TV episodes review
US airdate 21 January 2011; 28 January 2011; 4 February 2011; 11 February 2011 (Fox)

More results from Walter’s universe-hopping, son-kidnapping spree are revealed; the mysterious machine is built; poison proves deadly and someone is pregnant…

The big revelation in ‘The Firefly’ is that Twin Peaks is canon in the Fringe universe (well, one of the universes, at least)!

Doc Brown himself, Christopher Lloyd, is great as a burnt-out rocker whose time-travelling son mirrors the dimension-hopping of Peter and Walter. While one of the strange, bald Observers gets to turn action hero, the revelation that the whole thing has been an Observer experiment or test undermines the impact of the drama somewhat.

The mysterious machine is central to ‘Reciprocity’, with Peter’s presence triggering the device built by Massive Dynamic (minus the part that Bolivia made off with). Someone’s killing shape-shifters whose names are in Bolivia’s files, so the suspect list is narrow. Of course, it’s Peter who seems to be going rogue in an attempt to avoid his destiny as part of the machine (as threatened by the episode’s final shot). Oh, and a DNA snort makes a monkey of Walter.

We’re back in early X-Files territory in ‘Concentrate and Ask Again’ as some ex-military types plot their chemical warfare revenge for the side-effects that have befallen their unborn children. There’s some really heavy-handed writing here, overtly linking damaged mind reader Simon to the equally damaged Olivia, who cleans up nicely when put in a dress and a slash of red lipstick.

By the end we’ve discovered that Peter’s state of mind (affected by his relationship with the two Olivias, inevitably) will affect which universe the mysterious machine destroys… and we get the unwelcome return of Sam the bowling guru.

We’re back in the alt-universe in ‘Immortality’ for the first time in a while. Bolivia is living it up with her boyfriend when a spot of spontaneous bug eruption brings them into contact with a mad scientist: so far, so X-Files. Littered with references to the Manson murders and Twin Peaks (Joan Chen — who’s not aged a day — and cherry pie), the kicker comes at the end when Bolivia is revealed to be pregnant, and Peter’s the baby-father!

Just as interesting is Walternate’s unwillingness to experiment on children — as Walter Bishop and William Bell did in our universe. Mmmm, so who’s the bad guy again? Brian J. Robb

VERDICT
Episode 10: The Firefly: 6/10
Episode 11: Reciprocity: 6/10
Episode 12: Concentrate and Ask Again: 6/10
Episode 13: Immortality: 7/10