FRINGE: Night of Desirable Objects
September 25, 2009 by Gretchen
So did anyone still manage to catch Fringe even now that the Fall TV season is in full swing and it is up against The Office/Community, Grey’s, CSI, and Supernatural?! Thursday nights alone are making the HD TiVo that I purchased last year seem like a VERY wise investment indeed! Speaking of my beloved TiVo, I am in the unfortunate position of being temporarily without it since I’m tucked away in a hotel room in DC for the next few days. Trying to make sense of an episode of Fringe without the benefit of a rewind or two is a bit of a challenge, but I’ll do my best.
Fringe Science – The Cliff Notes Version
The team investigates a string of mysterious disappearances in the small town of Lansdale, PA. As the team combs the case files, a former doctor, Hughes, comes under suspicion. Olivia and Peter search Hughes’ house and come across a mysterious lab, complete with a big old periodic table of elements hanging from the wall. Later, Agent Jessup, uncovers evidence which suggests that Hughes may have killed his wife and son (he claims that his wife died in childbirth and that his son died just a few minutes later). Olivia brings Hughes in for questioning and asks for a sample of his DNA; they want to match it with some blueish material that was found at the crime scene (which Walter had already analyzed and found to be at least partially made up of human male DNA). Hughes denies DNA testing and Olivia puts him under a 24 hour hold while they obtain a warrant. The warrant becomes unnecessary because Hughes hangs himself from the light fixture while he waits.
Meanwhile, the exhumation of the bodies reveals two things (1) Hughes‘ wife had been suffering from an advanced case of Lupus and would have been medically unable to give birth and (2) the coffin of Hughes’ son was empty and had a hole in the bottom of it, indicating that something had burrowed its way out of it. Walter reveals that his analysis of the after birth taken from Hughes’ wife’s body suggest that Hughes had genetically engineered his son to survive even the most inhospitable of conditions by combining animal DNA (most likely that of a scorpion and a mole rat) with the human DNA. Oliva and Peter head back out to the farm where they confront the mutant boy underground and then proceed to take care of him before he can take care of them.
I’ll Take Mine With an Extra Side of Creepy, Please
What is it about corn fields that is so creepy? Thank you very much “Children of the Corn”, “Signs”, the pilot episode of “Smallville”, and now, tonight’s episode of “Fringe”, for making rows and rows of a harmless vegetables seem nothing short of terrifying.
The Frog Princess
Walter and Astrid recreated Olivia’s car accident in the lab, “Back to the Future” style. They used a frog as Olivia, but no matter what Walter did, he could not get the frog to disappear, yet Olivia was gone for at least an hour. That leads Walter to conclude that Olivia traveled to an alternate reality. We already know this is true, but my question is, was it just a coincidence that they were using a frog for Olivia? I don’t have my Season 1 DVD handy and I can’t remember off-hand which holographic image goes with which character….is Olivia the frog?
The Consequences of Alternate Reality Jet Setting
Olivia is back in this world but she is not quite the same as before she left. It seems that she is experiencing a very heightened sense of hearing and will soon be having a pesky headache problem (if Sam Weiss, aka NOT a psychologist is to be believed).
Things That Made Me Go Eewwww and Aahhhh
- The mutant boy. Obviously.
- Peter, Walter, and the fishing lure…but “night of desirable objects”, what does it mean?
I Was Not Expecting That!
- Olivia almost shooting Peter! Holy Crap! Loved the look that he gave her afterwards (and that he covered for her with Broyles with the “misfire” in her report).
Let the Speculation Begin
- Bad!Charlie is not looking so good — is this a consequence of lingering in the same body for too long or is there a part of the real Charlie that remains, making it difficult for Bad!Charlie to follow orders?
- Who is the man behind the mirror?
- What is the significance of the red Gerber Daisy in Walter’s Lab?
- Where is The Observer? For the second week in a row, I haven’t seen him. Bad!Charlie seems to be the only one observing these days.
- Is Olivia’s doctor working for Massive Dynamic? Why else was Nina Sharp able to pop (so rudely) into Olivia’s exam room?
- Could the Olivia that returned to this world be Alt-Olivia?
For all you code crackers – tonight’s word was MIRROR.
I’m done. You’re turn. Let’s talk FRINGE.
Gretchen is a stay-at-home mom of two awesome little girls who has the good fortune of being married to a husband who is completely cool with her slightly out of control television addiction. During her precious few sleeping hours, Gretchen frequently finds herself ridding the world of pesky vampires and demons, as well as taking down fake secret branches of the CIA.
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The night of desireable objects is actually the name of the lure.
So happy for this review! Not that I’m not normally happy, but last night I slept through half the show! I’m so disappointed in myself, but the stupid cold bug that’s burrowed its way into my brain caused it. Hey – that could be a Fringe episode! And now makes me think of weird objects burrowing themselves into bodies. Eww.
I caught the first half, and the last bit – with the strange boy under the ground. OMG! When he grabbed Olivia? Scary as hell! Thanks for the explanation of who exactly he was, how he got there, etc. I loved the bad doctor guy, played by John Savage! I remember him from Dark Angel, where he played the good!bad Donald Lydecker, and did a damn good job! It’s always nice to see my “old friends” in new shows.
So sad I missed out on the frog experiment … sounds fun! What is this about each character having a holographic image? Is that from S1, or from the DVDs? Your thought on Olivia possibly being an “alt-Olivia” is intriguing. I thought that too, and was waiting for them to offer her some food that she loved, only to have her say “no, I hate that” (a la alt-Peter and the custard). The heightened sense of hearing is interesting, and I can’t wait to see where that goes.
Oh, and Bad!Charlie! He’s so evil, and scary. Am I recalling correctly that the actor who plays him made a Tweet or FB entry earlier this year about being “fired” from Fringe? Or was that someone else? Do you think Bad!Charlie will be around all season?
The holograph is on the cover of the Season 1 DVD — it pictures Olivia, Walter and Peter and there is holograph of one of the images that appear before the commercial breaks over each one of them. I think that one is the seahorse but I just can’t remember the other two.
I also heard that there was some speculation that Charlie would not be back this season because Kirk Acevedo had been fired but I hadn’t heard that his own Twitter was the source of the rumor! I’m sure many fans are happy to see that even though Charlie as we know him is no longer around, Kirk Acevedo still is!
Feel better, Kimber!!
“Bad!Charlie is not looking so good — is this a consequence of lingering in the same body for too long or is there a part of the real Charlie that remains, making it difficult for Bad!Charlie to follow orders?”
The Bad!Charlie didn’t take over Charlie’s body – he merely changed his body’s appearance to match it.
I am guessing his problems may relate to being shot many times.
Is this the first fully stand alone case on the show? I didn’t notice any obvious connections to Walter’s work or any other investigations in this one.
Fringe is increasingly becoming the new X-Files, and I can’t say I mind.
I did feel that the involvement of the new agent seemed kind of tacked on in this episode, though. That was Hughes’ Bible? I missed how she got that.
Not sure where he was this week but last weeks episode the Observer was seen in one of the scenes at the accident I forget exactly when but it was before she came flying through the windshield. I think it was right in the beginning in the crowd looking on.
I thought it was a good episode, I gasped out loud twice-once when she almost shot Peter and then when the creepy mutant jumped out of the hole. I agree, I love it more and more the more it resembles the X files.
Not sure how I feel about this new agent, she seems like an add on that may play a piece in bringing down bad charlie but maybe her introduction could have come later
Thanks for this review!! I really enjoy Fringe…after hearing about the show’s fairly poor ratings last night I am REALLY wishing Fox kept it on Tuesdays.
Oh, and I hope this hasn’t already been mentioned but The Observer can be seen at the very beginning of episode 2×01 when the shapeshifter is running away from the car accident. It’s really one of those blink-and-you’ll-miss-him things.
I doubt it is alt-Olivia unless the events in the other universe nearly exactly mirror this universe. She seemed to have the same relationship with Walter and Peter and alt-Olivia shouldn’t have a Peter.
It is too bad about the ratings. Last season part of what was so nice about liking Fringe was that it got good ratings and it could be one of the few shows I watch where I don’t have to worry about that. The Thursday slot is killer though. The networks are like a firing squad arranged in a circle. I doubt any of the shows are going to be healthy with all of the audience being split as they are. I watch nothing on Tuesdays so Fringe on Tuesdays would be fantastic. For now I’ll be watching FlashForward and Fringe with Bones and The Office etc watched later.
I loved this episode! Fringe usually creeps be out- but last nights episode seemed to be extra bad- lol. I thought it was interesting that in no way did this case seem to be related to the pattern. Maybe Hughes research will come up in a future episode and relate back to everything. I just thought that part was a little odd
This episode scared me! I was peeking through my fingers when the guy got dragged under and then when he was attacked and when the super baby attacked Olivia and Peter. This show is so good even though I have no idea where it’s going. And I LOVE Peter, seriously I wanna marry Joshua Jackson, haha.