FRINGE “Wallflower” Review

FRINGE “Wallflower” Review Season 4 Episode 7 – This is the last episode of FRINGE this fall, but it’s not the real Fall Finale. Wait, before you check to see if there are blimps flying outside or the Statue of Liberty is bronzed, there is a logical explanation for this later in the review. “Wallflower” is a solid episode with excellent story elements and an ending that will leave you wishing that January was not so far away (or that the Rangers had taken care of business in Game 6).

The episode starts with the Fringe team looking into a case where the body of a murder victim turns pale white and the only lead is possibly a ghost. Their main suspect was reported to have died as a child more than twenty years ago from an unknown genetic disorder. Soon the truth comes out, that the child was taken by Massive Dynamic to perform experiments on his genetic disorder, which lets him blend into his surroundings like a chameleon, but escaped during a lab fire. Walter figures that the suspect, named Eugene, kills in order to perform a treatment to undo his chameleon abilities, but succeeding would likely kill him.

Another dead body in the parking of an apartment complex leads the Fringe team to lockdown the building and bring in the dogs. During the search Olivia is separated and falls into a trap, but Eugene saves her. He explains that he is tired of being invisible and seeing everyone else live their lives, he just wants to be seen. Before Olivia can convince him to turn himself in, the rest of the cops arrive with Lincoln and Eugene disappears, leading the Fringe team to call off the lockdown. The next day we see Eugene in an elevator, now visible, and talks to one of the apartment tenants, who mentions that she’s missed seeing him the last few days. As she walks out of the elevator, Eugene slowly collapses and dies, happy that someone noticed him.

This week we also got to see some Peter, though not enough since he was not part of the investigation involving Eugene. We see him getting used to his new setup (including a bodyguard/friend who follows him around) and trying to figure out a way back to the original timeline that appears to include using the Doomsday Device (yeah like that worked well the first time). We also had some Peter / Lincoln bonding time, including Peter playing a little matchmaker between Lincoln and Olivia, which was nice and weird at the same time. Olivia started off the episode with migraines that seemed to suddenly appear, and we learn at the end of the episode that the cause of the headaches may be Nina Sharp herself.

Now back to why this isn’t the real Fall Finale for Fringe. Remember when the World Series went to Game 7 and Fringe was preempted? Well, pushing back that episode a week meant that the eighth episode of the season had to move to January, 2012. The result is that instead of having the usual Oh My God! climax that would setup the second half of Fringe’s season, we get an episode that sets up the Fall Finale. Don’t get me wrong, it still had a nice surprise at the end but left a lot of loose ends out there. I don’t think the producers or the network had much of a choice in the matter, especially since part of the delay in the World Series was due to weather. On the bright side, it means that we should get two very kickass episodes back to back to start things off in January.

Last week I mentioned that the visual effects this season were great, and tonight’s episode was also good. I especially liked when Eugene talked to Olivia while being shown under UV light, it was both cool and incredible creepy at the same time. There was also a cool effect with an invisible mouse in a maze that Walter made visible under UV light that was awesome. The first victim’s body was surprisingly scary, though it looked like Anderson Cooper in bad need of some Visine. From the previews of the next half of the season it looks like there will be more cool effects and transitions between the universes, and I’m looking forward to it.

As to the acting tonight, Joshua Jackson and Seth Gabel really stood out for me tonight, even if they weren’t always at the forefront of the episode. I get this vibe from watching Peter in this episode that he’s pretty much decided this isn’t his place and he’s basically just visiting for a bit. At the same time you get the scene with bodyguars early in the episode where Peter shows some frustration at not being trusted by people who he thought were his friends. Then there’s Seth Gabel and fun moments of watching his character both try to assimilate all this new craziness of the Fringe world and also possibly start something with Olivia. The scenes between Jackson and Gabel worked really nicely tonight and it looks like they’ll be a good team in future episodes.

My Favorite Parts of “Wallflower”:

- “Sir? I’m moving up in the world.” – Peter after his bodyguard refers to him as Sir
- Walter eating Onion Rings while watching the crime scene through the Astrid-cam (they did look delicious though)
- “If I wasn’t seeing the agency shrink my head would’ve exploded a long time ago.” – Astrid to Olivia on how she copes with their work
- “Leprechauns are possible” – Walter
- Walter naming his mice John and Yoko, and considering Yoko’s the invisible mouse, perhaps a a shot at her role in breaking up the Beatles?

As we enter into the midseason break, what did you think of “Wallflower”? What do you think Nina is up to with Olivia? Do you think Peter really can use the Doomsday Device again? What were your favorite moments from the first half of the season? Let me know in the comments section.

So no more Fringe until January (Boo!), but we do know some things about the next episode titled “Back to Where You’ve Never Been”. The previews shown at the end of tonight’s episode show that Peter has decided to take a little vacation to the alterverse. Of course no one should change universes without a buddy, so Peter brings Lincoln along for the ride. Make sure you tune in to Fox to see Fringe on January 13, 2012. Happy Holidays everybody and I look forward to talking more Fringe with you in 2012!