Fringe Summer Rewatch: #321 "The Last Sam Weiss" ~ Fringe Television - Fan Site for the FOX TV Series Fringe

Fringe Summer Rewatch: #321 "The Last Sam Weiss"

      Email Post       9/19/2011 12:30:00 AM      


 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.

As the summer rewatch draws to a close, I’m happy that my final post will be for The Last Sam Weiss, as this is one of my top five Fringe episodes. As a great fan of the Fringe mythos, I was thrilled to finally have some answers to many questions that have been posed, even as far back as season one.  However, this episode has a special place in my heart because this is a big turning point in the extraordinary journey of the Fringe family. There are two epic love stories in Fringe, which is one of the main reasons I’ve enjoyed the show for so much in three seasons. The show has a great depth of heart.

Walter learns to let go - to step back and allow Peter to do what he must, even though the odds of him surviving are slim. Because "he is a man protecting his world." Olivia becomes empowered, and learns to accept that she really is extraordinary. Peter does what he must to help protect the ones he loves.

After an electrifying false start in 6:02 A.M. EST, we’ve almost reached the moment of truth. Peter and Olivia literally staring down the machine. But first, there was the little matter of a slightly-toasted and unconscious Peter, along with Olivia’s journey with Sam Weiss to uncover the secrets of the machine, and how he was given “knowledge” about the machine. Plus, Walter and Astrid tried to determine how to slow down the damage occurring in our world long enough to buy Olivia some time.




The episode began with Walter sitting quietly and contemplative near Peter’s bedside. This is quite the contrast to the last time we saw Peter in the hospital in The Man From the Other Side.  Here Peter was sedated, and Walter is able to watch over him. Peter is surrounded in the color associated with our universe - blue. His hospital gown and bed linen are all blue.

Astrid, bless her heart, convinces (or more like lures him with the promise of tapioca pudding) reluctant Walter to leave Peter’s bedside long enough to eat. My question was why would you leave the most important guy in the universe alone?
Walter takes  Peter’ pulse, and this peaked my curiosity. Did he not trust the hospital monitors?
Walter was not convinced that Peter would wake-up with little repercussions to his injuries.  Maybe this was a way to foreshadow Peter’s later confusion… In The Day We Died, Walter spoke of having to bring Peter’s present consciousness to the future. What if Peter’s touching the machine brought forth a past consciousness as well?

The Storm Arrives

William Bell warned Olivia  in Momentum Deferred:

A storm is coming, perhaps the last and worst storm of all. And when it is over, I fear there will be little left of our world.

Walternate's prior activation of the machine was causing havoc all over the eastern coast of the United States.

As The Doors’ Riders on the Storm played, nature’s wrath was witnessed by a traveling family. An electrical storm of immense proportion was destroying all unlucky enough to be struck by the many bolts streaking down from the red/blue/violet tinged sky.

Just as Walter seemed ready to give up all hope, Astrid encouraged him.

"God helps those that help themselves." - Astrid quoting Ben Franklin

A Demon’s Twist Rusts?

So Olivia put her trust into the enigmatic Sam Weiss.

“This machine was built for Peter. Only HE can OPERATE it.”  The keyword in Sam’s statement is the word “operate.” Walternate was able to activate his machine using half of Peter’s DNA profile, obtained from his infant son Henry, but those 23 chromosomes were not enough to CONTROL the machine. The machines required a mind to function correctly. And there is only one Peter Bishop, who was unconscious, oblivious to the peril surrounding both universes.

Sam’s choice of throwing a pen at the machine, only to watch it sent flying to pierce a wall, was kinda funny. Pens always find a way into the story, don’t they? (Northwest Passage, Olivia, The Plateau)

Sam took Olivia on a trip to a family tomb and revealed some Weiss family history. It was assumed by many that Sam was a person that did not age, much like the Nazi scientist in The Bishop Revival. However, he explained to Olivia that he was the last in a string of men named Sam Weiss, all involved in a multi-generational quest concerning The Vacuum, and its origin. It was kind of a let-down that mystery-man Sam appeared to be just a guy with an obsession, but my gut tells me that he wasn’t being entirely truthful with Olivia. He babbled about his role in “what he had done,” and also told Olivia something about "maybe" the time-line was just “course correcting.” It is my theory that Olivia experienced a clashing of time-lines in The Road Not Taken, that the inconsistencies that she was viewing were not from the red universe, but something else. (And who could forget that Easter egg graffiti on one of the buildings in the background in a scene - “He is Here.”)

Everything previously assumed about the machine was up in the air. First, the First People’s Book had unpublished pages, and Sam Weiss had them in his possession. Second, the machine was not a doomsday device as previously suspected, at least according to Weiss. However, I’d say that the pending destruction of the other universe, and the subsequent breakdown of ours as a result, is pretty darned close to doomsday. So either Sam Weiss was totally confused, or lying through his teeth. I do think that Sam Weiss had a vendetta against Peter as well. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out in season four.

The Crowbar

You are the one, Olivia. Of all the children that Walter and I prepared, you were the strongest. You were always the strongest” - William Bell

As more of Sam’s story was revealed, he and Olivia retrieve a “key” embedded in a piece of ancient Native American art housed at a local museum. The biggest reveal later came when the lock-box was opened using the key, showing a prophecy drawing with Olivia pictured as a “crow bar,” to be used if anything went wrong with the machine.  The paper was a MAD Magazine style puzzle, folding back upon itself (like the time-bending demonstration Walter showed in White Tulip) to reveal Olivia needed to use her gift of telekinesis to turn off the machine so that Peter could enter.

Even after all Olivia had been through, she was still doubtful and self-deprecating concerning her abilities. “You’re not suggesting that I cross over?" Olivia said to Walter, as her expression showed that she seemed to be about to lose her stoic composure at the mere thought of the act. It's no wonder after all she had been through. Coming a breath away from becoming vivisected alive would do that to just about the toughest person.

Walter told her:

I know what it’s like to feel unequal to the task required of you. To feel incapable. I’ll never be the man I was, but I’ve come to embrace those parts of my mind that are... peculiar and broken. I understand now that’s what makes my mind special. (studies her for a moment) I wish you could see yourself the way I see you. You have no idea how extraordinary you are. If you would embrace that, there’s no end to what you can do.

Olivia replied:

I know that you want to believe in me... and I want to believe in me... but believing doesn’t make it true.
 From Subject 13, we learned a lot about the power of imagination.


The Coin Resurfaces

A very confused Peter woke up earlier than expected, and left his room only to find chaos in the hospital. The facility was overloaded with victims from the lightning strikes. Peter was able to slip out of the hospital due to the confusion, and walked out onto the balcony to see a scene of destruction. He walked to downtown Pittsfield, Massachusetts and hailed a cab. His interaction with the taxi driver is odd. Unfortunately, this taxi driver was not as cool as Henry Higgins was when an escaped Olivia forced him to drive for her in Olivia. But Peter seemed just as lost and confused. Peter asked for 42nd and Lexington, a New York City address, like it was nothing. As he handed the cabbie a credit card, he looked unsure if it would even work. He seemed a man on a singular mission.

Once in a NYC neighborhood, Peter sought out a pawn shop and specifically made a large purchase - a silver “Walking Liberty” half-dollar, the same coin shown throughout the series. Peter told the owner, “It always brings me luck.”  Peter made his way to Liberty Island trying to see his father, the “Secretary of Defense.” In Peter, the boy that lived and grew up to become the Peter that we know, showed his mother the coin trick and offered her the coin if he died. The Peter from this universe showed Walter, and offered it to him. Why did adult Peter want to show Walternate the coin trick?

Chaos was happening all around him because the machine had been brought there to be close to the location of its quantum entangled counterpart, therefore limiting the area of damage. Walter and Olivia located Peter who at first was very confused: “There are two of you, aren’t there?”

How will the coin make an appearance in season four?
 Later, Peter’s last words to Olivia before stepping into the machine were, “Wish me luck.”


The Key to Transformation

I’ve stated many times in fan forums my feelings about Peter’s character transformation:

I love how he has grown from a boy stolen from his home, made to believe lies about his origins — to a con-man with no roots — to a man with something worth fighting/dying for.

His modus operandi before Olivia conned him back to his father was to tuck-tail and run away, like a thief in the night when things got too deep for him. But Peter could no longer accept running away because the stakes were too high this time. He had a place, a purpose, and he had roots - a father and a lover.

I wrote a piece of fan-fiction about Peter’s journey, and find some of the words appropriate for my feelings:

Three years ago he was a wild-man, moving from place to place without a care in the world. In order to survive in his darkest days, he had to give the illusion of being unethical, cunning and emotionally detached. His deep intellect and sensory capabilities made him a favorite of his employers. Bishop was often used to become a person's best friend or confidant, only to turn into a Brutus. For awhile, Peter was convinced that he enjoyed stabbing people in the back, both figuratively and for real. Olivia did not know just how much blood her love had spilled in his life. He convinced himself that they were bad men and deserved it, but that also meant that he was a bad man and his day would come too.
This about killed him deep down inside, because Peter wanted nothing more than to find a solid foundation in the world. Peter had a hidden golden heart, and his very few friends and lovers knew this. He would do anything for the people he cared about. This is why he tried so hard to remain aloof.
This kept him from placing down roots. Once he was in with the wrong crowd, escape became damned near impossible. Then Olivia came and stole him away from all that. He had grown so used to it, that he became indignant when he found that she had used his vulnerabilities to con him.
But it wasn't long before he secretly became relieved. Then immersed in the work that he did... then he fell head-over-heels in love with the woman he did it with. Then he came to love the man that loved him more than his own biological father did.

An Extraordinary Journey: The Circuit that is Peter and Olivia

There is a quote from a character in another science-fiction drama that I found appropriate:

It seems to me that the best relationships, the ones that last, are frequently the ones that are rooted in friendship. You know, one day you look at the person and you see something more than you did the night before. Like a switch has been flicked somewhere. And the person who was just a friend is suddenly the only person you can ever imagine yourself with.  - Agent Dana Scully, The X-Files

And so, we have the united dynamic between Peter Bishop and Olivia Dunham.  Two people that seemed so vastly different from each other at the start of the series. Peter, the man with no purpose, whose best answer about his aspirations as child was that he wanted to be a brontosaurus. Olivia, the woman that came from a tumultuous and tragic childhood, forged by her experiences into a formidable warrior for justice.

How Far would You Go to save Someone You Love? That has been one of the whole themes of Fringe. Peter and Olivia were willing to risk their lives for each other.. crossing into other universes, jumping into the mind of another.... That's a pretty epic love.

As Olivia sat with Peter, elated that he was OK, the type-writer in the lab typed out the message, “Be a better man than your father.”  The promotions for this episode before it aired had the mystery message on the type-writer, and I speculated that it said “Peter has a son" over and over. Thankfully, like 90 percent of the time, I was wrong.

After a season of  deception and shaky trust, the now united couple stood together facing insurmountable odds once again.  In Ability, Peter observed Olivia from a short distance, but here they were joined together, side-by-side in purpose. His confidence in Olivia’s abilities never wavered. Not once had Peter ever felt that Olivia was not capable of the task at hand. Or as Walter put it, she “does not fail.”

Although they don’t remember it, the two met years ago in a tulip field, the girl extending her hand out to the boy. Now, many years later, destiny had brought them here. The man extended his hand toward the woman, as they have done many times before. Together, they walked to meet their greatest challenge.

Once, Olivia made a dangerous choice because, "John would do it for me." Peter made such a choice for Olivia and Walter.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. -  John 15:13


Olivia gazed at Peter, mustering the last reserves of her immense strength, and he gave her a smile that seemed to say “Goodbye, Olivia.” Olivia brought forth a small one of her own that may have spoke to him... “It's OK, you can go…”

Olivia may have said, "I love you,” but I think Peter did not want to say it to her, as to actually say those three words would be like he was telling her goodbye.  Once again, he is man of action. He did not have to say what she already knew. But for Olivia, vocalizing her emotions was a really big step. Also, Nina Sharp once told Olivia that “you’re not prepared to lose him.” But by this point, Olivia seemed to accept that Peter had a much larger purpose.

With Peter's character, his actions speak louder than words, and he would tell Olivia in his own way that he loved her, by showing her.

The look on Peter’s face as he climbed the scaffolding steps, boldly stepping towards an unknown fate, showed a sense of courage in a changed man. From the day Over There that he had synched up with the machine’s ominous power source, shockingly realizing that it was made only for him, Peter wanted nothing to do with this. But now, he was here anyway, because he had to do something to save the people he loved.

The first time I watched this episode my heart raced along with Chris Tilton’s perfect musical arrangement for this moment. A moment that was an entire season in the making. It ranks as my absolute favorite scene of the entire Fringe series.

Peter's loving gaze never left Olivia’s eyes until the moment he made the final connection to the ancient machine. His thoughts of her and Walter showed his mindset of the time. In Concentrate and Ask Again, Sam Weiss explicitly told Nina Sharp that Peter’s mindset would determine which world would survive.

I couldn’t help when I first watched this scene but to say, "Oh, my God, he IS going to destroy the other side!“ His body contorted, and Peter's eyes rolled back into his head and closed. Both Walter and Olivia stood silent, awaiting the results of Peter's ascent to his destiny...

… to The Day We Died.


In the Season One finale we learned that Olivia was in the Twin Towers, still standing in another universe. By the end of The Last Sam Weiss, an older Peter Bishop looked up to the Freedom Tower that is supposed to be built on Ground Zero in our universe...the future is now.



Thanks to everyone that has read or participated in the summer rewatch. There is one more tomomorrow: The Day We Died! 

If you haven’t had the chance, check out some of the other posts. I’ll be writing some recaps/reviews for season four, so see you then!


14 Comments:

milostanfield said...

Wonderful, heartfelt post. Thanks, Aimee. (What ARE your top five eps? And how do you pick just five!? ;)
For what it's worth, here are the two still flash sequences in "Last Sam Weiss" as Peter goes into the machine. Some of these are only one frame. You need still step to see them. I put in the eps where I could. Corrections/additions are welcome.
First sequence - as Peter ascends stairs to machine:
1- Peter standing in a doorway and smiling - unknown
2- Peter about to go into MRI machine and talking to Olivia - "Reciprocity"
3- closeup of Olivia and Peter looking at each other in what looks like an outdoor crime scene - unknown
4- Flash of light in forest night - "The Arrival"(?)
5- drawing of Peter with fire coming out of his eyes and DNA sequences - unknown
6- Peter and Olivia standing and looking into a glass doorway with an orderly or guard next to them. Olivia has a bruise on her forehead - St Claire's(?) in "Pilot"(?)
7- Walter first seeing Peter at St Claire's and about to look in his eyes - "Pilot"
8- closeup of machine blueprint - unknown
9- Peter holding Walter's head to his chest - "Grey Matters"(?)
10- closeup of Peter-in-machine drawing - unknown
11- closeup of Peter and Walter disagreeing in the lab(?) - unknown
12- Young Peter breaking the ice with a concrete block at Reiden Lake - "Subject 13"
13- Peter, upside down, about to go into MRI machine - "Reciprocity"
14- Peter on the bridge - "Man From The Other Side"
15- Jones getting chopped in half at Reiden Lake with Olivia reacting - "There's More Than One Of Everything"
16- Peter holding Olivia after she has been in the tank - "Pilot"(?)
17- flash of light and then back to live action of Peter climbing ladder

Second sequence - after Peter gets in machine and then looks at Olivia:
1- shot of Olivia standing in hotel room doorway and smiling at Peter(?) - "The Same Old Story"(?)
2- Olivia playing card tricks with Peter - "Safe"
3- Olivia very close to Peter staring into his eyes inquiringly - unknown
4- Peter walking into the room in the daycare center where Olivia started the fire as a child. The adult Olivia is crouched in the corner where it happened. More stills of them looking at each other - "Jacksonville"
5- Olivia floating in the tank - "Pilot"(?)
6- Peter touching Olivia's face as he is about to kiss her and as she realizes she is afraid - "Jacksonville"
7- Olivia outdoors turning her head and looking wary. Looks like graffiti on wall behind her - "The Firefly"(?)
8- Peter standing in front of a red barn(?) looking concerned - unknown
9- (repeat) Jones getting chopped in half at Reiden Lake with Olivia reacting - "There's More Than One Of Everything"
10- Peter and Olivia in Baghdad with Olivia in head scarf - "Fracture"
11- young Olivia in the tulip field - "Subject 13"
12- Peter pulling Olivia out of the tank - "Pilot"(?)
13- Peter and Olivia almost kissing in a bar, but she sees him glimmer - "Apt6B"
14- Peter (as Phantom Peter) kissing Olivia (as Altlivia) - "The Plateau"
15- Young Peter and Olivia returning to the daycare center - "Subject 13"
16- Peter looking down at Olivia in a hospital bed - "Momentum Deferred"(?)
17- a different shot of Olivia in the tank - "Pilot"(?)
18- Peter glimmering - "Jacksonville"
19- closeup of Peter and Olivia kissing - unknown
20- Olivia first seeing Peter glimmer - "Jacksonville"
21- Peter holding Olivia's hand while she is in a hospital bed - "Entrada"(?)
22- (repeat) a different shot of Olivia in the tank - "Pilot"(?)
23- extreme closeup of Olivia's eyes - unknown
24- another closeup of Peter and Olivia kissing - unknown
25- flash of light and then back to live action of Peter in the machine

fringeaddict said...

Thanks for all the reviews. Even though I watched along with everyone, there were soooo many more things i'd missed but you guys brought up in the reviews and discussions.
4 days!! CANNOT WAIT!!

cortexifan said...

Aimee,
it has been a pleasure reading your posts. Looking forward to the insights you give for S4.

part 1
Don’t say that Fringe never takes you anywhere.
The special effects and the music (Riders on the storm by Doors) were just amazing. It made my hair stand up too.
The license plate 44DC23 was used again.
Why did the guy get out and walk on the bridge? The first time I saw the preview for this one I thought he was Mr. X
Sam confirmed that this is not a doomsday machine but it’s acting like one. It thinks Peter is in it and that’s why he was rejected.
So Sam and Olivia need to find the box and the key.
We get a Walter food moment where he gets fruit cocktail and wonders why it’s hard to find anymore. We’ve seen him talk about fruit cocktail before in 1.07 In Which We Meet Mr. Jones. Broyles asks him to help Loeb and that he’s not expecting miracles but Walter was off in LaLa land: “You know I had fruit cocktail once. In Atlantic City. Mind you I’m not a fruit cocktail sort of guy." I love Walter food.
This episode was full of great dialog. I included a few specific ones and references others.
Sam: “A machine with the power to create and destroy worlds shouldn’t be taken lightly. Dang, this is heavy. “ Thought the contrast of Sam’s words and the lid of the tomb was kind of funny.
The next moment Olivia points out that she is armed and that he needs to take her to the key now. I’m sure he recalled her pointing her gun at him in 2.03 Fracture and did not waste time. :)
Then Walter experiments flying his kite. This struck me and I’m not sure if I’m correct but let me assume anyway. There are two X’s on the kite. Later Peter says: “So, there are two of you.”
We also know that Olivia thinks Mr. X is the man who is going to kill her. Could it be one of the Walters? Just guessing. Well after watching the finale in a sense it was Walternate in the future. We know that this timeline has been erased so Mr. X is back in play.
There is a lot of blue in the hospital, a sign that Peter is still in this universe.
Also that looks like a lake on the picture right next to Peter’s head as he walks down the hall.
There is the art work from 2.10 Grey Matters under the information window as well. Peter is confused and he thinks he is over there as later he thinks the Statue of Liberty should be copper and his father the Secretary of State. In 3.15 Subject 13 Peter thought his home is at the bottom of the lake.
Side note, the character in “Winter’s Tale” (book read by Olivia in Subject 13), his name is Peter Lake.
After watching it many times it came to me that Peter probably thinks he’s still over there. When Walternate brought him back (Over There Pt 1), Peter was sleeping for 3 days and he was in New York, so maybe that’s why he thought he was over there.
As he walks outside he sees destruction beginning. What a contrast to last week’s sunrise picture when Olivia walked outside.
This is my favorite funny in this episode. As Olivia identifies herself as FBI, Sam flashes his membership card for the museum where the key is hidden. He’s been a member since 1982. That and the bowling shot to keep the gate open.
Baghdad museum: This was a true incident. In 2003 the museum was looted. The book is called: The Looting Of The Iraq Museum, Baghdad: The Lost Legacy Of Ancient Mesopotamia by Milbry Polk. I work at a library and had it in my hands the other day and thought of Fringe. I know, pathetic, right? :)
I think the number on the police car (2026) was the clue for the finale being in the year 2026.
Walter was whistling: Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen.
Love Walter’s experiments and how he waltzed into Broyles’s office.
The two machines being apart, causes the destruction. But if they are brought together even across universes it would buy time. So they decide to take it to New York.
I thought the machine couldn’t be moved and would reject others as well? What do I know?

cortexifan said...

part 2

So Sam and Olivia found the key to the box. It was interesting that she opened it. What they find is the crowbar which is a picture of her completing the drawing with Peter.
So if Walter was the first people, did he draw Peter and Olivia with the machine?

I’ve always said that Peter and Olivia have a deep connection. I’ll get back to that later. But here is something else I thought of and it might not be related but humor me.
In 1.17 Bad Dreams, written on Nick Lane’s wall and in 1.14 Ability, Mitchell Loeb says to Olivia: “What was written will come to pass. Nothing you do can stop that. Nothing. “

I don’t know, I was just thinking back to Stowaway where Bellivia said to Peter: “Sometimes when one walks away from his fate, it leads one directly to fate’s doorstep.”
It was written that Peter can power the machine and it was written that Olivia has a connection to it as well and it came to pass that both had to act together upon their abilities.

So then Walter discovers the meaning of the picture and explains that Olivia is able to turn the machine off with her mind. She’s done something like this before in 1.14 Ability where she defused a bomb by turning off lights with her mind.
Of course in good “Olivia” fashion she thinks it’s ridiculous on top of having to turn off the machine in the other universe. It looked like she was scared of the prospect of having to cross over.
Walter proposes to practice with the quantum entangled typewriter.
Again Olivia is impatient and it’s not working. When I saw this for the first time I was surprised that she actually sat there for so long. We know she’s not good at sitting around (2.02 Night Of Desirable Objects, as she gets released from the hospital).

So after a while Walter checks on her. Olivia asks for cortexiphan which Walter denies, it would do more harm than good. Why?
Here comes another great Walter moment (in a good way): “These abilities are inside you, Olivia. You simply need to harness them.” Olivia: “Walter I don’t know how. I never have.” Walter: “I know what it’s like to feel unequal to the task required of you, to feel incapable. I’ll never be the man I was but I’ve come to embrace those parts of my mind that are peculiar and broken. I understand now that’s what makes my mind special. I wish you could see yourself the way I see you. You have no idea how extraordinary you are. If you would embrace that, there’s no end to what you can do.” Olivia: “I know that you want to believe in me and I want to believe in me, but believing doesn’t make it true.” Walter: “Just try.”
What Walter said to Olivia goes for Anna as well. She’s done an awesome job from the beginning of the series. She is extraordinary and if she would embrace that, there’s no end to what she can do. And I’m sure Wyman and Pinkner are gonna throw crazy stuff at her again. :)
So she tries again but it’s still not working.

In the meantime a nurse discovers that Peter is gone. The picture on the wall behind her is interesting. It has a dead tree on the left and another tree on the right that looks like it’s protected by a force field.

She finds an envelope on the bed. It says: I AM GOING HOME. Looks familiar? In 3.15 Subject 13 Peter left a note for his mom before he went to the lake to “go home”.
So then Peter goes to this pawn shop in New York. The store owner guy looks like he knows him; Just my opinion.

cortexifan said...

part 3
Peter is buying a silver half dollar which is his favorite. It’s interesting, I went back to 2.15 Peter and in there it was a silver dollar. Did young Peter just forget to say the word “half”?
We know the coin plays a big part in Peter’s life. Walter laid one on Peter’s grave in 1.21 There Is More Than One Of Everything. And the Observer showed Walter one in the same episode. The Peter from over here played with it in 2.15 Peter, just as does Peter over there, same episode.

Back at the lab there is a book on the desk that is called “Out of Control”. Thought it was interesting as it fits with what’s going on, the world being or acting out of control. We also know that on Fringe props are not randomly picked.
So still back in the lab Broyles announces that Peter has been found at Liberty Island. Everyone is heading to New York. Sam wants to go too but Broyles says no. Sam wishes Olivia good luck.
This is strange but apparently he was left behind at the lab, but the next shot we see him in New York. Did he go anyway or is there two of them? Any thoughts?
They find Peter and as Olivia rushes to him and he looks confused, all I could think of was: Peter, recognize your woman, will you! Yes, I’m a P/O shipper, what can I say.
They check Peter out and his confusion is only temporarily. When Walter saw the coin he looked frazzled or shocked. Why?
Olivia explains what she has to do but the typewriter is not working. She had concentrated on a phrase but nothing happened. Peter asks her what the phrase was.
Back at the lab Astrid discovers that it is working, she calls Olivia and tells her the typewriter is typing: “Be a better man than your father.”
Of course that’s the phrase Olivia said to Peter when she woke up in the hospital in 2.01 A New Day In The Old Town. She said it in Greek and later in the same episode Peter explains to Olivia what the phrase meant.
In 2.04 Momentum Deferred, we discover that it was Bell who said: “Tell that to Peter, you’re going to need him by your side. Tell it to him, he’ll know what it means.”
We also know that was the phrase Peter used to finally figure out that the Olivia sharing his bed in 3.08 Entrada was actually Fauxlivia because she didn’t know what it meant.

I’ve said it before. Peter and Olivia have a unique relationship and I’m not talking about them as a couple here. They are somehow linked with each other. Olivia’s powers don’t seem to work that well if Peter is not physically there. In 1.14 Ability she wasn’t able to turn the lights off on the bomb until Peter came back on the roof. He was able to calm her in 1.17 Bad Dreams as Walter was hypnotizing her. In 2.01 A New Day In The Old Town, Olivia didn’t wake up until she heard Peter’s voice to tell him the Greek phrase. In 3.15 Subject 13 it didn’t start snowing until they touched or reached out to each other. And the typewriter didn’t work while she was in the lab because Peter was not with her. As soon as Peter asked in person what phrase she used it started to work. Also Peter was present when she turned off the machine.

So she is about to turn the machine off when her old self kicks in: “Walter, what if I can’t do it?” Walter: “I have known you for a long time Olivia and I believe that the drawing was no accident. Whoever did it knew the same as I do. That you don’t fail. “ Again, did Walter draw that?
When Walter said that to her I was thinking back to 2.14 Jacksonville where she was supposed to find a building that glimmered but in the beginning she couldn’t so she said to Peter: “I failed and I’m supposed to be the one who can stop things like this.” To which Peter answers: “I’ve never met anyone who can do the things that you do.” Which goes back to earlier when Walter was talking to her.
So then off they go to do their task as Peter asks: “You ready?” Olivia: “No. You?” Peter: “No.”

cortexifan said...

part 4
The way Olivia said “No” reminded me of her new found confidence from 3.19 LSD at the end when she tells Peter about Mr. X.

So here we have the most intense 5 minutes of television ever. Well at least until we saw Peter disappear in the finale :)

Peter reaches out to her first which I thought reflects her reaching out to him first in
3.14 6B as they go upstairs. Then Peter says: “Don’t say I never took you anywhere.” Which he said to her before in 1.16 Unleashed as they were in the sewer.
So they keep inching towards the machine.
Peter says: “You can do this.” Which is what Olivia said to Nancy Lewis in 1.19 The Road Not Taken. Nancy needed to focus heat away from them so they won’t combust. I love it when Olivia encourages others and then the same words are used to encourage her.
The machine is turned off and Peter says: “You did it.” which again is a nice way of calling back to other episodes, after she turned the lights out in 1.14 Ability and in 2.19 Brown Betty when Peter came back to live.
Then we come to one of my favorite moments. She says: “Peter, I love you.”
The only other time we hear Olivia say “I love you” (besides Rachel and Ella) is in the Pilot to John Scott. It took her a long time even then to say it, so I was really happy when she finally did.
And here is something for us shippers. Awwwww :) They kiss.

So then Peter goes in the machine. As he walks up to it the last two years flash by. In both flashes are memories from David Robert Jones and when they were kids from 3.15 Subject 13. Does he remember now? I’m also not sure if they were only Peter’s memories or also Olivia’s since she is linked to him somehow.

So then Peter finds himself in a strange place. There is war waging. What’s that on his finger? :)Who could it be?:) Of course we know now that it was Olivia.
I’m assuming he is in our New York because the only place in NY hit at 9/11 was the twin towers. And over there they are still standing. That was actually hard to watch. The re-run aired 9/9/11 and all week I was thinking about my friend who died at the Pentagon. They did a wonderful job honoring the memory.
Apparently in the future Fringe Division is not a secret entity of the FBI anymore.

I had no idea what the finale would bring or where it was going but one thing that came to my mind a lot was from the Pilot where Olivia says to Broyles: “I just want to go back to before.” To which Broyles answers: “Dunham, I don’t think you can.” The finale went to the future and now Peter is gone. So are we going back to the beginning in S4? I guess we’ll have to be patient 4 more (very long) days to find out.
I also think that Peter is physically still in the lab and that it’s his mind that is looking into the future.
The word “luck” was mentioned many times.
The greatest satisfaction I had in this episode was when the machine on the other side stopped. Ha!

If Peter never existed in this episode…
-Would Olivia still be connected to the machine?
-Would she still have to turn it off?
-Would Olivia’s powers still work since Peter is linked to her and most of the time he has to be there physically?
-What would the future have been like?

milostanfield said...

"It is my theory that Olivia experienced a clashing of time-lines in The Road Not Taken, that the inconsistencies that she was viewing were not from the red universe, but something else." - Aimee Long
Always wondered too what else was "out there". After all, the phrase "There is more than one of everything" doesn't stop at two. How would the Observers fit into this?

milostanfield said...

the kite scene - a bit of an homage to classic Doctor Who. Walter seemed a lot like the Doctor in that scene. Maybe Doctor #8, Sylvester McCoy, with a dash of #3 Tom Baker. Astrid would have fit in as a companion in that era of Who.

trent said...

"Olivia’s powers don’t seem to work that well if Peter is not physically there."

I could be wrong here, but I don't think that's accurate. Her powers work just fine without him. She can move between worlds, start fires, see the other side, move objects with her mind without his presence. He's been there a couple of times, but that's because it was necessary to have someone witness her superpowers.

He calmed her down in S1 with just a touch, what some fans call the magic touch, but that only happened once in the whole show, so it's just another dropped story about Peter or it was a coincidence. I don't think there is anything to it.

Unknown said...

Olivia does need the feelings of Love and Fear, so Peter does indirectly help her. It is interesting that she stared down the quantum-entangled typewriter for a long time with no result, yet when she was reunited with Peter, and mentioned that she was worried about him, that is when the "Be a better man than your father" message was typed out.

Also, the only time we saw her use her telekinesis to move objects was when Peter was just in the next room. But she was also reunited with Walter after a long time. However, in The Day We Died, Peter and Olivia were separated when Walternate killed her. Maybe her telekinesis could have saved her...

I'm not saying with absolute certainty that Olivia has to have Peter around for her telekinetic powers to work - maybe it can be anyone she loves - but they do seem to work better with Peter near her. If anything, his presence seems to help her with controlling them. It has not been proven or disproven.

Unknown said...

@milostanfield (great screen-name, btw) It is really difficult to choose favorites. ;) There are many episodes that are very close to the top. But I find my faves time and time again are White Tulip, The Last Sam Weiss, Jacksonville, Entrada, and 6B. My least favorite is Concentrate and Ask Again.

Like you, I am really stoked to find out about the Observers. What is their agenda?

Unknown said...

@Cortexifan Thank you for your kind words. Also, I ahve enjoyed your very detailed notes about these episodes. It's amazing how many little things make Fringe irresistable ;)

Thanks for yet another Bridge reference to add to the list? Have you read Winter's Tale? I about died when the bridges in the book became very important... because of Fringe's obsession with bridges. Good eye with the lake picture! I did not se that. Peter - Lake... ;)

And I totally forgot about "I'm Going home," although I wrote about it in the post for Subject 13... thanks for the mention!

Anonymous said...

Did anyone else notice that twice in a row they used stained glass windows with blue, red, and yellow? In the last Sam Weiss, when they were in the mausoleum the stained glass window had a yellow center with blue background and hints of red. In 6:02 AM the chapel where Walter is praying has a stained glass window with blue background and a yellow cross with a red outline. In both scenes they are contemplating the fate of the world, and hoping for salvation. Perhaps it's symbolizing yellow being the peaceful solution, the bridge Peter created between between the red and blue universes. Or perhaps it's another universe entirely...

-observant

Unknown said...

Happy to say that "The End of All Things" confirmed that Yes, Olivia must be near Peter to use the full extent of her abilities.

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