THE ONE MINUTE VERSION
Fringe turns into yet another completely new show, and this may be the best yet. I didn't even miss Peter what with all the FunLivia times and gripping standalone mystery.
THE FIVE MINUTE VERSION
Walter infodumps all over our faces, but it's ok, because in Walter's mind, Fauxlivia's biggest slight is that she bought her way in with his precious pastries. "No! Not the pastry vagenda!" Additionally, Walter has learned new ways to misremember companion names (Cleveland! Clinton!). I wonder how many Presidents Walter will get through? I'm guessing about 14. Though if he calls Lincoln "Taft," I will be impressed. No one remembers that guy.
Over at the Bridge, it's time for some Olivia on Olivia action. I dream of a sitcom called My Two Olivias, with the two Olivia's bickering incessantly and Broyles attempting, and failing to keep the piece. Every episode ends in a fistfight.
But I digress.
The plan is for Olivia to bring Our!CreepyScientist to Earth Prime to give insight into Alt!CreepyScientist. Nothing can possibly go wrong with this plan.
Fauxlivia goes blonde, wherein we all learn that Ourlivia will definitely end up dating Alt!Lincoln, which is fine by me. Again, I take pause to note that Anna Torv may be the best actress on television today.
Meanwhile, Walter moonlights from Fringe to travel to a classic Memorex ad:
Memorex! Allowing mentally ill scientists to communicate beyond the grave since 1953!
Back at the House of Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong, Fauxlivia leads the profiler through his Alt!House. Alt!Profiler continues to kidnap people for his own...amusement? Happiness? Dark passenger? I miss Dexter.
Penny's in the air...and penny drops. Our friendly profiler realizes that all is not kosher with this profiling gig when he spies a photo of his father.
Daddy issues! This means it's OurLivia time.
Alt!Broyles, who is somehow alive, lacks a sense of humor about, well, anything, but especially the fact that our friendly profiler ran away to find himself. Literally.
Our intrepid heroes find them just in time, but not before the killer steals the memory of Marjorie, the one person who kept him from crossing over to the dark side.
And thusly we learn that even if people are gone from our memories, the lessons they taught us will always remain. I'm sure this has no relation to the ongoing story arc whatsoever.
BUT SERIOUSLY, FOLKS
Olivia killed her father in this reality, presumably because she never met Peter as a child, and the abuse became worse. But more importantly, we learn that Fauxlivia's childhood was not just different in certain details, but in totality. Because she never had the brutal stepfather, she was never in Jacksonville, was never in Cortexiphan trials and therefore, doesn't have Olivia's magical healing powers.
This episode was a master-class in how to do a standalone episode while still incorporating elements of the larger arc, and functioning well as both. Are you listening, Doctor Who? While Walter obviously thinks he's going insane, what if the harassment by ghost Peter actually leads to some sort of psychotic break? Asteroid doesn't seem able to calm him, and Olivia barely does.
Carry on in the comments, folks!
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