Fringe 5x03: The Recordist

Astrid and Walter recover the first tape detailing Walter's plan to defeat the Observers. Although, it turns out to be the third tape, as past-Walter's brain was somewhat addled, and he stored them out of order. I like that they've always been at least somewhat realistic with their depiction of drug use on Fringe. Smoking pot won't stop you from becoming a brilliant scientist, but it will make you forget where you left things.

You'll always remember where you hid your weed, though.

Despite Walter's protestations that he needs to stay behind to spend some quality time with his bong, the team (minus Astrid) is off to beautiful Northern Pennsylvania, which I'm sure looks nothing like the woodland near Vancouver. There they find a small village of people with a disfiguring skin condition, one of whom is the titular Recordist. When the invasion happened, his father started an archive to document the history of humanity, so it would survive without being edited by its conquerors.

I think I would've enjoyed history class more if the text books were in 3D

In what may be a bit of cross-promotion for a thing I don't know about, the Recordist's son is a big fan of the Fringe Division and all their adventures, and has illustrated several comic books about them. Since his idols have actually come to town, he gets them to autograph his work. Which is probably something Anna Torv and Joshua Jackson have done on more occasions than they'd care to count. I pity poor Josh and all the Dawson/Pacey slash comics he has to sign.

Not pictured: Walter/Denethor slash fic

Back at the lab, Astrid does some digging and discovers that they need to visit a mine that's nearby. But, when they get there, they find that whatever's causing the skin disfigurement is deadly, and is amplified by being in the mine. Walter and Olivia begin to show signs of being affected, but after the next commercial break, Walter cuts the growths off, and it's never a problem again. More pressing is the fact that the future Gestapo are tracking them. Thanks to a double agent, the team knows they're coming, but now they're seriously pressed for time. Walter builds a suit that'll let someone go down into the mine without dying, but they need to trade for some copper so he can finish it.

The Recordist radios a local settlement. They're angry dudes, and even if they do want to trade, there's no guarantee that whoever goes out to make the deal will be coming back. He says goodbye to his son, but at the last moment says he can't go through with it and sends Olivia and Peter instead. However, when they get to the rendezvous point, no one is there. It was all a ruse. The other settlers didn't have any copper, so The Recordist went into the mine himself and retrieved the mineral they needed at the cost of his own life.

Always remember to moisturize, kids.

With his father all crusty and gross, The Recordist's son takes over the task of archiving the important moments in history. The Fringe team ditches their van and takes off for Wally World in the Family Truckster. Mom and Dad sit up front while Etta and Grandpa ride in the back. As it should be.

Road Trip!

What I Liked
-The tape shows past-Walter hiding his bong under something, so future-Walter retrieves it. When the world has gone to hell and a bunch of bald guys are trying to kill you, why wouldn't you get high?
-Again, I don't know if it was something they were doing purposely or if it was a mere coincidence, but while Peter and Olivia were talking about what happened after the invasion, they were on opposite sides of the van. So, even though they were having a deep, meaningful conversation, they're still apart. It's symbolism or a metaphor or something.
-They find what must literally be the only functional 1980s station wagon in the entire world. It's like driving a small, ugly land boat.
-Walter's sunglasses.

What I Hated
-The settlement isn't as helpful as it should be. The Fringe team is well known enough that one of the few children in your village has drawn a series of comic books about them, and four of them show up on your doorstep telling you that they have a plan to save the world. What do you do? They should've been stripping everything for parts to help Walter build his suit. Instead, most of them just seemed to sit around. If this is the kind of apathy they get from a group where one member idolizes them, I'm curious to see what they'll get from a settlement that's never heard of them. Probably shot. In the face.
-They need about 18 kilos of the mineral, but Walter lifts the bucket of rocks like it's full of styrofoam. It's not a particularly important point, but with all the emphasis they placed on the amount of the stuff they were going to need, you'd think they'd make a point of showing that the bucket was actually heavy.

Final Thoughts
The word of the day is "ANGER" I don't know why. No one seemed particularly angry.

It's all about the family on Fringe, now. Olivia's still a bit miffed at Peter for abandoning the world to search for their daughter, and she's upset at herself for giving up on Etta so easily. But, Peter sees their current predicament as a second chance for all of them to be a family. So, I suppose that's what they're going to do. I hope Etta didn't have her heart set on a little brother or sister, though, 'cause mom and dad aren't exactly in the mood for baby-making.

The group of villages out in the middle of nowhere raises an important question that probably won't get answered: How much of the world do the Observers actually control? Sure, the major cities are pacified, and you can't really fight them off if they come to your town, but why would they bother taking over some podunk town in the middle of nowhere? They conquered present-day Earth because they crapped up future Earth, so I can't see them bothering with present-day crapholes. Which means fairly large sections of the planet would be fairly autonomous. Did they invade and conquer what's left of Detroit? Would it actually have improved things if they did? These are the pressing questions of our time... that won't get answered because they're not really important to the narrative.

I actually didn't like this episode very much. Far too much time was spent on The Recordist's emotional journey, and I just didn't care. He's brave, he's a coward, he's happy, he's sad. Then he was dead, and I didn't give a crap. It's hard to care for a character who's so all over the place. Also, his job really isn't that important. Recording history is only worthwhile if there's someone left to read it, and if the regular humans don't somehow overthrow the Observers, they'll all be dead. Plus, if the Fringe team is successful, there's no need for the archive at all because history is written by the victors.

It gets an extra half star for Walter's sunglasses, though. He'd better keep wearing them for the rest of the series.