Quick Take: Fringe, “Wallflower”
“Tell Agent Broyles that science has no price tag.” – Walter
Review: Fringe, “Wallflower”
(S0407) The Fringe fall finale: a heartbreaking and peculiarly-early event this season. I don’t think it’s a far cry to say that whoever decided to postpone the show so early is severely selfish and downright debilitated in their reasoning by letting Grimm and Supernatural go head-to-head for domination of the nine o’clock timeslot.
Which isn’t to say that these past seven episodes haven’t been enlightening, enjoyable, and extremely “Fringey.” It’s been refreshing to be reintroduced to another iteration of the Fringe universe; subtle and glaring differences are still being revealed through the eyes of both Lincoln Lee, Fringe’s newest agent “over here,” and Peter, who is most keen to the disparities in the worlds without him.
Peter seems to have signed off on the postulation that he is in an entirely different universe – not one in which the timeline has simply been reset. He isn’t resigned to integrate himself, however, as he makes the most out of his house-arrest by studying the schematics for the First People’s machine. If it’s any indication of where his head is at, Peter essentially gives his consent to Lincoln to keep a romantic option with Olivia open.
That option nearly vanishes, however, as the Fringe Division tracks down an invisible man who desperately wants to be seen. Born with a genetic abnormality that left him terribly disfigured, U-Gene (short for “Unknown Genes”) was a subject of experimentation at Massive Dynamic – or one of its satellite laboratories – where he was bestowed with the ability to become invisible; or more accurately, to completely homogenize into his surroundings. His confrontation with Olivia leaves her unarmed, but ultimately unscathed, as U-Gene escapes for one last shot at being seen and, what’s more, acknowledged.
In the search for a cure, U-Gene kills his victims and extracts their pigment, leaving them looking like albinos. Not only does Walter discover that U-Gene can be revealed using UV light, he realizes that the process the suspect is using to counteract the chameleon-like ability is gradually killing him. Olivia passes off the warning, but U-Gene refuses to go back to a lab, and ultimately expires in an elevator after finally experiencing the unparalleled joy of the recognition from a friendly stranger.
I remember the days when I would develop anxiety over the cliffhanger hiatuses Lost would leave us off on. Fringe, too, has had its moments, but I seriously doubt that this episode was originally conceived as a potential midseason finale. There is nothing in “Wallflower” of any major impact on the series’ overarching storyline – Peter has been benched despite proving himself an invaluable resource – and the cliffhanger is no more effective than what’s been used on a week-to-week basis. I can only suspect that at least another two episodes were prepared for our viewing pleasure, but were pushed back due to the World Series.
Fox’s poor planning is nothing short of repulsive, and hopefully it won’t affect Fringe’s return come this winter. The sudden postponement makes the introduction of Olivia’s headaches (and Nina’s devious hand in causing them) superfluous, and unfortunately forgettable, having not been addressed at all prior to “Wallflower.” Olivia has struggled with emotional attachment before, but it seems that Nina is forcing it for some reason. The irrational conclusion-jumper in me wants to blame Nina for trying to keep Olivia from growing attached to Peter as a part of some wild conspiracy with the Observers... at least I have a month (or more) to reassess my hypothesis.
I'm thinking it's a C-O-N-spiracy !
;-)
"...Peter, who is most keen to the disparities in the worlds without him."
Sweetie darling, put down your thesaurus. That doesn't really make sense.
However, I agree with everything you've said, especially with regard to Peter ("benched" is exactly the right word). I don't understand why such a loved and crucial character suddenly has so little to do with the stories each week. There's no sense of emergency. No one knows who Peter is, and no one really cares. Walter seems quite happy to write Peter off as an "iteration" of his son. He's uncharacteristically uncurious. I'm bored, and frustrated. Put Peter back in the story where he belongs!
Also, hiatuses suck, especially before the action has even really started. And as you say, the cliffhanger was not really a cliffhanger. Probably because of the two episodes skipped in October. Ugh.