Fringe: Inner Child

What did your Tivo do on Tuesday? Mine recorded the extra five minutes that half the country missed of Adam Lambert’s Mad World performance (awesome), so how lucky was I? Except then my Tivo didn’t record the last few minutes of Fringe, so screw you AI. That’s what you get for adding a fourth judge: time issues. And that’s what I get for watching Fox.

So we’re back! Someone asked me recently if Fringe was a good show. I wanted to say yes, and then I remembered all the writing loopholes and warehouses and leaps of faith and Charlie Francis. But I didn’t want to say no, because then I remembered The Observer, and John Scott and Mr. Jones, and a few really good episodes. So I don’t really know what to tell you about this show.

And I don’t know what to tell you about this episode. Because it has its cool elements, but it also feels like a pointless filler episode. A serial killer called The Artist resurfaces in Boston, one who communicates via fax (these days?) and who likes to pick up women around town, include First Becky at the laundromat. Olivia, still hosting her sister and niece, wants to work that case, but instead receives a call from Broyles to prioritize his case, which is the appearance of a young boy in an abandoned building about to be demolished. The boy, deprived of real oxygen, sunlight, and proper food, looks exactly like the monsters from The Descent, so yes, he was creepy, and no, I’ll never go spelunking after watching that movie. He also looks like a mini-Observer, but I honestly thought of The Descent first.

Olivia meets The Boy, and we eventually learn that he is an empath. He bonds emotionally with Olivia, feeling her thoughts about her genuine interest both in him as something other than just another mystery to solve, and also her interest in solving The Artist case. He can’t or won’t speak, but he can write, and is able to connect enough with the killer that he can give Olivia clues: First Becky’s real name (they find her dead anyway), the second woman’s location (which Olivia misinterprets, and therefore, the victim dies), and then finally, the cross streets where they’ll find their killer. It works this last time, resulting in a foot-chase (naturally!), a poorly edited knife fight, and a rescued victim.

While Olivia and Francis race to find The Artist based on The Boy’s clues, the Fringe-ettes attempt to communicate with him and solve his origins mystery. He was found beneath the abandoned building, in an area that was not on the blueprints and which had been sealed for about seventy years. He was discovered by construction workers prepping the site with explosives, one of whom picked up the Boy’s empathic, panicked brainwaves and went racing in to find him. The logic of this area being sealed for seventy years, yet not too difficult to locate now … we’ll ignore. I’m probably nitpicking because I’m annoyed that we spent too much time on a serial killer and not enough time on The Boy, who was much cooler and more compelling in comparison. Which is saying a lot, because nothing annoys me more than watching children act (don’t get me started on Olivia’s niece). Still, this one didn’t have any lines and managed to express himself with subtle changes in expression. So, a voiceless child character? I’m all for it.

Doc explains the details of how environment affects a child’s development, so I hope it’s worth noting that The Boy could actually be thirty years old. How cool would that be?

We also meet Elliott Michaels, from the Department of Social Services. He introduces himself to Olivia and freaks out The Boy when he talks about removing him from Olivia’s presence, and later makes a call to someone we can’t see with the message: “I think we may have found another one.” Later Broyles reveals that Michaels is actually from the CIA’s Science and Technology division, and he’s taking The Boy into custody – for “study.” Later, Broyles and Olivia pull a fast one and convince Michaels that they lost The Boy, but really sent him away with the pediatrician who would have killed him if Doc hadn’t arrived. Nice. As the pediatrician drives our smiling mini-Like-look-a-like through a random neighborhood, they pass the real Observer on the sidewalk! Who didn’t see that coming? The Observer and The Boy share an empathic moment (presumably), and hopefully, everyone at home is saying, “a-ha!”

In other minor developments, Olivia’s sister Rachel will be staying in Boston indefinitely, as she’s started apartment hunting, and misses the chance to tell Olivia what’s keeping her up at night. When do you think their dad will reappear?

So, Broyles brought in the Fringe-ettes because of “the circumstances” they found The Boy in. Why? What does fringe science have to do with an underground tunnel or a lost boy? And why would Broyles call in Doc Bishop? Sure, Doc figured out scientifically how to treat the boy, and while it turns out that The Boy is an empath and that would interest Broyles, he didn’t know that beforehand.

Unless he suspected something. Or had a Massive Dynamic tip-off. Or some other source is giving him a heads up. I’d like to think it’s one of these things, because otherwise, the fringe science department is there simply to investigate anything … weird. Which makes this show a serious version of Special Unit 2 – which is fine, but that’s never been the intention. I think. I’m hoping that Broyles finds these weird cases for a reason, because logically, Broyles never should have been involved.

As for Michaels, what worries me is that we have a slight case of Lost-overcrowding. There, first we have the Oceanic survivors, then the Others, then the Dharma Initiative, then the tail survivors, then we have the boat crew sent by Widmore to collect Ben, then ’70s Dharma Initiative, and now we have the Ajira Airlines survivors. Yes, everyone’s connected somehow, but I’m exhausted investing in people over there. Only to have them killed! (Am I the only one who will miss Caesar?) Here, we have fringe science to start, then the John Scott mindmeld, then Massive Dynamic, then The Observer, then Jones, and now Michaels and his deal. We’re being asked to accept it all, with very little payoff.

In the prior episode, Olivia may or may not be a superhero, and Doc may or may not be a supervillain. Yet, no acknowledgment this week of potentially life-altering revelations. I know we’ll get there, but there could have at least been a moment to address things. Instead, the writers distracted us with questions like, “Isn’t it nice that First Becky is still getting work?” I really like all of The Observer episodes, but this one, as usual, had too much going on with The Artist storyline.

So, a good show? I feel like I can’t answer that until the season is over and my loyalty is rewarded. And I’m not sure, if this were any other show I wasn’t reviewing for Poptimal, if I’d still be watching at this point.

Of note: per the heads up from the Fringe team at Comic Con, there is a clue every episode about the next episode. In the scene when the Fringe-ettes meet the Boy, Peter receives a phone call/text message, and steps into the background to respond. Relevant? Also, this underground place where they found The Boy: what was down there, and is that a mystery that will come back?

Best line: Unless you have an IQ higher than mine, I’m not interested in what you think.

Next week: Fringe meets Jurassic Park! And I’m sure nothing that happened tonight will impact next week at all. Stay tuned!

P.S. Scott MacIntyre rightly went home and Allison Iraheta needs to find a rock band to front.

Season 1, Episode 15: Inner Child (originally aired April 7, 2009)

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Tuesdays at 9/8C, Fox

Photographs courtesy of Fox and IMDbPro