Fringe Observiews 4.12 Welcome to Westfield ~ Fringe Television - Fan Site for the FOX TV Series Fringe

Fringe Observiews 4.12 Welcome to Westfield

      Email Post       2/14/2012 09:39:00 AM      



Welcome to the Observiews for Season 4 of Fringe. I call them Observiews because they are more visual observations than deep thinking reviews, if that makes sense.

Screen caps are taken from fringefiles.com. Dialog is from fringepedia.net/transcripts.

All observations are mine and therefore could be totally off the wall and/or wrong. I have not read or looked at any recaps or reviews. I could also have missed a few things, oh well…

1.17 Bad Dreams
OLIVIA: “Gruesome.”
RACHEL: “Gruesome? That's a good word.”

… to describe this episode because it was gruesomely awesome.



Glyphs spelled: OLIVE
And I think we’ll find out next week what it pertains to.
There is something interesting about the glyphs. In previous seasons they mostly pertained to the current episode. This season I believe they go more with the next episode. The glyphs for 4.10 Forced Perspective spelled MARCH which was the Observer in 4.11 Making Angels. The glyphs for 4.11 Making Angels spelled EMPATH which I’m assuming pertains to this:
WALTER: “They're probably just psychosomatic -- these things you're feeling. You were always very empathetic, even as a child. That's why you're such a great investigator -- you ability to empathize with the victims. That's all this is. A - and if it's something worse, then we'll deal with it.”

The Observer can be seen here and I admit I needed help to find him.

Shall we just savor the next moment!
Ahhh!
OLIVIA: “I love you. Do you love me?”
PETER: “I do.”
OLIVIA: “Then tell me. I want to hear you say it.”
PETER: “I love you.”
I know it was just a dream but I’ll take it. Best sex scene ever!
The color of this dream is blue, like in our universe.
And finally, not only did Olivia say that she loved Peter, he said it back in the same instance. All the other times those words were spoken it wasn’t reciprocated in the same instance. John Scott in 1.01 The Pilot said it but Olivia didn’t say it back right away. She said the words to John a few days later but he didn’t say it back. Olivia said “I love you” to Peter in 3.21 The Last Sam Weiss but Peter didn’t say it back. And even when Olivia said it at the end of 4.10 Forced Perspective, Nina didn’t respond back. And actually I’m glad about that one.

Back to the story. Walter and Peter are in the lab experimenting. 
OLIVIA: “What is that smell?”
PETER: “Walter is creating a new breakfast cocktail -- hot cinnamon roll.”

Here is the recipe if you want it.

This scene reminded me of 2.16 Olivia. In The Lab. With The Revolver. Walter was baking human skin.

His cocktail is mostly cinnamon schnapps and butter and Walter proclaims: “It needs more butter.”
Walter was low on butter before. In 3.02 The Box he wanted Gene to produce chocolate milk.

Peter asks if Olivia was okay. Her answer: “I’m just a little bit tired, that’s all.”
After that dream I would be too, lol.

1.05 Power Hungry: “I’m a little tired, that’s all.”
Even over there in 3.05 Amber 31422 Olivia had a tired phase
and also in 4.05 Novation where she was sort of in a time slip: “Just a little tired, I think.”
Notice the episodes: 1.05, 3.05 and 4.05
Haha!
4.01 Neither Here Nor There
LINCOLN LEE: “Is that relevant?”
WALTER: “To this case? Not at all.”

Anyway, Walter had built the interface which looks more like a torture device
compared to the real one from 2.22 Over There Part 2.
OLIVIA: “And what, you just click your heels and think of home?”
PETER: “Well, we haven't quite worked out how that works yet, but that's kind of how I ended up here in Oz in the first place, so in theory, yeah.”
No, Peter. You need to follow the yellow brick road (2.14 Jacksonville).
Wizard of Oz is referenced quite a bit throughout the series. Just to name a few others:
1.20 There Is More Than One Of Everything - as Charlie tries to understand the alternate universe: “Like Dorothy going to Oz.”
2.02 Night Of Desirable Objects - scarecrows watching over the field.
2.03 Fracture - Project Tin Man.
2.11 Johari Window - Walter doesn’t want to get out of the car and refers to himself as the cowardly lion and later talks about flying monkeys and talking lions.
3.09 Marionette - referring to the heartless man as tin man.
3.10 The Firefly - at the end a record is playing with the song: “If I only had a brain”.
And even the Violet Sedan Chair cover shows a yellow brick road.

So on to the case. A trucker is stuck on the road in a line of cars which just stopped working.
The gauges are all going crazy. (red and green buttons and hands)
Objects are floating in mid air.
Like Olivia’s necklace in 1.05 Power Hungry.
As people look on an airplane is flying really low over them and is about to crash.
For one, this is how Fringe started in the first place. Everything began with an airplane in 2008.
This also reminded me of the TV screen from 2.01 A New Day In The Old Town where you could see Moulder and Scully looking up in the sky.
Back to the airplane. I didn’t like to fly before I started watching Fringe and definitely don’t like to fly now with all the things that happened with airplanes. I already mentioned 1.01 The Pilot.
Then we have 1.13 The Transformation where Marshall Bowman turned into a beast. And of course the plane crashed.
Then we have 2.05 Dream Logic where the captain was influenced by a device in his neck.
Luckily this plane did not crash. And in 3.06 6599 kHz a small airplane crashed because of a radio frequency interrupting everything on the plane.
No, I’ll drive, thank you.

Of course this plane crashes too. And the red breaks up the blue.
After the plane crashed the cars and trucks started working again.

Enter the Fringe team! First three numbers on the license plate: 431. Add them up you get 8.
OLIVIA: “So, what brings us here?”

Well, I’ll get back to that at the end.

Astrid is trying to get Walter online but he’s not responding. He is actually right behind them. He wanted to leave the lab and Peter had nothing to do with that.
BROYLES: “I guess he finally got tired of being caged up.”
OLIVIA: “Yeah, it's not just that. I mean, he's been much more open lately, somehow.”

Maybe that’s because this is our Walter. 

Broyles and Astrid are off doing something and Walter thinks about food.
Although it looks more like he's coming up with a devious plan for whatever. And Walter’s obsession with food sort of gets them in trouble. I’ll get back to that too.

They drive in to Westfield for rhubarb pie.
Olivia can’t get a signal.
In 1.01 The Pilot she couldn’t get a signal either in the storage facilities.
Olivia walks down the street to the pay phone to check if they work while Walter and Peter enter the diner for pie. The diner had a green flair to it.
And even Gene made a cameo appearance, lol.
So Walter orders pie. Although he could have ordered strawberry or peanut butter milkshakes too.
Walter and Big Willy make small talk. Walter didn't know they are in Vermont and that he hadn’t renewed his driver’s license since he got released from St. Claire’s.
Well in the old timeline Walter did get his license back, driving very badly as he and Peter are called to a case in 2.13 The Bishop Revival
and in 3.19 LSD he even made the car skid.
And then things get strange which shouldn't have surprised me. After all, this is Fringe. Peter is still in the bathroom and Walter is talking to Big Willy who all of a sudden turned schizophrenic on him.
He grabs the big knife.
Just like the girl in 2.05 Dream Logic after the chip in her neck was activated.
Meanwhile Peter finds a body in the storage room. Walter gets attacked by Big Willy and Olivia comes just in the nick of time and shoots Big Willy.
Creepy!
The person from the storage room, Cliff, is still alive and needs medical attention. Since all the phones won’t work they decide to drive him to the nearest hospital but as they leave Westfield
they drive right back into it.
Something strange…

Cliff tells them that they can’t leave and that they are trapped.

Back in town they go to the sheriff’s office.

OLIVIA: “Okay, the phones are out here too. Walter, why can't we leave? Do you think it's got something to do with what happened on the highway?” WALTER: “I'm not sure. I've seen this once before.”
OLIVIA: “Where?”
WALTER: “Brigadoon. The musical. Magical town in the forest where no one can leave. Of course, that quaint Scottish village was more hospitable than our present locale.”

I actually have Brigadoon on DVD and love it. Here is a trailer for it.

Cliff starts to explain what happened, that the whole town has gone crazy. And he’s glad the FBI is here: “A few of us who are immune are holed-up at the High School. Including my wife and daughter. That's why I went to the diner, to get them food. They need supplies. But what they need most of all is hope.”
3.08 Entrada
OLIVIA: “If you don’t trust me then there is no hope.”
3.08 Entrada
ALT-BROYLES: “In the end I have to believe in hope.”
This is my favorite line ever, especially waiting for news on the future of this awesome show. 

So they have a plan and a few things are needed when Olivia mentions a military base not too far away.
PETER: “You think the Army's involved in this?”
OLIVIA: “I mean, something of this magnitude -- a whole town? Perhaps it was a military experiment gone wrong, like that case we caught in Edina.”
WALTER: “Where's Edina?”
OLIVIA: “Uh, Upstate New York. Remember, the whole town's population was disfigured from the military experiment?” (2.11 Johari Window)
WALTER: “We never had such a case.”
PETER: “I investigated a case in Edina with my Walter, and my Olivia.”
OLIVIA: “Oh, right. Right, well, I must've -- I must've read it in your debrief.”
Something is happening to Olivia. I’ll get back to that later as well.

As they raid the gun racks Walter wants a weapon too. In 3.08 Entrada he didn’t want one.
So Peter hands him pepper spray.
They leave for the high school where a few survivors are hiding out. As they leave they encounter this guy who is the creepiest so far.
I also decided I don’t like dolls in Fringe. The one from 2.14 Jacksonville still gives me chills.

The car is not working so they have to walk to the school.
CLIFF: “I see the resemblance.”
WALTER: “Pardon?”
CLIFF: “Agent Dunham said his name is Bishop, like yours. He's your son, isn't he?”
WALTER: “In a fashion, yes, you could say that.”

Olivia is feeling weird.
OLIVIA: “It's just -- my arm won't stop shaking. That's all.”
PETER: “Whoa, whoa. What's the matter?”
OLIVIA: “No, I'm okay. It's just -- I'm just a little bit dizzy.”
PETER: “You need some water?”
OLIVIA: No becau...(slurred) Oh, Peter, I don't know how to explain it, but that feels like there was somebody else in my, uh -- in my head. Here... take this. I – I - I'm scared that -- that what's happening to the other people in this town is happening to me.”
Her arm shaking reminded me of 2.02 Night Of Desirable Objects as she is released from the hospital after coming crashing through the car her hand wouldn’t stop shaking.
And she did have other people in her head before, John Scott for one and Nick Lane in 1.17 Bad Dreams.
OLIVIA: “I mean, did it feel like there was someone else in your head making you stab him?”

And William Bell also occupied Olivia for a while in 3.16 Os; 3.17 Stowaway and 3.19 LSD.

1.17 Bad Dreams
OLIVIA: “These things -- these things that we see every day, these things that we investigate -- they're happening to me.”

Out of precaution she gives Peter her gun.

They make it to the high school. The Killer Bee emblem behind the tree
reminded me of the nurse in 2.22 Over There Part 2
NURSE: “How big were the bees? This big? Bigger than a grapefruit?”

Inside, the team discovers that one more person has gone crazy. Walter examines her.
Gruesome!

He is also taking a blood sample and Peter was able to convince Olivia to have her blood tested too.

OLIVIA: “Well, I'm glad you're here -- not just for me but for him. I've seen the way he's been with you lately. Before you got here, he was kind of shut-down and isolated.”
PETER: “He's a lot like my Walter, this one.”
OLIVIA: “What's she like?”
PETER: “Pardon me?”
OLIVIA: “The other Olivia. I'm just curious.”
Haha, be careful how you answer Peter. 
That reminded me of 2.22 Over There Part 2 when Fauxlivia asked him that question. 
His answer back then: “She's a lot like you. Darker in the eyes, maybe. She's always trying to make up for something. Right some imaginary wrong. Haunted, I guess.”

PETER: “I don't know, she's, uh -- she's driven. She's very, very stubborn. She doesn't like to lose. But she sees the best in people, even when they don't see it themselves. When she first found me, I was in Baghdad trying to run a scam on these two Iranian businessmen.”
Peter, you might have been scamming the Iranian businessmen, 
but Olivia is not so bad at scamming either. After all, she convinced you to come with her (1.01 The Pilot).

PETER: “She gave me something that I hadn't had since -- really since my mom died. She gave me... a place to call home... a place I'd want to call home. Eventually, we even had our own thing.”
OLIVIA: “A thing?”
PETER: “Yeah, a thing. A routine, you know? On Friday nights, we'd get together. We'd watch cheesy horror films and order in from Damiano's.”

No, you’re supposed to watch Fringe Friday nights, remember? No wonder the ratings are low, lol.

Meanwhile, the person who had just gone crazy killed herself. Olivia still not knowing what’s going on tries to stay encouraged.
OLIVIA: “We're all gonna be okay. We just need to figure out what's happening here and find out how to get out.”

As Peter would say in 2.12 What Lies Below: “That’s just like you.”
And speaking of that episode,
Olivia says: “We are gonna get out of this.”

The funniest moment in this episode for me was when Walter used the intercom to summon Peter and Olivia to the bio lab. He’s figured out what’s happening here.

PETER: “Walter, what you're saying is the two universes merged together somehow?”
WALTER: “Yeah, I'm afraid I am. These two circles... represent the respective universes. And this overlap is the town. Now, for reasons that I am yet to deduce, our Westfield has merged with the Westfield from the alternate universe, trapping the three of us in the overlap.”
There is a picture of two worlds hanging in the Bishop’s hallway that reminded me of this. I couldn't find a good screenshot of it though.

OLIVIA: “Okay, well, how can two universes merging drive an entire town insane?”
PETER: “Maybe the same thing that's happening to the town is happening to the townspeople. They're merging with their doppelgangers.”
Like in 2.14 Jacksonville

WALTER: “Which would explain why Teresa, uh, thought her husband was alive and dead at the same time. I mean, can you imagine being flooded with years of experiences and memories that were not your own? The mind -- unable to distinguish between what's real and what is not.”


Poor Olivia, still not knowing if her blood was okay.

OLIVIA: “Okay, well, can it be reversed?”
She asked Walter that question before, when she met him at St. Claire’s talking about John Scott’s condition (1.01 The Pilot).
WALTER: “Sadly, no. I am afraid the damage is done.”

Walter, enough with the suspense already, just tell her/us!

PETER: “So what are you saying, Walter, that Olivia's –“
WALTER: “What? No, Olivia's blood was fine. Did I fail to mention that?”
PETER: “Yes, you left that part out.”

Don’t know who looked more relieved, Peter
or Olivia.
WALTER: “Oh, you're -- you're perfectly fine, dear. Now, as with all of us, it stands to reason that Cliff and the other people here do not have doppelgangers at present in the town in the alternate universe.”

But something is still happening with Olivia, and yes, I will have to get back to that later as well. 

So Peter thinks it could be Amphilicite because it does have the power to blow a hole in the universe as he says in 4.09 Enemy Of My Enemy.

WALTER: “Yes, that would do it.”
OLIVIA: “You think that David Robert Jones is involved?” PETER: “I don't know, but maybe that's why he was at the quarry. Mining Amphilicite, to do this.” OLIVIA: “But why? I mean, to what end?”
WALTER: “Of course, if my theory is correct, it presents a more pressing problem. The effects I have just described -- t – they are just Phase One.”
OLIVIA: “What's Phase Two?”
For one, destroying everything.
The other thing, I think, phase two pertains to is Olivia. This came to mind from 4.09 Enemy Of My Enemy.
And yes, I’ll get back to that too. Let me finish the regular observations for this episode and then I will try to explain what I mean.

So they have to figure out where to go. Walter is out of ideas.

OLIVIA: “M - maybe you should go and talk to him.”
PETER: “Me?”
OLIVIA: “Well, I've seen how you two are together, and he seems to respond to you.”

Just like 1.16 Unleashed
OLIVIA: “But can you focus him?”
PETER: “Focusing Walter is even at the best of times just a matter of degrees. Okay, fine.”
OLIVIA: “Thank you.”

So they figured out that the safest place is in the eye of the storm. Walter and Peter do the math.
I just love it when the Bishop Boys work together here in 2.18 The Man From The Other Side.
They decide to take a school bus because it fits all and it wouldn't be affected by the magnetic disturbances.

But apparently not everyone on the bus is going to be making it until the end.
Walter pepper sprayed this guy, either Peter or Olivia shot him and then he was kicked off the bus.

The duality again reminded me of 2.14 Jacksonville where Mr. Pratchet from over here melted together with the Mr. Pratchet from over there.

The safe place was on the corner of Cypress and Quimby.
This was last week’s episode 4.11 Making Angels. The name of the liquor store was “Quimby”.

As the “storm” blows over there are some interesting exchanges between Olivia
and Peter.
Not quite sure what they mean. And then everything goes black. All that’s left of either Westfield is that corner of Cypress and Quimby.

BROYLES: “During the search, we found several unusual devices. We're not sure how the technology works, but they were placed around the perimeter of the town.”
OLIVIA: “David Robert Jones.”
BROYLES: “HazMat detected trace amounts of amphilicite.”
OLIVIA: “What would David Robert Jones have to gain by destroying a town that people didn't even know was here to begin with?”
BROYLES: “I don't know. But the amount of amphilicite recovered from those devices is only a fraction of Jones' stockpile.”

He wanted you to be there, Olivia. I’ll get to it soon, I promise. I’m almost done. 

CLIFF: “Well, we have each other. No matter what happens, we'll face it together.’
I think this was the moral of the story. This goes for Walter, Peter and Olivia as well.

Walter is back in the lab making crepes.
2.07 Of Human Action. WALTER: “Whenever your mother made them, you called them creeps.”
But Peter gave him a rain check because he had other plans.

When Walter says good night he had that questioning look on his face,
like: “why do you need to go home? You are home”

OLIVIA: “Hey, come in.”
PETER: “Hey. I hope you don't mind. I was just in the neighborhood. Thought I'd stop by to see how you're feeling.”
OLIVIA: “No, why would I? I'm gonna pour you a drink.”
PETER: “What is that that smells so fantastic?”
OLIVIA: “What do you mean? It's Friday. I ordered Damiano's.”
PETER: “W - whoa. Olivia.”

And again I’m not sure who looked more shocked. Olivia
or Peter.

I was so excited I literally screamed YES!!!!
But then I saw the preview for next week and my dreams were shattered, or were they?  Is this our Olivia or not? See for yourself.


Okay, so now to all those “I’ll get back on that” places. I’ll list them again:
-Olivia asks what brings them to Vermont
-Walter’s obsession with food is going to get them into trouble
-Something is happening with Olivia, recalling Edina, the tremors and dizzy spells
-Phase two
-several unusual devices

This came to mind from 1.14 Ability
JONES: “I'm trying to get you to pass Test Number One.”

We know that Jones and Nina want something from Olivia, right?

After multiple re-watches I noticed something. In the frame is a dot, a light that came on as Olivia drove past the city limits of Westfield. A light like something was activated. It was there for just a second.
So what if David Robert Jones used Westfield to lure Olivia there. He used Westfield because of the low population. He had set up several unusual devices around the perimeters of the town. He had to have an incident that would make sure Olivia would get there. Cliff said that it started three days. The plane crash is what brought the team there. If the plane had crashed sooner Olivia would have gotten there sooner, if later, well you get the point.
Walter thinking about food was one of the reasons driving into Westfield, they also might have had to question people there. So they follow his desires and by driving through the invisible barrier, triggered “phase two” (remember the message from Nina to Jones) which started destroying everything but also activated something in Olivia, like her memory. Jones is smart and he has Nina to help him. I’m sure there was a way for him to synchronize the device with Olivia’s DNA or a tracker maybe.


Now I just need to figure out what exactly they want from her, hm.

I have one more theory which I’m sure I will get scrutinized for.
Projection Peter in 3.03 The Plateau
“Real is just a matter of perception.”
What if Peter never disappeared? What if everything we’re seeing is from Olivia’s perspective?

I also know that all theories have holes. That’s why they are just theories.

OTHER OBSERVATIONS

As I said the glyphs spelled OLIVE
That’s a nickname for Olivia and Fauxlivia for that matter. All the other cortexi-kids have called Olivia that. Walter and Bell called her that. Nina (grrr) calls her that too.

This wasn’t my observation. Someone pointed it out and I thought I’ll just put it at the end. The flag on the wall has only 48 stars.
The flag outside the sheriff’s office looks like the normal flag.


Keep watching!

“In the end I have to believe in HOPE”

10 Comments:

Zepp said...

Very good this work, rich in detail and comparative cortexifan, as always. After thinking a lot about, I'm feeling, that these events in Westfield, are reflections of another large effect Fringe, a type of accommodation, after the big event, where people become "other" without "existence "of Peter. That final scene of this episode, induces me to these thoughts. Will Olivia, before he returned? I think that "everything" is coming back to the beginning. Those events occurred in the 1st season, I think that should be being repeated, with some differences, I think. Another thing I'm thinking, it's about Peter. He is the center of everything that is happening, what has happened and will perhaps happen, I see. The universes, timelines dimensional and people change, but not Peter. Peter is the center of everything. The universes change, but he is still the same. Is he still the same, really?

Anonymous said...

I love a good P/O sandwich. This episode was full of them! :) The last scene totally reminded me of 4.1 or 4.2? where the Observers are talking about "traces of the old timeline continuing to bleed through". Maybe it partially has nothing to do with DRJ. Maybe the old timeline HAS been bleeding through little by little. I'm uber excited! But I wonder if it's happening to Fauxlivia too. She didn't seem to have any dreams about Peter before as she did not recognize him in Enemy of my enemy (thank god). Neither has Walter. But maybe that will happen next?

My prediction for next episode: Olivia will come to and become confused and deeply apologetic, but then towards the end of the episode, something will trigger the transformation complete.. another bell sound perhaps???

Unknown said...

this new timeline reminds me of a rubberband, and it seems that the longer Peter exists in this timeline it will eventually snap back. (this has been my inkling since the new season).

ACJ said...

The diner bugged me when I saw it, and so I did some digging. Either it's just coincidence, or some serious foreshadowing, but the place the observers are conversing in 4.01 (http://www.fringefiles.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=205&pid=74817#top_display_media) is the same set as the Westfield Diner (http://www.fringefiles.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=239&pid=83610#top_display_media). Certain shots even show the latticed wall.

One of my favorite moments was actually after Walter confirmed that Olivia was fine, and Peter promptly gave her gun back :)

Also, I think it's very clear with the green lamps right next to Olivia in the last scene that their memories are merging, and this is in fact both of them. I was wondering whether this would start happening on a larger scale at some point, and if so, what will happen to characters who have already died, or who don't exist in this timeline? Alt-Broyles, or Baby Henry?

Seriously though, I can't wait for this Friday!

cortexifan said...

@ACJ,
now that you say it. You are right about the diner. Good catch.
I can't wait for Friday either.

Tezzza said...

So Has Anyone Else Yet Noticed That Walters Blood Type Seems To Change Each Season?

Bayport Bob said...

one wonders if in any of these "different universes" walter has removed some of his brain as has been recounted earlier and what happened to that removed intellect and why he did so. why walter never felt the need to leave the institution he was held in at the start of fringe or if any of the other walters experienced any of that either.

Anonymous said...

One more sidenote.. I think it's hilarious that Peter gets the sweet, romantic dreams of Olivia (in the park, having breakfast) and Olivia gets the saucy sex dreams. LOL.

milostanfield said...

@ACJ and the diner

Good eye. Probably a location they scouted once and liked, then used again. Or a built set they recycled to save money.

But with this show you just never know. That familiarity lends a significance to a set. If they show it a third time there may be something to it (or they need a new location scout).

The apartment building where Bolivia was living during the episode Bloodline (3.18) is right across the street from the apartment where Cameron James lived in "Subject 9" (4.04), despite their being in different universes and timelines(!). The white trim on one of the buildings gives it away.

There are probably others. It would be fun to hear from someone living in Vancouver about locations. There are so many TV shows shooting in BC now they must run into each other. That would be weird.

Another strangeness is how they play with location geography. An actor walks around a corner and is suddenly in a different part of town. I live in San Francisco and I'm starting to notice that happening in Alcatraz. Some of it is shot here but most of it in BC. The light is so similar in the two cities it's pretty seamless. Making TV shows is hard work.

Unknown said...

After the town is gone and the paramedics are checking up on people, I noticed that one of them had a shoulder patch that was not the usual shoulder patch paramedics have, but a Massive Dynamic logo.

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