User reviews

Brandon follows the orders of The Secretary and injects drugs in Olivia to brainwash her to convince that she is the Olivia from the parallel universe. However she succeeds to escape from her imprisonment on the Liberty Island and swims to Manhattan. She abducts the taxi driver Henry and forces him to drive to the Opera House expecting to return home; however the place is quarantined. Then she heads to the Massive Dynamic and finds that the company does not exist in the alternate universe. Meanwhile the Fringe Division is assigned by The Secretary to hunt Olivia. What will she do?

"Olivia" is another excellent episode of this promising season. The poor Olivia is absolutely trapped in the alternate universe and now completely manipulated by the evil Secretary. Meanwhile the other Olivia is having good-time with Peter. Every fan is certainly looking forward to see the next episodes. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Olivia"

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 ?

I am so not a fan of torturing a woman and psychological torture is worse than physical and this kind is the worst. It is a kind of brain rape. So this episode was painful for me. I hated it as much as could be possible. It was probably a good one though so no rating from me. Also it is not classic Fringe but the start of the new storyline of characters from both worlds. I didn't like this as much either.

The Red Side has drugs and memory things to inject into a person and recreate them from the inside out. The problem with this is that when free will goes out the window then normal interactions are not based on what the folks are. Olivia, living in the Red, gets these shots and now is in a drug induced situation where they are going to use her for whatever they have in mind. She is like a zombie now. Will some of her self seep through at some point. Walter, the Secretary is apparently evil. He has control over everything and my guess is he will declare war when he gets solid forces behind him, including the brainwashed young woman. It will take time for me to get on board, but it is the first episode of Season Three.