FRINGE Air Date: February 3rd, 2012
“Making Angels” Review by Andy Greene
It’s taken four and a half seasons, but the writers of Fringe have finally given the spotlight to one of its most underappreciated
characters, Astrid (the
delightful Jasika Nicole), and the result is one of the best episodes of an uneven season thus far. Hopefully this week’s episode is a harbinger for things to come.
Our story begins on the Other Side, with their Broyles (Lance Reddick) summoning Fauxlivia (alternate Olivia, Anna Torv) and Linclone (the other Lincoln, Seth Gabel). Turns out, someone from their side has used the bridge between worlds without authorization. Who is it? None other than their Astrid, or as Jasika refers to her, KickAsstrid. Fauxlivia volunteers to bring her back.
A man is given a 95% chance of survival when an early form of cancer is discovered in his body. Waiting for the bus on the way home, he’s approached by an Asian gentleman we’ll come to know as Neil (played by The Dark Knight’s Chin Han), who plays out the man’s future, claiming that he’s the unlucky 5% and the rest of his short life will be pain and suffering. As the bus motors past, the man’s lifeless body is splayed out on the bench.
Walter (the brilliant John Noble) and Peter (my man crush, Joshua Jackson) bicker in the lab, when KickAsstrid enters. Olivia and Astrid quickly follow, as Astrid confronts her doppelganger for the first time. KickAsstrid is distraught, as her father has died, and
wants to know if our Astrid has suffered the same heartbreak. Really, she just wants a friend and is clearly curious to see what our Astrid is like and how our world differs from her own. Given the limelight, Jasika shines as essentially a more brilliant Rain Man- type autistic savant as the other Astrid, and the sweet, always helpful Astrid of our own side. When Fauxlivia arrives to inject enthusiasm and a welcome sense of humor, we’re having fun watching Fringe again. The two Other Siders assist the Fringe Division with their case, creating an interesting dynamic. Walter hates Fauxlivia (the pair’s back and forth is priceless), but loves the innocent genius of their Astrid, even calling her by the correct name to the chagrin of our Astrid. Fauxlivia just likes to stir the pot, and I love her for it.
As more bodies pile up with seemingly no pattern to connect them, we see that Neil is putting these men and women out of their misery. Each have a bleak future ahead of them, and before they can enact it, he kills to “save” them. Neil sees himself as a saint, and his ability to see the past, present and future calls to mind the Observers, and their connection is one of the cooler moments of the episode, as we’re finally gaining new information rather than rehashing old twists. Along the way, Their Astrid makes knowing commentary upon the nature of our division’s lab and the group’s dynamic, and we get some genuinely touching moments between the two Astrid’s, ending with some insight into our Astrid’s home life.
Written superbly by Akiva Goldsman, J.H. Wyman and Jeff Pinkner, this episode succeeds in large part due to Fauxlivia and KickAsstrid’s appearance on our side. In many ways, we know Fauxlivia more than our side’s Olivia, because this season, the main characters are another wrinkle away from their actual selves (plus Fauxlivia is undeniably more fun)...
THE GRAVEYARD EXAMINER
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