Quick Take: Fringe, “One Night in October”
“Walter, I’m here. I’m right here. Help me, Walter. Please. Help me.” – Peter’s disembodied voice
Review: Fringe, “One Night in October”
(S0402) When Fringe was moved to Friday nights halfway through last season, many thought it was the “kiss of death” for the show, like so many before it. By switching timeslots, however, the creators have been given a lot more freedom to embellish the weird and twisted world(s) that have (e)merged due to Peter’s heroic sacrifice. This week opens “over there,” where a genius serial-killer has his next victim hooked into a mysterious contraption via a tube that runs into his brain. In the hopes to glean some insight from the serial killer’s motives, Fauxlivia requests the help of the killer’s alternate-self, a professor forensic psychology of equal intelligence. It certainly doesn’t get more weird and twisted than investigating your sociopathic counterpart.
Even though the bridge between universes is likely only temporary, a lot of new technology has been introduced in the first two episodes that are clearly integral to the way each side carries out their investigations. The “scanner” that the Fringe agents must step through before entering the room where the worlds cross over is an interesting new advancement, and I look forward to its being explained if it’s as important I’m convinced it is. Carrying over from last season, the question remains regarding the power source for the machine that holds open the bridge between universes, which must harbour some clue as to why a multiverse without Peter can exist at all.
While Astrid helps Walter with his lab’s redecoration and Lincoln with getting acquainted with the other side, Olivia and Fauxlivia oversee the professor’s attempt to profile his alternate self. When he finds a picture of his father in the serial killer’s house, he loses his nerve, and the lie perpetrated by the Fringe Divisions crumbles faster than a tear in the fabric of space-time. After divulging what she can to him and earning his trust with her own story of childhood abuse, Olivia loses track of the profiler, who seeks out his murderous self in an attempt to convince him of the error of his ways.
The serial killer and his saner doppelganger share a traumatic past affected by their fathers, though the version of him from “over there” never ran away and met the woman that would ultimately teach him to suppress his murderous impulses and rehabilitate into society. He’s forgotten what happiness feels like, and so he picks his targets when they’re at their happiest in order to assumedly extract the emotion for his own enjoyment. A pseudo-medical procedure to drain emotion is pushing it, even by Fringe’s standards, which is why I’m holding on to the redemptive fact that they never verify what the process actually entails.
When the profiler confronts his profiled self in his underground lab, he ends up getting hooked up to the machine and having his memories of the woman who saved his life removed. The serial killer is finally awakened by his happier self’s compatible memories, effectively becoming the man he could have been. He no sooner kills himself over the guilt of his actions. The professor is still alive, but conveniently has amnesia that makes him entirely forget about his adventure “over there,.” He seems to remember what the woman taught him, however, hopefully saving him from turning out like his alternate self.
Aside from telling us that alternate Charlie is now married to the bug girl from last season – their honeymoon explaining Kirk Acevedo’s absence while he shoots his new show, Prime Suspect – this episode is meant to work as a micro/macrocosm comparison between the “freak of the week” case and the looming dilemma that relates to the larger story-arc. The professor remembers what he learned from someone who, for all he knows, doesn’t exist; does Olivia, or Walter, or even Astrid remember any influence Peter had on their lives? So far, it’s poor Walter who’s plagued the most, seeing his son’s face in the blank television screen, and now hearing his disembodied voice pleading for help. Peter’s bleeding through the universe can only incite more attention from the Observers; I missed their appearance this episode due to a mistimed glance away, but my housemates assure me they caught a glimpse of the suit and chapeau. It’s nice to know that, coming into its fourth season, Fringe is able to keep up with the little details that define its upper-tier quality in comparison to most other shows in its genre.
