A Gold/Yellow Episode
As always, an episode synopsis will be found over at Scott’s Polite Dissent
Opening Theme Fringe Terms
The Fringe terms in the opening theme were:
Existence, quantum entanglement, viral therapy, transgenics even gravitons aren’t really fringe science, though there could easily be fringe theories and applications of them and gravitons are purely hypothetical as of 2011. Somehow I doubt this is what they meant by psychogenesis, and I’m wondering if they just thought it sounded fringey or they thought it meant psychic generation of abiogenic life. I accept time paradoxes as fringe science. The philosopher’s stone, psychometry, and bilocation are plain pseudoscience or prescience, and psychic surgery is outright fraud.
Continuity Questions
-Did Peter truly never exist at all, or did he die as a child in both universes?
-If Peter never existed at all, why did Walter start all of this if not to travel to the other universe to save Peter?
-What happened to Walter’s wife in this universe’s new continuity?
-How were the machines operated without a Peter or a Peter DNA source?
I’m sure there’s many more questions to be answered that I’m not thinking of off the top of my head.
Night of the Living Dead Pigeons
Is Walter trying to become Herbert West for birds?
Did Astrid back the Car Over Olivia’s Dog During Commercial?
It seems like Astrid is a field agent and Olivia’s partner at the start of the episode, but gets de facto replaced by NerdLee once he shows up at the lab. My guess is that this will continue in future episodes with Astrid being demoted to Walter’s full time lab assistant from now on.
A Name Worthy of a Poorly Written Comic Book
What do the writers name a commuter that park and rides for her daily commute? Nadine Park, of course. Why not just go with Carline Park-Ride?
Faith and Reason
NerdLee:
“He believed that everything happened for a reason. I’m having a hard time believing that there’s a reason for this.”
Everything happens for a reason from the perspective of cause and effect. The reason something happens is the deterministic cause of that thing. I believe though, that NerdLee meant that everything happens for a purpose, as in an intentional, directed purpose. Hey, nobody ever said anything about a good reason or that it has to be good for you.
Heavy Metal Poisoning
Hair loss can be caused by heavy metals like Thallium, Mercury poisoning can damage the kidneys, and lead poisoning can cause gout. I had my doubts about gout until I looked it up; you learn something new every day. Zinc can be toxic in sufficient amounts, but I don’t think it’s a particularly common problem, although someone apparently once ingested $4.25 in copper plated zinc pennies for some reason and died as a result.
You’re So Transparent
Being transparent sure makes it easier to hit a vein for an injection. It probably makes a lot of medical diagnostic procedures easy as well as cutting down on radiation exposure by eliminating a lot of X-rays.
Quote of the Show
Walter:
“People die. It happens. Sometimes they die twice.”
The Retcon Hasn’t Made Olivia a Better Agent.
How much closer was Olivia going to get to that suspect before she insisted he turn around, get on his knees, put his hands on his head and interlock his fingers, close enough for him to head butt her? One episode into the retcon and she’s already been disarmed and nearly killed due to incompetence.
Cordial Deconstruction 