Fringe - "The Firefly" Recap by Robz888

Welcome back, Fringe fans! There's plenty to be excited about, what with such a terrific episode and terrific ratings news, too.


In case you're reading me for the first time, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Robby "Robz888" Soave; I'm a journalist from Detroit, Michigan, and I will be recapping Fringe for the rest of season 3 (and, in keeping with the renewed hope for the future, season 4). I previously blogged the final season of "Lost" for DarkUFO.

My evolution into a Fringe fanatic ran much the same course as it did for countless other fans. I watched a few episodes of Fringe back when it debuted, but wasn't hooked and soon gave up. Then, over the summer, in the wake of Lost's end, I went looking for something to fill the considerable void. I went back and watched Fringe from the beginning, becoming more interested in it as its first season wore on. I remember thinking after watching the episode "Ability" that this show had something special, but it wasn't until season 2's "Peter" that I was fully committed. Since then, I've adored almost every episode (especially "White Tulip", "Over There", and "The Plateau").

"The Firefly" represented only the third time I've watched an episode the night it aired, having caught up only recently. I don't know if it was the thrill of watching it live, it's Observer-centric qualities, or Christopher Lloyd guest starring, but I loved this episode. Without further ado...


What's that, you ask? Only a snapshot of the Mana Mana Song from "The Muppet Show" (video here), heard as Walter brews his brainpower drug. Walter and The Muppet Show: both appear childish but are actually very intelligent. I see the connection!

In any case, the episode really kicked off with our introduction to a lonely old man in a retirement home. Great Scott! It's Christopher Lloyd! Casting Lloyd in this role was brilliant, as Walter is a tribute of sorts to the great "mad, mostly good-natured scientist" archetype most obviously personified by Doc Brown. So it makes sense that in the Fringe universe, Lloyd's character is someone Walter reveres. Actually, one could make all sorts of parallels between their characters. Doc Brown's meddling with time travel inadvertently brought about much of the mishap over the course of the film trilogy. Just like Walter, he wasn't trying to screw up the universe, and he grows regretful of his great scientific achievements because of the pain they caused. I would even go so far as to suggest that the alternate-1985 in Back to the Future Part II is sort of a symbolic twin of the alternate universe in Fringe, in that it's dark qualities are the inadvertent result of a mad scientist's manipulations.

Returning to the episode, Lloyd (who we will later learn is Roscoe Joyce, a musical idol of Walter's) encounters his son Bobby, who died in a car crash in 1985 (a Delorean, probably). Bobby is on orders from the Observer, who tells him to to let his father know that he must help Walter Bishop. The Observer then tells Bobby he will take him "home".

Since we already knew Bobby was supposed to be dead, I assumed "home" was going to be the alternate reality. I understand now that this doesn't make much sense, since alternate-Bobby, if he is still alive, should be much older than the Bobby we saw. It made sense to me, though, because the Observers do seem to be able to move between the two universes without any problem. Let me recap some of what we presume to know about the Observers. I'm fairly confident that there is only one of each of them--one September (our usual Observer), one August (dead since mid-season 2), one December. We have seen these three on both sides (they went to the movie theatre to watch Back to the Future, of all the things, in the alternate universe), but they were the same people. The September who caused Walternate to screw up finding the cure for Peter in "Peter" is the same September who pulled Walter and Peter out of the ice on our side. So the Observers can move between the two universes without a problem.

Now we know, however, that they can also move through time, and they can bring others through time, though we don't understand to what extent that's possible. Obviously, we don't know much about how far back they go--they appeared in historical events during the nineteenth century or earlier. The month of "August" was so-named in 8 BC, so it's hard to imagine them existing before that. It is strange, though, that they wear the 50s style clothes even when they appear in the nineteenth century; this suggests a specific connection to the 50s. Finally, I would expect, given their names, that there are 12 separate Observers. We have only met four of them (the fourth appeared in the episode "August", though I don't remember his name being said aloud or appearing in the press release).

I wonder if this means time travel will play a bigger role in the show. Time travel as a plot device can be a slippery slope: raising questions like, "Well, if the Observer can do that, why didn't he just go back in time the second that he messed up Walternate finding the cure and fix it?" It will be interesting to see how Fringe balances using both alternate realities and time travel as plot devices--no show could possibly pull that off, right? :)

Having recently watched all of Fringe, two previous episodes held possible clues to the origins of The Observers. One was the season 1 episode "Inner Child"--at the end, September and a pale, bald, psychic feral child exchange an almost-knowing glance. The other was "The Plateau"--super-smart future-predictor Milo does that Observer-esque thing where he says exactly what the other person is about to say. I have a feeling these both may be dead ends, but they are worth reviewing if you're as obsessively interested in the Observer as I am.


There's one other thing I should mention about the Observers. In a recent interview, Anna Torv wondered if they were "the first people" whose number code referred to the coordinates of the pieces for Walternate's device. That's an intriguingly possibility (and one that I'm sure many of you have already thought of).

Back to "The Firefly". When the Observer shows up in security footage, the Fringe Team heads to investigate the case of Roscoe Joyce's reappearing son. In this manner, Walter meets his idol. Roscoe, for his part, is happy to meet a fan, even if he's mostly given up playing since his son died. And he has no idea how he is supposed to "help" Walter.

The Observer shows up again; this time, during a jewel heist. He has no problems handling the robbers, and catches their bullets with ease, as August did last season. The bullet-catching power is awesome, and I'd prefer if our friend leaned on that rather than time travel, because the latter raises too many "well why didn't he just go back and fix that, etc" scenarios (if you've ever watched Heroes, you can groan along with me). September also saves the life of an asthmatic woman, but swipes her inhaler.

Later, September and December discuss Walter. December thinks Walter will fail the test they are preparing for him, while September believes that he is a changed man, and will succeed. "I believe he has changed," September says. This interplay is interesting. The Observers know so much, and can do so much, but there are some things they can't predict with certainty. I thought this debate was about the sincerity of Walter's transformation from a mad scientist who experiments on children to a more a cautious and benevolent person. Instead, it seems they were trying to decide whether Walter would be willing to sacrifice his son for the greater good.

September joins Walter for a stroll through the park, remarking, "You call this autumn? Lovely word." I guess September would be pretty pleased with his name, then.

September explains to Walter that interfering in the natural course of events causes consequence "both obvious and unforeseen." He then relates the story of how Peter, some time after being stolen from the other universe and rescued from the icy lake, caught a firefly and unleashed a chain of events resulting in the death of a pedestrian. Before departing, September warns Walter to "give Peter the keys and save the girl." Later, we learn what all this means.


^Check out those red and blue glasses. They didn't figure into the episode in any significant way, but their symbolic significance is pretty obvious (blue for our universe, red for the other one). This had me wondering what was going on with our friends in the other universe, where coffee is rationed, blimps are in style, and New York taxi drivers are polite and helpful.

Meanwhile, Roscoe is thrilled to have seen his son again. He says, "It was a miracle. Can you imagine that?" Walter responds, "Yes, I can." Beyond all the other similarities I already mentioned these two characters share something else--the love of sons they were forced to part with. The Observer's interferences were involved in both deaths, as well as both "miracle" revivals. I think September, like August, is partly human, and partly sympathetic to the characters. Even if bringing Bobby forward through time was necessary to advance the chain of desired events, September may have felt like it was the right thing to do: helping the broken old man whose son was inadvertently killed because of the manipulation of time.

We learn, of course, that the pedestrian killed as a result of Peter catching a Firefly was none other than Bobby. I didn't see this coming at all, even though it made sense. I was as shocked and horrified as poor Walter. Like the carnage on the other side, these tragedies were not planned by Walter or caused by him deliberately. I feel for him, I really do.

In any case, Walter is convinced that the Observer is trying to kill Peter, perhaps to correct the series of wrongs that stemmed from the decision to save him. And when the time comes for Walter to "give Peter the keys and save the girl," he almost refuses, convinced that it's exactly what September wants. Still, Peter convinces Walter that it's the right thing to do, in part because the future is uncertain. They don't know for certain what will happen if they do "give Peter the keys and save the girl", but they know that not doing this would surely kill her. This goes back to the idea of consequences "both obvious and unforeseen." Walter complies and Peter heads off the Observer.

"It must be very difficult... being a father," September says to Peter. I assume he was talking about Walter, and the line works perfectly well in that context. However, I can't ignore the possibility, no matter how far-fetched, that September was referring to Peter. Yes, it is conceivable that Fauxlivia is pregnant with Peter's child. I actually think Fringe could make this an interesting possibility, but I'm not going to discuss it further until there's a little more evidence.

September blasts Peter with that fun air-gun thing (I can see why the Observers use this weapon; they don't want to kill people, because that can mess up the future), and leaves. Walter is relieved, but what was the point of all of this? That becomes clear when Peter, as a result of banging his head, drinks Walter's brain-enhancing milk concoction and it nearly kills him (it certainly would have killed Walter). So September's whole game was a sort of long con to see if Walter would be willing to let Peter do something that he was confident would get his son killed, but actually ended up saving Walter's life. As September tellls December, "And now we know, when the time comes, he will be willing to do it again." Peter is still in danger, it seems.


Overall, I found "The Firefly" richly rewarding and emotionally resonant, like other Observer-centric episodes "The Arrival" and "August" (which is a little odd, since the Observers themselves are so non-emotional). I didn't mention "If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him," but I also enjoyed Olivia's continuing struggle to accept the fact that another woman impersonated her for weeks and had a romantic relationship with Peter. She knows it isn't Peter's fault, but it still hurts her. This is the major theme of the night. Roscoe echoes it when he says, "They said it wasn't anybody's fault," referring to the car accident that killed Bobby. And it wasn't, really. Even if Walter and September caused the chain of events that killed Bobby, or damaged the alternate reality, it wasn't done deliberately, or with malice.

And yet bad things happen, even when there is no one to blame. Consequences, both obvious and unforeseen.

Episode Grade: A

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Until Friday,

- Robby "Robz888" Soave