Quick Take: Fringe, “Making Angels”
"Admit it -- you like me." - Fauxlivia to Walter
Review: Fringe, “Making Angels”
(S0411) I still find it amazing that Fringe’s cast can pull off such subtly different iterations of their characters, demonstrating a level of nuance you’d expect to see in something produced by HBO and not Fox. It would be ignorant not to expect John Noble to put in his best performances every week as Walter Bishop, and last season truly proved the dynamic abilities of Anna Torv as she pulled off three versions of Olivia Dunham simultaneously – not to mention her embodiment of Leonard Nimoy’s William Bell.
Aside from Fauxlivia, Walternate, and to a slightly lesser degree, Alt-Lincoln, the characters from “over there” haven’t had a chance to be properly fleshed out. Jasika Nicole has already won over fans with her performance as Astrid/Altstrid Farnsworth, and recently earning the respect of Community fans for fashioning a line after Abed’s “Cool cool cool.” Finally, this week brings B-strid “over here,” having her stride through Walter’s lab doors moments before Astrid, finally earning a reaction more akin to what you’d expect when meeting your doppelganger from another universe.
Following their touching introductions, the Fringe team assembles for a case that – though unbeknownst to him – might contain some answers for the time-stranded Peter. As if the TSA isn’t already enough of a spiked noose around everyone’s wellbeing, a rogue TSA agent with a bizarre, time-bending machine is leaving a string of bodies across Boston, and even though Peter is fully active in the investigation – with B-strid assisting Walter from the lab as he visits the crime scene through Astrid – they struggle to catch up with him.
For all that goes on in the case, there’s still plenty of memorable character interactions. Astrid and B-strid take the cake – or coffee, in this case – when they sit down to gain perspective on each other’s lives. Having both lost their mothers to cancer, the Farnsworths appear to share iconic J.J. Abrams daddy-issues, though with an autistic-twist. When Fauxlivia comes to retrieve B-strid, it soon becomes clear that Walter still harbours some apprehension for her impersonation of Olivia. It takes some time, but they eventually resolve some of the tension, and he even lets her have some of his liquorice.
There’s been some increasingly religious undertones to the show lately, appropriately balanced with the bizarre science that forges the stories forward. Peter and Olivia finally do catch up with the Chinese banker from the Dark Knight, who believes himself to be doing God’s work. In his defence, he does have the Observer September’s device from Raiden Lake, capable of unfolding the past, present, and future into a singular navigable roadmap. The former M.I.T. professor feels spurned by his mother after his brother’s death as a child, twistedly shoving his quest to create angels in her face when he forces Olivia to shoot him.
Although the Observers have recovered September’s lost device without making themselves known, they also glean the information that Peter is still alive. With exhaustive knowledge of all the timelines, their response is all the more ominous. Fauxlivia and B-strid eventually depart, too, but not without leaving a lasting impact on their hosts in the form of a new appreciation for the people who may one day be gone.
Fringe’s outstanding cast is truly complemented by the equally-skilled crew who shoot and edit the scenes where characters interact with their alternate selves. Hell, their conversations are more seamless and well-timed than some of the real-time scenes that happen “organically” in “reality” shows. It’s truly a comment on how underappreciated real technical mastery is when it comes to keeping a show on the air – Fringe has more than proven its capability in keeping streets ahead of its competition, whether or not it gets noticed.
Check out TV Geek Army's own Tara Bennet as she sits down with Jasika Nicole to gain some insight on her portrayals of Astrid.
Jasika Nicole was amazing, I knew she was talented, but, wow, first her Broyles impersonation and now this, she is an amazing actress. We are so lucky to have so many talented actors on Fringe. I do hope we get a 5th season!
I think that Astrid and AltAstrid is overrated: there was not that much interaction, and AltAstrid has been given the excuse of Asperger for not having to show emotion, etc.
OverThere she can only think via computer and does not look people in the eye, Now she is lecturing walter, and solves the case and thinks outside the box.
Strange that once you label something the actor gets praise, where as I remember very clearly the amount of abuse Anna Torv got in season 1 , simply because she played a closed off, introverted character who did not show her emotions easily. (it is now again repeated thanks to Alcatraz leading lady)
No understanding at all from the American media, let alone Emmy for Anna, while actually Anna was brilliant from the start.
Anna recently said how hard she found it to be in that closed off skin but Jeff Pinkner forced her to. Pinkner never did a thing to help her, could have defended her or write a storyline to let her talk about the abuse that had to do with her being closedoff. Two years later he said he found it hard to watch the way she was treated, it may have damaged her career, as American critics do not rewatch and revise just prejudice,
Just imagine if Fringe introduced Olivia Dunham to us with the volume of scenes the Bishops got and get, you would know from the start that Olivia Dunham did not have a childhood, was abused by walter and the stepfather, shot/killed that stepfather at the age of 8, and lost her mother when 14. I think everyone would have directly understood why she reacted the way she did, and Emmy for Anna would be there from seson 1, for me already anyway.
Anna Torv showed in this episode once again that she is on the highest level of double acting, also in one scene. Olivia versus Fauxlivia was real interaction, as opposed to Astrid-AltAstrid, With the Astrids everything was in the text, with the Olivia;s you know what is going on with the sound off.
Maybe if Tara Bennett gets another interview with Jeff Pinkner she should ask him about his choices in seson 1, and why he stills seems to think that writing the big scenes the Bishops get is not for Olivia/Fauxlivia Dunham.
We are now in season 4 of Fringe, AltLivia here we know nothing about, except that she broke up with Frank.
Olivia Dunham in this season is just a number of facts as last seasons, now in one line she killed her stepfather, just as matter of factly she told Lincoln her mother died of cancer, as a piece of info, Massive Dynamis provided the funeral, and Nina took her in. well also a sister never mentioned again.
The reason people feel for a character has everything to do with the emotionals scenes and backstory, people confuse those big scenes with acting so they feel for the Bishops and Asrid etc.
Not in the same way for Olivia, as she never gets those scenes, So why about a 100 times the same Poor Walter Peter Elisabeth Bishop story, and treating Walter losing his son as th only pain in the world
What about Olivia Dunham, nothing about her father, losing her mother, killing a man who abused her physivally, and then other men like Walter abusing her some more? Not having a childhood, life from hell, never given a scene to talk about that.
The way especially Pinkner, already showrunner season 1, treated and treats his lead character Olivia and Anna is baffling, compared to the overload of material Jacskon and especially Noble got and gets, and on top the production people of Bad Robot seem to think Noble is some sort of God, for me he is overratedmost of Walter and nearly all of Walternate is in the writing, the acting comes only with the lines he says.
Olivia Dunham , and Fauxlivie, are the creation of Anna Torv. Olivia always has the constant feel about her that you can sense her difficult childhood, in her walking, mannerism, expressions etc the different upbringings of Olivia come across.
To end: Jeff Pinkner explain why?