Fringe Episode 5.09: Black Blotter





Some notes and observations and detours on episode 5.09, Black Blotter:

X marks the spot

• In Peter and Olivia's bedroom, there was a knick-knack in the shape of an X on the shelf behind Peter's bed. There are four possibilities for the significance of this item. This may be a reference to Anomaly XB-6783746, the title of the next episode. It may be a hint that we'll see September soon; last season, he was identified as "Mr. X" on Walter's lab equipment. It could also be the Mister X destined to kill Olivia from that crazy cartoon episode a while back. Or it could be nothing.
• The signal from Donald's radio led the team to Willington, Connecticut, which is a real place. Willington was home to Jared Sparks, former president of Harvard University. Harvard, of course, is where the Fringe team makes their headquarters in 2036. When the Observer war is over, I nominate Walter Bishop as the next president of Harvard.
• The body of Sam Weiss was found in the forest. Interestingly, his Massachusetts driver's license was issued on February 27, 2017, the year after the Observer invasion of 2016. As I've mentioned before, the invasion must have been a strange time, with a combination of terror and normalcy. Buildings were destroyed, people went missing and universities were closed, but you could still get a good apple pie and you could still head down to the local RMV and get a license.

If I only had a (little less) brain

• The Willington location turned out to be just a repeater. The actual transmitter was on Thimble Island. This is also a real Connecticut location, or at least the plural Thimble Islands are. To Walter, the island looked a lot like Emerald City.
• When the team met Richard and Caroline at their house on the island, my wife observed that the way they were standing there looked a lot like a scene from a Twilight movie, with most of the characters dressed in black standing at the edge of a forest.

Team Walter

• The cartoon animals in Walters Monty Python hallucination were a Gene the cow, a frog, a dog (Toto from the Wizard of Oz) and a seahorse. The frog and the seahorse are classic Fringe glyph symbols. But why Toto?
• There were three dogs in this episode. Walter's notebook had a dog. There was a dog figurine (with a bell! A BELL, I tell you!) outside the front door of the house where the Observer kid was being kept. Finally, Toto was in Walter's acid-induced cartoon hallucination.
• In the living room scene, Michael, the Observer kid, was reflected in a glass panel to the right. Usually, a reflection implies some sort of duality. Maybe that was included because he knew both the original timeline from season 1 and the extra crispy timeline from seasons 4 and 5.
• The songs from this episode were The Hurdy Gurdy Man by Donovan, The Pusher by Steppenwolf and The Happy Wanderer from Frank Weir.

Fringe Episode 5.08: The Human Kind

The Human Kind was another great episode. Peter continued to use his observer powers to defeat Windmark, but in the end, Olivia talked him out of it. Using that human emotion known as love. It's good to see Olivia doing something more than worrying and being sad.

Notes, observations, foreshadowing and clues:


• In the city scene at night, there was a man with a transparent rain coat. A Blade Runner nod.
• When we see saw Peter in New York, there was a pink sign on a building that had a woman with butterfly wings. The butterfly is a classic Fringe motif, and the Fairy is a reference to next week's episode, Black Blotter.
• And was that Walter's face on the electronic billboard in New York. A wanted poster, maybe.
• When Olivia arrived at the junk depot in Fitchburg, there was something spray painted on a dumpster. O-R-something. Maybe O-R-I. "Origin", maybe.
• Peter was observing using binoculars, as the Observers have been known to do.
• The tea shop was called Iron Stove. They made sure we saw it, but the relevance isn't clear yet.
• Olivia called Simone's gift an anomaly. This is a foreshadowing of the title of the episode after next week's, Anomaly XB-6783746.
• Instead of using the porcupine man's brain in the experiment, they should have de-ambered Gene the cow and inserted the Observer tech into her brain. That would have been awesome if she turned into a super intelligent Observacow.
• I love the old army truck. I also like how season five is mixing up technology and styles from different times. The bad guys look like they are from the 1940s, the equipment in Walter's lab is from the 1980s, and the cars are from the seventies to the 2000s.
• The crooks who captured Olivia have apparently never watch The A-Team. Never, ever lock your prisoners in a workshop.
• Observers can teleport, yet we see them walking on the streets, riding in cars, taking elevators. It seems they teleport only in tactical situations.

Fringe Episode 5.07: Five-Twenty-Ten - Observations, Connections & Predictions

 

Don't look, Marion!

When Star Trek: The Original Series was just barely renewed for a third season, everyone knew it would be the last. Gene Rodenberry got bored with it or more interested in other projects and was only minimally involved in the production of the show. As a result, the quality of the show suffered. Thankfully, the curse of the final season is not happening on Fringe. This season continues to be tense and full of surprises. Five-Twenty-Ten was a great episode

Assorted connections, observations and hidden messages:

 

• In tape number five, the whole lab was shaking; the lights were swaying and the chemicals were sloshing around. What was that all about?
• Kelvin Genetics was mentioned again. It was first mentioned in season two, I beleive. Kelvin Genetics is named after creator J. J. Abrams’ father’s business, Kelvin Electronics. The 2009 Star Trek reboot film had a starship USS Kelvin, which also took its name from Kelvin Electronics.
• The meeting with Nina was at a bridge. There are lots of bridges this season.
• The Observers prefer spicy food. They were eating hot peppers and spiced meat at the restaurant.
• Peter said it was “logical” that they split up, which was very Spock-like. Spock, of course, was played by Leonard Nimoy who also played William Bell, whose hand appeared in this episode.
• There were butterflies mounted on the wall behind Olivia. Other than that, there were very few hidden text messages or glyph messages in this episode.
• Walter retrieved the David Bowie record (The Man Who Sold the World) from William Bell’s storage facility and played it as he went to sleep. David Bowie’s real name is David Robert Jones. That was also the name of the now twice-deceased Fringe villain.
• Olivia has been reactive this season. She needs to be more proactive.
• I’ve never seen Marathon Man. I’m going to have to watch that.

Predictions:

• Walter’s mysterious comrade “Donald” will be revealed to be Donald Bell, William Bell’s son. There is also a good chance he’ll be played by Zachary Quinto from Star Trek (2009). It’s a logical prediction.
• When they finally complete the fringe science Rube Goldberg device that will defeat the Observers, there is going to be some conflict because whatever it does to the Observers will endanger Peter, too.
• We will get a glimpse of the future world where the Observers come from before the end of the series.
• Olivia will become more proactive.

This is my shocked face.

 

Fringe Episode 5.06: Through the Looking Glass (And What Walter Found There)

 

Through the Looking Glass (And What Walter Found There) was one of the best episodes of the entire series. I'm quite impressed that the people who make the show continue to put so much into this even though there is no chance for a sixth season.

What have I got in my pocket universe?

 Random notes:

• Peter needs to stop keeping things from his wife. Gonna be trouble.
• In the last episode, An Origin Story, the mirror imagery was very evident. It paid off in a big way in this episode.
• The apartment building and the entire area around it had been blasted by “light bombs” in 2016. This was prefigured by a “Lumineaux” sign on a building in the previous episode.
• Etta appeared in a blue hologram at the beginning of the episode. This is bookended at the end of the episode when Peter told Walter, “You are only hope”. Both are from the original Star Wars.
• The address of the apartment building that held the entrance to the pocket universe was 167 Cedar Street, Worcester, Massachusetts. Like in TTUM-11, this is an almost real address. Google maps shows it as being near Saint Spyridon Cathedral in Worcester.
• As Walter made his way to the apartment building in Worcester, there was a frog on the roof of a car. A frog is one of the Fringe glyph symbols.

 

 

 

• “GF672” was written on the wall on the way to the apartment.
• The approach to the pocket universe is red, red, red. Red bricks, red paint and a cyborg with a red eye; the area has been “red-tagged” for years and you even get there by taking the redline train. There was also lots of red in the previous episode. Red had always been the color theme of the alternate universe. The red was an indication that there was something universey going on.
• I love the pocket universe. The barely visible upside down art, doors and windows that move subtly in the background, the ghostly lighting and the M.C. Escher architecture made it look dreamlike anddeep, like we’d get lost if we just took a few more steps in. I wish the art on the walls in the pocket universe was more visible. I’m sure each picture was full of meaning and foreshadowing if only we could get a better look at what was there. But they were upside down, each only visible for an instant, and half hidden in shadows and behind walls. We’re fascinated by what is obscured.
• One of the pictures on the wall looked like a Vincent Van Gogh self portrait. Expect someone’s ear to be cut off soon!
• In the pocket universe, more Fringe glyphs made an appearance. There was a sea horse, a hand and an apple. Never before have the in-show glyphs looked so much like the prototypical glyphs and there were three of them in a row. We’re getting close to the end.
• The Observer kid was from season one episode Inner Child. What did Walter him when they left him in the apartment in the pocket universe? Was that a bag of M&Ms?

 

 

• Walter said that “A Series of Unfortunate Events” stuck Cecil in the pocket universe. I’m not familiar with that book series, so I don’t know if there is any relevance to that.
• The number “103 A” was on the wall inside the monorail.
• Near the end of the episode, Peter used the observer tech installed in his neck to move with lightning speed and teleport just as the Observers do. This was reminiscent of The Matrix, where Neo could “move like they do” while fighting the agents. Also, by the end of the episode, Peter could see the Matrix! Or at least he could see with enhanced Observo-vision. Question: Is the blue grid over everything in Observer vision a measurement overlay or is it an indication that the world is just a simulation and the Observers can see the pixels? I think the former, but it looked like the latter.

 

 

• Peter called Walter “Dad”. Last episode, Walter called Peter “son”.
• When Peter and Walter had their conversation at the end, the Observer poster was between them. As they said on The Simpsons, there is subliminal, luminal and superluminal. This one was superliminal. Peter is supposed to help Walter, but as thye poster remindes us, he might become a hairless, heartless observer like the one on the poster.

 

Fringe Episode 5.05: An Origin Story - Notes, Asides and the Dark Side

Peter started this episode by keeping things from his wife, Olivia. He did not tell Olivia about Etta’s secret compartment and weapons. He also embarked on the interrogation of the captured Observer without involving Olivia. At the conclusion of the interrogation, Peter had killed the Observer and inserted the device removed from the Observer into his own body. Just a few episodes ago, Olivia came down on the side of not torturing prisoners to death and now Peter has done just that. I get the impression that Peter isn’t going to tell Olivia about the tech in his neck either. It’s just like that time he went all dark side and slaughtered a whole tribe of sand people, all of them, not just the men, but the women and children, too a whole bunch shapeshifters. Keeping secrets from his wife is not going to end well – and his hair might fall out as a side effect of the Observer neck-tech.



Anikin, you are breaking my heart!

This was an excellent episode. The back and forth between Peter and the captive was intense, Olivia dealt with her grief and Walter got to do a lab demonstration.

Random notes:

• Etta’s apartment had a picture of a weird Thanksgiving parade balloon on the wall. Also note that there was a mirror to the left of the picture. The mirror is a reference to the next Fringe episode, Through the Looking Glass (And What Walter Found There), which will air around Thanksgiving 2012. It would also be a reference to the New York and alternate universe New York from the previous seasons.
• Etta kept her items in a Bluebell Soap box. This notable because it has both blue (as in blue universe) and Bell as in William Bell.
• There was a mirror in Etta’s apartment with “No. 6” written beneath it. This is another Looking Glass reference. The Looking Glass episode will be episode number six of the fifth season.
• There is red paint on the walls in Etta’s apartment. In fact there is a lot of red in this episode. Previously the color red has indicated the “red” alternate universe.
• Etta had a miniature Statue of Liberty, which is a symbol of freedom. It is also a symbol of the double universe, with the green statue here and the gold one “over there”. There was also a Buddha statue; Peter’s favorite book is If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him. You can pick up a copy in our gift shop.
• The graffiti on the wall said “Go Ask Alice”, as in Alice in Wonderland. This is a reference to the song White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane and if we follow the trail, leads us to the next episode title. Also, it’s a drug reference.
• In Walter’s demonstration, a toy car got sucked into the time hole on the future end. When the time tunnel collapsed, it sucked in a full size car from our end. This is an echo of Walter sending a car to the alternate universe in one of his early experiments.
• The Observer binoculars have returned! I used to have a pair of collapsing binoculars like that when I was a kid.
• Most importantly, we learned that the Observers are not completely hairless. They have eyelashes.

It might seem strange to have all these obscure references and foreshadowing pop up in the lives our Fringe characters. But it makes sense to me. As Walter has said, significant events echo backward in time. What we are seeing are these subtle echoes, barely noticeable if you are not watching for them. Also, all the universes and all the timelines are focused around our characters at this point in time. These are the most important people in existence (and sometimes the most important people in non-existence). It is not surprising that "God, time, fate or whatever" puts these little Easter eggs in the world.

Fringe Episode 5.04: The Bullet That Saved The World

Let's play Simon!

Wow! What an episode. We got plenty of action and a farewell look at old Fringe cases in Walter's lab. And sadly, the unexpected death of Etta.

Etta’s death came too early. She’s really only been on the series for a few episodes and was just starting to grow as a character and respond to Olivia and Peter’s influence. And then bam, she’s dead. I would have recommended saving her death for later in the season. If the issue was having the actress around, they could have sent her off on some mission or had her captured or something and then have her show up at the end to nobly save everyone. As it was, it was simply jarring, but not meaningful. But still a great episode.

Random notes:

• The shop Peter walked into was the called the Thrifty Lion. The establishment’s logo looks like The Lion of Judah.

• While in the shop, Peter checked out the Simon game and says he played it as a kid. This is notable since part of his childhood was spent in the alternate universe – and what is now an alternate timeline in that universe. Note that he didn’t remember watching Sesame Street as a kid because for him it didn’t exist.

• The Simon game is a neat little metaphor, with blue, red, amber, green, constantly changing. It’s like trying to keep track the Fringe universes of seasons one through four! Also, the Simon game could refer to poor Simon Foster, who was first ambered and then decapitated by the Observers. Is the Simon game a clue that he’s coming back?

• There were card suits visible in the shop. Later, Peter said that the Observer pulled thoughts from his head like cards from a deck.

• The number on the door to Walter’s lab was 8316.1.

• It was great fun to see all of the artifacts from all of the old Fringe cases in Walter’s secret stash. But, remember the timeline has been altered. For the rest of the world, adult Peter did not exist until season four, so all of our favorite cases may not have happened or may have happened differently than we saw. That sort of bugs me.

• One of the things in the Walter-Cave is a toy police car. What was that from? I can’t place it. But remember that toy car from William Bell’s personal effects after the original Bell was declared dead? He had a copy of Doctor Spock’s book (Get it? Spock!) and a toy car. So, at one point, William Bell had a child. Whatever happened to him? I say they should bring the younger Bell on the show and they should get Zachary Quinto to play him. Then the circle would be complete.

• One of the items in storage is a dead porcupine person. I’ve always wondered what happened to all the Fringe monsters that didn’t get killed. The menagerie from Bell’s ark would have been secured and the tracking devices in the human shapeshifters got them all caught. Where did they all go?

• Walter recounted going to Manhattan several times when he was young, via Newark. That means Walter Bishop lived in New Jersey when he was a kid. As a native of New Jersey, I declare that to be awesome. After five years there are still revelations to revel in.

• The graffiti under the bridge said Manifest Destiny. The graffiti behind Broyles said ND. North Dakota, maybe?

• It was very strange to see Walter take a tactical role in this episode’s raid on the train station. The version of Walter at the beginning of season four would not even leave the lab. Now, he’s driving the Fringemobile (an Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser) and killing people.

• Painted on one of the buildings was the name G & R Jacoe Chemical Co. That is apparently a real building in British Columbia, which has also shown up on other shows, namely Eureka and Sanctuary.

• There were other logos on walls. One was for a company called James and one looked like two hands holding something up.

• The loyalists are supposed to look like Nazis. As I mentioned before, I’m from New Jersey, so they look like New Jersey state troopers to me.

• The battle at the end was foreshadowed in the comic book in the previous episode, The Recordist. They also revealed that Walter had a comic book collection when he was a boy.

• Although I didn’t notice it at the time, there was a Dove sign on a wall at the end of The Recordist. In this episode they revealed “The Dove” to be Broyles.

• My brilliant wife brought up an excellent point. If the training to block being read by Observers takes a year to complete, how was Broyles able to conceal being trained and being part of the resistance during his training?

• Walter called Peter “son” at the end. That does not happen very often.

Comic Book Images from The Recordist

The Recordist featured some wonderful comic books made by the boy River at the archivist colony in Pennsylvania. We only got a few glimpses of them in the show, but they were featured in a cool promotional video for the episode. The video was mostly in negative color and I wanted to see the pictures in black and white. So I took some screen captures, inverted them and then converted them to black and white. Enjoy!

The Recordist - Apple Pies, Apple Pills and Assorted Notes

The Recordist was the third episode of Fringe’s fifth and final season. This episode was not as strong as the previous two, but there were still lots of noteworthy things going on.

• Fringe has often used the X-Files episode formula, but this one seemed more like Star Trek: The Next Generation. Just imagine that the isolated outpost was another planet instead of a hidden camp. The only other major difference was that the crew arrived in a Ford van instead of a starship.
• Walter gave the coordinates as 49º 20’ 2”N, 79º 12’ 32” W. When Olivia recited the coordinates back, she changed the 49 to a 41. That was good, since 49 was incorrect. That would have sent our team to Canada instead of Pennsylvania. This seems like a production mistake. Even with the distortion on the tape, it is very clear that Walter said 49 and he did say Pennsylvania. I know I’m supposed to #trustthetapes, but in this case, I cannot.
• On the tape, there was a blackboard behind Walter with a diagram showing how the “Energy Source” worked. It showed the chemical symbols for titanium, iron and manganese, linked in a circular process. Also, you can see “18 kg / 40 lbs”, which an approximate conversion of kilograms to pounds.
• The coordinates lead to a spot in northern Pennsylvania, which we can see on Google Maps. It’s just southwest of the Allegheny National Forest. I would have thought that that part of Pennsylvania would have more deciduous trees, but on the show, it looked coniferous. Google says that the coordinates are located in Leeper, Pennsylvania, which would make our archivists with the skin disease members of a “Leeper colony” instead of a leper colony!
• The red rocks were kept in an old gold mine. Perhaps there are gold mines in Pennsylvania, but the area is better known for coal mines. I wish they had made it a coal mine; it would have been more believable. This episode loses points on geography, botany and geology.
• Episodes 5.01 and 5.02 both featured a song. There were no songs in this episode.
• We finally learned the fate of Gene the cow, still trapped in amber in Walter’s lab.
• All of the cars in 2036 are old; there is not a Prius in sight. Maybe the extra pollution is part of the Observers’ terraforming plan! Speaking of the atmosphere, the news report in the archive cites record low oxygen levels. The red universe also suffered from low oxygen levels.
• The radio call sign was Kilo Alpha 42. Significance? Beats me.
• One of the missing people on the posters outside Donovan’s restaurant was named Amber. Get it? Amber?
• The early days of the Observer invasion must have been very strange. There were disintegrated buildings, explosions and thousands of missing and displaced people, but there were still electric power, internet news, and restaurants where you could get good apple pie. Also, you can see from the archived news reports that the Fringe team came out of the shadows and was publicly known or was at least known to the archivists. You can see Olivia, Peter and Broyles in the news photos.
• Both an apple pie and an apple pill were mentioned in the episode. Apples are of course one of the classic Fringe symbols. This also showed how terrible 2036 is. Food has been reduced to efficient, flavorless, joyless pills, just like on The Jetsons. Maybe when this is all over, we can at least get some real milk from Gene.
• One of the best parts of this episode is the boy River’s DIY comic books about the exploits of the Fringe Division. We catch a few glimpses of the books in the show, but the better view is from the promotional video.

• The comic shows the team fighting with what appear to be Observers in gas masks. Based on the promo, the next episode will be very gas masky.

In Absentia - Secret Passages, Secret Messages, and Yahtzee

Some notes from Fringe episode 5.02, In Absentia:

• The artwork in the kitchen looks like two teapots.

• There is a dragon drawn on the column in the steam tunnel.

• Walter left some Grape Vines in the lab trapped in amber. I suppose if they could ever be removed, they would still be edible.

• Loyalist Gael Manfretti gives his address as 143 Dunstable Street, which is a real place in Boston. At least the street is. Here is what Google street view shows us. It's a real street, but I can't find a house marked 143.

• Etta tortures captured loyalist Gael Manfretti with an "angel device". Recall from Transilience Thought Unifier Model-11, there was a neon angel in the black market.

• The entry code is 010567. Seems like a date, January 5th, 1967. I don't know the signifigance of that.

• The song in the background of Walter's betamax tape is Nights in White Satin from the Days of Future Passed album by the Moody Blues.