Fringe “Making Angels” Review

I’ve been excited to see this episode of Fringe since word started coming out that there would be an Astrid-centric episode. Her character’s been a little understated this season (and that’s putting it mildly), though I like that she’s going out into the field more as Walter’s eyes. Then we find out that part of the episode involves her meeting Alt-Astrid, which is bound to be an interesting combination. Add to this a really interesting story involving a mysterious killer and potential Observer shenanigans and “Making Angels” suddenly has the potential to be a super awesome episode.

Astrid and Alt-Astrid make quite the the dynamic duo, no?

First of all, let’s give all the credit to Jasika Nicole for her performance in this episode. Except for John Noble’s Walter/Walternate, she has to cover the biggest range in characters between Astrid and Alt-Astrid. Hopefully this is a sign that we see more Astrid involvement in the future outside of the “helping Walter” role.

Back to the question, I think the Astrid’s made a good team, but I was actually a little disappointed they weren’t taking on the main mystery head on in the field. Maybe that would have been a little too much of a departure from their roles on the Fringe team. If anything the best parts of their scenes was when they were interacting almost as sisters. Those scenes also had a great balance of the funny (Alt-Astrid’s reaction to drinking coffee for the first time) and emotional (the discussion about Alt-Astrid’s relationship with her father, finding out both lost their mothers when young), that made me wish this episode would not end. I think the main takeaway for Astrid’s character though is a realization of how different her life could have been, and possibly this will drive some changes for her character in the future.

What about this week’s main bad guy – the TSA agent/MIT Professor/Person who can see the past/present/future?

I loved the Fringe case this week because it had me guessing for most of the episode. I actually thought the bad guy was a time traveler, which could have been a cool tie in to Peter’s current predicament. The fact that it was tied in to the Observers and their abilities made it that much cooler. It was a nice piece of writing to have the killer pick his targets through his role as a TSA screener, I thought it was creative though I wonder what the show’s writers have against commercial air travel. The only nitpick I had in the writing was that no one seemed to search the house the killer was found in? I know it was his mother’s house, but you’d think they would do a once over and find the safe with the Observer’s device in it.

Now for some math… Walter + Bolivia = Uncomfortable Walter?

When you watch this season of Fringe it’s hard to remember that even though this is a different timeline, some of the events from the original timeline still happened. In this case we get to see how badly Walter was affected when Bolivia replaced Olivia as part of an infiltration into our universe. It was clear that Walter was not happy to see Boliva (he calls her “The Viper!” at one point – and not in a good way). She seems to get under Walter’s skin very easily and enjoys needling him, much to Walter’s discontent. I do like how they seem to come to a truce or understanding by the end of the episode, the two engaging in some level of candy diplomacy.

With all this going on, did Peter make any progress on getting home?

Nope. It appears that Walter is not exactly thrilled with Peter’s lack of support for frequent food breaks/chess matches during their work sessions. Could this be Walter still trying to get used to working with Peter or is he dragging his feet on building the device? I know its only been a few episodes since Peter and Walter agreed to work together, but I’m already feeling like this story is getting stagnant. The promos for next week’s episdoe seem to show some promise, so we’ll have to see what happens.

My Favorite Parts from “Making Angels”:

- “I got a challenge for you. Why don’t we fix the machine?” – A frustrated Peter to Walter
- Astrids reaction to seeing Alt-Astrid and Olivia’s line: “I always wondered why no one ever does that.”
- “Kirk out!” – Walter
- “I think I love her!” – Walter about Alt-Astrid
-”Call me back when you get a personality I can deal with” – Targeted businessman on phone.
- Bolivia to Walter: “Are you flirting with me?”
Walter: “In your dreams.”

The last thing I wanted to bring up was the involvement of the Observers in this week episode, which gave us lots of interesting little tidbits. First of all it’s clear that there’s still a connection to Reiden Lake in this timeline as in the original timeline. Second is the new understanding we have of how the Observers operate, that they can see the past/present/future simultaneously. This gives a new meaning to what the Observer told Olivia int he theater concerning her mortality in all possible futures. We also found out that our original Observer on the show is named September, which makes you wonder if there are twelve Observers in total (one for each month) or if Observers just take on bizarre names? I’m looking forward to seeing how the Observers react to the new information that Peter has returned. How will the Observers try to “rectify” things now?

What did you think of “Making Angels”? Did you like the two Astrids? Let me know in the comments section below. Next week Peter, Olivia, and Walter come to the town of Westfield to invetigate a fringe event, and they may never leave. Make sure to tune in for the next Fringe, “Welcome to Westfield”, February 10 at 9PM on FOX.