Earlier today, I mentioned on Twitter that I was growing tired of people using the phrase "made of win" to describe things they like.
Still, when a blogger I follow tweeted during tonight's Fringe finale that the episode was "made of 12 kinds of win," it was hard to disapprove.
Everything the show promised with the first half of the finale last week arrived tonight. And then some. We always talk about how great John Noble is, but tonight's episode really belonged to Anna Torv, who did a lovely job making the Olivia we know and the one from the other side two distinct characters.
But not distinct enough for Walter, Peter, etc. to realize that the wrong Olivia had crossed over at the end, giving Walternate the perfect sleeper agent: unlike the shapeshifters, alt-Olivia can presumably stay in this universe as long as she wants. Meanwhile, our Olivia is locked in a darkened cell on the other side.
It was a twist that seemed pretty obvious once we saw two versions of Olivia, a big explosion, and then only one Olivia. Still, knowing what was about to happen didn't lessen the impact of seeing Bolivia (what the writers of the show call her, for "Olivia B") sitting down at the haunted typewriter, or seeing regular Olivia pleading with the Secretary to let her out. It's a measure of how far the show -- and Torv -- have come that we could see this cliffhanger coming and still care about Olivia's fate.
Sure, Walter will figure a way to spring her, and the fake Olivia will be exposed, etc. etc.
But after seeing the stellar way Fringe pulled off the second half of this season, I'm confident the show can find interesting ways to tell this part of the story. Maybe alt-Olivia will grow to love our universe, which certainly seems less frightening than hers. Maybe she'll feel the same connection to Peter as regular Olivia does (a connection so strong it helped convince Peter to return to this side).
While alt-Olivia is on this side, maybe our Olivia will escape, and we'll spend a few episodes following her adventures in the other world. And it might be interesting to see an episode or two where alt-Olivia -- who clearly seems more sardonic and devil-may-care than Liv 1 -- has to investigate some of Fringe's standard monster-of-the-week cases, all while staying in character.
Or maybe those days are behind us. By showing us more and more of the other side this season, and by allowing us to view the damage that Walter's original journey there caused, Fringe has become a much stronger and richer show, and hopefully its third season will cut back on the more procedural aspects, making this war of the worlds its overarching story.
Other thoughts:
- What is it with shows created by J.J. Abrams and doubles/look-alikes? In the second season of Alias, a major character was killed by a spy who'd had plastic surgery to get closer to Sydney Bristow. Lost's main villain this year is a centuries-old supernatural entity walking around in John Locke's body. And here, we're in a world where shapeshifters and alternate-universe versions of ourselves are the norm.
- John Noble and Leonard Nimoy were pretty great together. I had expected more fireworks, but once it became clear that William Bell wasn't the show's true bad guy, it made sense that they'd reach some sort understanding.
- Although it's technology is well beyond ours, the other side seems like a pretty horrible place. The type of things the Fringe team -- the one we've been following for two seasons -- investigates on a weekly basis seem to just be par for the course. Can't decide what was worse: the desolate outskirts of Boston, or hearing about how 10,000 people were just left to die in the quarantined Madison Square Garden.
- So was there no Charles Lindbergh on the other side, or just no Lindbergh baby kidnapping?
- What were alt-Olivia's orders? Does she have the same abilities as our Olivia?
- And I think that's all for this season folks. Thanks for reading, and we'll pick this up again in the fall. Nicely done, Fringe folks.
Tom Coombe
I have enjoyed this season of Fringe. I liked the finale but I found it too predictable. I definitely dig Alt-Olive better than our Olivia and I frankly don't care if she ever comes back. She is the least interesting character on the show.
Being in Boston made the devastation there more scary.
Kudos on the title of this post as it is an album by my favorite band.
Posted by: Peter Haley | May 25, 2010 at 03:22 PM