Welcome to Multiversity Comics’ Summer Binger of Fringe, a series that Parks and Recreation’s own Ben Wyatt once called “airtight.” “The Equation” is a decent episode with some really strong elements but outside of one scene, it’s a bit hard to watch the show keep shuffling its feet with regard to its larger story.
1. Gimme Gimme Gimme Some Plot
With “The Equation,” Fringe had delivered an episode much like last week’s- an all-around solid episode that deepens our understanding of one character and makes some small but interesting steps forward in the larger season arc. As much as that’s more welcome than the structure of the two weeks preceding these, it’s also been four episodes since we’ve made any substantial progress in the overall arc of the show. Sure, there were teases last week and there’s one at the end of this week (more on that later), and it could be the fact that we’ve all been spoiled by short seasons of television and binge watching talking, but I’m really itching to get some more momentum going in this series.
2. A Genuinely Horrifying Villain
The actual plot of “The Equation” follows the kidnapping of a child musical prodigy by Joanne Ostler (played by a very creepy Gillian Jacobs). The reason for the kidnapping- the child’s skills can be used to solve a mysterious equation that other people she’s kidnapped have been unable to crack. When summarized, the story feels a bit elementary but in reality, it’s scary stuff. To encourage the kid to solve the titular equation, she hooks him up to a machine that makes him believe he’s with his dead mother. The longer he goes without figuring out a piano piece that the equation has been translated into, the more his mother bleeds out and falls apart. This isn’t a show that’s shied away from gruesome imagery at any point (the pilot made people’s skin gelatinous) but there’s something about this week that just hits on a deeper level. The level of unease that you feel watching a kid watch his mother die as he’s forced to help a mysterious evil person is just innately tighter than when, for instance, you watch a creepy man with electrical powers accidentally hurt people. Episode writers J.R. Orli and David H. Goodman certainly deserve kudos for taking the show’s tension up a notch with that.
3. The John Noble Power Hour*
*Technically it’s the John Noble Power 49 Minutes and 9 Seconds but that just doesn’t have the same ring to it.
A round of applause for John Noble who manages to bring it even more than he usually brings it in this episode. This week, Walter returns to St. Claire’s Mental Hospital to ask an old friend who was kidnapped by Joanne where she took him. The whole segment is really just a showcase for John Noble to make it clear that he can capital “A” Act anywhere anytime. The whole sequence at St. Claire’s is successful in two key ways. First, it’s a clever method to turn his role around; it gives Walter the chance to be the lucid character trying to get a damaged person he cares about to help him get important information for a case. The urgency that Walter feels is real and also definitely what most of his team feels when they’re interacting with him most of the time. Second, it reinforces just how much Walter needs to be doing the work he’s doing with the Fringe Division. When Walter is in St. Anne’s, his whole demeanor changes, he’s more nervous, sadder, and more susceptible to going mad (just look at that wild talking to himself moment). We saw him at his worst there in the pilot, but his real trauma is communicated in a more full way in this episode. And again, a round of applause for John Noble.
4. Peter Deserves More
Peter Bishop is a good character and Joshua Jackson is a good actor and they deserve more to do. It’s not that Peter hasn’t gotten attention as a character; his and Walter’s relationship is one of the fundamental pieces of Fringe and it’s a good one. The thing is, he hasn’t gotten a ton do as a character outside of his relationship with Walter. A larger story for Peter has been hinted at here and there (there’s the person who was following him in the third episode and his secret deal with Nina Sharp) but there really haven’t been concrete steps forward with any of that. Here’s hoping that changes soon.
5. Even More Buildup
The last scene in the episode is good stuff: Joanne meets with Mitchell Loeb (the guy who was revealed to be a mole last week) and gives him the equation…which he uses to move through a solid concrete block! It’s very cool. Then he shoots her which is decidedly less cool but is interesting. Weird science conspiracy stuff is, of course, awesome and the reason that we’re watching Fringe– let’s hope we’re getting more sooner rather than later.
