best of the season.