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| Thursday, May 5, 2011 10:57 AM |
| (Last updated on Thursday, May 5, 2011 10:58 AM) | | On the Viewer - Fringe (Season 3, Episode 21 - "The Last Sam Weiss") |
 by Fëanor |
Spoilers! Etc.
Interesting episode title! The suggestion being there were multiple Sam Weisses. Hmm!
I like that Peter's hooked up to an easily readable heart monitor, but Walter insists on taking his pulse the old fashioned way with a watch and his fingers.
Heh. Walter doesn't want to leave Peter's bedside, but Astrid finally lures him away with the promise of tapioca pudding. That man is a pudding fiend!
A family is driving along a highway and nearly gets struck by another apocalyptic anomaly - this one involving lots of lightning. On the soundtrack? "Riders on the Storm." Very nice!
Weirdly enough, the next commercial that came up while I was watching this on Hulu.com was for tapioca pudding.
Sam says the machine repelled Peter because it thinks he's already inside, and is rejecting everyone now.
Turns out Sam has an unpublished piece of the manuscript for The First People which includes information about a box and a key. The box is supposed to hold a sort of crowbar that can be used to pry the machine's forcefield open and get Peter safely inside.
Olivia: "And what happens if [Peter does get in the machine]? Does he die?"
Sam: "No.... I don't think so."
Olivia: "You don't think so?"
Sam: "As I understand it, the machine is indestructible, so if he gets in, he should be safe."
Yeah, safe from anything outside the machine. What will the machine itself do to him?
Of course Walter is not surprised by the news that there are "dry lightning" storms happening up and down the eastern seaboard. Sure, I figured THAT would happen!
Astrid talks Walter into investigating the lightning storms, but I'm not sure I like where his mind went.
Astrid: "Where are we going?"
Walter: "To get my kite!"
Apparently all of Sam's ancestors were named Sam Weiss, too. One of them dug up the ancient manuscript, another wrote the book based on it, and others searched for the missing sections.
Walter [holding a kite in a lightning storm]: "Strike me down you glorious blue jets!"
Astrid: "Walter, this can't possibly be safe."
Walter: "Nonsense! I'm fully insulated."
Everybody's off trying to save the world, so poor Peter wakes up to an empty hospital room.
It drives me crazy that people in movies and TV shows always just rip their IVs right out. Argh! How could you do that??
When a nurse asks Peter what his name is, he doesn't answer. Uh oh. How badly did that thing mess him up? Don't wander off and get lost, Peter! We're going to need you to save the world later.
Walter has Astrid mark the locations of various Fringe events on the map and finds that they cluster around two points: the location of the machine, and Liberty Island - because that's where the machine is in the other universe! Very cool.
Walter's idea: move the machine on this side to the same location as the machine on the other side, thus slowing the pace of destruction.
Broyles: "You want to move our machine 100 miles, and over water, and park it offshore from the most densely populated city in the country?"
Walter: "Yes."
Olivia and Sam are basically living an Indiana Jones movie over here. They're following the clues in an ancient manuscript to gather relics, one from a tomb, another hidden in a museum. Then they have to sneak under a falling door to escape the museum. Hilariously, Sam uses his bowling super powers to keep the door open long enough for them to get under.
Inside the box is no crowbar, just a picture of Olivia. She's the crowbar! Awesome. She can use her telekinetic powers to affect the machine.
Sam: "Control the machine over there from over here."
Walter: "In theory, yes."
Olivia: "No, it's ridiculous."
Ha! Well, somebody needed to say it. But seriously, I'm loving this idea.
Walter decides Olivia should work up to this feat of telekinesis by practicing on something smaller - like the typewriter Bolivia used to communicate with the other side!
Walter: "I'll never be the man I was. But I've come to embrace those parts of my mind that are... peculiar. Broken. Understand now? That's what makes my mind special."
Word. Let your freak flag fly, Walter! I feel like that line should be the official motto of Fringe.
Walter, to Olivia: "I wish you could see yourself the way I see you. You have no idea how extraordinary you are. If you can embrace that, there's no end to what you can do."
Awww.
I was wondering where the addled Peter was headed; for some reason he goes into a pawn shop and buys a really pricey vintage half-dollar coin. Then he goes to Liberty Island and tells a guard there his father is Walter Bishop - the Secretary of Defense. He thinks he's on the other side again? Did he lose his memory of everything that happened since he went over? That would be bad.
Walter: "Do you know me?"
Peter: "I know you're not the Secretary of Defense. The sweater's a dead giveaway."
Turns out Peter hasn't forgotten everything. He's just a bit... confused. His memories are slowly filtering back in.
Woah, very cool! Astrid hears a sound and wanders into the back room to find the typewriter is typing by itself, the same phrase over and over: "Be a better man than your father." It's the phrase Peter's mother said to him every night. So Olivia's mind powers were working after all, just delayed? Now it's time to try them on the machine itself!
Hey, it worked! Sweet!
Peter and Olivia have an emotional parting. Yeah, yeah, love and kisses. Get the hell in the machine before Walternate turns his back on, stupid!
As Peter approaches the machine, his life flashes before his eyes. It locks onto him, and all of the sudden he wakes up on a wrecked, apocalyptic-looking street of New York City at least ten years in the future, with a new skyscraper built in place of the fallen Twin Towers, and Fringe Division soldiers all around him calling him "Agent Bishop." Woah. What the hell??
OK, that I did not expect. Very intriguing! The next episode is the season finale, and promises to be exciting indeed. I'm looking forward to it! |
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