Marionette (Fringe)
Encyclopedia
"Marionette" is the ninth episode of the third season
of the American science fiction
drama
television series
Fringe
. The episode was written by Monica Owusu-Breen and Alison Schapker
, and directed by Joe Chappelle
. It followed a series of organ recipients being tracked down and having their donated organs removed, all in a scientist's attempt to resurrect
his deceased love interest, whose organs were donated to the victims. Meanwhile, Olivia (Anna Torv
) copes with the consequences of being back in the prime universe.
The episode aired on December 9, 2010 in the United States. "Marionette" was the show's winter finale, and received generally positive reviews. Many critics praised the depiction of Olivia's emotions after her recent trauma, as well as the aftereffects of coming to terms with Fauxlivia having taken her place, as realistic and well-acted.
) has recovered from her ordeal of being trapped in the parallel universe and has rejoined the Fringe team, while others on the team, particularly Peter (Joshua Jackson
), struggle with the idea that the parallel universe's Olivia, Fauxlivia, had successfully pretended to be Olivia. Throughout the episode, Olivia is shown to be struggling emotionally with knowing that Fauxlivia has lived in her apartment and has slept with Peter.
The team is called to the home of a man whose heart was removed through a makeshift operation. Through gruesome, they learn that not only did someone call for emergency help shortly after the heart's removal, but the man was found alive by the emergency response team well after his heart was removed, though he eventually died by the time Fringe arrived. Walter (John Noble
) and Peter recognize scars on the blood vessels leading to the heart, identifying the victim as one that received a heart transplant. during the autopsy at the lab, Walter concludes that a serum was used to prolong the victim's life well after the heart's removal, a chemical based on his own past research into life restoration.
A second victim is found, this time a man whose eyes have been removed by forced surgery. Again, they discover the eyes were obtained from organ donation
, and they find a connection to a woman called Amanda (Anja Savcic), a ballerina who had committed suicide. They also note the care that the culprit performed the work, and speculate that the person they are looking for is showing some compassion for his victims, calling for emergency help and using the serum to hope that they are given the proper care in time. They find that Amanda's alleged cremated remains are bogus, and that her body had been stolen before it could be cremated. They start to trace connections to Amanda, finding she was in a depression counseling support group. Though there are several possible suspects, Olivia's intuition leads her to a man named Roland David Barrett (Mark Ivanir), who was noted to have become enamored with Amanda at the meetings. At Roland's home, the viewer is shown that Roland has recovered the corpse and surgically replaced the organs in her body. Using a makeshift set of ropes and pulleys, Roland engages Amanda's body in a marionette act to make her perform like a ballerina, promising her he will bring her back to life.
As the Fringe division sets out to Roland's home, Roland injects Amanda's body with more of the serum, and she is brought back to life. By the time Fringe arrives, Roland gives himself up willingly, and they find Amanda dead again. Roland explains that though she was alive, when he looked into her eyes, he realized she wasn't the same person and thus terminated the process. As Roland and Amanda's body are taken away, Olivia breaks down in front of Peter; she questions that if Roland could tell that Amanda wasn't the same person by looking at her eyes, why couldn't Peter do the same with Fauxlivia? Peter is unable to answer her, and a distressed Olivia leaves on her own. As Walter takes Peter to get a milkshake, the two are identified by an Observer, who reports on his phone that "he is still alive".
and Alison Schapker
wrote "Marionette", and Joe Chappelle
directed it.
Executive producers Jeff Pinkner
and J. H. Wyman described the episode thusly: "The headline here is 'Picking up the pieces.' Olivia's had this real Rip Van Winkle
experience; while she was away, life went on without her. Now she's back and she's going to find out what happened while she was gone. It's going to shatter her". In a conference call interview, Pinkner and Wyman further described the episode as "pretty fantastic" because "it's one of our most cinematic episodes". "Marionette" ended the episode arc that had began with the season premiere, where one episode would take place entirely in one universe and then the following episode would alternate to the other; now Fringe would take place entirely in the prime universe.
A week after "Marionette" aired, Fox came out with a promotional video meant to reassure Fringe fans that the show's move to Friday did not automatically mean it was on the road to being canceled. The new video featured the message "You May Think Friday Is Dead… But We're Gonna Reanimate It," a reference to the resurrection plot in "Marionette". As with other Fringe episodes, Fox released a science lesson plan in collaboration with Science Olympiad
for grade school children, focusing on the science seen in "Marionette", with the intention of having "students learn about 3-dimensional protein models and how their use allows scientists to predict biological behavior."
airing January 21, 2011.
wrote that despite the "burden" placed on "Marionette" because of its timing, "by now, the series is so sure of its tone, its surging story-telling power, that it more than met its challenges". Tucker praised that the show had become "exhilaratingly fearless" by pulling in the many references from literature, movies and other sources, and also thought that Olivia's reaction to the Peter-Fauxlivia relationship "felt right". The A.V. Club
s Noel Murray gave the episode an A, explaining that he felt the episode was "very strong" and "was especially impressed with how Fringe handled the Olivia/Peter relationship". Television Without Pity graded the episode a B. Andrew Hanson from the Los Angeles Times
called the episode "the perfect epilogue to that first chapter," explaining:
Like Ken Tucker, Hanson also loved how Olivia coped with someone posing as herself, saying that it made her seem like a "honest, real woman". Despite not typically liking "monster-of-the-week
" episodes, James Poniewozik of Time Magazine thought it "did quite a good job using the case to tell the story of the tension between Peter and Olivia, and the emotional aftermath of returning to a life someone else has borrowed". Rhea Dee of Pinkraygun.coms review almost entirely focused on Olivia's reactions to being back in the prime universe. Dee praised the realistic tone, writing that normally in other shows she was used to the female character being "annoying" after trauma, but "not once in this episode did I feel like Olivia’s emotions were irrational". Open Salon
.com enjoyed the episode, writing "While I enjoyed the last eight weeks of alternate universe hijinks, this week's episode reminded me of what I had been missing from the earlier seasons... It's nice to know we'll be back with our good old regular Earth-1 team for the foreseeable future. Overall, this week was really well done - very effectively creepy, well directed and plotted with just the right about of gore to make you jump".
", "Entrada
", and Bloodline
" for consideration in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series category at the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards
. She failed to receive a nomination.
Fringe (season 3)
The third season of the American science fiction television series Fringe premiered on Fox on September 23, 2010, and concluded on May 6, 2011, consisting of 22 episodes. The series is produced by Bad Robot Productions in association with Warner Bros...
of the American science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
television series
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
Fringe
Fringe (TV series)
Fringe is an American science fiction television series created by J. J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. The series follows a Federal Bureau of Investigation "Fringe Division" team based in Boston, Massachusetts under the supervision of Homeland Security...
. The episode was written by Monica Owusu-Breen and Alison Schapker
Alison Schapker
Alison Schapker is an American television writer and producer. She was a staff writer on the hit ABC series Alias and wrote several of its episodes along with her writing partner, Monica Owusu-Breen. She has also worked on the shows: Charmed, Lost, Brothers & Sisters, and currently Fringe...
, and directed by Joe Chappelle
Joe Chappelle
Joe Chappelle is an American film and television director and producer. Chappelle was a Co-executive producer and regular Director for the HBO crime drama The Wire...
. It followed a series of organ recipients being tracked down and having their donated organs removed, all in a scientist's attempt to resurrect
Resurrection
Resurrection refers to the literal coming back to life of the biologically dead. It is used both with respect to particular individuals or the belief in a General Resurrection of the dead at the end of the world. The General Resurrection is featured prominently in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim...
his deceased love interest, whose organs were donated to the victims. Meanwhile, Olivia (Anna Torv
Anna Torv
Anna Torv is an Australian actress known for her role as FBI agent Olivia Dunham on the Fox television series Fringe.-Early life:...
) copes with the consequences of being back in the prime universe.
The episode aired on December 9, 2010 in the United States. "Marionette" was the show's winter finale, and received generally positive reviews. Many critics praised the depiction of Olivia's emotions after her recent trauma, as well as the aftereffects of coming to terms with Fauxlivia having taken her place, as realistic and well-acted.
Plot
Olivia (Anna TorvAnna Torv
Anna Torv is an Australian actress known for her role as FBI agent Olivia Dunham on the Fox television series Fringe.-Early life:...
) has recovered from her ordeal of being trapped in the parallel universe and has rejoined the Fringe team, while others on the team, particularly Peter (Joshua Jackson
Joshua Jackson
Joshua Carter Jackson is a Canadian American actor. He has appeared in primetime television and in over 32 film roles. He is best known for playing Charlie Conway in The Mighty Ducks film series, Pacey Witter in the television series Dawson's Creek and Peter Bishop in the television series...
), struggle with the idea that the parallel universe's Olivia, Fauxlivia, had successfully pretended to be Olivia. Throughout the episode, Olivia is shown to be struggling emotionally with knowing that Fauxlivia has lived in her apartment and has slept with Peter.
The team is called to the home of a man whose heart was removed through a makeshift operation. Through gruesome, they learn that not only did someone call for emergency help shortly after the heart's removal, but the man was found alive by the emergency response team well after his heart was removed, though he eventually died by the time Fringe arrived. Walter (John Noble
John Noble
John Noble is an Australian film and television actor, and theater director of more than 80 plays. He was born in Port Pirie, South Australia, Australia and is currently starring as scientist Walter Bishop in the J. J. Abrams television series Fringe.He made occasional appearances on the...
) and Peter recognize scars on the blood vessels leading to the heart, identifying the victim as one that received a heart transplant. during the autopsy at the lab, Walter concludes that a serum was used to prolong the victim's life well after the heart's removal, a chemical based on his own past research into life restoration.
A second victim is found, this time a man whose eyes have been removed by forced surgery. Again, they discover the eyes were obtained from organ donation
Organ donation
Organ donation is the donation of biological tissue or an organ of the human body, from a living or dead person to a living recipient in need of a transplantation. Transplantable organs and tissues are removed in a surgical procedure following a determination, based on the donor's medical and...
, and they find a connection to a woman called Amanda (Anja Savcic), a ballerina who had committed suicide. They also note the care that the culprit performed the work, and speculate that the person they are looking for is showing some compassion for his victims, calling for emergency help and using the serum to hope that they are given the proper care in time. They find that Amanda's alleged cremated remains are bogus, and that her body had been stolen before it could be cremated. They start to trace connections to Amanda, finding she was in a depression counseling support group. Though there are several possible suspects, Olivia's intuition leads her to a man named Roland David Barrett (Mark Ivanir), who was noted to have become enamored with Amanda at the meetings. At Roland's home, the viewer is shown that Roland has recovered the corpse and surgically replaced the organs in her body. Using a makeshift set of ropes and pulleys, Roland engages Amanda's body in a marionette act to make her perform like a ballerina, promising her he will bring her back to life.
As the Fringe division sets out to Roland's home, Roland injects Amanda's body with more of the serum, and she is brought back to life. By the time Fringe arrives, Roland gives himself up willingly, and they find Amanda dead again. Roland explains that though she was alive, when he looked into her eyes, he realized she wasn't the same person and thus terminated the process. As Roland and Amanda's body are taken away, Olivia breaks down in front of Peter; she questions that if Roland could tell that Amanda wasn't the same person by looking at her eyes, why couldn't Peter do the same with Fauxlivia? Peter is unable to answer her, and a distressed Olivia leaves on her own. As Walter takes Peter to get a milkshake, the two are identified by an Observer, who reports on his phone that "he is still alive".
Production
Co-executive producers Monica BreenMonica Breen
Monica Owusu-Breen is an American television and film producer and screenwriter. She is best known for her work on such shows as: Charmed, Alias, Brothers & Sisters, Lost, and currently Fringe. She often collaborates with screenwriter Alison Schapker...
and Alison Schapker
Alison Schapker
Alison Schapker is an American television writer and producer. She was a staff writer on the hit ABC series Alias and wrote several of its episodes along with her writing partner, Monica Owusu-Breen. She has also worked on the shows: Charmed, Lost, Brothers & Sisters, and currently Fringe...
wrote "Marionette", and Joe Chappelle
Joe Chappelle
Joe Chappelle is an American film and television director and producer. Chappelle was a Co-executive producer and regular Director for the HBO crime drama The Wire...
directed it.
Executive producers Jeff Pinkner
Jeff Pinkner
Jeff Pinkner is an American television writer and producer. He graduated from Pikesville High School in Baltimore Maryland in 1983. He is known for his work on Alias where he served as executive producer. In 2006 and 2007, he worked as an executive producer and writer for the mystery series Lost...
and J. H. Wyman described the episode thusly: "The headline here is 'Picking up the pieces.' Olivia's had this real Rip Van Winkle
Rip Van Winkle
"Rip Van Winkle" is a short story by the American author Washington Irving published in 1819, as well as the name of the story's fictional protagonist. Written while Irving was living in Birmingham, England, it was part of a collection entitled The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon...
experience; while she was away, life went on without her. Now she's back and she's going to find out what happened while she was gone. It's going to shatter her". In a conference call interview, Pinkner and Wyman further described the episode as "pretty fantastic" because "it's one of our most cinematic episodes". "Marionette" ended the episode arc that had began with the season premiere, where one episode would take place entirely in one universe and then the following episode would alternate to the other; now Fringe would take place entirely in the prime universe.
A week after "Marionette" aired, Fox came out with a promotional video meant to reassure Fringe fans that the show's move to Friday did not automatically mean it was on the road to being canceled. The new video featured the message "You May Think Friday Is Dead… But We're Gonna Reanimate It," a reference to the resurrection plot in "Marionette". As with other Fringe episodes, Fox released a science lesson plan in collaboration with Science Olympiad
Science Olympiad
Science Olympiad is an American elementary, middle, or high school team competition which tests knowledge of various science topics and engineering ability. Over 6,200 teams from 49 U.S. states compete each year. Most teams compete in three levels of competition: regionals, states, and nationals...
for grade school children, focusing on the science seen in "Marionette", with the intention of having "students learn about 3-dimensional protein models and how their use allows scientists to predict biological behavior."
Ratings
The first airing of "Marionette" was watched by 4.74 million viewers in the United States, with a 2.8/4 rating among all households and a 1.7/5 ratings for viewers 18-49. The episode was Fringes winter finale, with the next episodeThe Firefly (Fringe)
"The Firefly" is the 10th episode of the third season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe, and the 53rd episode overall. The episode centers on a chain of events created by Walter crossing over into the parallel universe in 1985 that has had subtle but significant effects...
airing January 21, 2011.
Reviews
Ken Tucker from Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
wrote that despite the "burden" placed on "Marionette" because of its timing, "by now, the series is so sure of its tone, its surging story-telling power, that it more than met its challenges". Tucker praised that the show had become "exhilaratingly fearless" by pulling in the many references from literature, movies and other sources, and also thought that Olivia's reaction to the Peter-Fauxlivia relationship "felt right". The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
s Noel Murray gave the episode an A, explaining that he felt the episode was "very strong" and "was especially impressed with how Fringe handled the Olivia/Peter relationship". Television Without Pity graded the episode a B. Andrew Hanson from the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
called the episode "the perfect epilogue to that first chapter," explaining:
"I’ve always wanted to see more of what happens after the ending of a big action movie. Sure, we’ve defeated the evil alien mothership and saved mankind, but all our cities are blown up. Or we’ve fallen in love while escaping the malfunctioning homicidal robots, but whose side are we spending Christmas with? It isn’t often that you get to see how people move on from these huge events, but “Marionette” gives us just that. Bundled with a retelling of the quintessential horror/sci fi story".
Like Ken Tucker, Hanson also loved how Olivia coped with someone posing as herself, saying that it made her seem like a "honest, real woman". Despite not typically liking "monster-of-the-week
Villain of the week
"Villain of the week" is a term that describes the nature of one-use antagonists in episodic fiction, especially ongoing American genre-based television series...
" episodes, James Poniewozik of Time Magazine thought it "did quite a good job using the case to tell the story of the tension between Peter and Olivia, and the emotional aftermath of returning to a life someone else has borrowed". Rhea Dee of Pinkraygun.coms review almost entirely focused on Olivia's reactions to being back in the prime universe. Dee praised the realistic tone, writing that normally in other shows she was used to the female character being "annoying" after trauma, but "not once in this episode did I feel like Olivia’s emotions were irrational". Open Salon
Open Salon
Open Salon is a hybrid blogging platform and social network site started by the Salon Media Group, Inc. According to Salon Editor-in-Chief Joan Walsh "Open Salon gets rid of traditional gatekeepers, and makes our smart, creative audience full partners in Salon's publishing future." After...
.com enjoyed the episode, writing "While I enjoyed the last eight weeks of alternate universe hijinks, this week's episode reminded me of what I had been missing from the earlier seasons... It's nice to know we'll be back with our good old regular Earth-1 team for the foreseeable future. Overall, this week was really well done - very effectively creepy, well directed and plotted with just the right about of gore to make you jump".
Awards and nomination
Anna Torv submitted "Marionette", along with the season three episodes "OliviaOlivia (Fringe)
"Olivia" is the first episode of the third season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe. The episode was written by executive producers J. H. Wyman and Jeff Pinkner, and was directed by Joe Chappelle. The third season spent its time alternating between the prime and...
", "Entrada
Entrada (Fringe)
"Entrada" is the eighth episode of the third season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe, and the 51st episode overall. The third season spent much of its time alternating between the prime and parallel universes, and "Entrada" was the first of the season to have time...
", and Bloodline
Bloodline (Fringe)
"Bloodline" is the 18th episode of the third season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe, and the 61st episode overall.-Plot:...
" for consideration in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series category at the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards
63rd Primetime Emmy Awards
The 63rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, honoring the best in primetime television programming from June 1, 2010 until May 31, 2011, was held on September 18, 2011, at the Nokia Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles, California. Fox televised the ceremony within the United States. Actress Jane Lynch hosted...
. She failed to receive a nomination.
External links
- "Marionette" at FoxFox Broadcasting CompanyFox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...