'Brave New World: Part I' or: Don't Pull a Ianto on Me, "Fringe"

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SPOILERS AHEAD: If you have not seen this past Friday's episode yet, do NOT read this post until you have.

Left Dot Moth. Left Dot Seahorse. Lower Right Dot Leaf.!!!

I'm sure my sister and a few others will know exactly what I just wrote. Fans of the truly best (but most ignored) show on TV, will recognize those as descriptions of three the 24 glyphs that accompany each commercial break. If you are obsessive about such things as I, you have a printed guide and madly write down each week's word and try to fit it into the show's mythology, which is surprisingly large, for a show with only 4 seasons under its belt. Happily, the show has been picked up for next fall. Sadly, it is for a 13-week final season. Beggars can't be choosers, though.

Still, over the past four seasons its fans have come to know and love (and hate and love again) different versions of the same characters reacting to different versions of reality. If nothing else, the show is an astonishing acting challenge for any performer and it's clear to see that the show's brilliant cast is up for anything.  But by playing fast and loose with the time-space continuum, the writers can do anything they want, including the resurrection of a character we never thought we'd see again at the end of last week's show, and the shooting of a character who was just coming into her own. Agent Astrid Farnsworth (played by the very talented Jassica Nicole) started out as a nerdy gopher/cum baby-sitter for the brilliant Walter Bishop, but over the run of the show, both character and actor have really come in to their own. Nicole was particularly effective this season in her interactions between our version of Astrid and the strikingly different 'Asperger's Astrid' of the alternate universe. Walter, who rarely uses her right name (my personal favorite misnomer of his was "Assturd") would be lost without her. And so would we. But in the final scene of the season's penultimate episode, beloved Astrid was shot! I may have gasped. I know I shouted "No!" out loud. Even worse - the previews for next week's season finale didn't show or mention Astrid at all! Those bastards! 

They wouldn't do it, would they? Sure, Abrams and Co. killed Jin and Sun right at the end. But they surely can't kill Astrid! Of course, I never thought Russell T. Davies would kill Ianto on "Torchwood." Just as we thought Ianto (adorable Gareth David-Lloyd) and Jack were happy together, Ianto gets killed at the end of season 4. Rightfully so, Davies reacted to fan displeasure by saying that the story and characters were his to do with whatever he thought best suited the story. If Astrid dies, I will be very unhappy. But if it serves the story, then so be it. And after seeing this week's episode, I think I'd like to offer a hypothesis as to where it all might end up.

The episode started with Peter, Olivia and talk of a nursery. We know from the future-set "Letters of Transit" that Peter has a blonde daughter in Fringe named Henrietta, so we can only assume she is also Olivia's daughter and though Olivia was not in or mentioned in the episode, that all fits nicely with what September told Olivia at the opera-house. More evidence points to Olivia being Herietta's mother in the fact that the Observers cannot read her thoughts as they can with most humans.

The glyphs spelled "POWERS" this week, and Liv used hers twice. First to save the nano-infected Victoria ("No Ordinary Family" villainess Rebecca Mader) and again to take over Peter's body in a fight to the death with the previously elusive madman, David Robert Jones (the effectively creepy Jared Harris).  And now we find that William Bell (Leonard Nimoy) who is dead in one timeline and presumed dead in the current one, is not only alive but actually behind Jones' machinations. But to what end? Personally, I'm hoping Bell's intentions are not nefarious. And given that we know from September that Olivia is going to die (we've already met the guy who will kill her, at least in one timeline), I think (re: hope) it is Bell's intention to ramp up Olivia's Cortexifan-induced powers to heal both universes.

Well, either that or... BOOM!!!!!! Now that's a way to end a show.

If you're not watching "Fringe," you are missing THE smartest, funniest and most entertaining show on television, bar none.

P.S.

Dear Television Academy;

Where is the love for these four rather amazing actors (Anna Torv; John Noble; Joshua Jackson and Jassica Nicole) who consistently deliver high-quality (if not down-right brilliant) performances week after week. Would it kill you throw a nom or two their way? Jeez!

More, anon
Prospero