{"id":321,"date":"2011-04-30T17:08:40","date_gmt":"2011-05-01T00:08:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=321"},"modified":"2011-05-05T16:44:50","modified_gmt":"2011-05-05T23:44:50","slug":"mark-watches-fringe-s03e21-the-last-sam-weiss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2011\/04\/mark-watches-fringe-s03e21-the-last-sam-weiss\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches &#8216;Fringe&#8217;: S03E21 &#8211; The Last Sam Weiss"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!-- p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Georgia} span.s1 {letter-spacing: 0.0px} -->In the twenty-first episode of the third season of <em>Fringe<\/em>, the mysterious Sam Weiss comes to Olivia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s side to help her determine what to do with the newly-activated device as their universe begins to experience dramatically more frightening effects. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch <em>Fringe<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->HOLY GOD THIS EPISODE. <em>THIS EPISODE<\/em>. I mean, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so much that happened, so much we learned, and yet, all I want to talk about is the final sixty seconds. I know that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what all of you want to do, too. HOLD ON, MY FELLOW WATCHES, WE WILL GET THERE. Can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t spoil all the fun, right?<\/p>\n<p>I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve liked where season three of this show has gone quite a bit. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s easily better than the previous two, so I want to state that before I delve into a bit of an explanation of <em>why<\/em> this episode felt like a triumphant bit of storytelling. The first eight episodes of season three were electrifying in their energy, urgency, and unique story they were telling. I remember binging through those episodes in just a day or two. I actually sacrificed getting ahead of myself in terms of reviewing just so I could catch up to real-time before the season started back up again. The show had taken the concept of parallel universes and made them easy to understand for most of the audience, and complicated enough so that we couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t figure out the details. I felt so immensely satisfied with how rich and believable the alternate world was, and I loved to see Olivia, Astrid, Walter, and Brandon play such disparately distinct characters with ease. (Think how exciting that has to be for an actor or actress.)<\/p>\n<p>The show mixed character growth and emotional storytelling with a MIND-NUMBING serial mythology that the writers also didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stray from updating continually. We got answers so regularly that the show felt as if it was barreling towards a huge emotional crux, and in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Entrada,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d we got that moment. I still think \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Entrada\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is the best episode of the entire series, and now, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Last Sam Weiss\u00e2\u20ac\u009d has managed to give it a good run.<\/p>\n<p>The best thing this show ever did was drop the one-off episodes and become a serial drama. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s made watching <em>Fringe<\/em> exciting and rewarding, and <em>that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s<\/em> what I want from a serious drama. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve really enjoyed the journey since \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Entrada,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d so, again, this is not me stating that I dislike season three. But that sense of urgency and OH MY GOD never got quite as strong and present until now. However, that is entirely ok! We have gotten to spend time developing these wonderful characters even further (except Astrid <strong>COME ON WRITERS, MORE ASTRID<\/strong>), the pieces have been set into place for this final battle, and there have surely been some fantastically brain-melting twists throughout.<\/p>\n<p>But damn&#8230;shit is <em>so goddamn real right now<\/em>. And I love, love, love when shows and stories do that. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve talked about how this show feels rewarding, and this is what I mean: I feel like <em>Fringe<\/em> has said to me, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Thank you for sticking around. Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll give you in return.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>UGH. I LOVE IT SO MUCH, Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ALL.<\/p>\n<p>So, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve whined about Astrid a lot, and I must say that this episode and \u00e2\u20ac\u01536:03 AM EST\u00e2\u20ac\u009d have given us huge doses of her, much more than usual, and she and Walter give \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Last Sam Weiss\u00e2\u20ac\u009d a poignant and emotional cold open. Walter is heartbroken that after he was willing to give up his son to save this universe, Peter instead was wounded badly and appears to be in a coma. Bless Astrid, by the way, who is the butt of a lot of Walter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rage in this episode, and she knows exactly what to do to calm him down. Their relationship has grown so much since the beginning of the show, and I appreciate that the writers are willing to show us this. What else best represents true love besides tapioca pudding and Astrid Farnsworth? Well, ok, Broyles and LSD does, but <em>beyond that<\/em>. NOTHING, that is right.<\/p>\n<p>We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d only seen small, singular moments of chaos as our universe begins to fall apart, but what \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Last Sam Weiss\u00e2\u20ac\u009d does well is give us the true scope of the effects of the device being turned on. Not only does the scene in Holyoke, Massachusetts serve to demonstrate the severely serious situation that the team is up against, but many times in this episode, we are given these grandiose glimpses of the world falling to pieces. How do you show people that the world is ending in just forty-five minutes? <em>This episode shows you how<\/em>. By the time Peter steps into that machine in the end, you honestly get the sense that <em>shit is real<\/em> and <em>everything is going to end <\/em><strong><em>right now<\/em><\/strong><em> if he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. <\/em>That is such a difficult thing to pull off, and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Last Sam Weiss\u00e2\u20ac\u009d does it nearly flawlessly. (I say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153nearly\u00e2\u20ac\u009d because there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nothing to kill the vibe of a story more than what basically amounts to a Ford Focus car commercial being dropped into our laps. God, I hope season four doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have these.)<\/p>\n<p>But let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s talk about the titular character, who we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve all been dying to learn more about for a long, long time. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m actually completely fine with the fact that we got only <em>part<\/em> of his story and not the whole bunch jammed into this story. It would have felt too rushed, too much like the writers were telling us HEY, HERE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S EVERYTHING, YOU DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T HAVE TO WORK FOR ANY OF IT. When you have a show based on a mythology like this, you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just spill forth the answers all willy-nilly. They have to feel <em>real<\/em>, to have a purpose for being revealed in the way in which they are.<\/p>\n<p>Olivia asks a lot of questions. Some of them get direct confirmations or information. Some of them get a question in return. I love that Sam Weiss knows <em>most<\/em> of the story, but by the end of the episode, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s almost as much in the dark as the characters and we are. Personally, I think if he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d been an all-knowing figure, it would have been a tad irritating. What he <em>does<\/em> know, though, is fascinating.<\/p>\n<p>So Sam Weiss is one in a line of a number of Sam Weiss\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s. How many are there? And if the first Sam Weiss was the one to discover the manuscript, then who wrote it? How\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d he become a contact of Nina Sharp in the first place? How is he even a part of this all?<\/p>\n<p>Ok, seriously, I have a quarter of a million questions about Sam Weiss and the First People and this device, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be ridiculously pedantic to spend time talking about them. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re done with Sam Weiss yet, despite that I thought the name of this episode implied that Sam was going to die. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m glad he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t, and perhaps next week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s finale will shed light on why he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s played such a large part in all of this.<\/p>\n<p>Which brings me to my next point: WHY DO OLIVIA AND PETER HAVE SO MUCH TO DO WITH ALL OF THIS? I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand why Peter was destined to be the one to turn on the machine. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never had any light shed on that throughout the show\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s history. But when Sam unrolled the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153crowbar\u00e2\u20ac\u009d located in the box and Olivia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s face appeared among the DNA strands and brainwaves, I realized it was quickly becoming <em>imperative<\/em> that I figure out why these two people were going to play such a huge part in the end of a universe. (Or the saving. Or something!)<\/p>\n<p>Sam Weiss spoke of the fact that the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153timeline\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was wrong, which makes me instantly think of The Observers, who are still largely unexplained in the series as well. Beyond wondering why Sam knows that the timeline is wrong (and <em>what<\/em> that timeline is, too), I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help but think The Observers are playing a much larger part in all of this. Who else would know that Olivia would come to gain the powers necessary to be the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153crowbar\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in the force field around the machine?<\/p>\n<p>I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m glad that Olivia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s powers, which have largely been ignored for most of season three (aside from her ability to pass between universes, obviously), are finally coming back into play. Even better, the writers didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t avoid the uncomfortable fact that Olivia hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t used them in so long. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m glad that she resisted the idea and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m glad that they wrote the scenes with the typewriter to show that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a convenient set of powers to have. It would have been far too easy to the story, and it would have stripped us of the metaphorical power of her finally being able to use them, but only in the presence of Peter.<\/p>\n<p>Peter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s story was REALLY frightening and strange for a large chunk of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Last Sam Weiss,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure each of you nearly had an aneurysm when you saw Peter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s note that said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m Going Home.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Of course, my mind ended up on a horrible conclusion: Peter would find a way to go to the alternate universe while in this state. I actually believed this was going to happen even <em>more<\/em> when Walter told Olivia she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d have to interact with the machine on the other side. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know if I could have handled that, honestly, so I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m glad that was just an extraneous, illogical plot twist that existed only in my brain.<\/p>\n<p>The thing that was so striking about Peter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s REALLY EXPENSIVE trip to New York was that there was this prescient sadness to the way he moved about, as if he knew he was heading to a destiny that was not at all pleasant. Of course, part of this can be explained by his disorientation, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m wondering if this phase is actually a sign of something more, maybe a clue to <em>where<\/em> Peter goes at the end of the episode. Either way, Joshua Jackson played the part extremely well.<\/p>\n<p>John Noble also has another scene in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Last Sam Weiss\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that is not only just as well-acted as Joshua\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s part in the episode, but is a fantastic sign of just how much Walter adores and loves Olivia, and how much he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s come to love himself. Walter and Olivia, in a way, have shared some fairly damaging runs of low self-esteem. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen that manifested in Walter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sadness about having to rely on Peter during season one, or Olivia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reluctance to open up to Peter for a large part of season three. Both of them have been hurt in immeasurable ways, and the monologue that Walter gives is about personal healing for him, and shows the hope he feels that Olivia can feel the same way about herself:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I know what it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like to feel unequal to the task required of you&#8230;to feel incapable. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll never be the man I was, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve come to embrace those parts of my mind that are&#8230;peculiar and broken. I understand now that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what makes my mind special. I wish you could see yourself the way I see you. You have no idea how extraordinary you are. If you would embrace that, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no end to what you can do.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>ALL MY CREYS. God, what a fantastic message for this show to impart on it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s main character.<\/p>\n<p>But honestly, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what we all want to talk about. The machine. The incredibly tense and gorgeous scene inside Liberty Island. The message on the typewriter. Did Peter type that or is it meant for him? WHY SKIP OVER THAT DETAIL oh right <em>the writers are teasing us<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>I sat on the edge of my couch (literally!) as the two of them stood in front of that device, the hair raising on my skin as the machine began to whir and hum while Olivia used her powers to shut down the force field. Again, it was a great metaphor for Olivia letting down the walls around her own heart, allowing Peter inside. (I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t miss that, writers!!!) I never thought we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d see Peter try to enter the machine <em>TWICE<\/em> on this show, and yet the second time is infinitely more tense and suspenseful than the first time around. Was the episode going to cut out once Peter stepped inside? It felt like everything was moving in slow motion as Walter and Peter looked up that man in that impossible machine, expressions of horror and terror wiped across their faces.<\/p>\n<p>I honestly expected a cut to black. I did. Instead, Peter wakes up and he looks different. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wearing different clothes. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a patch that says BISHOP on the lapel. Fire bursts around him as gunshots spread throughout the vicinity of where he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s landed.<\/p>\n<p>Where is he? Peter turns up to face a memorial to September 11th.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DEDICATED IN FUCKING 2021. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>What?!?!!?!?!!?!?!?!?!!?<\/p>\n<p>And as the solider with a Fringe Division patch identifies him as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Agent Bishop,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Peter realizes he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been shot and <strong>ABSOLUTELY NOTHING MAKES SENSE. NONE OF THIS MAKES SENSE. <\/strong>Has Peter <em>literally<\/em> traveled to the future? Or just his consciousness? Which universe is he in? WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON????<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Last Sam Weiss\u00e2\u20ac\u009d felt so much like a season finale that I now know we are all completely and utterly unprepared for next week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s finale. WHAT IS GOING ON.<\/p>\n<p>I love you, <em>Fringe<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the twenty-first episode of the third season of Fringe, the mysterious Sam Weiss comes to Olivia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s side to help her determine what to do with the newly-activated device as their universe begins to experience dramatically more frightening effects. Intrigued? &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2011\/04\/mark-watches-fringe-s03e21-the-last-sam-weiss\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[32,48,79,40,41,80,39,38,9,25],"class_list":["post-321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fringe","tag-anna-torv","tag-featured","tag-j-h-wyman","tag-j-j-abrams","tag-jasika-nicole","tag-jeff-pinkner","tag-john-noble","tag-joshua-jackson","tag-mark-watches","tag-mark-watches-fringe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. The path to wp-cache-phase1.php in wp-content/advanced-cache.php must be fixed! -->