Fringe "Power Hungry" (2008)

Fringe returns to form as the team investigates a man who has undergone scientific experimentation and has now been given the capability to harness and control electromagnetic activity. Sadly this ability was given to him without his knowledge and results in several deaths, particularly a woman he is quite fond of and his own mother. Of course this all ties back to previous work done by Dr. Bishop, however ironically it was not the intent of his experiments to grant people this power. His work was focused on programming carrier pigeons to hone in on the unique electrical signature of a specific person. However the field generated by the human body is too weak and therefore must be enhanced in order for the tracking system to work. He was never able to harness the power correctly, but it seems that now someone has been able to and Joseph Meegar (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) is the unsuspecting lab rat in this new experiment.

Joseph serves at the continuing personification of those innocents that are taken advantage of by the shadow group responsible for these Pattern-related events. Here Dr. Jacob Fischer (Max Baker) has taken out ads promising to help unlock hidden potential mixed in with programs to aide with weight loss, hair growth, etc. These unwitting subjects are then the basis for these experiments to test out this new technology based on Dr. Bishop's work from the 1970s. Right now it's only assumed there is the one organization out there, whether it's Massive Dynamic or some other yet unnamed group has not been clarified. Incidentally The Observer is briefly glimpsed getting out of the elevator that Joseph would unintentionally send plummeting a few moments later. Does he work for the same group as Dr. Fischer or another? Many questions continue to be raised in each episode with only the illusion of answers being received with each passing week.

Stepping away from the mythology and toward to the team (need a name, will work on it), it looks like they're really starting to come together now that Peter is fully on board with these strange investigations with even him and Walter showing a better camaraderie, although they still occasionally banter back and forth, but with amusing results and not the resentment of last week. It seems that even Walter and Astrid may be making up as at the beginning of the episode she appears more cold to him but eventually lightens up and even shares a laugh with him by the end as they are monitoring the carrier pigeons via GPS trackers. How quickly the tide turns as she snaps at him as they are about to release the pigeons, but his childish delight when they take to the skies seems to be enough to win her over. It's impossible not to like Walter, even in his more sinister moments, as he plays the absent minded professor role to perfection and is quickly able to gloss over those moments of awkward hostility. All this and Gene and the piano even make return appearances.

Everyone on the team appears to be getting along smoothly and enjoying themselves, all that is except for Olivia who is visibly shaken about having seen Agent Scott in the previous episode. She thinks she is imagining him, and good dependable Charlie (becoming a bit concerned he may turn out to be evil, you never know) tells Olivia that running away is not the answer as she is questioning her abilities to deal with these cases. He gives her the validation she needs in herself and appears more at ease, at least until Agent Scott pops up again, this time giving her information regarding Dr. Fischer. He pleads with her about his innocence and how he intends to prove that he did love her and was not playing her. It's later discovered via Dr. Bishop that in fact the visions of Agent Scott are a piece of his consciousness that remained with her while they merged minds back in "Pilot". This accounts for how she has knowledge only Agent Scott had, as he was doing his own investigations into the Pattern without Olivia's knowledge. However, Dr. Bishop mentions that her mind is figuring out how best to expel his presence. Combined with her still strong feelings about the man she was in love with, his claims of innocence may be suspect since she would obviously prefer her lover not to be a traitor. Therefore her mind is in effect tainting his personality, mixing the knowledge he had with her own hopes for him. Plus if he is the villain, it's more likely that Charlie is not also evil.

Favorite moment: The chasing the pigeons across town sequence takes it because it shows the characters in a lighter mood as everyone seems to realize how silly this plan is but go along with it anyway. Normally Peter would be complaining about how this will never work, his father is insane, etc. and Olivia would be pouting, worrying that it won't work, trying to get Walter and Peter to work together, etc. but instead showing that they're growing as a team and starting to have a little bit of fun during the course of their investigations, which is probably necessary given the horrific events they've seen, brings a more enjoyable feel to the show. No one wants to see constant bickering every week, and a team that can get along, and work better for it, makes each new episode an event to look forward to. Olivia is the final piece of that puzzle, although with the discovery that John was going to propose, it looks as if it's not all smooth sailing for her just yet.