The Scarab: An Advance Review of Tonight's Fringe

In Ancient Egypt, the scarab beetle was a sacred insect. The daily behaviors of the Scarabaeus sacer were viewed as symbolic of greater issues of immortality; among them, rebirth, resurrection, and renewal. They were believed to be created out of death itself, given that the parasitic insects would lay their eggs in the bodies of hosts. Keep that in mind when watching tonight's stellar episode of Fringe("Immortality"), written by David Wilcox and Ethan Gross and directed by Brad Anderson, which is set entirely "Over There," as we learn that fallout that has occurred in the life of their Olivia Dunham after her escape from "our" world. Revolving around a deranged scientist's quest for glory and the use of those beetles, here just as sacred to him as they were to the Egyptians, the episode raises questions of immortality. How, as humans, we're ever aware of the fragility of the mortal coil, and how we're so desperate to find a way to escape the limitations of the body, to strive for immortality, not in the literal sense, but the figurative. Do we choose to believe that we live on in our offspring, our genetic line continuing after we're gone, or do we strive to create something permanent that outlives us all? Just as the names Watson and Crick and Jonas Salk are so etched onto our collective memories for their contributions to science and the way we view the world, this scientist is attempting to outrun his own inexorable demise by leaving a mark on the world. (As...

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