Spoiler Alert: Fringe S04E03

While this episode was pretty interesting, a little mix of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (the child's psychic connection to the fungus), Star Trek (the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one), and Care Bears (the child doesn't feel like anyone cares for him), there wasn't a whole lot of development of the central season-long story arcs.

1. Walter and Olivia's Insane Outing

Not only is Walter bound to his laboratory and his living quarters, but he has to have continuing analysis by approved therapists to assure that he can remain out in the world. The appearance of Dr. Sindel casts a very troubling light on an upcoming problem. Walter needs to, at the very least, appear sane, or else he is going to be carted back to the looney bin. Of course, he's seeing his erased adult son Peter in reflective surfaces and hearing him everywhere, so we've got some sort of problem here.

The problem is only exacerbated by the fact that Olivia has been seeing the same person, Peter, in her dreams. She presents Walter with a picture that she drew of this "Man in the Mirror," a picture that she has been running through facial recognition programs.

The episode ends with Walter exclaiming, "We have to find him." And it sounds like the beginning of an adventure. But will this adventure end with Walter, and possibly Olivia also, in the mental asylum?

2. Aaron

This child, Aaron, who established the psychic link with the murderous fungus, has been alone for some time. Nothing is said about his parents. It is said that he has been staying with a neighbor for a while, but that the neighbor ignores him. He has absolutely nowhere to go and nobody to care for him. But Walter has a hole in his heart where once Peter lives, and Walter promises to care for Aaron.

At the end, Aaron is carted off to the hospital. We are left wondering whether Aaron will actually join the regular cast of the show, which seems to be what Walter promised, or whether he will be brushed off and only serve the purpose of making this particular episode work. I hope that he becomes a regular, and I think it is likely considering the mystery regarding his loneliness.

See you next time.

Spoiler Alert: Fringe S04E02

My girlfriend apparently saw several flashes of Peter Bishop in the previous episode, not just the one when he flashes in and out of reality while Walter is talking about how bad he thinks alternate Walter is. Furthermore, this particular episode is probably my favorite Fringe episode of all time, although it might be eclipsed by that episode that centered around the rogue Pattern Observer. You know, the one they stole the idea for Adjustment Bureau from... Not only did this episode revolutionize crime procedural work, but it told a touching and very human story of hope, fear and courage. I'm excited to see the Fringe divisions from both sides comparing cases. The solved from one side could assist the unsolved from the other. Similar cases could give enough data to solve a case. And what I'm most excited for is a split-screen case in which the same thing is happening in both worlds. Maybe some day...

1. An Indelible Mark

At the beginning of the episode, we know why Walter is covering all of his mirrors. It is because an unknown man he calls The Man in the Mirror - his son, Peter - is trying to communicate with him through reflective surfaces. What isn't immediately clear is why Walter has been sleeping with unnecessarily loud classical music playing. (Of course, if you thought there was more to the headset feedback on the previous episode than meets the ear, you may have suspected why Walter is now trying to "hear no evil.")

If it wasn't clear to you before the end of the episode, Broyles' speech regarding "people who leave an indelible mark on your soul, an imprint that can never be erased" unless you are a Pattern Observer with a strange suitcase devise made of old television parts which served as a prelude to Walter's haunting by Peter's voice saying, among other things, "Help me," should have told you. Peter is communicating verbally with Walter, and it appears that he is in need of some serious help.

Is anyone else beginning to wonder how all of this is going down from Peter's perspective? My guess: we'll have an episode that recaps the last few weeks from the vantage point of the nearly vanished Peter Bishop.

2. Love Triangles

In the beginning, Astrid teases Olivia about the possibility of dating Lincoln. Both have lost their partners. Both are lonely. But Olivia seems oddly against the situation. It's as if she loves someone else, but can't remember who that person is (mmm hmmm, Peter, mmmm hmmm).

When we are on the other side, we are reminded that alternate Lincoln is basically in love with alternate Olivia. The only problem is that alternate Olivia is already with a doctor who is fighting diseases that we cured decades ago in America. That's two love triangles that share two points each. Jeez.

Between this underlying story and the story of the serial killer / forensic psychologist, we are being told that things are much more similar between dimensions than they are different.

3. Olivia, Murderer

When alternate Olivia asks regular Olivia what happened between her and her abusive step-father, our Olivia explains that she killed him.

Those of us who have been watching Fringe from the very beginning know that Olivia did not kill her stepfather. In fact, she remained afraid that he could come back at any time in the first and second seasons.

How does this make sense? My guess is that when Olivia met Peter for the first time as a child, she felt hope. She felt like she didn't need to kill anyone. But when Peter was not brought over to our universe, she did not have this one moment of release in the flowers, so she was pushed to kill her father. It's kind of insane how much of an impact Peter had on these people's lives.

4. The Grass is Always Greener

Finally, and here is the really big reveal: Gas is only ninety-nine cents on the other side.

Now, considering the fact that both universes are falling apart and there is no more or less danger on either side of dying, I think I would prefer to live in the alternate universe.

Of course, that's banking on the idea that they sell bootleg copies of our DVDs in the alternate universe. I don't think I could take it if I could never see Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future again.

See you next time.

Fringe

I've been watching Fringe since the beginning, hoping and praying that it would be the next LOST. It was a J.J. Abrams show and I still believed that J.J. Abrams was the reason that LOST was great. (He isn't.) For the first two seasons, I always wanted Fringe to be great, but it was stuck in a strange episodic format even though it was clear that there was an important umbrella story to be told. And it was so darned bright. The fringes of science and society feel like a dark territory, unimaginable and frightening, but this show glowed. I think all of these things were problems because Fringe was always almost being canceled and they had to cater to the needs of the network.

The third season of Fringe spent a lot more time on the seasonal story arc, and it was a lot better than the previous seasons. This is the season that hooked my girlfriend Amy even though I was anxious that she would make fun of me for watching the show. The stories got a lot more interesting, but they still weren't there yet. I'm two episodes into the fourth season and I can say without a doubt, Fringe is finally there. "One Night in October" is probably the best Fringe episode that I have ever seen, and judging by the feel I've been getting for the fourth season there will be more of these episodes in the future. It's strange to think that at the end of last season Fringe was moved to Friday nights (A.K.A., where sci fi shows go to die), and that now it's telling the best stories it has ever told.

I just hope that doesn't mean that Fringe is getting canceled before they finish their tale. Yeesh. That would suck.

Spoiler Alert: Fringe S04E01

Can I just say that Fringe has gotten stronger and stronger every single season? Maybe it's easier to write now that LOST has been concluded for over a year. I don't know. It's just good. It makes me happier.

This episode, "Neither Here Nor There," mirrors the very first episode of Fringe. We have an FBI agent named Lincoln Lee who has just lost his partner to some fringe science problem that turns his skin translucent, and this is exactly what happened to Olivia Dunham in the first episode. The alternate Olivia mentions how alone our dimension's Olivia is, and in fact, most of the characters feel more alone. It is even said that Walter has never had anything to tether him to the world, and as a result we see a mad scientist who isn't even allowed to view crime scenes except remotely through Astrid. Also, before "the change" Lincoln Lee and Olivia Dunham knew each other, but during this episode they met for the first time...

It's a different world(s) with different mysteries. So, let's just jump in.

1. The Bleed / The Man in the Mirror

In the beginning of the episode, a Pattern Observer mentions that though Peter Bishop was erased from continuity traces of him continue to bleed through. From the beginning of the episode, Walter and Astrid experience problems - a squawk - with their communication via blue tooth headsets. Perhaps this is just a way to introduce the fact that Walter is not allowed to go to the crime scenes, but I'm banking on the fact that Peter Bishop's presence is blocking these signals.

Later in the episode, Walter emerges from his Altered States sensory deprivation chamber terrified and ranting about hiding from The Man in the Mirror. We can be certain, at that point, that this is Peter Bishop bleeding through. But in case any of us didn't pick up on it, the last scene explains it plain and clear. Peter Bishop appears in Walter's television screen.

And let's not pretend that this is all we saw of The Man in the Mirror. Much as Tyler Durden appeared here and there, spliced as if into a film reel, in Fight Club, so also did Peter Bishop appear in this episode. Now, all I can speak of is one time. I saw a flash of Peter in the background of the scene where Walter and Astrid are talking about whether or not Walternate is evil. My assumption, however, is that I missed more appearances. Did you see any? Here's mine.

Remember how everyone was looking for The Pattern Observer in the background during season one. Well, now we're going to be looking for Peter Bishop. Yes. You heard it here first: The Bleed is the new Pattern Observer.

2. You Did This To Me!

All of the things that have happened so far are, in some way, connected to the actions of the Rogue Pattern Observer, the one who seems connected somehow to humankind, and in particular to the Bishop family. At the beginning of the episode, this Rogue Pattern Observer was charged with erasing Peter Bishop from existence completely and finally. His "boss" explains, "They can never know the boy lived to be a man."

For a few minutes there, I thought this was going to set the Rogue Pattern Observer and the Pattern Observers in general as the overarching enemies of this episode. And this may actually prove true over time. But in the end, the Pattern Observer cannot flip the switch and erase the adult Peter Bishop.

As a result, The Man in the Mirror, Peter Bishop, appears to Walter Bishop. And according to the Prologue discussion between the Pattern Observer it is safe to assume that this is our little speck of hope that adult Peter Bishop's existence will be known. But whether or not he is known of remembered, there still remains the task of fully integrating him back into reality. And the Pattern Observers don't seem to want that to happen.

3. It's Still Quite Dead

When Walter transforms an inanimate bird body into a flying bird, he is asked if he just resurrected a bird. Walter responds, "No, no. It's still quite dead." But later he mentions, "It's a start." It appears that while he may not have restored life, he restored motor functions for a limited time to a bird that was once dead.

It seems like Walter is hell-bent on learning the art of resurrection, and for good reason: two versions of his son died from an unexplained disease when he was young. Will Walter successfully learn how to resurrect a human being? What will the repercussions of bringing someone back from the dead be? Or will The Man in the Mirror convince Walter to let go of his son?

4. Biological-Chemical Hybrids

After two of the translucent villains from this episode's plot arc were shot and killed by Olivia and Lincoln, their bodies were autopsied. Walter finds out that they are biological-chemical hybrids, created using science that isn't available in this universe but which is certainly from the alternate universe.

Walter immediately assumes that these villains are the work of Walternate, but for some reason this screams of a Red Herring to me. I think that they are the work of someone else, perhaps a William Bell from the alternate universe who survived in a world without Peter Bishop. Perhaps someone else entirely. But then again, maybe Walternate is always a bad guy, kind of like Sloan on ALIAS.

5. References

Since this is a J.J. Abrams show, we know that there are going to be outside-references abounding, and this episode is no exception to this rule. I found five references. Maybe you found more:

(1) Walter points Lincoln Lee's attention to the ear that he is growing "under the dome," which is possibly a reference to the Stephen King novel Under the Dome where an unexplained dome appears over a city and all is turned to disorder inside.

(2) Walter later mentions that he read a book called The Spy Who Came in from the Cold while in the mental institution, a book by John le Carre that was made famous for pointing out the inconsistencies between Western espionage and Western democratic values.

(3) When the translucent villain peals his fingernail off, you can be sure that this is a reference to the 1986 Jeff Goldblum film The Fly, which details the terrible consequences of messing with advanced technology.

(4) Whenever Walter sees Peter Bishop in the corner of his eyes, he becomes frightened and begins to rant about The Man in the Mirror. This is no doubt a reference to the Michael Jackson song "Man in the Mirror," in which Michael Jackson teaches that the best way to change / save the world is to begin by looking in the mirror and changing who you are. You want a better world. Make yourself a better person.

(5) Finally, as I mentioned before, the appearances of Peter Bishop in the background mimicked the way that Tyler Durden was spliced into the film Fight Club at various points.

Spoiler Alert: Fringe Season Four

The third season of Fringe was easily the strongest in my estimation. Unlike True Blood, which left just about every single character with their own particular cliffhanger, Fringe leaves us with one cliffhanger that affects the lives of everyone. After Peter sees that the destruction of one of the twin universes will inevitably lead to the destruction of the other (in a very Days of Future Past kind of way), he returns to the present in order to bridge the two universes. In an attempt to make peace, Peter suggests that the best way to save both universes is for all parties involved to work together, and with that he disappears. Not only is he erased from the present, but from all of time. As far as anyone is concerned, he has never existed.

It's September the first today, and the first episode of season four airs on September the twenty-third. It is my opinion that we ought to start thinking about Fringe and the reactions of the various characters to this big change today. That season premiere (and with it, fall) is sneaking up on us ever so quickly.

Olivia has had a difficult season. She began last season imprisoned in the other universe, and while there she was experimented on so that she would believe she were their Olivia. Upon returning she found out that an alternate version of herself had entered into a relationship with Peter Bishop, the man she loves. It would make a lot of sense if Olivia wanted to kill the alternate Walter Bishop for all of the trouble that he has started and also the alternate Olivia Dunham for impersonating her while she was imprisoned. And yet she has been told to work alongside them for the fate of the universe.

The alternate Olivia has experienced her world falling apart. She leads the Fringe division, which in that universe is devoted to closing up the rips in the fabric of the universe, occasionally imprisoning innocent people in order to keep the entire world from being destroyed. All of this is the result of Walter Bishop's decision to cross over into her universe. Alternate Olivia has also been manipulated by alternate Walter (Walternate) for some time into believing that these people are all bad. Surely, she has some desire to kill them all. But here's the kicker: alternate Olivia is pregnant with Peter Bishop's child. This is the child of the man our Olivia loves, a man who no longer exists. Even with Peter gone, can his relationship to these two Olivias still cause a rift between them? Also, with the disappearance of Peter Bishop, will his seed disappear as well? Will this change the motives of everyone involved?

This brings us to the battle of the Walters. One Walter lost his child and entered into the alternate universe to save another Walter's child and bring him back. But what can this mean now that the son, Peter, never existed in the first place? Is there any good reason for these two to be angry with one another? Or is the anger enough?

As for Peter, surely he has not been written off of the show. He has been deleted from both realities and the memories of everyone, but does that mean that he doesn't exist in any form. Did he perhaps travel back in time or forward in time? Could he exist in a third universe? Could he exist in one of these realities cloaked from those who once loved him? My bet is that the question of the father of alternate Olivia's child is going to bring about the return of Peter Bishop. But how? Might his soul have passed into the child? This is the big question.

But let's not forget one of the most important questions: Who are the pattern observers and what is their significance? I have a feeling that we might find out a whole lot more about the pattern observers in this next season. We know that they are somehow capable of seeing the future. It seems like this is possible by knowing the logical consequences of any series of events and being able to see the chain of causation as it works. But how could anyone have that kind of ability? In the other universe, there were some experiments in which individuals began being able to see such things. The individuals weren't quite as powerful as the pattern observers, but it certainly seemed like a step on the right path. As a matter of fact, alternated Astrid seems a little bit proto-pattern-observer-y, does she not? We know that experiments in both universes sometimes happen at different times, the cortexiphan trials, for example, so maybe we saw the origin of our pattern observers in the experiments of the alternate universe.

There's a lot to look forward to. Fringe's fourth season begins on Friday, September 23. After that I'll begin my episode by episode run down. I hope you'll join me and share your thoughts and questions. It should be a fun time.

Spoiler Alert: Spoiler Alert

I'm starting a new blog column called Spoiler Alert. Basically, I used to watch the television program LOST religiously and meticulously, and I would challenge myself to seek out details and put them together. LOST finished its six year run last year and I really didn't have this kind of an output anymore. In a similar position, my buddy Josh devoted himself to writing on Dr. Who, so I thought I'd diversify a bit too. That's where the idea for Spoiler Alert came from.

Spoiler Alert is a column devoted to keeping up with a couple of the more interesting mystery television programs that are on right now, namely True Blood, Dexter, and Fringe. Since both True Blood and Dexter are loosely based on a series of books, I find it important to disclaim that these posts will assume that those book series are an alternate canon and have nothing to do with the television canon unless the television program actually incorporates direct references to the books. I will not be reading the books. Neither will I be reading articles about the shows or special previews and teasers. The discussion will be based only on canonical data from these television programs.

True Blood starts up again on June 26, and I couldn't be more excited. Prior to the beginning of a new season, I plan on writing a post that sums up where we left all of our characters. Following that, I will write a post immediately after each episode in order to point out important details and discuss plot points. Fringe is likely to start back up in September and then Dexter in October (if everything goes like last year). I encourage you to join me in discussing issues regarding these shows and potentially others as I get caught up with them. But remember: this column is titled "Spoiler Alert," which means that if you aren't up to date you ought not to read these posts because they will certainly spoil the episode.

The next post, titled "Spoiler Alert: Catching up with True Blood" will be popping up within the next week or two, so keep your eyes peeled.

Kevin Corrigan

Actor Kevin Corrigan. In recent history, he's been notable as Sam Weiss on FOX's Fringe and as Professor Professorson on NBC's Community, but the source of my love for Kevin Corrigan is an often forgotten show that aired from 2001 to 2005 called Grounded for Life. Corrigan has an incredible breadth of acting talents, from interesting to deep to hilarious, and he has, on occasion, jumped from one to the other with brilliant speed and ability.

Describing Television Shows I Enjoy As If I Do Not Enjoy Them

1. Avatar: The Last Airbender

A complicated rip-off of Captain Planet and the Planeteers.

2. Big Bang Theory

Nerds... (Spoken with obvious exasperation.)

3. Dawson's Creek

That melodramatic show with the kid from The Mighty Ducks.

4. Fringe

That other melodramatic show with the kid from The Mighty Ducks.

5. How I Met Your Mother

An 'awesome' show about 'awesome' people sitting in a bar talking about how 'awesome' they are. (Spoken with a dry and unenthusiastic sarcasm.)

The J.J. Abrams Women

The upcoming J.J. Abrams television program Undercovers offers a strong likelihood to thrust formerly under-the-radar actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw into the limelight.

Mbatha-Raw, however, is just one in a long line of unknown actresses who gained a significant career boost by becoming a lead actress in an Abrams television program. Surely, you remember Keri Russell, who became renowned as TV's Felicity.

There's also the star of the hit spy drama ALIAS Jennifer Garner. I prefer when she doesn't pull her hair back.

Let's not forget LOST's Evangeline Lilly, who is arguably the best actress among these ladies. I say arguably because Keri Russell has really been showing her A game in the last several years.

Finally, Fringe's Anna Torv.

J.J. Abrams and NBC's Undercovers

In the wake of the end of LOST, fans of the J.J. Abrams will likely plunge into an abyss of nihilism. They will look around for little things that might fill the holes in their souls, plugging one leak only to find that two more have sprung up. Why not watch Fringe? Well, they might say, Fringe is a great show but it's very different from LOST. The crazy speculative fiction, fantasy and science fiction ideas are on the surface, whereas we've had to dig for it in LOST.

Enter J.J. Abrams, the creator of LOST, who has decided to direct the pilot of the upcoming NBC spy series Undercovers. Some hope! Something to hold on to! And he's already picked his leads. Actress Gugu Mbatha-Ra and actor Boris Kodjo. This is exciting! Undercovers is going to be similar to the Brad Pitt film Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005) where two spies live together and yet do not know that their spouse is a spy.

This television program already has the potential for greatness. But it's already clear why it might not make it. Abrams creates amazing serial television programming, but the major networks are terrified of serial television shows. Later seasons inevitably encounter a drop-off rate because watchers don't feel like they can join in at the middle of the story. They feel like they'd need to get caught up. Angela Bromstad, president of prime-time entertainment at NBC and Universal Media Studios, has already claimed that Undercovers "really is a closed-end procedural each week... They'll have a specific mission that they go out on." I feel fairly confident in saying that it's serial-phobia that destroyed a good show like Dollhouse, which was originally going to be much more serial at the beginning but which met network road blocks every step of the way.

If you're troubled about whether or not this show will make it, I suggest you trust in J.J. Abrams. Networks have been afraid of serial programming for years. ALIAS started out as a procedural spy program with serial elements, but once it gained a definite following it was a serial. Fringe is still a paranormal procedural medical program, but in the last several episodes it has developed a strong serial storyline. LOST started out as almost an homage to reality TV's Survivor, and after several seasons Abrams snuck some heavy theoretical physics in the back door to make things incredibly interesting. Furthermore, with the advent of on-line viewing of past episodes, television on-demand, TV on DVD and sites like Hulu, it's not too difficult to get caught up on serial television programs.

If you ask me, good television should be about really sticking to the story and nurturing interesting characters. This is why all the Law and Orders and CSIs and so on are just bad television. What I expect from Undercovers is that J.J. Abrams will show NBC his procedural face as a distraction while he sneaks in a serial story full of interesting science fiction ideas. My other prediction is that Undercovers will deal with alien communications and technologies from outer space.

Fun With Alternate Universes

Can you imagine such a world? FOX's Fringe dares you to do just that. In the most recent episode, viewers were challenged to imagine a world where Eric Stoltz was the star of Back to the Future. Grim, man. Grim.