- Air Date: 11/16/2012
- Directed By: Eagle Egilsson
- Starring: Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, John Noble, Jasika Nicole, Lance Reddick, Blair Brown
- Guest Stars: Shaun Smyth, Marco Soriano,
- Author: Graham Rolland
Another brilliant FRINGE episode, but you shouldn’t be surprised. For once, FOX and company are doing this one right, giving J.H. Wyman and company enough time to finish the show on their terms, and the result is bliss for fans. Not to say its bliss for the characters. No sir.
“Five-Twenty-Seven” puts the spotlight on the Bishop father-son combo. Both highlight the changes that are happening inside them, with entirely different reactions. Walter’s worried that he’s going to become the evil man that he was set on becoming before he had Nina remove part of his brain, becoming the lovable, future diabetic with a conscience man that he is now. Peter is aloof, stiff, uncaring, as he descends into Observer-dom, as his stolen tech continues to shape him. The episode opens with Peter observing a fairly innocuous scene, with Royce (Marco Soriano), a familiar lieutenant of Captain Windmark’s, briefcase in hand, jostling his way through a busy street and joining a fellow Observer into a car. The scene replays in real time, with a different result, and it’s clear that Peter is seeing time and space much in the way that the Observers do, that he saw the future, or at least a version of it. This gives him an idea, and he calls Fringe team whipping boy Anil (Shaun Smyth) to concoct a plan.
When he returns to the lab with a few tanks of fuel for the laser, Olivia is worried, she was supposed to come with. Peter hasn’t been sleeping, he’s been in and out of their place at odd times. It doesn’t look good for Peter and Olivia, folks. The crew uncovers another tape of Walter’s, numero cinco, where past Walter gives them their next mission: they must recover two of Observer’s cylinders in one of William Bell’s storage facilities. That severed hand will certainly come in…handy. To help get access to the facility, Olivia, Walter and Astrid pay a visit to good ole Nina Sharp, with Blair Brown making her first appearance of the 5th season, FINALLY. She, of course, kills it, and has a couple fantastic scenes with Walter, as Walter reveals his anxiety about becoming more and more like the bastard, power hungry mad scientist he had sought to avoid.
While everyone is with Nina, Peter comes up with shoddy excuses to break away and work with Anil. The poor Aussie has no idea what Peter is talking about, and how he knows what he knows, but Peter clearly keeps seeing the fellow Observers and plotting their movements, and Anil goes along with the plan blindly. You wonder what the resistance is really made of if they are just completely followers. Of course, it’s hard to imagine not following Peter. Speaking of, Josh Jackson continues to bring his best work to the table, exemplifying the Observer tics that we’ve come to know and love/fear. It’s only going to get more intense, and I can’t wait, even if I’m very much worried about the guy.
Peter’s plan goes into motion, while the rest of the crew goes after the cylinders, with doubt swirling around each member, and whether or not the mission will actually in success, because the tapes have proven to be a little less than helpful up to this point. We have three more weeks to stew in the beautiful mess that Olivia, Peter, Astrid and Walter find themselves in. Aside from a lack of Broyles and Nina (and no change in Astrid’s role), I have little to quibble with how FRINGE comes into its stretch run.
