'Fringe' is on Fire

You know it's an interesting episode when the only person who seems to know what he's talking about is the conspiracy theory nut who believes that he is the son of Spock (which incidentally, is an inside joke for those who are up on their spoilers). From all of the intimations throughout the hour, it seems that this conspiracy nut's story about William Bell "activating" his test subjects to see who is suitable for a super army to fight some sort of impending evil is a very plausible explanation for the overarching story of this show. Walter inferred as much at the end when he told Olivia that something bad was coming (unfortunately, he doesn't know what exactly). Whatever it is, Olivia should prepare herself because she was a test subject of Walter and William Bell's, thus, her activation must be coming at any moment (or possibly, it has already come and that is why she was seeing "the road not taken" this week). We also had Nina warning Agent Broyles that The Observer has been spotted frequently and we all remember what happened the last time he made this many appearances in such a short time (except we don't and now I'm on the edge of my seat trying to figure it all out). And just to add intrigue to interest, we saw Walter leave with The Observer ("Let me just get my coat") just as he found the original manuscript which supposedly clears William Bell of any wrong-doing. We'll see. Who is The Observer and why was Walter so willing to go with him now that it's "that time?"

I'll admit that I didn't see the Harris shocker coming, like, at all. I never liked the man and I wondered which side he was playing for, but I didn't anticipate his involvement in these recent "activations." When the kidnapper showed up at Nancy's door, I assumed he was working for Massive Dynamic -- figured the phone call was to Nina or some Massive Dynamic drone -- but I never imagined it was to Harris. Guess he got his, though, at the end.

Normally, I praise this show for making the ridiculously impossible seem possible, but this week's melted- glass- is- like- a- record- and- it- absorbed- the- emotion- and- burned- it- into- grooves was a bit much... even for me. I'll usually go along for the ride and give the show some creative license and the benefit of the doubt that while most things are possible, they're probably not probable, but you- made- a- strong- case- so- it- works- for- me. Not this time. It was interesting, but I couldn't buy into it. Oh well, the rest of the outing was awesome (as usual), so I'm highly anticipating next week's season finale. Bring on the twists and turns!

The season finale of Fringe airs next Tuesday on Fox. If you missed last night's episode, you can watch it for free at Fox.com.