The final episode of Fringe before the Christmas hiatus left us hanging, just like such an episode always does. And, true to form, it leaves us hanging both with purely sci-fi related questions as well as questions regarding the human drama at the heart of the show.
On her first case back on the right side of life, Olivia and the Fringe team investigate a series of organ extraction cases. Various individuals have different organs removed by an extremely polite, well-dressed man who leaves behind a job very well done (speaking of which, what’s with the concept of well-behaved baddies in Fringe?). The victims don’t seem to have anything much in common at first, until it comes to light that they have all been the recipient of organs from the same donor: a young lady by the name of Amanda Walsh, who died of an overdose. As the Fringe team finally uncovers, Roland Barrett, who was in the same therapy group as Amanda, and who formed a strong bond with her, was trying to bring her back to life. But although he managed to bring her body back, he couldn’t place her soul into it – and Amanda Walsh’s body soon perished again.
Parallel to the case, is the story of Olivia’s anguish as the life she was looking forward to returning to has imperceptibly but permanently shifted. Altivia may have physically left our universe, but her presence is still quite present, especially between Peter and Olivia. The former decided to tell the latter about what happened, and for that, he earned the respect of thousands of fans. Olivia at first seemed fine. However by the end of the episode, she throws this in Peter’s face: “I understand the facts. I know that she had reams of information about me and about my life and about the people that were close to me. And I understand that if she slipped up that she would have a completely reasonable explanation for it. And I guess to expect you to have seen past that is perhaps asking a little bit too much. But when I was over there, I thought about you. And you were just a figment of my imagination. But I held onto you, and it wasn't reasonable, and it wasn't logical, but I did it, so... why didn't you? She wasn't me. How could you not see that? Now she's everywhere. She's in my house, my job, my bed, and I don't want to wear my clothes anymore, and I don't want to live in my apartment, and I don't want to be with you. She's taken everything." She thus manages to break both the hearts of abovementioned fans and Peters’, too.
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Article comments
1 - Elliot
You say: "Can their relationship be salvaged? Of course it can; after all, Peter didn’t know he was cheating on Olivia. And perhaps this very act, Peter’s unintentional betrayal, is going to be the very thing that will get them back together, as it has cut him surely as deeply as it cut her."
-------after seeing "Concentrate and Ask Again, do you still think this?