Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (S03E19)
Airdate: 15 April 2011
Written by: Jeff Pinkner, J. H. Wyman & Akiva Goldsman
Directed by: Joe Chappelle
Running Time: 44 minutes
The more focused observers of Fringe might have been forgiven for concluding that, as the seasons neared their end, the production staff—apparently running low on creative juices—would resort to episodes that were, in their essence, gimmicky. Near the end of Season Two, this tendency manifested itself in Brown Betty, the much-debated musical episode that divided viewers and critics alike. Now, with Season Three entering its final stretch, another gimmick was apparently deployed for the late-season episode Lysergic Acid Diethylamide, an instalment whose very title signalled a departure from the series' established procedural formula into territory that was, quite literally, hallucinatory.
The episode, however, deals with an ongoing plot issue of considerable substance—a complicated situation created when Walter returned William Bell's consciousness into the body of Olivia Dunham. This predicament needs to be resolved quickly, because Bell claims that, unless he finds a new vessel within a day, Olivia's mind might be permanently lost. Failed attempts to find a suitable body compel Walter and Bell—residing within Olivia—to take drastic measures. The fundamental problem is that Olivia is apparently unaware that she has been possessed and has, in all likelihood, had her ego locked away somewhere deep within her own subconscious. Walter theorises that he can reach her if he begins exploring her subconscious and attempts to wake her from within, and he concocts a plan that involves the use of LSD—a substance with which he is, of course, intimately acquainted. Bell's mind, if the plan succeeds, should be uploaded into a computer, thereby preserving his consciousness whilst restoring Olivia's autonomy.
Walter is accompanied by Peter, who has also taken LSD, and the pair find themselves immersed in Olivia's vision of the Redverse New York City. They are immediately surrounded by apparently hostile strangers, including a menacing representation of Olivia's stepfather. Olivia apparently signals to them from William Bell's office in the still-standing World Trade Center towers—a detail that, in the Fringe universe, serves as a potent reminder of the divergence between the two realities. After evading a hostile version of Nina Sharp, Walter and Peter arrive at Bell's office, where they find Bell himself in the form of an animated cartoon character—a visual conceit that immediately sets this episode apart from anything the series has previously attempted.
The trio is unable to find immediate clues as to where Olivia might be hiding within her own mindscape, but Peter suggests that Olivia is frightened, and that when she is frightened, she retreats to the place she considers safe—in her case, the town of Jacksonville, Florida, where she lived as a child under Walter's care in the Cortexipan trials. The trio boards a zeppelin to travel to Jacksonville, but along the way, a mysterious man (voiced by Ulrich Thomsen) tears open the side of the airship, and Walter, pulled out by the rush of air, falls to his death, only to wake up in the real world, his journey within Olivia's mind cut abruptly short.
William and Peter press on and reach Jacksonville, where Peter leads them to the military housing settlement where Olivia lived as a child. Peter finds her house and there encounters what at first appears to be Olivia, but it proves to be only a projection, constructed to ward off intruders. Peter recognises this for what it is, and the real Olivia is revealed as a child—her consciousness having retreated to the period of her life when she felt most vulnerable. The young Olivia accompanies Peter, but they are pursued by her stepfather and soldiers, manifestations of her deepest traumas. Peter sacrifices himself to stop them, but this act of selflessness triggers a transformation: Olivia becomes an adult again, apparently able to confront her traumas directly. Bell tells her that when she wakes up, she will be in her own body, and leaves a cryptic message for Walter before departing.
Olivia wakes up in the real world, restored to herself. Walter, much to his disappointment, discovers that he has failed in his attempt to bring back Bell—the upload was unsuccessful, and Bell's consciousness has been lost. The cryptic message only confirms this failure. The episode ends with Peter visiting Olivia, and for a brief moment they share what appears to be a happy reunion. But the mood shifts dramatically when Peter notices a drawing of the mysterious zeppelin man, and Olivia casually tells him that it is the man who is going to kill her—a chilling cliffhanger that recontextualises everything that has come before.
Lysergic Acid Diethylamide is a considerably better episode than Brown Betty, and this is chiefly because the animated cartoon gimmick makes far more sense in the context of the plot than the film noir setting and breaking into song did one year earlier. Having animated characters and an animated world is justified—indeed, arguably necessary—when the entire plot takes place within the fantasy world of someone's subconscious. The animation serves the narrative rather than the narrative serving the animation, which is precisely where Brown Betty went astray.
Whilst director Joe Chappelle did commendable work and wisely refrained from going overboard with weird surrealism, the scriptwriting trio of Jeff Pinkner, J. H. Wyman, and Akiva Goldsman could have done considerably better. William Bell's final farewell is strangely anti-climactic—Leonard Nimoy's last appearance in the series, such as it is, deserves more than a muted fade into digital oblivion. Meanwhile, the mysterious appearance of the man with the X mark is a reference too cryptic even by Fringe standards, a show that has never shied away from opacity but which here borders on the willfully obscure.
Broyles being accidentally affected by LSD is played for cheap laughs, a tonal misstep in an episode that otherwise takes its psychological premise reasonably seriously. One suspects, however, that Lance Reddick probably welcomed the opportunity to show some extra acting range and depict his character deprived of its customary cold bureaucratic exterior—a rare moment of levity for an actor whose steely composure has been one of the series' most reliable assets.
The episode also contained plenty of references, of which the bottle of McCutcheon whiskey in Bell's office is the most obvious nod to Lost, the island mystery series with which Fringe shared certain production personnel and a fondness for cryptic mythology. The fashion and other visual details in the fantasy world also point to hints at The Matrix, Inception, and The Walking Dead, the latter of which was then in its earliest and most acclaimed season.
Lysergic Acid Diethylamide is a solid, entertaining, but ultimately inconsequential episode that serves merely as a "filler" before the last three episodes that conclude Season Three. It resolves the Bell-possession storyline with reasonable efficiency and delivers a genuinely unsettling final-act revelation, but one cannot escape the feeling that, like Brown Betty before it, it represents a creative indulgence that the series could have done without—or at least one that could have been executed with greater narrative discipline.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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