fringe_rewatch | Jul. 2nd, 2014

CHAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRLLLLLLLLLLIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!

AHEM. Well, yes. It is a sad, sad episode, and a tragic beginning to what will become a tragic season - The season that really started to give some answers to the questions presented in the first season, and that set the stage for Fringe to become more than a spooky case-of-the-week show. If last season introduced the characters and their motivations, then this one introduces some of the basic mythology that will drive the show forward into serialized greatness (mostly. Totally biased, here).

As for this episode in particular, it does set up a few more questions than it answers, starting with but not limited to: DID YOU HAVE TO KILL CHARLIE? DID YOU REALLY? Followed closely by: Did the woman on LSD see another universe and the start of the shape shifters in it, or did she see the inevitable future? That last question is important because, knowing that Walter and William were conducting the cortexiphan trials long before anything happened to Peter, one wonders what the reasons for the War really were, or would have been, without revenge for the theft of a child as motivator. And would it have really been inevitable?

Also of note: this marks the first of Olivia's resurrections, and I believe it to be, by far, the creepiest. ~~Also, girl, bad timing. You were just about to be resuscitated by Peter's new mouthwash, Very Whiskey Breathing by Listerine--it would have come a whole season early.~~

And to leave you as the episode left all of us, and continues to leave us upon rewatch: Sonia Francis will never see her husband again. They will never have beautiful children with her hair and his gruff voice. Etta will not have uncle Charlie around to get rid of Baldo and save the world. I'm not bitter, who said that?

Writer: JJ Abrams, Akiva Goldsman

Director: Akiva Goldsman

Originally aired: 17 Sep 2009

Synopsis:

Olivia makes an unceremonious return from her visit to the alternate reality. Peter, Amy and Charlie race to locate an anonymous hostile force bent on eliminating one of the science team. Walter and Astrid return to the lab to isolate a bit of fringe science - and prepare for Peter’s birthday. Broyles and Nina find their way to Washington D.C. to face congressional scrutiny and defend the Fringe Division.

Most Memorable Quote:

OLIVIA: I'm alright. You didn't have to come all this way.

CHARLIE: You're not all right.

OLIVIA: Charlie, I'm fine

CHARLIE: My second year with Brooklyn P.D., one night we get a domestic disturbance call. Partner and I go over to his house. I'm with the guy, right? And he's, uh... saying it's nothing, you know, just a little argument. My partner calls from the other room and says that we need an ambulance for the girl. And I just know the guy beat the crap out of his girlfriend, so I go for my gun, I get him on the ground, and I'm cuffing him. And I hear a gunshot from the other room. I turn around, and this, uh, bloody girl-- brutalized, brutalized girl-- is, um... aiming a gun at me. What I didn't know at the time was she had just killed my partner. She fires. Hits me in my chest. (stands-up and walks closer) Anyway, um... I'm in I.C.U. for six days. You know, and, um, hospital for two weeks. Kept on telling my wife, 'I'm fine'. I was shaken, and I was scared. Now, if you're like me, you got a gun underneath your pillow... Peter called me. (smiles) Hey. You can fool the doctors, kiddo. You can't fool me.

OLIVIA: I don't know what happened to me. I'm so scared. I can't even load it. My hands won't stop shaking. Charlie, I can't. I can't even load it.

CHARLIE: Hey. You're gonna be alright. It'll be alright.

Links:

Transcript

Polite Dissent

Fanfiction:

Nope, sorry. It appears most episode-specific fic writing started after Jacksonville aired. Damn it. If you know of any that I don't (totally possible) please let us know. We'd love to read it--maybe the one where Charlie lived? Yes, okay, I'm bitter.