Fringe: The Abducted

 As a general rule I don’t like episodes that center around child abductions.  For one as Walternate said, “There is no tragedy greater than the theft of a child” but for another a part of me finds it difficult to enjoy something that is using that type of tragedy for entertainment value.   Now I know that the writers don’t intend for anyone to take pleasure in a child being abducted, even a fictional one.  Yet, I still can not enjoy them, well not fully anyway.

So you can imagine how I felt watching last week’s episode appropriately titled, “The Abducted.”  The abduction of young Maxwell from his bedroom after having recently been told by his mother there were no monsters in his closet (proof positive that parents do not know everything) lasted only moments.  As I imagine most abductions do (you see this is the type of stuff I think of when watching episodes like this one).  Thankfully, someone in the writers’ room or director’s chair figured that a few low lit shots of the kid looking scared while some moron in a mask recited a creepy prayer (I don’t know about the rest of you but I have never heard that prayer before and for that I am thankful) and some photos of previous victims was enough visual information.

And as if the kidnapping of a child wasn’t creepy enough the whole reason Max was taken in the first place is because the guy was stealing youth.  Are you kidding me?!?!  Stealing youth?   It has been almost a week since “The Abducted” aired and I still can not wrap my mind around the storyline.  In fact the further away I get from it the more I feel as though the writers were grasping at straws when they were trying to come up with a “B” story to go along with Olivia reaching out to the other side.  I am able to grasp that they needed to show Walternate as a more rounded human being (quit trying he is a creepy SOB and nothing you can do will change that) and they needed to provide AltBroyles with a bonding moment with Olivia so it makes sense that he would look the other way when she began her escape attempt.  Of course if the writers had been watching the same show as I have been then they would have seen that at no time was there ever doubt that when the time came he wouldn’t look the other way or even try to help her.

Either Lincoln has a crush on Olivia/Bolivia or Seth Gabel purposefully plays him like a smitten teenager.

They brought Andre Royo back for that?  What a waste.

If AltBroyles’ kid Chris is not going to live much longer shouldn’t he look a little….um sicker?  Hey, I’m just saying.

AltWorld’s DOD security sucks.  No wonder people can keep jumping from one side to the other.

I know Peter was kidnapped and it tore Walternate’s world apart but he is still an ass and I still don’t like him.

“I’m from a parallel universe” has got the be the best introductory sentence ever.

Until next time,

Mendie
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• TV Review: Fringe – “The Abducted” (blogcritics.org)
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Fringe: 6995 kHz

 Before settling down to write a recap I find it necessary to busy myself with mindless tasks.  The reason for this is because I find if jump immediately into the recap my mind goes blank and the idea of putting pen to paper tends to cause the shakes.  So today after I finished watching this week’s episode I put my notes to the side, turned on an old episode of Supernatural, and grabbed the broom.  Hardwood floors may be beautiful to look at, but they are a bitch to keep clean.   When I finished sweeping the floors and “Folsom Prison Blues” was over I realized that I was still having problems coming up with the first sentence.  For those of you who are budding writers let me just say that for me the first sentence is key.  It sets the tone and flow of the whole piece.  So instead of writing I decided to get dinner started and for tonight’s main (only) course I will be serving warm and hearty beef stew.  Yum.  Now I have prepared beef stew hundreds of times.  It just happens to be one of my favorite meals to cook because it is so simple to make.  This is probably why I sliced my thumb open when cubing the potatoes, lack of concentration.  As it turns out I should have just braved the shakes and the potential mind wipe because then I wouldn’t have spent an additional 10 minutes getting the bleeding to stop.  Who knew writing a recap could be so dangerous?

I want to send a shout out to all those Fringe fans who meticulously research every minute of an episode so that I don’t have to.  Because of those fans I didn’t have to spend hours (who are we kidding I would barely have searched 5 minutes) searching for double meanings.  Like for instance 6995 kHz is the frequency that is used by people who man pirate radio stations or that the Glyphs in this week’s episode stands for decay.   Too bad you can’t erase the picture of BOlivia and Peter having breakfast in bed from my mind.  Win some, lose some.

Don’t get me wrong it isn’t that I have a problem with Peter having a relationship with BOlivia or hell with Olivia for that matter.  What I have a problem with is that BOlivia is supposed to be acting as though Olivia would and nothing about that scene rang true.  I felt as though she was no longer faking in her feelings for Peter.  Which doesn’t say much about her feelings towards her husband in AltWorld if she is so easily able to fall for someone else.  Nor does it say much for Peter’s feelings for Olivia that not once has he had a moment’s pause that something might not be right about his lady love.  Hell the only person to even notice that something may be off with BOlivia is Nina and she hasn’t bothered to mention anything to anyone.  I do believe that Peter is the type of guy when he is in a relationship to buy U2 tickets and fawn all over his love.   As much as BOlivia has irked me in the past I can’t help but to feel bad for her.  Not only has she been tasked with saving her world she will also be responsible for destroying our world.  It has got to suck being her right now.   Plus if she keeps killing all the people/shapeshifters who were sent to help her on her mission she isn’t going to have any one left to go to when things really start to go crazy.

But the person I really feel sorry for right now is Walter.  Not only did he have to use his “dad” voice on Peter, he is also indirectly responsible for the upcoming war between the worlds.   And on top of all that, his son insist on working on what turns out to be a device that was made by the first people on Earth as a way to create and destroy everything.  Way to go Peter. It just does not pay to be a drugged out genius father nowadays.  I guess it’s a good thing that he is able to make mind clarifying sandwiches or else Astrid may not have been able to crack the code.  Although I am guessing that they will come to regret that ability soon enough.  On a side note I love that Walter calls the other Walter, Walternate.   Speaking of Walter & Walternate, (my mind is spinning right now) it is freaky how seemingly accurate Walter seems to be on Walternate’s plan for the upcoming war.   I myself feel stupid that I didn’t see that the numbers, the pulsating box, Kevin Weisman, and the points on the globe were all put in place by Walternate in the first place.  I should have seen it, just as I should have seen that BOlivia knew exactly what was going on with the shapeshifter.  I knew something was going on with her but it wasn’t until Peter mentioned that he could trace who placed the box in the towers that I realized that she had always known what was going on.

I really wanted the shapeshifter to go all Alias on BOlivia’s traitorous self, but then I remembered that this was Marshall Flinkman we were talking about and the most he would do is put together a weird contraption that was impossible to explain (pulsating box anyone?).  Though he did fall from a window quite quite gracefully.  Too bad it directly preceded having to see BOlivia run all damsel in distress in to Peter’s arms.  Gag me now, please.  I know it must make Peter’s He-Man rescuing nerves go all haywire with excitement but come on already, really?  Our Olivia is a gun toting, bad ass rock-star this woman is just sad.  No wonder AltCharlie is suspicious of all the new skills Olivia has acquired, his version is a pansy.

Until next time,
Mendie

Fringe: Amber 31422

  What price are we willing to pay to protect the majority?  If we are to believe Walternate, the few hundred souls that are encased in Amber weigh heavily on his conscious.  It would seem that aside from being a nifty way of stopping tears in the universe, it also keeps humans in a suspended animation state.  Not alive, but not dead either. Unfortunately for the people trapped inside the quarantine zones there is no chance of rescue because that could trigger another tear.  I am starting to think living in AltWorld kinda sucks.

As it turns out a bank robbing twin figured out the amber’s dirty little secret and spent the better part of the past four years using his mad scientist skills to rescue his brother.  A brother who they believe to be the actual bank robber who was really just a family man who was trying to convince his thieving brother to give up the life of crime.  Did you get all that?  Ok good because I’m not about to repeat it.

On the other side of the spectrum we have Olivia fighting with her subconscious, who conveniently walks and talks like Peter.  Not that I mind.  Any excuse to see Peter is a good one if you ask me.   No matter how much she tries to convince herself that everything is ok she knows deep down that something is terribly wrong.   When I first found out that Olivia was going to be trapped in AltWorld I was worried that this would be a season long game of peek a boo.   Luckily the writers are much smarter than that and seem to be well aware that the audience prefers to see the story move forward.  And thanks to Walternate’s penchant for using drugs in his experiments (for a second there I thought I had seen a glimpse of our Walter) and his willingness to sacrifice others for the greater good, Olivia was able to get the push she needed to discovering who she really is. It is going to be interesting to see how Olivia tries to stay one step ahead of Walter.

Try as I might I can not bring myself to believe that Walternate is anything other than a lying, murdering sociopath.   Deep down I know I only view him this way because I only know and adore our drug laced version of Walter, but knowing this fact doesn’t deviate me from that singular belief.

Aside from Olivia and Walternate the well of stories that seem readily available for the picking are falling to the ground abandoned.  How am I supposed to care about the possible destruction of this world and the people in it if we don’t learn more about them?  Granted the emotional connection to AltCharlie is there but that has more to do with the fact that our Charlie was around for all of the first season.  But as much I have come to enjoy seeing Lincoln Lee if he were to die in the next AltWorld episode I seriously doubt I would mourn him longer than the time it took me to complete that week’s write up.  The same goes for all the AltWorld characters.  Right now they are a means to an end and nothing more.  Thankfully they have 17 more episodes to change my mind.

Until next time,
Mendie