Fringe 3x03 Review

[iaria]

The Plateau

I loved this episode. It was fun and interesting, with a great case and it's my favourite of the season thus far.

I’ve been really anxious about blue Olivia’s brainwashing and was pretty uncomfortable with how it could play out but in actuality I loved it. This episode was very much a normal case-file/mystery of the week and it didn’t feel really any different despite being set in an alternate universe. The fact that most of the supporting cast surrounding Olivia are people we know and that it’s Charlie with whom Olivia interacts with the most make this episode work really well. TPTB also made a good decision to limit Lincoln’s role – he was there, they introduced his leadership and his relationships with Olivia and Charlie, as well as how he works and then they got rid of him (in a believable way at that) to give the spotlight to Olivia. It was a good idea to introduce him slower even though I really like him.

• “I am here. And I’m a part of you that you have to hold onto. You can’t forget who you are Olivia. You can’t forget where you’re from. You can’t forget this.” I was not expecting an Olivia/Peter scene and I was definitely not expecting to get a kiss between our Olivia and Peter anytime soon so the hallucination at the end of the episode was a wonderful surprise. I loved the kiss. I like that Olivia’s subconscious memories are taking form in Peter (though I hope we get to see her hallucinate Rachel/Ella/Astrid/Broyles too). I loved just getting to see Olivia interact with ‘Peter’ even if it wasn’t the real one.

• I really liked the case/plot. My first thought was that as a method of assassination it was ridiculously elaborate but also kind of cool. If Milo had done it in the blue universe he would have gotten away with it. What I love though is that it’s Olivia not being Red Olivia that saves her. It’s not instinct for her to reach for a breathing mask like it would be for anyone born on that world and it saved her.

• It’s both weird and wonderful to see Olivia grinning so widely and just being so carefree.

• Charlie/Olivia were completely adorable. ♥ I’ve always liked Charlie and his friendship with Olivia but while I was sad at his death it wasn’t really that huge of an issue for me. So it was a little surprising how much I loved having him back. His interactions with Olivia are so wonderful and I really want to keep him. I don’t suppose Red Charlie can move to blue universe?

“For the record you cannot tell those two apart.” I find it interesting that Charlie advances the theory that Olivia might not be theirs without any prompting or any real evidence to the contrary at that point. Of course by the end of the episode he seems completely convinced but he had that thought and it’s going to be there in the back of his mind. I wonder if he’ll figure it out first.

• I can’t wait to see more of Lincoln and his interactions with Olivia (as well as how the three of them work as a team). We got a couple of tantalising hints that I want to see explored more. First – Charlie mentioning them having a ‘mind-meld’ which seems to indicate that they think alike and are possibly even closer to each other than either with Charlie. I want to know more about their relationship. Second – Lincoln kissed Olivia, and considering he backed off only because she had a boyfriend it would seem that there could still be romantic feelings there. That is very interesting to me. Is he in love with her or is it all in the past? Was this before they became a team or while she was his subordinate? It had to be early in their relationship if he didn’t know about the boyfriend.

• The idea that the memory transplant could become fixed is scary but it’s clearly not going to happen. What isn’t so certain is just how much of Red Olivia is going to be left behind in Olivia’s brain/memories when she returns to herself. If time will make it permanent does that mean individual pieces of Red Olivia become permanent as time passes? If Olivia comes back to herself before that fixed point will she lose all of Red Olivia’s knowledge/skills or will some of it always be a part of her?

- Olivia has always been an amazing shot despite what they tried to sell in the premiere but being that little extra better could only be a good thing. There are all those memories of her mother that she could now have. Red Olivia appears to have had a happier life in many ways. She’s a lot... lighter than Blue Olivia and maybe that could help our Olivia to be happier herself? Of course it’s also a huge violation so...

• “She can cross without harm.” – Walter. Except we’ve never actually seen her do it. I guess supposedly in the season two finale but... not really. And she certainly doesn’t know how she does it. How did Walter find out anyway?

• It was nice to see Walter visibly affected by seeing Peter’s clothing. I really think that Red Walter needs humanising so he’s not just a cut out bad guy and Peter is the obvious starting point for that. I trust the Fringe PTB so I’m sure we’ll get a layered view of Walternate by the end of the season.

• Why wouldn’t there have been more questions about how Olivia caught Milo? I mean he could calculate every variable and managed to always be a step ahead – so how did he make a mistake with her? Why wasn’t anyone asking that question?

• Red Olivia’s boyfriend Frank seems like a really great guy and I like him. They seem to have this great relationship and that’s great too. But, man, I am so very glad he left. It was their relationship that was making me most uncomfortably. While I’m glad that we didn’t get a kiss, on the lips, between them at the end I was surprised too. I mean he’s leaving for who knows long and they’re a couple so why wouldn’t they kiss? It seemed a bit weird to me. On a more meta level I’m surprised TPTB didn’t have them kiss and thus have Olivia visually comparing the two kisses.

• When Olivia noticed the avocadoes I thought for a second that she might try one and end up having an allergic reaction.