Quick Take, Fringe, "Do Shapeshifters Dream of Electric Sheep"
"With a basement lab at Harvard Walter was able to open a wormhole into another dimension that essentially shredded all the laws of science. I can't wait to see what he's capable of doing with a multibillion dollar corporation." - Peter
Review, Fringe, "Do Shapeshifters Dream of Electric Sheep"
(S0304) Back in the blueniverse (aka, our universe with the original opening sequence), a car accident exposes a secret shape shifter that has taken the place of a high-up congressman, and Newton shows up to take him out. He's only partly successful, and Walter, in his new super-cutting-edge Massive Dynamics lab, is able to get it working well enough that they can identify where the data is stored. Newton contacts and another sleeper who has been living as a cop with a wife and a kid for five years, and has gone native to recover the body and stop them from getting the info -- both to stop them from figuring out how the shape shifters work, and to keep Fauxlivia's cover, which she's freaking out about the whole time. He does it, but Newton sees that he's gone native and takes him out... just as Fauxlivia and Peter show up tracking the cop, which leads to Newton's anticlimatic arrest. Later, Fauxlivia gives him a little chip that causes him to self destruct, which, really, should leave all sorts of evidence lying around a federal prison. Combined with the cop's body, that's a lot of shape shifters for Walter to poke around with.
Meanwhile, Peter and Fauxlivia are dating. We see Peter showing her how to read relationships, and we see them being very sweet with each other -- and we see Fauxlivia looking kind of sickly about it when Peter's not around, which really humanizes her a little, and makes me feel like maybe Fred, back in the redniverse, really does matter to her. She and Peter haven't slept together yet, but it's come to the point where she needs to make that decision to prove she's dedicated to the cause and get Peter entirely on her side. He says at one point in the episode that he's been making excuses for how changed she is, how she's like a different person-- she has to do something to get him past that so he won't question her for whatever her purpose there is.
So she does. At the end, interspered with scenes of Newton's violent death, we see them getting into bed... and it's kind of incredibly uncomfortable. As it should be, since she's an IMPOSTER and we know this and Peter doesn't. Every minute with Fauxlivia, I just keep expecting that other shoe to drop and Peter to find out just how messed up this whole situation is. He's only just started getting past the whole father-betrayal thing; how badly will he take it when he finds out this isn't Olivia, and how far back will it set the relationship with actual-Olivia?
There's a mini-hiatus until November after this episode, so we'll have to wait and see, but the preview shows Olivia coming home. We don't know how, though we can guess the mechanics knowing that she can do it on her own and seeing the sensory-deprivation chamber they mentioned before. And we don't know what state of mind she'll be in. But there will most definitely be some sort of stand-off with Olivia, Fauxlivia, Peter, and Olivia's confused brain-cone of Fauxlivia. There has to be.
This whole episode was very tense. Every step along the way, Fauxlivia was moments from exposure, and she knew it. She's wobbling on that knife's edge of keeping her cover and keeping her mission, and it's getting thinner each episode. I sort of wanted them all to realize this episode what's going on, and I literally cheered when Peter admitted he'd been suspiscious... but then she distracted him and it didn't go anywhere. Yet.
This was defintiely a set-up for the next segment of the season. It was more straight-forward and contained a smaller mystery than usual, but the tenseness makes up for the smallness -- and maybe the smallness was intentional, since Fauxlivia is starting to feel closed in and trapped. It was a good episode, with lots of ideas to fill out and explore as the season continues.
Further thoughts on Fringe, "Do Shapeshifters Dream of Electric Sheep":
Video for Fringe, "Do Shapeshifters Dream of Electric Sheep"
Walter as the new boss... entirely out of his mind.
