“An idea I got from the fight scene in the Matrix.” (Walter)

What a weird episode. I’m not entirely sure whether I’m happy about it or not. We’ve got treated to another Cortexikid (or whatever I should call it), but in the end it was all a big hoax to set up a cliffhanger. A delightful cliffhanger, sure, but a thirty minute-long red herring? Meh. Colour me unimpressed.

The whole experimenting on little kids thing always left me unimpressed. Sure, it’s an interesting way to involve Olivia in the outer plot, but the way in which it is handled doesn’t feel quite right with me. The former test subjects always emerge when the plot calls for them and don’t really flow naturally. Using one as a red herring was simply the cherry on the cake of bad plotting. Which is a true shame, as…

…everything else seemed to work perfectly well. Sure, you could argue that we already knew Walter was mental, but the scenes with Olivia were simply too powerful to go about on a mere plot level. Walter destroying his hotel room. The entire root beer float scene (as a continental European, the idea of a root beer float is as disgusting as it is delicious). Time and again, the cast proves to be able to handle everything the writers throw at them – no matter how absurd.

Thoughts and things

• The time thing was pretty neat; I immediately figured electromagnetism was behind it, but I’ve watched LOST too many times. Boy, I buy sci-fi bullshit way too fast.
• Peter emerging in the lake he drowned in was a nice touch. The observer watching was framed nicely, but immediately felt perverse.

In all…

Of course the main question going into the next episode is how Peter’s return will steer the fourth season in a new direction. I’d have figured no one would remember anyone anymore, but apparently I was one step behind: Peter remembers Olivia very well, but Olivia doesn’t know Peter. Given their current difference in power (Olivia being in Fringe division and Peter being… nothing), how will they find each other again? Another great situation created by the brilliant team behind Fringe. A situation I can’t wait to see unfold.