'Fringe' recap: Man In The Maze
19.05.12
“Everything In Its Right Place” began with Olivia Dunham returning to Lincoln Lee something that she longer wanted: His heart. In truth, she had been handing it to him in jagged little pieces for several episodes now, ever since she began losing her Rebootlandia mind and remembering that her own heart belonged to Peter Bishop. The final shattered remnant came in the form of a charm bracelet Lincoln had given her months earlier as a gift for saving his life, during a period of time in which they were becoming close friends, and possibly something more. Olivia had forgotten those days (and late nights), the memories squeezed out by the re-emergence of her original timeline identity. The finer point of this poignant and painful opening scene presented itself when Olivia asked Lincoln to explain the significance of the image inked on the medallion: The “ Man In The Maze ” – derived from Native American art and specifically from the Tohono O’oodham culture. It shows a man (the creator god 'I'itoi'; or 'Se:he' meaning "elder brother") entering (or leaving) a labyrinth of light (or shadow) that symbolizes the serpentine, spiraling, sometimes backtracking path that leads to the elusive, sacred ground of true self. (I think.) Lee explained that his former partner, the late Robert Danzig, with whom he had a brother-tight rapport, had originally given him the charm. “The maze represents the journey of life – the obstacles – making the right choices until we find ourselves at the center,” Lee said. “Danzig knew I was never one for putting down roots. He used to joke that if I kept on living like that, one day I would just float off into space. He gave me this as a reminder that I always had a home, with him and his family. He said it was my tether.” With Danzig dead and with Dunham now re-committed to Pete, Lee was adrift – a man in a maze, searching for a new center. “Everything In Its Right Place” was about finding it.
Source: Entertainment Weekly