Time-Traveling Nazis?

Okay, let’s get this out of the way: This is another standalone episode which means it’s another disappointment. Yay.

So, besides being another useless episode, “The Bishop Revival” has a bizarre premise with a time traveling Nazi, or one who doesn’t age, as the foe. Why they thought bringing in a 1930s/1940s Nazi would be a good idea, who knows? Maybe they thought we would all be blown away with the revelation that Walter’s father was also a scientist whose last name was Bischoff and then later changed it to Bishop.

Awesome, right?

While the Nazi thing just felt cheesy, the rest of the hour was actually pretty good for a standalone episode. One thing that “Fringe” has done well most of the time is the actual science behind the strange happenings. “Fringe” has a realistic aura, so even the most outrageous feats of scientific engineering seem plausible. There are, however, a few instances where the science seems entirely possible, and this is one of those occasions.

The Nazi doing all the killing in this episode starts off his experiment at a wedding. Just before it all begins, an older woman notices the young blonde haired Nazi in the back and screams out that she’s seen him before. As the hysterical woman tries to make her way towards him she, as well as all of her relatives, collapse and suffocate. The rest of the wedding party was fine; only the Jewish members in attendance died from the airborne toxin.

What Walter soon discovers is that this man has found a way to target specific genetic attributes to the toxin, regardless of whether they are inherent in a family, an individual or even physical characteristics, such as hair or eye color.

When looking at the toxin, Walter recognizes a genetic signature, one his father used to use: A sea horse. The only reason why this may be relevant is of those images shown before each commercial break: A sea horse is one of them. It may mean nothing, but a little interesting to those engrossed in the mythos. Hopefully, they explore a bit more into Walter’s relationship with his father, as he was obviously influenced by the man and has great admiration for him.

Nothing too shocking happens. “Fringe” has pretty much found a formula they stick to, but much like in the end of “Johari Window,” Walter takes the situation into his own hands. This season it looks like they are trying to show Walter evolving into a more self asserting character, which may come into play in later episodes.

The only other thing of note is a comment Walter made about Peter and Olivia. From the moment this “team” came together in the series premiere, having Peter and Olivia get together was something nobody wanted to see. The past few weeks it’s looked more and more like a possibility, but it just doesn’t fit the show, at least not where it is right now.

Like so many episodes, this doesn’t move the story forward, but at least expands on history of one of the characters. If somehow all these come together at one point, (whatever happened to “The Pattern,” anyway?) it will all be worthwhile; if not, it’s just another so-so episode to fill out the order in between the ones we all care about.