Fringe 4.03 “Alone in the World”

Writer David Fury (Buffy, Angel, 24) makes his Fringe debut with our first truly Walter-centric episode of Season Four. And while it’s got a lot going for it, it’s also hampered by a “monster-of-the-week” story that strains even the belief of even a Fringe-obsessive like me.

But that’s only at the end. Up until the final few minutes of that plot’s resolution, it’s actually a fairly creepy and effective story of a fungal growth that is slowly gaining sentience. There truly is a fungus among us!

And no, I didn’t have a problem with the fungus effectively developing a gigantic neural network underneath the city. But forging a psychic/emotional bond with a lonely 12 year old was a bit too much. Especially when it turns extra-schmaltzy and we find it was the boy holding onto his connection with the fungus, named Gus by Walter, of course, rather than the other way around.

The rewritten history of this world still has our Walter’s son dying before he can figure out a cure. Then, as before, he discovers the Other Side and Walternate’s dying son. Again he breaks down the walls between worlds in order to kidnap and cure the other Peter. This time, however, the ice of the frozen lake upon which his equipment is set up, cracks and Peter drowns.

Thus setting off the War of the Parallel Worlds.

You see, the fungus is spreading and killing people. So Broyles is ready to sacrifice Aaron, and Walter fears a quickie lobotomy is the only way to keep the boy alive.

And for a few moments I thought they might just do it.

That’s how good John Noble is.

So yeah, schmaltzy. But Noble sells it and I’ll be damned if it doesn’t almost cause a tear or two to well up.

But what really brings it all home is what happens afterward.

Aaron is saved, of course, and is taken away with Walter promising to visit soon (I’m pretty sure this is a point that will be immediately forgotten by the writers). Left alone in the lab, Walter realizes that the way to stop his hallucinations (which aren’t hallucinations) of Peter is to perform a little self-surgery with his handy-dandy home lobotomy kit.

Even though we don’t see much of the actual attempt, it’s still gruesome as we hear the light tap tap tap of the hammer on the brain spike. And if Olivia (Anna Torv) doesn’t show up when she does, we’d have nothing but drooly Walter to look forward to next time out.

And as she slowly SLIDES THE FUCKING SPIKE OUT OF WALTER’S FUCKING EYE (!!!) we discover that she’s been dreaming about a guy. And she drew a picture of him. And Walter recognizes him as the guy he’s seeing in reflective surfaces and hearing calling for help.

But she did just SLIDE A FUCKING SPIKE OUT OF WALTER’S FUCKING EYE (!!!), so I rolled with it.

Because that’s how Fringe works. It covers its stupid moments with horribly cool ones and luckily I’m easily distracted by shiny objects. Like a FUCKING SPIKE SLIDING OUT OF WALTER’S FUCKING EYE (!!!).