Fringe Recap - 214 Jacksonville (Act I)
Longtastic, snarkilicious recap ahead. You have been warned.
Previously, on Fringe: Walter was a bad, bad man. He and William Bell used preschool age Olivia (and other children) as a test subject for Cortexiphan, so that she could see the Other Side. Which she does, but only when it's necessary to the plot, and sometimes not even then. Hopefully she gets over that pesky problem - and soon - since “a storm is coming” in the form of a man named Newton, who's set to destroy Our Side. He wants to open a doorway to the Other Side, and that's not a good thing since it would mean two universes trying to occupy the same space. But as anyone who's ever tried to call shotgun from their sibling, There Can Be Only One (tm Highlander) - as demonstrated by Nina's little Nifty Scientific Principles You Can Prove Using Snow Globes. I think Olivia's skills might be necessary for that plot.
We open in Manhatan. No, I did not misspell that; Fringe did. Considering what we learn later, some twitterfolks believe it's a clever hint. I, on the other hand, merely bitched about Fringe not being able to spell. Anyhoo, we're outside of 2280 Something-Something Street, a not-so-big red brick building. Inside a man (wearing a red shirt no less) deftly avoids all manner of obstacles and still not spill a single drop of coffee. That's a good thing, since Random Chick teases him both about working late and the rarity of “real” coffee. Oh, and did I mention it was night? So why Random Chick wants coffee, I really don't know. Red Shirt poorly banters back that he's got a cousin and blah blah fishcakes. It's important to note though, that during the bantering-that's-really-not, Random Chick and Red Shirt are interrupted by a small swarm of tremors going through the building.
Apparently, the quakes are not a new thing. As Random Chick and Red Shirt go through their required exposition lines, we learn there have been six tremors since yesterday. Random Chick's from California, so it doesn't bother her. Red Shirt's from New York, so it bothers him. According to Random Chick, the news is just as helpful as you'd expect when explaining what the tremors are. “They're just these little quakes. Microquakes.” In an effort to seem all hip, Random Chick even throws in this line: “Probably just some byproduct of global warming.” Huh? I really hope she's joking. Lucky for her, though, I have no time to insist she trade shirts with her exposition partner if she's really that stupid, since immediately after delivering her non sequitur, she exits stage right.
But oh no, her exit does not mean this set-up scene is done yet. Another quake hits, and we're afforded a view of the shaking coffee. More importantly, we're afforded the view of the plans Red Shirt's working on: a blueprint for the New Pentagon. Hmm. Our Pentagon wasn't so badly damaged back in 9/11 to the point where it would still need fixing nearly 10 years later. Hmmm again.
Two minutes in, and set-up scene is still not done. The minor quake that started minor is quickly becoming major. For some reason, Red Shirt's first priority is to save his coffee. He puts a small board over it to prevent ceiling dust from falling in. We then spend 10 more seconds watching Red Shirt stand around out in the open watching the effects of the quake: lights shaking, ground moving, yada yada. Honestly, we have earthquake drills in our schools. Did this man retain nothing from his childhood, including his common sense?
Horrors of horrors, the coffee finally spills, and that's his cue to finally start moving out of danger. Unfortunately for Red Shirt, the lights fall down first, taking him with them. As he sits in the open in the middle of the floor, we watch as everything around him falls to pieces. This takes at least 15 more seconds, just so that we the audience get the point. Once the quake stops, the camera goes back to Red Shirt (sporting a wedding ring BTW), who's still wide awake. Only now with added post going through his shoulder! Oddly, Red Shirt seems surprised by this, as if he doesn't feel it. Okaaaay. We spend another 10 seconds panning out to find he's also added two more arms and legs to his body.
Three minutes in and finally: Opening credits. That set-up took f.o.r.e.v.e.r.
Warning: Adorable Scene Ahead. It's 2:04 in the morning, and a sleep tousled Peter comes down the stairs of the house he and Walter share. He's talking into his cell. Bonus, he's also wearing his MIT shirt. Forgive me a moment while I drool.
'K, I'm back. Peter's on the phone with Olivia, who's in her own home. Peter, exasperated: “You've got to be kidding me.” You can practically hear the grin in Olivia's voice as she responds, “Aw, congratulations, Mr. Bishop. You've just won an all-expense paid trip to New York.”
Kitchen, where it's Peter's turn to go for coffee. You can still hear the sleep in his voice. “I thought I told your people to take me off your contestant list.” Cut to Olivia, and at this point we literally do get to see her grin: “Ah, not according to our records. It says here you're a fan of fine dining and excitement.” She puts extra emphasis on the word “excitement”. Now Peter's in full-out flirt mode as he goes to get Walter: “Do you have a supervisor? Anybody there I can complain to? 'Cuz this has to stop.” Cut back to a now mischievous Olivia as she perks: “Did I mention there's excitement?” Heh. Hey, Red Shirt and Random Chick? That's how bantering is done. Please make a note of it.
Peter wakes Walter up (who's still sleeping in the living room), and tells him they've won the trip. Clearly looking like he'll go back to sleep the second Peter takes his eyes off him, Walter barely manages to get out: “Fantastic! I've never won anything before.”
New scene: New York City. This bugs me as it's an excellent missed opportunity to call it ManhaTTan. The Fab Four (Broyles is driving!) are in the Fringemobile. Walter starts talking about the likelihood of an earthquake in Manhattan. Yes, they can happen, but it's unlikely. (Geology geek aside: Walter's right. New York is riddled with faults from the Taconic Orogeny, but the only thing acting on them nowadays is gravity, so you don't get much movement.) Peter gives Walter a look when Walter gets all excited thinking a small comet may have hit the building.
Broyles gives us our Fringe-down: Witnesses outside the building felt the ground shake, but no one saw what happened. There were no survivors. And see that Fringe? Took me two sentences what it took you 40 seconds to cover. I'm hoping readers here see my theme.
Snerk. Peter's got more coffee. He follows Broyles into the building. Before going in, Walter and Olivia both look at it. The address numbers are askew, and the building looks kinda weird. They both agree: “It looks rearranged.”
The Fab Four are inside looking at all the bodies. It looks like someone murdered a Siamese Twins convention. Broyles asks Walter what he thinks. Oh, wrong move there. Walter comes up with a Quantum Tectonic Event. After babbling about it for awhile, Peter finally explains: All the atoms tear apart, but when they reassemble they come together all wrong. I'd say just like Walter's time-travel device that Jones used, but shhhh! Don't remind the writers of forgotten plots from Season One. This episode's full of 'em.
Now that the requisite “Walter offers some bizarre hypothesis, everyone looks at him funny, Peter sighs and translates” moment has passed, it's time for a random extra to start yelling about a random survivor. They all run up the stairs to find who else? Yep, it's Red Shirt.
Red Shirt has a name: Ted Pratchett. Forgive me if I prefer Red Shirt. He begs for help, but with the post through his body, the medics are unsure he'll live. I'll give you a hint guys: he's wearing a red shirt. Red Shirt then begs someone to call his wife. Broyles assures him they will. Red Shirt then once again fulfills his role as Exposition Man by repeating to Olivia the exact same thing we've already heard twice: both in the set-up, and in the Fringemobile. Tremors caused what happened. We also get a completely unnecessary “I want to drink something” “He can't drink liquids, but maybe ice” (what is this guy, pregnant?) “I'm on it” which I swear just served to make sure Joshua Jackson earned at least part of his salary, by giving him at least some lines this episode. Don't tell me this show doesn't know how to waste time. That was thirty quality seconds there.
Meanwhile, through all this, Walter has been wandering around aimlessly looking at stuff. He spends a lot of time looking at a painting that no matter how hard I try, I can't quite figure out what's wrong with it. It doesn't help that it's already a weird painting to begin with. Hey Prop People? Next time you want me to see a weird phenomenon, please pick a normal picture so the effect is more obvious. Thank you.
Finally Olivia starts asking questions that will give us NEW information. Red Shirt says no, no one unusual was around earlier that he saw, and the only odd thing (other than the quakes) were that the dogs started howling the day before. Red Shirt's mention of tremors in New York surprises Peter, which surprises me, since I'm pretty sure Peter was in the Fringemobile when Broyles and Walter were talking about them earlier.
Walter's still scrounging around looking for clues. Thank heavens at least someone is. He finally finds the New Pentagon blueprint (which BTW, isn't a pentagon, but a circle). As he takes forever to digest this information, Broyles reappears to give Olivia the new Fringe-down: Seems Red Shirt doesn't have a wife. Ruh oh. Olivia thinks Red Shirt's delirious from his injuries, but Walter doesn't. He starts asking Red Shirt your standard “If you've been hit in the head” questions: the year, the president, etc. Red Shirt tells Walter it's 2010 and the Prez is Obama.
As Walter goes in for the kill, once again the writers make sure Josh earns his keep. Unfortunately for Josh, that means he gets First Stupid Question of the Night. Showing he's learned nothing over the last year, Peter tries to stop Walter by asking “What's the point?” Because really, if there's one thing Walter's proved over the year it's that when he's actually working he still wastes his time on useless questions and never, ever has a point. [/sarcasm]
And loandbehold, at EIGHT minutes in (that's 1/5 of the show, people) we FINALLY get to the Big Surprise of tonight's episode: Red Shirt reveals it was the White House that was destroyed in the 9/11 attacks, and not the Twin Towers (which we already knew from the paper Olivia saw last season in 121 There's More Than One of Everything). Therefore, Red Shirt is Red Shirt 2.0 from the Other Side. The Other Side has taken over Our Side's space, and the fabric keeping the two universes separate is failing.
Dun dun dun. And I'm sorry, but despite Red Shirt's The Wire connection to Lance Reddick, never-shows-emotion Broyles was not the choice to cut to here. Seeing his look of horror only made me giggle.
His purpose done, Red Shirt 2.0 promptly dies. The Fab Four then notice movement in his chest. Why they didn't before? Well, I'd say it's a mystery, but it's more likely contrivance. Can't have this new time-waster take away from the old time-waster. Olivia opens his shirt to see Red Shirt 1.0, but melded into Red Shirt 2.0. He opens his eyes, tries to make a sound, then immediately follows his alternate and dies too. Walter, for probably the only time this episode, shows the proper amount of respect for something so tragic, and closes both 1.0 and 2.0's eyes.
Walter now gives us the Fringe-down, exposition-style by explaining what the audience should have already figured out (scroll back three paragraphs), but that Broyles and Olivia are too slow to understand. He was wrong about the Quantum Tectonic Event hypothesis. New nutshell that thankfully Peter doesn't have to translate: Building 2.0 merged with Building 1.0. Two buildings in two different universes now occupy the same space. Oopsy!
Cue concerned looks, concerned music, and cut to commercial. End Act I at 9:23. All the reveals from this Act though, should have been finished no later than the opening credits IMO. It was just too damn long.
Glyph is R.
Click here for Act II.
Previously, on Fringe: Walter was a bad, bad man. He and William Bell used preschool age Olivia (and other children) as a test subject for Cortexiphan, so that she could see the Other Side. Which she does, but only when it's necessary to the plot, and sometimes not even then. Hopefully she gets over that pesky problem - and soon - since “a storm is coming” in the form of a man named Newton, who's set to destroy Our Side. He wants to open a doorway to the Other Side, and that's not a good thing since it would mean two universes trying to occupy the same space. But as anyone who's ever tried to call shotgun from their sibling, There Can Be Only One (tm Highlander) - as demonstrated by Nina's little Nifty Scientific Principles You Can Prove Using Snow Globes. I think Olivia's skills might be necessary for that plot.
We open in Manhatan. No, I did not misspell that; Fringe did. Considering what we learn later, some twitterfolks believe it's a clever hint. I, on the other hand, merely bitched about Fringe not being able to spell. Anyhoo, we're outside of 2280 Something-Something Street, a not-so-big red brick building. Inside a man (wearing a red shirt no less) deftly avoids all manner of obstacles and still not spill a single drop of coffee. That's a good thing, since Random Chick teases him both about working late and the rarity of “real” coffee. Oh, and did I mention it was night? So why Random Chick wants coffee, I really don't know. Red Shirt poorly banters back that he's got a cousin and blah blah fishcakes. It's important to note though, that during the bantering-that's-really-not, Random Chick and Red Shirt are interrupted by a small swarm of tremors going through the building.
Apparently, the quakes are not a new thing. As Random Chick and Red Shirt go through their required exposition lines, we learn there have been six tremors since yesterday. Random Chick's from California, so it doesn't bother her. Red Shirt's from New York, so it bothers him. According to Random Chick, the news is just as helpful as you'd expect when explaining what the tremors are. “They're just these little quakes. Microquakes.” In an effort to seem all hip, Random Chick even throws in this line: “Probably just some byproduct of global warming.” Huh? I really hope she's joking. Lucky for her, though, I have no time to insist she trade shirts with her exposition partner if she's really that stupid, since immediately after delivering her non sequitur, she exits stage right.
But oh no, her exit does not mean this set-up scene is done yet. Another quake hits, and we're afforded a view of the shaking coffee. More importantly, we're afforded the view of the plans Red Shirt's working on: a blueprint for the New Pentagon. Hmm. Our Pentagon wasn't so badly damaged back in 9/11 to the point where it would still need fixing nearly 10 years later. Hmmm again.
Two minutes in, and set-up scene is still not done. The minor quake that started minor is quickly becoming major. For some reason, Red Shirt's first priority is to save his coffee. He puts a small board over it to prevent ceiling dust from falling in. We then spend 10 more seconds watching Red Shirt stand around out in the open watching the effects of the quake: lights shaking, ground moving, yada yada. Honestly, we have earthquake drills in our schools. Did this man retain nothing from his childhood, including his common sense?
Horrors of horrors, the coffee finally spills, and that's his cue to finally start moving out of danger. Unfortunately for Red Shirt, the lights fall down first, taking him with them. As he sits in the open in the middle of the floor, we watch as everything around him falls to pieces. This takes at least 15 more seconds, just so that we the audience get the point. Once the quake stops, the camera goes back to Red Shirt (sporting a wedding ring BTW), who's still wide awake. Only now with added post going through his shoulder! Oddly, Red Shirt seems surprised by this, as if he doesn't feel it. Okaaaay. We spend another 10 seconds panning out to find he's also added two more arms and legs to his body.
Three minutes in and finally: Opening credits. That set-up took f.o.r.e.v.e.r.
Warning: Adorable Scene Ahead. It's 2:04 in the morning, and a sleep tousled Peter comes down the stairs of the house he and Walter share. He's talking into his cell. Bonus, he's also wearing his MIT shirt. Forgive me a moment while I drool.
'K, I'm back. Peter's on the phone with Olivia, who's in her own home. Peter, exasperated: “You've got to be kidding me.” You can practically hear the grin in Olivia's voice as she responds, “Aw, congratulations, Mr. Bishop. You've just won an all-expense paid trip to New York.”
Kitchen, where it's Peter's turn to go for coffee. You can still hear the sleep in his voice. “I thought I told your people to take me off your contestant list.” Cut to Olivia, and at this point we literally do get to see her grin: “Ah, not according to our records. It says here you're a fan of fine dining and excitement.” She puts extra emphasis on the word “excitement”. Now Peter's in full-out flirt mode as he goes to get Walter: “Do you have a supervisor? Anybody there I can complain to? 'Cuz this has to stop.” Cut back to a now mischievous Olivia as she perks: “Did I mention there's excitement?” Heh. Hey, Red Shirt and Random Chick? That's how bantering is done. Please make a note of it.
Peter wakes Walter up (who's still sleeping in the living room), and tells him they've won the trip. Clearly looking like he'll go back to sleep the second Peter takes his eyes off him, Walter barely manages to get out: “Fantastic! I've never won anything before.”
New scene: New York City. This bugs me as it's an excellent missed opportunity to call it ManhaTTan. The Fab Four (Broyles is driving!) are in the Fringemobile. Walter starts talking about the likelihood of an earthquake in Manhattan. Yes, they can happen, but it's unlikely. (Geology geek aside: Walter's right. New York is riddled with faults from the Taconic Orogeny, but the only thing acting on them nowadays is gravity, so you don't get much movement.) Peter gives Walter a look when Walter gets all excited thinking a small comet may have hit the building.
Broyles gives us our Fringe-down: Witnesses outside the building felt the ground shake, but no one saw what happened. There were no survivors. And see that Fringe? Took me two sentences what it took you 40 seconds to cover. I'm hoping readers here see my theme.
Snerk. Peter's got more coffee. He follows Broyles into the building. Before going in, Walter and Olivia both look at it. The address numbers are askew, and the building looks kinda weird. They both agree: “It looks rearranged.”
The Fab Four are inside looking at all the bodies. It looks like someone murdered a Siamese Twins convention. Broyles asks Walter what he thinks. Oh, wrong move there. Walter comes up with a Quantum Tectonic Event. After babbling about it for awhile, Peter finally explains: All the atoms tear apart, but when they reassemble they come together all wrong. I'd say just like Walter's time-travel device that Jones used, but shhhh! Don't remind the writers of forgotten plots from Season One. This episode's full of 'em.
Now that the requisite “Walter offers some bizarre hypothesis, everyone looks at him funny, Peter sighs and translates” moment has passed, it's time for a random extra to start yelling about a random survivor. They all run up the stairs to find who else? Yep, it's Red Shirt.
Red Shirt has a name: Ted Pratchett. Forgive me if I prefer Red Shirt. He begs for help, but with the post through his body, the medics are unsure he'll live. I'll give you a hint guys: he's wearing a red shirt. Red Shirt then begs someone to call his wife. Broyles assures him they will. Red Shirt then once again fulfills his role as Exposition Man by repeating to Olivia the exact same thing we've already heard twice: both in the set-up, and in the Fringemobile. Tremors caused what happened. We also get a completely unnecessary “I want to drink something” “He can't drink liquids, but maybe ice” (what is this guy, pregnant?) “I'm on it” which I swear just served to make sure Joshua Jackson earned at least part of his salary, by giving him at least some lines this episode. Don't tell me this show doesn't know how to waste time. That was thirty quality seconds there.
Meanwhile, through all this, Walter has been wandering around aimlessly looking at stuff. He spends a lot of time looking at a painting that no matter how hard I try, I can't quite figure out what's wrong with it. It doesn't help that it's already a weird painting to begin with. Hey Prop People? Next time you want me to see a weird phenomenon, please pick a normal picture so the effect is more obvious. Thank you.
Finally Olivia starts asking questions that will give us NEW information. Red Shirt says no, no one unusual was around earlier that he saw, and the only odd thing (other than the quakes) were that the dogs started howling the day before. Red Shirt's mention of tremors in New York surprises Peter, which surprises me, since I'm pretty sure Peter was in the Fringemobile when Broyles and Walter were talking about them earlier.
Walter's still scrounging around looking for clues. Thank heavens at least someone is. He finally finds the New Pentagon blueprint (which BTW, isn't a pentagon, but a circle). As he takes forever to digest this information, Broyles reappears to give Olivia the new Fringe-down: Seems Red Shirt doesn't have a wife. Ruh oh. Olivia thinks Red Shirt's delirious from his injuries, but Walter doesn't. He starts asking Red Shirt your standard “If you've been hit in the head” questions: the year, the president, etc. Red Shirt tells Walter it's 2010 and the Prez is Obama.
As Walter goes in for the kill, once again the writers make sure Josh earns his keep. Unfortunately for Josh, that means he gets First Stupid Question of the Night. Showing he's learned nothing over the last year, Peter tries to stop Walter by asking “What's the point?” Because really, if there's one thing Walter's proved over the year it's that when he's actually working he still wastes his time on useless questions and never, ever has a point. [/sarcasm]
And loandbehold, at EIGHT minutes in (that's 1/5 of the show, people) we FINALLY get to the Big Surprise of tonight's episode: Red Shirt reveals it was the White House that was destroyed in the 9/11 attacks, and not the Twin Towers (which we already knew from the paper Olivia saw last season in 121 There's More Than One of Everything). Therefore, Red Shirt is Red Shirt 2.0 from the Other Side. The Other Side has taken over Our Side's space, and the fabric keeping the two universes separate is failing.
Dun dun dun. And I'm sorry, but despite Red Shirt's The Wire connection to Lance Reddick, never-shows-emotion Broyles was not the choice to cut to here. Seeing his look of horror only made me giggle.
His purpose done, Red Shirt 2.0 promptly dies. The Fab Four then notice movement in his chest. Why they didn't before? Well, I'd say it's a mystery, but it's more likely contrivance. Can't have this new time-waster take away from the old time-waster. Olivia opens his shirt to see Red Shirt 1.0, but melded into Red Shirt 2.0. He opens his eyes, tries to make a sound, then immediately follows his alternate and dies too. Walter, for probably the only time this episode, shows the proper amount of respect for something so tragic, and closes both 1.0 and 2.0's eyes.
Walter now gives us the Fringe-down, exposition-style by explaining what the audience should have already figured out (scroll back three paragraphs), but that Broyles and Olivia are too slow to understand. He was wrong about the Quantum Tectonic Event hypothesis. New nutshell that thankfully Peter doesn't have to translate: Building 2.0 merged with Building 1.0. Two buildings in two different universes now occupy the same space. Oopsy!
Cue concerned looks, concerned music, and cut to commercial. End Act I at 9:23. All the reveals from this Act though, should have been finished no later than the opening credits IMO. It was just too damn long.
Glyph is R.
Click here for Act II.