S1E19 The Road Not Taken
Chris and Darrell take the road not taken with guest Michael London (creator of Fringe Connections) as we discuss this phenomenal penultimate episode of Fringe’s first season! Olivia is once again confronted by her past as a Cortexiphan subject when she starts having strange visions of alternate versions of events and colleagues, and, much to our delight, we get to see Harris make a fiery exit!
S1E18 Midnight
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We take a quick break from the Cortexiphan story to discuss a vampire… sort of. This vampire is engineered by science and must feed on spinal fluid rather than blood. (That’s Fringe for you!) Dive into our discussion of this myth-alone episode which features a standalone story with some loose threads to the overarching mythology. We discuss our memories of this episode and how, for some reason, we both had forgotten about its ties to ZFT.
S1E17 Bad Dreams
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Imagine having a nightmare in which you murder someone only to wake up and discover that it really happened… or did it? Dreams aren’t always literal, after all. Join us as we discuss one of the best episodes of Fringe’s first season, the second episode of the show that dives into Olivia’s past as a Cortexiphan subject. We discuss our thoughts about the connection that Olivia shares with Nick Lane as well as the connection that she shares with Peter of which Walter seems to be somewhat aware, how much of this episode we remembered since the last time that we watched it, the big reveal at the very end of the episode, and so much more!
S1E16 Unleashed
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Get ready as we unleash our discussion of this episode of Fringe! We both agree that, despite its dubious science, this is a decent stand-alone episode, and we, as always, think back to our thoughts when we first saw it and whether or not we feel any differently now. We talk a lot about the character development and growth that we see from Walter and discuss whether his heroic act at the end is truly heroic or just another display of hubris. We also share our thoughts on the little bit of Polivia development that we get here.
S1E15 Inner Child
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Get in touch with your inner Observer child this week as we discuss this exciting episode of Fringe! We reflect back on our initial thoughts when we first watched this episode, including wondering whether or not the Child (also known at the time, by us at least, as CBK) was an Observer and what that implied if so, if Olivia disliked yellow M&Ms because they reminded her of Cotexiphan, what the deal is with Eliot Michaels, and so forth!
S1E14 Ability
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We have eagerly been waiting to discuss “Ability” for months because it’s that good, undoubtedly one of the best episodes of Fringe’s first season if not the best. There is just so much to unpack here, and so much of the show’s overarching mythology is brought to light here in this episode, including the Cortexiphan trials, the existence of parallel universes, and the inevitable war between the Blueverse and the Redverse.
S1E13 The Transformation
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More ill-fated passengers on a plane? Yes, but this is not the pilot episode, it’s The Transformation. Although there are many parallels and callbacks to it, as well as some shoutouts to another J.J. Abrams staple, Alias. We are here to talk about all of that as well as our memories of this fantastic episode of Fringe which brings so much of the plot of the first season so far to a close. We, as always, talk about our favorite moments from this episode but also discuss why we see it as the turning point of the first season.
S1E12 The No-Brainer
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What’s that noise? It’s not the sound of a brain-melting computer virus but rather a discussion between us and guest co-host Geoff (xforce11) on this rather polarizing episode of Fringe! This episode takes a break from the mythology and gives us a stand-alone case of the week involving a man exacting revenge on those he holds responsible for ruining his life by liquifying the brains of their loved ones, and we discuss what parts of this episode resonate with us more than others do, our initial thoughts about Rachel’s motives vs. how we feel now, our continued feelings around Sanford Harris (here is a hint – we cannot stand him), how all three of us agree that the conflict between Olivia and Peter is the best part of this episode, and so much more!
S1E11 Bound
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You are bound to enjoy our discussion of this high-octane episode of Fringe! Although we both agree that the cliffhanger from the last episode is wrapped up a bit too early here and that the exposition is a bit too heavy-handed, this episode moves at anything but a sluggish pace and left us with plenty of new questions when it first aired thirteen years ago. What was ZFT trying to accomplish by killing immunologists with this super-sized slug (which apparently wasn’t actually a cold virus according to Walter’s lab notes)? Why did they abduct Olivia? What was the spinal tap for? We were definitely like a question machine!
S1E10 Safe
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We hope that you stay safe listening to our discussion this week as we chat about the tenth episode of Fringe’s first season, effectively the mid-season finale given its big cliffhanger and the hiatus that followed. We, as always, talk about our favorite moments and pieces of dialogue from this episode, thoughts that we might have had when we initially watched it vs. what we think now that we have seen the entire series, and so much more!