TV Review: Fringe 4.16, 'Nothing as it Seems'
This episode only really served as a vehicle to introduce this new ‘super species’, which is evidently another part of Jones’ elusive master plan.
rating: 2.5
Now I dont know if you believe in omens, I dont even know if I believe them myself, but if ever there was a bad omen for the continued future of Fringe, then have a listen to this strange statistic: Last week, Episode 15 reached an all-time ratings low for the series, with only 2.8 million US viewers. Now you could blame this on the opening weekend of the Hunger Games, but we all know Fringe has been sliding slowly down the ratings chart since it was moved to the Friday night death slot. I dont have the figures yet, but I suspect last nights episode offered little improvement. As youre aware if youve seen the episode, it was a re-hash of sorts of an old episode from Season 1. An identical case from Peters (Joshua Jackson) timeline re-emerges and takes on a new life in the current timeline. So whats strange about that? Well the original episode, Episode 1.13 Transformation, received the second highest rating in the series history, with 12.78 million US viewers. The only episode to beat it (and not by much at that) was the second episode after the pilot. So what does that say about the future of Fringe? Well absolutely nothing, actually, but I thought it was pretty disturbing if youre into omens and the like. As I understand it, from the reports floating around the Internet at the moment, the future of Fringe will depend less on ratings and more on the willingness of Warner Bros. to sell the show to Fox at a significantly reduced price. I also just needed something interesting to introduce this review with because honestly, having just watched the episode, Im feeling a little drowsy, and not the least bit confused If you missed it the first time around, the old version of this episode saw a scientist named Marshall Bowman (Neal Huff), suffer a strange virally induced genetic transformation whilst on board an airplane. The porcupine rage monster that he becomes causes the plane to crash and Bowman is killed. The investigation leads to uncover his partner Daniel Hicks (Felix Solis), as well as ties to the John Scott (Mark Valley) story arc from Season 1. This time around, Bowman manages to stall his transformation and the plane lands safely. Not for long though, because he transforms again and murders two airport security agents. Ill come back to this in a minute, but the body they bring back to the lab I initially thought was a mutated victim, with a symbol tattooed onto the beast in ancient Sumerian. Enter Ed Markham (Clark Middleton), our old friend from the bookshop; Peters go-to-guy for anything involving language or literature. He reveals the symbols mean renewal or rebirth, and that they are the sign of an underground cult who want to take control of the next stage of mankinds genetic evolution. Now Im a little confused over this next part, so forgive me if it takes a little while to go through. If anyone knows how to clear it up please leave a comment below. Soon after the incident at the airport, were introduced to Bowmans sister (Gina Holden). We know shes his sister because Peter says so, and she corroborates the piece of writing which we know to be Bowmans as her brothers. Now when the beast shows up at her house in the middle of the night she relaxes and calls him baby. Kind of a bit forward if youre greeting your brother no? The only other explanation is that this is of course not Marshall Bowman but another transformed person. As I said, I had initially thought that the body the team was examining in the lab was one of the airport security victims, his dead body transformed by the virus as a result of being torn apart by Bowman. In the last frame of the security video, Bowman remains standing with both guards on the ground. This lead me to believe that it was a victim they recovered to the lab and not Bowman, but that wouldnt explain there being symbols tattooed on the victim. So evidently the dead beast has to be Bowman, as confirmed by Lincoln (Seth Gabel), but then who is the beast that meets Bowmans sister at her house? My best guest would be Daniel Hicks, Bowmans partner from the original episode. Also, Bowmans sister is listed on IMDb as Kate Hicks, which would give credence to her forward manner with him. But what doesnt sit right with me is that they live in separate houses, yet they are apparently happily married. When Lincoln gets infected, they are raiding Hicks house, and yet Kates house is clearly her own. Olivia (Anna Torv) confirms that the new beast is in fact Hicks, but the team never makes the connection between Bowmans partner and sister both being called Hicks. Technically, Kates surname is only explicitly listed online and never mentioned in the episode, but still, every which way I look at this, there seems to one or two facts that leave the story incomplete, and this is not one of those times when the details need to be left to your imagination, because these details specifically alter the facts of the story. So I think Ive worked it out now, but I spent so much effort trying to do that that I missed half the episode and had to watch it again. Now this may seem pedantic to you, Just shut up and enjoy the episode! I hear you yell. But the fact is that I found this confusion so distracting that had I been a casual viewer, I would have probably switched off, or had it been possible, skipped to the next episode. Youd think in an episode where they didnt have to come up with an original concept, they could devote more time to ironing out the plot specifics. Other than that, I felt this episode only really served as a vehicle to introduce this new super species, which is evidently another part of Jones elusive master plan. Ive said this before somewhere about supposedly stand-alone episodes serving as a plot device for some other metaphor or story arc, and I dont agree that this is really a good thing. If they continue to insist that Fringe must have these episodes even now in Season 4, I would much rather watch a stand-alone episode that is exactly that, having its own complete plot and theme. Or, abandon them all together and have purely mythology arc episodes.