Fringe - 3.10 - The Firefly Review by A.D.Harris

It' been a long month for Fringe fans. Not only were we waiting with bated breath to find out exactly what was going to happen next, but the worries over the 'Fringe Friday' move and whether the show will last on it's new, and traditionally less successful timeslot. It is perhaps fitting that in our world and the world of the show, things look very dark, gloomy and foreboding; a nice and perhaps not unintended shout out to a previously Friday-Cancelled show 'Firefly' in the title of Fringe's returning episode.
I see exactly why the executives at FOX picked 'The Firefly' as the returning beacon with which to test the foggy waters of a 'Fringe Friday.' It had great elements to advertise, the return of 'The Observer,' Back To The Future's Christopher Lloyd locking horns with John Noble in a mad scientist mash up and useful promotional material footage of Peter getting shot, car crashes, chase scenes & Walter wearing blue and red spectacles.

I was definitely very, very excited, and perhaps it was this coupled with the fact that I've been waiting for the episode for so long that I found the episode not as compelling and satisfying as I had hoped.
I feel maybe the hands of time and a re-watch in a few weeks may rectify this, but for now there were several things that disappointed me. As good as Christopher Lloyd's Roscoe Joyce was, I found the use of his character in the episode to be quite average; perhaps nothing more than a symbol for Walter to understand what his actions have cost our own side on top of the damage he as inflicted 'over there.' That being said, a great scene where Walter explains to Joyce that his son was brought from the past to see him, to which he responds 'Wild!' was quite a brilliant moment. And talk about a subtle, cheeky storyline that feels very 'Back to the Future.'
The episode however, without a doubt was really all about one man who...
OBSERVER ALERT: (Like you missed him :P)

...was everywhere today, Michael Cerveris given another rare chance to flesh out 'September,' getting involved in fights, car crashes and lengthy conversations as the man underneath the Fedora. My favourite scene of the episode was his explanation to Walter about the titular 'Firefly' and how the effects Walter had on saving Peter had led to the death of Joyce's son. It was a great scene for understanding more on what The Observer was trying to do; what initially seemed to be course correction was in fact an experiment to see if Walter could let his son die if the such a moment comes. It was an elaborate and fun plan to watch, weaving itself around in ways only Fringe knows how to do, but at times the storyline lacked the tight thread it tried so hard to hold and left moments like Peter choking on Walter's milk serum or Walter being able to reach the Asthma Girl is time as more lucky than a set up.
The most disappointing part of the episode for me was the lack of creepy, eeriness which Fringe usually never fails to offer. The pre-credits sequence was perhaps the most dull I've seen so far in all Fringe episodes and the only really spine-chilling moment was when Peter repeated the Observers message of "Give me the keys & save the girl." It was these little moments that 'The Firefly' lacked.
Anna Torv was brilliant as usual, and I enjoyed the relationship development that happened between her and Peter around the book he bought for her. It was a nice touch when Peter said that he bought the book for the person he had spent the last three years with, and it actually wasn't Peter trying to blag his way into Dunham's good books, it was the truth; and as such, it worked brilliantly.

Joshua Jackson & John Noble were also as strong as ever, Peter given an intruiging moment when he caught up with September when 'The Observer' says "It's must be difficult... being a father." Is there more to this than meets the eye. Peter's question just before this is "What's going to happen to me?" All I will say is watch this space.
So just what did we get from 'The Firefly.' Peter needs to die seems to be what the Observers believe is the case, and now Walter is capable of letting such a thing happen. We know that the Observer's are working towards something that they know is coming, even if they don't necessarily know the outcome of the event. September today stated that there are many possibilities and he cannot know which is the real outcome; Does this mean that perhaps the Observer's are looking for the world where the outcome is what they desire, in relation to whatever it is that they think is coming. Normally they just observe, but now they truly have gotten involved in our world, in a sense they are trying to influence something. I feel it's still too early to even guess, and we have too little information to understand who they are, but one things for sure. If they want us all dead they are very good at hiding it :P
The other storyline revolves around Walter trying to find out what William Bell took from his head all those years ago, and I feel it's only certain that he will find the way to do it, and that shit will hit the fan as a result, but that is a story for another day. The fact that the writers continue to bring it up suggest strongly that there's more than just 'how to build a doorway to another world' in those pieces of missing brain. He did know something else, and boy is he going to need it.

Also disappointing is that Nina appears to have disappeared entirely from the storyline, she's missed six episodes straight and for such an important character it'd be nice to have her back at some point.
So Fringe returned, and it's back on good form, if not stellar. I'm a huge Observer fan and I loved his role in 'The Firefly' but I felt let down by the looseness of the plot that the show usually excells in. If you can understand what I mean here, it lacked the White Tulip through the letter box, or the killed Alt-Broyles inside the Ambulance. I do intend a re-watch to see if in retrospect I'm being too harsh, but I didn't get that satisfaction from the whole story, it was missing the killer wow.
If I was to help you understand, I'd say "Imagine Peter caught a firefly. I could not have known he would do that, or that because he did a young girl three miles away would not. And so later that night, she would continue looking, trying to find another one. I could not have known that when she did not come home, her father would go out looking for her, driving in the rain, so that when the traffic light turned red, his truck skidded through the intersection at harvard yard...and then continued onwards."


7.5/10

Adam

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Fringe Season Three Reviews:
3.01 Olivia
3.02 The Box
3.03 The Plateau
3.04 Do Shapeshifters Dream of Electric Sheep?
3.05 Amber 31422
3.06 6995 kHz
3.07 The Abducted
3.08 Entrada
3.09 Marionette
3.10 The Firefly