I’m liking Fringe more and more. And no, it’s not a case of me trying to delude myself into making the task of reviewing it less tedious. Quite the contrary in fact — reviewing Fringe is becoming more and more fun.
Wouldn’t Walter be proud. I have to admit that, during the first minute or so of this particular episode, my jaw dropped open and I wasn’t really happy; for a moment, I seriously thought this episode was going to be a ripoff of an X-Files episode, "Folie à Deux." The beginning of the story seemed quite similar, in that a man was seeing people around him at work as monsters, of which he had to kill the head monster. But then the story took a turn — and it was definitely not for the worse.
Fringe Division’s Olivia Dunham, Peter Bishop, and Walter Bishop are sent to Seattle to investigate a case involving a man who attacked his boss. You might think that not so abnormal, considering how many terrible bosses are out there, but no, it didn’t really have anything to do with that kind of boss killing. The poor man seemed to be having hallucinations that made him think that many people in the office were creatures with insect-like heads, and that his boss, a horned creature leader of sorts, was an evil he had to rid the world of.
Sound familiar, fellow X-philes?
But, like I said, that’s about all this episode had in common with "Folie à Deux." During the subsequent autopsy of said man, Walter discovers a microchip embedded in his thalamus, the part of the brain which, among other things, controls sleeping patterns, including REM sleep during which dreams happen, and also controls motor activity.
While the potential to use such a device for mind control is great, and this was Walter Bishop’s initial theory, it soon comes to light that the doctor who pioneered this chip had developed an addiction to his subjects’ dreams. He would access his subject’s consciousness at various times of the day and download the dreams into his brain, causing a sort of high state akin to that achieved with hallucinogenic drugs.
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Article comments
1 - Paul Levinson
Fringe is definitely getting better and better - in direct proportion to the amount of alternate universe story it gives us.
2 - NancyGail
I wouldn't count Charlie as completely out of the picture quite yet. Even if the actor never shows, Agent Francis can be woven into a storyline like Agent Scott was last season.
3 - Fran
Thanks for a nice review. You are the second person who has asked me if I have seen Fringe! I will have to check it out now! Hope they have it on Hulu!
4 - Sahar
I agree with you Paul - but I also like the 'monster of the week' style episodes too!
Good point NancyGail. But it's not *quite* the same thing ;)
You should check it out Fran - and I wouldn't know about Hulu since quite unfortunately I live outside the States!
5 - Flo
with the MotW/mythology episodes thing, this show looks more and more like "The X-Files".
At the beginning of this epi I was like "what the heck?" Good to see they could have a story on their own.
The stealing dream story is interesting. it can be interpreted as stealing a part of people unconscious.
This epsiode really made me want to read Freud's "The Interpretation of Dream" again.
6 - Sahar
I agree - it definitely is looking more and more like the X-files. I just hope they don't try to copy it too much, because then it would take out from Fringe's inherent amazingness ;) And if you do happen to pick up Freud's 'The Interpretation of Dream' again, do let me know what you think of the show in light of rereading that book ;)