fringe: finally establishing a reliable pattern

peter shines a light on something that's probably really gross // fox promotional photo

Is it just me, or is Fringe getting awesome this season?  Last year, the show definitely seemed like it was trying to find its groove; while its “serial scifi” efforts were definitely well-intentioned, producers also couldn’t resist building in a complicated mythology, one that left even the most hardcore of Lost fans scratching their heads.  (Question: did we ever find out what that magic apple was all about?)

Now, though, it feels like the show has zeroed in on a formula that works.  The first three episodes of the season have contained healthy balances of character development, mythology teases, and scary-as-hell procedural drama.  It finally feels like people could come and go as they please, although why would anyone want to do that when this show has gotten SO FLIPPING GOOD?

The first three episodes have already delivered really good monsters of the week–a superbaby on a killing spree and a secret military project to create human bombs–as well as kicked off an exciting shapeshifting mytharc.  See, Olivia’s FBI partner, Agent Charlie Francis, has been killed and replaced by one of these shapeshifters.  (Ask Sydney Bristow or anyone who lived through season five of The X-Files–this is a problem.)  Of course, Fringe Division has no idea that Charlie’s been compromised or that he’s spending his evenings in the back room of a pawn shop, furiously conversing with an unseen force using a freaky-ass typewriter.  It will definitely be interesting to see how this plays out, as Olivia inevitably catches on.  Further down the road, one wonders if this development could lead to Peter formally being named Olivia’s partner.  It wouldn’t change anything, as Peter and Olivia go on the majority of ops by themselves anyway, but I could definitely see a little scene in coming weeks where Olivia disregards the idea of getting a new partner–she doesn’t really need one now, does she?

Speaking of the Peter/Olivia relationship, that’s developing quite nicely, isn’t it?

It’s been obvious since the beginning that the show would eventually couple up the leads; I’m pleased to see them taking a slower, more reserved, almost Mulder/Scully-esque route, rather than an in-your-face, this-is-an-important-B-story, Sydney/Vaughn-like route.  Joshua Jackson and Anna Torv’s chemistry has built over time, and it’s nice to see their moments meted out in small but juicy portions.  The few non-case-related scenes the characters have shared this season, especially in “Fracture,” depict a growing trust, the foundation of any solid television pairing.  We’re also getting glimpses into their tortured childhoods–and there’s huge potential for their relationship to grow as more of that information comes out.  Both characters were exposed to Walter’s mad science as children: Peter as the boy brought back from the parallel universe and Olivia as the subject of Massive Dynamic’s Cortexiphan experiments.  It will be interesting to see how this information will bring the characters closer together–and to learn if their paths crossed as children.

A recently new part of the mytharc is Olivia’s so-called “ability.”  Introduced toward the end of last season, the fact that Olivia possesses exceptional mind powers is one that the show seems to intend on expanding upon as it moves forward.  ”Night of Desirable Objects” found the FBI agent faced (temporarily?) with almost superhuman hearing.  Last season, she memorably managed to turn off all the lights in David Robert Jones’s “evaluation system.”  We saw video footage of young “Olive” suggesting that she had telepathically started a fire.  What we still don’t know is the origin of these powers, if they can be called that.  Was it the Cortexiphan?  Now a byproduct of her trip to the parallel world?  Something more innate?  (We also don’t know how or why Olivia’s brain spit out the Greek phrase from Peter’s childhood, for that matter.)

We’re told there are consequences of traveling between worlds–that’s supposedly why David Robert Jones’s face was so mangled in his appearance in “There’s More Than One of Everything,” right?  Aside from her struggles to “put herself back together,” will there be lasting consequences of Olivia’s trip?  Have there been consequences of Peter’s?  These are all fascinating questions–ones I surely don’t know the answers to–and it’s definitely good strategy for Fringe to continue parsing out big answers as it delivers strong week-to-week procedural development.