John Noble in Science Channel's "Dark Matters" Premieres Tonight

Science gone awry
‘Fringe’ star gets dark and twisty
By LARRY GETLEN

Last Updated: 7:59 AM, August 28, 2011

Posted: 8:26 PM, August 27, 2011


A Russian scientist in 1920s Europe tries to create “an army of ape warriors” -- first by artificially inseminating a female chimp with human sperm, then, when that doesn’t work, by reversing the process, implanting ape sperm into a young Russian woman.

Is there any surprise that the person telling us this gruesome and remarkably true tale is John Noble, the star of “Fringe?”

“It was a primitive attempt at genetic manipulation,” says Noble, who plays genius Walter Bishop on the Fox drama and is also hosting “Dark Matters: Twisted But True,” which premieres Wednesday.


WEIRD BUT TRUE: Noble weighs in..
“We’re far more sophisticated these days in terms of our understanding of the human genome. At the time those experiments were done, they didn’t have that knowledge, so they were just trying to cross whatever they could. It raises the question -- why would you want to do it?”

For each of the show’s six hourlong episodes, Noble brings us three true tales of science gone awry, including a scientist who transplanted the head of one monkey onto another, and a woman who was attacked by her own hands.

The show employs re-creations over Noble’s narrative, and hopes to prompt the viewer to contemplate science’s dilemmas.

“The question is, is there anything we shouldn’t approach? Probably not,” says Noble, whose “Fringe” character discovered an alternative universe thanks to the use of LSD. “There was absolutely nothing wrong with what Einstein did: He found a way to allow other scientists to split the atom, and it was a wonderful, exciting time. That fact that it was used for destruction, it doesn’t take away from [what he did], or make it not legitimate and wonderful

Source: nypost.com

Don't forget to support John Noble by watching "Dark Matters" on the Science Channel http://science.discovery.com/tv/dark-matters/

tonight at 10PM!

Fringe Summer Rewatch: #302 "The Box"

This is not the face of a cold-blooded killer.

Join us for our Fringe Summer re-watch, where we review every episode of Fringe during the summer hiatus. Comments are welcome as we dig into the connections made over three seasons.

For every Olivia lover, there is a Bolivia lover. That's me. And it happened right here.

It's the first mystery since getting back from the other side. Something dug up from the basement of a Milton home, Walter discovers, is emitting ultrasonic frequencies that induced some form of vegetative trance before killing its victims.

We find out it is a piece of the machine Bolivia meant for Peter to find. When the only living witness shows up with it, at Olivia's apartment, Bolivia finds herself in a difficult situation. The look on her face, when Newton suggested he would kill Joe, was transparent. The idea was an unpleasant one. You can almost read the thoughts going through her mind. Newton didn't need to know about him. Now he's going to die because of me. This is my fault. Knowing that there was no way for this guy to get out of this alive, she had to pull the trigger herself. Judge all you want. This was still a mission and she did not take pride in what she had to do. So yeah, she is allowed to say sorry.

In these early scenes, there isn't much pretending on her part, as she approaches each situation with reserve. On the surface, she is essentially Olivia. It doesn't have to be an act. It's a good thing Olivia was not close with anyone around her or she would have been discovered sooner rather than not at all. Bolivia is more or less free to be herself in order to get Peter invested in the machine. She tells him that he can't do that without Walter. I like the scene that follows.

PETER: I feel like I'm stuck in one of those bad buddy cop movies. Like I'm handcuffed to a...

BOLIVIA: ...to a mad scientist who kidnapped you from another universe?

This too would prove to be true and made even more meaningful when she chooses to help people on the other side. And speaks volumes of her good character.

...meeting another Olivia Dunham has made me think about the way I look at the world, the choices I've made.

The gentleman preferred blondes. Somehow when Peter said in "Over There, Part 2" that he liked hers better, did not seem, to me, just about hair colour. Although, in my opinion letting it down did work in her favour. If Olivia did not find Peter, he might have at lease one reason to stay.

Interesting to note, later in the apartment, what Bolivia says to Peter is similar to what Broyles said to Olivia in the first episode.

You can't expect just to go back to the way it was before overnight.

Unanswered Questions:
William Bell's legacy to Walter was Massive Dynamic and the letter. DON'T BE AFRAID TO CROSS THE LINE. Refers to something Bell used to say. Something The Secretary will echo over there in "Amber 31422".

Only those that risk going too far can possibly know how far they can go.

It was William Bell who urged Walter to cross over and it was Walter who thought it was dangerous to do so until he had to cross universes to save Peter. What would have been Secretary Bishop's line to cross? He was first and foremost a scientist, it would have to be about science. Might we find out what he aimed to achieve in Season 4?

William Bell gifted Nina a bell that reminds me of Peter's comments in "The Day We Died".

I didn't say I didn't get my bell rung.

Is this a clue about who Peter is?
What else did Nina get from William?


If Peter Bishop Never Existed...
and a piece of the machine turned up, Walter would have figured out how it was killing people and know how to block its ultrasonic frequency.

New Season 4 Canadian Promo

CityTv released last week this new video to promete Season 4. The promo doesn't contain new footage, but it's a good overview from past seasons 

Fringe Summer Rewatch: #301 "Olivia"

Join us for our Fringe Summer re-watch, where we review every episode of Fringe during the summer hiatus. Comments are welcome as we dig into the connections made over three seasons.

The season three premiere episode, "Olivia" starts off with our Olivia in restraints sitting across from a doctor asking her questions. Olivia tells the woman that she is from another universe and that the photographs they are showing her of Charlie, Lincoln, even her mother are not people she knows. The doctor asks her why she thinks they would try convincing her she's someone she's not. Olivia doesn't know why but it is certain she is not the Olivia the doctor is telling her she is.

Confusing much? Of course, it's Fringe. We're next shown Walternate informing Brandon that the treatments aren't working and that they should continue with another dose, even if it kills her. His reason: "Somehow, this girl came here. Somehow, she is equipped to move through universes. We need her to help us understand this skill because if we can do it, we can win this war. And if not, soon, there'll be nothing left to protect. Let's try again."

Olivia is then taken from her cell to a lab, strapped down to a table and injects a blue liquid into her. She fakes feeling ill and Brandon orders for her to be unstrapped and to sit up. It is then that Olivia makes her move on a daring escape.

Other things of interest

Alternate Olivia may have won a medal for marksmanship but Olivia has done an amazing job at shooting suspects as well. Even though she mentally thinks she's not that great of a shot -- in "Grey Matters" we see Olivia shoot at the van that is attempting escape. She manages to shoot the driver in a moving vehicle and another suspect in her attempt to arrest Newton (who she temporarily captures).

Henry's words, "sometimes you just got to believe what you can't see." Sounds like a huge clue for season 4 and Peter Bishop.

The sign on the cab reads "DOGS" instead of CATS for a broadway musical over there.

When Olivia is in the cab, she sees an electronic sign for Glatterflug, making daily trips to the moon.

We've seen Glatterflug at least once before. It was the airline used in the Pilot episode.

Questions not yet answered

What kind of trouble was Henry in before getting his life back together? Is there a Henry in our universe?

What does the tattoo on the back of Olivia's neck mean? We've seen it before and now our Olivia has it.

Who ordered the amber protocol at the Opera house? Perhaps it was Walternate? Was there a need for it (breakdown of the universe) or was it because they suspected Olivia could try and get home in the same way she arrived?

Massive Dynamic doesn't exist over there so where is Nina Sharp and what does she do? Does she even exist?

Who owns Glatterflug?

If Peter didn't exist

We didn't see much of Peter in this episode and we certainly didn't see any Peter on the other side where Olivia was at. We did see Peter back in our universe with Fauxlivia.

Had he not existed Olivia would not have crossed over, been captured and held captive by Walternate. Olivia would not have needed to escape and would not have Fauxlivia's memories injected into her. Olivia also would not have met Henry had she not crossed over and escaped.

Is it possible Olivia would have been willing to succumb to some crazy Walter experiment if Peter didn't exist? Would she have willing crossed to the other side for a reason other than Peter Bishop?

New Fringe Promo 4x01 "Neither Here Nor There"

Fox aired today a brand new promo for Season 4, with new unseen footage. Hope you like it.

Fringe Summer Rewatch: #223 "Over There, Part 2"

Join us for our Fringe Summer re-watch, where we review every episode of Fringe during the summer hiatus. Comments are welcome as we dig into the connections made over three seasons.

Once again, I will highlight the traits common to both Olivias.

On the way to meet his father at Liberty Island, Peter sees, first hand, signs of various Fringe Events over the decades, thin spots, spatial distortions, wormholes, etc. We can see quarantined zones encased in amber on a greater scale than what was in "The Ghost Network".

Picking up where part 1 left off, William Bell helps Olivia reach Walter before The Secretary's people can get to him first. It is at the hospital, where Fringe Agent Olivia Dunham watches in shock as her double crosses the screen in the surveillance footage.

The rest of the episode mirrors the pilot in some degree.

The first meeting between this world's Olivia Dunham and Peter. It's interesting that this Olivia didn't know Peter before they met. From The Secretary's surprised reaction to their initial encounter. Was it serendipitous or were they destined to meet? Suspecting his son is attracted to the other girl, he seizes the advantage and assigns Agent Dunham to explore the true nature of that relationship. Leave it to Olivia to be the first to figure out that these two make a couple.

Walter and Bell make haste to the Harvard lab to get a particle accelerator they need to use as a doorstop to keep open the crack at the opera house.

Olivia heads off alone to look for Peter. She goes back to Agent Dunham's apartment, hoping to enlist her help, by appealing to her sensibilities. "I'm you." Perhaps she has not shared the same experience or maybe because she's on The Secretary's side. She turns on Olivia now. I will always remember that in "Reciprocity", Olivia declares, "We're the same." Olivia knocks out her double, and after a quick transformation, assumes her identity.

In an eerie echo from the pilot, this world's Charlie Francis comments on recent events.

This job isn't what it was ten years ago. You’ve got alternate universes. I mean, it just -- just wasn't part of my training, you know? I mean, how are we supposed to fight these people? Truth is, Livvy, this makes me feel obsolete, you know?

Peter discovers a connection he has with the machine. Only he can activate this part of it. Just like it acts like how the machine acts like a magnet in Peter's presence. (Reciprocity)

Olivia lists the reasons for Peter to come back with her, where "Your need to stay." is replaced with "You have to come back."

In the ensuing melee of gunfire, at the opera house, there is a switch. Turnabout is fair play, right? No one is wise to which Olivia accompanies them back, since Bell provided the power they needed for crossing over.

The episode closes with Olivia imprisoned in a darkened cell, the same place The Secretary holds the other Agent Dunham in "6:02 AM EST", for conspiring against him.

Walter Stuck on Guilt
Walter is held responsible for the damage to this world. Secretary Bishop is firm in this belief. He tells Peter as much. Even William Bell tells Walter is to blame for the devastation he sees of the blight. Walter is only too willing to shoulder that blame, even fifteen years in the future.

She's A Lot Like Her:

What's she like? ... She's a lot like you.

Olivia does not like to be lied to. She was more than a little miffed that The Secretary failed to inform her the "invaders" were actually them. Is it just me, or does she always stand up to the boss more than anyone over there? We know which Walter she likes better in "Reciprocity". She only became embroiled with Peter when The Secretary conscripted her. Little does she knows how much her life is about to change.

Differences and Similarities:

• William Bell died as a young man in a car accident.


• Massive Dynamic was never created.


• Olivia's mother is still alive, but Rachel died during childbirth.

Unanswered Questions:

• If The Secretary failed to find a way to cross between universes, how were the shapeshifters sent over?


• The Secretary can extract Peter’s DNA from infant Henry to power the machine. Is there no part of his genes that is compatible with Peter?


• In part 1, James Heath said that Walter was exactly the same as he remembered. William Bell says Walter asked to have parts of his brain removed, because of what he was becoming. We have seen a man driven to succeed and obsessed. Was Bell being honest?

If Peter Bishop Never Existed...
Who would be left to power the machine?
No one would be taking a walk in the other's shoes.
Olivia would not find out for herself that people in the other universe is not her enemy.

Fringe Summer Rewatch: #222 "Over There, Part 1"

Join us for our Fringe Summer re-watch, where we review every episode of Fringe during the summer hiatus. Comments are welcome as we dig into the connections made over three seasons.

It is wonderful that I get to comment on the rewatch of an episode that had me start writing stories (shameless self-promotion). It gets even better when I get my own soapbox for the other Olivia too. it feels like I have been handed a powerful tool. Beginning with this episode, I will be pointing out similarities in this new Olivia Dunham to the original. It is my firm belief that they are more alike than most people think. I am not the only one to notice this. And I will not be calling her Fauxlivia or Altlivia, because I happen to like this character.

This is the beginning of what is to come for season 3. The episode starts off with our heroes Over There, where everything is similar yet slightly different. For one thing, Fringe Division is based in New York City and is a military organization headed by none other than Colonel Philip Broyes.

The Fringe team over there is comprised of Captain Lincoln Lee, Olivia Dunham, and a very much alive Charlie Francis head to an opera house in the Bronx to respond to a Class-One Fringe Event. Before they have to quarantine the site, Agent Farnsworth, a Looker, analyzes the situation and reports that the Event is terminating. Quarantine has been averted, for now. We see in these seen the familiar Nixon silver dollar found in the "Jacksonville" episode. So we know that this is where the coin originated. While this is going on, the original Olivia Dunham is watching the scene unfold unseen from one of the balconies in the theatre, along with Walter and their companions.

At this point, we return to a time just after Peter has left for the other side with his biological father. Walter frantically trying to look for something at the lab. Olivia continuing to reflect on things since learning the truth in "Peter". She was finding solace in alcohol, until one of the Observers leaves her a cryptic message in the drawing depicting Peter in the machine.

Walter has recalled the Observer's warning and this is the worst possible development.

He told me that I had to agree to never let Peter return to the other side.

When Olivia asked him what it means...

My son is going to be responsible for the end of the world.

Together with Agent Broyles, they head over to Massive Dynamic to confront Nina Sharp, asking for help get Peter back. Leave it to Nina to tell everyone in private that Olivia had the ability to cross over safely. This reminds of how Glinda told Dorothy that she had the power to go home all along. Everybody is skeptical, especially Olivia. Walter suggested if there were more of Cortexiphan subjects like her, it would enhance her abiilty. Then Broyles surprised both of them by providing the ones that have been rehabilitated, including James Heath ("Olivia. In the Lab. With a Revolver.") and Nick Lane ("Bad Dreams").

They gather at the new Fringe Headquarters in the Federal Building, that coincidentally resembled the one over there. Broyles informed Olivia that it was authorized by Senate Intelligence as part of Peter's list of demands from "Night of Desirable Objects" prior to securing funding for Fringe Division. They are making the attempt to cross over at an opera house in the Bronx. All but James Heath would arrive alive.

The Secretary briefs the Fringe Team of the threat of invasion, putting them on alert.

Olivia, Walter and the others are cornered at their rendezvous point in Central Park that resulted in the death of Nick Lane and Sally Clark. Lincoln Lee is severely injured by Sally's pyrotechnic abilities.

Meanwhile, Peter having revived from Temporal Acclimation, is reunited with his birth mother. As they get reacquainted with each other, Peter studies the blueprints for the machine we saw in the drawing. We will see that this machine is assembled deep in the bowels of the Department of Defense.

Left on her own device, Olivia follow her counterpart home and perhaps feel a little envious of the life of her other self, with a loving boyfriend awaiting her return. It is where William Bell comes to her aid, with his signature greeting.

It is good to see you again.

She's A Lot Like Her:

You will see that she shoots first and asks questions later. She takes a shot at Walter in the same way the original Olivia dispatched the shapeshifter in "The Man From The Other Side". Fortunately, for Walter, Olivia was not aiming to kill. She may not have photographic memory, but she has great recall when she told The Secretary she read about Reiden Lake in the Z.F.T. in 1995.

Differences and Similarities Over There:

• Charlie Francis is still alive, but is infested by bugs.


• Nick Lane existed over there.


• Elizabeth Bishop is still alive.


• Coffee is rationed.


• People carry Show-Me identification.


• Currency have different people on them.


• The public mode of air travel are airships.


• Medicine is advanced, rapid healing, complete recovery is possible for serious injuries.

Unanswered Questions:

• There are still over a dozen Cortexiphan test subjects unaccounted for. Will we see more of these in Season 4?


• What would have happened if Walter had succeeded in preventing Peter from going to the other side?


• Lincoln Lee recognized Nick Lane after he shot him. How does he know him?


• Elizabeth reminds Peter that we all have to take responsibility for our own decisions. Is this the reason why perhaps future Peter feels guilty after using the machine that resulted in the destruction of his world?


• How did William Bell travel to the other side so many times?


• Why did they need to prepare three-year-old children to be guardians and protectors before Walter took Peter?


• Was Walter exactly the same as James Heath remembered?


• Crossing over at the opera house caused a detectable breach. Is any travel between universes is harmful to the fabric of reality?

If Peter Bishop Never Existed...
This is a Peter-centric episode. It has been alluded that Walter still crossed over using his gateway, weakening the very fabric of reality. If Peter never existed, what reason would Walter have for going over there in the first place?
The Cortexiphan test subjects probably would not cross universes to rescue someone that doesn't exist.

Summer of Fringe Rewatch: #221 "Northwest Passage"

Join us for our Fringe Summer re-watch, where we review every episode of Fringe during the summer hiatus. Comments are welcome as we dig into the connections made over three seasons

Northwest Passage is another one of my favorite Fringe episodes. As a fan of The X-Files, I adored the Pacific forest feel throughout the episode. Plus, the characters of Mathis and Ferguson reminded me (intentionally) of role-reversed versions of Mulder and Scully. The guitar music from Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready was icing on the cake. But it was Peter’s role in this episode that stole my heart.

Peter from Boston

Poor Peter… His life was all a lie. He had opened his heart, trusted and loved, only to feel like he was betrayed.

So, he resorted back to his old modus operandi and ran as far from Boston as possible, stopping for pie (Twin Peaks homage) and possibly some long overdue physical attention along the way. Sadly, Peter’s choice of a potential one-night-stand ended up dead… possibly because of him.

Peter told the café waitress, Krista, “Technically, I’m from no place that you ever heard of.” Of course, he was talking about Over There, but maybe it really is more technical. Is Peter Bishop really from a place that has not yet been revealed?

There was something about Peter’s character that really showed how much he had changed since the first season. Peter, by all rights, could have just kept on driving by the police that were at the Hilltop Café. But Peter genuinely cares for people, so he became involved. Even when his world was turned upside down, he took the time to help others. Unfortunately, when he heard that part of the girl’s brain was missing, like in Grey Matters, he became convinced that he was at fault. That Newton was after him.

It seems a common thing for Peter to be placed into situations that make him feel guilty. He learned that many people died Over There as a result of what Walter did to save his life. He believed that his mother committed suicide because she knew the truth about him. His forced action to destroy the other universe in The Last Sam Weiss had to weigh terribly on him as time passed, and his adopted world was still dying. Olivia did not want to have children because of the state of the world. But Peter always tried to stay hopeful. Will the worlds still be falling apart without his “existence?”

Peter echoed Walter’s past words about how amazing the human brain is at recording every detail a person observes. Something else that he said to Mathis stuck out to me: “If you can imagine it, it’s possible.” A conversation between young Peter and his mother in Subject 13:

ELIZABETH BISHOP: A professor who was working here missed them, so he imagined a tulip that would grow in this climate, and he invented it. He used his brain and his imagination to turn the world into what he wanted it to be. How would you change the world if you could, Peter? What would you wish for?

YOUNG PETER: I wouldn't make stupid flowers grow. 

ELIZABETH BISHOP: (laughs) What would you do? 

YOUNG PETER: I'd go home.

Yikes, what if Peter does “go home” in Season Four? But where is home?

Man of Many Talents

Peter was able to use his skills of persuasion in order to purchase guns and ammunition.

Peter also calmed upset Mathis with a touch of his hand.

Peter has often been shown finding locations on maps using different data like he did to find the dairy farm killing location in this episode.

Bridge Over Troubled Water

Mathis asked Peter when she thought that her partner was taken to get information about Peter:

“What is it that makes you so special?”

Peter sought answers one again in this episode. He had previously told Walter in August about his frustration in seeking answers. In The Arrival, Peter told Olivia that he wasn’t going anywhere until he could explain what was going on. But the answer that he received in this episode, only led to more questions. Walternate’s appearance in his hotel room shocked Peter into a state of awe and fear.

Peter showed great empathy with Mathis, upset and feeling powerless over her missing partner:

“What if he's alive? What if he's out there somewhere, thinking I am doing everything in my power, including calling the F.B.I. to save him?”

Poor Peter had to be feeling just as helpless when he found out about being deceived by the other Olivia in Entrada.

When they went to look for the missing partner, Peter walked across a bridge, while in deep thought. Bridges are somewhat a common background in the series.

• In The Same Old Story, an image of bridge was used to find a kidnapped victim.
• 
  

• In The Man From the Other Side, a bridge was used to bring Walternate Over Here, and helped Peter to deduce that he was not from here.

• In Over There, Nick Lane and Sally Clark died on a bridge, after Clark had sent a fireball into Lincoln Lee.

• In The Day We Died, Peter built a bridge between the two universes.

Many Fringe fans picked up Mark Helprin’s Winter's Tale to read after young Olivia was shown reading it in Subject 13. It soon became apparent that the some elements in the show were inspired by the book. Fringe producer Akiva Goldman is even making a film adaptation of the book. One of the characters is a mechanic named Peter Lake. Bridges play a significant role in the book.

Mathis told Peter that she wondered if he was not completely off his rocker. Having his sanity questioned must have been unnerving for Peter. Walter faced such accusations all the time, and Peter would completely agree. Though Peter asked Mathis why she’d listen to an insane man. Peter said she was desperate. Of course, he had seen that level of desperation before - in Olivia. For the same reason as Mathis.

“Ferguson is more than just your partner, isn’t he?”

This in a way also mirrors what Nina Sharp told Olivia about recognizing the look in her eyes, letting Olivia know that Nina knew about her feelings for Peter.

The desperation would cause Olivia crossing universes to save Peter. Peter’s love for her caused him to jump into her mind and to go back and make a different choice in the machine in order to save her life.

You Can’t Get There from Here.

This was of course referring to Peter’s home universe of origin, but maybe the real meaning is a bit deeper. Peter wanted to find his place - to find out who he really was.

Peter was very sharp and on edge. He had suspicions that Mathis might have been replaced by a shape shifter when he saw blood on her wrist, and thoroughly questioned her at gunpoint. In Entrada, he asked Fauxlivia’s hostage a question that showed she was really a shape-shifter.

Watching Mathis walk to the second unknown body, thinking that it could be her partner was heartbreaking. I’d hate to imagine Peter’s reaction to seeing Olivia’s body in The Day We Died.
.

Walter Falls Apart


“Do you know what you are putting in our bodies? Death! Delicious strawberry flavored death!”


Walter was broken without Peter. After all, it was Peter that always helped him. His home was wrecked and he could barely function. Is this a glimpse at Walter in season four? Will Astrid and Olivia be as caring or indifferent to “crazy” Walter?

Walter spoke to Astrid while they cleaned the Bishop home. While listening to Violet Sedan Chair’s She’s Doing Fine, he said:

Thank you, Astrid. You're a Federal Agent. I doubt, during your years of training, that you had dreams of babysitting a helpless old man.

In The Day We Died, Walter asked about Astrid when he was allowed to set up the lab to help Fringe Division’s investigation.

Walter: Will Astrid be here?

Peter: No. Astrid's a Fringe Agent now. We need her out in the field. 

Walter: Oh. I suppose since she's no longer caring for me, she's able to (realizes his hands are chained) -- spread her wings.

What will become of Astrid in the fourth season since Peter has gone missing?

Walter set up a spectrograph to be attuned to Peter’s energy signature as a way to find him. Could this possibly be employed to find Peter in season four?

Find the Crack

“In the darkness, there's always a crack. It's how the light gets in.”

There are a lot of scenes that I love in Fringe, and it’s hard to rank them. I always enjoy the scene where Mathis talks to Peter and tells him, “I wish that there was something that I could do for you.” These two are both people that have deep hurt in their individual journeys. Peter was “looking for meaning in things that have no meaning.” Particularly in the reason why the secret was kept from him. Peter was looking for his place, and Mathis was right, he’d find it. And have it all fall apart in front of him.

Unanswered Questions

What was the deal with the phone calls that Peter received in the hotel?

Did Peter really see Newton at the Hilltop Café and in the woods?

Was Peter attuned to a specific frequency or energy that only he could hear because he was from the other side?

What happened to the pen that Mathis gave Peter?

If Peter was Removed from the Equation

Krista might have escaped being kidnapped and killed since she wouldn’t have taken extra time to burn a CD for Peter.

Deputy Ferguson would have probably been killed, leaving behind a devastated Sheriff Mathis.

Fringe - All New Season 4 Promo

Here's a new promo of Fringe, aired today. Enjoy.

Fringe - First Season 4 Promo *UPDATE*

Here's a better quality promo. Enjoy.

Fox has just released the first season 4 promo for Fringe. Am going to try to recorded with better quality because there's a glimps of Peter from season 1 at 0:09 that doesn't appear on this video.

Fringe Summer Rewatch: #220 "Brown Betty"

Join us for our Fringe Summer re-watch, where we review every episode of Fringe during the summer hiatus. Comments are welcome as we dig into the connections made over three seasons.

(Oops! Somehow episodes 219 and 220 got out of order in our queue. Sorry about that.)

This Rewatch brought to you by fringeobsessed & SamSpade.

The Setup

Olivia is asked to watch her niece, Ella while Rachel is in Chicago. Olivia brings Ella to the lab for Astrid to look after her while she goes looking for Peter Bishop. At the lab, Walter has already smoked something which he calls “Brown Betty” and decides (with Astrid and Ella’s instance) to tell Ella a story with a mixture of a musical. It begins with a Detective Dunham that is closing her doors only to get one last case in, from Rachel. Rachel tells Detective Dunham that her fiance, Peter Bishop, has gone missing and she’s in love with him. Detective Dunham tells her, "You know, most times when someone comes in here worried that their sweetheart's gone missing, or worse...by the time they find out what I usually find out, they wind up wishing he really were dead." Rahcel insists that Peter is not like that and Detective Dunham accepts the case.

I remember the first time this episode aired. Many fans were complaining on the fringetelevision.com live chat right afterwards that 'Brown Betty' was weird, bad, a WTF episode. But you know, my mouth was still hanging open afterwards in awe. 'Brown Betty' is a multi-faceted gem. Even after that initial viewing I sensed there was a TON of foreshadowing of future episodes. If you haven't rewatched 'Brown Betty' since it first aired I encourage you to get out your DVD's or find it on your TIVO and watch it again post-Season 3. The foreshadowing will stick out like a sore thumb and some things will make you smile. Take a look at our "Foreshadowing" section further down in this post.

New Tech Juxtapositioned Next To Old Tech

One of the things that's fun about this episode is the coexistence of old and new tech that is so trademark of Fringe. I can't remember who commented on it in an older interview, but I'm pretty sure it was one of the executive producers saying how he loved it too. There's the old
rotary phones complete with their tinny rings on Nina and Astrid's desks, next to their state-of-the-art computers! And Detective Dunham has a cell phone? IN the 1940's? And Nina was talking to what looked like William Bell's head on a screen that looked alot like Walter's that he showed the Red Verse to government heads in the 1980's. Not as much fun a Donlad the Observer hitman's wireless, portable dot matrix printer, but close.

One Of The Must-See Episodes Of Season 2

There is a website right now that has listed the 5 must see episodes to catch-up new Fringe viewers. If I had to list must-see Season 2 episodes, 'Brown Betty' would be the third, after 'Momentum Deferred,' and 'Peter.' Why? There's so much information in 'Brown Betty,' it almost makes your head hurt.

Colors
I promised I'd report any significant colors in the episodes as we go along in our scheduled rewatch. All I could find in this one are 2 examples:1)Walter's labelmaker had a blue and a red button, and 2)poor Gene the cow in the fictional Harvard lab has red, blue, and yellow spots all
over her fur. On first viewing it made me think of the mat that comes with the game Twister, but seeing this Gene post-Season 3 reminds me of all the red/blue/yellow references that were thrown at us in Season 3.

The Watchers
If you haven't already read Count Screwloose's recent piece in this blog titled "The Sign Of The Four, Why You Can't See Peter Bishop, And The Last Great Storm Revealed," click here, you should. In it he talks about comic book characters called "The Watchers" who are "fated to ever observe the machinations of humanity and the universe, but forever forbidden to meddle in our affairs (much like The Observers, too, that rule seemed to become more and more elastic as time went by).” In “Brown Betty” these “Watchers” are very much engaged in battle with Peter and Olivia, and it's an interesting change from their usual passivity.

The Singing
If you recall, “Brown Betty” originally aired during a FOX network theme week. All the weekly shows had singing in them that week in homage to FOX's GLEE, and “Brown Betty” was no exception.

Lance Reddick did a lovely job on the first few lines of Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys by Traffic, with piano accompaniment to boot. Jasika Nicole was outstanding with her piece to impress Nurse Mikita(they might as well have changed the namepin to Nurse Wrachet, as she looked identical to that character from “One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.”) And Anna Torv was very touching singing Stevie Wonder's For Once In My Life to a dying Peter Bishop.

And let's not forget that surprising bit of harmony from Dr. Walter Bishop's 'Singing Corpses,' that felt straight out of a Monty Python episode. (Now if that is foreshadowing of Season 4, that is spooky!)

Walter's Book Of Creations
In this episode Walter Bishop tells us he is responsible for making all things wonderful in the world.

Besides the hug, rainbows, teddy bears, matching pajamas, and the beacon from episode 104, 'The Arrival,' there is a drawing of what looks like a white horse. If you've been reading the book young Olivia is reading in “Subject 13,” Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin, you might be wondering as I am if that horse is Peter's Lake's horse, Athansor.

Unanswered Questions That Arise In 'Brown Betty”

Walter says “ Oh no, no, no. I couldn’t possibly look after anyone else. I’m well into Phase One.” What is Phase One? How many phases are there?(The only other reference to phrases is in '6955 mHz' when FauxLiv types that they have found all the parts of the machine, and she's told to start Phase 2.)

The observers intervene a lot in the story that Walter tells Ella. He refers to them as “The Watchers.” Why do they intervene so much in the story? Is it because it’s from Walters POV and they saved him and Peter and he’s had more contact with them? “Don’t stick your heart out where it doesn’t belong,” Mr. Gemini tells Detective Dunham. Is this foreshadowing for Season four?

Why dows Bell refer to Peter as “the boy?” (Remember the Observers have called Peter “The Boy' a few times as well as Walter in “The Transformation.”)

A hundred and forty-seven pins represent the number of children hurt by Walter Bishop. Where did they come up with that number? Does that include just the Cortexiphan subjects from both trials? And which Walter Bishop are we talking about? Depending on the timeline here we could be talking about Walternate Bishop, because we have no idea how many people he's experimented on with the amber he made or the cortexiphan Brandonate found in our Olivia's brain.

In the story, Peter believes The Watchers work for Nina Sharp. Is this because Walter believes the same thing? In the episode Peter, we see that Nina and Carla leave Reiden Lake after Nina’s arm gets messed up in the portal. Walter and Peter slip through the ice and September saves them. September then tells Walter that Nina is getting her arm fixed and that the boy is important, he must live. In Walter’s mind, does he think that Nina sent the Observers there to look after him and Peter coming through the portal?


If fictional Peter Bishop stole Walter Bishop's heart how come his thumbprint opened the high tech case?

Examples Of Foreshadowing In “Brown Betty”

Fictional Rachel comes to Detective Dunham and tells her, “My boyfriend has gone missing” which is foresahdowing of Peter disappearing at the end of episode 322.

Walter tells Ella “As with all good stories, things aren't always what they seem,” which pretty sums up the entire Fringe series and reminds us of the issue of perception in episode 212, 'Johari Window.'

Walter tells Ella, “She took this case to see if true love really existed.” Is this foreshadowing of Season 4?

In fictional Rachel's apartment there is a poster that says “The Glass Man.” Is this foreshadowing of Peter?

When Walter describes that fictional Rachel has been killed, Ella tells him, “She can't die. She's in love. True love.” I believe this is foreshadowing of Olivia dying in the future in episode 322, 'The Day We Died.'

In this episode fictional Rachel is murdered and discovered to have a different identity. Is this foreshadowing of Olivia's sister Rachel?

There is a Dunham/Broyles confrontation in this episode. Will this happen in Season 4?

Olivia in the floating casket is similar to Olivia’s death scene and her in the floating casket in episode 322, 'The Day We Died.'

Walter says in the story to Ella, “Kind of. Slightly less handsome than your Uncle Walter."
Is this foreshadowing of his alternate self, ie. Walternate?


Astrid says to Olivia, "You're always looking for something that doesn't even exist."
Could this be foreshadowing of Peter no longer existing in Season 4? "

William Bell in the screen says, "By utilizing the heart's power we'll be able to create a stable door between universes.” In 'The Day We Died', episode 322, we see the Bridge that Peter created.

The singing corpses sing the 1970's hit “The Candy Man.” We meet, on the other side, the killer known as The Candy Man in 'The Abducted,' episode 307.

The glass heart in the story is 'a power source.' This is foreshadowing of Walternate mentioning a power source as part of the Wave Sink device AKA the machine that is discussed in 'Reciprocity.' We know from Season 3 that Peter combined with the machine is also a power source.

Fictional Astrid speaks about William Bell, “….here is 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.” Then Detective Dunham replies with, “Okay, so what's that got to do with Peter Bishop?” and Fictional Astrid responds, “I don't know. But that's weird, right?” Again another clue about Peter vanishing!

Peter talks about how Fictional Walter steals children’s dreams and replaces them with nightmares. We see something similar in episode 205, ' Dream Logic' (but with adults, not children).

Fictional Peter tells Olivia, “It must be nice to know who you are, to know your place in the world. I thought I knew who I was but I was wrong.” I think that's all foreshadowing of Season 4.

Ella wants a happy ending to the story and retells it her own way to Walter. We see in episode 322, ' The Day We Died,' Ella saying there are no happy endings anymore. Also, young Ella tells Olivia, “His ending was bad, but I fixed it for him.” If Ella Dunham is a First Person, will she have any influence on how this series ends?

Which Walter Bishop?
When I started thinking about what to write here a particular bit of dialogue bothered me. Dr. Walter Bishop is describing how the glass heart came to be to Detective Dunham. He says, “I had a bad heart, so I invented the glass heart.” As far as we know our Walter has no history of a bad heart, unless you mean his personality before Belly removed parts of his brain. Walternate may not have had a bad heart before our Walter snatched his Peter away. It has often been said that the 2 Walters are 2 sides of the same coin. So truly, which Walter Bishop is the one that had a bad heart and has a lot of good left in them? At the moment I'm leaning toward our Walter, because he also told Olivia he and Peter had the same last name but he wasn't his son.

Other Interesting Stuff
There was one mystery she couldn't solve, how to men a broken heart, as Olivia dumps a picture of her real life ex into a box. That's sad. Nice of Anna to be a good sport about that.

Fictional Olivia (to fictional Peter), “I take it you don't live here.”
Peter to Olivia: “No, but nobody else does either.” Hmm. Do they meet (again) in that yellow universe?

The third use of Charlie Francis's line to Olivia, “You're gonna be fine.” The first was when Liv told Peter that story in episode 205, 'Dream Logic.' The second was when she jumbled the phrase at Sam Weiss's request at the end of that episode.

Walter's drawing of the Beacon reminds us of the same item in episode 104, 'The Arrival.' Above it in the book it says Iridium capsule which we learn more about in episode 322.

“It's too late, Walter. There are things you can't undo.” Pretty much what Walter told Peter when Peter told him to go back in time and not send the machine back, and Walter said it had been done and he couldn't undo it.

Fictional Olivia makes an awfully good shot and hits one of the Watchers. Is Olympic sharpshooter, FauxLivia-in-Liv's-head responsible for that?

“You ever play that game Operation?” The third reference to the popular Milton-Bradley game.
The first was in 212 “Johira Window,” then earlier in “Brown Betty” when Ella complained that Walter was killing the guy trying to take out his heart.

Ella's ending ends with “And together they made good and lived happily ever after."
Will the Fringe series have a happy ending?

If Peter Bishop Never Existed
If Walter told Ella a story, it would in fact be different since this one is about Peter. Who would Rachel have said was her boyfriend and had gone missing? Technically though, there should be no story since Olivia is out looking for Peter instead of spending the day with her niece, Ella.

Who would have rescued Olivia from the floating casket in the story? Simply put, this is another episode where without Peter's intervention it is quite likely she would have died.

Walter probably still would have smoked his Brown Betty marijuana hybrid, but not to get his mind off his missing 'son.'

During the telling of his tale, Walter stops and tells young Ella, “I'm not sure you want me to go on.” Ella replies,”Does it have to do with Peter?” to which Walter answers, “It just might.” If there was no Peter, there may not have been any wonderful tale of the adventures of Detective Dunham.

Observerational Ponderings - Questions! Questions That Need Answers!

A collection of food for thought questions for the upcoming season.

1) Why was Peter the only one affected by the creation of the Universe Bridge Room?

2) If the answer to question 1 is NOT because of some time/reality paradox then what was the cause of Peter’s removal from existence?

3) Could the Observer’s statement that Peter had served his purpose meant the Observers deem Peter no longer necessary and hence did not save him when Peter and Walter fell through the ice in Season 2's, 'Peter?'

4) Did Peter never exist? Or did he die as a boy in both universes?  Imagine the grief Walter would have been subject to if he had to watch Peter die not once, but twice!

5) Will Olivia be the ‘lever’ that joins the timeline of Season 4 with the one from the previous seasons?

6) How can Peter be brought back into existence without the ripple effects a la Season 3's, ‘The Firefly?’

7) Will Olivia and Peter re-do the brain wave synchronization experiment from Season 1’s, ‘The Dreamscape,’ and, ‘The Transformation,’ that will allow Olivia and Peter to share their memories?

8) Will question 7 be the way that Peter and Olivia discover they met before in, ‘Subject 13?’

9) Will Olivia experience the same memory flashes we saw when Peter went into the Machine in, ‘The Last Sam Weiss?’

10)  Will the Observers discover that Peter is still ‘important’ and must return him to existence because without him in Walter and Olivia’s lives they are no longer properly equipped emotionally to resolve the impending collapse of the two universes?

Are the Observers The Survivors of a Similar Bi-Universe Annihilation?

Finally,  the Observers:

1) What is the Observers’s ultimate goal?  

2) Do they come from a reality where their two universes have already destroyed each other?  

3) Are they studying ours in the hope of finding a way to go back and avert the destruction of their reality(ies)?

Fringe Rerun: Last 4 Episodes of Season 3

As we know, season 4 of Fringe premieres September 23 and Fox will rerun the last 4 episodes of Season 3 begining this Friday at 9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT.

Here's the schedule:

26/08: 3x19 "Lysergic Acid Diethylamide - LSD"

02/09: 3x20 "6:02 AM EST"

09/09: 3x21 "The Last Sam Weiss"

16/09: 3x22 "The Day We Died"

23/09: 4X01 "Neither Here Nor There"

Summer of Fringe Rewatch: #218 "White Tulip"

Join us for our Fringe Summer re-watch, where we review every episode of Fringe during the summer hiatus. Comments are welcome as we dig into the connections made over three seasons.


Even after all these amazing episodes, I find that White Tulip is still my absolute favorite overall episode of Fringe. To me, it embodies the essence of the show. I make no apologies for the fact that I am a sucker for epic love stories, and Alistair's quest to undo the event that killed his fiancée really struck a chord with me. Looking deeper into this episode, we might even see a blueprint for season four.

The first thing I noticed at the start of the episode is that the digital clock at train station shows 5:48. The transit authority slogan is the aptly named, “Be There in No Time.”

Secondly, there is the boy at the station that tried to guilt people into giving him change. His sign said, “God could be watching.” Most people have an immense sense of shame. Many of us have been raised with the concept of an omnipotent God that has the power to judge our actions, and we are either damned or forgiven of our sins. Many that claim to be agnostic or atheist later in life often still feel the power of this concept from youth. This idea is crucial to the story of this episode.

As this episode played out, I noticed that there are so many variants of the music piece that would eventually morph and become known to fans as “Peter and Olivia’s theme.”

White Lies

At the end of Olivia. In the Lab. With the Revolver, Olivia found herself in the uncomfortable position of knowing Walter’s story about Peter, but she promised Walter she’d give him time to prepare to tell him. Walter struggled with the secret he was keeping from Peter, and chose to write a letter of confession. Peter noticed Walter acting differently, but usually perceptive Olivia denied that she noticed any differences. Peter looked surprised, but he trusted Olivia, so he didn’t think anymore of it. One could say that he also trusted “Olivia” in episode 3.04 when he questioned the changes he noticed.

Peter bluntly asked Walter in the lab if there was anything bothering him that he might want to talk about. Walter denied and said “everything is fine.” Peter has heard that enough from Olivia by now to have to think that Walter too was also not telling the truth.

The story of Walter's struggle to tell Peter the truth was just so heart-tugging. Walter set out to write Peter an explanatory letter. There were several missed opportunities for Peter to have seen Walter’s letter. Walter reacted terribly to the possibility that Peter might have picked up the letter. I’m not certain if Walter ever intended to give Peter the letter in any of the time-line scenarios that played. Especially since he burned the letter immediately after writing it the last time.

(Since one theme of Fringe is ripples/consequences, maybe never meeting Alistair in the final time-line is what prevented Walter from telling Peter. If he had actually “met” him, maybe he would have given the letter to Peter. But now I’m getting into the constant circle of “maybe” and this is discussed further.)

All the Faith We Need

Fringe has long had a theme of science meshed with questions of religion.

In the first run through in the train, Walter takes a moment to look at a cross necklace around a deceased passenger’s neck.

When he was able to speak with him, Walter explained a secret to Dr. Peck:

Until I took my son from the other side, I had never believed in God. But it occurred to me... that my actions had betrayed him and that everything that had happened to me since was God punishing me. So now I'm looking for a sign of forgiveness. I've asked God for a sign of forgiveness. A specific one, a white tulip.

Pretty steep change of heart from the man that told his colleague, Carla Warren, that there was only room for one God in his lab. (Peter.)

The largest change came in 6:02 AM EST after Peter was rejected by the machine and severely injured.

I asked you for a sign, and you sent it to me. A white tulip. And I was so grateful. Since then, in moments of deep despair, I have found solace in believing that you had forgiven me.

I was willing to let him go. I was willing to let Peter die. I've changed. That should matter

God, I know my crimes are unforgivable. So punish me. Do what you want to me. But I beg you, spare our world.

Peck reminded Walter that God is science. That science helps to perform miracles every day. Later in Subject 13, we’d see that science can even create white tulips that can grow in places they should not. Elizabeth Bishop told young Peter that that “he used his brain and his imagination to turn the world into what he wanted it to be.”


Walter tried to persuade Peck to not try and go back to save Arlette.

There will be repercussions if you pull Arlette from that car. You don't know how things will be changed by your actions, but they will. It's not our place to adjust the universe.

I admit, I always cry when Alistair chooses to die with Arlette… And of course Alistair leaves the white tulip for Walter, who thinks that another human soul have never heard about his hope for God’s forgiveness - and Peter’s.

Machine Man

It seems that Peter may have a lot in common with Alastair Peck. Peck cast machine parts and embedded them in his body so that he could travel through time and stop events that led to his fiancée’s death.

Peter would become part of a machine, to see through time and use the knowledge obtained in order to save Olivia.

I'm sorry you have to go through this again

For their first encounter with Peck, Olivia found his address via a credit card receipt from a café. This time around the team uses prints to find Dr. Peck’s location. While there this time, Olivia feels - odd.

Olivia: Wow, I'm having déjà vu.

Peter: Yeah, I read that déjà vu is fate's way of telling you that you're exactly where you're supposed to be. That's why you feel like you've been there before. You are right in line with you're own destiny.

Olivia: Well, do you believe that?

Peter: Mmm... no. It's a bit mystical for my taste. I never get them, myself. Maybe that's 'cause I'm not on track with my own destiny.

Walter’s knowing look at Peter’s joking remarks is just so… painful.

 I find a parallel that probably has nothing to do with the overall mythology of the series, but nice regardless. Peter found a photo album belonging to Dr. Peck’s fiancée, Arlette. He also pointed out a photo album to Olivia in Concentrate and Ask Again. Once again, pictures are important in Fringe, reminding us that “soon, there will be nothing left but pictures.” (The Bishop Revival)
 
Gobbledy Gook

Walter read Alistair’s work and made adjustments to his equations. In the past, we were told about Walter’s time travel device, the Dis-e-re. I wonder if Walter used his prior knowledge, coupled with Peck’s work, and some additional research to create the machine? He said:

In another twenty years, with the assistance of some other great minds, I will have absorbed this information.

Olivia: What if Alistair Peck is going back to save her?

Peter looks contemplative.

Walter: Grief can drive people to extraordinary lengths.

Walter said that Peck’s 10 month jump might have killed hundreds of people. However, Walter risked the world for Peter. Peter destroyed the other universe when forced to use the machine, because he loved Olivia and Walter.

Consequences Unforeseen

Peck’s conversation with Walter about his situation carries great emotional weight regarding what-ifs. He told Walter:

If I'd have simply done what she asked me, if I'd have said, 'sure, I'll go with you', I know it wouldn't have happened.

In The Day We Died, there is a scene in which Peter found the lake-house key, left there as a calling card by Walternate. Peter chose to keep this fact secret from Olivia, and he visited the lake-house alone. Fooled by Walternate’s hologram, Peter left Olivia vulnerable. Walternate was able to shoot and kill her. Over the course of his mourning, I’m sure he told himself that she would be alive if only…

Olivia may have once questioned herself and wondered …“If only” she had told Peter about the secret, he may have never ended up going Over There.

The “if only” can go on and on, never stopping. That’s the point of this entire episode and maybe even the series. Actions have unforeseeable consequences. We can’t beat ourselves up over every choice that we make that goes wrong. But it’s hard, especially for Walter.

Yet, Walter assumed that taking Peter was the root cause of all the terrible things in his life. But the Cortexiphan trials would still occur without Peter. And it may be the case in season four as well. Walter crossed into the universe anyway, as seen at the end of The Day We Died. Did Walter go mad as well? The action of taking Peter has been attributed to the damage done Over There, for Peter’s mother’s suicide, and for Walter’s insanity. This is the danger of what-ifs. Things may happen anyway, no matter what we think may have caused them.

Even the Observer, September, knew this. In The Firefly he told Walter:

There are things that I know. But there are things that I do not. Various possible futures are happening simultaneously. I can tell you all of them, but I cannot tell you which one of them will come to pass. Because every action causes ripples, consequences both obvious and... unforeseen.

As We Head into Season Four…

The game of “what-if” may be deadly to play since saving Olivia was Peter’s noble goal. Will she die anyway? After all, we still have “the man who is going to kill her” from Lysergic Acid Diethylamide at large…

How far would you go to save someone you love? Cross realities into a hostile alternate universe? Enter one’s thoughts in a daring risk to pull their consciousness back?

What if the choice involved the possible death of many others?

Olivia: What did you do to the people on that train? Twelve innocent people.

Alistair: Those people aren't dead, Miss. Not permanently. 

Olivia: Of course they're dead. 

Alistair: But they soon won't be. Although, others soon will be, I'm afraid.

Or the choice had repercussions that can not be foretold? 

Walter told Peter in The Day We Died:

Walter: Peter, I was wrong. It's not too late. You can save both worlds. We can do it all over again. This time, you -- you simply need to make a different choice, and should something go wrong, then Olivia will be our fail-safe.

Peter: Walter, stop. Olivia is dead. 

Walter: But she won't be... Not then.

And…

Walter: We can fix everything. We can cheat the rules of time.

Peter: Imagine the repercussions. 

Walter: There's no way of telling what the cost might be. But it can't be worse than this. 

In a world without Peter, Bishop, there are many gaping holes that can not even begin to be explained by what-ifs.

Fringe Science

Could White Tulip actually be bigger than we thought with all the talk about mitochondria as cell batteries just giving out? Is the Blight Over There possibly caused by the chloroplasts in plant cells not being able to make energy?

When plants die off, it causes issues with oxygen, because it is a bi-product of photosynthesis. So that may be why the other side has issues. The trees dead = reduced oxygen. We need oxygen to use glucose and form ATP energy in the mitochondria.

Something Cool

The song playing in Alastair’s MIT lab is Are "Friends" Electric? by Gary Numan and Tubeway Army. Gary Numan was one of the late seventies androgynous stars, almost new wave in sound with heavy synthesizer use. It was surprising to find out that the album (Replicas) and song are both tributes to Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and the Bladerunner film adaptation. (Source)

Unanswered Questions

Peck told Walter that he had read his work in New Frontiers In Genetic Hybridization. What work was Walter doing in that field?

Why did Walter specifically want a white tulip as his sign of God’s forgiveness?

If Peter Bishop was removed from the equation

Walter would have never had a heart-to-heart talk with Alistair because he would not have shared the same experience of immense loss.

FRINGE Season 4 Teaser: 'Where Is Peter Bishop?' Part 4

Here is the fourth "Where Is Peter Bishop?" teaser from Fox.

"We all get really good at pretending that the loneliness isn't there and then something comes along to remind us. I know what it's like to have a hole in my life. It's been there as long as I can remember." - Olivia Dunham

Fringe Summer Rewatch #217: "Olivia. In the Lab. With the Revolver."

Join us for our Fringe Summer re-watch, where we review every episode of Fringe during the summer hiatus. Comments are welcome as we dig into the connections made over three seasons.

By now, and pretty much from here to the end of the season, we're firmly entrenched in the larger mythos of the series. With the arguable exception of Northwest Passage, we're done with Mystery of the Week episodes, and hanging on for dear life as we ride the jaw-dropping, heartbreaking, and completely exhilarating roller coaster of story that has at last filled us in on why these two worlds are on a collision course. We'll spend the rest of the season examining the increasingly catastrophic fallout of Walter's meddling. Fanfrikkingtastic. If you're not hanging anxiously on every episode by his point, this is probably not be the show for you.

We have two plots here, and while James Heath and his tragic murders are certainly important, and will come into play again later, in this episode the Fringe investigation really takes a back seat to the other storyline – the immediate consequences of Walter's confession to Olivia. As we know now, the cracks appearing between the universes are Walter's fault.And Olivia is roiling inside, the secret she agreed to keep eating away at her, twisting her guts every time she looks at Peter. She can't be alone with him, afraid that he'll see the secret in her eyes, afraid of what he'll do if she tells him, afraid of what she'll be if she doesn't. Unable to sleep, she visits Sam, hoping for some kind of Jedi sagacity. And although Sam can see immediately that she's not sleeping because something is eating her, he proves ultimately disappointing, telling her that she's beyond the scope of his expertise. But before he lets her go he tells her “You're a good person, you know. One of the few I know. If you agreed to keep this secret I'm sure you had a good reason.” Trust yourself, he's telling her, your heart is true. Maybe he's not entirely out of wisdom after all.

Investigating the string of gruesome deaths is an almost welcome distraction from the guilt and doubt gnawing away at her insides.

Walter is also in a state of high anxiety. His relationship with Olivia has taken a lot of hits recently, and he's afraid the damage may be so great she won't be able to forgive him. He's awkward around her, nervous, afraid of her judgement, and knowing that it's justified. His secret is out, and he's terrified of Peter finding out as well. He comforts himself with plans to take his son away, to keep him to himself, away from Olivia, who is plainly struggling with her promise. But since they're on a case, he settles for making the taffy Peter loved as a boy. Anything, anything to make his son happy. To make Peter love him. And when Olivia tells him that she can't do it, she has to tell Peter, Walter panics. She's as gentle with him as she can be, despite all the things he's done – to her, to Peter, to the universe – she still cares for him, and tries to reassure him that the truth won't cost him his son. But Walter is adamant.

“I'm begging you,” he says, desperately “Not yet please. Give me time to prepare. Please.” Reluctantly, Olivia agrees. How differently things might have turned out if she hadn't.

Despite her best efforts to conceal her turmoil, Peter knows Olivia well, and he's well aware that something's bothering her. And given that she's actively avoiding being alone with him, he thinks he knows what it is. He's loved her for a while now, the slow realization of it finally clenching painfully when he thought she was dead. But he knows who she is. He knows she walls away her vulnerability, and he'd rather have her honest friendship than risk driving her deeper into herself by pushing for something more. It has to be her dance to lead - maybe someday she will. On their way to investigate another death, he carefully broaches the subject.

“That trip down to Jacksonville was crazy. We were both exhausted, we were both emotional, and you know if something had happened between the two of us, I mean if we had actually kissed, then we'd have to deal with that, but we didn't...You know this past year this is the longest I've ever stayed in one place, so this thing we have, you, me, Walter, this...this...odd little family unit we've got going - I don't want to do anything to jeopardize that.”

Poor Olivia, he's got it wrong, but she's not ready for the real explanation. What if Walter's right after all? Miserably, she keeps her silence, letting him have his assumption.

Oh thank God, murders to solve.

There have been five of these deaths, all from the same rapid onset cancer. For some reason she can't explain, Olivia recognizes one off the victims. Grateful for the distraction, she heads home to mull it over, the scotch dulling the ceaseless gnawing at the back of her mind. A midnight knock at the door announces Sam, who absurdly wants to play Clue. Or maybe he wants to give her a clue. Whatever his motivations for showing up at midnight, his “taller than I seem” remark clicks the tumblers into place and Olivia is off to the Bishop's, where Walter is baking the skin from Miranda's arm in the oven. When Peter tells him the killer is targeting Cortexiphan subjects, he flinches. More deaths on his head, and Olivia may be a target as well. All of his sins, coming home to roost.

Failing to get a list of Cortexiphan kids from Walter, Olivia pays a visit to Nina Sharp. She comes on strong, full of righteous anger at the secrets Nina always seems to keep, but the names are just a pretext. Olivia is angry about other things, and Nina is someone she can take it out on. It doesn't take her long to get around to the real reason for her visit. “I know about Peter,” she grates, “I know the whole story.” Nina is suddenly concerned, wanting to know if she's told Peter. When Olivia says no, not yet, things suddenly click for Nina too. She's a veteran at many things; love, weirdness, and Bishops not least among them. “I'm fairly certain that you're not prepared to lose him,” she says knowingly, “You didn't come here to ask me about a list you already know I don't have, and you didn't come here to announce that you're going to tell Peter who he really is. You came here to have me talk you out of it.”

The circle of skin cut from Miranda's arm looks queasily like a painted hamburger patty as Walter places it on a scanner. Ever the Scully, Peter watches doubtfully as the scanner looks for a fingerprint. When it finds one, he circles around to give his father an affectionate hug, oblivious to the pained look that passes between Walter and Olivia. The fingerprint finds no match however, and Walter moves away, deeply disturbed.

At home, Olivia has finally put the pieces together – the killer is James Heath, cancer victim. He and his sister Julie were both in the Jacksonville Cortexiphan trials, and Julie was the first to die. Olivia is on her way out the door to pay a visit to the hospital where Heath was being treated, when she finds him standing in the hallway outside her apartment. She doesn't manage to get the door closed before he's on her, and she's fighting for her life, kicking frantically to keep him from touching her. Grabbing her phone she instinctively calls Peter, yelling desperately for him to help her. She's able to take her attacker down on her own however, clocking him with the appropriate candlestick just before the cavalry arrives. Heath sees his sister's photograph on the floor and begins to weep pathetically. He tells Olivia about a man who came to see him in the hospital, telling him that he'd been experimented on as a child, and that because of the experiments, the man could teach him how to fight his cancer. It worked, sort of. Whatever the man taught him gave him the ability to stave off his disease by transferring it to others. At first he killed accidentally, first his sister, and then Timothy Ober before he realized what was happening. “I think,” he chokes “if that man had never come to see me, I would have died the way I was supposed to. And my sister would still be alive. They'd all still be alive.”

Afterward, Peter teases Olivia about being number one on her speed dial. She denies it with a flippant joke, and then starts to say something else. But she can't. She knows that now, and the knowledge that she will keep Walter's secret is weighty on her. Still misreading her pain, Peter smiles to hide his own.

Later that night, Olivia stops by the Bishop house, relieved when she finds Walter there alone, it's him she wants to talk to. She tells him that she's decided he may be right, that some truths are better left unsaid. But Walter surprises her. “Thank you Olivia,” he says heavily, “but the truth is, I've done enough damage.” Nancy Lewis and her sister, Susan Pratt. Nick Lane. Julie and James Heath. Timothy Ober, Lloyd Becker, Miranda Greene, Alan DeRosa. Others. Olivia. Peter. “It's time to start to put things right, whatever the consequences. And that starts with telling Peter the truth. I have to tell him who he really is.”

Unnameable emotions warring in her face, Olivia can only stare at him.

Interesting tidbits:

 “Time is just a matter of semantics.” - Sam Weiss

Walter is convinced at first that Peter will never forgive him if he finds out the truth, possibly because he and Elizabeth worked so hard, and so systematically to brain wash him as a boy, when he knew the truth.

Miranda Greene was preparing a lawsuit against INtREPUS Pharmaceuticals, the same company run by David Esterbrooke in the Season one episode “The Cure.”

Sam points out Olivia's “uniform” and refers to her as a soldier. This is eerily reminiscent of Nick Lane's distraught outburst in Bad Dreams: “I did what they told us. I waited Olive. For the soldier to come who was both natural and unnatural. Stay fit, stay focused, stay ready. I wore the blacks and grays! I blended in, but the call never came.It never came.”

Nick's aunt is working a jigsaw puzzle detail of Michelangelo's “The Creation of Adam,” visually referencing Olivia's efforts to make sense of her new knowledge of Peter as well as the more mundane puzzle of solving the murders. The painting also touches on the overarching theme of faith vs.science, and Carla Warren's belief that some things belong to God alone.

This episode hints again at a possible sexual history between Nina and Walter and/or Bell: “I recognize the look in your eyes. I know that working closely with someone can bring about...feelings.”

Olivia can say whatever she wants, Peter is totally number one on her speed dial.

Unanswered questions:

Sam demonstrates some more of his uncanny ability to read minds/auras/emotions – whatever it is he reads. How does he do that? He's older than he looks, and taller than he appears - what exactly is he?

Nina seems genuinely concerned when asking if Peter knew his own origin. But why? Is she worried about something in particular resulting from his knowledge, or just concerned for her old friend, and the boy she once knew?

Who is the man who keeps trying to activate the Cortexiphan subjects? If he's still trying after the death of Sanford Harris, who is he working for?

If Peter Bishop didn't exist:

Walter may never have punched a hole between universes in the first place. It seems apparent that something would have caused the clash eventually, but would it have been Walter? Walternate? Some other, unknown force? This may be a question we see answered in season four.

Someone else would have had to collect the pus sample.

There would have been less coffee, and probably no taffee.

There would have been no agonizing tension between Olivia and Walter.

Olivia would have been alone in the car, alone in her investigation. She would have had to call someone else for help, or maybe no one at all. Despite the weirdness between him and Olivia, he's actually pretty happy right now. If Olivia wants to be his sister, I think he's ready to accept that with only a little regret. He loves her, and he loves her enough to accept whatever she's willing to give him. And for Peter, his relationship with Walter is only deepening. He has a family, for the first time in many, many years, and he loves them all. But I think what he doesn't realize is that he's the one who draws them together – without Peter, there is no family.

And that brings me once again to the conclusion that without Peter, Walter would never have been released from St. Claire's, and again this case, any of the cases, might never have been solved. And a lot more people might be dead.