Not Your Ordinary Kidnapping

Episode Commentary: Of Human Action

Of the first six episodes this season, only two had anything to do with overall story, and this week is no different. “Fringe” has pretty much found itself content with being good, not great, which is exactly what “Of Human Action” is.

Unlike last week’s episode, which used its story to expand on the role of one of the side characters, this week, “Fringe” is just there to tell another standalone story.

Nothing in “Fringe” is what it is expected to be, so it quickly becomes apparent that a kidnapping investigation is no ordinary kidnapping. In the opening, the police follow two men and a kidnapped boy to the top of a parking lot. Though it seems they have the kidnappers surrounded, the men have a special ability up their sleeves: Mind control.

All the scenes involving mind control are done very well. The tension palpable, aided by the fact that instead of having the controlled people just go along with whatever they are being told to do, there is a clear struggle of power. This is something “Fringe” has really done perfectly throughout the series. Every experiment that takes place, despite being completely impossible, has a sense of realism in it. These experiments in fringe science are unnatural, and the world in “Fringe” makes it feel unnatural. With each case, there is the feeling that the impossible just happened, nothing feels like it was easy and it gives the impression that, should any of these bizarre events actually happen, this is probably how it would play out.

Back to the story: The investigation into the mind-control kidnappers eventually takes Olivia, Peter and Walter to Massive Dynamic. The child taken hostage was the son of one of the company’s top scientists, and Olivia is sure it’s not just a coincidence. Sort of like last week, Olivia was kind of left out of the fray, though not as much.

What this week’s episode really tried to show toward the end was Walter’s relationship with Peter. At one point, Peter falls under the power of the mind controller, which puts a mental strain on Walter. As usual, John Noble does an outstanding job as the mad scientist. Walter is one of the more complex characters on television, a crazy genius with the social skills of a child, whose mind is stuck in the ‘60s and who has a childlike dependence on his son to care for him, and Noble nails every nuance of the character masterfully.

Throughout the episode, there are some pretty nice actions scenes, some very tense moments and a few twists that will have a huge effect on the series going forward. However, the standalone nature of the past few episodes leaves fans wanting more. It has really been moving at a snail’s pace this year, which would be fine, except that most of it doesn’t matter. It would be nice for everything to somehow come together in the end, but that doesn’t seem very likely. (Spoiler alert for those who don’t watch the previews) Thankfully, next week’s episode looks to get back on track with an episode based on the most mysterious of all of “Fringe’s” characters, the Observer.