Marionette is a personal favourite, because it could so easily have never existed. TV shows write off the consequences of life-changing events all the time, but Fringe chose to acknowledge the trauma of Olivia's loss of identity. In fact, Marionette even follows up on Broyles happening upon his double's gruesome dead body, in a powerful understated scene in which Olivia explains that they weren't very different. It forms a perfect contrast to the previous episode, Entrada, which didn't stop to think; Marionette is as thoughtful as Fringe gets. Anna Torv is the star of the episode, particularly when Peter explains his relationship with Fauxlivia and Olivia is obviously fighting to contain her emotions. Later she breaks down alone in her house, which seems haunted by her doppelganger; it's devastating simply because Olivia so rarely loses her composure. In her final monologue to Peter, Torv pitches her tone somewhere between petulance and grief as Olivia mutters, "She's taken everything." It helps that the emotional fallout takes place in the background of one of the most disturbing cases on Fringe, in which a man tries to reanimate the corpse of the girl he loved. Of course, he can't return her to the way she was before, just as Olivia will have to accept that the events of the last few months have changed both her and Peter. Marionette is the strongest episode in a very strong season and falls just short of the top of the list.
