George Holz/FOXThe people that make Fringe really know how to make TV. Damn.
With any luck the sometimes-shabby ratings of this so smart sci-fi show will get a boost from "Bloodline," which airs Friday. This week's installment returns to the alternate universe, as the other Olivia—Remember her? Red hair, bangs, still played by Anna Torv?—is forced to confront the ultimate consequences of her little affair with Joshua Jackson's Peter Bishop. (Wear condoms, people!)
So how does that sex disrupt this universe? And which fan-fave altiverse characters are back in a big way? Here's what we can tell you about "Bloodline."
First, the official summary for Friday's ep is this: "The intensity of life 'over there' accelerates as a pregnant Olivia (Anna Torv) is kidnapped and finds herself in mortal danger. As the Fringe Division races against time to find her, agent Lincoln Lee (guest star Seth Gabel) receives some heartbreaking news as Walter (John Noble) stops at nothing to preserve the new branch of the Bishop family tree."
Now, here's what we else we can tell you about this episode, without spoiling it too much. Olivia is pregnant, and while her knocked-up status starts out as a secret, everybody but everybody will know by the end of the episode. Olivia continues to withhold the father's identity from everybody, including her mom (Amy Madigan), but, of course, Walternate is nobody's fool. Not only does Walter know about the pregnancy, but he knows that there's a science-fictional problem with the pregnancy that requires a science-fictional solution.
We've seen in the past that Walternate is supposedly more scrupulous and moral than our Walter, but we'll learn in this episode that maybe he's not quite as ethically prim and proper as we'd been led to believe. As is so often the case, this villain really thinks he's a good guy.
If you're an "Over There" fetishist, you won't want to miss this episode. Linc (Seth Gabel) and Scarlie (Kirk Acevedo) are front and center in the search for Olivia, and Jasika Nicole's Asterix (that's what you kids call alt-Astrid, right?) is at her quasi-autistic best in assisting them in finding their missing compatriot. To be honest, Linc is so darling in this episode that we feel like the writers have gone and painted a giant bull's eye on his back. We don't know anything for sure about Linc's fate, but in Fringe-verse terms, anyone as lovable as Over There Linc should probably take out some life insurance and fast, because he's got to be about three episodes away from walking into a wrecking ball on the street.
Last but not least, this week's Observer appearance is much more than a glimpse. He's front and center, and he speaks! What does he say? You'll have to wait through the tension-filled final act to find out, but suffice it to say, you'll realize once he says it that the show has just jumped into a whole new story universe.
Don't miss this episode, kiddos. It's smart, suspenseful and one of the most emotional outings in the history of the show—not since our Olivia first saw that Peter belonged on the other side has the show had a moment so simultaneously thrilling and tragic.
Fringe airs Friday at 9 p.m. on Fox.
Watch. It.