Is Fringe’s Olivia Hallucinating in ‘Dreamscape’?

FRINGE: Olivia (Anna Torv, L) interrogates Nina Sharp (Blair Brown, R) at Massive Dynamic headquarters in the FRINGE episode "The Dreamscape." ©2008 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Barbara Nitke/FOX

In “Dreamscape,” the Fringe team must solve the mystery of the killer butterflies.  But the case is secondary to what is really going on in the lives of the team.

The case itself was pretty easily solved Mark, the Massive Dynamics exec, actually hallucinated the attack of the butterflies which led to his fall.  And since he was selling MD secrets and his accomplice is also killed by a hallucination, it is easy to see who is behind the murders.  However, proving it – especially since Broyles seemed to be protecting Massive Dynamics – is another thing entirely.

I’m really glad that they brought Massive Dynamics back into the mix.  I was beginning to wonder if I hallucinated their involvement.

Ironically, Walter seemed very lucid – except for his obsession with coffee yogurt – in this episode while Olivia seems to be losing her grip on reality.

I’m really glad that when she came to Walter demanding to go into the tank a second time in this episode that Walter said no.  I think it shows 1) how desperate she has become and 2) how far Walter has come to recognize that it wasn’t safe.

But in Olivia’s defense, I would be freaked out if my computer started turning itself on and sending me email from dead people.

I’m failing miserably at the Where’s The Observer game.  I didn’t seem him last night.  But if my theory from last week is correct and he can glamour to look like others, I wonder if the John Scotts that Olivia keeps seeing are him.

And I have a feeling that Peter is about to be in a lot of trouble soon. He obviously has quite a temper – at least when it comes to men beating up on his exes.  And I’m right there with him.  But unfortunately he tipped his hand to what looks like some really bad dudes.

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Fringe’s Walter Faces His Fears in ‘Equation’

In last night’s Fringe, “The Equation,” Walter Bishop had to face one of his greatest fears – returning to the mental hospital where he was locked up for 17 years.  But just what was he afraid of?

Walter tries to find a clue to help find the kidnapped boy from Dashiell.

When a musical prodigy boy (Charlie Tahan) is kidnapped after his father is hypnotized with green and red lights, Walter must return to the mental hospital to visit Dashiell (Randall Duk Kim), a patient who was also abducted by the same woman.

The kidnap story about Ben was very interesting.  I mean who knew that a musical composition would result in being able to allow someone to reach through solid objects, like a safe, and pull out things like an apple.  An apple very much like the one we see introducing the commercial breaks.

Not to mention, who was Joanne Ostler/Ritz and the man who later shot her?  Did she use hypnosis to show her abductees what they wanted most?  Why did she fake her own death?  And why did she still look 20 years old when she should be 30?  And most importantly who were they working for?

But the real heart of the episode this week was Walter.  I don’t know that if I ever spent that much time in a mental institute and then got out if I’d ever be willing to return.  But Walter proved that despite is ethically questionable experiments, he really does have a heart of gold and willingly faced his fear.

But what was he afraid of?  Well Dr. Summer (Bill Sadler) would definitely top my creepy scale.  Anyone else wonder just how far involved he is?  Did he know about the kidnappings?  Or does he play a bigger role in the Pattern?

Dashiell, himself, was a bit scary too.  Or rather whatever was done to him to make him that way freaked me out.  Did they make him forget about the kidnapping because they were afraid someone would believe him?  Or did they know that Olivia and team were getting close?

And the freakiest thing of the night – two Walters.  And what’s worse is that the Walter we know and love didn’t seem surprised to see his other self.  Is he hallucinating?  Is he really crazy?  Or is it more?

Did anyone see The Observer in this episode?  I didn’t.  Or at least I didn’t see him as we usually do.  I think – now this is just a theory – that the other Walter is actually The Observer in disguise.  Not sure yet if it was a great disguise or if The Observer actually metamorphosized his looks. But if I’m right, our weird game of Where’s Waldo just got harder.

And lastly how sweet was it how defense Peter got about his father.  A few weeks ago he was ready to send him back to the institution and now he’s fighting to keep him out.  And my heart just signed when Walter, after expression exasperation from trying to talk to Dashiell, asked Peter if that’s what it’s like to talk to him.  Peter response was sweet.

I really can’t wait until next week.  This series just keeps getting better and it looks like the stakes are getting raised again in the next episode.

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Does Fringe’s Broyles Trust Olivia in ‘Meet Mr. Jones’

In the latest episode of Fringe, ”In Which We Meet Mr. Jones,” Olivia is working on another Pattern case when she comes across a connection to past cases.  When she asks Broyles about it, he tells her that there’s a lot about the Pattern that she doesn’t know.  So tell her already!

Peter must become part of the experiement to help Olivia

For weeks, Broyles has kept Olivia on a need to know basis regarding the Pattern.  Why?  Does he not trust her?  Wouldn’t she be able to work better if she had all the facts?

I can understand him not inundating her with lots of past cases to sift through when she should be working on current cases.  But if he knows there’s a connection between her current case and a past incident, why not tell her?  Why let her waste time figuring it out herself?

And, while we’re on the subject, just how many people are working on Pattern cases?  I thought Olivia and the Bishops were the only ones working Pattern cases.  But in this episode we meet Mitchell Loeb (Chance Kelly), another agent and a friend of Broyles, who was working a case in Frankfurt recently and another one in Weymouth, Massachusetts in the beginning of the episode.

And judging from what we saw at the end of the episode, I’d say Broyles is putting his faith in the wrong agent. 

Or do you think Broyles is on to Loeb?  If he is, why did he bring Loeb’s wife (Trini Alvarado) to Walter’s lab? 

But those questions are just the tip of the iceberg.  What the heck is “Little Hill?”  Who is the gentleman?  Could it be The Observer?  Or is it someone behind the Pattern? 

Did Loeb (or his wife) infect himself with the parasite?  If not, who did?  And who is Loeb working for?

Maybe if Broyles opened up a little to Olivia we’d know a little more.

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What Drives Fringe’s Agent Olivia Dunham in ‘The Cure’?

Most days on Fringe start out as bad days for the agents given the nature of the cases they investigate.  But on “The Cure,” Agent Olivia Dunham is having a particularly bad day.

Broyles, Olivia, Walter and Peter must find what killed a diner full of people.

It starts with a crime scene with a diner full of dead people – all exposed to a high level of radiation that actually cooked their brains thanks to human lab rat Emily Kramer (Maria Dizzia).  It seems going into remission for a fatal disease really is too good to be true.

To make matters worse, Olivia gets word that another woman – Claire Williams (Marjan Neshat) – also in remission for the same fatal disease, is missing.  Not a coincidence.  Add the fact that Claire’s husband Ken (Robert Eli) and Dr. Patel (Alok Tewari), the doctor that treated both girls, lied to her, and you can understand Olivia’s bad mood.

But that bad mood makes Olivia public question Intrepus main R&D guy, David Esterbrook (Chris Eigeman) in public and later march him in handcuffs in front of the press (that she tipped off) for questioning.   But her desire to get the bad guy ruffles a few feathers and gets her in trouble with Broyles.

But job troubles are the least of Olivia’s worries.  You see today is Olivia’s birthday.  Now lots of people hate their birthday, but Olivia’s got real issues.

When Little Olivia was only nine, she had to shoot her step-father twice in self defense to prevent him from beating her mom again!  To top it off, the bastard lived.

To remind her of his existence he sends her a card every year on her birthday “just to let me know he’s out there.”  She spends the whole episode searching the office mail for this year’s letter. 

Well that explains her obsession with closing a case.  One creepy card a birthday is enough.  But the creepy factor goes up a notch this year because the letter doesn’t arrive at the office, but it still arrived.

The one bright light in Olivia’s day was Peter and Walter.  Peter was willing to sell his soul to the devil – okay, make a deal with Massive Dynamics’ Nina, but hey same difference – just to get her a lead on the case.  Why?  Because she’s always looking out for him and Walter and he wanted to return the favor.  I think it’s more than that.  I think Peter has a thing for Olivia.

Walter helps her out be being obsessed with blue.  Blue flowers, blue cotton candy, blue medicine – eventually it all leads to him developing a cure that Olivia uses to save Claire.

Definitely not a birthday, I’d like to have, but with friends/coworkers like Peter, Walter and Charlie, Olivia’s day could definitely have been worse.  And hey, no appearances by any dead boyfriends!

Now we know what drives Olivia, but how far will it take her.

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John Scott Returns to Guide Fringe’s Olivia in ‘Power Hungry’

In “Power Hungry,” Olivia is guided by her dead boyfriend – turn traitor – in her quest to find a man with serious electricity issues.  It makes you wonder if anyone is really dead on Fringe.

FRINGE: Olivia (Anna Torv, L) encounters her former partner John Scott (Mark Valley, R) in the FRINGE episode

Olivia tells her FBI co-worker Charlie that she’s seen John Scott in her kitchen.  He tells her that it’s her subconscious trying to deal with his death, his betrayal and everything she’s seen since then.

What Charlie doesn’t know is that Olivia and John were psychically linked in the pilot episode when she went into the tank to tap into his subconscious to find a cure for him (only to be betrayed by him later).

Well it seems that a bit of his subconscious stayed with her, according to Walter.  But what has it been doing?  Was it really guiding her?  He obviously knew about The Pattern and Jacob Fischer (Max Baker).

Or was it as Walter said, her mind trying to exorcise him?  Or is the connection still valid because someone over at Massive Dynamic is messing with his brain?  Or is Massive Dynamic using John to get to Olivia?

Speaking of Massive Dynamic, we’ve gone two episodes without a mention of the company or their creepy COO Nina Sharp.  But I have to wonder if they are behind the events of the last couple weeks.  Or maybe involved in some way involved?  At the very least they must be keeping taps on what’s going on?

This week’s bad guy was Jacob Fischer, a biotechnology guru who’s been using people with self esteem issues as human guinea pigs.  He recruits his unknowing victims through self help ads.  And poor Joseph Meeger (Ebon Moss-Bacchrach) became his walking electric current.

Unfortunately, Joseph didn’t understand what was done to him and had even less control over it, leaving in his wake death and destruction.

But thanks to helpful hints from subconscious John and a gamble by Walter on “rodents with wings,” Olivia and company are able to wrap up the case.  But not before dead John leads her to his hideaway cellar with all his files and a big fat engagement ring (presumably for Olivia).

So was that closer for the John issue?  Or will we be seeing him again?

Will Fischer rot in prison now or are we going to learn more about his experiments?  What part is he playing in The Pattern?  Does he have a connection to Massive Dynamics?

And exactly what happens to Meeger?  Does he stay sedated?  Does he go to a mental institute?  Jail?  Or does he become an experiment for Walter?

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