A man came in to the Vitas Petrol office, only to collapse and died with ruptured veins, causing to spray his blood everywhere. The death required the investigation of Olivia and Peter, who were later quarantined inside the building to prevent the spread of a deadly virus. Walter and Astrid tried to unlock the mysterious virus in order to find cure and to stop a possible global infection. Walter got emotional with Peter’s condition, almost confessing to Astrid the death of his real son, Peter.

Where are we now?

It is just highly annoying that, again, we have a stand-alone episode.  It’s been halfway of the series and we are still being teased of Peter’s real identity.  Despite of great acting, great characterization and great story, it still fail in the mytharc storytelling.  If you have more stand-alone episodes than the mytharc, I think you will eventually lose audience, rather than gaining.  Moreover, having a stand-alone just make the impression that the show has little to explore, when in fact there’s a lot of issues that the Fringe characters need to deal with.  Another disappointment for me is the fact that Nina Sharp has been AWOL for quite awhile.  If I remember it right the last time we see her is on Of Human Action, reporting to William Bell.

Virus

The virus was taken from an exploratory oil dig of Solum Oil, of which the whereabout is unknown.  I’m quite intrigued as to what is the whole point of the oil dig by the Solum Oil, especially it was mention in the episode that the soil sample was kept in an airtight protective case.  Given that, then they should know that the sample could contain deadly virus.

Assuming Solum Oil is in Dubai, where Radjan found to have came from a couple of days before, why did it take him so long to appear the symptoms?  Was there anything in Vitas Petrol that actually triggered a dormant virus that is in the body of Radjan?  It also makes me wonder what if Radjan was used as a pawn of Solum Oil to attack Vitas Petrol?

The biggest mystery, perhaps, of the episode is why did Peter showed the dilated veins symptoms then revert back to normal, when the other victims died after showing that symptoms?  Is that another Peter’s special unknown ability or due to different physiology since he came from the alternate universe.

In last season, episode Safe, Walter mentioned that Peter was infected with a deadly flu virus.  It makes me wonder if this episode is like some sort of re-enactment for Walter, trying to find a cure for his son?

Peter vs Olivia

To be honest, the whole Peter vs Olivia is a bit off.  But I think the writers place there for a reason.  Could it possibly be a sign of a fight between the two realities, with Peter on the side of the alternate universe, while Olivia defending our universe?

Walter’s revelation

Like what I said before, the writers teased us once more.  And seems like Astrid found out that somewhere in the past, Peter could have died.  And Walter’s response to Astrid of “some things are meant to be left alone.”  Did Astrid figured out that Peter is from the alternate universe?

My bold answer is no.  But I’m pretty sure, Astrid is juggling on the idea that Walter could have revive a dead Peter.  And I will be really disappointed if this is not address next week, and if we have another stand-alone episode.

Blue lights.

The blue lights reappeared!  This happened when Peter was injected with the antidote for the virus.  It could probably just mean Peter is from the alternate universe.

More Olivia

Another thing about Olivia in this episode that she doesn’t want to bother Rachel because she had been going through a lot after what had Olivia experience in the first episode of Season 2.

Not only does she feel protective to Rachel but also to Peter, it is the second time that Olivia didn’t like the idea of bringing in the army to deal with the problem.  This is sort of the same scene where Olivia in Of Human Action, questioned Broyles and that Peter could be a collateral damage.

Other stuff that you might have missed.

1. Vitas Petrol. I knew that there’s something odd about the name of the company, so I tried my best to search what does Vitas mean.  But to no avail, I ended up with a name of a Russian singer, which I doubtly a reference to.  But thanks to Fringepedia, Vitas Petrol is in fact an anagram of Viral Test Op.  It makes me more convince that Radjan is a pawn and Vitas Petrol is a test target.

2. Peter was watching a 1950s film “Forbidden Planet“.

3. Briefcase.  At first I was intrigued that what if Radjan is a courier of the observer?  But of course, it doesn’t make sense that he left the briefcase in a service car.  Nonetheless, it is interesting to point out that the briefcase has been an important aspect of Fringe mythology.

4. The observer can be seen walking passed by in the background when the two CDC officers were talking about having the building contained for Level 6 Eradication.  Also, the glyph spells out WINDOW, for some reason, means nothing to me in this episode.

A small town called Edina was found to be inhabitate by disfigured humans, whose faces look to be normal in the perception of the outsiders. The Fringe team later discovered that Walter Bishop once involved in the same research which aims to camouflage soldiers in the war. In this episode, Walter expressed himself of fear of getting lost and abducted, referencing back to what happened in the Grey Matters.

Title changed

This episode was originally known as “Edina City Limits, but two weeks before its airing, the title was changed into Johari Window.  The reason for the change is unknown, but presumably, Johari Window is more of a cryptic title and perhaps, could refer to Walter Bishop’s relationships, not only to others but to himself.  Johari Window is a cognitive tool used in psychology to identify traits or personalities that can be classified into 4 different “quadrants”.  The first one is the arena, on which, the personality is known to others and oneself.  Next is the blind spot, which the personality is not known to self but others know.  The blind spot could be possibly refer to the kid in the episode as he seems to not know that his face is different from “normal people”.  The third is the facade, the characteristic is not known by others but known by oneself.  Perhaps, the biggest reference to this is Walter’s abduction of Peter.  And the fourth is the unknown, the personality not known by self and not known by others.  This oddly could be the personality that Walter used to have when his brain pieces has not been taken out.  Clearly, we knew that there are two facades of Walter (the old and the new), having the heart for those victims of which the “new” Walter showed is a sign of a two distinct personalities.

And of course, Edina City Limits is very self-explanatory.  We know that once the mutated victims passed the line or the “limit” of Edina, their face will change into something we don’t want to look at.

Likes and Dislikes

To be honest, after watching the episode again, I found that the episode shown in Monday (which is the Unearthed) a better one compared to this episode.  Mainly, because I have a higher hopes for this since this is the “real deal” and it is not a leftover from the previous season.  Also, the episode is not what you expected from Fringe especially coming back from the hiatus.  There’s not much to pick out in this episode.  I cannot really find something big or significant that reference back from old episode or that could foreshadow good storyline in the coming episodes.  It is also one of those stand-alones that remain to be possibly forgotten and would never come back.

Nevertheless, this episode showed some good ones, particularly the transition of Walter Bishop story from being the terrified from stepping up again.  It’s rarely that we see in television the sense of reality.  The characterization of this season got to be the whole main point of the show.

Shoutouts

There are a handful of shoutouts to popculture in this episode, which to be honest, I know nothing about.  Thank goodness for google and wikipedia.

1. In the opening scene when the two mutated guys took the kid from the station, there is a note stuck in a wall, saying: “If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime!”  I think it is intentionally placed there because it was handwritten and I don’t really think a station would just randomly place such note.  So what does the note means?  I tried googling it and I found out that the quote is popularize by the series “Baretta”, which was shown in 70s.  Also, the saying could possibly point to the fact that Walter committed a crime of kidnapping Alter-Peter.

2. Another Wizard of Oz shoutout.  Walter likened himself to a coward lion and as such doesn’t want to leave the car.

3. When Walter saw the picture of disfigured kid, this reminded him of the boy who plays a banjo in the movie Deliverance.  Again, the film is popularized in ’70s.

Product Placement?

I don’t know if it is a product placement, but the audience once again saw the game Operations (the same game that Olivia played with Ella in No Brainer), and Devil Dogs (which was, again and again, a 1970s Drake product).  I don’t know if it still exists.

The Butterfly

I find it so great that the writers have thought of using butterfly to illustrate many things in the episode.  Just a reminder that the butterfly glyph can be seen in the episode Grey Matters, and possibly a next-episode-clue.

I think the first good thing is we were able to explore a side of Astrid, now, we know she hated moth but love butterfly.

Second, and more importantly, is how Walter’s character is just so much like a butterfly.  First, he started off as a scared lion, but really changed or morphed back into his old Walter.  I love the scene between Walter and Astrid by the Harkness library, that definitely prove that Walter is not Walter without his science work.  Also, alongside with the “Johari Window”, we saw how much Walter change from his old self to someone who felt what the victims felt.  The scene where he is begging Broyles not to report the incident is just brillant and wonderfully acted.

Some other thoughts:

1. I really wonder why the kid just love hanging at the Edina welcome sign?  Did he want to run away?  More importantly, does he even know his face is deformed?

2. Is Edward Cobbs alive?

3. The military base nearby… what is the connection of that?  Is there a test going on?  Is Project Elephant still on-going?

4.  The observer can be found among the town people when the sheriff is giving his speech about protecting the town, while the glyph spells out mutate, which is quite obvious what it meant.

Fox unearthed an episode involving a never-seen-before case of a dead girl coming back to life, which happened to be “possessed” by a Russian speaking navy officer.  Since this episode is supposedly in Season 1, we see Olivia’s partner Agent Charlie (and Astrid’s old hairstyle) alive and kicking.  Fringe, in this episode, seems to get into the world of Ghost Whisperer, as Andrew Rusk need to (fulfill his unfinished business) avenge his death by going after the responsible for the murder, his wife.

Confused viewers

A lot of people are confused with this episode.  They were wondering as to why Agent Charlie “came back from the death” in this episode and thought they missed something.  I actually didn’t get it since Fox should have promoted this episode as a never-before-seen episode from Season 1.  Perhaps, they haven’t promoted much?  Or perhaps, Fox did this for gimmick?

Added to this confusion is the timeline on which the episode should have taken place.  Personally, I also feel confused.  This episode is the stand-alone that anyone never knew where should it be.  Will the writers and showrunners reveal its place in Season 1?  Or do we take this case occurred in the alternate universe?  Aaah.  This is just so fringe-y.

Not just the viewers are confused.  Even Fox is confused.  They announced this as Season 1 episode, but they now offcially called it as the 11th episode of Season 2.  Are they doing this to hide another episode the 2nd Season?

Allusions to other episodes

What made me like this episode very much is that I saw many hints to other episodes.  Was this episode actually really shelved and as such the writers thought of reviving some “cool” ideas to some Season 2 episodes?

1.  Rising up from the dead.

Lisa Donovan waking up from her death and speaking random military code and Russian words reminded me of Olivia Dunham waking up from her coma and speaking a Greek phrase in the New Day in Old Town.  Not only that, remember Olivia having that bell cue in Momentum Deferred?  I find it interesting that when Olivia said this line: “Lisa, I just have a couple more questions. The man’s name is Andrew Rusk. Does that ring any BELL?”  That is when Lisa got the cue to say the Russian words.

2. Car crash.

The cause of Lisa Donovan’s coma status was the same as Olivia’s.  Both of them suffered a car crash.  And the scene at the end of the episode is a reminiscent of the car crash in The New Day in Old Town.

3. Religious theme.

The priest got a lot of exposure in this episode.  Too much that I had thought that he will shapeshift into Agent Jessup.  Does anyone think that the religious theme in this episode could have give birth to the character of Agent Jessup?

4. Russian connection.

Is there any connection between Unearthed and the Broyles-centric episode Earthling?  Both episode has to do with Russians, plus the ionizing radiation.

5. Pirate flag.

The pirate flag that is in the TV screen of FBI headquarters is also seen in the episode of There’s More than One of Everything.

What have we learned from this episode?

1. Peter, yet again, showed his ability to understand multiple language.  He was able to understand Russian language, because he dated a Russian girl once.  Will the Russian girl resurface and tie the knot between Unearthed and Earthling?  Is there a deeper reason why Peter knew a lot of language?

2. Skeptic vs Believer

Peter is a skeptic.  I think this is more of a season 1 Peter than Season 2.  I think Peter is more and more accepting the Fringe sciences of his father Walter.  And speaking of Walter, I think we would agree that he is a believer.  It is really interesting to see that rational scientist would take the step of believing something impossible (well… could be because of being a Fringe scientist).  I love how Walter mentioned that even as a scientist, we have to sometimes rely on faith.

3. Olivia’s fathers.

Olivia opened up to Peter with regards to her father.  It seems to apply that her father is abusive to her mother.  I find the childhood of Olivia to be very harsh, she has two abusive “fathers”, her real father and stepfather.

4. Peter’s sickness.

It has been a puzzle until now, what is the whole story on Peter’s death and sickness.  In this episode, he mentioned that he is “always sick” and didn’t have any real friends.

Some more Fringe thoughts:

1. I think it is not a coincidence that the number 8 in the mass schedule is bigger than any other numbers in there.

2. Peter caught Walter talking with coma patients.  And made an interesting theory about floating spirits.  It makes me wonder if Walter actually play with this idea in the past.  Also, that scene actually made me think that it is such a heartbreaking when Walter visit his “real” son in the cemetery.  I’m pretty sure he will be talking with his dead son.

3. Peter commented on the green and red balloons and funny how Lisa responded to him and said “Welcome back from the dead”.  This almost allude to the fact that Peter was dead and he came back to this world through the alternate reality.  It may also be a funny joke on the fact that Charlie came back from the dead in this episode, even if it was not intended to be.

4. “If you tell me the U.S. Government is covering something up, I’ll tell you it must be Tuesday.”  Peter’s line here showed how much he is skeptic about the government.  Also, it has to be noted that Fringe was on Tuesday during its Season 1.

5. The US Naval Officer confessed that Andrew Rusk was given a radiation inhibitor.  It makes me wonder where did this inhibitor came from…. could it be Massive Dynamic?  Was this inhibitor an experimental drug for spirit transfer?

6. Little Star.  The episode explained that Little Star is a nickname given to Rusk’s wife.  I suspected, otherwise.  I have a feeling that Little Star is a project of some sort.  Having that guy in the car crash uttered the “Little Star” in Russian language could mean more than what we thought it means.

7. The observer is found in the scene where Olivia is talking with Maureen outside of the church.

8.  The glyph spells out AVENGE, perhaps pointing at the unfinished business of Andrew Rusk.

Fringe team explores Chinatown to reveal a giant bioengineered hookworm smuggled using Chinese people as human incubator.  The episode is filled with horrifying scenes, amazing dramatic performances and… subtitles.  Sadly though even if it is such an awesome episode, you end up wondering what is the point of the episode… and yes, because it is a stand-alone.

What we have learned from the episode?

1. Walter wants independence.  Or at least, he wants some trust from Peter.  This makes me wonder if the episode previously August had something to do with this?  Walter’s escapade and meeting up with August could have triggered Peter to put Walter in his “cage”.  Having the desire for independence made Walter realized that he can’t be on his own after all – he got lost, he forgot Peter’s number, and he even caused Astrid’s assault.

2. Peter knows how to speak Cantonese; that’s besides from Farsi (from Pilot) and Arabic (from Fracture) (and obviously English).  It makes me wonder if Peter actually knows more language than linguistic major Astrid?  In this episode, we also see his natural talent in getting information from people; it has been shown in many episodes of this season that whenever Olivia cannot do it, Peter steps in and manage to “interrogate” people.  And of course, other than those, he always get lucky that he is saved in many ending scenes.

3. Not all fringes are “pattern-related“, and this season showed that the fringe sciences do occur outside of United States.  This made me wonder if what we are seeing as non-related “international” fringe sciences could play out in a later development of the stories?  Would those stand-alone episodes actually come back and shock us in a later stage?

Like it or not?

I just realized from this episode that the whole season of Fringe was set up to develop our main characters.  I was actually hoping to get a lot of answers from the questions laid out from the previous season.  But sadly that is not the case, the writers are doing the slowburn move of teasing us with small pieces of the puzzle and taking time in letting us feel who are our main characters, how does the case affects them and reminds us that they are humans.  As such, I would say that this season made me more understand the main characters.  Having said that, I would say that I’ll put the bar according to the whole point of the episode – is it a mythos?  Is it a character development episode?

So, the only problem with this episode is that it is stand-alone.  This made everybody think that if you miss this episode, you are not in a deep trouble.  In fact, in the long run, it can be a forgettable episode because of miniscule story arc relation.  Looking at the episode, it is only the last scene where Walter put a tracking device on him that we can consider as related to the storyline.

On the other hand, there’s so much to love in this episode.  I love how the show utilized the great cast ensemble – we saw character development from Peter, Walter, Astrid and even Olivia (with that little kid).  It is also no doubt that despite the budget cut, we still have amazing effects; the worm looks great and realistic.

The whole story is grounded in true problem of the society – the smuggling, black market, and triad.  In fact, the fringe science is also realistic.  There’s an on-going research trying to identify what does helminths (such as hookworms) have that suppress many auto-immune diseases.

The After Thoughts

1. Who made the creature? Perhaps, that is the biggest question of the episode.  The only facts we have is that they seem to be “funded” by those people who are suffering from auto-immune diseases.  The creature also tied with the triad.  The implication seems to be that the triad got their own scientist.  However, I had a feeling that this might not be the case.  Is it possible that Massive Dynamic could be connected in some way?  We know that MD has a “branch” in Hongkong, it is possible that they are working on the genetically engineered hookworms.  And maybe the scientist who is involved in the project could have been tied with a triad.  It is just interesting to speculate on that.  It can also be noted that the Russian involvement with Broyles is never explain.  We don’t know who headed the space mission and the exact reason for the mission.  But again, Massive Dynamic got a Russian connection too.

2.  Eastern vs Western? We have two international connections to Fringe, we have Russia and Hongkong; both of which falls down in the “eastern hemisphere”.  This made me wonder if this is to remind us that the world is bigger than we think.  Before we knew that the whole fringe is “pattern” related and now, we found out that there is the alternate universe and fringe science in the other part of the world.  This also led me to relate the fringe science in the east is somehow a reflection to the “alternate universe”.

3. The parasite coming out of the mouth. The first time I saw the parasite coming out of the mouth, it reminded me of Resident Evil 5.  The worm forcing on Peter also somehow related to the game.  There’s a scene in the game which the parasite was forced into the mouth of a poor men, transforming him into a zombie.

4. Reality. The most surprising thing about the episode is that it is how real the story was told.  I came from a Chinese family so I am quite knowledgeable about the alternative medicine.  Chinese people packed their powder or whatever medicine in a paper and fold it like what we see in the show.  The smuggling of the Chinese people in a crowded ship also resembles real life event.  The most amazing thing is how Joshua Jackson delivered Cantonese very well.

Easter egg and clues

1. Snakehead.  Many would thought that the snakehead refers to hookworm coming out of the mouth.  But I’m actually convince that it actually refers to the gang located in Southeast China that smuggle people out of the country.

2. The observer.  He appeared in the Chinatown, just right after Ming Che made the call and the triad member went out of the door.

3. Graffitis.  There are a lot of weird drawings in this episode.  I can’t make out what is it.  But the phone booth drawing could be the genetically engineered hookworm.

4. Lion’s den. The song Walter singing in the car is the same line he sings in the Unleashed episode.

5. Hidden glyph.  The glyph spells out HIDDEN.  And guess what we have a hidden leaf glyph!

I enjoyed it so I’ll rate it 7!

What we have learned from this episode?

1. There are more than one observer.  One is never enough.  So, like what many people had theorize before, yes, we saw more than one observer.  There are at least four observers (in our reality?).  We found out that August is the name of the observer who died in the episode.  Although, not mention in the episode, we saw the names of the other observers in the closing credits.  The “older observer” has a name of December.  The other observer’s name is July.  Our favorite observer is named September.  Since all the known observers got a name of the months, do we assume that we have 12 observers?  Hmm?

2. Observers do not have feelings. I think we also speculated this before.  We saw the observer looks so calm in any tragedy or unusual event.  We also learned before that they don’t have strong sense of taste.  But this episode, finally, prove that observers do not have feelings.  Does mingling with humans influence them?  Humanize them?

3. Observers don’t age.  And they can see the future. Finally, the episode also proves that they had been here for a long time.  The newspaper clippings we saw in August apartment.  The explanation of Brandon in Massive Dynamic.  They also don’t seem to age.  Peter even commented while Olivia driving the car that they could get rich by selling their secret of fountain of youth.  We also learned in the episode that the observers can see the future.  They can predict what would happen.  August manage to save Christine Hollis because he knew that the plane will crash.  We also see in the cliffhanger that December predicted that tough thing will happen to her.

4. Observers must rectify a wrongdoing. Last time, we saw that observers have courier.  Now we learned the observers can hire an assassin to rectify an irregularity in time.  We also learned that they save Peter because it is a consequence of what they had done wrong.  In connection to this, we also found out that Walter and September got a deal or arrangement.  What is it, we don’t know.

What I like about the episode:

1. Observers are not time travellers.  Thank you for that!  I’m happy that they are not time travellers.  And whoever tells me that they are, please show me a proof!  I’m glad that the episode didn’t show observers trying to rectify things by going back to time.

2. No Rachel.  When I saw Ella in the first scene, I was actually scared that I have to see Rachel.  Thank goodness, she is not there!  And there seems to be a hint in the episode that she might be killed off!

3. Human-like Observers.  I’m glad to see the observer in light of having an apartment just like any other humans.  We saw observers also eat in a restaurant, socialize and even fall in love.  The end of August, when he sacrifice his life for Christine is touching.  He even shed a tear for the safety of Christine.  Love that.  Not only that, we see the observers use a car like any other humans (well, except for that amazing touch that automatically switch on the car).

4. The gun and the book.  I think the gun is awesome.  It reminded me of District 9.  But much more amazing for me is cryptic messages found in his book.  The Lewis structure message of August to Walter is so geeky and nerdy, but that made me so love Fringe.

What I don’t like:

1. Same plot.  Nothing amazing about the plot.  It seems like it is a rehash from the previous episodes.  The episode humanizes the observer, like what they did to Broyles in Earthling.  In the previous episode (Of Human Action), we started with a kidnapping, and another kidnapping happened in this episode.  Can we have a different story telling?  At least, episodes far apart, so that audience won’t get so fed off with the plot.

2. Stupid characters.  I’m sorry to say this, but there are four scenes that bothers me.

The first one concerns Walter.  He told Olivia that he speculated that the “blood” sample could be hemophiliac.  Then he put the sample in a slide and he look at it in microscope.  I think any decent scientist would immediately know that the sample is not blood by just looking briefly at microscope?  Chili sauce sample and blood sample can easily be differentiated under microscope.  One got cells, the other don’t!

Second scene: Why Olivia and Peter need to park when they can easily see an assassin with a gun pointing at August?  Isn’t a dumb move?  They could have save August at that time, if they drive straight to the scene or at least, Olivia stops and get out of the car and shout, FBI!

Third scene: Why Astrid, a linguistic major, did not spot the Lewis structures?  More importantly, why the computer did not detect it?  Looking at the Lewis structure, you can easily say that they follow a pattern… a circle with dots around it.  I think a computer can easily spot that.  Hmm… guess what, the scientist who can’t use a microscope can easily decode a cryptic message.

Fourth scene: Astrid never learn her lesson.  She knew that Walter love to drug people.  So why the hell she tasted that strawberry milkshake?  And seriously, do you have to prioritize Walter’s request of buying things in the market to Olivia’s request for Broyles’ backup?  No wonder, the FBI didn’t show up in the motel!

3. Little answers.  As I have said before, only a few questions were answered.  In fact, all the answers given to us are just confirmation of the many accepted speculation of Observers.

4. Couriers.  I don’t get it.  Why Fringe writers present the concept of couriers but they didn’t include it in the episode?  The worse thing is, they presented another character that involve in the mythology of observer – the assassin, who I think will not be seen back in Fringe, anymore.

The After Thoughts.

1. The big question… who is December referring to in the cliffhanger?

My guess is Ella.  My proof is that at that moment, Ella seems to be happier compared to Olivia.  We know that Ella enjoys much rollercoaster, while Olivia is actually scared of rollercoaster.   And I think Olivia is a giveaway.

2. Peter and the gun.

I don’t really understand what is the connection between Peter and gun.  Looking at the previous episodes of Season 2, we can see that Peter is always involved with gun.  In Night of Desirable Objects, Peter managed to dodge the bullet of Olivia.  In Fracture and Momentum Deferred, Peter delivered exactly the same line – I figure between the two of us, you’re the one that carries the gun.  And in Of Human Action, he manage to control the gun that’s meant to be in Broyles’ head.  And I think everybody knows what happened this episode.

Also the big question is the Observer’s gun.  I think I’ll go with Broyles on saying that the gun cannot be fired because its out of ammunition.  Some people say because Peter is from alternate reality so he can fire it.  I just don’t like that, it sounds like a rip-off from District 9.  Peter and the observers are prawns?

3. Observers.

I think I have mentioned a lot of things up there on what are the general characteristic of Observers.  What I do think of them are “entities” that existed since the day humans exist.  They are there to observe and make sure that the reality is on track with its pathway.  They have a golden rule of not getting involve, because they are not meant to influence a different choice or decision that could lead to a different road.  As such, if it does occur, i.e. observer saving someone who supposed to die, they have to fix the irregularity or else face consequences.  The consequence for August is his life in replace with Christine’s life.  The deal of Walter and September is unknown but I got a feeling that it will be a very big sacrifice (could it be involving Mrs. Bishop?).  The reason why they exist in pictures of major events is because they exist within us, they exist in exactly the same time like us.  Having said that, I am not convince that they are time travellers because if they are, then they could just easily go back to time and fix the irregularities… and that is not the case, they hire an assassin to kill Christine and fix the irregularity.  Another thing that this episode prove is that they do travel by the means of our transportation, which I’m glad with.  This means, that they are not “anti-matter”.  They can touch things.  This episode also showed that they are not immortal.  They can get killed in normal means.  However, I still think they cannot be killed unknowingly.  They can see the future, as such, they can avoid death.  I got also a theory that their lack of feeling and sense of taste is due to the fact that they have heightened perception and extraordinary ability.  Similar analogy would apply to people who are blind, they have heightened hearing.   And with the gun, I think their foresight of the future made them have the ability to produce such gun.

Now, why do we only see 4 observers?  I have a theory that every reality got only 4 observers.  Having said that, if we are to follow the months, then we could have 3 different realities.  (This may easily be debunked, because we already been told that we are dealing with only 2 realities, but I will still pursue this.)  Is it possible that the other observers are in other reality to check that they are on the right track too?  Maybe the reason why they are preventing a dramatic change in the reality is because they don’t want to split up their group just to preserve different reality’s timeline?  As such, that is a big consequence in observer’s job.  And perhaps that’s where the couriers come in.  The observers in othe reality cannot communicately directly with each other and needed someone to deliver the message from one reality to another.

Hang on, btw, where did the observer got the money to pay for the chili?

4. Clues and eastereggs

Tropos Air.  Tropos in Greek is τροποσ, which means “way of doing things”; also τροπή, which means “turn” or “change”.  Guess what, Christine’s evasion from death is indeed a big turn or change!

Flight number 821.  This is a real plane crash event.  Check it out here

Green Green Green Red sequence.  The light sequence that showed up in assassin’s high tech phone is the same light sequence shown in The Equation.

Two statues.  In Massive Dynamic, you can see two statues, a girl sitting down handing something to a guy.  I wonder what that meant?

The sink.  Two odd things in there… a comb and pills.  What are those for?

The glyph spelled out: BLIGHT.

That’s all for now, Fringies!

What we have learned from this episode?

1. Walter’s haunted by his dark past.  This is another episode that shows how Walter felt guilty on what he did in the past.  When Walter was confronted of the idea that Dr. Carson’s son was abducted, he felt uneasy.  When Peter was abducted, he felt agitated.  It was an excellent job done by John Noble as Walter Bishop.

2. Mrs. Bishop.  We learned from Walter that he met Peter’s mom in a Neurobiology conference in Berlin, and that she was introduced by William Bell.  Walter Bishop describes her as a “strong woman”, and apparently, she was there for Peter even he was gone.

3. Bishop and Bell.  We found out that it is the first time that Walter Bishop visited Massive Dynamic, and that the building has 73 laboratories.  Bishop was mesmerized.  Bell and Bishop were meant to form a company together, but Bell didn’t wait him.

4. Another Fringe science of MD.  The final scene shocked us all.  It finally answered the question on how Nina Sharp communicates with William Bell.  It seems like old technology works best for interdimensional communication.  We also learned that Tyler that we saw is just one of the many Tylers, and he is under the Penrose-Carson experiment.  Could be a tie-in with Dr. Claus Penrose, a scientist who is involved in cloning and rapid aging in the episode The Same Old Story.

The Good.

1. A fair share of screen time.  I’m glad to see Astrid’s out of the lab.  I’m also glad to see that Nina gave her fair share.  I think this episode is by far, best in terms of every character giving a spotlight.

2. True to the tagline.  I’m glad that Fringe staff did not forget their tagline – Someone out there is experimenting, only the whole world is the lab.  Did the writers answered who is that “someone”?  Are we to assume that MD (Nina/Bell) are the ones responsible for this “odd” experimentation?

3. Twists.  The sneak peek last week is successful in misleading the viewers into thinking that the “abductor” has mind controlling ability.  The twist at the end also was unexpected.

The Bad.

1.  Walter and Peter.  I think it is getting old now.  We already see a lot of previous episodes insinuating that Peter is from alternate universe, and Walter feels guilty with Peter’s abduction.  I just hope they drop the bomb soon.

2. Stretched.  I think the storyline is a bit stretched.  I don’t see the need of Peter babysitting Tyler in the bar.

The After Thoughts.

1. Massive Dynamic.  The Penrose-Carson experiment and Nina’s report to Bell suggested one thing – Massive Dynamic is preparing our world against the alternate universe.  Massive Dynamic may be the modern ZFT?

2. Cortexiphan.  Tyler’s treatment with mind control cocktail had a similarity with cortexiphan trial.  Both drugs had been treated to “kids”, confirming my previous post that indeed kids play a significant role in the show.  We knew that Nina Sharp and Dr. Carson knew what’s happening means that Tyler did not just accidentally take in a cocktail of mind control drugs.  Could it be that Tyler was treated with an improved version of cortexiphan?  I am convinced that William Bell is continuing his cortexiphan project.  And that the project aim is to create super soldier, hopefully a stable one like Olivia Dunham.

3. Effect of mind control on Peter.  Peter had been subjected to a lot of mind controlling by Tyler, it makes me wonder if it did affect Peter’s brain or not.  Walter mentioned that mind controlling causes hematomas, of which could lead to brain damage.  It was also revealed in the episode that Peter somehow managed to prevent Tyler from pushing him to put a gun on Broyles’ head.  Is Peter special, well other than being from the other universe?

4. Two.  Double.  Duality.  I think this is another recurring theme of Fringe.  The experiment involves two scientists – Penrose and Carson.  We also heard that the aeronautics division of MD is Fleming-Monroe.  And… we also found out that Bell and Bishop is thinking of making a company together.  And oh by the way, I checked the website of Massive Dynamic and somehow the word ZENO pops up.  A weird connection?

5. Foreshadowing of Observer-centric episode.  Olivia looking through the binocular seems to be a foreshadow of the next week’s episode.  Also the conversation between Peter and Olivia in the convenience store seems to be referring to the observers.

“You think they could be spies? Maybe they’re hiding out in plain sight.”
“Foreign intelligence agents often take mundane jobs so they can blend in while they’re gathering information.”

6. Easter eggs.  Observer can be found standing in front of the white car at 00:48.  You can see a seahorse glyph in the door of the convenience store.  And the store sells SLUSHO!

My ratings - 6.1 Nina Sharp’s seduction techniques

After the hiatus, Fringe came back with yet another stand-alone episode.  Personally, I feel disappointed with it.  It’s not a good come back episode, questions are not answered, no story continuity, unclear fringe science… and if you missed this episode, I dare say, you don’t miss much.  In this episode, the team investigated a case of strange shadow entity stealing radiation from humans, killing them by turning them into ashes.  Apparently, this is the same case handled by Broyles years ago, which caused his marriage.  In the midst of this, we found out that things are bigger than we thought.  CIA is involved.  Russians has their own fringe case.

What we have learned from this episode?

1. Broyles is a human (at least that is the impression from the episode).  It is the first time that we saw Broyles is a playful person.  I find this interesting as from the previous Fringe episodes, we often see him act like a robot (especially with his kiss with Nina earlier this season).  And speaking of kiss, we also learned that his obsession with this case led to the abandonment of his wife… this made me wonder if Nina Sharp is involved in some way with the break-up?  And speaking of obsession, his dedication to his job is undeniable.  He blurted out to Olivia that he is willing to do anything to protect the make the world a safer place to live in.  Very interesting.  Should we dig on that further?  Anyway, final note on Broyles is that he cares about his people (at least to the Fringe team).

2. Fringe is bigger than we think.  At first, we all thought the Fringe cases were interconnected and they all pointed out to the “Pattern”.  Then, we got into the alternate world.  And now, we have a possible “international fringe”.  More importantly is that the Homeland Security (Broyles) seems to be not alone in investigating the fringe cases.  CIA is now involved.  A senator of US is involved.  This made me think… how big is “the Fringe” in the show?  In Fracture, we even have the military (Pentagon) involved.  I don’t want Fringe to get complicated, so I hope to have less groups going each other as possible.

3. The Space Entity.  Although, the entity is not so clear yet, we still see a possibility of the “creature” coming back to the show.  We learned that the space entity is able to integrate itself to its host; it is capable of projecting itself as a shadow and it seems to need radiation to survive (or get stronger?).

4. The Fringe Division – no longer “exist”.  We see Broyles’ files in a public storage facility.  I think this is the most obvious evidence that the division is closed and the team had gone rogue.  This made me wonder, what is the job of Olivia?  Broyles is still in the Homeland Security.  Should Olivia be transferred back to wherever she is originally working?  Just confused that she is still like working for Broyles.

Disappointments

1. Stand-alone episode.  We have the Night of Desirable Object and Dream Logic as stand-alone episodes, but I got to say this episode failed miserably for me.  In the previous episodes, we saw some story continuity, this… nothing.  I don’t mind getting some stand-alone episodes, but I wish the writers would put in bits and pieces of the mythos or at least answer some of the questions.

2. Character development.  We saw Broyles character improved from a robot to a human.  But that seems to be all the character development in the show.  A Broyles-centric episode was done in the expense of other characters.  Is it not possible to see development of other characters as well?  We are dealing with some space entity here, and in the previous episode, Peter seems to be so into space, so why not improve his character as well (and have a story continuity?).

3. Crazy science.  Walter found the titanium chloride.  But what it is?  What does it have to do with the case?  We found out that the shadow is stealing radiation, but failed to explain why.  Where did the formula come from?  How does radiation kept a person intact?  I think the time constraint (or could it be writers’ laziness?) led to a lot of Walter’s eurekas but never explained these.

4. Half-baked.  Again like crazy science, we failed to understand how does Timur was able to keep his brother “off the grid” for a lot of years.  More importantly, how he managed to kept the entity into the body for a long year.  And yeah, there are tons of questions on the space entity.  For example: Does it have the mind of its own?  Why did the entity killed “his brother”?

The After-Thought

Even if I am so disappointed with the episode, I still try to understand the episode more.  So I tried to look at in a different angle.

1. Broyles – an observer? We saw in the public self-storage facility a black briefcase.  Is that a big shoutout and clarification that he might be an observer?

2. Separation of organic and inorganic. If I remember it right, the first thing Walter did is he separated the organic and inorganic part of the “molecule”.  Chemistry 101: Organic chemicals contain carbons while inorganic does not.  Organic chemicals form the basis of all earthly life processes.  This made me realized that the inorganic could be an indication of the “alien” entity.  This reminded me of the “Andromeda Strain” by Michael Crichton.  The alien virus is actually composed of Sulfur bonds, as opposed to carbon.  The final eureka (with the tinkertoy) sealed the deal, the inorganic alien entity can’t be separated from the organic chemical of human.

3. Kimba the white lion.  The girl in the motel is watching the Kimba the White Lion.  I am not so familiar with this cartoon show, but the lines said by Kimba caught me.

He’s not one of us, get rid of him!

I may have a different color, but I’m still a lion like you!

Sounds like a shoutout to Peter and the alternate universe?  When I tried searching Kimba the White Lion in wikipedia, I found out that Kimba seems to be the peacemaker between animals and humans.  Is this a sign that Peter could be the peacemaker between two universes?

4. Tara.  Tara is the girl in the motel room watching Kimba the White Lion. Strangely, she reminded me of Ella, Olivia’s niece.  Remember in the episode of Season 1, No Brainer, that she was almost “died”.  Both of them are actually staring at screen (Ella, a laptop screen while Tara, a TV screen). It was suggested that maybe Ella could have something special on her that made her susceptible to the “virus”.  Could it be that Tara has the same thing?   Kids in the show looked oddly important in many aspects.  We have the cortexiphan kids, the “kiddie observer”, 8-year old Peter…

5. Number shoutouts.  47 occurred again.  This number is seen in the address of Tomas (4747 Broadway).  Number 8.  The door number of Timur’s motel room.

6. Red/Green color patterns.  Again, we saw this color pattern.  I guess, it is just a recurring theme of the show.  Some red/green – lights when Timur is attempting to confine the entity to his brother’s body, red roses and green leaves in the first scene, tinkertoys.

7. Observer.  Observer passed by Gate 43 while Broyles speaking with Olivia.  It is the second time that we see the observer passed by while one of the main characters is talking in the phone.

My rating : 4.747 phi-centred molecular models