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- TV Series: Fringe
- Episode: Ability
- Starring: Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, John Noble, Lance Reddick, Jasika Nicole
- Written By: Robert Chiappetta, Glen Whitman, David H. Goodman
- Directed By: Norberto Barba
- Network: Fox
- Series: Fringe
Fringe: Ability
Don't Take Any Two Dollar Bills By
Stephen Lackey
February 12, 2009
Dr. Bishop Asks the Question We’re All Thinking When He investigates a Victim whose Orifices have All Closed Up on Fringe:Ability.
© Fox
This week’s episode of Fringe begins to really set a path for the series. Just enough is revealed about this upcoming major event that is at the core of the show’s mythology to intrigue viewers but not so much that anything can be predicted. The hidden villains have been on an arc towards some sort of religious fanaticism since the series started but now with the reveal of a manuscript, a Bible if you will, the religious underpinnings are solidified. Olivia this week gets an even stronger connection to X-Files’, Dana Scully when her part in the mystery is further revealed. Tests were run on her when she was a baby that makes her more pivotal to the mystery and more vested in the drama. The Olivia reveal this week sets the stage for many questions including is the woman staying with her really her sister? Even if the woman is her sister, is there something more to her and her daughter than meets the eye? Olivia’s father was in the military living on a military base when these secret tests were run on her so is her father more deeply involved than we yet know?
When Mr. Jones appears in an episode some answers, more questions, and some insane mayhem are sure to follow. This week we get people losing their faces Jacobs Ladder style. These scenes are extreme creepy and wonderfully executed. The scene in the lab with Bishop cutting into one of the faces and releasing a near vomit inducing odor and asking about a delightful desert should go down as a classic from the series.
The interactions between Jones and Olivia are very reminiscent of a Silence of the Lambs sort of Clarice/Hannibal situation, just sci-fi rather than horror. Jones is always a step ahead of the game and it’s frustrating that he has all the answers but he manages to skip away before revealing final answer. What’s also interesting about this episode and the series in general is that Dr. Bishop is also a step ahead of everyone else but he doesn’t realize it. His son and Olivia realize it but they don’t know how to get the information out of Dr. Bishop’s quirky brain. For example, this week both Dr. Bishop and Jones know what is truly happening to Jones after the teleportation. By the cliffhanger ending Olivia appreciates how helpful that bit of information could have been had she known to ask the right question or had Dr. Bishop had the forethought to share it. The final moments of the episode suggest that Dr. Bishop knows even more about the conspiracy and possibly even the manuscript of the villains.
This week’s episode offers up everything that makes Fringe a fantastic mystery, suspense, and humor. On a side note, Anna Torv seems to be adjusting the demeanor of her character this week. Olivia has always been a sort of quiet, contemplative, and mostly serious character. This week she appears to be adding a little more quirkiness to her character, a bit more of a smile here and there, a little happier too. It could be a simple evolution of her character as she is finally getting over the death Michael Scott or it could be the influence of having a kid in her house. Either way, the change in her is obvious.
This show is the bomb-diggity. Why can't they have a three-hour block with this show, Terminator, and Dollhouse. They all go together genre-nically. Like my word? House could be paired with American Idol or Lie to Me (that's on Fox, right?). The main reason why I love this show is that I cannot even begin to guess at what I think is going on. To me mysteries fall in three categories: Ones which you can see the ending a mile away, the second one has you guessing, and the third is the one where you don't know what the hell is going on. The last category can either be done right - a la Fringe - or wrong and just having you guess when even the writers don't know how it's going to end, a la - I can't think of any shows yet but I know there have been some.
Anyway, great show.