Saturday, October 13, 2012

Fringe: Season 5 Episode 3 - The Recordist


Hello Fringe fanatics and history buffs!  We're here to discuss episode 3 of our final Fringe season.  I have to say, I'm not getting very excited to recap this episode.  It was quite a bizarre episode and with the exception of some great Walter quotes, it felt very un-"Fringe"-like to me.  I'm willing to give them a mulligan though.  They've told some pretty consistent quality stories for 3 straight seasons and change.  I'm definitely feeling a change of pace to this season with going for straight mythology episodes for the entire season.  And, I'm sure what they achieved by the end of the episode will no doubt be important but it was a tad painful getting there.  We'll, see what I can come up with in the recap below!

Recap
I'm probably going to breeze through this recap and get right to the important stuff we can get out of the episode.  Basically, Walter found Betamax Video #3 in his amberized lab which provided coordinates to a location in Northern Pennsylvania (but apparently south of Scranton).  What they found there were these crazy Tree People who looked like they had been assimilated by some kind of NATURE'S Borg.



  

The Tree People had been exposed to some crazy Observer Gas, similar to what can be found in Central Park in 2036.  I could be a little off on these details but something tells me it won't matter!  But, these exposed people remain in the area because they are determined to capture and preserve the history of the world and of man.  They are very familiar with the Fringe Team and consider them heroes who stayed and fought the invaders (Observers).   The set and their history cube display felt very much like FOX had to recoup some of the expenses of the Terra Nova experiment and forced FRINGE to reuse some set pieces and plot ideas.  It was also brought to my attention that the data cubes are very reminiscent of Jedi storing techniques in the prequel days.  ("I don't like sand.  It's rough, coarse, irritating and it gets everywhere!"  Nothing like getting a callback to Attack of the Clones to brighten your Saturday morning!) 
Welcome to Terra Nova! 

The main people we dealt with were Edwin Massey (who has been a guest star on various Sci-Fi shows like Alcatraz and V and also a minor role in the latest Star Trek reboot.  Translation: seems like he's on JJ Abrams's payroll)  and his son River.  River is a huge Fringe buff and even asked for autographs from Peter and Olivia.  

Astrid kept trying to decode parts of the video to help the Fringe team on location.  I don't know why I thought it was funny that cell phones still work in this apocalyptic future.  Are there Observers working for AT&T and Verizon (And Sprint of course, this is Fringe after all!) in the future and making sure those towers keep operating?  I might just be confusing this apocalyptic future with that of Revolution's where no power exists at all!  Anyway, Astrid discovered that they needed to go to a mine to get whatever they needed.  


There apparently is some magical rock in the mines that involved some acquaintance of Walter's named Donald.  Since Walter's memory is in shambles, he had no idea who this guy was.  Anyway, the mine was very dangerous and seemed to be the root of the problem with this skin fungus the tree people are dealing with.   There was some mention of an enemy camp not far by that had access to the rocks, but in the end this seemed like a diversion for Edwin to sacrifice himself to get the rocks.  He decided that it was time to make history instead of collecting it.  And he proved to be a hero to his son.  



That's pretty much the gist of it, right?  They got the rocks and they escaped without getting TOO exposed to that skin stuff.  The observers were on to them too, but they found a way to avoid capture by swapping cars.   We'll dive more into some analysis of the episode and some of the more important moments below. 



Observ'er'ations
Glyph Code: ANGER - Hmm, so we have Doubt, Faith and Anger as our 3 glyphs this season so far. So if Doubt and Faith are kind of opposites, will Happy be next week's?   Or will Anger lead to Hate which we know leads to the Dark side?  Thanks Fringepedia for the screenshot! 
Observer Spotted: Widmark and crew were hunting the Fringe team this episode. 


Walterisms:
  • Walter finding a bag of weed, taking a big sniff and opting to not go on the drive to PA.  Classic! 
  • Walter smoking up on Video #3 before giving his instructions.  "I had a prescription   It was medicinal"  Priceless! 

  • Walter complaining of a blood clot for not being able to stretch his legs in Scranton on the road trip.  (Sidenote: at least they referred to the long drive this week!) 
  • Walter citing a 1923 mine collapse in Peru where the trapped people had to start eating the dead to survive.  


Food of the Week:
  • Grape Licorice again! 

  • Apple Pills - yum! 


Theories/Discussion Points:
  • We got some updates on what happened to the Fringe division and the world through article headlines in the Cube Room.  And hey, look at that.  Broyles is still on this show!   Fringe team sanctioned to police natives. Special Division of FBI (i.e. Fringe) called up to fight invaders,  Oxygen levels reaching new lows, thousands of libraries burned to the ground.   And of course, "Original Fringe Team Presumed Dead".   We learn from this episode that the Fringe team sort of hit the mainstream once the Observers came to town in full force.   River even created comics of the Fringe team.  





  • We get some more background on the rift between Peter and Olivia, spawned by the apple pills.  Peter recalled some Apple Pie they had while searching for Etta.  We were reminded of Olivia's photographic memory in this episode but she kept telling Peter she couldn't remember the name of the place where they got it.  The reason was because she was trying to forget it.  That was the day she chose to give up on Etta and decide to fight the Observers.  She assumed she was dead and always felt that she was destined to do something other than raise a child, even though that is what she always wanted.  She blamed it possibly on the cortexiphan trials.  (wait a sec, I thought in this rebooted timeline, she didn't get dosed with cortexiphan until 2012 when Meana/Bell/Jones were injecting her with it?   Sure, she has memories of the trials since she remembers the original timeline but...oh whatever, if they want to pretend season 4's timeline never happened, more power to them!)    Anyway, Peter tried to encourage Olivia and tell her she's not a bad parent.  And that he can tell how much she loved/loves her daughter.  He talked about how they were given a second chance here.   More to come on this conflict. 

  • Still no Nina and only a still shot in a newspaper archive of Broyles.   I know it's only been three episodes, but I thought surely we'd see them by now.  Maybe it's too much time in hair and make-up to get them dolled up for every episode of this future Fringe-land!  (you know, since they've aged)  
  • So, who is Donald?  I have no idea, but it seems like someone we're going to run into or learn more about at some point.  We should just keep our ears and eyes open for that name! 

Sorry to be a downer on this episode if anyone really enjoyed it!  But, we all know that it's rare for me to not be too excited about an episode.  So, I was due.  I'm sure that in the scheme of things this episode will hold some importance.  But, let's all admit that even by Fringe's standards this one was just weird! Anyway, hopefully you guys caught some stuff I didn't so I'll be more than happy for you to change my mind on the episode.  Let's get to the discussion!  Don't forget The Walking Dead premieres on Sunday and we'll continue our Revolution recapping after Monday's ep!  There's no Fringe next week due to MLB playoffs.  And just a heads up, the first couple weeks of November are going to be rough for recapping for me.  So, we might be getting some "catch up discussion posts" on the days following those episodes.   Sometimes life has to take precedence, right!?   Anyway, hope you enjoyed my ramblings and I'll see you in a couple weeks! 


21 comments:

AUStarwars said...

oh whatever, if they want to pretend season 4's timeline never happened, more power to them."

Weak. U know they wrote themselves into a corner now where the other seasons will make no sense...cough LOST season 5 and 6 cough..but I hope they work it out so that over there and the other seasons matter...weak eps overall

Ur welcome for the Jedi holocron references ;-). Glad to help with nerd refs lol

Anonymous said...

I can't say I disagree with you Mike. This show seemed light on revelations and results.

Cellphones - you'd think the Observers could track them by cellphone. The cops can do it today so you'd think the Observers would be all over it.

The bad tape quality. You'd think they could use all their high-tech equipment to see what's on the tape instead of rewinding, adjust tracking, replay. They gotten information off of burned hard-drives, dead people's minds, but betamax must be more difficult.

I won't even go into the cortexiphan child experiments. I didn't remember it being established that they never happened in the new time line but you are probably right.

My original theory was that retrieving the rocks were what they needed Bell's hand for. So much for that.

I would have felt better if they had used this episode to fill us in more on what happened in the 20+ years since 2012 but it seemed like a lot of stalling in this episode.

I will have to watch it again becaues I didn't find any interesting observations in this ep. It seemed pretty straight forward. For all the advanced "powers" that the Observers seemed to have in the past, they don't seem to have them now. Apparently, they can only see all possible futures from timelines prior to their own present timeline because now they don't seem to have a clue.

I'll still say it's a great sci-fi show but I will be surprised if this one ends up on anyone's greatest episodes list.

Bill B

Curt Sminkey said...

I'm probably just merely stating the obvious here, but given the nature of the show I'm guessing defeating the Observers involves some sort of time travel and this will all be rebooted again so Edwin lives (and anyone else who risks their life for the Fringe team) and Olivia/Peter raise Etta as a child.

Is this when Peter and Walter were supposed to go back in time and be labeled the "First People"? Or am I getting story lines mixed up?

Mike V. said...

@AUSW
Yes, thank you for the Jedi Holocron reference. lol Totally slipped my mind! As for the season 4 timeline. I was being sarcastic with my line. I keep hoping they're going to address that mess. They had been so good previously at tying everything together nicely. But then when season 4 hit, they just didn't explain a lot of stuff that I'm hoping they do. Time Travel that rewrites timelines will do that. Hence, why LOST stuck with the "whatever happened happened" logic. And btw, I totally disagree that the final 2 seasons of LOST don't make sense in the full scheme of the show. I encourage you to complete a rewatch of the show and see how much of it connected pretty well (or well enough).

@Bill

Good point on the cell phones. I was thinking that too. Surely, they'd be tracking the calls. It seemed like Astrid was adjusting something on the tapes. How else would Walter's words have become more clear with each playback? Unless they were just stressing the point that astrid was understanding it more each time. lol

You could be right that they still experimented on the children with cortexiphan in the rewritten timeline. But, then why were they injecting Olivia with cortexiphan to get it back in her system? It would have already been there. It gets a little confusing. I still don't know why there were 2 Nina's and why Jones/maybe Bell were aware of Olivia's original past. I kept thinking we were going to find out they were invaders from another timeline. I really hope they clear up that mess! But, I'm feeling like they're not going to.


Good point on the Observers not being able to "observe" anymore since this timeline is something they have never explored. They have probably totally destroyed the future where they come from.

@Curt

That's kind of how I have seen this season playing out too. Maybe it's too obvious based on how other seasons have gone down. So, we'll see!

As for the FIRST PEOPLE thing. You're getting your TIMELINES mixed up not story lines! lol The First People are from the timeline that precedes our first FRINGE timeline (aka seasons 1-3). Peter was given a vision of the future to see that they should NOT destroy the Red Universe. Future Walter's plan in that timeline was to create the machine and send it back through the prehistoric wormhole to be retrieved by the original versions of Walter, Olivia, and Peter that we know. So Peter CHANGES the timeline by merging the 2 worlds and causing himself to exist no more. (only to reappear out of LOVE lol) So technically, the machine doesn't have to be built again because it was built in that other future timeline that created a new timeline which was our original FRINGE timeline which created another new timeline which technically should be the timeline we're in right now. Time is no longer a straight line! lol And, for Fringe, it basically never was!

Clear as mud, right?

Anonymous said...

Mike,
If there weren't cortexiphan trials in the new timeline and if Olivia hadn't been "special" with regards to the results of the trials, why would they have used her in the new time line? If that were the case, as far as they knew, the probability that she would respond to cortexiphan any better than a random schmuck they picked up off the street would be the same.

And I am still not convinced that the machine and the first people concepts won't tie back into the final outcome. The writers have said that everything that happened in previous seasons will be important in these final episodes. Once again, the machine was still there at the end of Season 4. As it stands right now, in this time line, there is a machine that exists that was built by no one. One of the more blatant paradoxes on the show.

One of the reasons I liked this show for the first three years was that is was very deep science fiction that did not rely on time travel. To me time travel has been done to death by Hollywood and it allows sloppy writing - in that the writer doesn't have to tie everything up and paradoxes are considered OK.

I'm still pissed off at the Abrahms Star Trek reboot - it means that future Star Trek adventures can disregard all past mythology and events that we hardcore fans spent 40 years learning. As a fan it feels lie I spent 40 years getting a PHD in Star Trek history and then having what you learned totally invalidated. That frees writers up from having to deal with the constraints and boundaries that previous writers have set. It makes their job much easier.

Bill B

Mike V. said...

The machine CAME from the "previous timeline". You're thinking too linearly! lol The only reason for its existence was the fact that it was created in that FIRST pre-fringe timeline. Same concept with the Star Trek reboot. Everything that happened in that original timeline...STILL happened. Future Spock still existing with all of his knowledge of the original timeline is proof of that. This "reboot" timeline just branched off and started a new timeline where there are new stakes. But it didn't erase the adventures of the previous timeline's characters. That's kind of like how this FRINGE story works. every timeline leads to the next timeline...so they ALL happened and bring us to what season 5 is now. I could be totally off on this, but that's always how I viewed the Fringe Time Travel (Star Trek reboot time travel). Anyway, the thing that always perplexed me about the machine is not that it was there....that everyone knew the worlds were merged but never questioned WHO merged them. The machine was built to work with Peter (and still seemed to be that way in the rebooted timeline) yet no one remembered his existence and didn't question why the machine was there. lol

Cortexiphan trials - You see...that's why I feel like Nina/Jones/Bell had knowledge of PREVIOUS Olivia's "specialness" and the cortexiphan trials. There was just something that felt unexplained there. I'll have to go back to the s4 recaps to see what happened in this "new" timeline.

I think time travel, to an extent, has always been at play with FRINGE. The fact that 2 universes existed is proof of that. The big difference between the 2 universes was different decisions at certain points in time which caused 2 "timelines" so to speak. When Water explained multiple dimensions he made many references to time. There were also time travel related episodes with WHITE TULIP (robocop's episode to travel back and die with his wife) and the episode with Christopher Lloyd where we see September bringing Christopher Lloyd's son through time or something like that. It's always been present.

I think Time Travel doesn't ALWAYS lead to sloppy writing...there's just a big risk with it when it's done. I thought LOST handled time travel excellently because they stuck to the "Whatever Happened Happened" rule. And the Back to the Future trilogy (mainly the first movie) did an amazing job with dotting i's and crossing t's. Much easier in movies than keeping it running on a TV show. I saw LOOPER too and thought they did a great job with it as well.

I'm not going to tell you how to feel about this stuff, but I would just recommend thinking about it from a different angle! Time Travel isn't always invalidating everything that happened before it! lol

But I do hope Fringe cleans up the mess they made last season.

MJ said...

I feel ya about this ep. I'm on the run today and was going to read your recap later and just comment - but I had trouble recalling what the heck happened. I'm wondering if this whole 'recoroding history' will be important when/if they go back and change the future. I didn't get the Terra Nova vibe - guess I've already forgotten what it looked like . LOL Firefly had a girl named River (Summr Glau) - wonder if that was a call out ?!? Funny on the phones - you'd think that the phones would at least look different. BUt with limited time to close the story I'm guessing they weren't bothering with that kind of stuff. The tree people were kinda sad, as was Olivia thinking she was not meant to have a child. My thoughts on Nina/Broyles is budgetary - they're keeping them til they really are applicable to a story and keeping down the payroll.

Heading over to TWD caue OH MY FREAKING GOD ;-D

Anonymous said...

Yes Mike, I know I am trying to apply linear locic to something that isn't linear.

I agree that Back To The Future was probably one of the best time travel stories of them all.

One last point. There is no doubt that there were cortexiphan trials in this timeline because all the cortexiphan "kids" were being used to start the quakes at the end of Season 4.

Meanwhile I will try to leave my linear thinking on the curb.

Bill B

Mike V. said...

@MJ

Yeah, I've thought the same on Nina/Broyles too when it comes to budget/payroll. I'm sure they'll be in the season at some point! the Terra Nova vibe may have just been me and my bad attempt at a joke. But the whole "recorded history" story was on Terra Nova also with their super computer. I think they called it THE EYE or something like that. Yeah, true on the phones looking the same. Of course, I don't think the Observers are all about advancing technology for the common folk, so it could be realistic that they're using 2012/2015 style phones. But if that were the case, I just don't know if they really would still be operational! lol

Could have been a Firefly reference with the name River. I can't imagine there are too many characters or people in the world named River, so that would make sense.

You could be right on the "recorded history" maybe playing a role in some time alterations. Or it could play a role in restoring the world to what it once was before the observers. (if they don't meddle with time)

@Bill

Okay, as long as we agree there! lol (on linear AND Back to the Future. lol)

Ahhh yes, the cortexi-kids. Good point! I don't doubt that there were trials. I think I doubted that Olivia was part of them. Her whole history was different. She killed her step-dad. I felt like Walter and Olivia really didn't meet until she got him out of the mental hospital. (that was the case the first time around too but then she started remembering things that were blocked out.) I'm going to have to read those first few recaps to see what I was saying then. I'll report back! lol

Feel free to keep thinking linearly! It helps me try and remember the details of the show and if there are any plot holes (which it seems more and more there will be in the end).

Mike V. said...

Found this in my season 4 episode 4 "Subject 9" recap:

"The Cortexiphan trials seemed to have gone down a little differently as well. Olivia explains the trials to Astrid (who wasn't aware of them yet. Difference!) and Walter and Bell had the same goals in mind. Unleash children's inner abilities before they are socialized out of them. But apparently, the doses they were given were supposed to be small enough that the abilities they portrayed were only temporary. Subject 9 had side effects but Olivia claimed to never have had side effects.

Olivia also said she had not encountered any other cortexiphan subjects. We have been encountering them for 3 seasons in the original timeline! "

So, I guess they got less intense doses. Not that they didn't happen before. That would explain why Olivia needed more. But it wouldn't explain why Jones and Meana appeared to have knowledge of Olivia's past timeline when they abducted her. Hence, why I thought they were invaders from another timeline. lol I guess I'll have to drop that until they say otherwise though! lol

Anonymous said...

Yes Mike, everything will make sense and be resolved if in the final episode Doc Brown pulls up in the DeLorean. LOL..

Bill B

Mike V. said...

"Of course it's erased. Because your future isn't written yet. No one's is! So make the best of it....BOTH OF YA!" - Doc Brown's worst line of the trilogy and also potential ending of FRINGE. lol

Anonymous said...

The show has so many layers (some of which conflict) that some(or a lot) of the fun of watching and keeping up with the "rules/past" seems a waste of time unless you believe they will tie it up(finale) taking into account all story lines.

We've seen basically 3 Peter's now(2 different worlds and one "created" by love--the original "our world version" died young), unless I've lost count and so to some extent--who cares. Because it is possible the writers may finish the storyline as if 1 or 2 of the first Peter's never existed.

I haven't been diligent in keeping up so, quickly please if you don't mind--is Billy's "new world" still a possibility?

Richard

MJ said...

Grimm: I knew Juliette was dreaming ! Too good to be true. And Juliette was positively giddy when she met Renard - no surprise something would be up with those two after seeing that cut scene last week. But very Shining-esque with Renard typing her name over and over. Happy to see Adalind back - even thought she's lost her inner Wesen she's still a good baddie. Hank in the trailer was great ! Glad Nick told him the truth that Monroe killed that guy and saved hank. Kinda knew it was the daughter too once they showed the mom. Heard this little girl was on Revolution this week - but havent' seen that yet. Monroe was too funny when that clock bought it ! LOL

Mike V. said...

@Richard - Totally agree with you. I had the feeling that this Fringe team was planning to tie up all loose ends. But, with the way season 4 went and where season 5 is going it just seems like it's going to be really difficult to do so now. But, maybe that's all by design.

3 Peters - Hmmm....I think Alt Universe Peter and the one who "re-emerged from love" are the same Peter (our Main Peter). But then there is Blue-World Peter who died young. And there was future 2024 First People Peter who Our Main Peter "OBSERVED" in the future...seeing the repercussions of destroying the Red World. Our Peter went back to the present and bridged the 2 worlds causing himself to disappear, but re-emerge eventually. Actually, I think there are less versions of Peter than any other character on the show. lol

Bell's new world. Hmmm, good question. I really need to rewatch the season 4 finale, but I'm pretty sure when he disappeared he mentioned that "this wasn't over" or something like that. we also know Walter and Bell were in some sort of heated debate when they were ambered in 2015. There's a chance that this Observer-ruled world might exist due to the help of William Bell. Not sure about that though. I guess anything is still a possibility. Depends where they want to take the show in its final hours.

@MJ - Didn't watch Grimm yet! Only the first 10 minutes or so. lol

Mike V. said...

GRIMM - I actually didn't realize Juliette was dreaming until she said "it's time to wake up" lol But I should have known since she hasn't had her run in with Renard yet. Of course, that just happened too! Looks like their obsession with each other is starting to grow. Should be fun! I was wondering what took so long with getting Hank to the trailer. Looks like he slowly is realizing how long he was in the dark. But, still not sure how much they'll dive into that. And agreed on Nick telling him the truth about Monroe saving him.

Oh I so totally called it was the daughter too. With all of these cases I always think "what's the least likely scenario to crack this mystery?" and then it usually is the answer. lol Again, I've watched way too much TV!! Hmmm...couldn't tell you if the girl was in Revolution. Maybe she is Young Charlie?? But, I don't think she was in this episode. Monroe handling Rosallee's shop and people in general is hysterical! lol

MJ said...

yeah - now that i have watched revolution I don't remember seeing her.

MJ said...

Read EW's recap, which I usually don't, and pasted some of it together. Maybe the first bit might "so I'll be more than happy for you to change my mind on the episode" for you.

They stood for the little people who keep our cultural icons living large and producing inspiring lore, who will keep the memory of them and their work alive long past expiration or cancelation. “The Recordist” was a weird love letter to the true believers, the devout live watchers or the loyal next-day DVR viewers whose barky evangelism have kept the endangered fantasy of Fringe alive – the fans.

they were searching for mysterious red rocks, located in a mineshaft in the premiere, when Captain Windmark asked about “the stones” while interrogating Walter.

DID YOU NOTICE… That the latitude coordinates spoken by Videotape Walter were not the same latitude coordinates that Olivia repeated back to Etta. Walter said: “49 degrees, 20 minutes, 2 seconds North, 79 degrees, 12 minutes, 32 seconds West.” That’s a location in Western Quebec, i.e., Eastern Canada. But Olivia heard something different: “41 degrees, 20 minutes, 2 seconds.” (Etta: “Are you sure?” Peter: “She’s sure.”) The Bark People did indeed reside on the 41st parallel, which means Olivia got the right place, even though she heard Walter wrong. Weird. Intentional? And if so: What does this mean?

Red Rocks = Shades of: Amphilicite, the mineral that David Robert Jones used last season to fuel a machine that could open portals into the parallel universe. Theory! Does Walter’s master plan involve building a similar reality hole puncher? Does the solution to the problem of The Observers lie in the “over there” world?

A mystery man visited the mine back in 2015, shortly after The Bark People put down roots. He called himself Donald. He had come to claim some rocks – and to meet with a scientist friend from Boston, presumably Walter. We saw a fleeting glimpse of the report that Edwin’s grandfather wrote: “His appearance was very simple. He seemed to be in his late 30s with medium height and dark hair. He introduced himself as Donald and said he meant no harm.” We saw two pictures of Donald from behind, so we didn't see his face. Alas, Donald’s Boston pal never showed – but The Observers did, and they took him away, never to be seen again.

Walter was utterly baffled by this story. “Why would you record this?” he asked. I found it oddly conspicuous that Walter found it conspcicously odd that this bit of recorded history was even recorded at all. Edwin’s answer struck me as equally strange. He said the moment was recorded “because of what happened to him” (i.e., because Donald was abducted by Observers). The logic sounded like a paradox -- effect before cause. A theory formed in my head: This “Donald” guy wanted the moment to be recorded… so it could be viewed 21 years later by Walter, here in the present. This is all to say: Is it possible that Donald might be a time traveler? Who is this guy?! We know it wasn’t September. My suspects? 1. Lincoln Lee. 2. Time traveling Peter. 3. Charlie Francis. 4. Mal Reynolds.


I personally caught none of it.

Mike V. said...

Very interesting Doc Jensen. lol I didn't read it either but definitely some interesting ideas put forth there. I would love for them to tie in the other universe and even some characters from the earlier seasons when all is said and done. That would make it feel very FRINGE-like even maybe even make it feel like a complete story. Icing on the cake was if all 5 seasons were tied in a nice neat bow as it was leaning towards after 3 seasons. lol

And of course, this would go along with my comments in the blog where I said that maybe retroactively this episode would seem important after other things happened. lol

Thanks for doing the copy/pasting there!

Anonymous said...

Here was a comment from a reader on that Jensen review...

"In the scene where Peter and Olivia are talking about the period after Etta disappeared, Olivia mentioned seeing a wall of missing person flyers. We see the wall and it mentions a person missing since June 12, 2033. But this scene took place in 2015. Why would Olivia remember it as though it were from 2033?"

Maybe we will look back on this episode and realize it was filled with "subliminal" clues even though the main plot seemed somewhat topical.

What a drag. No episode tonight.

I see SyFy will be showing Fringe in syndication starting 11/20 (I believe).
I also read an article regarding ratings and DVR viewing. Fringe was metnioned as one of the highest adjusted shows when DVR viewing was taken into account (60%+ increase). No news to those of us that are fans.

Bill B

Mike V. said...

@Bill - Nope certainly not news to us! Those Friday cult shows always get a big bump in DVR stats because they're on Friday nights in general. But Fringe has a pretty loyal following that will catch up over the wknd/week. I'm actually relieved there's not a new ep tonight. No need to rush them...there's only so many left and I need a saturday morning break! (so does my wife since she has to keep our 9 month old entertained while I'm doing it lol)

Not sure I remember that scene too clearly, may have to rewatch it. But I guess there could be a chance that there was a typo on the flyer? Or they were originally going to use it for one scene...and decided to use it for a 2015 flashback instead?? lol I'm going with continuity error and not something we should be focusing on. lol I remember one time someone caught the year on a dollar used in a LOST flashback and it would have technically taken place in the future...but it was just modern day currency (or prop currency) and thanks to High Definition it got caught on film! lol

But you could be right...there could be subliminal clues in this episode. I just think they will be at a higher level...i.e. Donovan, the red rocks, some of that historical information captured. (i.e. basically the Doc Jensen stuff that MJ referenced above) We'll see!

Didn't know about Fringe syndication. That's pretty cool. Maybe some new people will discover the show!