3x10 The Firefly
Nov. 5th, 2014 10:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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fringe_rewatch There are a number of things that are well executed for this episode, even if the case-of-the-week seems a bit inconsequential when we take in to account the scale of the things that have come before it in the season. This episode, if a bit heavy handed at times, is as resonant with Walter and his character arc as Marionette was to Olivia. 
It focuses on the sacrifices Walter will have to make by the end of the season, the same sacrifices he refused to make 25 years ago, which have cost innumerable lives both over here and over there. Walter is presented with a direct consequence of his actions on a human scale: Roscoe Joyce, his hero, lost his only son because Walter couldn't let go of his. And sure, it was impossible for Walter to foresee this specific event taking place (he's not like the observers), but the whole point is that this one death is only a minuscule fraction of the damage Walter has caused, and yet, it has had enormous emotional impact for a number of people.
It is also interesting to note that here, again, it is Peter who pays for Walter's mistakes by drinking his father's poisoned milk, treating us to a small scale version of the events that will happen when Peter inevitably enters the machine.
Also, because I can't not mention it: this episode does a great job of not ignoring the development of Olivia's emotional state as it regards the trauma she has experienced. Additionally, it gives Peter the qualities that kept me rooting for him even after the doppelganger debacle: patient and considerate of Olivia's feelings, while at the same time admitting he fucked up, and actively trying to fix it (which reveals a number of things about his outlook on life that are important for later seasons: in case of fuck-up, patch with duct tape and keep going. Apply WD40 if stiff. Very Engineer-like of him ;)
Writer: Joel Wyman, Jeff Pinkner
Director: Charles Beeson
Originally aired: 21 January 2011
Synopsis
The Observer contacts Walter to help him correct a mistake he believes he made decades ago. Walter befriends musical icon Roscoe Joyce, a keyboardist for Walter's favorite band, Violet Sedan Chair. Walter learns why they disbanded and realizes that their lives overlap in strange and unexpected ways.
Most Memorable Quote
OBSERVER: There are things that I know. But there are things that I do not. Various possible futures are happening simultaneously. I can tell you all of them, but I cannot tell you which one of them will come to pass. Because every action causes ripples, consequences both obvious and... unforeseen. For instance... after I pulled you and Peter from the icy lake, later that summer, Peter caught a firefly. I could not have known he would do that or that because he did a young girl three miles away would not. And so later that night, she would continue looking, trying to find another one. I could not have known that when she did not come home, her father would go out looking for her, driving in the rain, so that when the traffic light turned red, his truck skidded through the intersection at Harvard Yard, killing a pedestrian.
WALTER: Did that happen?
OBSERVER: You and I have interfered with the natural course of events. We have upset the balance in ways I could not have predicted. Which is why now I need your help.
[aaaaaand, because I'm nothing if not predictable]
PETER: She asked me what my favorite book was. I understand that she was probably just trying to gather information on me, but... I also know that I'm not the easiest guy to get to know. (heart-felt) It's always been easier for me to... keep people at arm's length... which is actually something that I think we have in common. The book wasn't meant for her. It was meant for the Olivia Dunham that I've spent the last couple years of my life with. Because I wanted you to read it. You're the person I wanted to share it with.
OLIVIA: (saddened) You know, I feel like Rip Van Winkle. Everything is different. Even you opening up to me is different. And this book is just a reminder of all the things that I missed, conversations we didn't have...
Links
Fanfiction
Consequences both Obvious and Unforeseen, by Dixie. There are a lot more, but I can't recall or find them in this particular instance. Please add them to the comments if you can.
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Date: 2014-11-09 10:30 pm (UTC)Ahem.
It's hard for me to talk about the pre-S5 Observer appearances without referencing S5. Did Fringe plan to do the September/Donald and Michael story this far back? I'm going to go on a limb and suggest the writers didn't build in that extra twist to "It must be very difficult. Being a father." I think that was a lucky hit that scores because Fringe stayed close to its core themes through most of its run.
...in case of fuck-up, patch with duct tape and keep going. Apply WD40 if stiff.
Ha ha ha. I'm visualizing a shiny big black Machine with silver tape across a couple of cracks.
That's also a nice observation about Peter in general: he has an improvisational bent, rather than being a planner. Except that one time in the fifth season, which I'll put down to Peter being, just this once, exactly like Walter.
As usual, I really enjoyed Walter being Walter - "Oh. My pizza." - as he works through the Faces of Walter. Mad science. Unfiltered emotion, both joy in meeting Roscoe Joyce and terror of losing Peter. Dealings with the Observers.
I have mixed feelings about September laying the whole story out for Walter; I love that sort of chaotic chain reaction. It's one of the reasons I love the alternate universe. But September's monologue is a tough piece of writing to deliver. Also, for someone who's supposed to be pursuing some flavor of Temporal Prime Directive, September spends this entire episode staging interventions on the timeline! He kills the thieves, gives Victoria her inhaler, takes Victoria's inhaler, then boosts an SUV and stages a three car crash in a busy intersection.
For someone who just gave a monologue on butterfly wings and hurricanes, that's... a lot of beating wings.
Looking ahead to "Reciprocity", I am surprised no one suggested Walter's milk-and-smarts concoction might've had something to do with Peter going after the shapeshifters. Fringe loves to create inverse correlations between human intelligence and human empathy, it could have been a logical thematic beat.
A lot of nice small moments, too, like Astrid's "we need coffee anyway."
In some ways, this episode is still about everyone processing Recent Events. Walter's learning about unforeseen consequences of taking Peter, like opening himself to the possibility of losing Peter again. Olivia is still wrapping her head around her double's presence in her life, literally walking in her shoes. That's a lot of emotional arc for a fairly low-key episode. But who needs literal explosions when you're still cleaning up from the metaphorical bombshells?