Fringe - Night of Desirable Objects, S02E02

Well, apparently we aren't done reacting. Despite the promise in the premiere that the Fringe team was going to take a more active approach to comprehending and stopping (?? is that what their goal is?) the Pattern, this week's episode followed the tried and true method that has worked well for Fringe so far. Something happened at the beginning (in this case, a mad disappearing, pulled directly into the earth), and then Olivia (Anna Torv), Peter (Joshua Jackson) and Walter (John Noble) showed up to solve the mystery.

When I put it like that, it doesn't do Fringe justice.

It's the mystery of the Pattern that is intriguing. And since this is a J.J. Abrams project, who knows where we're going, or what we'll find in the many alternate universes that exist. And it's the power dynamic between Olivia, Peter and Walter, as well as the rest of the cast. I live for Walter's semi-insane hilarious outbursts.

I am, as much as I love the show, a little disappointed this season. I realized that part of this is time. Last season, they had 49minutes. This season, they have 43. It's a big difference. 6 minutes in which Walter could have asked for a rootbeer float while doing an autopsy, in which the super-scorpion/mole/human-baby could have attacked and caused havoc.

The building web involving the Patter, and the alternate universe, and Peter, and Walter and William Bell, is growing. You know that the pay off is going to be good, great, fantastic! when we get there. But we are not there yet. And with those 6 minutes, so far this season, we have lost our pay off. We could have had awesome flashes of Charlie's fight to the death before he was thrown in the incinerator last week. We could have seen more than 3 seconds of Jessup this week. How can she compare to Charlie if we don't get to know her?

Fringe is moving towards awesome events, but I want some of them to happen sooner. I want them to happen now. I don't want this to be one of those shows that you stick with because sooner or later, it makes it worth every second. I want to feel that way every show, like I did last season.

What are your thought? Do you feel like we've hit a lull too, or am I missing the point?