May I Make a Suggestion?

Fringe - "Of Human Action"

"You're going to hold this over my head for a long time, aren't you?"

Two used car salesmen take a teenage boy on a crime spree killing policemen, robbing a convenience store and demanding a $2 million ransom from his scientist father, who just happens to work for Massive Dynamic.

But who really is being held hostage? And by the way, Scientist Father (which would make a great sitcom name) was working on mind control.

A good solid episode, which at first blush brings to mind The X-Files episode "Push" which had a similar mind control theme, but writers Robert Chiapetta and Glen Whitman spin this tale in another direction by focusing on Peter who is later taken hostage. Walter is beside himself at the possibility of losing his son again. Nice work done by Joshua Jackson and John Noble as son and father. Let's start the John Noble for Best Supporting Actor Emmy campaign early!

Agent Broyles (Lance Reddick) is SHOT and Olivia (Anna Torv) has a nice scene where she ribs him about the hazards of field work versus sitting behind a desk.

I wished they would have given a shout out to the movie Scanners when Walter was comparing the human brain to that of a computer. That's the first film I know of where that sort of comparison was made.

I hope Olivia is noticing the strange references Walter makes surrounding Peter and soon deduces that her Fringe mate is not of this earth. That will be some episode, and I hope they really showcase Jackson in it.

There's a great coda to the end, not so much a "twist" but something to remind you that you are indeed watching Fringe and not some other show. And I loved the older late 1970s era computer terminal Nina (Blair Brown) was using to communicate with William Bell.

Next week, Bring on the Observers!