TV Review: Fringe 4.8, 'Back To Where You've Never Been'
After a desperate wait over the Christmas hiatus, Fringe has once again graced our living rooms with probably the most exciting episode of Season 4 so far.
rating: 4.5
After a desperate wait over the Christmas hiatus, Fringe has once again graced our living rooms with probably the most exciting episode of Season 4 so far. As ever with these Fringe reviews, it will be impossible to say anything of any value without massive spoilers so dont read this until youve seen the episode. But before we get down to it, I have to announce that the highly coveted award for Understatement of the Century goes to Peter Bishop! (Joshua Jackson) Im not the Peter that you think I am Im from another place. Its all very complicated. Too right Mr. Bishop! Of course up until now I had convinced myself that it wasnt really that complicated if you looked into it. Is it? I didnt fully realise the extent of my error until the other day when I tried to explain Fringe to a friend who had never heard of it before. I was trying to convince them that unlike Lost, the show has a central plot that doesnt shift dramatically from season to season. The drive of the characters and the purpose of the show remain the same, they just get buried under layers and layers of sci-fi complexity, which when you try to express in one or two sentences, makes you wonder if you even understand it yourself. The conversation ended with my friend just as baffled as me and I think its safe to say that I didnt convert any new fans that day. Now with the power of the written word I can express what I meant to say earlier without tripping over my convoluted sentences. As best as I can put, in the simplest way, is that Fringe is like Romeo and Juliet meets The X-Files. The classic tragedy of doomed lovers caught in between a war between two (or four) families (or universes), set in the context of a specialist F.B.I. team who combat supernatural occurrences. This basic idea still hasnt changed even with the revamp of Season 4; it just doesnt seem so simple on the surface. Anyway, down to Episode 8, Back to Where Youve Never Been. So Peter, having failed to get help from Walter (John Noble) decides that he must cross to the other side and get help from Walternate, the only other man who understands the Machine. He enlists the help of Oliver (Anna Torv) and Lincoln (Seth Gabel) to help him get there but they secretly want to go there to spy on Walternate, whom they suspect of creating the new Shapeshifters, more on that later. Since this is an off-the-books mission they cant use the bridge to cross over so they drag Walters device out of storage and set it up at the Opera House. Immediately I was like, Wait just a minute, isnt that the device that if used again would destroy the fabric of both universe all together?! But apparently it doesnt. Broyles (Lance Reddick) kind of explains over this by suggesting that the bridge has so far prevented any further damage to the worlds and I guess this was also the reason for the bridge at the end of Season 3 so Ill let that one slide Olivia remains to guard the portal and Peter and Lincoln attempt to trick their way onto Liberty Island. Disguised as the Lincoln from over there, this Lincoln convinces the pier guard that Peter is his prisoner, and they have an unscheduled prisoner transportation to the D.O.D. This guard has obviously never seen A New Hope, or perhaps over there they didnt have Star Wars? The plan ultimately fails though when they are discovered and arrested by the other Lincoln and Fauxlivia. They are then driven to Fringe headquarters in a convoy but their driver receives a mysterious call, shoots his partner and veers off course. After some brief action, both agents are dead and Lincoln gives himself up so that Peter can get away. Peter then goes to his alter-mum and she rather willingly gets him that meeting with Walternate. This leads me to wonder why he didnt just go to her first. Peters showdown with Walternate is very interesting, possibly the best moment of the season so far because we learn that this Walternate is not entirely evil, and actually has some pretence of protecting both worlds and not just his own. Walter proves that Dr. Fayette (Ryan McDonald) is actually a Shapeshifter who has infiltrated the D.O.D. and that there are others spread across other government departments. He agrees to help Peter if he will send a message back to the other side that he is not the enemy they believe him to be. Back at Fringe HQ the story on the other side closes with Broyles putting in a call to his real boss, revealing the return of my favourite villain of the series Mr. Jones, played by the fantastic Jared Harris. Hurray! Back in the Prime universe, Olivia is disturbed at the Opera House by the Observer, who makes his first contact in this timeline. He tells her that he has looked into every possible future and that in all of them, she has to die. Wait, does that mean all Olivias have to die or just this dull, emotionless clone Olivia? If so just kill her now and lets get back to the REAL Olivia. Seriously. If any of you have been following my reviews so far, youll know my grievances with how the show has been rebooted for Season 4 in the hope of attracting new viewers. Weve spent a lot of the season going over old ground both character wise and plot wise. This episode does feel a little like a rehash of the Season 2 finale Over There only in the sense of certain specifics; Peter crosses over because he feels alone over here; they go back to the Opera House to cross over; the scene with Peter and his mother. You get the idea. In the context of Season 4 however, I was very pleased because it seems like were finally getting somewhere with this story. That and I love the episodes set on the other side because theyre just so goddamn fun. Everyone seems livelier over there, even if they have greyer weather. But in all seriousness, I think weve at last gotten over that hump of reintroducing everything, its just a shame it took them eight episodes to do it. Finally we can look forward to some progress and a shift in the plot. Remember Prime Lincoln is trapped over there, and Alternate Lincoln and Fauxlivia are starting to suspect Walternate. Peter and Walternate are now working together and Mr. Jones is about to get up in everyones business. Is there a good version of Mr. Jones waiting in the Prime universe? Keep watching and we might find out, but its more than likely well just get more questions must reset brain