Fringe: Over There: Part 1 Rewatch

December 10, 2014 10:24 PM - Season 2, Episode 21

There's no rest for the wicked as Charlie, Liv, Lincoln Lee and the rest of the Fringe team goes on alert to contain a class 3 breach.

We get Zeppelins from another World and Gaudi's Hotel Atraccion.

posted by the man of twists and turns (5 comments total)

You can sort of tell the episode's all set-up and no get-there with the extreme cold open. On re-watch I'm actually rather appalled at the way the whole thing is set up and wondering if the flashback arrangement of the plot of this episode was used to distract from that a bit. They experimented on the children— most of whom went nuts or died horribly as a direct result of that experimentation (Olivia being the lone exception, their 'greatest success,' but her insanity is just the reality of another universe)—then gathered the remaining few together and used them in a way that basically killed every single one by amplifying their "ability" until it killed them. The pyrokinetic woman didn't set herself off until Nick decided to die on that bridge.

What's funny is that all through Part 2 Walter's worried that Olivia's power is diminished somehow without the other Special Dead Characters.

I've been fed enough bits and pieces over the course of the past two seasons that all that's left to do with this ep is scan the background for the thickly scattered alternate reality gags. Let's do Part 2!

(Said the guy who's been talking about Peter and Olivia for two flippin' seasons.)
posted by carsonb at 11:38 AM on December 11, 2014

Like, sheesh, that's horrible and I hate everybody.

Except Charlie and his worms.
posted by carsonb at 11:40 AM on December 11, 2014

They're not worms.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 11:44 AM on December 11, 2014 [3 favorites]

Do we see Agent Dunham's boyfriend in this episode, or is it in Part 2?

He's John Scott-esque, but decidedly not John Scott. John Scott doesn't seem to have been factored into the alternate reality. It's pretty great that the AR plot allows the show to bring back Charlie (Speaking of, as an aside, is the twinge of remorse the shapeshifter who eventually takes over Our Reality Charlie shows a function of them being aware of/knowing/liking Agent Francis back in their home reality?) but totally ignore John Scott.
posted by carsonb at 1:39 PM on December 12, 2014

Yes, the sacrifice of the other cortexifan kids might be a little hard to swallow, but it's important to remember that they have agency as well. It's partly their desire to act out their superhero fantasies during Broyles's ill-advised shore leave that screws up the initial plan. And their failure is a great "pull the rug out from under the viewer" moment.

Cute As You Like It reference there from Walter. But Walter isn't Jaques in this story line; he's more Duke Senior. And Rosalind/Olivia is about to encounter and inhabit her Ganymede alternate self: Fauxlivia. Nice piece of Shakespearean foreshadowing there.
posted by Sonny Jim at 10:39 AM on December 19, 2015