Fringe 1.02: The Same Old Story

Last week I had a lot going on, and with my husband being away and not getting any other help, I found myself up late every night cleaning, getting my daughter's things ready for school the next day, getting my son's things ready for the nanny the next day, and then waking up at 5:20 because my son was teething and decided that's the new "up time," as my daughter would put it.

Needless to say, this week I am exhausted.

So last night I finished up the work I was doing on the Lost book (something I thought I would finish on Sunday but instead took me Sunday, Monday night, and Tuesday night) and came down to grab one thing and then go to bed. The TV had been left on, and the PVR clicked in to record Fringe. I stood in the kitchen, which faces the living room, and watched the opening sequence of the woman, the race to the hospital, and the... thing. And by the time the opening credits started, I was already out of the kitchen, butt firmly planted on couch, and I didn't move for the rest of the show.

I thought last night's episode was even better than the first. We didn't have to worry about all that exposition this time, and instead got to focus on a fascinating corner of science: rapid mitosis. How could a woman get pregnant, grow the baby to full term, give birth, and have the baby age to an 80-year-old man, all within about an hour? If JJ Abrams is to be believed (he says that all science seen on the show is real and currently studied) then apparently it could happen... theoretically, as Walter would say.

While I'm not watching this show as closely as I am Lost when it's on, I'm already intrigued enough to be looking around to see if I'm missing anything or if there are any clues. I'm assuming Jabrams is putting a lot of things in there for us to find... At the end, where you see the three bodies, are those clones of Christopher? Could there be other rapidly aging men around? I noticed when Walter was trying to put himself to sleep he was reciting the Fibonacci sequence, something that came up on Alias and was only really on Lost insofar as a mention in The Lost Experience.

There was one cut back from a commercial break where you could see someone has pasted the letters to spell VOCES VIDEO on a one-way sign outside the building. I wonder if that's a clue? Or maybe it's a subtle way of mentioning two of the five senses that will help Olivia on her search. Voces means voices, so she must listen, and video refers to seeing, so she must look.

I'm still liking Joshua Jackson a lot, his laid-back, rather annoyed persona where he keeps a monotone when he talks and pretends to be aloof, but when he is able to help out or finds something important, you can sense the excitement in him.

I'm assuming Claus Penrose will be playing a larger role in upcoming episodes.

What did you think about it? Better than the first week? Did you catch any Easter eggs?