TV GUIDE: Weekend TV in Review: Fringe Exits, Being Human Returns, Walking Dead and More
Feb 24, 2012
by Matt Roush
So much coming and going in the volatile, fragile world of fantasy/horror TV. Once again, we're bidding adieu to Fox's freaky Fringe (Friday, 9/8c) for a month. (Upside: The alternative is repeats. Downside: So much for momentum.)
The "winter finale" is titled "The End of All Things," an ominous signal for those fearing that this might well be the beginning of the end, that whatever happens in the few remaining episodes this spring when the show returns March 23 could be the end of the line — on Fox, anyway. We'll save speculation for later, but for now, if you've been following Fringe's crazy but emotionally intense story this far, tonight's trippy episode is likely to push many of your buttons. Though I'm sure uber-villain David Robert Jones (the smirk-tastic Jared Harris) won't be the only one surveying the madness and declaring, "I'm a bit confused myself."
As were we when last week's episode ended with Olivia finding herself captive in a strange basement with Nina. Olivia's Cortexiphan-enhanced powers are the key to her latest dilemma — as they were once upon a time back in the original timeline — and while she struggles against her captors' manipulations, Peter continues to struggle with his attraction toward this new Olivia (who's begun to channel the other Olivia's feelings for Peter) and his aching desire to return home. Into this mystifying mess enters the Observer we now know as "September" (Michael Cerveris, quietly and eerily moving as ever) to take Peter on one of Fringe's most surreal and illuminating head trips to date. Which is saying something.
I suppose there are elements of the fan base (such as it is) that have grown as twitchy and impatient as Peter to escape the alt-world of this fourth season, which presented yet new iterations of the Olivia/Walter/Broyles/Nina/Astrid, etc. characters to contend with. But in recent episodes, as Walter has warmed up (as he would in any world) to Peter, and Olivia and Peter have reconnected against his own better judgment, and even Astrid got a chance to play off her other damaged self, Fringe demonstrates a recklessly exhilarating willingness to follow its own path down the most daunting of rabbit holes. Even when (in the terrifically entertaining "Welcome to Westfield" episode) it reverts to The X-Files model that defined the show's earliest days, Fringe feels like nothing else we've ever seen. As is often the case with such originals, for better and for worse. This week, I vote "for better..."
Fringe airs Friday at 9/8C on FOX.
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