Fringe: The Plateau review

[stargater]

There was SO much I loved about this episode - the concept, the way the story was told, Milo, Alt!Charlie and of course our Olivia figuring out something is rotten in the State of Midland. See now, this is the sort of thing we should have been seeing on our side, some question that the Olivia everyone is working with right now isn't quite who she says she is. But I digress on that. The Plateau was FANTASTIC. Surprised me in more ways than one (I was spoiler free) and did not disappoint in at all. This is definitely my favorite episode of season 3 so far.

The breakdown:

Olivia
I love, LOVE, that Olivia is realizing something isn't right. Despite my earlier hopes that she was in control of her facilities the entire time and is faking it, I do think the memory transfer worked but is obviously not taking complete hold and she is struggling with it right now. The thing Walternate probably didn't count on is how headstrong Olivia is and the Cortexiphan probably helps too.

I love how she had visions of Peter & Walter (what an interesting contrast with Head!Walter as compared to the Secretary eh?) and I absolutely loved the part with Milo/his prediction and the oxygen. A brilliant way to tie in the story with what's happening with Olivia. Then of course her second vision of Peter explaining why she did what she did there. I was completely unspoiled for this episode so the Peter bit at the end was a very pleasant surprise and I love that it's Peter who's basically helping guide her back to herself. He's like her touchstone now.

Another thing I was pleased with is that Olivia and Frank were not all up on each other. I was a little worried about that but Olivia kind of kept her distance from him, really not touching him or being close to him unless necessary. And he didn't really seem all that bothered by her distance. Deep down Olivia wants nothing to do with him but it could also speak to Alt!Olivia's relationship with him. I don't really have an opinion on Frank, he seems alright though strangely I'm more interested in seeing Alt!Olivia with Lincoln but I'm not gonna go there right now.

Alt!Charlie & Lincoln
I LOVE that Alt!Charlie was suspicious of Olivia. Of course, he has right to be - he did get cold-cocked by his Olivia's doppelganger and now we know he was around during her "breakdown" so it makes sense that he would be suspicious of things she's does that's not quite right. I think he knows now though, after the oxygen incident, I think he believes that she's not his Olivia. I still very much like the idea that he's going to help her get back home. I'm really liking Alt!Charlie & Lincoln and kind of wish they could come over to this side but that's a pretty unlikely scenario. I kind of have a bad feeling one of them might die :x


Crossing Over
I think it's been revealed how our Olivia will get back home - Alt!Brandon's sensory deprivation tank. The thing they probably aren't counting on is Olivia will know who she truly is (or have enough of an idea) and use this to her own advantage. It reminds me a lot of the tank in Walter's lab and we know some crazy things happened in there. A few possible scenarios concerning this: Olivia does make it back home but her memories aren't sorted yet which of course could be problematic. Especially if everyone thinks she's the wrong one. Two Olivia's in the same world and everyone has them mixed up? Wouldn't that be insane and really angsty? I don't know about that though. But we do know that the universe likes balance and if Olivia is able to cross over, perhaps Alt!Olivia (who happens to be of equal mass to our Olivia) will be pulled back just like the buildings in Jacksonville. Voila! Both Olivia's are back where they belong. I just hope Alt!Olivia is found out before then and that our Olivia returns with her own memories intact.

Patterns
We know the folks who write for Fringe LOVE patterns. They're everywhere in every episode, I absolutely love the subtle things you can catch in the background - the colors, the angles, the lighting and the little telling tidbits of things of things to come. They are BRILLIANT about this, probably more-so than any other show I've watched including LOST which was excellent with it as well. Of course, J.J. and all but you get the point.

"THE PEN IS MIGHTIER" & "FIND THE CRACK"

This is two episodes now we've had direct references to pens. "The pen is mightier" was spray painted in the alley when Alt!Olivia was at Joe's house looking for him and the box. Then here we see simple ball point pens being used as a catalyst of an improbable chain of events. "Find the Crack" was on the pen that Mathis gave to Peter in Northwest Passage. And that's exactly what Olivia has to do right now: find the crack - figuratively and maybe literally. Because in the darkness, there's always a crack, it's how the light gets in. And how Olivia is gonna get home.

Questions:
What's the significance of the tiny horse to Milo?

Random things:
- Milo reminds me of a mix between Rain Man, DPO from the XF episode of the same name & Mordin from ME2.
- And Milo's antics sort of remind me of the Mousetrap board game x)
- Alt!Broyles doesn't seem too keen on Walternate's plan. Maybe he'll help later?
- Vulcan mind meld FTW!
- I really liked the visual we got when Olivia was talking to Milo's sister about Rachel and we got the double vision of her in the mirror. Angles, it's all about the angles.
- Alt!Astrid is kind of awesome.
- While Olivia & Alt!Charlie are chasing Milo, there's a billboard with a huge eye on it and the Fringe Division logo stating to report any anomalies. The eye is what interests me. Like they're always watching.
- There's also a lot of flowers. They were everywhere in this last ep. Part of a pattern too? Probably.
- Frank is going away! So at least there won't be that worry anymore.
- Interesting they haven't cured Small Pox, especially when they can make Lincoln less crispy so fast. Probably one of those things Walternate meant when he mentioned to Peter that we've made advances in science and medicine that they haven't.
- Milo said 6 is the solution. The solution to what?
- Shout out to the 42!
- Head!Peter: "Real is just a matter of perception"

Next week looks to be good, hopefully we'll see some suspicion arise about Alt!Olivia. It does appear that there might be some but Peter looks like he might be "distracted" again. UGH. DNW. Strangely enough, I'm enjoying the Over There episodes better than the one we've had Over Here. I'm kind of fascinated with Over There - they've got a lot of cool things, Fringe Division is public and I'm interested in all the repercussions they're suffering from Walter's doorway. And our Olivia is over there. I think that Alt!Olivia/Peter is a source of anxiety for me and makes episodes where that's present less enjoyable. Plus it's annoying and kind of sad that everyone's still oblivious to Alt!Olivia. They should know or at least be suspicious dammit :/



**SPOILERS & SPECULATION**



This isn't a proper review, not an episode where there's to be discussion and speculation really but damn was it HILARIOUS. I knew they were doing a "Jersey Shore" episode and I wasn't sure how it was gonna be but holy crap I laughed so hard at it.

- Brennan: "Eureka! A gathering of guidos!" ROFL!!
- Brennan: "Sup. Yo. Sup." & "The bros are mixing it up, yo" ROFL!
- A little Hodgins! How cute would that be indeed!
- Whenever I hear 'roid' I tend to think of hemorrhoids not steroids.
- Brennan with the "oh no you didn't" finger. LMAO. I'm so making an icon out of this.
- I feel so bad for Brennan right now :( Loved the bit with the telephone, it was nice. Brennan should have been the one giving it to him though.
- The show totally got away with saying "fuck you" ala 4Q on prime-time television. This is almost as good as frak :P

Okay, most the funniest parts were Brennan and her Jersey Shore GTL slang. Geez, it was funny. I still don't like Hannah though. Okay, I do like Hannah and that's the problem. But I'm now more sure than ever that Brennan & Booth will get together this season. Hannah will be the impetus for it. Yep.



Oh, and happy 42 Day! Today is 10-10-10 and in binary = 42 :D

Comments

[rithmah.livejournal.com]

Ah, there is so much to discuss. While I shall save it for skype later, I will offer a tidbit about Bones.

I have a feeling they're really foreshadowing the breakup of Booth/Hannah and the getting together of Booth/Brennan. It started in the second episode and was really heavy in this last one. But I'm too lazy to type it out here. It warrants actual discussion. :P

[stargater.livejournal.com]

YES. Just realized my Skype is off, probably has been for the last few days as I restarted my computer earlier this week. Soon, we must discuss sooooon.

Yeah, I think the same. They were playing up Booth/Hannah so much at the beginning and we are now seeing some foreshadowing. This is the thing it's finally gonna take Brennan to take that step and admit to not only Booth but herself what her true feelings are. I'm excited to see how it's all going to play out :D

I'm gonna follow the HELL out of him! ROFL, I just love that icon. Almost as your Rowsdower ones :P

[iowagirl11.livejournal.com]

Some points.

-I could have done without the decomposing flesh sliding off the skull. In fact, the second I saw it, I was all "Oh, stargater isn't going to like that any better than I do." That said, still not as awful as the bathtub ep.

-I am with you on the 'roids'.

-Haha! And the scene at the lab where Brennan said something like "That is so random, yo." And everyone just looked at her all "WTF?"

-My heart was almost breaking when she walked out of Booth's apartment at the end and she looked back at Booth, and....augh! THEY NEED TO GET TOGETHER, ALREADY!

-I hope you make a lot of icons! And some quote ones, too! This episode was infinitely quotable.

[stargater.livejournal.com]

Totally. My thought was "whew, I'm glad I got done eating BEFORE this!" LOL. That bathtub ep will likely always be the worst! Lol.

I knooowww, I feel so :( for Brennan right now but I'm also completely confident now that she and Booth will get together this season. Hopefully sooner rather than later!

I've got the ep now so I'll be making some icons from it fo shoo! It's too good an ep NOT to heheh :D

[ghanimasun]

Loved your Fringe review. Wish I had something worthwhile to contribute, but just wanted to let you know. I'm already too excited for tonight's episode to think about last week's!

[stargater.livejournal.com]

Thank you for reading it! I can prattle on sometimes for sure :P Can't wait for tonight either, yay!