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Fringe Season 5 Episode 2

In Absentia

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Episode Summary

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AIRED: 10/5/12

After Walter's mind is damaged by Windmark's telepathic probe, the team goes to Walter's old Harvard lab to find the information they need to defeat the Observers.

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TV.com Episode Review

Fringe "In Absentia" Review: An Eye for an Eye

A fantastic character episode teaches us that the future can learn from the past and shows us where Season 2 is going.

By Tim Surette, Oct 06, 2012

Fan Episode Reviews (4)

Don't know. Still good but something's missing...

8.0

By mobilehead, Jan 21, 2013

After watching two episodes from the fifth season I see "Fringe" in a different perspective. It is hard to say if it is good or bad but for sure it is different. This feeling of looking for the Observers somehow made me more interested. This time I don't see the point in looking for them because they are everywhere. Nonetheless I am missing something and I hope that this "thing" will be soon discovered. Otherwise I will admit that they jumped the shark with the fourth season finale. Looking forward to be wrong.moreless
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5x02 "In Absentia"

9.5

By lucianoabc, Oct 07, 2012

I just love it when Fringe goes all dramatic and asks questions about morality. This episode was a good example of that. Now that we have a line to follow (recovering the tapes), I think it's time to just shut up and watch Fringe end with a bang.
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Fringe-In Absentia.

10

By Dec1964, Oct 06, 2012

Fantastic episode, I think what lengths Etta is

willing to go through is justified. What she & the

human race has endured under The Observers rule.

Its about time we fought back, after all we are fighting

for freedom here aren't we.
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"this is war, and we're losing"

9.0

By Lccf, Oct 06, 2012

This was a really, really dark episode. It blurred some moral lines so much I really believed Walter would cut the guy's eye ( as we were supposed to believe ).

Until now, I wasn't really sold on Etta, but now I am. She displayed a darker edge, and has now a clear character arc in front of her : she has, thanks to her family, to conquer her humanity back. The child we've already seen twice is gone ( I'm beginning to think her disappearance is a metaphor for her lost innocence ), but maybe Peter and Olivia can soften her ( great acting from Anna Torv this week ). This should be interesting to watch.

Fringe has always been good at humanizing the "other side", as we've seen with seasons 3 and 4, and they're doing it again with the Loyalists here. If you thought there was black and white, think again. It doesn't harm that the actor who played the Loyalist was quite good.

Poor Simon ! I had hoped to see him again, alive and well ! Alas ! At least it provided us with some classic Fringe madness ( once upon a time, a blinking severed head would have closed the episode's cold open ... )

So, like last episode, not much really happened ( the "deamber this, deamber that" is getting old fast ), but it was a good episode anyway. Now let's hunt these tapes !!!moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Anna Torv	Olivia Dunham
Joshua Jackson	Peter Bishop
Jasika Nicole	Astrid Farnsworth
John Noble	Dr. Walter Bishop

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Eric Lange	Gael Manfretti	Guest Star
Andrew Coghlan	Loyalist Guard 2	Guest Star
Jennifer Cheon	Triage Nurse	Guest Star
Georgina Haig	Henrietta "Etta" Bishop	Recurring Role
Abagayle Hardwick	Young Etta	Recurring Role

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Episode Photos

Georgina Haig on Fringe from "In Absentia".

© 2012 Fox Broadcasting Company
Anna Torv and Joshua Jackson on Fringe ...

© 2012 Fox Broadcasting Company
John Noble, Joshua Jackson, Anna Torv, G...

© 2012 Fox Broadcasting Company
Joshua Jackson, John Noble, Anna Torv, G...

© 2012 Fox Broadcasting Company

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (1)
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- Trivia: The glyph code for this episode is FAITH.
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QUOTES (3)
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- Walter: What's wrong? Why can't we get into Harvard?
  Etta: It's been taken over by Observers, Walter.
  Walter: Well, that's not a problem for someone who's done acid.
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- Etta: You don't know my world.
  Olivia: You're right. I don't know your world. But I had hoped for you that, wherever you were, you weren't hardened by what had happened to you. And that it's not that I don't see what the Observers have wrought. I do. But what concerns me is what they've taken away.
  Etta: This is the world. It is what it is.
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- Walter: But I trust that the same will that brought you here will keep you going. It is important that you follow the tapes. You must begin this journey right away. You are humanity's only hope. Now you must retrieve the first tape.
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NOTES (2)
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- Music: Nights in White Satin (The Moody Blues)
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- International Airdates:
  Canada: October 5, 2012 on Citytv
  UK: October 31, 2012 on Sky1
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ALLUSIONS (0)
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