Fringe: Momentum

It’s clear the powers that be at Fringe HQ have heard my plea for a fresh surge of serialized storytelling without making fans wait forever, because last night’s outing was pure story, no filler, all plot momentum, and flat-out awesome.

Things start out on an unintentionally topical note for anyone following the bizarre saga of Ted Williams’ frozen noggin when a heavily armed man (Roger Cross, aka 24’s dearly departed Curtis) robs a load of heads from a cryonics facility in the dead of night leaving three folks dead, one of whom seems to bleed mercury. Who ya gonna call? Fringe Division! (nope, doesn’t quite have the same ring to it). This was only the latest in a nationwide string of frozen head thefts, and a little deduction on Walter’s part combined with the discovery of an all too familiar device reveals the involvement of none other than Evil Charlie’s shape shifting reality tripping comrades in arms. Apparently they’re searching for one very special head (leading to the particularly unsettling visual of Cross casually pitching heads into a ravine as he checks each one for… something). Adding to his list of problems, E.C. seems to be rapidly losing control of his stolen visage without consuming extra quantities of T-1000 batter. All the while, Olivia continues to inch closer to recapturing her lost memories, which bear a profound relevance to the shifter situation.

Walter recalls a previously referenced experiment during which an LSD blasted hippie chick claimed to have the ability to see who’s from the other side and tracks her down.  She is  surprisingly happy to see him. She heads back into the lab where the proceedings and their similarity to William Bell’s way of doing business sends Liv into a seizure-intense memory download. Cue Nimoy!!! After the mysterious Mr. Bell reminds us of the creepy fact that Liv has been prepped for her dimensional traveler/guardian duties since childhood, he wastes no time in explaining exactly what the shifters are up to and how they must be stopped: they are the first wave in the other side’s war with our own world, and only one dimension is likely to survive the confrontation. He sends Liv back across to her impending car crash fate with the task of showing Nina a certain symbol that will lead them to the head the shifters seek.

Nina claims ignorance, but I’m not buying it. An ever more desperate Charlie momentarily convinces Liv that Nina’s the shifter, but some just-in-time intel from Massive Dynamic’s R&D gurus informs Liv of the awful truth and she’s forced to empty a clip into the fiend with her best friend’s face. Nice knowing you, Charlie. I guess you do only live twice. Things end on a profoundly creepy note when the shifters find what they’re looking for in spite of F.D.’s best efforts and a freshly reunited head/body combo springs to life. Eek.

Season 2, Episode 4: Momentum Deferred (originally aired October 8, 2009)

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Thursdays at 9/8C, Fox

Photographs courtesy of Fox and IMDbPro