The jig is nearly up for Fauxlivia...

Fringe,"6955 kHz," was one of those stories in the series that plods along in service of a greater story. I'm feeling like I felt once I knew Walter was going to cross over and grab young Peter from the Other Side: a couple of steps ahead of the writers. That's not the most enjoyable vantage point to watch a story from.

Not much new happened in this episode, and all the characters got to do the usual things they do:

• Walter smoking dope? Check.
• Astrid decoding something not by hard work but by sheer luck? Of course.
• Peter observing everything but saying nothing until he has all the facts? Affirmative.
• Nina bringing out some device Massive Dynamic has made or studied which "coincidentally" ties into the investigation? Roger that.
• Broyles delivering exposition? Confirmed. Poor bugger, that's all he ever gets to do. One episode last season gave him a bit of a back story including a failed marriage. But that story ended up being told by his character rather than shown.
  
• The whole gang solving something in a few short days that has eluded hackers and crackers and cryptologists for decades, possibly centuries? Of course.
• Imaginary Peter telling the Real Olivia on the Other Side* some ominous truth? Yep.
  

Which isn't to say "6955 kHz" was a bad episode. For once, the threat of the week didn't maim, mutate or mutilate anyone, a nice change. Weirdo book collector Markham made an appearance, which always injects some humour. And Anna Torv is doing a great job playing one Olivia pretending to be another. Her performance is quite understated. Even though we as viewers have the benefit of knowing it's "Fauxlivia", Torv gives the impostor some subtle tics and facial expressions the real Olivia doesn't have. As an actor, she's thought it through. She and John Noble (Walter) seem to be enjoying playing two variations on their respective characters this season.

Fringe is very good sci-fi TV, but like most serialized US shows, it tends to have too much filler. I don't think TV in general has learned how to properly tell a long story in weekly installments yet. Perhaps the media and the format precludes it. Dexter season 1 came close, but it was based on a novel. The long arc of Dexter over five seasons and counting, isn't very cohesive. Things that in a long novel wouldn't be tolerated--plot holes, subplots that start and stop abruptly, and inconsistent characterizations--are rampant.
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*Yes, this does sound like nonsense if you don't watch the show.