This has been a long time in the making, and I can only apologise for the tardiness of my review of Fringe's 18th episode of it's third season; Bloodline. The fantastic news of Fringe's renewal for season four around the time that the show took a trip over there to delve deeper into the mythology of Fauxlivia and her new baby bump saw all the fans take a huge sigh of relief and sit back and watch the action unfold fear-free.
Bloodline is one of Fringe's strongest episodes this season. Bold, brave, crazy and quirky whilst also being emotional, character-driven, fast paced and creepy, Bloodline was there with perfect timing to tell us that we do care about the doppel-gangers from across the universal-plain. Throughout this season we have despised Fauxlivia for using Peter and making him look a fool, we have snorted at Walternate that he could be so cold and despicable as well as having our heart-strings tugged when Alt-Broyles was so tragically murdered/ripper apart in the Entrada swapsies of Agent's Dunham.
All in all, on paper we should be viewing these 'strangers' as our enemies, but the writing is too good for that. For every bad smirk that Walternate shows there's Lincoln Lee fighting for good and for every deathly-experiment that Alt-Brandon dreams up there is a Henry the taxi driver fighting for what is right.
Then comes the masterclass. Fauxlivia was evil around the point when she returned back to her side, but over the small snippets we've had of her since, and the lots of screen-time she was given in 'Immortality' the writers have been softening up our opinions of her, showing us the ideals of the world she lives in and the people she surrounds herself with to impact how we view her.
Then, in Bloodline she is kidnapped, tortured, left for dead and then has to watch her newly-conceived child grow inside her within minutes. Through all the action and tense moments, we forgot who we were watching and when Lincoln held her in his arms seemingly dead it happened.
That lump in your throat, or in my mothers case a shout out of "No" that scared me to death. But I realised that without even knowing it I did care that she lived. I'm on her side as well, and the smile on Lincoln's face when she comes round was how you were supposed to be feeling. Talk about genius... the creators of this show have effectively, realistically and brilliantly made us care about something we hate.
I can't help but feel this is vital for the seasons conclusion, why else would they devote a full forty minutes to one idea. I'm hedging my bets on the new baby being vital for the machines operation now that Peter has declared his allegiance to our side. He does contain that vital Bishop Jr. DNA.
The twist at the end of Bloodline was one which perhaps solved the mysteries of who her kidnappers were. For a while I believed they were a group of people we hadn't encountered before, along the lines of the team that David Robert Jones put together in season one, but then Alt-Brandon received the DNA sample from one of the kidnappers and passed it along to Walternate. The logical explanation from what we saw was that Walternate feared that his grandson would be aborted due to the Dunham genetic condition of Eclampsia which usually leaves the mother and child dead. This would perhaps hint at some form of compassion in that he wants his grandson alive, but then it also leaves you to assume that he needs the baby alive rather than the fact that he cares about it. Walternate is a real enigma, it's so difficult to get inside his head; more often than not he annoys me and I find him to be a weaker character than our Walter but as time goes on it's beginning to intrigue me and so perhaps I am warming to him.
One thing worth mentioning about the episode was the fact that we saw sped-up pregnancies before in Fringe's second episode ever, 'The Same Old Story' where Walter said it was develops by himself in order to create soldiers. How ironic that Walternate has used a similar method to create his own super soldier; a super soldier who possesses his greatest weapon. The power to operate the machine... We are well aware that Claus Penrose who was one of the men who developed this technology escaped back in season one. He has not shown up since but I urge you to keep an eye out for his grey crazy hair and beard in the future.
I thought one of the episodes strongest scenes was the moment when Lincoln and Charlie discussed the fact that they were 'out of the loop' and I really got a sense that Walternate's team are beginning to turn against him. Both Lincoln and Charlie have been strong points to the alternate world, and I really hope that in the future they help our world stop the mad-man who intends to become 'destroyer of worlds.' Kirk Acevedo has gotten himself an even better character than he had before, and this way he gets some time off as well :P
A negative I had were that I find Marilyn Dunham a bit of a snooze-fest and not at all interesting to watch on screen. Surely there has to be some point to including her this season, but at the moment I'm struggling to look forward to any of her scenes. I vote end of season casualty.
And that leaves Bloodline in the past, and a review of the animated crazy trip that is Lysergic Acid Diethylamide which will be with you all tomorrow. As The...
OBSERVER ALERT:
...Observer so rightly stated, I shall promise. "It is Happening."
9/10
Twitter: @AdDHarris
Adam
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