Bloodline (S03E18)
Airdate: 18 March 2011
Written by: Alison Schapker & Monica Owusu-Breen Directed by: Dennis Smith
Running Time: 44 minutes
Devoted followers of Fringe approaching the tail end of its third season might have noticed a certain habit among the show's producers—a tendency to leave numerous cliffhangers either unresolved or resolved in a manner that merely generated fresh ones. This "mystery box" approach, inherited and refined from the J. J. Abrams school of serialised storytelling, was further complicated by the season's ambitious structural decision to split its narrative threads between two parallel universes and two distinct versions of the same woman, Olivia Dunham. An example of this approach in action, albeit one somewhat more satisfactory than others, might be found in the episode Bloodline—an instalment that attempts to tie up several loose ends whilst simultaneously unravelling enough new threads to keep viewers perpetually off-balance.
The episode, written by Alison Schapker and Monica Owusu-Breen, is set firmly within the Redverse and functions as a direct sequel to Immortality, the earlier instalment in which Fauxlivia discovered she was pregnant with Peter Bishop's child—the result of her intimate encounters with him whilst operating undercover in the Prime Universe. Having been unceremoniously abandoned by her boyfriend Frank Stanton, who correctly deduced that the child could not possibly be his, Fauxlivia is now accompanied by her mother Marilyn to a pre-natal care clinic for tests connected with a particularly grim medical issue that afflicts women in the Redverse. The condition in question is viral propagated eclampsia, or VPE—a hereditary affliction that claimed the lives of Fauxlivia's sister and her sister's child during childbirth.
Whilst running her tests at the clinic, Fauxlivia notices individuals following her and promptly informs her boss, Lincoln Lee, who dispatches a security detail. However, by the time the agents arrive, Fauxlivia has already been kidnapped. Her abductors prove to be remarkably well-informed; they surgically remove Fauxlivia's subcutaneous tracker, thereby covering their tracks with clinical efficiency. Given that the existence of such trackers is a closely guarded official secret, Walternate and Lincoln—whilst discussing the matter—are forced to conclude that the abduction must have been an inside job, perpetrated by someone with access to privileged information about Fringe Division personnel.
One possible avenue of investigation for Lincoln and Charlie Francis leads them to Henry Higgins, the cab driver who was observed lingering in the vicinity of Fauxlivia's home. Henry explains that he had been keeping an eye on her, remembering her from a previous encounter and being struck by the impression that she had become a fundamentally different person—entirely unaware, of course, that Olivia and Fauxlivia are two separate individuals who were temporarily switched. Based on what Henry tells him, Lincoln begins to suspect that the two Olivias had indeed been swapped and confronts Walternate about it. The Secretary of Defense admits the switch and confides that he desperately wants to find Fauxlivia, not merely as a valued agent but because she is carrying his grandchild. Meanwhile, Marilyn has learned the results of the tests and discovers that Fauxlivia does indeed carry VPE and will almost certainly die if she attempts to carry the child to term.
Fauxlivia, in the meantime, has been brought to an improvised operating room where mysterious doctors and nurses subject her to a series of deeply unpleasant procedures apparently aimed at accelerating her pregnancy through artificial means. She eventually manages to escape her captors, stumbling out onto a Chinatown street and contacting Lincoln via a payphone. Lincoln rushes to the scene in Henry's taxi, the cab driver utilising his intimate knowledge of the city's shortcuts to arrive in time. Henry, who has prior experience with delivering babies—including his own daughter—in his cab, helps Fauxlivia give birth to a son. Both mother and child are subsequently transported to hospital and placed under heavy security. The doctors subsequently inform Fauxlivia that the very acceleration of her pregnancy, harrowing as it was, paradoxically saved her life, allowing the birth to occur before VPE could develop its fatal effects.
The epilogue proves to be among the episode's most intriguing sequences. September, one of the enigmatic Observers, watches as one of the hospital orderlies—apparently complicit with the abductors—extracts a blood sample from the newborn. The sample is then delivered to the alternate Brandon Fayette, who is revealed to have been involved in the entire process with the full knowledge and apparent sanction of Walternate himself. Simultaneously, Lincoln and Charlie begin to piece together their suspicions, connecting Colonel Broyles' mysterious disappearance with the Olivias' switch and growing increasingly convinced that Walternate is not being forthcoming with the whole truth.
Bloodline serves as a prime example of how the main plot of Fringe became progressively more convoluted as the series evolved. First there was one Olivia Dunham; then there were two. Then the two Olivias switched identities, only for one of them to end up pregnant. And in this episode, the pregnancy is further complicated with the introduction of VPE—a fictional medical condition that injects additional drama into an already fraught situation. The layers of complexity have accumulated to the point where new viewers would be utterly lost, yet the dedicated faithful are rewarded with the sense that all these threads are weaving towards something significant.
Walternate's having his own agenda—one very different from Fauxlivia's and perhaps from the rest of the Fringe Division—further complicates matters. His previously established, adamant refusal to experiment on children sits in stark contradiction to his actions in this episode, where he effectively puts his own flesh and blood through an experimental medical procedure without the mother's knowledge or consent. This contradiction could be interpreted as straightforward hypocrisy, but it might also be read as an act of desperation—a man willing to compromise his most deeply held principles when the survival of his world and his lineage hang in the balance.
Henry Higgins, played by the always reliable Andre Royo, once again proves to be one of the most likeable recurring characters in the Fringe gallery. However, his somewhat obsessive fixation on Fauxlivia and Olivia remains inadequately explained, and his convenient presence and pivotal role in saving Fauxlivia's life feel like yet another instance of plot convenience masquerading as character development. The birth scene itself is melodramatic and predictable in the extreme, including the obligatory false alarm of Fauxlivia appearing to die before predictably—and somewhat miraculously—coming back to life, a television trope as old as the medium itself.
Bloodline also sprinkles in a few intriguing tidbits about the Redverse and its divergent cultural history, including a reference to Taxi Driver, which in this universe was apparently directed by Francis Ford Coppola rather than Martin Scorsese. It is exactly the sort of small but evocative detail that Fringe excels at—the kind of throwaway worldbuilding that reminds us how subtly and pervasively this parallel world differs from our own.
In the end, Bloodline is a solid episode that generally works, delivering genuine tension and emotional stakes whilst advancing several key plot threads. However, it functions primarily as a staging ground for numerous new developments within the Redverse—developments that promise to be resolved only in future episodes and seasons. The episode is less a self-contained story than a carefully arranged set of dominoes, tipped over and left to fall across the remainder of the season. For that reason, its ultimate success depends heavily on what follows, making it difficult to judge in isolation. Yet judged on its own terms, it remains an engaging, if occasionally frustrating, piece of the Fringe puzzle.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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