Deconstruction Review of Fringe, Episode 9, Season 3, Marionette
Posted by Karl Withakay on December 9, 2010
A Blue Episode
As always, an episode synopsis can be found over at Scott’s Polite Dissent.
Will There Be Any More Red Episodes?
Now that Olivia is back in our universe, I’m guessing the regular alternating pattern of blue and red episodes may be over.
Not so Fringe
The use of an umbrella to deliver the drug to knock out the first victim in the show is probably based on the murder of Georgi Markov with a pellet containing ricin toxin believed to be delivered by just such an umbrella. I really like it when Fringe uses real world concepts like this or the number stations in episode 6 of this season, 6955kHz.
I am Not A Surgeon…
So I’d have to ask someone more qualified to comment on whether or not there really would have been that much blood splattered all along the walls/ plastic drapes like that, but I do question it just a little.
I’m A Little Disappointed
It didn’t turn out to be a zombie episode; the potential certainly was there.
Just a Comment
I really like the relationship and interaction between Walter and Peter in Fringe. It’s consistently the best written and acted part of the show, in my opinion. The scene between Walter and Peter in the car in this episode was just such a gem.
Lady Fortuna Has Smiled Upon Us
I assume Walter is speaking of this Lady Fortuna, Roman goddess of fortune and not any relation of Bib Fortuna of Star Wars fame, but with Walter, you never know.
Is Hanging Around the Fringe Team Making Walter Dumber?
Scar tissue on the arteries indicative of heart surgery, steroids, immunosuppressants, antifungals, and antibiotics in the medicine cabinet, and nobody, not even Walter is screaming “TRANSPLANT RECIPIENT!”? Peter was smart enough to look in the medicine cabinet, but not smart enough to put two and two together with what he found? What was he looking for, statins?
Paging Dr. Ross, Dr Alex Ross
I wonder if the name Alexandra Ross is supposed to be a wink of the eye to famed comic book talent, Alex Ross. I’m sure Scott will have something to say about that.
A Bag Full of Hammers Might Make a Keener Investigative Team
Even after learning the Doctor Ross was a surgeon, the team was still surprised to learn the victim was a transplant recipient. I think the chances of the other universe winning are better than even odds.
The Eyes Have It
As Far as I can find, eye banks do harvest whole eyes, but for cornea transplants, not whole eye transplants. Roland would be not be putting the original eyes back in Amanda’s body, just the original corneas with somebody else’s eyes. I’ll have to ask Scott is tissue compatibility is a two way street. That is, would the victim’s tissues (eyes) necessarily have been a match for Amanda if Amanda’s tissues were a match for him?
Paging Dr. West, Dr. Herbert West or Again I Am Disappointed
Walter: “…but imagine the possibilities, if this can permanently erase cell decay”
Astrid: “Milk that doesn’t go bad.”
Walter: “and cheese.”
…and the dead walking the Earth, killing the living, wreaking havoc, etc. Don’t these people read H. P. Lovecraft, Mary Shelly, or watch Jeffery Combs or Boris Karloff movies?
I thought for sure Amada was going to come to life and try to kill Roland at the end. The writers dropped the ball a second time in this episode. Zombie fail.
Also, would that rot-proof milk and cheese still be digestible, even if it weren’t zombified?
There’s Product Placement, and There’s In-Show Advertising
Guess which I consider the Sprint video chat scene to be.
Marionette Voodoo
Creepy Roland’s marionette rig wasn’t complex enough to produce the amount of articulation that Amanda’s inert body demonstrated, such as the pointing of the toes during the ballet. And why make the rig at all if he’s going to bring her back to life, and she’ll be able to dance on her own? Really creepy.
ALWAYS Look In the Basement For the Mad Scientist’s Lab!
Come on people, it’s so simple. Perhaps you need a refresher course!
Did I Miss Something?
Or did the show not really clarify how Amanda re-died? Was Roland’s experiment a failure? Did he choose not to finish it when he decided it wasn’t really Amanda? Did she kill herself again? Is she really still reanimated but just non-responsive?
Cordial Deconstruction 
Scott said
I can’t speak for “whole eyeball transplants,” but for corneal transplants, compatibility is not an issue.
Polite Dissent » Fringe — Episode 9 (Season 3): “Marionette” said
[…] This week’s Fringe cipher was: ADAPT. A list of all previous Fringe reviews is available here. Karl, as always, has much more to say. […]
Antti T said
Amanda’s 2nd death: I kinda just extrapolated from the “it wasn’t her, I didn’t bring back her” (not word for word) that the reanimation wasn’t succesful. Just reanimation of the body, not the person, thus is then quickly failed. But that was just my take, not really supported by anything they said.
The surgery scenes were pure Dexter. What did the guy do, cut some artery in the neck and let the blood spurt out for a while purely for show? Also wearing a suit _and_ getting funky with the plastic wrapping are kind of illogical. This is details but it always helps getting immersed into a scene when you’re not thinking: “This is stupid.”
Yeah, I think I would bet at the other universe too. And it has nothing to with their Olivia having red hair… 🙂
Dennis Acevedo said
On the eye transplant… perhaps this is why, when he looked into her eyes, he knew it was not her – it was her corneas, be someone else’s eyes.
Daedalus said
The toe pointing was clearly done using wireless near-field electroneurostimulation. But the rig was wonderfully steampunky.
Karl Withakay said
If only he’d thought about the fact that they weren’t really her eyes, he might have decided it was her after all!
Scott said
I decided (for no legitimate reason, I admit — mostly the position of the body when Walter found her, with the wrists extended and exposed) that Amanda killed herself, again.
I’m think we should be glad Amanda was used as a fecal transplant donor.
And being the cynic I am, I wonder how Amanda committed suicide that allowed her organs to be used for transplant. There is only a short window of time to harvest organs after death, and most suicides intentionally plan their deaths so that they won’t be found until much later. (I guess she could have botched the attempt and lingered in the ICU for a few days, allowing her organs to be used).
Scott said
Oops, that should be “we should be glad Amanda WASN’T used as a fecal transplant donor”
Karl Withakay said
The position of the body was what made me suspect she may have re-killed herself. Consider that from her perspective, she had just killed herself, and nothing had changed to alter her attitude towards life.
I also question the method of suicide that left all her organs in donor condition, and her brain in revive-able condition.
One thing you learn from the movie Reanimator is that people die for a reason and just juicing them up with reanimation serum doesn’t reverse the damage that lead to their death or the damage done to their brain by the lack of oxygen after /during death. Great, you’ve just reanimated a corpse whose brain has been dead for at least several hours before you preserved it; good luck holding a conversation with that.
DanielT said
Can I just say that the scene with the rig was by itself far creepier than the entire Human Centipede movie?
tooms said
so… why you people keep watching the show?
FC said
Because it’s fun!!!!!
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