Fringe: The Abducted (minor future spoilers)

Okay, I think I've calmed down enough from my disappointment in this episode to write something coherent now, even if no one ever reads it.

I'm not talking about the episode being bad, it wasn't really, the main plot with the kidnapper(s) was very entertaining. My disappointment stems from Olivia not being able to stay home once she cortexiphans herself. Why do the writers insist on putting her back at square one, practically?

And Peter...oh Peter, please don't get me started on Peter. I wanted to slap him, hard, when he didn't immediately pick up that something was wrong when Red said that Ronald Reagan was in Casablanca. Her hurried "I was kidding." Should have only made him that much more suspicious, but no, he kisses her and snuggles down with her just before his phone rings. It's the cleaning lady from the souvenir shop on Liberty Island. Olivia managed to convey to her his number and asked her to give him a message-"She's trapped in the other universe." THEN you see the light bulb go off in his head-"Hey, I'm sleeping with the wrong Olivia!"

The only saving grace to this whole "he's suddenly so dense a rock would shatter if it hit him in the head.' is that even the actor is a bit perturbed over it. Geez, when Peter first met Red after going over with Walternate, he commented to her that her eyes were a different shade than Olivia's-one Olivia has darker eyes than the other, I can't remember which one, but he didn't seem to notice that discrepancy after the switch and I just can't imagine why the writers would make such a faux pas. If he noticed it upon first meeting, why was he suddenly blind to it when she switched?

And that's where it ends. Writers, this damsel in distress thing is getting boring. And I'm not ranting too badly about it this time since I picked up some spoilers for the next one come December, namely that she's going to be almost dissected but RedBroyles will save her. I saw something to that effect the minute he uttered "I'll never forget what you did." after she saved that abducted boy. I just knew that he would be her other ally over there and that he might somehow help send her home without Peter going over there to try to play the hero and possibly getting captured himself and forced/blackmailed into activating the machine. I'm glad I learned he won't have a hand in getting her back home because that would just be too predictable-he knows good and well that he can't set foot in Red universe again because he's the only one who can activate the doomsday machine, so unless he figures out how to use it to seal the rifts without hurting either universe or himself, he's much better off staying in Blue universe.