“Now I’ve just got to figure out how to get home.” (Peter)

This must’ve been the most subtle plot twist ever. It took until about thirty minutes after the episode finished for me to get it. This is it. It’s the solution to the problem everyone’s been whining about. Yes, the six past episodes felt strange and un-fringelike. That’s because, hey hey, they’re set in another dimension. Way to sneak that one in there, guys.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, and let’s talk about this wonderful episode. An homage to LOST in its finest moments, this episode blew me away and might just be one of the ones I’ll remember for years to come. For the second time this season, I was completely immersed in the guest stars that formed the case of the week. They have some serious chemistry – which probably has something to do with the fact they’re actually married.

I personally can never get enough of science-fiction done emotionally. Adding Alzheimer’s to an episode about time travel just cries poetry and immediately gets to you. You expect to see something crazy – repercussions of using a time machine, for instance – and thus start puzzling in the wrong direction. Instead, the solution is way more boring, and oddly enough, boring works. We’ve had four seasons of science-fictiony madness. The normal explanation is the one we’d never expect.

Thoughts and things

• I like the little garbled up investigation scene. My only grip is that it was left dangling. I hope this happens again in the future episodes and ends up having more substantial repercussions.
• I love how Peter’s dreaming about Walter in a swingset. That’s Freudian stuff right there.

In all…

I cannot stress enough how much I’m in love with Fringe’s subtlety. I like LOST as much as I did back when it aired, but it did its set-ups so bombastically and dramatically that it ended up digging it’s own grave. The stakes were so high they simply couldn’t be resolved without frustration. Compare this to Fringe, who drops bombshells on us without us realizing it. Doing this is an art of its own, and Fringe does it with increasing skill and accuracy with every passing episode. It might not be the best thing I’m watching right now, but it’s very, very good nonetheless.