Remember that famous Lucille Ball story where she claimed to be receiving radio transmissions through her fillings? FYI, MythBusters tested that one and figured out that it was highly unlikely. I know nobody wants to call Lucille Ball crazy – or worse, a liar – but not only do fillings fail to pick up radio signals, the chances that your brain would be able to translate those signals into sounds are remote.
Plus, the FBI doesn’t appear to have any records of what Lucille claims to have done – discovered a secret Japanese radio station through her fillings.
Fringe’s latest episode, “The Ghost Network,” takes this to a whole new level with – hang on, I’d better throw in a SPOILER WARNING.
Anyway, “The Ghost Network” revolves around a man with metal in his blood, which allows him to pick up secret radio signals. Really. This is Lucille Ball technology, folks.
All of this manifests in him obsessively drawing pictures and making models of upcoming disasters, which looks a little suspicious at first, but luckily, the Fringe team is full of people who outright reject Occam’s razor. And Dr. Bishop is certifiably insane. So the metal guy is safe.
Turns out he’s a result of an experiment that Bishop did for the government. Of course! Government Project #444: Dr. Doom. (I sincerely apologize to the creators of The Fantastic Four comics for that.)
Nobody really cares about the larger mystery at this point, dubbed The Pattern, but it turns out that the latest mysterious disaster is someone trying to cover up the fact that The Pattern exists. As Television Without Pity pointed out so cleverly, it seems like Olivia was the only person who didn’t actually know about The Pattern until now.
Once again, Nina Sharp and the mega-corporation Massive Dynamic are so obviously evil that they make your teeth hurt, but Olivia seems completely blind to it.
What Fringe needs is: more obstacles, slightly cleverer protagonists, and, I don’t know, something a little more compelling than the standard fare. It’s fun enough to keep watching, but the show can’t carry itself forever unless something changes.
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