I can see that this ep got a thrashing from other reviewers, well I do not agree. This episode delved into material not written about since Frank Herbert speculated about it in his book "The Green Brain", which was also stolen for parts of "Avatar". I don't understand this shellaquing Fringe has been getting recently, which has all the earmarks of targeted activity like I have seen on certain movies, where several reviews seem to have identical complaints almost verbatim. This is a critical story arc, and each episode ultimately has something important to offer the Fringe main storyline. We have yet to see how this episode fits in.
As Walter becomes increasingly despondent, Fringe Division deals with a subject that Frank Herbert used to always write about: In books like "The Jesus Incident/Lazarus Effect", one of the most common things Herbert would use in his stories would be plant intelligence and what form that would take. James Cameron borrowed some of those ideas in "Avatar" - And the way it is presented here, is wholly different than that, whereas the Avatar trees store a whole race's memories, "Gus" is basically an extension of one small child, and is an extension of that person.
This episode takes a portion of that premise, and again sets it on it's ear, while explaining more about the differences between this Peter-less Multiverse and the one we have spent that last three years with.
As with the first three seasons of Fringe: The John Scott story arc that was introduced in the Pilot ep was not dealt with until halfway through the 1st season; the 2nd season had Olivia's trip to the Other Side and also the "There is more than one of everything" aspect, the 3rd season explored the "Walternate Universe" among other things.
I am simply enjoying the way the story is unraveling - I wanted to see it through, and I like seeing episodes using ideas that I read about in Science Fiction books when I was a kid, nobody has ever used material like this in a Prime Time television series, and other recent series, like The (New) Outer Limits, that may have hit on these things, was a syndicated show. That these stories are being told in Prime Time, is like bringing all of the great Hugo and Nebula award winning books I have read right into everyone's living room. This is why Fringe can do no wrong for me, each week I am reminded of some classic Sci-Fi I read when I was 8 to 12 years old.
That is basically what Fringe does, and why I support this story arc, wholeheartedly. I am as anxious as anyone to see the timeline revert back (if it will revert back, this change appears to be permanent) to what we just spent 3 years watching, but until it does, this is what is happening.
The only thing about this episode that kind of bothered me, is that Walter spent a lot of this episode forming a bond with the kid, "Aaron Snedding". A lot like the bond Aaron made with the Fungus named Gus. When Walter says goodbye to the kid, he implicates that the kid ought to visit or that he ought to visit Aaron. We should have seen Aaron show up in season four from time to time especially after Peter returned to the lab. We can assume that this might have happened but we just never saw it.
Another thing that comes to mind is I spoke about "plant intelligence", but when Frank Herbert wrote about intelligence based upon plants, they were green plants.
Fungus are not exactly the same kind of plant, if they are a plant at all. It's kind of like the difference between anaerobic bacteria and the bacteria that became life, our life. They require a different environments to survive. Where anaerobic bacteria requires a volcanic state with low amounts of oxygen and high amounts of sulfur and ammonia, regular bacteria and humans and plants for that matter require oxygen rich atmosphere.
Which changes this a little bit, it makes the entity "Gus" something unlike anything we have ever heard about or read about or seen in any science fiction book film or TV series.
As Walter becomes increasingly despondent, Fringe Division deals with a subject that Frank Herbert used to always write about: In books like "The Jesus Incident/Lazarus Effect", one of the most common things Herbert would use in his stories would be plant intelligence and what form that would take. James Cameron borrowed some of those ideas in "Avatar" - And the way it is presented here, is wholly different than that, whereas the Avatar trees store a whole race's memories, "Gus" is basically an extension of one small child, and is an extension of that person.
This episode takes a portion of that premise, and again sets it on it's ear, while explaining more about the differences between this Peter-less Multiverse and the one we have spent that last three years with.
As with the first three seasons of Fringe: The John Scott story arc that was introduced in the Pilot ep was not dealt with until halfway through the 1st season; the 2nd season had Olivia's trip to the Other Side and also the "There is more than one of everything" aspect, the 3rd season explored the "Walternate Universe" among other things.
I am simply enjoying the way the story is unraveling - I wanted to see it through, and I like seeing episodes using ideas that I read about in Science Fiction books when I was a kid, nobody has ever used material like this in a Prime Time television series, and other recent series, like The (New) Outer Limits, that may have hit on these things, was a syndicated show. That these stories are being told in Prime Time, is like bringing all of the great Hugo and Nebula award winning books I have read right into everyone's living room. This is why Fringe can do no wrong for me, each week I am reminded of some classic Sci-Fi I read when I was 8 to 12 years old.
That is basically what Fringe does, and why I support this story arc, wholeheartedly. I am as anxious as anyone to see the timeline revert back (if it will revert back, this change appears to be permanent) to what we just spent 3 years watching, but until it does, this is what is happening.
The only thing about this episode that kind of bothered me, is that Walter spent a lot of this episode forming a bond with the kid, "Aaron Snedding". A lot like the bond Aaron made with the Fungus named Gus. When Walter says goodbye to the kid, he implicates that the kid ought to visit or that he ought to visit Aaron. We should have seen Aaron show up in season four from time to time especially after Peter returned to the lab. We can assume that this might have happened but we just never saw it.
Another thing that comes to mind is I spoke about "plant intelligence", but when Frank Herbert wrote about intelligence based upon plants, they were green plants.
Fungus are not exactly the same kind of plant, if they are a plant at all. It's kind of like the difference between anaerobic bacteria and the bacteria that became life, our life. They require a different environments to survive. Where anaerobic bacteria requires a volcanic state with low amounts of oxygen and high amounts of sulfur and ammonia, regular bacteria and humans and plants for that matter require oxygen rich atmosphere.
Which changes this a little bit, it makes the entity "Gus" something unlike anything we have ever heard about or read about or seen in any science fiction book film or TV series.