TV Review: Fringe – "Momentum Deferred"

It’s very satisfying to watch a show slowly grow into its full potential. Fringe’s first season was slow, and many stopped watching for various reasons. But for those of us who stuck by it, our patience is paying off, more and more so with each new episode of season two.

The title of this particular episode, "Momentum Deferred," seems all the more apt as it seems that the momentum deferred from season one’s interesting yet slow start to season two’s increasingly faster pace. I previously complained about how Fringe episodes are so slow, that their time slot isn’t used as efficiently as it is with, say, Supernatural, but this complaint is fading with every passing week. Hopefully this trend will continue throughout the current season, and if it does, it bodes very well for season three.

"Momentum Deferred" starts with the hijacking of a truck carrying cryogenically frozen heads. It is soon determined that organic/mercury hybrids from Parallel Earth are looking for their leader, identifiable only by an omega symbol that seems to have been seared into the side of his head. Ouch.

There are a couple of obvious questions that come to mind. Who is this guy whose head is costing so many other heads to go to waste? We know he’s the leader of the Parallel Earth army. But is he human? Is he a shape-shifting organic/mercury hybrid? Or is he human only to be brought back to life with the use of the organic/mercury hybrid technology? Why was he beheaded, and, after he’s thawed out, what is his role going to be? Is he the one that will be featured in a showdown versus Olivia?

I’m starting to trust the show’s writers and producers, and so for now, remain satisfied with asking the questions, hoping they will be answered shortly.

However, there are a couple of interesting reflections that can be made regarding this particular plotline I’d like to share.

I know this is only a show and that they weren’t real, but the disrespect shown to the frozen heads really bothered me. I know it makes a (chilling) point about the characters, and I can’t help but wonder if there are people around us who would act with equal disregard towards a bunch of frozen heads, were they to stumble upon them one day.

Article Author: Sahar

Sahar was born the first of three siblings and the first of eight cousins. Thrust in the role of head of the brood at a very early age, she honed her imagination by creating stories and plotlines the eight of them could play to all summer long. …

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