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Fringe Watch: Glimmer of Recognition

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Spoilers for last night’s “winter finale” of Fringe after the jump:

I don’t have time for a long writeup of last night’s fine, fine “Jacksonville” episode, but Fringe goes into its hiatus on a high note. Unlike a big, sprawling show such as Lost, Fringe is a more intimate drama at heart: the mythology and monster stories aside, it’s the story of Walter, dealing with the mistakes and hubris of his past. His work as a government mad scientist in decades past now has repercussions in his relationship with his son, Peter–who doesn’t know he was abducted as a replacement from a parallel universe–and with Olivia, who in a sense is like a daughter that he betrayed.

So as exciting as it was to get more movement on the show’s mythology, and a cool plot about buildings breaching the dimensional wall between universes, the biggest wow came from the emotional showdown between self-justifying Walter and a justifiably angry Olivia, infuriated to learn more about how she was experimented on as a child. The result of those experiments–even as it pushes Peter and Olivia together–threatens Walter’s relationship with each, as Olivia notices the glimmer marking Peter as an extradimensional artifact. Walter’s quietly begging her not to say anything was as haunting as any monster plot the show has cooked up.

A well-acted episode all around, but special props–as usual–to John Noble. I can’t ait to have them back.