Fringe - 3.13 Immortality Review by A.D.Harris

The week that people had been waiting for has come. After speculation began to mount a few weeks ago on the potentially head-scratching/mouth-watering (depending on your own personal opinion) plot that Fauxlivia may just be carrying Bishop Jr Jr. everyone was marking the return to Over There as the week that all would be revealed.
Aside from that particular plot point, I was really looking forward to heading over there as the last few weeks in our world had gotten a little disjointed and lacked the solid structure of the episodes we got before Christmas. A fresh change to let the definitive Sci-Fi of current TV re-adjust itself and begin to build some end-of-season momentum.
Therefore what can be said about Immortality? Any justice in the world would mean that people watching the episode could say that the show really is that good that it deserves Immortality, yet when the ratings emerged on Saturday, it sadly is merely mortal and as usual Fringe fans have more to fear from FOX executives over here than Olivia and co. have to fear from over there.
Regardless it was a hum-dinger of an episode...
OBSERVER ALERT:

...fast paced, original, gross, funny, thrilling, suspenseful and for the first time in a few weeks it was an episode with a strong, structured through-line, the story of the week craftily tying into the main mythology in such a way that without the spoilers having surfaced beforehand, it would have been a twist to match such genius as LOST so often pulled out of its hatch.
Focusing on the character of the week, we had Armaud Silva as the tragic anti-hero, a scientist so blinded by his attempts to help cure a deadly disease that he lost sight of the boundaries that morals put upon his science. You cannot even begin an argument to say that virtually every other scientist in the show thus far has followed the same path: Walter, Walternate, Bell, Brandon & Nina have all lost sight of what is good in the search for knowledge at some point. This cunning play by the writers to let us see someone we don't know as a villain whilst possessing the traits of many of our heroes was subtle and poignant; sadly the lack of Walter acknowledging this meant that some may have missed it, but I'm sure any die-hard fan will have applauded its simple complexity.

Of course a lack of Walter meant plenty of Walternate, and I continue to be disappointed and under-whelmed by John Noble's second creation; I find Walternate dull, nasty and to possess no likeable or interesting qualities. Because of this I feel that the Over There episodes miss Walter much more than they do Peter, and it's a problem that worries me as I often find the episodes over there lack the emotional pull that our here ones have.
Thankfully, the writers are learning about the two things a Walter-No-Show episode needs, humour and emotion, and they have found ways to bring it out alternatively.
Firstly the humour comes from the Lincoln, Fauxlivia and Charlie relationship, so light, natural and breezy to watch on screen that it always knocks my socks off. Lincoln is a work of genius and the more we're getting of him the better he becomes; the main question remaining is what the hell is he upto in our world? Charlie, as he always was for me is brilliant, adding dramatic depth and dark comedy to his scenes that the majority of season two suffered from in his absence.

Then we come to Fauxlivia, a character who has had me back and too all season, murdering the deaf brother in 'The Box' made me hate her, her 'Vagenda' to fool Peter at first appears manipulative and wicked but as time has gone on we've been given just as complex a character as Olivia is. I'm beginning to love her like I do Oliva. Last episode our Dunham called Fauxlivia a better version of herself but it is now plain to see Fauxlivia possesses many faults just as Olivia does. Anna Torv is fast emerging as the stand-out actor/actress of the entire series as she for me is the only one thus far to create great characters in both universes; Walternate is underwhelming, Alt-Brandon isn't a scratch on Brandon and Alt-Astrid is annoying when compared to ours. Broyles perhaps has been the only one to come close to grabbing me on both sides, in some respects Alt-Broyles had more emotional pull in the few episodes he had than Broyles has managed in three seasons.

But back to Fauxlivia, it became clear as the hour wore on that Frank (who has proven a worthy addition to the series) was not the man for her, and as the relationship continued through lies and covering the holes, it was obvious that it was going to break by hours end.
And break it did, the twist smacking us (and Frank) in the teeth, when Silva lied about injecting her with the killer-worms leading to the unveiling of the fact that Fauxlivia is soon to be a parent with Peter. I am of course, cautious to declare the plot-line an immediate success; there are many fears that this decision by the writers could be sloppy and also lead to no happy ending for Olivia and Peter being together. It's a dangerous move, but I'm excited to see how they tackle it, I feel there is a lot of darkness to come because of it before the season ends. I'm not sure that the baby will ever be born at all. A part of me feels that should Peter decline to destroy our world, Fauxlivia may sacrifice herself to avoid Walternate using her child for the same fate. Sure, it's dark stuff, but it would be epic nonetheless.
Other points from the episode I loved were the scene between Charlie and the Bug Girl who has a crush on him because of the spiders roaming around his bloodstream, another example of how Fringe takes things and just messes them up gloriously.

Also the return of the gore was great, it's been a while since we've had some Fringie-Blood and it added to the episodes eeriness, and of course the final battle scene as Lincoln founds himself trapped in a freezer and Fauxlivia tied to a chair was as suspenseful as Fringe has been in a long while.
All in all, the episode was a huge step up from the past few weeks, a strong plot, structured through-line, wickedly brilliant inter-plot connection and great character development for Fauxlivia and Lincoln; it felt so fresh and clever that most of the disappointments were forgotten.
That being said, Walternate continues to really damage the episodes he's in, I find myself bored watching him and this is the main reason why I can't quite call 'Immortality' perfect.
So we may be having a Fringe baby, the obvious questions emerging being what will happen with this new Peter/Fauxlivia creation, and perhaps more importantly, will FOX give us the chance to find out...


Oh, and to answer a Question asked earlier this season... Do Shapeshifters Dream of Electric Sheep? I Doubt It, They Dream of Real Ones.

9/10

Adam

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My Other Fringe Season 3 Reviews Are Here:
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
3.11 Reciprocity
3.12 Concentrate & Ask Again
3.13 Immortality