Fringe Rewatch

 

Anyway, back to our topic of the day. This episode manages to turn a seemingly overdone premise into something a bit more interesting, as it is made apparent that Fringe Science and its consequences are not only global but hereditary: a story of fathers and sons, like the show itself. It recontextualizes the Immortal Nazi Villain as a contemporary of Walter's father (whose grave mysteriously gives his date of death as a year before Walter himself is born, back in The Arrival: another plot that I sense was dropped in the way) who, learning that Walter is alive, seeks revenge, while attempting to accomplish Hitler's master plan one cocktail party at a time. 

 

Regardless of how flat it seems when compared to some of Fringe's most brilliant episodes (coughJacksonvilleIsNextcough), it still makes for an entertaining hour of television, and gives us some good character moments and parallels between the Bishop men: Walter's dismay at finding that his father's work is killing innocents, like Peter has felt since the beginning; Peter's regret at the way in which he treated his father and his belongings, in his anger, much like Walter now thinks of the Walter of old, and his disregard of his wife and son. 

 

 

 

Writer: Robert Chiappetta; Glen Whitman

Director: Adam Davidson

Originally aired: 28 Jan 2010

 

Synopsis:  

A group of guests at a wedding suffocate from the inside out and the team investigates how the toxin was delivered and targeted. The wedding ceremony may be another testing ground for weaponized fringe science. Walter believes the formula may link to a branch in the Bishop family tree. The threat of more deadly attacks and family ties to the case mobilizes the entire Division.

 

Most Memorable Quote: 

PETER: You're not gonna find those books in there. (boxes)

WALTER: Oh, no, no. They will be here. These are all the books in my library.

PETER: No, they won't. (stops the box search) Walter. They're not in there. I sold those books. All of them. About ten years ago. (regretful)

WALTER: You sold them. Why?

PETER: I needed money.

WALTER: Money? They were my books. (growing anger) He left them to me. He knew how dangerous they were.

PETER: The odds that this case has anything to do with your father's work --

WALTER: (snapping) The very thing that he was trying to stop, you put back into the world.

PETER: We don't know that for sure.

WALTER: Yes, we do! Of course we do. How else would whoever is doing this have gotten hold of the formula? And because I failed to protect it, my father's work is killing people. (very disappointed)

 

Links: 

 

Fanfiction: 

Stories From The White; The Blue; and The Red, by Rainer76  (contains spoilers for later seasons).