In what’s been an inconsistent Fringe season so far, this was probably the best story yet. It was very well paced, although in terms of narrative, it was mostly running around and shouting, rather than the usual introspective stuff the show does so well. But it was plot critical to extract some items from the vault for later use, most notably an ‘ambering’ device and the toxic gas that David Robert Jones created in the “Ability” episode which causes rapid tissue growth, asphyxiating the victim by covering their mouth and nose. The reference to the dimensional view window had me interested, because it does hint that we’ll get at least one more parallel universe adventure, I hope. The lab sequence led very naturally into the appearance of Broyles, and the warning that they’re about to have unwelcome guests. The re-ambering obscured what they were up to enough to fool the Observers, and they left with a clue to find the plans by which to remove the Observers from Earth. What was great about the action part of the show is that it demonstrated not only how good the Fringe division is as a team these days, but also how formidable the Observers can be on occasion. Their escape isn’t flawless, and brings me neatly to the death of a significant character, balancing the reintroduction of the now wrinkly Broyles. Etta’s death was almost foretold by the lack of character investment we’ve seen in her since she was introduced. She was mostly presented as a younger version of Olivia, who talked almost exclusively about the past she shared with her parents rather than the many years that passed since then. It seemed obvious she wouldn’t survive the season, but I was mildly shocked that she died here and now. What I didn’t follow was why Windmark left her alone, other than for the others to find her, only then to come back? It seemed arbitrary, though it was required to happen for the climax of the episode. And, on the subject of Windmark, he might be the best the Observers have (as others seem frankly rubbish), but the fact that they’ve only just alighted on the significance of love does suggest that they’re a bit useless at observing. My mind went off on that tangent when I tried to consider if in the timeline that the show is now existing if all the items in the vault should really be there? Maybe. If they can keep the standard of stories up to this one, without running out of characters to kill, then the rest of the season could be rather good. Read Billy’s review of the previous episode, The Recordist, here. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
