Imprints on our souls

"I've always thought there are people who leave an indelible mark on your soul, ..."

Those were the words spoken by Agent Broyles to Olivia Dunham at the end of the Fringe episode, "One Night in October".  He was referring to the character, John McClennan, and how the lessons learned from his childhood experience with Marjorie left a mark on his soul despite his now short term memory loss.

What I would really like to speak to is how the director of that episode, Brad Anderson, handled that childhood memory that was experienced by the Red-verse McClennan.

In the flash back experience, Anderson chose to show this moment by revealing only the shadows of John and Marjorie.  This works on so many levels.  Its as if the Red-verse John is looking over the shoulder of his counterpart or, perhaps, its the view of Blue-verse John as he turns his head and looks down at his own shadow as he feels the healing embrace of his savior Marjorie.

This particular scene resonates emotionally more-so because of the shadows themselves.  When Broyles uses the words, "indelible mark" you can see the metaphorical allusion the shadows provide for those words.  The dark outlines the shadows provide look like an actual imprint.  Only this time instead of mark they leave on the ground, the shadows act like an imprint left on the parchment of John McClennans soul.

It was a terrific piece of work by Anderson and it left an indelible impression on the episode as a whole.  Anderson is responsible for many of my favorite episodes of Fringe and I look forward to more of his work.