Fringe – Episode 1 (Season 2): “A New Day in an Old Town”
All in all, a rather unexciting way to start the season. Though, to give the writers credit, they are just starting what seem to be several intriguing plotlines.
The Plot: The episode starts out with head on collision between two cars: a silver one and a black one. A wounded man stumbles out the silver car and runs down the street. He hides in a nearby apartment building and kills man who tries to help him. He then uses a strange machine to change himself into an exact replica of man he killed.
The black car is identified as Agent Dunham’s, but she is nowhere to be found and the evidence suggests no one was in the car at all. Peter and Walter arrive on scene and find a junior FBI Agent Jessup in charge. Walter jimmies the lock of the car open and looks around. As he leaves the car, it suddenly turns on and Agent Dunham comes crashing through the windshield and onto the road. She is rushed to the ER in critical condition. The doctors do everything they can, but Olivia remains in a coma (or maybe brain dead, the writers can’t make up their mind). Later that night, Peter comes in to sit by her, and Dunham suddenly regains consciousness and shouts a line of Greek at him. She has no memory of what happened other than she met with someone somewhere and there is something important she has to do or everyone will suffer.
Peter, Walter, and Agent Jessup team up to track down the driver of the silver car who they determined was purposefully trying to hit her car. Finding a body that matches the driver of the car, only more decomposed than it should have been, they bring it to Walter’s lab for autopsy. The examination reminds Walter of an old experiment he did (what doesn’t?), and he plays a tape of an old ESP project. The subject of the experiment warns of a soldier from another world who has the ability to shapechange, just like the one they are facing now. Belatedly, Peter and Agent Jessup realize the soldier still means to kill Olivia, so they rush to the hospital. Meanwhile, the soldier has killed and taken the appearance of Dunham’s nurse; he tries to weasel some information from her, but when he is unsuccessful, he starts to suffocate her. A couple of bullets from Agent Jessup send the nurse running but Charlie manages to catch her. There are some more gunshots, and when Peter and Agent Jessup arrive, Agent Francis is standing over the nurse’s dead body. Agent Dunham is safe and the soldier from the other world is dead — but is that that what really happened?
1. They Canceled ER, Didn’t They?
A sloppy ER/hospital scene.
“Possible brain herniation” — that’s a secondary diagnosis. What’s causing the brain to herniate? She’s probably bleeding inside the skull from the trauma, which in turn forces the brain down.
Pupils non-reactive — but are they dilated or fixed?
Blood pressure 180/20. Can one really measure of diastolic pressure of 20, particularly in an ambulance? 160 is quite a wide pulse pressure.
Instead of telling the EMTs to “prep her” when she is coding, how about actually doing something about it — like starting CPR?
2. Brain Death or Coma?
Olivia’s sister implies they are going to take Olivia off life support in the morning. What life support is that? Her heart is beating and she is breathing on her own. This isn’t brain death; it’s a coma. There is nothing to stop.
3. It’s All Greek to Me
For the record, here’s what Agent Dunham said: Einai kalytero anthropo apo ton patera toy
4. Eye See You
You can hear the cardiac monitor speeding up, but yet her heart rate on the machine remains the same at 72, a normal reading. While a beta-blocker would lower the heart rate, her heart’s not going fast enough to need one — and you risk dropping the pulse too low.
5. Silent Lividity
A short time after a person dies, their red blood cells settle to the lower parts of the body since there is no longer a working heart to pump them around. This results is a purplish discoloration of the skin which is known as livor mortis, or lividity. It starts at about 1-2 hours, and reaches its maximum at 6-12 hours. It persists after that, but becomes masked by other changes of decomposition. So all it could really tell Agent Jessup was that the victim had been dead around 6-12 hours; nothing to indicate he couldn’t have been in a car accident the day before.
6. Unpalatable
I think they’re confusing the palates. The soldier seemed to be putting the nail-plate directly behind the teeth, which is the hard palate not the soft palate (which is father back in your mouth than you think: feel the roof of your mouth all the way back until it switches from hard to soft).
7. Her Father Wasn’t in Intelligence, Was He?
It takes Agent Jessup several hours after they learn that they are dealing with an enemy soldier to suddenly realize that he is still going to try to kill Agent Dunham? I see she has the making to be just as incompetent an investigator as Dunham herself was last season.
UPDATE: I forgot to mention the “cocktail” Walter mixed to help him sleep. Sleep, hell, that concoction would knock out an elephant! It contained Valium (diazepam, an antianxiety drug with strong muscle relaxant and sedative properties), Haldol (haloperidol, a classic antipsychotic drug which is also a strong tranquilizer), Seconal (secobarbital, a barbiturate and another strong sedative), and lorazepam (Ativan, another drug from the Valium class). Unless he has developed one heck of a tolerance for these drugs, Walter should have been asleep for the rest of the show, if not the entire season.
Though it introduced a new hero, as well as a spooky new villain, the episode was rather “meh”. The medicine was pretty bad, but I’ll give them credit for the typewriter scene, which was cool. The Fringe Doomsday Clock remains where it ended last season, five minutes ’til midnight.
September 18th, 2009 at 4:00 am
[...] Fringe – Episode 1 (Season 2): “A New Day in an Old Town” - Polite Dissent [...]
September 18th, 2009 at 5:09 am
Hey Scott… great to have your reviews on Fringe for the new season! :)
Looks like we have soldiers with high jump and self-healing capabilities… and crunchy bones! Reminds me of House :o)…
I wish agent Jessup or Peter thought of checking Charlie’s palate… After all, we are dealing with shape-shifters…
Evil-looking Dunham at the end looked great! :)
September 18th, 2009 at 6:40 am
Oh, good. I wondered whether you were going to be back at this for the second season.
The last moment reveal made me sad. I was hoping they weren’t going to go there, even though it was totally obvious and predictable that they would.
September 18th, 2009 at 7:14 am
No comments on the cocktail Peter said Walter was mixing up for himself?
September 18th, 2009 at 7:27 am
Official Comment
Whoops, I meant to comment on that, but just forgot. I’ll add it in to the post as soon as I get a chance.
September 18th, 2009 at 8:58 am
Glad these reviews are back again – I love hearing how much bad science I missed.
And that last reveal was something. My wife was pretty disappointed, particularly as that seems to put an expiration date on that character.
September 18th, 2009 at 10:32 am
[...] Since my friend Scott already does the heavy lifting in writing a synopsis of the episode, why duplicate quality work? Link to Scott’s Review of Fringe: A New Day In an Old Town [...]
September 18th, 2009 at 10:33 am
“There is nothing to stop.”
I guess they were going to withdraw nutrition and wait for her to die of starvation/dehydration.
My further comments on a Ho-Hum episode:
http://blog.cordialdeconstruction.com/2009/09/18/minor-comments-on-a-ho-hum-episode-of-fringe/
September 18th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
@Sean Murphy
“particularly as that seems to put an expiration date on that character.”
The could always pull a Harry Kim on us. There’s another one of him in the alternate universe.
September 18th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
@ Karl Withakay
don’t forget that most likely Peter Bishop is also from a parallel universe (remember Peter’s grave from the episode “There’s More Than One of Everything”?)… so yeah they just might do it again…
I wish they had shown us a bit more of the alternate universe where William Bell is and cleared up some questions…
September 18th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Dear JJ Abrams
As cute as having an X-Files episode on the telly was (not to mention the 3 other X-Files references), constantly comparing yourself to that show probably isn’t the wisest course. You’re not doing yourself any favors.
Love, snell
September 18th, 2009 at 9:53 pm
Are we sure this episode takes place in our universe?
When Peter asks Broyles how he found him, Broyles says that he works for the FBI. But, Broyles works for the Dept. of Homeland Security, of which the FBI is not a part.
Also, assuming the Shapeshifter is not suffering from visual hallucinations (like House), the SUV he crashed into was being driven by Olivia at the time. But didn’t Olivia leave our universe in an elevator, and not a moving SUV?
And since when are Nina Sharp and Broyles so fond of each other?
September 18th, 2009 at 10:43 pm
Anyone wondered where the 3rd body came from?
Fake Charlie was standing over the Nurse
Fake Charlie then came back and took real Charlie from the bin.
At the very most, they swapped bodies/minds. Was there a 3rd soldier or agent that the shapeshifter had?
September 19th, 2009 at 12:09 am
Official Comment
John:
An interesting possibility. However, if that’s the case, I would wonder why Peter is there, since he doesn’t exist any more in the other universe.
September 19th, 2009 at 6:43 am
Wait, so there are only 2 universes? We could be dealing with a mulitverse… I mean, that would be insanely complicated, but… it’s Fringe, after all.
September 19th, 2009 at 6:45 am
Plus, if there are only 2 universes, we know that it’s been mostly blown up due to people-exploding (from when Olivia was ‘verse shifting last season) and that Charlie has an “I’m from an alternate universe” face scar in it.
September 19th, 2009 at 7:32 am
When Walter read from the ZFT manifesto last season, he said that our universe was only one of many — which I presume means more than two. Is it possible that Walter “found” Peter in a universe other than the one he describes as being slightly ahead of our own?
September 19th, 2009 at 9:32 am
Official Comment
I’m going off of what the Fringe writers said in the recent EW articles: that the show was dealing with two universes.
September 19th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
I wish they would get things right: goatees, not scars, are the proper alter facial adornments. I would love to see Olivia rockin’ her goatee.
Felt like *another* reboot, as in “We still aren’t invested to a real vision, so we’re going to tweak things…again” like they did with Episode 11 last year (an episode that nearly sent my doomsday past midnight into early morning). Fortunately, *this* reboot looks like it has some better thought: a more proactive group, led by Peter, whose role to date was sardonic babysitter. Let’s see if they can follow up from the promise.
On the other hand, the whole “I had a big adventure from the finale but can’t remember it” really ticked me off. That kind of tease is a hallmark of bad writing and planning: “We couldn’t really figure out what the finale meant so we’ll kick the ball downfield until we decide.” That alone should have been worth 30 seconds to a full minute, doomsday-speaking.
But I’m glad the show is back because bad plotting and characters aside, I adore the Bishop boys, their relationship, and their story line.
September 19th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
I have to agree with Ed on this one. There was something illogical with the way bodies shapeshifted in the end.
As Ed mentioned, we have fake Charlie standing over real Charlie when everyone arrives. I presume by that point the shapeshifter turned himself into Charlie, and Charlie’s own body into the nurse. So why is it when he comes back to the dumpster at the end, Charlie’s own body is in there? That makes no sense.
The only way that would have made sense was if the shapeshifter hid the nurse’s body in that particular dumpster after he killed her, then after killing Charlie he shapeshifted into him, then hid him into the dumpster and pulled out the nurse and laid her out on the floor. But then she wouldn’t have had shot marks and it’s a long shot to begin with. Definitely makes no sense.
Anyone has a plausible explanation? I know the writers had to make it obvious that real Charlie was dead, but at a cost of a logical fallacy? Tisk tisk :)
September 19th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
If he applied the plate DIRECTLY behind the teeth, wouldn’t that technically be the Alveolar ridge?
Since I didn’t manage to see it, all I can imagine is an orthodontic plate, which would cover the ridge, and, incidentally, make alveolar consonants almost impossible to pronounce until a few days had passed (Or about an hour of practice)
September 20th, 2009 at 9:53 am
My favorite line in the show and which made me LOL was Peter’s line about Walter’s drug cocktail. I want me some of THAT! ROTFL.
This is our favorite show and we’re forgiving of all the errors, but it was interesting to watch with a family member who is an EMT and who criticized all the medical mistakes. My dad was a physicist and expert in too many things to mention. I never watched a show or movie with him because he ruined them all for me. As it is, for me most shows are way to stupid to bother with. Don’t even get me started on the “CSI” shows, which we’ve always loved but which I swear are causing brains to atrophy around the world.
September 21st, 2009 at 8:04 am
I can’t sit through a viewing of this show without falling into a coma (or brain death??), but your reviews are still interesting to read.
Even though the first season is over and I’m sure you don’t want to overextend yourself, I’d love to hear your thoughts on Dr. Hank’s MacGyver-esque medicine on Royal Pains.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:55 am
I sort of worked out that the alien soldier stashed the nurse there and that was why he led the fight there. Still, there didn’t seem enough time for him to: overpower/kill an armed agent, shove his shapeshifty gizmo into his mouth, stash the body, and stand victoriously over the wrong body so none of the other persons thought anything was wrong,
But…why did Walter need to buy milk? He has a Cow!
September 22nd, 2009 at 6:11 am
haha, that cocktail walter takes? i’ve been on it. it’s survivable. it’s all about dosages :p
the freaking etiology behind what olivia said has like 6 DEAD languages in it. AWESOME.
haven’t finished episode, just had to look at the possibilities of what she said.
September 25th, 2009 at 10:37 am
Kosta and Mark, your explanation of the Fake Charlie-Charlie-Nurse exchange makes the most sense, though there hardly seemed time for it.
I really loved the first season and was willing to forgive most plot holes, but this first episode was really disappointing. How do you just go and leave the whole Season 1 finale unexplained? weak.
still loved it, though :-D
September 29th, 2009 at 12:11 am
Actually that exchange makes perfect sense. The timing problem is a viewer perception problem, although they heard the gunshots, there is no telling how much time ACTUALLY passed between the shots and them finally making it to the scene. You presume they are showing you the scene real time, but easily it could have been ten or fifteen minutes until they finally found Charlie and the nurse. Or do you want to extend the episode into a long sequence of boring shots of Peter and Jessup running around in a maze until the timing makes sense?
Actually I have a few questions about Jessup… just who gave her that fancy number that allowed her to see all of the fringe files. Also what code did she use to transform each case into a bible verse? There is more than meets the eye to this woman…
September 29th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
It was a little confusing episode.
Well all of Fringe is confusing but this is a little redundant.
Olivia went to meet Bell, and then suddenly someone is chasing her. Not to mention that if Bell had good intentions to call Olivia into “Twins” why wouldn’t he just let her leave the same way?
Another thing – Peter’s line about What they were doing during first season made my day.
October 18th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
[...] Fringe – Episode 1 (Season 2): “A New Day in an Old Town” (politedissent.com) [...]
November 2nd, 2009 at 9:48 pm
[...] episode is debunked at Popular Mechanics and Polite Dissent, and you can read more about it at Fox, IMDb and the A.V. [...]
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