(SPOLIERS)
Well the long awaited Fringe Series 4 has finally commenced. And I’m feeling quite excited about it, what with the months of questioning ‘how are they going to bring Peter back’, ‘what on earth happened’, ‘what about Peter and Fauxlivia’s baby’, ‘how can they just forget’!!! Questions, questions, questions!!!!! However, would you expect anything less from JJ Abrams!! I don’t know about you, but I love trying to guess what’s happening before it’s explained, so I’ll try to come to my own conclusions throughout the series and we’ll see what happens……..
So episode 1 ‘Neither Here nor There’ kicks off with a quick recap, and moves into an awkward conversation between Olivia and Fauxlivia, sharing Fringe Division information concerning the two universes . It’s quite clear they both blame each other with what’s happening to their worlds and as their conversation comes to a close, a glimpse of Peter appears for a split second, and the scene ends!!! This actually reminded me of the episode where Olivia was trapped in the other world and was trying to make contact with her world, which made me think maybe Peter was trapped somewhere else and this was him trying to make contact, dunno, I’ll keep thinking about that one!!!
I was pleased to see that Fringe has gone back to its old ways with having a case to solve, or not for that matter, as we move into the next scene, where FBI Agent Lincoln (that is the Lincoln from Olivia’s world) joins the show as he arrives at his partner’s house before work. The scene moves onto the two of them in pursuit of a man in a factory, Lincoln manages to catch him, but finds that his partner has gone missing, only to then find him with what looks like a shapeshifter (although slightly different), literally sucking the life out of him, leaving Lincoln’s partner with translucent skin!!
Fringe Division are then on the scene, as in Olivia and Astrid (yay!). I thought at this point that Olivia would recognise Lincoln (from her previous trips to the alternative world where the alternate Lincoln resides), but she doesn’t (a little bit to my disappointment but hey ho) and Lincoln obviously has questions when he realises his partners body is being taken away to be analysed!! Lincoln tracks down the Fringe lab in the University, where he meets none other than Walter!! As per usual, Walter brings the classic amusement and commands the screen in a delightful manner. Lincoln is obviously quite taken aback by Walter, but wouldn’t we all if we met him for the first time.
Lincoln tries his best to find out more information regarding his partner, with Olivia trying to keep him away, but she eventually gives in, and Lincoln joins her on the investigation as more victims show up dead. Cue Broyles!!! But only for a moment, as they get Lincoln the relevant clearances and he explains that there doesn’t appear to be any connection between the victims, at which point Lincoln states that his partner had Crohn’s Disease and took iron supplements. This leads Walter on to discover that all the victims had a large amount of metal poisoning in their blood, as the killer was extracting something from their blood. After receiving a tip off that all the victims used a nearby rail station, Olivia and Lincoln head off and come across a couple of FBI agents who have been injured by the killer. Lincoln stays with the injured as Olivia enters a building and confronts the killer. The killer attacks Olivia with enormous strength, but Olivia gets the upper hand and manages to shoot him! Meanwhile, one of the injured FBI agents tells Lincoln that there is more than one killer, and Lincoln proceeds to kill the second one. While the scene is being cleared up that evening, a woman can be seen watching from afar, also with translucent skin……
As Walter examines the bodies, it becomes apparent that the killers had the same technology in them as the shapeshifters, the same that Walternate used previously and Walter becomes distressed, blaming it on Walternate, the man he doesn’t want to trust, although Astrid reminds him that Walternate has reasons not to trust Walter too!
Olivia takes Lincoln to the area where the ‘machine’ is kept, to hand over information to Fauxlivia, and Lincoln gets a glimpse of the two universes connecting.
Finally, Walter gets himself comfy to sleep in his lab, and when he looks in the telly, he sees Peter looking straight back at him. Earlier that day, he was distressed as Peter appeared in front of him, although at this stage, Walter doesn’t know that it is Peter!! Also during the episode, two of the Observers meet and discuss the issue of Peter, and that he hasn’t been fully erased, leaving traces of him behind. One of the Observers tells the other that he has to finish the job, although at the end of the episode, we see him outside Walter’s lab, with what looks like some sort of bomb device, but he can’t bring himself to do it, and walks away……
Well, I think the series has got off to a good start. I was wondering how they would bring Peter into it and I’m interested to see where this goes, and if the characters will begin to remember Peter. They all quite clearly feel that something is missing, something not quite right, as Walter hints at during the episode. It’s also good to see Lincoln come into it as well, although we’ve seen him in the other universe, it brings something fresh to the series. Seth Gabel, who plays Lincoln, was recently quoted as saying, “You need a layman’s perspective from time to time. The show has gotten so deep into this crazy, surreal scientific world that you need someone to enter every now and then to remind you this is not the common experience. You need someone to show you how far down the rabbit hole you’ve gone, so you don’t become desensitized to it. I think Lincoln serves that for a while.”
Bring on the next episode……
By Kirsty Wavish
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