FRINGE 1.10 "SAFE"

In the middle of this episode, Walter tells Olivia's boss Charlie Francis to "imagine yourself twenty years ago, imagining what it would be like twenty years in the future." Francis has a great response: he asks Olivia "Is he high?"

Well I want you to picture yourself, watching say, the third or fourth episode of 'Fringe'. You have to go back a month or two, to get the image. Back then, Could you have imagined the dramatic leap the show was going to take in this episode?

This show mirrors the third season of Dexter, ( most of you guys, who comment on this column usually comment on the Dexter review, so I think you will get the comparison). So far, watching Fringe, has left audience members asking "Ok where the hell is this going?". It has been all build up until now, and like season 3 of Dexter, the wait is paying off.

If you haven't seen the recent episode, entitled 'Safe', I highly recommend you go to Hulu.com and check it out for yourself. Right now, I am about to spoil the shit out of it. Here is what we learned from this episode:

1) Olivia has been so drastically effected by having John Scott's memories, that she can no longer draw the distinction between her past and his.

2) The numbers that Walter has been saying to help him sleep at night are Fibonacci numbers, which just so happen to be the numbers on various safety deposit boxes Walter planted in random banks across the country.

3) In the boxes are the components for A GODDAMN TIME MACHINE! Well, not exactly. It is a device that Walter designed to bring back the only doctor who had cured the disease Hepia to the present, though the doctor had died 30 years prior. Peter had Hepia (or at least a disease with simmilar symptoms) when he was eight years old, and Walter made the device, with the hopes of pulling the one doctor who could cure him, out of time.

4) Agent Loeb and his team of former Gulf War soldiers (one of which was good friends with John Scott) known as "The Chess Club" have been robbing banks, by using a device that breaks the rules of physics. They are able to weaken walls by using a high frequency vibration. Once the walls are weak enough, they can pass right through. They are breaking into the banks to get the safety deposit boxes that contain parts of Walter's device.

5) Agent Loeb also happens to work for Joseph Smith, who we met three episodes back. Once Loeb is able to secure all the pieces of Walter's device, he uses it to teleport Smith out of the prison he was held in, in Germany.

In my opinion, Smith is a villainous mastermind similar to Ben from 'Lost'. When the show returns in late January, I think Smith will be the major enemy of the 'Fringe' team. He may very well be the great puppet master behind the 'Pattern'.

If that wasn't enough, the episode ended on a cliffhanger, as well. Smith had Loeb and his men kidnap Olivia. The episode ends with Olivia, drugged in the back seat of Loeb's truck, with Smith eager to interrogate her.

In one episode, the show has revealed a major villain, directly connected Walter's work to the grand scheme of those involved with the 'pattern', and also put Olivia in jeopardy. We are finally getting somewhere!

I can't believe I am saying this, but I can't wait to find out what happens in the next episode. Now we just have wait a month and a half.