Mark Watches ‘Fringe’: S03E17 – Stowaway

In the seventeenth episode of the third season of Fringe, the team deals with the newfound appearance of William Bell via Olivia while trying to solve a case concerning a woman who seemingly cannot die, but wants to. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Fringe.

“Well, destiny, fate. Jung called it synchronicity. The interconnectedness of apparently unrelated events. I mean, don’t you think it’s curious we meet a woman who is unable to die at the exact moment my consciousness seemingly returns from the grave? Now as a scientist, I like to believe that nothing just happens, that every even has some meaning. Some sort of message. You just have to be able to listen closely enough to hear it.”

The return of William Bell could never have been predicted this way. Seeded two seasons ago (!!!!!!!), I often wonder if, at any point. Anna Torv was told, “Hey, so, we know we signed you on to this show to play a character, but could you play six more? Oh, and we’re going to need you to mimic Leonard Nimoy’s intonation for a few episodes. You ok with that?”

It needs to be said: Anna Torv is one of the best actresses on television right now. The idea is absurd, to have a woman imitate one of the most recognizable voices in all of pop culture, but Torv pulls it off with both a dedication of a talented woman and the humor necessary for it to work. At times eerie and always surreal, it’s one of the best “twists” this show has ever given us, and it opens up a whole new road of storytelling for Fringe.

I wondered if Dana Gray’s story is tied at all to the events of “Os,” in the sense that our world is beginning to erode and decay. (ERODE was this episode’s glyph code, by the way.) I buy the concept of a double lightning strike providing the necessary weirdness to create the molecular magnetism that prevented her from literally tearing apart, but I think that we’re beginning to see more subtle parallels between the alternate world and ours. How much more radical will the side effects become?

But more importantly, I think that “Stowaway” is a sign of what is to come from the end of season three. Why are these events so connected? I believe that Bellivia’s quote, which I used above, is far more prophetic than most people might think. Why is Peter tied to the machine, and why is Olivia also tied to him? So many things about this show in the past year or two are about seemingly unexplainable coincidences. Is it fate or destiny or synchronicity? Who cares what we call it: something is happening.

Of course, I haven’t figured that out. I won’t pretend to. It’s really excited to be so utterly unsure about how these two universes will come together again, or which will survive. So, for the moment, I’m enjoying the ride a great deal.

And what a ride it is! We’ve got the return of Lincoln Lee, but it’s OUR SIDE’S VERSION OF HIM! And good fucking lord he is so dapper in those glasses and that suit. I have decided to ship him with myself and there is no one to stop me. The writers have also gotten good at mixing this weekly one-off story with the greater narrative and I’ve come to expect that at least until the end of this season. (Or maybe next week, according to that ridiculous preview of “Bloodline,” but I WILL NOT TALK ABOUT THAT FOR THOSE WHO DON’T WANT TO KNOW.)

Despite that, I did want to spend more time on the epic bromance between Walter and Bellivia. I found that story to be a tad more intriguing to me than Dana Gray. Watching Bellivia and Walter interact with each other was pure joy. I love that for Walter, it’s not at all weird that his partner and best friend is in the body of Olivia. Plus, we get to watch Olivia hit on Astrid, which is everything I could ask for on this planet earth. It’s truly a beautiful thing. I felt that this episode was leading us into one of two possible directions: either Dana Gray would become William’s new host, or Lincoln would. I only wanted the latter to happen so that Lincoln could be around more, but it seemed pretty obvious that Dana would be the one to take William’s soul.

So when the bomb went off at the end, tearing the magnetic bonds that held Dana together, I was confused. I mean, Gene wasn’t really going to be William’s new host, as hilarious as that concept was. So what were William and Walter planning? William had very little time to get out of Olivia’s body, and there was still no answer proposed as to how that was going to happen.

The final couple minutes of this episode are ELECTRIFYING. We’d seen Peter’s growing anger and frustration at losing Olivia for a day, and when the church bell went off, we saw Olivia return. But not in a flurry of excitement, but a rush of utter terror and confusion. Something was wrong. Something went wrong with where she went to. And then William returns and our worst fears are confirmed: This is not going to be easy at all.

Love this show. LOVE THIS GODDAMN SHOW.

THOUGHTS

  • I’ll keep saying it until it happens. More Astrid. Please more Astrid.
  • Did William Bell give Peter more soul magnets in his cup of tea? OH GOD WOULDN’T THAT BE WILD.
  • So…where does Olivia’s consciousness go while William is in her body? WHAT IF IT IS ON THE OTHER SIDE.
  • A lot of people fall from buildings on this show.
  • NEXT WEEK. NEXT WEEK!!!!!!

 

About Mark Oshiro

Perpetually unprepared since '09.
This entry was posted in Fringe and tagged , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

312 Responses to Mark Watches ‘Fringe’: S03E17 – Stowaway

  1. NB2000 says:

    Anna Torv. Needs. An. Emmy. She was AMAZING throughout this episode.

    The first thing that went through my mind when Bellivia looked over at Gene was "But, won't you have to be milked? Awkwaaard." and I nearly fell off my chair when Walter actually brought it up later.

    I was kind of disappointed that Our!Lincoln didn't join the team at the end of the episode. It would have been so much fun to have him around.

    I have to admit it was slightly distracting that Dana was played by Amanda from Caprica (I forget the actress' name sorry), I won't go into details in case of spoilers but that definitely made for some interesting parallels.

    • ldwy says:

      I really really hope he will eventually join the team. I loved him! I loved him on the other side too, but especially here. "Compassionate…soul…vampires……….."

    • mkjcaylor says:

      Holy crap there were a TON of parallels. I cannot get over the parallels. For one, Dana Grey/Amanada Greystone. Or Daniel Greystone, which is even more similar. I am sad that Caprica is gone, though I can't see the parallels not being completely deliberate.

      And then there was THAT PART and that OTHER PART.

      • NB2000 says:

        I didn't realise how many until some time after I said this. Just makes me like the episode more and want to go watch the last few episodes of Caprica at last (I still haven't gotten around to watching the last few that were shown this year. I've got them all I just couldn't bring myself to watch them).

  2. Hotaru-hime says:

    I'm really, really hoping Lincoln will join our people next season (THERE HAS TO BE A SEASON FOUR) after he told Peter to call if he was needed.
    Lincoln Lee and his hipster glasses, I just wanted to squish him in a hug.
    I was certain they'd try to put Bell in Dana Gray, but that wouldn't kill her, that would just make her dormant, right?
    But the end! What the hell! Oh my God! What was that!? I NEED ANSWERS.
    The preview for next week has my intestines in a knot- I have no idea what's coming up next.

  3. Karen says:

    Did William Bell give Peter more soul magnets in his cup of tea? OH GOD WOULDN’T THAT BE WILD.

    I think the moral of this episode was DON'T ACCEPT DRINKS FROM WILLIAM BELL.

    But omg. The last like 30 seconds of this episode. 🙁 Poor Olivia! Although my inner shipper was enjoying all the angst that Peter was going through due to being separated from Olivia and worried about her.

    Lincoln Lee is super fine, but I think he's hotter Over There. It was really exciting seeing him Over Here though, and I liked that they laid the foundation for him returning. SERIES 4 REGULAR, Y/N?

    I really want to flail about the preview, so I think I'm going to go create a thread in the spoiler section of Mark Watches.

    • monkeybutter says:

      I dunno, Over Here Lincoln is totally adorkable. It's a hard contest.

      Forget that nonsense about magnetism and universes collapsing: William Bell is gonna steal your body.

    • thiamalonee says:

      The whole episode, I thought Bell was going to end up in Lincoln, who would become braindead somehow. I was so angry that they would integrate our Lincoln that way, while simultaneously eliminating him. When he left without being hurt, I was like WTF? Then, I saw the milk by Walter, and I worried Bell was going to jump into him. Then, Bell asked Peter if he wanted tea, and I was like, "Don't you freaking drink that tea, Peter!!" I totally thought Bell was going to take over Peter in order to ensure his "destiny."

      So, yes, don't accept drinks from William Bell.

  4. monkeybutter says:

    Nooo, Lincoln/Astrid/Cowbell forever! I will fight you on this, Mark!

    Anna Torv is truly awesome. I read a bit of an interview where she said she's terrible at impressions (no) and was so nervous that she just had to say to hell with it and do it. She was fantastic.

    And, oh god, I didn't even think about the tea. Or Walter's milk. This is going to make my crack shipping even more difficult. Seriously though, Lincoln needs to at least be a recurring role in our universe. SEASON 4, PLEASE.

  5. ldwy says:

    But but but, I'm shipping Lincoln with me…
    Haha, but really, oh my god he is adorable and dorky and gorgeous. Where are you real world versions, and why haven't you found us?

    On a more serious note, I am SO SO SO impressed with Anna Torv's acting. She plays so many roles, and they're largely subtle differences but still so distinct, and now she's Leonard Nimoy??? I'm her fangirl. I would never have guessed about the tea. Makes you scared to drink anything, doesn't it?

  6. cinnafan says:

    Confession: I was so unsure about bellivia but I LOVED it. I was afraid it was a gimmick but as someone who is in a screenwriting class I must give writers mad props—-it added SO much to the storytelling. Not only was it a lot of new and inventive humor but it also gave us a great insight into the Bell/Walter relationship and just a new feel and dimension to the show in general. BRAVO writers BRAVO Anna Torv. I will riot if you do not get an Emmy.

    Lincoln as full-time Fringe member NOW

    Lol I support the Mark/Lincoln ship

  7. cjazzle says:

    #1 i want lincoln to join the team. DUH.

    #2 could the william bell in olivia's body indeed be the alt word Bell, a result of her ability to crossover? if i recall properly, he said his alt-world self was no one of consequence, but i suspect it possible this is not entirely the case as his brief explanation seemed too easy. of course, i could be completely wrong, but i wouldnt put it past william bell to conspire with HIMSELF in another universe for some greater purpose.

    #3 i was totally creeped out by bell hitting on astrid, though did get a kick out of their suggesting they relocate bell to gene. one of the best things about the walter/bellivia dynamic was when they'd joke and they'd each chortle.

    #4 poor peter. just got his girl back, and then she goes and gets possessed. GREAT. SUPER. bellivia's quote at the top of the post may suggest that amongst all this interconnectedness, peter's resulting and rising anger is no coincidence in the grand scheme of things. and in this vein – the observers probably oughta pop up hard core for the rest of the season.

  8. SecretGirl127 says:

    I was so very sure Bell would go into Dana Gray's body that I waited for her to come walking out from the bomb blast. (No, I don't know how to let go of an idea.)

    I wonder if Olivia's confusion/fear upon seeing Peter was less about what she was experiencing while we experienced Bellivia and more about knowing the last thing she found out was that Peter was the murderer of five shape-shifters then she comes to in his kitchen.

  9. J. says:

    Can someone just whisper in my ear what next week's teaser is?? I had to watch on hulu. 🙁

  10. NEXT WEEK. NEXT WEEK!!!!!!
    Oh deeeear. I don't want to watch the preview because next Friday I am going to the UK for TWO WEEKS so I will be so Fringe-deprived! I don't want to know what crazy awesomeness I will be missing out on; it will only make me more antsy.

    I’ll keep saying it until it happens. More Astrid. Please more Astrid.
    Always more Astrid! And because I'm sure people missed it in the last post: Jasika Nicole is awesome. She's an artist, and she made this lovely comic for a book for queer youth.

    There were moments here and there where Torv's Bell voice slipped and sounded a little too Olivia-y, but otherwise, I was very impressed. And remember when Bellivia called Broyles "young man"? Good times.

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  12. knut_knut says:

    I hope we get to see more of this side's Lincoln Lee! He looked a bit like Cillian Murphy in his glasses <3

    Did anyone else find the way Dana Gray said "family" REALLY distracting? It kept taking me out of ~the moment~

  13. Tilja says:

    You forgot to mention Anna Torv's excellent mimic technique with the lifted eyebrow synchronized with the cadence of the speech. Her whole body was that of Nimoy in its movements. You might also like to know that a couple of weeks back, Leonard Nimoy announced on his twitter account that William Bell was coming back and he hinted at a surprise. I think this qualifies as one. 😀

    This is the first I comment on this show because I just finished catching up with it, so I have to tell you that I've been thinking about the pregnancy from the exact moment Folivia returned to her own universe. It's one of the most used tropes in romance novels not to see that one coming from a thousand miles off. Even more so knowing that something's needed to get Peter to the other side of his own volition and that was so obviously done you could get a black eye only glancing at it.

    As for the device, I've no idea how that will end, but I prefer to watch and enjoy ignoring the outcome. That's always good for watching something.

  14. bookling says:

    <img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_3lVOb8wvDlE/TYVOCUvo-RI/AAAAAAAABs0/0Bi1SWFluV4/lincolnlee.gif"&gt;

    LINCOLN LEEEEEEEE MARRY MEEEEEEEE <3

    I have to say, I really like how this show is willing to make it's main characters so very flawed. None of them could really be called heroes except for Olivia. We've spent so much time hearing about William Bell but not actually spent much time with the character, and now that we're spending more than a few minutes with him, he's kind of a creep. I mean, he spiked Olivia's tea so that he could take over her body without her consent. Have Bell and Walter ever really stopped experimenting on Olivia? His jokes about how uncomfortable bras are are funny, until you think about what else he might be doing to her body. Isn't it bad enough that Olivia just started being able to get over Fauxlivia living her life and having a relationship with her man? Now she's going to know that someone else was literally in her body.

    Plus, Bellivia hitting on Astrid? It's amusing at first, and when he made the first comment about her hands it seemed like the kind of old-fashioned flirty thing that an old man would say. It was kind of cute. But as it went on and Astrid became visibly uncomfortable, so did I. I really have no patience for men who continue to make unwanted sexual advances towards women just because they can. At this point I just feel bad for Astrid – she gets stuck babysitting Walter and cleaning up his messes in the lab, he can't even get her name right, and now she's getting sexually harassed by an old man in her friend's body. She doesn't even get to break codes or anything anymore like she used to.

  15. jennreyn says:

    I am just watching this episode now so I will read this review in full later but I wanted to say FUCK YEAH OUR SIDE'S LINCOLN LEE.

    I love him so very, very much and I am excited that we got to meet him.

  16. Openattheclose says:

    Do you all think that Bellivia sees glimmers when he looks at Peter? Or would he be able to if he was triggered?

  17. stop fascism says:

    Maybe you’re right, but I still have my own opinion about this.

  18. Ashley says:

    I proactively started shipping myself with Lincoln Lee two years ago before he even existed because that is how good I am.

  19. chels says:

    In case you didn't hear! (will anyone see this? I don't know)

    Fringe has been renewed for season four! 🙂

  20. Ellen says:

    Is there a reason that nothing was posted for Friday's episode "Bloodlines"???

    • SecretGirl127 says:

      Mark is traveling, so no live blog and no post.
      Mark, next time please consider setting up a live blog for the rest of us even though I don't get to it until the next day. We will still be impatiently waiting for your summary post.

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