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| Wednesday, November 10, 2010 11:56 AM |
| On the Viewer - Fringe (Season 3, Episode 5 - "Amber 31422") |
 by Fëanor |
As usual, beware the spoilers! They are spoilery!
Time for another alternate universe episode! Woo!
Walternate asks Olivia to volunteer for some experiments meant to activate her ability to cross safely between universes. Um, yeah! Maybe then she'll be able to get home!
Heh. Olivia just took the red pill. Heh.
A sign at a shrine reads "RESIN IS WRONG. AMBER KILLS."
Speaking of which, some guys just cut another dude out of the amber and revived him. I didn't know you could do that! Interesting.
Olivia is late to the crime scene due to traffic (supposedly). Lincoln says, "You gotta stop taking the Nixon Parkway." Heh.
Walternate doesn't want people to know that the victims in the amber can be removed and resuscitated. Again, interesting.
Walternate: "Nature doesn't recognize good and evil, Philip. Nature only recognizes balance and imbalance. I intend to restore balance to our world. Whatever it takes."
Guy has a secret room in his apartment full of mad science equipment. Why don't I have a secret mad scientist room in my house? Man.
Nothing like ending a scene with our heroes leaping out of an exploding building at the last second! Awesome.
I really enjoy the camaraderie amongst the Fringe team, especially Charlie and Lincoln. I like that these characters, who could have been painted as simplistic villains, are actually likable, sympathetic, and fully developed.
This is another story that echoes what's going on inside our main character's head. Rose: "You know just because we look alike it doesn't mean we have anything in common."
Woah, there's an interesting twist I should have seen coming. The guy caught in the amber was not the bank robber; he was the straight man, running to stop his brother's latest crime. The bank robber escaped and took over his brother's life. But he never stopped trying to save him.
Walternate, to Olivia: "Genetically you're exact duplicates."
More echoing.
Walternate: "It means theoretically you both should be capable of the same thing." Is this the explanation for my quibble with the continuity? The Cortexiphan treatment wasn't absolutely necessary - both Olivias had the ability to cross between universes inside them innately?
Some things never change, regardless of the universe; Walternate's experiment involves giving the patient lots of psychotropic drugs.
Walternate: "Only those who risk going too far find out how far they can go."
Wow! The same quote William Bell left for Walter, which he used to say to him all the time. That's messed up.
Oh man, it worked! Olivia jumped into a gift shop in NYC.
Olivia's Mom on Olivia: "She just hasn't been herself." Ha!
It looks like alt-Broyles is always chewing something. I wonder what? Alt-gum?
Horrifying revelation: when you're stuck in the amber, you're aware of every moment - trapped in your last thought, thinking it over and over.
Olivia pulls up to the Riverdale bank. Oh no! Save Jughead! Hey, you know, the Archie universe is kind of trapped in amber...
It's interesting that this walk-through-wall technology that was first mentioned many episodes ago is coming back and gaining importance again.
Man, Olivia is really dumb sometimes. As soon as she saw the hole in the wall, she should have taken cover and pulled out her phone to call some backup. Instead she just keeps walking toward it, holding her flashlight up so anybody can see her.
It turns out our bank robber isn't embracing the cliche and trying to make one last score. He's actually deliberately getting himself trapped in amber because he knows it's the only way the authorities will lay off his brother. "Let me do this one good thing." Hey, somebody read A Tale of Two Cities!
Broyles, to Olivia: "Are you aware of how many protocols you broke? ...Good work."
The Peter who lives in Olivia's head makes the parallels between Olivia's story and the twins' story a little too clear. Stop talking, head-Peter!
Uh oh, Olivia's brain scans just revealed Cortexiphan to Walternate. I have a feeling that's bad.
Man, why does Olivia have to keep breaking crap in this gift shop?
Olivia lies to Walternate, claiming the experiment didn't work. Maybe not a good idea. He's got to know that it did work. And if he knows she lied to him, he might not let her keep the freedom she has. But hey, this probably means our Olivia is coming back!
Pretty good episode! Slightly melodramatic, and I kind of wish the imaginary Peter weren't there to tell us what everything meant, kind of like a lame Greek chorus, but still, some powerful moments, and various interesting story developments. |
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