Deconstruction Review of Fringe, Episode 17 Season 4 Everything In its Right Place
Posted by Karl Withakay on April 7, 2012
A Gold/Yellow Episode
As always, an episode synopsis will be found over at Scott’s Polite Dissent
What’s With the Cow Clothes?
What was the deal with cow wearing boots and cow sized FBI jacket and ball cap? At first, I though maybe NerdLee was having a weird dream.
How Badly Did Astrid Screw Up in the Past?
Broyles:
“Not to diminish Agent Farnsworth’s assignment, but liaison duty is more of a formality, part of our mutual cooperation agreement.”
and also Broyles in response to NerdLee after NerdLee explains why he thinks it’s useful for him to do the job:
“You’re more important to me here on this side.”
Here we have more evidence that Astrid is assigned menial and unimportant duties not considered worthy of even relative newcomer agents.
Absolutely No Texting While Driving
…But video playback on the driver’s information console is just fine.
Universal Differences
In the Alterverse, the fictional Gotham City billionaire playboy turned superhero is Mantis instead of Batman. Does that mean that Mantis exists as some alternate character in the Alterverse?
Also in the Alterverse, it seems that Millard Fillmore is on a fairly high denomination of currency. Considering that we have already seen that Newt Gingrich is on the hundred, Fillmore seems likely to be on the fifty or perhaps they still issue five hundred dollar bill in the Alterverse.
Foreshadowing or Telegraphing?
I’m not sure how the writers could have made it any more obvious that Captain Lee was going to die and be quasi-replaced by NerdLee (who will probably end up in a relationship with Fauxlivia). If you hadn’t already figured it out before the conversation between Lee and NerdLee about how irreplaceable Lee was, that conversation should have sealed the deal for you.
Gun Notes
With all the differences between the universes, it’s interesting to note that the tactical team in this episode was carrying the exact same HK MP5 submachine guns equipped with ACOG scopes, tactical lights, and laser sights that the team in our universe used in last week’s episode. Fauxlivia used some variant of Kalashnikov type rifle to take out the sniper. Based on the size and shape of the magazine, it was likely chambered in 7.62X51mm /.308 Winchester.
It Didn’t Go Wrong This Time, but…
Isn’t it about time both Fringe teams got together and hammered out a shapeshifter protocol? You know, with obvious things like never leave a wingman/ team mate, and if a team mate is ever out of sight of another team member, they need to be examined to be sure they weren’t replaced.
Minor Computer Pet Peeve
“If we can hack this mainframe…” Not all big, important , or powerful computers are mainframes. Mainframe computers are mostly used in large scale business applications, and they aren’t nearly as widely used as they once used to be.
Where is Mentat Astrid’s Mojo?
Shouldn’t Menat Astrid have been able to put together all the pieces and figure out that Colonel Broyles is a shapeshifter by now?
Cordial Deconstruction 
RicSantiago said
“Shouldn’t Mentat Astrid have been able to put together all the pieces and figure out that Colonel Broyles is a shapeshifter by now?”
Yes, and I saw her twitching hand when talking to Cel, Broyles as a sign of exactly that. I fear that she confronted him openly then. We just didn’t see because the scene was cut back to FauxOlivia and Agent Lee.
Karl Withakay said
I thought that about the twitching hand at first, but then decided it was because she was informing Broyles that Lee had died.
shadowkate said
I agree with Ric. I suspect that she told Broyles…or maybe she was considering it. I don’t think she is dumb enough to go to him by herself and say “I know you are a shapeshifter”.
I am sad that Linc died. But I saw it coming all episode.
Polite Dissent » Fringe — Episode 17 (Season 4): “Everything In Its Right Place” said
[…] cipher was: DREAM. A list of all previous Fringe reviews is available here. As always, Karl has more to say over at his […]
Polite Dissent » Fringe — Episode 17 (Season 4): “Everything In Its Right Place” said
[…] cipher was: DREAM. A list of all previous Fringe reviews is available here. As always, Karl has more to say over at his […]
bros said
Yeah, I think she either knows Broyles is working for Jones, perhaps admitted it, unsure.
Francisco (FC) said
“I’m not sure how the writers could have made it any more obvious that Captain Lee was going to die and be quasi-replaced by NerdLee (who will probably end up in a relationship with Fauxlivia). If you hadn’t already figured it out before the conversation between Lee and NerdLee about how irreplaceable Lee was, that conversation should have sealed the deal for you.”
I turn off my brain when I watch Fringe, it’s a more enjoyable experience that way. Try it sometime.
Karl Withakay said
If I did that, there wouldn’t be any more blog posts about Fringe here. 🙂
Francisco (FC) said
True, but you would probably enjoy Fringe more 🙂 In any case it doesn’t have to be an either/or thing. You can always record the show and watch it critically a second time. Though observations like that one will likely get lost! Keep up the good work!
Jake said
I am unconvinced that Captain Lee is dead. Given that his last words were talking about a mole, and then a death off-screen without sight of a body has all the signs of “I am faking my death to try and find the mole” to me.
The non-science of Fringe: Everything In Its Right Place « weak interactions said
[…] episode is debunked at Polite Dissent and Cordial Deconstruction, and you can read more about it at Fox, IMDb and the A.V. […]