Fringe 2x20 Review

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Brown Betty

This was a very fun episode but there was a lot less singing then I was expecting from a musical episode.

• Aw, Astrid reassuring Walter. I love their relationship and we haven’t been getting enough of them lately.

• I loved Ella calling Walter ‘Uncle Walter’.

• Heh – Walter telling Ella a story. I did wonder at Astrid being completely fine with a drugged Walter telling a little girl a story.

• Yay for Olivia being the noir detective! She looked fabulous and I’m just so pleased that she gets to be the noir detective instead of Peter.

• Ella’s expression when Walter starts singing the song and dancing – hahahaha. That was perfect and hilarious. “Maybe you should teach me algebra.” Heeee.

• “She can’t be dead.” - Ella
“Why not?” - Walter
“Probably because she’s her mother Walter.” - Astrid
“Oh.” - Walter
“No, that’s not it.” -Ella

Hee. This whole exchange between Ella, Walter and Astrid was excellent.

• Ella feeding Gene made me go ‘aww’. Of course she was. What kid could resist? It reminded me of doing the same with grandpa (well, milk in a giant bottle for a calf but close enough). I loved how in our next shot, of the lab in Walter’s story, has the Gene in the background and she’s covered in multi-coloured polka dots. Hee. Oh, poor Gene. She can’t even have her dignity.

• So I was kind of rolling my eyes a bit when Walter was explaining to Olivia about creating rainbows and hugs and everything good in the world (and wondering if this story was going to be Walter compensating for the real world by making his stand in wonderful, I should have known better) and then we got to the singing corpses and I was sold.

• I loved Astrid’s expression when Walter brought her into the story – heee. I love that hers is the only name in the story that is different.

• I loved the Olivia/‘Esther’ interactions. Their phone call was fabulous – I loved that Esther answered the phone in the first place and I loved their smiles when Olivia said “That’s just the kind of girl you are.” Just from that little interaction you really get a feel for their relationship and how close they really are (why can’t we have that in the actual world?). Olivia and Astrid running a detective agency together is so awesome. I loved Astrid patching Olivia up later and them talking over the case together.

- I found myself shipping the two of more in this episode then I have in the previous two years. When Olivia was going on about her perfect guy that she was waiting for all I could think is that clearly her problem is that she’s been stuck on the ‘guy’ part so much that she’s never noticed the perfect girl right in front of her.

• How sad is it that Olivia and ‘Esther’ got more (and more concrete) interaction in this episode then Olivia and Astrid do in the average episode?

• I love how smart Esther is – her idea to send Olivia to look at the patent office was really good. I was surprised at how good an artist Olivia is (is that something true in the real world too?) and I loved how she had her same excellent memory. So is this ‘quantum laser’ something ‘real’ that we might be seeing again?

• “I know my love.” – Nina. Huh. Does Walter know something we don’t? At the beginning of the season we had a Nina/Boyles kiss but then it, and them, were never brought up again. Now we have Walter telling a story where Nina and William are in love (and also evil and wanting to take over the world, oh, Walter) and I have always wondered about Nina and William and their relationship. Were they a couple at some point?

• I knew Peter was going to save Olivia because really that is how it was always going to go but I was really hoping for her to save herself.

• Oh, Walter. I should have known he would make himself the bad guy in the story. Ruining kids lives by stealing their dreams and giving them nightmares... oh, Walter. This is really poignant not because of Peter (or just because of him) but because of Olivia and all the children like her who were used as lab rats and whose lives as adults either were bad or ended in death. Actually now that I think of them – why hasn’t Olivia tried tracking them all down? Shouldn’t the Fringe division be keeping an eye on them considering that they appear to be ticking time bombs?

• I loved Olivia kicking ‘Watcher’ ass – as she does.

• The scene where Olivia was putting the batteries in place of Peter’s glass heart was giving me serious Iron Man flashbacks to the scene where Pepper replaced Tony’s arc reactor.

• “I guess I always knew what I was meant to do. ... To care for people.” – Olivia. Oh, Olivia. I loved that. Though when Peter asked who cared for her and she was silent I was all ‘Esther cares for you!’ The fact that we got a scene not too far back in the episode with Esther literally caring for Olivia after her attack (and then there was the caring she showed when she answered Olivia’s call even after Olivia fired her) made me really irritated with the PTB. I get that they want to push Peter as Olivia’s perfect guy she’s been waiting for angle but if they wanted him to ask that question they really needed to not have shown someone else caring and being there for Olivia already. It’s irritating and felt very much like the female relationship of Olivia and Esther wasn’t important or as worth as much.

• “Are you kidding? That’s not a proper ending.” – Ella. Hee. I love Ella. I also loved that she ended the story with Olivia and Peter dancing.

• I wonder if there is some further meaning behind Peter splitting his glass heart considering how he’s kind of split between two realities (and two Walters?).