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- TV Series: Fringe
- Episode: A New Day in Old Town
- Starring: Colin Ana Torv, Lance Reddick, John Noble, Joshua Jackson, Kirk Acevedo
- Written By: Akiva Goldsman, J.J. Abrams
- Directed By: Akiva Goldsman
- Network: Fox
- Series: Fringe
Fringe: A New Day in Old Town Review
Crisis on Infinite Earths By
Stephen Lackey
September 18, 2009
Fringe Review(2009).
© Fox/Bob Trate
So last season ended with Olivia, or “Olive” as many fans now like to affectionately refer to to her as, standing in front of the mysterious William Bell (Leonard Nimoy) in one of the two towers of the World Trade Center. Using the World Trade Center evokes a certain emotional response but it also quickly defines that Olivia is definitely not in Kansas anymore. She did make a trip to an alternate version of Earth where Bell has apparently decided to stay. The tease was that Olivia would finally get some answers and of course we’d see at least some of those answers in this episode. Well, some of the folks behind LOST are responsible for this show so we should know better. It appears that this conversation between Bell and Olivia is going to be trickled out to us slowly for quite some time.
When the episode started with the mysterious man in the car with a bloody head, the episode appeared to be a monster of the week situation. That would have been incredibly disappointing after last season’s finale. As the show progressed, it quickly became more clear that he in fact is involved with a shady group and has been tasked with keeping any information Olivia learned from Bell from getting out there. He is a shape shifter and he has quite the disturbing way of changing shapes throughout this episode. Walter and Peter arrive on the scene of the accident to meet a spunky FBI agent in charge of dealing with the now empty car that at one time belonged to Olivia. This leads to a shocker of a scene that brings Olivia back to our world. Walter is responsible but no one bothers to ask him how he knew what to do.
Olivia is hurt and in the hospital so she is out of commission for most of this episode. Anytime Olivia isn’t in the middle of the action, it’s a loss to this show. She brings a really unique and surprisingly melancholy kind of energy to the proceedings, even when she’s in a good mood or smiling. It says a lot about the acting abilities of Ana Torv because she doesn’t seem to be that sort of person at all outside of the role. Walter picks up the slack though by bringing boatloads of his weirdness to the episode. Peter’s birthday is coming up and Walter is insisting on making a pudding to celebrate. There's one scene in particular that’s a little gross and a lot funny where Walter is doing an autopsy while giving instructions to Astrid on how to make the pudding. She walks over to look at the body while mixing ingredients in a bowl and none of them think it’s the slightest bit odd. It’s not slapstick funny but it still brings a smile to the face of any fan of the show.
It’s barely a complaint that Olivia isn’t in the field because the payoff is so fantastic. Upon her return from the other side, many new plot threads are set up, some small and some major. Olivia’s first words when she returns appear creepy and monumental but in the end they have a much more subtle connection to the investigation and to the investigators. The most powerful shows lead you to believe that no one on those shows is safe no matter how major the character’s role may be. To make you believe that they have to knock off someone important on occasion. The stinger ending of this episode brings it all home in a really unexpected way. This is Fringe though so anyone who’s dead may still find a way back. The season premiere set up more mysteries but it didn’t bring back the “pattern” which is something that needs to be done. Last season, the show strayed a bit from the pattern into Fringe terrorism and it never really made its way back. The pattern element was one of the most interesting elements of the show in the early episodes of season one so hopefully all of this will get tied together properly this season when more is revealed about William Bell and the mysterious conversation he had with Olivia.
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No need to bloviate, this episode was fuucking sweet. So sweet I had to spell fuucking with 2 U's, thats pretty sweet.