So months back (I think it was actually late last year), Joshua Jackson (who's still Pacey in my book) was being interviewed on Attack of the Show when he said that the joke behind the scenes on Fringe was that Walter was making his own drugs and that's what all that lab equipment was really for.
Well, the last two episodes of Fringe, the creators have decided to stop being subtle about anything and have just come out and said, "Hey, people, Walter's high as a kite. Anybody care?" Two weeks ago, it was limited to a single line by Walter when he offhandedly mentioned that his marijuana was superior to what they'd found at a crime scene. This week, we actually heard Walter sucking up his homemade "Brown Betty" through a bong made out of a lab canister.
We still didn't see the drug use, mind you, but, just like on That 70s Show, it was brutally obvious what was going on. I'd ask why we still didn't see Walter toking away, but I know that's a whole Standards and Practices/ Censorship B.S. thing that's both vague and yet absolute in what they do and do not allow.
Instead, I'll just say that I liked this addition to the show. Drugs are apparently a major part of Walter's character, they should thus be a big part of the show, despite what the censors don't want us to see or imply. Also, if the end result of more drugs on Fringe is more awesome episodes like the latest one, I wouldn't have a problem with that. It was a mixture of noir and sci-fi and the characters of Fringe with some music thrown in, in a story that could only come from someone who was tripping balls while he told it, which Walter was.
So my message to the creators of Fringe is this: Say Yes to Drugs!
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While not a fan of throw away episodes this late in the season (a fun type of episode like this works better in say Februaury or March, not when there are only 3 episodes left in the year, at least in my opinion) but it did work pretty well and even moved the narrative along somewhat by beating you over the head with the overall message (Peter stole Walter's heart! Walter is heartbroken without Peter! and so forth). The cast I'm sure had a blast making this episode, and I really liked the alt-reality feel to the world (a world with 30's era clothing and cars but with cell phones and computers would be well worth exploring in a longer format, say a book or a movie). Even some of the little moments worked very well (a polka dot cow? Ingenious! And who knew Astrid could sing? And has see ever tried out for A Chorus Line, which is the muscial where the snippet of song she sung came from?). Overall, not sure this was the right time of year for this type of episode, but it was well done and fun, so to hell with it, right? You are also correct, if they want to stay true to Walter's character, they defintely need to keep the drugs, a big part of who he is and why he acts the way he does (he often talks of using massive amounts of acid in the 70's to help along his experiments, which may explain why he is a little screwy now). And Anna Torv should really think about curling her hair more...and just wearing a white t-shirt. Yowza to that
ReplyDeleteThe whole sci-fi/ noir combo was done brilliantly in the movie Blade Runner, but was even more blunt and more bizzare on one of those animated shorts that was part of that Ani-Matrix thing that came out before the second Matrix movie (and was much better than the second and third Matrix movies). Also, the BSG spin-off Caprica uses clothing based on old-time styles mixed in with their uber-futuristic series.
ReplyDeleteI didn't mind a "fill-in" episode this late in the season because I think it builds suspense more for anything big coming up. Also, this one built up the relationships well as you said (the "hitting over the head" thing can be easily explained away by the fact that it was told by a guy who was high as the sky), and set up their relationships for future episodes.
And yes Anna Torv is HOT!! And recently single.