(S02E20) "And together they made goodness and lived happily ever after. The end." - Ella's happier ending to the story

Let's just get this out of the way right now. Lily Pilblad (Ella) and John Noble (Walter) need a LOT more scenes together. In fact, if the unthinkable happens and 'Fringe' is yanked off the air, these two should have their own show together. She's so darn cute, and they act like they've been doing scenes together for years. My favorite was when she was holding the bucket for Jean the Cow, who was happily chomping away while Walter and Ella talked storylines. Way too sweet.

This really wasn't a musical episode per se; there were only a few snippets of songs here and there, and I was hoping for more. Especially after hearing the awesome voices of Lance Reddick and Jasika Nicole (the others were swell, too). That said, it was a very fun episode that managed to tie in nicely with the current storylines.

In fact, it was downright brilliant to create a story within a story -- Walter's fairy tale about Noir Ville to Ella -- about a glass heart that's being torn between Walter and Peter. Ella's upbeat ending -- Peter ripped the heart in two and gave half to Walter and everyone lived happily ever after -- was truly inspired.

The story also featured a missing Peter, private eye O. Dunham (oh, that red lipstick!), the "Watchers," Massive Dynamic, a mini-love story for Nina Sharp and William Bell, and even a few "Fringe'-like tense moments. One was when Olivia got nailed into the box and tossed overboard into the water, only to be rescued by Peter with the suave line, "I heard you were lookin' for me."

Even though it was a '30s-inspired noir detective story complete with fedoras, gumshoes, netted hats and vintage cars, it was its own breed of fairy tale. There were also cell phones, a quantum laser, old-school computers, singing corpses, and a polka-dotted Jean the Cow. It came from the mind of Walter Bishop, after all, in a haze of Brown Betty and who knows what else.

And when Walter slyly looks at Astrid and tells Ella that before Dunham can move forward on the case of the broken heart, she'll have to re-hire her assistant -- Esther Figglesworth -- I could hear 'Fringe' fans everywhere chuckling gleefully.

Three.Episodes.Left! I'm already having serious withdrawal issues. I'll need some of Walter's Brown Betty to cope. Based on the previews and the ending scene with the Observer, there's still plenty in store. After watching Astrid and Walter from across the street, the Observer made an alternate universe call and said into his device, "The boy has not returned, and I do not believe Dr. Bishop remembers my warning. Yes, I am concerned, too."

More Quotes:

"I would hardly classify what I just smoked as marijuana ... I call it Brown Betty." - Walter

"All you've done is eat all my snacks and talk about weird stuff. And everything makes you laugh!" - Ella to Walter, as they're playing 'Operation'

"Maybe you should teach me algebra." - Ella to Walter, after hearing him sing

"There's one thing we both know, Dunham. Death seems to follow you around." - Broyles to Olivia

"Why not bring a little life to the dead, I say." - Walter to Olivia, on the corpses singing 'The Candy Man.'

"Bring me the file on the quantum laser!" - Nina Sharp

"This man who attacked you ... was he bald with an odd cadence to his voice?" - Nina
"Who is he?" - Olivia
"Not he. They. We call them 'watchers.' These people are dangerous, and they don't make idle threats. You should know what you're getting into, Miss Dunham." - Nina

"I don't know. I just don't trust her." - Ella, on Nina
"Smart girl." - Walter

"It seems he's a sort of scientific Christopher Columbus. He's always searching for what's right on the edge of our imagination. But here's the interesting part. In the past few years, no one has seen him. No press conferences, no public appearances. It's like he just disappeared off the face of the earth." - Esther to Olivia, on William Bell

"By utilizing the heart's power, you'll be able to create a stable door between universes." - William Bell
"And after all this time, we can finally be together again." - Nina
"I know, my love." - William

"One hundred and forty-seven pins. Each one represents a child injured by Walter Bishop ... elephants, rainbows, licorice sticks ... they come from the dreams of children. He steals children's dreams, and he replaces them with nightmares." - Peter to Olivia

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