Fringe“Arrival”
Original Airdate: September 30, 2008
Tameca - TwoCents Reviewer
tameca@thetwocentscorp.com
“So much is about to happen.”
Walter's words spoken in the middle of the episode provide the perfect start to this review.
The episode opened with a weird hairless man ordering a rare roast beef sandwich with eleven jalapenos on the side. He observes the construction going on across the street and takes notes in a strange language.
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[photo: Craig Blankenhorn/FOX]
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Fringe
ReplyDelete“Arrival”
Original Airdate: September 30, 2008
Tameca - TwoCents Reviewer
tameca@thetwocentscorp.com
“So much is about to happen.”
Walters words spoken in the middle of the episode provide the perfect start to this review.
The episode opened with a weird hairless man orders a rare roast beef sandwich with eleven jalapenos on the side. He observes the construction going on across the street and takes notes in the strange language.
The ground starts shaking and all hell breaks loose. Creepy Hairless Man calmly finishes eating and like a good citizen, pays his bill before exiting the restaurant. When the ground stops moving he stands on the edge of a crater and informs someone on the other end of his cell phone. “It has arrived.”
We immediately cut to a humorous exchange between father and son as Walter recites the formula for root beer, driving Peter to sleep in the tub which Walter did not drain after using.
This all leads to Peter getting upset about being followed around when he is in the Federal Building and informing Olivia that he wants out. Unfortunately his plans are postponed due to a strange silver cylinder that erupted from the construction site. What follows is a slightly consulted tale of a hairless observing man, a killer with an awesome gun, strange voices calling from the dead, and a member of the team taking matters into his own hands.
COMMENTARY
This episode was so jam packed I barely know where to begin so I am going to list the things we learned in this episode.
1. There is a hairless man, called the Observer, who has been following the pattern for ages.
2. The Observer saved Walter and Peter from a car crash into an icy lake17 years ago
3. John is calling to Olivia from the ‘dead’
4. Walter and Peter have some kind of psychic connection.
5. Olivia has a photogenic memory.
This episode had an extremely high body count due to a killer with an awesome gun, who was in search of the cylinder. The mysterious mother of Peter is once again mentioned. This time when Walter goes off on Peter for behaving like his mother…“questioning my judgment and treating me like a baby!” If I recall the scene correctly. I cannot wait to discover what happened to Mrs. Bishop.
Olivia is getting calls from her former partner and lover, John. There is no record of the call when she requests a trace. I’m not sure if he is dead or not, in the world of Fringe, anything is possible.
Walter owes the Observer for saving their lives all those years ago and steals the cylinder from the custody of the agency. To pull it off he has to inject SuperJuniorAgent Astrid with a sedative, I am looking forward to where there relationship goes from here. Water gave a heartfelt apology in the end, but she refused to look at him and honestly It broke my heart a little bit. I think Astrid/Walter could have a cute father/daughter dynamic but this small development between the two will make for some interesting television.
We didn’t learn what the cylinders are or what they do besides explode, vibrate, disappear, and the Observer is present at each site. Who is the Observer working for? Who was the Killer working for? These questions remain unanswered but according to The Observer, “All will be revealed soon.”
Peter decides to stick around when he meets The Observer and has a creepy encounter where the Observers reveals that he knows everything that is in his head. He is officially freaked out and needs to explain everything that has happened, he refuses to leave until he finds out.
I really enjoyed the mythology expansion in this episode but it all felt a little rushed, as if they were trying to put too much into one episode. I thought the revelation of the Observer saving Walter and Peters lives fell a little flat but It was a nice quiet moment between the two after fifty minutes of yelling at each other.
Fringe wont be returning next week due to the presidential debate but the preview for upcoming episodes looked awesome. Until then leave me your two cents in the comments below, I would love to hear your thoughts on last nights incredible revelations.