28/05/2013

Fringe: Parallel Lives

Doctor Who: The Wedding of River Song

September 2011 Biblical Studies Carnival (The Greater)

Fringe: Parallel Lives

October 2, 2011 By James F. McGrath 5 Comments
I didnt get around to posting on the first episode of the new season of Fringe, but there is a real sense in
which the second episode, One Night in October, picks up some of the interesting elements of the first and
carries them further in an emotionally powerful manner that some of us will inevitably compare to and
associate with another famous show created by J. J. Abrams.

In this most recent episode, the major plot focus is on the

idea to bring John McClellan over from our universe. In the parallel universe, the parallel John McClellan has
been identified as a serial killer. He has an extremely high IQ in both. In our universe, John McClellan is a
professor who is an expert in serial killers.
This plot device provides an opportunity to explore what made the difference. In both universes, McClellan
felt a darkness inside him and began killing things even as a child. In both universes, his father tried to beat
such tendencies out of him with a heavy hand. But after discovering some dead animals John had killed, in
one universe his father beat him for three days straight, while in the other, John ran away and was taken in
by a woman named Marjorie, who showed him unconditional love, even when she herself discovered Johns
killing of animals. Her love and here teaching made the difference, mainly by bestowing on him empathy for
others. And so in one universe John becomes a serial killer seeking to steal the happiness from his victims
brains, while in the other, he becomes a professor seeking to help prevent others with the same tendencies
as himself from destroying lives. When the version of McClellan from our universe realizes something strange
is going on and learns where he is, and who the serial killer is that he is trying to help track down and
understand, he tries to stop his parallel self and share with him the gift Marjorie had bestowed on him.

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As the episode unfolds, we also begin to learn what

separates our Olivia from her much more cheerful parallel self. Our Olivia had an abusive stepfather.
Fauxlivia did not.
The show explores how a relatively small difference can make a big difference: a simple choice to run away
or stay. It also shows how small differences add up to big divergences in a persons character, and how
individuals then make an impact on those around them.
Of course, it also has a message for those of us who judge and look down upon those who seem less
successful, more introverted, or simply meaner than ourselves, and never think about the little or enormous
differences that may have existed between our lives and theirs, the hurdles, abuse, and who knows what else
they may have had to face.
The pinnacle of this exploration of those who influence us comes when Agent Broyles says he believes that
there are people who make such an indelible impression on ones soul that nothing can erase it.
That is, of course, followed by Peter trying to be heard by Walter, who thinks he is losing his mind. The
Observers are trying to get history to play out as it would have had one of them not caused things to unfold
in such a way that led to Peters abduction and eventually the conflict between the two universes. This
season we have already seen some of the differences that result from Peter never having existed.
Fringe isnt the only show, of course, to have explored or currently exploring the notion of timelines and their
fixity or otherwise. J. J. Abrams explored the theme previously on LOST, with the whole debate about
whether time could be rewritten or whatever happened, happened. And yesterdays episode of Doctor
Who was one of many episodes from that show which explored and played with that question.
I found this episode, One Night in October, to be emotionally powerful and profoundly challenging, as it
suggests that our tiny decisions accumulate into significantly different outcomes. The idea that empathy is
what separates the moral from the psychopath has been suggested before. The question of how much may
be genetic or biological, and how much can be overcome through unconditional love and compassion, is
harder to answer, but most of us believe that love and kindness really do make a difference that some
people do indeed leave an indelible mark on our souls.
You may also like -

Fringe Finale
Trailer

Fringe: There is
Only One God in
this Laboratory

Fringe: Can You

Change Your Mind?

www.patheos.com/blogs/exploringourmatrix/2011/10/fringe-parallel-lives.html

J. J. Abrams and
Anton Bruckner
Lost on the Fringe

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Fringe: Parallel Lives

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Doctor Who: The Wedding of River Song

September 2011 Biblical Studies Carnival (The Greater)

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Fringe: Parallel Lives

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angievandemerwe

2 years ago

The Butterfy Effect' speaks similarly of parallel universes, choice and outcomes! Intriguing review, I
must try to watch! I'd just written to a friend how people leave "fingerprints" on our lives. How much is
genetic and how much is "conditional", can we even separate how the two intertwine in a given life?
And when we speak of science, the observer and observed, how does that effect and change the
reactions and choices of those so observed? These are questions of quantum physics that even the
most brilliant haven't figured out! a great mystery is life!
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angievandemerwe

2 years ago

One thing seems to be the case, it doesn't seem that there is a "rational God", or "human reason" that
is in control!!! Is Chaos really about rationality, order, and "outcome" and "determinaton"?
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angievandemerwe

2 years ago

Or is how we order our world determined by "law", and humans function best when the mind can be
assured of what to expect from government and others?
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Jus t S ay in'

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2 years ago

I really like Fringe too. Unfortunately I missed the first two episodes of the new series.
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C o m m e n t fe e d

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