"Fringe:" Season 3, Episode 12

• Courtesy of Fox
• LA FEMME OLIVIA: Anna Torv in "Fringe"

I'm usually slow to pick up on the nuances of fashion, so the fact that I couldn't stop noticing Anna Torv's unflattering black cap on "Concentrate and Ask Again" speaks to its hidden significance. On various outdoor scenes, Olivia tucked all of her hair into this tight knit cap that looked almost like ninja headwear, only without the lower masking part. It's an odd, conspicuous fashion statement, but one that served as an extension of Olivia's character and concerns. This week found Olivia feeling self-conscious about many things, including her femininity and sexuality, so it made sense that she wore something that made her look unusually sexless.

Olivia opened up her va-va-voom wardrobe by the end of the episode, when her subplot dovetailed with the A-story. This week's freakshow began with a birthday party at some kind of biotech company called Intrepus. We first see the birthday boy receive a Magic Eight-Ball (source of the episode title, "Concentrate and Ask Again") and, because it's "Fringe," we brace ourselves for something terrible. Will it come from the Eight-Ball? The hissing sparklers on his birthday cake? The creepy talking doll someone sends him? Agh! It’s the doll! Dolly laughs a sprays a blue gas that causes his bones to disintegrate in agonizing fashion. (In French, would that be Aroma du Filet?)