The Mysterious Briefcase

fringe_ink_aithWithout going into a long diatribe about how much better this show would be as a serialized drama, let’s just start out by saying “Fracture” is another good episode of a potentially great series.

For the most part, this episode is self-contained but again has an entertaining plot. In the beginning, we see a police officer get a mysterious phone call to go to a train station and retrieve a black brief case from a man in a black trench coat. Once he gets there, the officer tries to take the brief case and when he does, his body starts to harden and then explodes. This is why the FBI has a “Fringe” division.

It’s a rather standard case for Olivia, Peter and Walter, but an enjoyable one nonetheless.

Like any police procedural, Olivia and Peter follow their leads, which then take them to Iraq for further investigation and then they catch the bad guy before he can explode someone else.

The trip to Iraq is interesting and we see that Peter isn’t well-liked there. Those who saw last season know Peter has been a world traveler and made a good number of enemies. Still, it would have been more exciting had we learned something important from Peter’s life before he became his father’s babysitter and it felt like a missed opportunity.

The best parts of the episode had little to do with the actual case.

Last week, we saw Olivia’s heightened sense of hearing as a side of effect of traveling through universes. At the end of the episode, she met Sam Weiss (Kevin Corrigan, “Grounded for Life,” “The Departed”), the man who helped put Nina Sharp “back together” when she went through universes. He had asked Olivia if the headaches started; well, this week they do and she begins to see some flashbacks of her meeting with William Bell, though she still can’t understand what she is remembering.

One character who has been missing some this season is the Observer (Michael Cerveris, “The American Embassy”). Maybe he’s just been hiding better than usual, (he’s supposedly in every episode watching the strange events) but he finally makes an important appearance relevant to the entire story, not just this episode.

A good story and some funny parts with Walter as usual –including one of him telling Peter to be respectful and not to eat a cheeseburger in front of Gene, Walter’s cow– keep “Fringe” worth watching.

Next week should be a big episode as it looks like we’ll finally get to see what Bell told Olivia on the top floor office of the World Trade Center. Hopefully, that will be the focus and not another stand-alone.

About Evan Scarola 40 Articles
As an avid doer of nothing, I have dedicated my entire life to knowing every line of Seinfeld as well as most from The Simpsons, Family Guy, South Park and Scrubs. I’m not ashamed to admit I was teary eyed during the Scrubs finale, and bawled uncontrollably the first time I saw the Futurama episode “Jurassic Bark.” When not watching obscene amounts of television, and by obscene I mean watching the entire first season of Battlestar Galactica in one day, I’m listening to an ungodly amount music. Classic rock and classic/alternative/underground hip-hop are my genres of choice. I can go from listening to “Stairway To Heaven” from the, well if you don’t know who that’s from that’s your problem, to Big L’s “Devil’s Son” back to “I Am The Walrus.” I also absolutely love movies and video games. The Godfather Parts I and II and Lord of the Rings (a trilogy I have watched in one day) are my favorite movies, while GTA San Andreas, God of War, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Metal Gear Solid 4 are my favorite games. Besides entertainment, I am completely in love with sports. I love both the Jets and Giants, though I lean more towards the Jets, and I unequivocally bleed the Mets’ Blue & Orange. David Wright, Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran are my Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and Citi Field is my Vatican. I must say, I look forward to forcing my thoughts and opinions upon you. Don’t worry though, they will soon become your own. And yes, I do have a tendency to overwrite.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*