Fringe Bloodlines

So Friday night's Fringe was brilliant. The episode focused on the alternate universe and we got to see fan favorite cab driver Henry. The writers managed to make Fauxlivia sympathetic, as she suffered through a pretty bizarre pregnancy. Oh, and by the way, this post is full of spoilers, so no reading if you haven't watched.
The episode begins with Fauxlivia getting tested for VPE, a viral form of ecclampsia. Sadly, ecclampsia is a real disease that does threaten the life of a pregnant woman. The only cure is delivery of the baby. Virally propagated ecclampsia is, as far as I can tell, a myth. (whew!)
In the car on the way home, along with lying about the father, Fauxlivia and her mother discuss her "options," although it's pretty clear Fauxlivia sees no options. I assume she is planning on an abortion if she carries the virus, an assumption bolstered by the doctor's later statement on scheduling the "procedure" later in the episode. This should present a significant dilemma for Fauxlivia. She is carrying Walternate's grandchild, probably on his orders, yet if she doesn't abort, she and the baby will die.
NOTE: at first, I wondered at Fauxlivia's stupidity: first she has unprotected sex with Peter, and then we find out she's basically someone who should never get pregnant?? But Walternate's actions suggest that she got pregnant on his orders. I would ask why she didn't object then, but if you recall the circumstances of the switch, I doubt she had time to think it through.
The glyphs spell out the word "FATED", and I think this episode took a roundabout way to look at the question of choice and pregnancy. Does Fauxlivia, in fact, have the freedom to choose? Turns out, NO. Walternate and Brandon take that choice away from her by kidnapping her and accelerating her pregnancy. The priority here is the child's life, not Fauxlivia's. Walternate and Brandon most likely know that she has VPE. The acceleration is for the child's sake, not hers (the doctor's statement demonstrates that). Why didn't they simply inform Fauxlivia that they had a possible way for her to carry the child without suffering VPE? Because they couldn't take the risk that she would choose to abort. Her choice was deliberately taken away because her life is less important than the life of the child. An interesting course for Walternate to choose, given his refusal to test Cortexiphan on kids. His morality is very selective: children are innocents, while adults are disposable. Fringe doesn't directly deal with the question of abortion, but it does get to the heart of the matter: a mother's choice.
The accelerated pregnancy is by far the event that makes me sympathetic towards Fauxlivia. I'm currently pregnant, and I can't imagine how awful it would be if the last 22 weeks had been compressed into 2 hours. The ligament pain and stretching skin pain, man oh man that hurts to think about! Realistically speaking, she should've died, the way the prostitute did in Season 1 Same Old Story. The uterus probably would've ruptured and caused serious internal damage. I'm willing to buy the idea, however, that with Other Side technology they were able to compensate for the accelerated growth.
The one issue I can't suspend belief on is the rapid growth of her son at all. You can't make matter from nothing - they would've had to give her a massive amount of nutrients somehow in order for the fetus to have raw material to form. But that's a minor glitch. After all, this is Fringe.
One burning question: will the acceleration of the pregnancy result in accelerated growth of Peter Junior? If the acceleration was purely for tactical advantage, then his childhood growth should be accelerated too. We can assume that once again, the Other Side's technology will compensate for the failures seen in Same Old Story.
LOVE Lincoln and his confession of love for Fauxlivia. I hope she turns to him for emotional support. Love watching Lincoln and Charlie start to question Walternate. And although most people seem to hate Alt-Brandon, I love him! It's like our Brandon is milk chocolate, and Alt-Brandon is dark chocolate. Unlike Walternate, Alt-Brandon's morality is unambiguous and clear: EVERY person, no matter the age, is disposable. Reprehensible, yes, but also refreshing.
And finally, hoorah for Henry! I really like how his character just pops up from time to time.

Fringe: Reciprocity

First of all, a giant pat on my back that they are using MY name for Fake Olivia: Fauxlivia. Woohoo! Clearly, they read my tweets...
Lots going on in this episode - the main story is the link between Peter and the machine, while the sub-stories are the assassination of the shape-shifters and the relationship between Peter and Olivia. Peter and the machine interact in the very beginning of the episode - the machine changes position, and Peter gets a nosebleed. For a while, it appears that the nosebleed is the only impact to Peter, but of course, by the end of the episode we know that there has been a bigger change. There are hints all through. When Peter first sneaks home, right after the credits, we know that he's up to no good. Later we see him carefully eying Dr. Falcon, presumably because he already knows that Falcon is a shape-shifter. Then there's Peter's resistance to Olivia reading Fauxlivia's files. He says this is so Olivia won't think badly of him, but in reality, it's because he knows Olivia will crack the code. And then there is the obvious lie to Olivia, immediately after she offers him a relational olive branch. (Note to Peter: lying to the woman you love just after she forgives you is not a good strategy).
A few important repercussions of this main story. Walter and Peter are now holding a secret from the rest of the team. If Walter's theory is correct, then what will happen to Peter in the future? Will the weaponization continue? What else has Peter gleaned from Fauxlivia's file and how will he use it?
Sub-story of shape-shifters. I really enjoyed how this ties back to Peter's shady past. Naturally he would have access to guns with silencers, know how to break into houses, etc. He was basically a criminal before he hooked up with Fringe division. This episode is a nice reminder of all that. Then there's the question that Walter asks him: if what he's doing isn't wrong, then why does he keep it a secret? I think there are two answers to this. One is that Peter keeps it a secret because that's in his nature. Thinking of that book in the last episode, Peter wants to find his own answers - he acts independently. He knows that telling the others will delay the mission and possibly jeopardize its efficiency. The other possible answer is that Peter does feel shame over what he's doing. After all, he's deceiving people he loves. It can't be easy to watch Olivia's frustration over being just one step behind.
Sub-story of Peter and Olivia's relationship. I really like how they're handling this. It's very believable. Olivia has had time to get over the sting of Peter's failure to recognize her alternate, and now she's able to think about what it must have been like for Peter. Yet at the same time, Peter is now throwing complications into the situation. He's read Fauxlivia's notes, so he now has a better understanding of what she was really thinking. How does it affect him, to realize that she was truly starting to have feelings for him? Is he wondering which Olivia he cares about? In addition, he lies to Olivia and is keeping a pretty significant secret from her. He must know that this will be a pretty big problem for her. Is he intentionally keeping her at a distance while he sorts through his own emotions? This is a great way to maintain tension between them without getting all Rachel-Ross on us.

Loose ends:
Peter's heart raced during the test. Nerves because he knew Falcon was a shape-shifter? Or something else?
Broyles' near accident while driving to Alpert's house. Last time we saw that, Olivia went to the other universe.
How did Peter read those hard drives?

Funniest moments:
1. When Walter "shows dominance" at the lab.
2. When Brandon is held at gunpoint and asks if he can swallow.

Response to Entrada!

How did I do in my predictions?
1. Alt-Broyles did way more than assist Olivia - he gave himself fully to her cause.
2. Fauxlivia did disappear at an opportune moment - I gave it a 20% chance.
3. Peter got in almost TWO hours of stomach-churning anguish, hurrah! And a little more at the hospital scene at the end.

Other thoughts about the episode. What will Fauxlivia and the Fringe division think of Alt-Broyles' disappearance? Surely Fauxlivia knows the truth, but what about the others? Will Fauxlivia change her mind about the other universe and try for peace? How will Walternate deal with Broyles' betrayal?

Does Fauxlivia really care for Peter? Nope. She may have sentimental feelings, given the keeping of the photos, but if she truly cared about him we would've seen it when she had the gun on him in her apartment.

Peter had yet another stupid moment, in Olivia's apartment, when Fauxlivia had the gun drawn on him. If he'd stopped to think just a bit, wouldn't he have realized that Fauxlivia was never going to kill him? He didn't have to just shoot himself up with the poison. That's my only criticism. Otherwise, I give this episode a standing ovation!

Next week promises to be just as good - I love how Olivia, freshly returned, will be working on a case about reanimation. What a great way to work multiple levels of the theme!

Olivia is coming!

This is the season of Advent. A time of waiting for the celebration of Jesus' birth. And, this week, a time of waiting for Agent Dunham to come home from the parallel universe!
I'm very excited about tomorrow night's episode. It looks thrilling! How will Olivia get back? My money's on alt-Broyles assisting her. Will Fauxlivia return, die, or go into hiding? I suspect she'll go into hiding, because of course, that's the most thrilling option. I can't imagine how she would return, but maybe they've already planned for that - so I call a 20% chance that she'll vanish at the most climatic moment. Will Olivia discover what a dorkhead Peter's been with respect to Fauxlivia? Probably not in this episode. However, Peter will discover his mistake and I bet that's going to make for a lot of stomach churning anguish. (hooray! Who doesn't love seeing Peter go through stomach-churning anguish?) Once Olivia does discover, I suspect that will lead to big romantic complications. My vote? That the 2 of them move immediately into a post-relationship friendship, sort of Jerry-Elaine style. My prediction? The writers will have the 2 of them back together within 2011, this season or next. In other thoughts: I'm betting that Nina and Walter will not be shocked at Fauxlivia's exposure - there's a chance that Nina has already taken precautionary measure (I can only hope).
And of course, there's other concerns. Once they realize that Fauxlivia was setting them up, will our Fringe team continue to research and assemble the Machine? Will Sam help Olivia re-assimilate? Are there more Cortexiphan children for continued trips to the other side? Is Sam Weiss also the old man at the typewriter shop?