Fringe – Episode 4: “The Arrival”

October 1st, 2008

Filed under: Medicine, TV

A strongly mediocre episode of Fringe. At least the science and medicine wasn’t too bad this time around.

And Peter’s whining is really starting to get on my nerves.

Fringe

The Plot: An explosion at a construction site occurs in Manhattan. The public is told that it was a gas main explosion, but that’s only part of the story. A 2 foot long metal egg-shaped cylinder was found in the rubble and it had apparently tunneled up to the surface from underground at high speeds and hit a gas main, causing the explosion.

Dunham and her team are called in. The object is moved to a warehouse command center, but Walter has it moved to his lab at Harvard. This turns out to be a good thing, because a thug wielding a futuristic weapon attacks the warehouse looking for the egg. Back at his lab, Walter wonders if the egg might be related to Project Thor, a plan he once worked on that featured an underground torpedo. When he and Peter hear about the warehouse attack, Walter decides to hide the egg. He sends Peter off on an errand, then sedates Astrid. He grabs the egg and flees.

Walter is eventually found hours later and tells Agent Dunham that he hid the egg, but doesn’t remember well. Meanwhile, the thug is still trying to find the egg. He abducts one of Dunham’s contacts and uses a through-the-nose mind reading machine on him. Later, he abducts Peter Bishop, uses the same machine on him, and discovers the location of the egg’s hiding place — even though Peter isn’t aware that he knows it. Dunham tracks Peter and the thug to the graveyard where the egg was hidden and guns down the thug during a chase. The egg burrows into the ground and disappears. Peter confronts a strange bald man who seems to be linked to the Pattern and has been observing events for years. He ends up on the losing side of this fight as well.

Fringe

Not much to comment on science- and medicine-wise (except for the obviously ridiculous mind reading and “learning by osmosis” ideas). The rest is just nit-picks:

1. The Arrival
Sadly not related to the Charlie Sheen B-movie sci-fi flick The Arrival.
ron silverWhich incidentally stars Ron Silver — who I have been reliably informed is actually a deadly assassin working for NASA. I expect this fact to show up in Fringe sooner or later.

2. Project Thor
Was the egg part of Project Thor or not?

3. Iridium
Iridium is a logical choice for a torpedo that travels through the earth as it is one of the most heat resistant metals known.
progeriaSolid Iridium is a yellowish-platinum color though, not indigo.
progeriaAstrid should have seen what was coming. Iridium is the second densest element, how was a tiny syringe going to penetrate it?

4. Mind Reading, take two
Enough with the mind-reading already — although the thug’s model appears to be an upgrade as it conveniently converts thoughts into sounds (though only mono). And uses an oscilloscope.

5. Osmosis Jones
Learning through osmosis and proximity? Nonesense. If that actually worked I would have aced every test in college and med school, and though it pains me to reveal this, I did not.
progeriaReminds me a little too much of the discredited Hundredth Monkey Phenomenon.

6. The Observer
A bald guy who observes. Where have I seen that before?

The Watcher, the orginal bald observer

Tags:

12 Responses to “ Fringe – Episode 4: “The Arrival” ”

  1. Keith
    October 2nd, 2008 at 8:06 am

    Yes, I think the show should be called ‘Discredited’ instead of ‘Fringe’. That said, I liked the bald guy (although so many other shows (Highlander, Buffy) have had watchers) who’s sense of taste is so weak he has to eat 12 Jalapeno peppers to get a buzz.

    And no one seemed to notice that the killer had a super-high-tech alien gun? What’s up with that? Didn’t that seem a little unusual? Lazy writing annoys me.

  2. Keith
    October 2nd, 2008 at 8:06 am

    whose, sorry.

  3. Dr Archeville
    October 2nd, 2008 at 1:39 pm

    I have absolutely no problem with the “discredited” science — isn’t one of the founding conceits of the show is that there is science & tech out there that the public/mainstream doesn’t know about? And in fact may have been mislead about? That Walter worked on things that “should not” work, but do, because they can if you know how?

    Anyone here familiar with White Wolf’s RPG MAGE: THE ASCENSION? If so, look at it in those terms: Walter’s an Etherite (using tech the Masses have discredited, because he believes/knows it can work), and Massive Dynamics is the Technocracy (slowly releasing new tech to the Masses in order to improve their lives — according to their own vision, of course — but still keeping the really good stuff for themselves).

  4. uncivlengr
    October 2nd, 2008 at 2:07 pm

    Seems to be the beginning of an actual story arc, which surprised me given how disjointed the mysteries of early episodes were (besides the vague references to Massive Dynamics research).

  5. Ryan
    October 2nd, 2008 at 3:17 pm

    Osmosis Jones was the coolest cartoon character ever. He made the human body fun.

  6. elizabeth
    October 2nd, 2008 at 7:51 pm

    I watched the scene where Baldy ordered lunch, then rewound and called the family in and played it again. It’s the best thing that’s been on the show yet.
    So, is what’s-his-face traitor boyfriend alive for realsies?

  7. Drieux
    October 2nd, 2008 at 8:41 pm

    I’m somewhat surprised that no-one of the bevy of senior observers– including the elegantly informed Mr. Skin^H^H^H^H Broyles– didn’t recognize the fact that the ‘egg’ is, in fact, the same shape as a boat-tailed rifle bullet. Indeed, a very similar shape to that of the current 155mm/205mm artillery round the the US Army knows and…well, likes pretty well.

    As I recall, when Keith Laumer first mentioned a sub-crustal torpedo, it was launched by what he called a sub-continental assault unit. Kinda bigger than what we saw in this episode, but Science Marches On, eh?

    v/r

    Drieux

  8. adrienne
    October 2nd, 2008 at 11:43 pm

    I’m still waiting for Denathor…er, Walter to go nuts, poor oil over him and Pacey…er, Peter, then jump off a building.

    I think I’m the only person who seriously loves this show. It’s so ridiculous, and they haven’t even moved the island yet!

    And come on, man, everyone knows osmosis doesn’t work – who didn’t stick the physics book under their pillow in high school because cramming didn’t work?

  9. Ed Hardy, Jr.
    October 5th, 2008 at 12:22 am

    Thanks for the HEAT VISION & JACK reference–that’ll never stop making me smile.

    And I still can’t figure out if FRINGE is any good or not.

  10. Chris Stuurman
    October 6th, 2008 at 9:11 am

    >Astrid should have seen what was coming. Iridium is the second densest
    >element, how was a tiny syringe going to penetrate it?

    As if you could make an assumption based on that. Remember when they sent electric shocks through the corpse’s brain to show the last thing she saw?

  11. Chris Hamilton
    October 24th, 2008 at 3:05 am

    Osmium would have fit better than iridium for the “egg.”

    ~3x as abundant in the Earth’s crust, is significantly harder (mohs 7.0, opposed to 6.5, though both are unusually high for pure metals) and is even more heat resistant. Tungesten’s melting point is higher still, but it doesn’r share the chemical inertness of Osmium or Iridium and is significantly less dense.
    (incedentally Osmium is the densest element, though only very slightly denser than Iridium)

    Osmium’s color would match that of the Egg’s “indigo” firly well as it’s a dark bluish colered metal. (similar to Silicon in apearance)

    Of course ‘Iridium” sounds cooler…

    Also, the density has nothing to do with the ability to penetrate the material (look at lead or gold). However the hardness of Iridium is high (as mentioned), considerably harder than glass and hardened steel. However silicon- tungesten- or titanium carbide cutting/boring tools should have no problem.

  12. Marionette
    November 29th, 2009 at 7:40 am

    In the opening scene the Observer orders jalapeños on the side, but what he is given is a plate of slices of large green capsicum pepper, What an odd error to make.

Leave a Reply

« House — Episode 3 (Season 5): “Adverse Events” Moday PSA: Buzzy Scores One for the Handicapped »