The Mad Science of Fringe: Olivia vs. Rainman

Two instances might not signify trend, but after only our second romp "over there," I'm ready to say that Olivia's misadventures in dopplegang-land (Buffy reference? Whenever I can) make for some of the best Fringe yet. Sure, there have been issues: Don't forget about Olivia's cab ride devolving into a little commiseration-fest. This week, there might have been an unfortunate interactive hallucination or two, but Olivia struggling so singularly with her dual identities while staving off Walternate and Co. really has me riveted. As for the cases, it seems there's a very positive creative feedback loop emerging between the oddness of the alt-world and the strength of the episodic arcs. On that note, read on for your mad science capsules!

Scenario: Alt-world denizen Milo Stanfield once had an IQ of 56. Then his sister signed him up for an experimental drug trial, and pretty soon he was solving differential equations while he recited the digits of pi. After the trial ceased, Milo started eliminating administrators by predicting how they would die if he threw a ballpoint pen somewhere nearby. Particularly, he factored things in so they would be hit by a bus.

Plausibility: 7 of 10. Give me a villain who predicts things really well over a villain with mind control abilities any day. No Ordinary Family, take note!

Scenario: Olivia's memory conditioning from Olivia seems to be wearing off. Throughout the episode she hallucinates Walter and Peter, and by the end of the episode, she's progressed to interactive hallucinations.

Plausibility: 5 of 10. There are some pretty cheap shots to take here at, you know, Grey's Anatomy or even Twilight, but you know what? I'm going to take the high road and just say, "Ew." I'm giving this a mediocre mark with the desperate hope that, in a few weeks, someone will explain this as an effect of the memory conditioning drugs. Desperate, desperate hope.

Scenario: Milo predicts that Olivia will get squished by a truckload of cinder blocks, but since she's not Bolivia -- and her memory conditioning is failing -- she doesn't follow the air quality protocol when she turns down an oxygen-depleted alleyway. Or something. So she survives.

Plausibility: 9 of 10. I could have done without kissable Peter hallucination explaining it tidily at the end, but the convergence of the episodic thread and the memory arc was well done, I thought. Though I tend to think that, considering everything else she does remember, she would have used the oxygen mask. Then again, Olivia has very little control over her ability to bend the fabric of the universe. She's unpredictable like that.

Are you liking the format of this season so far? Are you enjoying the alt-world episodes or the regular episodes more?