Fringe: Entrada

Loved this episode. In fact, I’ve loved every episode of Fringe this season. It has simultaneously become the show I want to watch and write about more than any other show on television. While not directly related to this episode, I feel the need to lament FOX’s decision to move Fringe to Fridays. I’ve watched a lot of terrific programing die at FOX on Friday (Terminator: TSCC and Firefly spring to mind) and I hope that Fringe can somehow dodge that bullet.

Broyles was the star of this episode and it cost the character his life. I know I’ve said this before but you really have to commend Fringe on the creative direction it has taken. In what other fictional universe can you kill a character, then have that character lay himself to rest, all while somehow feeling the impact of his death? I spent my last post going on and on about what a good man Broyles was innately, genetically and it was his goodness that got him killed.

Brandon the scientist took a dark turn. Even Walternate seemed initially shocked with Brandon’s thought process, though he did eventually approve of it. If Broyles is innately a good soul what does that say for Brandon? Even Folivia for all the innocent murdering she did on this side seemed to really have warmed to Peter and wanted to do right by him.

Olivia does not give herself enough credit for escaping her very own hell dimension. Sure an apparition of Peter gave her the strength she needed to find her way out of mental prison, but it could have manifested as anyone, her niece would have been just as believable for the viewer. Admittedly not nearly as emotionally fulfilling or appropriate/inappropriate considering what/who Peter was doing. On an unrelated note, Walter’s discomfort with the Peter/Folivia relationship was extremely endearing.

If Broyles was able to trust Olivia and sacrifice himself to bring peace between dimensions, how long will it take before Folivia does the same? I’ll assume that she will take his place in the big chair now that she is privy to knowledge of the other side that no one else in Fringe Division possesses. I wonder what Walternate will tell Fringe Division about the death of Broyles. Most likely he’ll tell the team that Broyles bravely died in a Fringe event while reserving the really good lie for Folivia. Walternate will tell her that Olivia killed him.