Fringe: Over There, Part One

By Rhea Dee
I spent a majority of this episode furious at Peter. Furious that he willingly went to the alternate universe with no hesitation at all, just a quick “Let’s go!” to a father he doesn’t really even know. And the fact that Peter’s willingness to just drop everything and go will lead to something really bad just makes me all the more mad.

I guess I should be a little bit more understanding to Peter’s situation, given recent revelations. But it’s hard to do when you’ve got Walter making sad eyes at the security tape where Peter just skips off with Walternate and you have Olivia in a bar drinking away her sorrows. They’re obviously at a loss at what to do–Peter has made his decision and doesn’t seem to have any regrets about it. What can they do?

Luckily Baldo’s to the rescue! He walks by Olivia at the bar and drops a sheet of paper on the seat next to her. The paper illustrates some sort of device with a picture of Peter below, with light/smoke coming out of his eyes. Olivia immediately calls Walter and they figure out that the device in the drawing is going to be used to destroy their world, and that Peter is the key to making the device work.

In your face, Peter. You make bad decisions!

Olivia and Walter believe that the device was made by William Bell, so with Broyles in tow, they storm Massive Dynamic and demand answers from Nina Sharp. Nina says that Bell could have constructed the device, but if he did, it was on his own; Massive Dynamic was not involved. Nina reveals that she tries to communicate with Bell, but never gets an answer back.

Walter and Olivia plan their trip to the other universe. Walter realizes that Olivia isn’t powerful enough to cross over with him in tow and speculates that they need more Cortexiphan kids to help with the crossover. Nina and Broyles reveal that they’ve been working with the surviving Cortexiphan kids, helping them control their powers. (One is Nick Lane from “Bad Dreams”, one is James Heath from “Olivia. In the Lab. With the Revolver” and I don’t think we’ve seen Sally Clark–the Firestarter girl–before.) As they prepare to leave, Broyles asks Olivia why they’re meeting with Bell, since he might be the one who created the device to destroy the world and kill Peter. Olivia says she just trusts him.

The three Cortexiphan kids form a circle around Walter as he guides them into the next universe. They successfully cross over, but it immediately kills Heath. And there are more problems on top of that.

Turns out, in the other universe, the ZFT is required reading for the militant looking Fringe Division, run by Broyles in a tight black shirt. The core team, Olivia, Charlie (he’s back!) and Nick, head out to sites with holes in the fabric of the universe and secure the area with some sort of containment bomb before any breach can be made. And this team is heading straight for the theater where Olivia and company just traveled to. Luckily our little band of universe travelers aren’t caught, although Alt Team Fringe inspects the body of Heath, and realize he isn’t from their universe when they see a twenty dollar bill with Andrew Jackson on it (their twenty dollar bill has Martin Luther King Jr. on it, something that I actually think is way cooler). Our team manages to sneak out of the theater and head to Central Park, where Nina said Bell might meet them (again, she isn’t sure if he’s getting her messages). On the way, Sally Firestarter gets sick–her body starts smoking and it looks like she might meet the same fate as Heath. Once they reach the meeting area, they’re ambushed by Alt Team Fringe, which leads them to believe they were sold out by Bell. Nick is shot and Sally destroys Nick, herself and alternate Nick in a blaze. Olivia and Walter hide amongst the trees, though Walter darts off and is shot at by Alt Olivia.

Later that night, we see Walter wandering around by himself. We find out that he was shot by Alt Olivia. Walter manages to find a silver lining in his situation (“I’m still walking, that means the bullet didn’t hit my spinal column”) before collapsing in front of a hospital.

Olivia on the other hand, has decided to become a total creeper and stalk her Alt-Self. She’s watching Alt Olivia make-out with her boyfriend through the window when Bell pops up beside her. He assures Olivia that he wasn’t behind the bust in the park, and tells her they have to help Walter, who’s in serious trouble.

During all this action packed drama, Peter wakes up in his alt-home, with his Alt-Mom. Peter and Alt-Mom bond, while Peter looks over some schematics Walternate left for him. Yep, it turns out Walternate is the man who built the device. And he also has the doomsday piece of paper which reveals that Peter is the key to using it.

Oh, Peter. You’re Alt- Dad is kind of a douche.

Last Thoughts: Wasn’t Alt Astrid’s little G.I. Joe outfit really cute? I wanted to see more of her. She looked like a bad ass computer genius.

I also liked the little differences they presented between this universe and our own–like how Charlie has to inject himself with some antidote to keep those worms he got back in Season One at bay. And did you see that West Wing billboard? Apparently that show’s still going in the alternate universe. Plus Cabbage Patch Kids are still pretty popular!

Next Time On Fringe: The exciting conclusion! I’m glad Leonard Nimoy’s back.

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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