Lower Decks

The following contains spoilers through the episode “Night of Desirable Objects,” originally broadcast 9/24/09.

The second episode of the new season proves to be either the one new fans were waiting for, or old ones. Last season I wrote a little in my reviews about the nature of ‘Fringe’ as a show that straddles the line between episodic and serialized drama, where viewers can watch from week to week either expecting to be thrilled only with that episode or catch a glimpse of an extended arc. As last season progressed, it seemed harder to escape that arc, something that to genre fans seemed like a good thing, unless you consider that genre fans have become the most critical of extended arcs, even as they have long championed them. Maybe ‘Fringe’ has found the best way to do such arcs, or maybe it hasn’t. Suffice to say, “Night of Desirable Objects” is an episode that does not need to be viewed to a certain extent if you are watching heavily for that arc.

It’s a curious choice, and perhaps a smart one, because the season premiere played such a game of transition from an arc-heavy end to the last season to a more friendly window for new viewers that older fans might have expected a little more from Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) now that she has had a little recovery time from her experiences, and her lack of memory concerning them, in the alternate reality where she met William Bell (Leonard Nimoy). It might best be said that the series seems to have taken a strictly psychological approach at this point, which might actually be quite a choice, a good one, because it certainly works, to progress the arc. We get little moments like the shape-shifter now impersonating Charlie Francis (Kirk Acevedo) trying to get used to his new role as a low-key manipulator (its approach in the premiere was a little less subtle), or Olivia realizing she’s gotten enhanced hearing since coming back, which in itself is unsettling and certainly needs growing into, the latest thing she really ought to just tell Walter Bishop (John Noble) about, but doesn’t (much like the John Scott angle last season, which seems to have been dropped, but I still hope to see continue).

Another sign that the show isn’t taking an obvious approach to the new season is that Agent Amy Jessup (Meghan Markle), only just introduced last episode, is only barely in this episode, which concentrates most of its time on an ‘X-Files’-like exploration of a mutant in a small Pennsylvania town making people disappear (because he eats them). The good news is that this results in one of the few instances where a name guest-star has appeared for a story like this, noted genre actor John Savage (it’s hard to say what he’s best known from, but I can list ‘The Deer Hunter’ and his starring role in ‘Dark Angel’ for starters), who ends up being the father of the mutant, a cross between a scorpion, human, and perhaps mole, as Walter figures it, botched compensation for an infertile wife. The scenario allows for another unique introduction of Olivia and her eccentric team headed by Walter, and their questionable jurisdiction. It’s Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson) who once again serves as the necessary icebreaker, connecting with the sheriff (who, sadly, ends up as just another victim) through fishing lure, the titular item (in case you were thinking it was just a cool name).

When the episode isn’t concentrating on the burrowing mutant, we get other follow-ups to last week, more little moments, like Walter confessing to Olivia that he would have been devastated if she really had been dead, which brings up an interesting point I’d meant to mention before: it’s curious that he wouldn’t have been able to, or didn’t seem motivated in trying to revive her in those circumstances. We’ve certainly seen him engaged in all manner of mad science that seems to have suggested the contrary, but again, it might have just been about setting a mood, and that was an effective portion and thematically appropriate element of the premiere, when everyone thought she was dead, however briefly it lasted. This episode, Olivia gets released from the hospital early on, and gets around with the help of a cane (perhaps to ingratiate the series to the ‘House’ crowd in some small way). Peter talks with Broyles (Lance Reddick) about requisitions Fringe Division has won in its new deal with the government, while Nina Sharp (Blair Brown) makes another benevolent appearance, giving her condolences to Olivia to the awful experiences she’s lately had to endure. One certainly expects, however, for the series to get back to its own nasty details soon.