"Making Angels" Review
“Making Angels” finally gives us a closer look at the motivations behind fan-favorite Astrid and her alternate counter-part. The story is effective for bringing together both sides when Alternate Astrid illegally crosses over. Alternate Broyles (yes, the evil, coconspirator Alt-Broyles) sends Fauxlivia over to retrieve Astrid. Once the two sides come together, things slow down, as several characters are confined to the lab.
The case-of-the-week is fairly interesting, but once more involves the notion of fate: a familiar Fringe motif seen in last week’s case, too. Here, the results differ and the writers cleverly tie in the observers (though I’m not sure if they answered any of our questions or merely complicated them).
Still, there’s no denying that this was some strong material, and the relevance to the observers helped tie in the mythology. Furthermore, Neil’s suicide at the end after realizing his mother wished her other son alive was especially poignant and an interesting play on survivor’s guilt.
For an Astrid episode, “Forced Perspective” provides some interesting insight into both characters. Alternate Astrid (Altstrid? that’s so hard to say) reveals that her father passed away, and we learn more about her own inner struggles with herself and others. Regular Astrid is her usual awesome self who comforts her counterpart and even lies about her own father. The reveal that Regular Astrid’s father is a warm, personable man was especially well done.
There was also some fun material with Fauxlivia and Walter, and how their relationship changed since Season 3. Still, it’s all a bit clouded by our knowledge that Peter didn’t exist in this universe. Regardless, it had some funny moments and makes me wish Walter would offer me a Twizzler.
All-in-all, “Forced Perspective” is another interesting case-of-the-week episode that helps us get more involved with these (possibly alternate) characters. For now, that’s a really good thing, as it keeps our questions under the surface. I have a feeling that this season is going to explode as we get closer to the finale. And I can’t wait.
-MP