“Ability”: Fringe Review

WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

This week was an interesting change of pace for the show Fringe, a spike upwards in the series’ EKG that was both suspenseful and jaw dropping. It starts off with a flashback to a few episodes ago when the enigmatic Mr. Jones managed to escape a German prison via teleportation (apparently he was also able to travel through time two-and-a-half weeks into the future). In this episode we get his return as Jones enters FBI headquarters unarmed demanding to speak with Olivia Dunham.

The main thrust of the show, however, was pushed in background as we get to see the effects take place after contact with a two dollar bill, of a virus that closes all major orifices eventually suffocating its victim. It should be noted that one of the best scenes in the episode is when one of their own agents falls victim to the virus and Olivia performs a tracheodomy, only to have that hole closed up as well. This is a plotline that wrapped up far too early, but was interesting to watch nonetheless.

This is the kind of episode you’d expect from a series with J.J. Abrams at the helm, something closer to Lost where we get more questions than answers. Where the larger conspiracy theories are normally hinted upon throughout the series, are made the focal point for the action and much of the drama.

We gain further insights into the larger game at work. The manuscript Peter is able to find is like a blueprint for the show, a manifesto directing Olivia as to what they (whoever they may be) is planning. We get Jones’ admiration for Walter Bishop and Jones’ rapid degeneration throughout the episode. This episode was one big question mark. Did Olivia disable the bomb with her mind or was it programmed by Jones all along? The bomb scene hits you like a bolt of lightning when you know that they faked the original test with the lights.

But it’s in the final minutes of this episode where the suspense grips your heart. What exactly did Jones become once he escaped from the hospital? Was Olivia part of some clinical drug trail as a child in Jacksonville, Florida? And Walter taking out his old typewriter, starting a new manifesto as it were with the word ‘Ability’ typed across the front page.

This episode drops the seeds for us in terms of what we can expect for the remainder of the season. Now all we have to do is sit back and watch them grow.