Fringe: Whoah!

Four "whoas!" from Joey Lawrence for what what may be the best episode of Fringe thus far. I've been eagerly anticipating "Peter" ever since the first promos aired on FOX. In fact, I was probably even more excited to see this episode than the recently aired "Ab Aeterno" on LOST. And boy did Fringe deliver, starting with the teaser, which culminated in a brilliant retro credits sequence that made me laugh out loud with joy.



Most viewers, myself included, had already figured out the basics (i.e., that Walter stole Peter from the Mirror universe). So, the story contained few major revelations beyond, perhaps, the importance of Peter to the Observers. I think the purpose of this episode, however, was to help the audience sympathize with Walter's actions by seeing them in a more noble light (no pun intended). The writers did a wonderful job in that regard, portraying Walter as an overzealous, but ultimately well intentioned, prisoner of circumstance. The real credit, though, goes to John Noble, whose performance was just perfect. If that man doesn't win an Emmy for this, the whole freakin' system is out of order.

Fringe has certainly had its ups and downs as a show. When it's on, however, it manages to hit notes that others only dream of. Think back to the Season 1 finale, when we zoomed out of William Bell's office to see the World Trade Center Towers still standing. Speaking of Belly, I've got a whackadoo speculation about the mysterious founder of Massive Dynamic. Remember how Walter mentioned that Bell urged him to take the risk of visiting the mirror universe? I think Bell already did just that, which is why he was absent from this episode. Walter believes he's responsible for breaking the barrier between universes, but I suspect we're going to learn it was actually Belly who did the dirty deed.