Olivia (23 Sep. 2010)

After the extraordinary turn of events that shockingly left an imprisoned Olivia "over there," she fights to find her way home. Meanwhile, Peter and Walter try to move on with their lives ... See full summary »

Director:

Joe Chappelle

Writers:

J.J. Abrams (creator), Alex Kurtzman (creator),

Stars:

Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, Lance Reddick

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Anna Torv	...	Olivia Dunham / Alternate Olivia Dunham
Joshua Jackson	...	Peter Bishop
Lance Reddick	...	Phillip Broyles / Alternate Phillip Broyles
Blair Brown	...	Nina Sharp (credit only)
Jasika Nicole	...	Alternate Astrid Farnsworth
John Noble	...	Dr. Walter Bishop / Walternate
Seth Gabel	...	Alternate Lincoln Lee
Amy Madigan	...	Marilyn Dunham
Andre Royo	...	Henry Arliss Higgins
Philip Winchester	...	Frank Stanton
Ryan McDonald	...	Alternate Brandon Fayette
Gerard Plunkett	...	Senator James Van Horn
Gabrielle Rose	...	Dr. Anderson
Kirk Acevedo	...	Alternate Charlie Francis
Juliana Wimbles	...	Nurse Melissa

Storyline

After the extraordinary turn of events that shockingly left an imprisoned Olivia "over there," she fights to find her way home. Meanwhile, Peter and Walter try to move on with their lives unknowingly alongside alternate Olivia.

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Plot Keywords:

explosion | escape | brooklyn new york city | dirigible | new york city | 

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 September 2010 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bad Robot, Warner Bros. Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

44 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

16:9 HD

Did You Know?

Trivia

Mentioned in a news broadcast is former President John F. Kennedy, who, in the Alternate Universe, is alive and well. Series star Blair Brown portrayed Jacqueline Kennedy in the TV miniseries Kennedy.

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Goofs

When they realized that the experiment to transfer alternate Olivia's memory to our world Olivia, was successful, Brandon explained to Walter that alternate Olivia's "memory B-lymphocytes where carried across the blood-brain barrier and successfully transferred the memories". This is not possible as memory B-lymphocytes have nothing to do with memories as they are merely cells of the immune system that produce antibodies and are absolutely not related to neuronal cells. At best, one could imagine that a memory B-cell transplant might have protected our world Olivia against infection that alternate Olivia suffered earlier in life but certainly not transferred her memory.

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Connections

References Star Wars (1977)

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Soundtracks

"Les Feuilles Mortes"
(uncredited)
Written by Yves Montand
Performed by Yves Montand

User Reviews

Refreshing red & blue format ; intriguing and exciting story ; convincing and puzzling acting ; immersive and assistive production

Back in 1977 after watching Close Encounters of the Third Kind my 5 years old sister began to suspect her brother, little mini me, to be an alien. When E.T. : The Extra-Terrestrial was released 5 years later my sister was still the same age but convinced that I was a creature from an other planet. When you have grown up with Steven Spielberg it's easy to confuse reality and fiction. In 2008 when Fringe invaded our TV I decided to give it a chance. However I couldn't help compare it to The X-Files so I quickly gave up on it, in fact right after its fourth episode, The Arrival. Otherwise since then I have kept reading news about it and when the parallel universe topic was first mentioned I couldn't help thinking about Sliders and even Saint Seiya. But it's only until recently that I finally decided to give the show an other chance.

My father is a shapeshifter. Every scifi fans should read Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Despite its numerous qualities Fringe season 1 disappointed some of its viewers. From the episodic format to the questionable character development people had plenty of reasons to move on. Others kept watching and now that I have seen Olivia I sort of envy them. Indeed it seems a lot of twisted things happened and according to reviewers the show has kept getting better and better. It's specially true for season 3 because its first episode was quite entertaining. Focusing on one character only was the right decision because it strengthened the story pace. Considering I missed 16 episodes and the whole season 2 I have to admit that the recap was a little confusing. Alternate who what when where ? Is Anna Torv related to Jeff Dunham ? But even newcomers should quickly get their X marks.

My mother is a stormtrooper. Anna Torv dual performance was strong and exciting. I couldn't help thinking about Ali Larter as Niki Sanders in Heroes. Indeed now Olivia has an alternate double it seems both characters will have to deal with issues like personality disorder. The approach is refreshing compared to cloning for example, even if Invasion was great in my opinion. And the actress made the idea execution even more disturbing until the very end of the episode. From the different hair colors to the historical references there were also many elements to help us dissociate the real world from the parallel universe. I also think that it's wise to only cover one side at a time. The story occurred in the other dimension and once you have taken the red pill I think it's hard to resist the blue one. So the constant switch between the two should be as addictive as a good old game of Pong.

With the cancellation of shows like Dollhouse and Caprica it seems there's more room for Fringe. However it definitely deserves its success but I still worry about the balance between its parallel and episodic stories. The last have to be very original to keep the audience glued to its seat. But from the dual characters to the immersive production The Puppet Masters magic should work. So let's follow Olivia in Alterland because an epic war is about to happen and not doing our part could be a fatal mistake. Would you like to know more ?