Fringe

Fringe

Episode 7: Wallflower

By: Carlos Uribe

Fringe is a show about a division in the FBI tasked with solving fringe science cases.

Spoilers Ahoy!

Wow, I can't believe it's mid-season finale time for Fringe. It's only been seven episodes, so it seems like it's entering it's Winter hiatus rather early. This episode decided to deal with the invisible person idea. It's an idea that's been done before on many shows/books before it. The idea that there is a wo/man out there, killing people while not being seen by anyone, is an interesting science fiction idea. It comes as a surprise that the show waited until it's fourth season to have an invisible killer. That the invisible killer is the case the team investigates for the mid-season finale is an odd choice as well; instead of advancing the plot in a serious manner, it merely continued it's snail pace. This isn't to say it was a good episode-it very much was. It simply wasn't the episode I would have chosen to finish out the first half of the season.

The show didn't just explore the idea of an invisible killer, an invisible threat. It also explored the idea of actually being invisible. The man doing the killings has a strong motive: he needs their pigments so he can be seen. He doesn't know that in doing so, he is killing himself due to some scientific reason. Even after he finds out, he still does it. To him, to be seen, is to exist. People can acknowledge him, to just see him. The idea of not being able to be seen is the idea that people simply can't notice you, that they literally don't know you are there. It's like you don't exist, like you're not real. He kills himself to become invisible because that's all that really matters: that people realize that he exists, that other people can look at him and he can know that they know he's there.

There's also an idea that he may be in love. When Olivia is telling people that it's not about the guy curing himself from his invisibility, but about being seen, she's holding a necklace of a heart. It speaks that part of his motive may not just to be seen, but because he wants to be seen by a particular person. A person whose apartment he broke into and left flowers on her bed. A person he simply wants to be in an elevator with, a person who eventually does notice him. This person is a woman, and once she sees him he dies a happy man. To have merely been noticed by the woman that he has fallen in love with, to be seen by her.

The episode also had a lot of small character moments. Olivia has been getting a lot of migraines, which is troubling her. This is when she notices that Lincoln is eating at a 24-hour diner. They talk and two things are revealed. Olivia doesn't really have anyone to talk to, and she has gotten completely used to the fringe events. They don't even phase her. Lincoln is so creeped out by he sees, that he can barely sleep. As for Peter? He's getting bothered that no-one but Lincoln is willing to treat him like a real human being. He may not belong in that timeline, but he still wants people to show him some respect.

At the end of the episode, Nina has Massive Dynamic goons go in and insert some fluid into her neck. What did they insert? Who knows, but it did give a cliff-hanger ending. It'll be interesting to find out not only why Nina violated her foster daughter (is that what to call their relationship?) but also how the fluid will change the show. I have no doubt that Fringe is going to deliver an excellent episode when it comes back, and I can't wait for it.