“With a basement lab at Harvard Walter was able to open a wormhole into another dimension that essentially shredded all the laws of science. I can’t wait to see what he’s capable of doing with a multibillion-dollar corporation.” – Peter
Back in the blueniverse (aka, our universe with the original opening sequence), a car accident exposes a secret shape shifter that has taken the place of a high-up congressman, and Newton shows up to take him out. He’s only partly successful, and Walter, in his new super-cutting-edge Massive Dynamics lab, is able to get it working well enough that they can identify where the data is stored. Newton contacts and another sleeper who has been living as a cop with a wife and a kid for five years, and has gone native to recover the body and stop them from getting the info — both to stop them from figuring out how the shape shifters work, and to keep Fauxlivia’s cover, which she’s freaking out about the whole time. He does it, but Newton sees that he’s gone native and takes him out… just as Fauxlivia and Peter show up tracking the cop, which leads to Newton’s anticlimactic arrest. Later, Fauxlivia gives him a little chip that causes him to self-destruct, which, really, should leave all sorts of evidence lying around a federal prison. Combined with the cop’s body, that’s a lot of shape shifters for Walter to poke around with.
Meanwhile, Peter and Fauxlivia are dating. We see Peter showing her how to read relationships, and we see them being very sweet with each other — and we see Fauxlivia looking kind of sickly about it when Peter’s not around, which really humanizes her a little, and makes me feel like maybe Fred, back in the redniverse, really does matter to her. She and Peter haven’t slept together yet, but it’s come to the point where she needs to make that decision to prove she’s dedicated to the cause and get Peter entirely on her side. He says at one point in the episode that he’s been making excuses for how changed she is, how she’s like a different person– she has to do something to get him past that so he won’t question her for whatever her purpose there is.
So she does. At the end, interspered with scenes of Newton’s violent death, we see them getting into bed… and it’s kind of incredibly uncomfortable. As it should be, since she’s an IMPOSTER and we know this and Peter doesn’t. Every minute with Fauxlivia, I just keep expecting that other shoe to drop and Peter to find out just how messed up this whole situation is. He’s only just started getting past the whole father-betrayal thing; how badly will he take it when he finds out this isn’t Olivia, and how far back will it set the relationship with actual-Olivia?
There’s a mini hiatus until November after this episode, so we’ll have to wait and see, but the preview shows Olivia coming home. We don’t know how, though we can guess the mechanics knowing that she can do it on her own and seeing the sensory-deprivation chamber they mentioned before. And we don’t know what state of mind she’ll be in. But there will most definitely be some sort of stand-off with Olivia, Fauxlivia, Peter, and Olivia’s confused brain-cone of Fauxlivia. There has to be.
This whole episode was very tense. Every step along the way, Fauxlivia was moments from exposure, and she knew it. She’s wobbling on that knife’s edge of keeping her cover and keeping her mission, and it’s getting thinner each episode. I sort of wanted them all to realize this episode what’s going on, and I literally cheered when Peter admitted he’d been suspiscious… but then she distracted him and it didn’t go anywhere. Yet.
This was defintiely a set-up for the next segment of the season. It was more straight-forward and contained a smaller mystery than usual, but the tenseness makes up for the smallness — and maybe the smallness was intentional, since Fauxlivia is starting to feel closed in and trapped. It was a good episode, with lots of ideas to fill out and explore as the season continues.
Further thoughts on Fringe, “Do Shapeshifters Dream of Electric Sheep”:
* Newton is such a good villain; I hope he isn’t entirely dead. I hope there’s some way that he can come back or be resurrected or have an off-site backup of himself. It was hugely annoying that he was just caught and arrested and then offed, after all this time when they couldn’t get near him at all.
* Walter’s new lab is too sleek and shiny and white. The whole of Massive Dynamic is too sleek and shiny and white. I miss the cow and the mess and the out-of-date technology, and I really hope Walter can bring it all back and personalize the company. Half of his charm is how he works with essentially nothing and makes wonders; now that he has everything, it’s a bit sterile and cold. Heartless.
* There was that really sweet moment where Walter got Astrid’s name right, and she was shocked. These two have some of the clearest and most honest interaction on the show, and I love the little scenes where they connect. Is it weird to wish for a May-December relationship between them?
* Something about the way they did Anna Torv’s makeup or lighting made her look really spooky all episode. Severe and alien-looking, with huge eyes and exaggerated features. And her neck? All episode, those tendons in her neck were standing out like creepy wires. Bravo, visual effects team. You’ve effectively made the main character look really weird and added to that unnerving feeling of this episode.
* It’s apparent that no one at MD has any idea what they’re getting into with Walter as their boss. That should offer up some really interesting story just right there– how will the company take the change? How will the scientists like this lunatic telling them what to do? How will Nina take it all? Will she still be the boss’s right hand, even as she mourns Bell and has no idea how bizarre Walter is nowadays? Will they work together like they did in the past? Or will she make a bid for the company and divide it against him? Ooh! Conflict!
* Missed opportunity: when Walter was playing with Fauxlivia’s hair, he could have said something about how it’s not right in some way, dyed wrong or obviously tampered with, or shifty like people from the Other Side… which everyone could have brushed off as the LSD, and then remembered later.
Some stats and info about Fringe, “Do Shapeshifters Dream of Electric Sheep”
TV SHOW – Fringe
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 3, Episode 4
AIRED ON – October 14th, 2010
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – FOX
GENRE – Science Fiction, Drama
CREATED BY – J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci
CAST – Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, Jasika Nicole, John Noble, Lance Reddick, Blair Brown
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.