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| Wednesday, May 5, 2010 05:47 PM |
| On the Viewer - Fringe (Season 2, Episode 20 - "Brown Betty") |
 by Fëanor |
Beware spoilers!
We open with Walter smoking a bong, and Yes on the soundtrack. Good times!
And now Walter is labeling everything in his lab obsessively, even the jar of Red Vines.
Walter is playing Operation with Olivia's niece, Ella (or Stella, as he calls her).
Ella: "You're killing him! You're not supposed to touch the sides! What kind of doctor are you? You're not even trying. All you've done is eat all my snacks and talk about weird stuff. And everything makes you laugh."
So hilarious.
Ella demands a story, and Walter, drawing on the history of himself and his friends, and on his mother's love of musicals and detective stories, concocts a doozie. Olivia as a hard-nosed private eye! Rachel as her last client, desperate to find her missing true love, Peter Bishop! And suddenly Rachel starts singing "Head Over Heals" by Tears for Fears, but with Walter's voice!
Stella is so horrified by Walter's singing, she suggests he teach her algebra instead. Heh.
I love the effect of the weird artificial heart Peter's got.
Broyle's appears as a police lieutenant who can play piano and has a wonderful singing voice. Also sounds like he's a little dirty; he planted evidence to get a promotion!
Massive Dynamic appears as itself - a huge, faceless corporation that will do anything and use anyone to make money. Nina, also essentially playing herself, says Peter's a dangerous con man.
The world of Walter's story is a weird mix of vintage and modern. The costumes, buildings, cars and a lot of other stuff appear to be from the '40s, but there are also cell phones and answering machines and computers and mad science gadgets.
A classic detective noir scene: the detective is warned off the case, but she's already too deep into it and can't give it up.
Oh man, I love the story version of Walter's lab. Full of crazy gadgets and goofy widgets they must have bought at Spencer's Gifts.
In the story, Peter is just a lab assistant, not Walter's son. Also, the cow has rainbow-colored spots, and Walter's in a motorized wheelchair. Story Walter is an inventor of things to make people happy - bubble gum, pajamas, rainbows, and... singing corpses! Holy crap! This is such a fantastic episode.
Story Walter also invented a glass heart to replace his own bad one, but someone stole it from him. He opens a small metal door in his chest to show Olivia. This is amazing. Great visuals. And great metaphors - not subtle, but excellent anyway.
Olivia: "You think Peter Bishop stole your heart?"
Yep, pretty much!
Astrid appears as Esther Figglesworth, Olivia's assistant.
Again Olivia is warned to stay off the case, this time by an Observer, who cuts her chest with a laser knife and tells her not to stick her heart out where it doesn't belong. Cool.
Even Massive Dynamic's geeky lab guy makes a cameo in the story as a patent clerk!
In Walter's story they've dropped all pretense and are just calling the Observers the Watchers. Marvel Comics FTW!
Ella suspects Nina Sharp is lying, but can't pin down why; she doesn't trust her. Yeah, that's how we all feel, kid.
Nina's talking to William Bell through a window into the alternate universe. (I do believe that's a computer-generated Leonard Nimoy.) Bell plans to use the heart to create a stable portal between universes. Nina and Bell are lovers!
The Watcher's name is Mr. Gemini. Cool.
Olivia is stuck in a box and thrown into the sea. Peter opens the box and says, "I heard you were looking for me." Nice entrance!
Peter reveals that Walter's inventions are children's dreams which he steals and replaces with nightmares. And the glass heart was rightfully Peter's - he was born with it, but was willing to give it to Walter to save him, until he learned the truth. Wow.
I like Peter's reaction to a giant, glowing, metal torpedo suddenly bursting through the wall: "Aw, hell."
And of course it comes down to a deadly dangerous game of Operation, as Olivia tries to replace Peter's heart with batteries before he dies.
Peter: "I thought I knew who I was. But I was wrong."
Walter's the one who's really got Peter's heart. He tells Peter he can change, and make up for all the harm he's done.
In Walter's version of the ending, Peter doesn't buy it: "It's too late, Walter. There's some things you can't undo."
He walks out with his heart in a box and leaves Walter alone and defeated.
But Ella provides a different ending, in which Peter does see the good in Walter, and splits his heart in two, giving half to Walter. A half is enough for each of them. And Peter and Olivia dance.
But the real Olivia returns with bad news: no luck finding Peter.
Walter: "Yours was a proper ending. Yours was a much better ending indeed."
Very sad and moving. As Walter returns home, an Observer is watching, and tells a fellow Observer, "The boy has not returned, and I do not believe Dr. Bishop remembers my warning." Hmm...
Great episode - kind of a sum-up of the story so far, but reimagined in really wonderful fashion. |
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