Fringe: Jacksonville
November 16, 2014 7:57 PM - Season 2, Episode 14 - Subscribe

Real coffee comes from a secret stash, and quakes are linked to global warming, while someone familiar works on a Pentagon annex - in New York. A quantum tectonic event, maybe, and a man dies twice. Walter wins something for the first time, Olivia loses faith in her freakishly good memory and becomes GLIMMER WOMAN, Peter seeks impossible options, and Astrid reaches her limit.
posted by the man of twists and turns (16 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
What a great cold open! The coffee bit made me tilt my head and stop thinking 'Prezbylewski!' for a few seconds. And the twice-dying bit was really horrifying in at least two separate ways.

The mass-trading equation is total bullshit though, and yeah I realize that I'm calling bullshit on a fictional sci-fi TV show written by notorious hand-wavers. Still. It was cringe-worthy.

Olivia's capabilities continue to increase, as does Peter's importance. I love how the ending of this episode both validates their budding relationship and totally calls it into question at the same time. "Olivia! You were meant for the other side!" "Peter, you're from the other side!" etc. Anyway, great lead-in to the next episode, which I'm really looking forward to re-watching.

Should we do another live viewing? Sunday?
posted by carsonb at 10:18 PM on November 17, 2014


"Olivia! You were meant for the other side!"

Actually it's way more of a you-were-built-to-destroy-the-other-side deal for her. I can hear it booming movie trailer voice-over: She was designed to destroy his universe, instead he stole her heart.
posted by carsonb at 11:06 PM on November 17, 2014


It could just as easily be: "He was designed to destroy her universe and she was designed to fight him every step of the way. Instead they fell in love."

I like the way the growing information about the other universe makes more sense out of Walter's insistence that things have to be recreated in exactly the same place that they happened the first time. This isn't just him being set in his ways.

Olivia is right out of a fairy tale: the girl who didn't know what fear was. I know people go on about how tightly wound Olivia is, but I really adore her. Straight-talking Walter, pulling no punches at all. "I was a different man then." "And I was a defenceless child!" Although if she could set fires with her mind, clearly not so defenceless. Then at the end, that vulnerability she shows when she greets Peter at the door, so glad to see him with the change of the almost-kiss, but... surely he doesn't glimmer? You can have your Fauxlivia with her swaggering and red hair and sexytimes; give me the original.

"There are times when the only choices you have left are bad ones." Amen, Broyles.
posted by Athanassiel at 4:51 PM on November 18, 2014 [3 favorites]


"Does this mean they drive these over there?" "Naw man, they drive whatever vehicle Ford is pushing now."
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 7:56 AM on November 19, 2014 [1 favorite]


Peter getting spiffed up at the end always pleases me. Mostly because we come to realize he has clothes that don't comprise his daily uniform. The Peter/Liv closet is a world of blacks and greys. OH SHOW, CAN YOU HIT US HARDER WITH THE NOT WANTING TO STAND OUT SOLDIER ISSUE?

For some reason Dunham telling hotel worker guy he has the night off cracks me up. Oh hai, your place of employment just got sucked into a different universe...have a good night off!
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 8:13 AM on November 19, 2014


The Peter/Liv closet is a world of blacks and greys.

They are dressing like mammals, it's totally fine to have a wardrobe that consists of black, grey, brown, tan, the occasional navy blue, and once in a while white or dusty green. It's a normal thing that normal people do.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 10:18 AM on November 19, 2014 [1 favorite]


Normal people. On Fringe. Right.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 12:13 PM on November 19, 2014


I'm up for a live watch. What time were you thinking?
posted by BAKERSFIELD! at 11:58 AM on November 22, 2014


OH SHOW, CAN YOU HIT US HARDER WITH THE NOT WANTING TO STAND OUT SOLDIER ISSUE?

I was waiting for the show to bring in a whole goth community aspect to the soldier thing. I mean, I wear pretty much only blacks and greys and have done since university, so I relate to Olivia's/Nick's/Nancy's wardrobe in a very visceral way.
posted by Sonny Jim at 12:03 PM on November 22, 2014


So how does Walter have knowledge of the differences between the way the events of 9/11 played out in the different universes? Or was that a cold read, asking about a random set of events until something different made itself apparent?

God, I want Peter's double breasted black woollen coat SO HARD.

"Wasn't our first time." This episode's classic Walter moment.

Peter: "You're not experimenting on Olivia!" Well, that's where you're wrong, Peter! Walter is and always has been experimenting on Olivia. Has Peter not been paying attention?

Man, I really wanted to see the plane trip to Jacksonville. Getting Walter through airport security. Parking. Car rental. Could've been a fun episode in itself.

Serious question: were the '80s a uniquely terrifying period for childhood? Or is this just X-er bias rolling its way through TV? I do love this show's insistence on the spookiness of the past and childhood memories in particular. A fear of the past is the essence of the gothic imagination.

Interesting how everything in this abandoned lab/daycare centre is in mysteriously immaculate working order after 26 years of neglect. Suspicious.

Going through a portal and meeting your double. So Jungian. I do like how Olivia's encounter with her childhood self helps set up the whole "double lives, double selves" dynamic of season 3.

Olivia: "I'm not afraid of anything anymore." I have a hard time getting my head around this. So she's not afraid of spiders? Going to unfamiliar gig venues and getting that sinking sensation that you're not cool enough to enter? Food poisoning? Snakes? Mingling? What's that like?

Olivia looking anxiously in the mirror and letting her hair down is such a touching scene. Says so much in a few seconds.
posted by Sonny Jim at 12:39 PM on November 22, 2014 [2 favorites]


9:30 This paramedic is terrible, how did she not notice he has a whole other face coming out of his belly button?

19:00 I really wanted Olivia to know which items were from the other side. It's totally irrational to be emotionally invested in this right?

24:00 I love the location used in this episode. I think the housing crisis in Florida is a nice backdrop, makes you think of people leaving the key in the door and walking away because something horrible happened. It's post apocalyptic, in perversely bright and sunny way like The Quiet Earth, abandoned, suburban, last men on earth type stuff.


29:00 I think when the dogs begin barking again we need to accept the Fringe universe has now very much diverged from ours in terms of Destiny.

38:00 What about the contents of these buildings? Fit outs? Partitions?

42:00 I dunno, if Sonny Jim glimmered like that I'd be constantly suffering migraines. Deal breaker.

This is basically The Matrix: love will out the truth
posted by BAKERSFIELD! at 12:40 PM on November 22, 2014 [1 favorite]


I can sort of relate to being fearless, it's more like you feel capable of dealing with whatever is thrown at you. Which is definitely Olivia. If she saw a spider she'd squash it. I suspect she'd do the same to a hipster too.
posted by BAKERSFIELD! at 12:48 PM on November 22, 2014 [1 favorite]


I would so watch an entire series devoted solely to Olivia squashing hipsters in various ways.
posted by Sonny Jim at 12:49 PM on November 22, 2014


I was specifically thinking of a scenerio where Olivia gets brunch from one if those places where the staff treat you like you're lucky to get their surly service.
posted by BAKERSFIELD! at 12:51 PM on November 22, 2014


Hipster #1: "So, you look interesting. I like the whole blacks and greys look you've got going on there."

Olivia: [Cold stare] "You look like the kind of guy who still secretly listens to the Arcade Fire."

Hipster #1: [Resolves into puddle on floor]
posted by Sonny Jim at 12:55 PM on November 22, 2014 [3 favorites]


"I'm not afraid anymore...except of Peter smooching!"

Also, I wish Liv had regained the ability to burn things to the ground.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 6:23 PM on November 22, 2014 [1 favorite]


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