A Red Episode

As always, an episode synopsis can be found over at Scott’s Polite Dissent.

Note:  I may have the occasional error regarding this episode, and I may fail to cover something I otherwise would have, but as I am out of town on vacation, I had to watch the episode live with no ability to pause or replay any scenes, and I can only take notes so fast.  P.S. Greetings from Cape Canveral.

Something For the Search Engines:

“Everybody complains about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.” –Mark Twain

Helter Skelter Beatles?

I didn’t catch the scientific name of the beetles in the show, but I couldn’t find anything on Skelter Beetles (if that was what they were called, it took a while to get closed captioning going on the hotel TV).  I found longhorn beetles, which have nothing to do with sheep; the name is related to their long antennae.  I wonder if it is supposed to be a nod to the Beatles song Helter Skelter.

I Was Worried There For a Little While…

…that the writers were trying to set the ground work for the split between Frank and Fauxlivia with the interaction between Frank and Mentat Astrid.  While they may still intend something to develop between Frank and Mentat Astrid, I’m glad that they came up with a better (and more plot related) cause for the breakup.

Get Smart is Multi-Universal

Lincoln’s comment that he was a cone of silence when it comes to secrets indicates that the TV show Get Smart must have existed in the Alterverse as well.  It also indicates that the cone of silence in the alterverse version of the show was as equally ineffective as the one in our version of the show was.

Walternate Won’t Do What Walter Once Did.

I thought that maybe Walter and Walternate’s ethics and morals might cross paths headed in different directions, but Walternate stood firm against experimenting on children.  Good for him.

49 and Still Fine

Has Joan Chen aged at all in the last 20+ years?

What’s Your Standard for Off the Wall These Days?

Frank:

“His research reads a little off the wall.”

How does anything strike anyone in either universe with Fringe knowledge as off the wall?

Humans the Closest Living Relatives of Sheep?

It seems a little bit of a stretch to think humans were the next best hosts for the beetles.  The part about the compatibility being due the similarity of human and sheep DNA really seemed off base.  Cows, goats, gazelles, horses, deer, pigs, hippos, bats, whales, and hedgehogs are all closer relatives of sheep than humans and other primates.

Ever Heard of a Tactical Light?

I know there is some disagreement about the use of tactical lights mounted on hand guns, mostly about muzzle discipline and never pointing a gun at anything you don’t intend to shoot, but I’m still surprised that you pretty much never see them used in TV shows.  Instead, it’s always the flashlight in one hand, with the gun in the other hand, resting on the wrist of the hand with the light.  It’s not really good for controlled fire compared to a two handed grip that a tac light allows.

Did You Get the Memo?

The closed captioning referred to Fauxlivia as Bolivia.  We confirmed Fauxlivia two episodes ago.

Frank, Stanton, MD, Infectious Disease Specialist

Good job reading the sonogram, Frank.  I’ll defer to a real MD like Polite Scott, but I would think he should have been able to tell the stomach (or other part of the GI tract) from the uterus, but I’ll defer to someone with better expertise in that area.   I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt that telling a 6 week embryo from a beetle larva on a sonogram might not be so simple.  According to Wikipedia, 6 weeks is indeed when a human embryo will start to move.

Not My Area, Again

I’m curios if Scott has anything to say regarding the fall and adrenaline triggering “some kind of morning sickness”.  I figured she just got sick at the thought she had a parasitic insect growing inside her.

Why Didn’t You Say So Sooner?

I’m not sure why the bad guy let everyone think Olivia was the one that was infected for so long.  I guess he was worried they might try to save him, and felt it was better to be safe than to be sorry.