Fringe: Over There: Part 2
December 17, 2014 4:36 PM - Season 2, Episode 22 - Subscribe
Peter takes a helicopter tour of New York and visits Liberty Island, Olivia proves herself, and William Bell talks shop with the Fringe Division in this, the Science Fiction Double Feature season-ender.
Anna Torv really shines. Her character is forced to emote finally, and she acts it perfectly—this Agent who has all emotion trained out of her, Cortexiphan-ed out of her, a tool with a purpose, etc.—all of a sudden must confront Peter with the only reason she knows of for him to jump Universes with her. AND THEN she gets to come at that emotional turmoil from the Other Side as Agent Dunham, literally watching herself become aware of these feelings.
And there's something about her and Peter's big moment, that kiss, that gets me. Maybe it's the closeup of her hand coming around the back of his neck, her fingernails there, I dunno that's probably weird and too specific but you never really see her hands unless they're wrapped around a gun and this different context it does this thing to my heartstrings.
"They have the 76 model. This is the 77."
Star Trek debuted in 1976. When this episode originally aired Leonard Nimoy was 77 years old. I never would have caught on to that if the numbers (and his delivery of them) weren't so weirdly specific. Makes me wonder what other crazy referential stuff has been dropped into the series along the way. I bet there's A LOT.
Another juicy bit: A Demon's Twist Rusts is on the blackboard when Walter and Bell go fetch the plot device from Walternate's old laboratory at Harvard. The glyph for this episode is 'Weiss', which is a good key to rearranging the phrase into something meaningful: Don't Trust Sam Weiss. I love how the writers of this show have made him relevant while keeping him a complete mystery. He's like a Crazy 8 that they can throw on any given plot and fill in his purpose/backstory/relationship to all these events based on where they take all the other characters, without having to modify or go back on his origin story (cough cough John Scott).
Walter's doubting malarkey about Olivia's universe-hopping powers is further obviated by the fact that it's not Olivia opening the door between universes. The whole 'door stop' analogy fails when you take the door opener out of the equation. We don't know yet if Fauxlivia was an alternate universe Corphexitan Kid, but given Walternate's total failure to recognize Agent Dunham during her work with Fringe division I'm guessing not. Which means the three of them universe hop powered by Bell's sacrifice alone. Hm.
posted by carsonb at 1:56 PM on December 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
And there's something about her and Peter's big moment, that kiss, that gets me. Maybe it's the closeup of her hand coming around the back of his neck, her fingernails there, I dunno that's probably weird and too specific but you never really see her hands unless they're wrapped around a gun and this different context it does this thing to my heartstrings.
"They have the 76 model. This is the 77."
Star Trek debuted in 1976. When this episode originally aired Leonard Nimoy was 77 years old. I never would have caught on to that if the numbers (and his delivery of them) weren't so weirdly specific. Makes me wonder what other crazy referential stuff has been dropped into the series along the way. I bet there's A LOT.
Another juicy bit: A Demon's Twist Rusts is on the blackboard when Walter and Bell go fetch the plot device from Walternate's old laboratory at Harvard. The glyph for this episode is 'Weiss', which is a good key to rearranging the phrase into something meaningful: Don't Trust Sam Weiss. I love how the writers of this show have made him relevant while keeping him a complete mystery. He's like a Crazy 8 that they can throw on any given plot and fill in his purpose/backstory/relationship to all these events based on where they take all the other characters, without having to modify or go back on his origin story (cough cough John Scott).
Walter's doubting malarkey about Olivia's universe-hopping powers is further obviated by the fact that it's not Olivia opening the door between universes. The whole 'door stop' analogy fails when you take the door opener out of the equation. We don't know yet if Fauxlivia was an alternate universe Corphexitan Kid, but given Walternate's total failure to recognize Agent Dunham during her work with Fringe division I'm guessing not. Which means the three of them universe hop powered by Bell's sacrifice alone. Hm.
posted by carsonb at 1:56 PM on December 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
Everyone likes to talk about the blacks and the greys, Olivia's uniform and Peter's snazzy coat.
This episode I really noticed everyone else's clothing.
Fringe Division, in their paramilitary black and grey. The digital camouflage in widespread use by the DoD in the Red Universe. Walternate's grey pinstripe double-breasted suit. Peter looking like a refugee with no tie and upturned collar. But that's his normal look, isn't it?
William Bell in a black jacket and a ... slightly darker black turtleneck, matches Broyle's tight black t-shirt.
The contrast between the two Olivias: one in full urban stealth mode - jeans and a grey hoodie, the other in leather jacket and red shirt.
Walter, on the other hand, is warm and fuzzy next to the Red Universe's cold machine precision. Patterns, natural fibers, browns and textured weaves. He looks downright organic.
And we see this reflected in The Secretary's office. Glass, steel, brushed concrete. Cold and hard.
And the Transamerica Building doesn't belong in NYC.
Incidentally, bag or jacket is a terrible place to store a weapon. It can be separated from you. Olivias should know better. Watching the fight now, I can see how they structured it and cut it to obscure the body doubles and stuntwomen.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 12:11 AM on December 20, 2014 [1 favorite]
This episode I really noticed everyone else's clothing.
Fringe Division, in their paramilitary black and grey. The digital camouflage in widespread use by the DoD in the Red Universe. Walternate's grey pinstripe double-breasted suit. Peter looking like a refugee with no tie and upturned collar. But that's his normal look, isn't it?
William Bell in a black jacket and a ... slightly darker black turtleneck, matches Broyle's tight black t-shirt.
The contrast between the two Olivias: one in full urban stealth mode - jeans and a grey hoodie, the other in leather jacket and red shirt.
Walter, on the other hand, is warm and fuzzy next to the Red Universe's cold machine precision. Patterns, natural fibers, browns and textured weaves. He looks downright organic.
And we see this reflected in The Secretary's office. Glass, steel, brushed concrete. Cold and hard.
And the Transamerica Building doesn't belong in NYC.
Incidentally, bag or jacket is a terrible place to store a weapon. It can be separated from you. Olivias should know better. Watching the fight now, I can see how they structured it and cut it to obscure the body doubles and stuntwomen.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 12:11 AM on December 20, 2014 [1 favorite]
And the Transamerica Building doesn't belong in NYC.
Well, look at that map. They couldn't very well build in San Fran after it was subsumed by the Pacific.
posted by carsonb at 6:58 AM on December 20, 2014
Well, look at that map. They couldn't very well build in San Fran after it was subsumed by the Pacific.
posted by carsonb at 6:58 AM on December 20, 2014
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This is the end of Season 2. Fanfare 'Talk' page for planning.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 4:40 PM on December 17, 2014