Fringe: The Bishop Revival/Jacksonville


By Rhea Dee
I found these last two episodes before Fringe’s winter break (two months…sob) to be vastly different, at least on a quality scale.

When I first saw the promo for “The Bishop Revival”, Inglourious Basterds immediately came to mind. Basterds came out last year, and is the most current, popular example of a movie about Nazi’s, so I felt like there would be some sort of link there. As it turns out, this episode had more in common with Werewolf Women of the SS (Rob Zombie’s faux trailer for Grindhouse) than Inglourious Basterds since both focus on weird, evil Nazi sci-fi experiments.

This episode follows an old-fashioned looking man as he conducts experiments with a toxin that can kill people with certain genetic traits (at a wedding it kills people that are a descendant of one of the guests, and at a café it kills everyone with brown eyes). The man is planning on using the toxin in order to create Hitler’s vision of a master race by eliminating those that do not have the genetic makeup to fit into that model. When studying the toxin, Team Fringe discovers that the killer’s signature is a seahorse, a reference to Walter’s father, a scientist who was a spy for the Americans during the war. He created the toxin and hid the formula in his books, which Walter inherited from him. Unfortunately, Peter sold all the books when Walter was in St. Clair’s because he needed the money (and had some issues towards his father). Walter is furious that Peter sold some of his prized possessions since he believes that the killer got the formula from those books. When Team Fringe discovers that the killer did not get the formula from the books, they struggle to figure out the connection between the killer and the Bishop family, and to find out where he’s going to strike next.

What follows is pretty stale, by Fringe standards. The episode wasn’t really bad, but the thing that keeps these monster of the week stories alive is that Fringe tackles a conventional story from a fresh angle. I wasn’t feeling any of that with this episode, especially given the Twilight Zone twist at the end of the story. This episode was also lacking in the character development of our leads, since there was nothing presented that wasn’t already handled (and handled better) in other episodes. There was a slight hint at alt Peter at the end of the episode with Walter telling Olivia that he would do anything for his family, but again that was done better in the previous episode when Walter slipped up and blabbed the secret to Astrid.

Thankfully, Fringe followed that episode with their strong Winter Finale, “Jacksonville.” This episode brings us back to our overarching problem: Mr. Detached Head and the two universes. Mr. Detached Head is conducting experiments on buildings in New York City, by trying to pull a building from our universe into the alternate universe. His first try results in two buildings merging together, causing the people in the buildings to fuse together and die. Walter tells Olivia that she’s the only one who can prevent something like this from happening again, since the experiments he conducted on her as a child in Jacksonville allowed her to distinguish objects from the alternate universe (Walter tells Olivia that she used to say alt universe objects would glimmer). With Olivia’s ability, she would be able to identify the next building Mr. Detached Head would try to pull away.

Walter, Peter and Olivia jet down to the derelict facility in Jacksonville, so that Walter can use the equipment there in order to kick start Olivia’s ability. It doesn’t work; Walter figures out that the experiment caused Olivia to become scared, which then triggered the sight. But Olivia isn’t scared of anything anymore, so she can’t tap into the ability. Eventually, Olivia’s fear of innocent people dying triggers her ability back into activity—but at a price. At the end of the episode she sees the glimmer on Peter and realizes that he’s not from this universe.

I always thought that Peter would be the first to find out about his alt universe-ness. At the very least, I expected the revelation to happen at the same time for everybody, a kind of group reveal. Anyway, I really like how the truth about Peter is being revealed. Olivia looked so upset when she found out. During this episode she was already pissed at Walter for experimenting on kids for the greater good; how’s she going to look at him now that she knows about Peter?

I also love how Walter didn’t even try to cover up the truth. I think he knew the risks involved with giving Olivia her sight back. He knew once Olivia saw Peter, she’d know the truth. So it was half funny, half tragic when he immediately went up to her after she saw the glimmer on Peter and quietly asked her to not tell him. And if Olivia doesn’t tell Peter (which she probably won’t), how’s it going to go over with Peter when he finds out that everyone knew he was from an alternate universe and kept it from him?

And if that wasn’t enough to think about, we also have two months to mull on Peter and Olivia almost kissing. Peter! Olivia! Kissing! I hadn’t really considered a romantic relationship between the two, despite Walter slyly hinting to Peter that he and Olivia should get together. So I was floored when Peter was all Mr. Reassurance and then he started to go in for a kiss, which of course was interrupted when Olivia realized that she was scared enough to save the world. And then there was their little date at the end of the episode, which was ruined by Olivia’s discovery of Peter being alt-Peter.

Despite being initially shocked at this little development, I fully support this move forward. In other guy/girl team shows, like The X-Files and Bones, the relationship is founded on the basis that because one character is a man and the other is a woman, sexual tension and flirtation are a given. Of course, the relationships on those shows grew into something more complex over multiple seasons, but if you examine those relationships in Season One, the writers were obviously relying on the “fact” that a woman and a man in close quarters will always want to flirt and get together. Olivia and Peter don’t really fit into that mold however; instead their attraction seems to come from a place of deep respect and admiration for each other’s characters. I found myself fully believing that Peter would fall for Olivia, and I think that’s kind of awesome because Olivia is a bad-ass strong female character. And actually, I’m still a bit unsure about Olivia’s feelings for Peter, and I like that too because I think that fits into what her character is all about.

Last Thoughts: So have you guys noticed Broyles’ “I’m irritated at this situation but I’ll give in because you make a strong argument and I like you” sigh? He’s done it in the last few episodes, and it’s usually following a speech from Walter or Olivia trying to convince Broyles to let them do something crazy. My favorite was at the end of “The Bishop Revival”, when Walter defiantly went up to Broyles and told him that he did not regret killing the Nazi, and that he was willing to take full responsibility for it. To which Broyles replied: [sigh] “Good night, Mr. Bishop.”

Next Time On Fringe: Winter Break! We won’t see Fringe again until April. Until then!

Rhea Dee spends her time collecting vintage junk, daydreaming about Eli Roth, and pondering the genius of John Carpenter soundtracks.  She really likes horror films.

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