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    Concentrate and Ask Again (312)

    Visit the Episode GuideFRINGE SEASON THREE
    CONCENTRATE AND ASK AGAIN
    EPISODE NUMBER - 312

    A scientist is murdered with a powder that disintegrates every bone in his body, leading to Fringe team to a former military officer with a very personal grudge. But when the suspect is injured, the case hinges on one of Walter's former test subjects who may be able to read minds.

    VISIT THE EPISODE GUIDE >
    Last edited by GateWorld; 19 March 2014, 01:54 PM.

    #2
    Scattered thoughts first:
    A quick and unexpected revelation of how the machine came to be built. More of this First People business is interesting and always welcome.

    A nice touch in there, amongst William Bell's effects was a Doctor Spock book

    Please tell me I'm not the only one who thought of Futurama's boneitis when the guy was collapsing

    Couple of familiar faces in this one. Jody Thompson, JR Bourne...nice to see them both

    Familiar sights this week:
    - the roadside chat with Walter/Peter/Olivia, I'm pretty sure was filmed out by the airport here in the Vancouver area
    - the cabin they went to, isn't that Jack's cabin?

    Olivia all dolled up, very pretty


    Regarding the episode itself....it was a bit by the numbers and unimaginative. That's not to say I didn't find it enjoyable, it was an entertaining enough use of 42 minutes. But I find that this one kind of suffered from the same problem that a lot of the early episodes of the season did; namely that it was an irrelevant story bookended by extremely interesting tidbits about the main story arc.

    Was very glad to see Sam Weiss return in a very important role too. Very cool. How is he tied in with all of this?
    "A society grows great when old men plant trees, the shade of which they know they will never sit in. Good people do things for other people. That's it, the end." -- Penelope Wilton in Ricky Gervais's After Life

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      #3
      I noticed that great touch with the 'Spock' book amongst William Bell's collection too, that made me smile!!!

      I was trying not to work out where the roadside chat was and concentrate on the story, but it was I have to admit, distracting. I've been enjoying the fact that Fringe films quite tightly and finds relatively generic places. I have reached the point where I'm fed up with seeing familiar places all the time on different movies and TV shows. I think I've lost count of how many times Maple Ridge has been driven around by people being chased by aliens, bugs and mutant creatures, escaping meteor showers,other weather and man made disasters!

      However, I do agree, that was 'Jack's Cabin',that is just too familiar! Have you done the Stargate fan pilgrimage to it yet since you moved to Vancouver?

      I did like that we saw another one of the Cromexton (sp?) kids and the far reaching effects of Walter's experiments turning up at odd intervals like this. The mind reader was wonderfully tragic and the best part of this episode. Poor Olivia, will she ever be happy? I was hoping that she wouldn't read that note the mind reader gave her about Peter's thoughts.

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        #4
        So we were all on the money about Sam Weiss being the sole surviver of The First People Civilization so that makes The Observers his creation then.

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          #5
          Another great Fringe episode, but one of my least favorite of the season. I like the situation about the guy who could read the minds of people. Still, I think dramatically more could have been done out of it like with Milo in the Plateau, The shapeshifters cop (and senator wife) shapeshifters..dream or the aging rock band player who lost his only son. Those episodes had some great emotional edge and good storylines. The dialogue and story could have been better this week.

          But what bothered me much was the constant drama between Olivia and her relationship with Peter. It's interesting but not that interesting. There's no way Olivia would confined to Nina imo. I was already bothered by all of it then Sam gave some kind of strange revelation that the machine is being connected to Peter's woman taste. I hope there's some metaphor in there, for us petty human, and wanted to hide the real truth.

          Still, it's interesting to explore the link between Peter and the Machine (and the first people and the observers).

          The writing and dialogue was not as sharp as usual. That's because Fringe has been the very top show since season 3 in term of quality of writing and character motivation and acting "in character" imo. I don't know if this time it's because if the writer.

          Overall another fun fringe episode. 8.0 for me.
          Currently watching: Dark Matter, 12 Monkeys, Doctor Who, Under the Dome, The Mentalist, The Messengers, The Last Ship, Elementary, Dominion, The Whispers, Extant, Olympus, Da Vinci's Demons, Vikings

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            #6
            I enjoyed it. It may have felt like a one off, but it advanced the story.

            The relationship between Peter and Olivia is very relevant, because depending on which one he chooses, Olivia or Fauxlivia, depends on which world he chooses to save. If Olivia can't get past her reservations about Peter, then he very well may choose Fauxlivia in the end, and "our" world will no longer exist.
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              #7
              Oh, something that I found a little odd in this week's episode was when Broyles said he was going to see Nina because she has more experience with the DOD than him. A couple of times now, Broyles has been addressed as Colonel--on our side. So it's not just Over There that he's ex-military. And as a former Colonel, that makes him a former employee of the DOD I guess maybe we can chalk that up to him just meaning she has better connections with the brass than he does?

              Originally posted by Krisz View Post
              I was trying not to work out where the roadside chat was and concentrate on the story, but it was I have to admit, distracting. I've been enjoying the fact that Fringe films quite tightly and finds relatively generic places. I have reached the point where I'm fed up with seeing familiar places all the time on different movies and TV shows. I think I've lost count of how many times Maple Ridge has been driven around by people being chased by aliens, bugs and mutant creatures, escaping meteor showers,other weather and man made disasters!

              However, I do agree, that was 'Jack's Cabin',that is just too familiar! Have you done the Stargate fan pilgrimage to it yet since you moved to Vancouver?
              I love spotting places I recognize in TV shows and movies

              Haven't been out to Jack's cabin though...whereabouts is it? And would I be scaring someone who lives there if I showed up with a camera?
              "A society grows great when old men plant trees, the shade of which they know they will never sit in. Good people do things for other people. That's it, the end." -- Penelope Wilton in Ricky Gervais's After Life

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by KatG View Post
                I enjoyed it. It may have felt like a one off, but it advanced the story.

                The relationship between Peter and Olivia is very relevant, because depending on which one he chooses, Olivia or Fauxlivia, depends on which world he chooses to save. If Olivia can't get past her reservations about Peter, then he very well may choose Fauxlivia in the end, and "our" world will no longer exist.
                If the link between Peter's woman taste and the machine is made that way, I can see it makes more sense. But that's not the way Sam said it. IIRC he says that the machine is somehow connected to his mind state and that choosing olivia vs fauxlivia may affect the contructive or destructive behavior of the machine. Which is ridiculous.

                But if it's a bit like you said it makes sense. For example, I could imagine that in their analysis of the future (probability) they know that Peter chooses faulivia in 54% of the time and that it leads to the destruction of our world while choosing Olivia would led to the survival of both world (but somehow they can't interfere directly). I would say that makes some sense. I certainly hope it's something like that.

                The episode make it seems like it is his state of mind, his mood, which affects the machine in some strange and mystical way. Not a conscious choice by Peter to destroy one of the other universe depending on who he likes more like you said. Or not some application of future probability like my example above.
                Currently watching: Dark Matter, 12 Monkeys, Doctor Who, Under the Dome, The Mentalist, The Messengers, The Last Ship, Elementary, Dominion, The Whispers, Extant, Olympus, Da Vinci's Demons, Vikings

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                  #9
                  Another very strong episode in a so far excellent season. Sad ending for our Olivia though.
                  sigpic
                  MS - "Boy, wow that's a great question!"
                  "...phu...ah..."
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                  Sunday is my favorite day for two reasons - Football and The Walking Dead

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by the fifth man View Post
                    Another very strong episode in a so far excellent season. Sad ending for our Olivia though.
                    I Concur. But how can the mind reader dude be 100% since Altivia and Olivia are technically the same person? Speaking of Olivia, she looked pretty hot in that dress! In a way, I sortta wish she kept the Altivia hairstyle (not the color though). I also thought that was an interesting twist with Sam. I wonder how much his connection with the "first people" will be explored? I'm confident that the writers won't let us down!
                    sigpic

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                      #11
                      Originally posted by Commander Zelix View Post
                      If the link between Peter's woman taste and the machine is made that way, I can see it makes more sense. But that's not the way Sam said it. IIRC he says that the machine is somehow connected to his mind state and that choosing olivia vs fauxlivia may affect the contructive or destructive behavior of the machine. Which is ridiculous.

                      But if it's a bit like you said it makes sense. For example, I could imagine that in their analysis of the future (probability) they know that Peter chooses faulivia in 54% of the time and that it leads to the destruction of our world while choosing Olivia would led to the survival of both world (but somehow they can't interfere directly). I would say that makes some sense. I certainly hope it's something like that.

                      The episode make it seems like it is his state of mind, his mood, which affects the machine in some strange and mystical way. Not a conscious choice by Peter to destroy one of the other universe depending on who he likes more like you said. Or not some application of future probability like my example above.
                      I rewatched this last night, and I suppose that you could take it that it is his state of mind because of his mood, but if you listen to everything that Sam says, I think it's his state of mind as far as "which Olivia his chooses". At least that's what I'm getting out of it.
                      sigpic

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                        #12
                        I dont quite understand the motivation to use the Machine. I get it, that thanks to Walters Experiment to get Peter from the other Verse, that Universe became unstable. Ours on the other hand seems to be intact. There are weird things happening, but not really due to the inbalance. So wouldnt the wisest decision be to simply destroy the machine?
                        Fuzzy Wuzzy wasnt old,
                        Fuzzy Wuzzy gotten bald
                        There was Fuzzy no more Wuzzy

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                          #13
                          Originally posted by tomstone View Post
                          I dont quite understand the motivation to use the Machine. I get it, that thanks to Walters Experiment to get Peter from the other Verse, that Universe became unstable. Ours on the other hand seems to be intact. There are weird things happening, but not really due to the inbalance. So wouldnt the wisest decision be to simply destroy the machine?
                          Not really. Over There is falling apart, on its way to destruction. The Machine offers them salvation, and the cost of the universe that put them in this mess in the first place (ours). For our part, we're fine, but if Over There decides to use the device we're screwed.

                          It might've worked better as a metaphor for nuclear weapons during the Cold War, but it's still a logical story point.
                          "A society grows great when old men plant trees, the shade of which they know they will never sit in. Good people do things for other people. That's it, the end." -- Penelope Wilton in Ricky Gervais's After Life

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                            #14
                            There could be some kind of reaction to destroying the machine. Like both Universes die out anyway if the machine is destroyed ?

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                              #15
                              Originally posted by JackO'Neill View Post
                              There could be some kind of reaction to destroying the machine. Like both Universes die out anyway if the machine is destroyed ?
                              This could be a possibility. I was wondering if there was anything we could do our they could do "over there" that would fix things so that neither universe would have to be destroyed?
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