Angry Puppy

Welcome to our first Fringe recap.

In case you’re new here: I’m not big on plot synopses, so this is more about general thoughts on the episode and characters than a re-cap of what happened. There will be a brief rundown and plot spoilers, though, so go watch it first.

For the rest of you, click through and let us know in the comments what you thought of the episode and of the show so far.

[☠ Standard Spoiler Warning Here ☠]

Pattern of the Week

Joseph Meegar (that’s “ME-gar”, not “meager”) is having a bad day. Several weeks after responding to an ad for an experimental treatment to help him build his confidence, he:

• starts affecting machines with his emotions (Though, to be fair, we can’t be sure it was his fault that that Dell computer went down in the beginning of the episode. I mean, it was running Windows, after all.);
• kills the object of his crush via elevator accident;
• kills his nagging mother via pacemaker malfunction;
• amputates his boss’ hand via, um, some sort of mechanical thingamajig;
• gets kidnapped and experimented on by the mad scientists who screwed with his electro-magnetic field in the first place;
• gets chased by Homeland Security;
• gets smacked with a crowbar by Pacey from Dawson’s Creek.

And to think I get upset when Kodos chews up the furniture.

Some of those commercials for confidence building, weight loss and hair replacement that you see from 3 to 6 AM scare me too, but I get the impression that Fringe wants us to be afraid of all technology and science in general, from elevators to medicines to whatever chopped off that guy’s hand. Mad-scientist guy Fischer, while tweaking Meegar’s implants says:

“Look what science has made you, Joseph. Special.”

Based mostly on the fact that he never blinks, I think it’s fair to say we’re not supposed to agree with anything he says.

Though Walter and the gang use science to save Meegar, their chief implement is the lowly pigeon, or “rats with wings” as Astrid so aptly names them. I’d say they’re going for more of a Cobra-La sort of organic technology. Octopi (or octopodes, if you will) as projectile weapons, anyone?

Joseph isn’t the only one who’s been tinkered with by these Pattern people, and the promos imply that they have a greater plan. Next week, we get to see someone who has been irradiated and can boil brains. Good times all around.

Walter

I haven’t gotten sick of Walter’s antics yet, but ask me again after 10 more episodes. From his static-creating jig to the joy he takes at knowing that Astrid’s name starts with “a”, all of his charm is in the delivery and timing. Kudos to actor John Noble for that.

Although protagonist Walter is also a man of science, I don’t think this necessarily counters my argument that unfettered science is to be feared in the Fringiverse. Sure, he has a love of pure science, uses it to help people and doesn’t know or care about the practical or political applications. Commenting on his previous work, he says:

“I’m sure it had something to do with the Commies. It always did back then.”

But if his work leads to brain-boiling mutants who can’t control their powers, perhaps he should start taking more of an interest in the nuances, no?

Peter

We had two big questions about Peter in the first few episodes: “Why is this guy hanging around, and why do they keep inviting him into the club?” Both were answered in episode 4, but now I’m a bit bothered by something else. Just how smart is this guy? He seems to know everything about everything and was throwing out minutiae about the workings of elevators like he was a mechanic. “MIT dropout” doesn’t explain it to my satisfaction, and I think we’re going to find out he’s been manipulated in some way à la Heroes.

Of course, I still think he’s Walter’s clone, which would explain why his discussions with Walter always seem like internal monologues to me.

Olivia

I thought that this episode would pick up in media res where the last one left off: with John standing in Olivia’s kitchen doorway. But no! That was a hallucination. But no! There’s a piece of her dead fiance’s consciousness left in her head from when she took that LSD/deprivation tank bath. (You really have to watch this series from the beginnging, huh?)

It’s a really cool plot device that he’s going to keep popping up and doling out clues, but it’s gotta suck for her. I mean, you want him out of your head, but that will be mean he’s really, truly gone. Sadness.

Astrid

Well, they haven’t killed Astrid off yet!

I’m starting to think they won’t, because her interactions with Walter are too much fun.

Astrid: “Did you just make that thing come back to life?”
Walter: “No, not in this particular instance.”

As I’ve said before, we also need her to balance all the cuckoo nutsos on the show. Did you notice how impressed Walter was when she plugged the pigeon tracking data into a GPS? Sure, he can get pigeons to electro-magnetically track someone, but we need someone around who’s handy with non-fringe technology.

Charlie

Because of a throwaway line in a previous episode, there was talk that Charlie (and/or John) might be gay or bisexual. I am fairly certain that was just a joke to lighten the mood, and there was no indication in this episode that they meant anything by it. That’s too bad for me, because I’ve had a crush on Kirk Acevedo since he was Miguel Alvarez on Oz.

Sigh.

Is there no hope for a gay? Maybe Lance Reddick’s character? Or Blair Brown’s? We could use a bionic lesbian on TV!

Miscellany:

• I’m sure you all caught the hot-sauce-loving Observer (Mr. Bald) eyeing Meegar as he went into the doomed elevator. Not having him in the rest of the episode is making me wonder even more what the hell his story is. So, nice job, that.
• Shouldn’t Astrid still be kind of pissed at Walter for jabbing her with that needle?
• Did any of you catch that Dead Space trailer or were you clicking forward on your Tivo twice to pass 60 seconds as quickly as possible? That looks frakking AWESOME.