Fringe
Season One
Episode Eight
'The Equation' - 4.5
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| Fringe is by far the hardest of my shows to find a picture for, so here's Olivia with a horse statue. |
Child actors are a problem whenever they are needed, only a small percentage of them actually appear half-decent at portraying complex emotions. In this episode, a young boy was tasked to play a musical prodigy kidnapped by a mysterious woman who wants him to finish the musical piece he's writing. Personally, I am more of a mathematician than a musician - and I'm really no mathematician - but while I'm aware that music can be viewed mathematically, I wasn't particularly sold when Walter took about thirty seconds to transpose an intricate equation into musical notation. I just don't know if it's possible, but I don't think it is - at least not when there are so many variables and stuff. Anyway, that was only an issue because it distracted me then, as it is now. Back to the kid, who as a whole was alright. He managed to get the most important shot pretty right in my opinion, but in general, I thought the actor looked bored and distant.
The case-of-the-week was at first about crazy-hypno-Christmas-lights, then quickly became about the woman who kidnaps gurus of various fields in order to help her decipher the eponymous equation, before releasing them back into their lives completely insane from the experience. This is what leads to the asylum that Walter came from in the first episode, as he is able to recall the tales from his friend Dashiell, who was a former victim of the kidnapper. For some convoluted reason or another, the FBI were not simply allowed to question Dashiell, rather Walter had to ask the questions himself in the middle of the hospital. In a bizarrely serious seen for the mad scientist, he not only caused a psychotic break in his old friend, but also seemed to suffer one himself and get himself temporarily recommitted.
Regrettably, the institutionalised portion of the episode slowed it down considerably, and while John Noble's performance deserves to be lauded, it was great a bit less interesting than the story of the boy should have been. Alas, there is nothing I can do now, and in the end Walter was freed, unknowingly with the knowledge that would save the day. It just seemed to me that the knowledge could have come in the initial questioning scene, rather than about fifteen minutes later.
I was impressed by some of the visuals in the episode. The first scene was wonderfully creepy, it was built up to be like the first kill of a horror film, but instead became a quiet, eerie moment where everything felt fine the entire time, until you realised what had happened. The green-red hypnosis-lights were a good choice as they are well timed and utilised to be both plot and aesthetic devices. When the kidnapper begins trying to coax the child into completing his composition, she both coerces then punishes him with visions of his dead mother. At first the mother is able to comfort him, but later, as her child has trouble finishing his work, her face practically rips itself open. It is disturbing, but the kid and his mum do a terrific job.
A favourite moment of mine featured Olivia attempting to apprehend the evil woman, because not only did it bring us our first hand-to-hand cat fight, it also brought us a great moment when Olivia was caught up in the flashing lights herself and inadvertently let the kidnapper escape. Charlie was there too, and Charlie's kinda cool, I like him.
This surprisingly ended up being an episode with strong ties to the overall mythology - it turns out the equation was needed by Loeb, who wanted to utilise it to phase through walls. Loeb's scene was brief, but was filmed and paced formidably - at first. It showed him set all his little gadgets up, then pull an apple right out of small metal safe from the back. I thought it was amazing, until he shot the kidnapper. I didn't like her or anything, I just had assumed she was an intelligent woman, and we all saw that coming. Surely she did too? Anyhow, no more information was given as to what Loeb will use this for, but presumably we won't have to wait too long.
As would be expected, the episode ended on a light note, presenting the healthy and probably still a little sane son to his relieved father. It was all very nice and sweet, and then it ended. I was almost surprised, as while it sounds like it, it was not overly satisfying and did not feel like a proper conclusion. Realistically, I think Loeb's scene would have been a far more striking and memorable finale, but whatever. I'm not the director... yet.
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