Fringe Summer Rewatch: #202 "Night of Desirable Objects"

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.

Every time I watch this episode I get flashes of The X-Files, my favourite show at the time. I like to say it was because of familiar Vancouver locations and seeing John Savage in the show. It really was the monster of the week that interests me most about Fringe. We get that fully when the science team gets back to work on a case. I was just as excited as Walter.

It's a fresh mystery, pregnant with possibilities. Who knows where it may lead?

Olivia is released from the hospital. She’s not one hundred percent recovered, needing a cane for support and doesn’t remember what happened to her yet. There is light banter between Olivia and Peter not seen since "Safe", where she lets him help by carrying her suitcase. She remembered to say the Greek. Might she also remember William Bell’s advice to keep Peter close as well?

Not long after Olivia is out, Peter gets Broyles’ permission to investigate a series of recent sudden disappearances in Lansdale, Pennsylvania. It might begin to help figure out what happened to Olivia.

Walter, in his own way, is trying to figure out how Olivia disappeared. It has become a tradition to demonstrate with toy cars, just like he would do later again and again.

Peter assures Broyles that Olivia will be fine, even after she discharged her weapon in his direction, narrowly missing his head. Walter also assures Olivia that she’ll be fine. It seemed the only person not convinced was Olivia, especially when she noticed her heightened sensitivity to sounds. She does not confide in anyone until the end, perhaps because it is not normal for her. Without this ability, would they have cracked the case?

Andre Hughes, the only suspect they have in custody, was a former doctor. His specialty was reproductive biology and gene replacement. He is not the most cooperative person. He claims to only wanting to help people. He is a person of interest because of his background in science and his wife died during childbirth seventeen years ago. With the help of Agent Amy Jessup, the investigation led them to the discovery of another mystery. Despite having lupus, Mrs. Hughes was able to carry their infant son to term. As we find out, it was no ordinary baby. Walter learned that Hughes managed to inject the fetus with a mix scorpion and mole rat DNA so it would survive in its mother’s womb. That too reminded me how the other Olivia’s pregnancy was manipulated so both could survive the delivery in "Bloodline".

It was super-baby Hughes that had been terrorizing the Lansdale community for months. His father was simply covering up the crime. The stress got to him and he could not live with himself any more.

The shapeshifter pretending to be Charlie cannot hold his form for long and has to ingest mercury to hold his shape. When ersatz Charlie drives Olivia home, there is still a rapport that is not unlike that of shifter Ray Duffy with the son of the real Ray in "Do Shapeshifterse Dream of Electric Sheep?". It shows me how much of the donor identity remains upon transference. So I did find it odd that Peter was able to figure out the shapeshifter at the train station in "Entrada". Shifter Charlie is ordered to help Olivia remember what happened on the other side.

This is also the first time Olivia meets Sam Weiss, Nina’s healing guru.

Notable moments:

Olivia sums it up best.

Could you imagine living with a burden like that... when all you wanted was a son?

Agent Jessup finds a note from Andre Huges’s pastor, saying his loss is God's will

If Peter Bishop Never Existed...

William Bell did travel to the other side.
Walter still experimented on Olivia when she was three-years-old.
Olivia still had an abusive step-father.
Walter seemed like a father figure to her in "Subject 13". He might have cultivated a relationship with Olivia.
It showed in the touching moment, where Walter admits to feeling sad, when he thought Olivia was dead.

Fringe Summer Rewatch: #201 "A New Day in the Old Town"

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


Last season’s finale left viewers in awe as the camera panned away from Olivia looking out the window of William Bell’s office, revealing that she was standing in one of the Twin Towers.

The second season premiere of Fringe, opened with an unexpected bang. Or more like a crash. My first thoughts watching this scene unfold were, “Who the heck is this guy, and why do I care?”

It turns out that the introduction of the shape-shifters would prove to be more than just adding an enemy. Over the course of series, viewers see another instance of humanizing those that we would normally consider the “bad guys.” But for this episode, there is nothing to love about these organo-mechanical beings that kill others and steal their identities in order to infiltrate our world and fool those closest to the deceased.

The vehicle that crashed and that was supposedly driven by Olivia makes me think of a few considerations. Did the SUV get pulled over from the other side, sending another equal mass object over? Or was it quantum-entangled with a similar vehicle on the other side with Olivia as the driver?

Speaking of quantum-entanglement, this episode is where the vintage typewriter store was introduced, and it plays a continuous role in the series.

Mortality

When the doctor at the hospital told Walter and Peter about Olivia’s terminal prognosis, Walter’s statement concerning life and death has a new interpretation.

Simple. Reductive. Absurd. Life and death, these are relative terms. Contextually defined, dependent on cultural specifics.

He is undoubtedly indulging in primitive diagnostics. Agent Dunham is not dead. She's not dead. She's not dead.

The matter of life and death was touched upon heavily in the third season. William Bell sacrificed his corporeal self in order to return the Fringe team back to their universe. But Bell "came back" using soul magnets. Roland Barrett tried to bring back the girl that he loved in Marionette, and almost succeeded, except for the lack of a “soul.“ Dana Gray wanted to die in Stowaway, but could not no matter how she tried. Walter and Peter “died” in Olivia’s mind in LSD. Peter took the gamble to go back and make a different choice in The Day We Died, because he wanted Olivia to live in the future.

Walter and Peter

Walter and Peter have become much closer this season, with Peter taking his father to the grocery store, and playing the ‘I don’t want a big deal made of my birthday’ game. Last season, Walter seemed to come to understand that the adult Peter that he now calls his son, is the alternate of the boy he buried. Yet, he still gets confused as he asserts that Peter loved custard as a boy, and Peter insists that he doesn’t like it and never has. Walter’s innocent statement about wanting to see Olivia eat his pudding, and Peter’s reaction was a great laugh. (Sorry, I love innuendo.) But on Fringe, the other shoe often drops whenever anyone is happy, and Peter’s look over the phone call he received sets the stage for an emotional and frantic roller-coaster of an episode.


Olivia and Peter

It always amazed me when some people thought that Peter and Olivia’s kiss in Over There, came out of nowhere. I always got the vibe that Peter felt a spark for Olivia, but was staying “at arms’s length” because of what happened between her and Agent John Scott.

There is a monumental importance to this series found in the hospital scene in which Walter examined “Olive” and broke down into tears, as Peter looked through the window, obviously about to breakdown himself. This is where the “epic” love story began, in my opinion. It only gets more obvious when Peter nearly choked up when Olivia's sister Rachel told him, “You know she liked you, Peter. Did you know that?” The grief on his face when he went to tell Olivia good-bye just… hurt.

Also, Olivia told Peter that he is good at taking care of the people that he cares about. Little did she know that in the future, he’d risk himself for the people that he loved.

From here on out, there was no doubt in my mind that Peter felt more for Olivia than just friendship. But like all good love stories - I won’t call it mere romance, because it is much more than that - it took a lot of time for these two broken people to come together.

The Greek Phrase

Einai kalytero anthropo apo ton patera toy.

This line has come into play so much in the series

During season three, I speculated that it would be used to let Peter know that the Olivia with him, was not the Olivia Dunham he knew. So, I was pleasantly surprised when finally, the phrase was brought up, and Oh! Alt-Livia failed the test.

But curiously, that was not the end of the line's importance. It would be the line that was typed on the quantum-entangled typewriter in The Last Sam Weiss, letting Olivia know that she could manipulate objects in the other universe.

Peter Shows Commitment

Walter had previously told Peter that his biggest problem was a lack of commitment. Episode 2:01 shows that Peter had deviated from that early character assessment. The man that wanted to run in The Arrival grew to become one that started to become accepting of caring for his father and working with the FBI while trying to make a difference.

Peter’s character has never been one to go over-the-top with emotion. When he breaks, he breaks silently. The bar scene with Broyles showed the determined but frustrated Peter that wanted to get answers, and who was tired of roadblocks and being jerked around.

Who would have guessed that this scene of frustration and mourning would come back to have a deeper significance after season three? Peter tells Broyles:

They're shutting you down? What were we even doing, anyway? We'd sit around and wait for somebody to die some grisly, macabre death, or for the entire fabric of the universe to come shredding apart. We were the clean-up crew, sent in to mop it up and make sure it was all neat and tidy for the file. We were always too late anyway.

In The Day We Died, Broyles tells Peter of his frustration, mirroring their 17 year old conversation in the bar, except this time, they knew that the fabric of the universe was literally shredding apart.

We're running around putting on band-aids, and every day more people are lost because of it, and Walter was responsible. I know him. And I know his intentions weren't this. But there's not a single person out there who hasn't lost someone they love because of him. You can't begrudge the anger they feel towards him.

Peter also lamented being “too late for Olivia” in 2:01, and he decided to not be too late in TDWD.

Peter took it upon himself to save Fringe Division. The shape-shifter device that he gave to Broyles was proof that there was a real threat to the country - and the world. In Over There, Broyles explained that the snazzy new Fringe Division headquarters was part of Peter’s demands. This could have been the basis for the Fringe Division in TDWD.

Peter’s line to Broyles:

From now on, we're calling the shots. We're done reacting. We're not gonna be too late anymore. After all, somebody's got to save their asses, right?

Does part of calling the shots and no longer being too late involve time-line alteration? It is interesting as well that Peter is the one that ends up trying to save everyone.

Biblical Imagery

Jessup was seen near the ending of the episode making connections between Fringe cases and the Biblical Book of Revelations. This plot seemed to drop into whatever vortex Jessup was sucked into. Or did it? Our Fringe team of Walter, Peter and Olivia has often been referred to as a Trinity, much like the Christian concept. The name Peter Bishop has definite religious significance as it was the Apostle Peter that Jesus referred to as “the rock” upon which he’d build his church, and Bishops are religious leaders. Interestingly, The Day We Died had this line from Astrid:

The End of Days. Ha. That's one of my father's favorite sermons. When the world dies and a savior arrives to end the suffering and usher all the worthy into Heaven.

Despite the disappearing Agent Amy Jessup, and the death of Charlie Francis, this is one of my favorite episodes. I always describe it to people as where Fringe Division, and especially Peter Bishop, got teeth.

Unanswered Questions

Of course, everyone wants to know what happened to Agent Jessup, and what was the deal with her Fringe cases versus the Book of Revelations?

Who gave Agent Jessup the password to access the Fringe team’s files?

Who set-up Olivia’s accident?

What did the other side (Walternate?) know about Olivia’s meeting with William Bell?

Why did Peter’s mother tell him a phrase that was also known by William Bell?

Who is the typewriter store owner? He’s not a shape shifter. Is he a human subject sent to our universe, or what?

If Peter Bishop Never Existed?

I think that Bell would still pull Olivia over to the other side, and her accident would still take place.

Fringe Division may have been shut-down without his resolve and tenacity.

If the theory about Peter and Olivia having a metaphysical type of connection is true, then Olivia may have never woke up from her coma.

Joshua Jackson Cheers Fringe's Vanishing Act-and How It Will Save the Peter/Olivia Romance

Joshua Jackson Cheers Fringe's Vanishing Act – and How It Will Save the Peter/Olivia Romance by Matt Webb Mitovich

Joshua Jackson is sorry if you fretted over his fate (as well as that of Peter Bishop’s) after his Fringe alter ego literally flickered out of existence in the Season 3 finale. But he assures you it was in the name of several greater goods — including boosting the Peter/Olivia romance.
Reflecting on early this spring, at which time he first got word that Peter might cease to exist, Jackson tells TVLine, “They brought me in as part of the [creative] process at the end, because there was a lot of debate internally about whether to finish [the season] with that or not, because it is such a big thing to do. And I was very much on the pro side.”

Why would an actor vote in favor of his character disappearing? Jackson’s rationale was two-fold. “One, it was the right ending for that season’s story – it almost had to be,” he says of the story arc in which Peter confronted his destiny as the “trigger” for a doomsday machine.

Jackson’s second reason for validating Peter’s vanishing: “I was never a real huge fan of the Peter/Olivia storyline,” he concedes. “All of Fringe is on this epic scale, and that seemed kind of banal to me at the center of it.”

But now, in the wake of Peter’s season-ending act and its dire ramifications, his connection to Olivia (played by Anna Torv) “is on an epic scale as well,” Jackson notes. “This guy sacrificed himself for the woman that he loves, which made that relationship more interesting and it launched us into the off-season with this ‘Holy s—t!’ moment.”

Getting back to those fretting Fringe fans, I asked Jackson if he had words of reassurance, any sort of promise that they will get their fill of Peter (and thus him) despite a season-opening storyline that would seem to limit his presence. The gist of his missive: the show, and I, would never betray you.

“Part of the reason they ended up making the decision to go with that cliff-hanger is because there’s a belief, given how passionate our fans are, that there is a level of trust in us — and we are all keenly aware of not violating that trust,” he shares. “So as much as there was a freak-out and panic, it was done with the hope that everyone understands that we’d never [mess] with our audience, which has been so faithful to us and kept us on the air.

“It was just a case of stealing a page out of [executive producer] J.J. Abrams’ playbook,” he continues, “and keeping people on their toes with anticipation… and then hopefully satisfying their desire.”

Fox’s Fringe premieres its new season on Friday, Sept. 23, at 9/8c.
Source:tvline.com

Fringe Summer Rewatch: #120 "There is More Than One of Everything"

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.

Each of Fringe’s season finales have been fast paced and leaving the audience ready for more. The third season finale has left me and many other fans dumbfounded. Just where can the show go from there? How will the past three seasons end up not being negated? I think the key is in understanding these very past episodes; that the history in them already has some of the answers.

Last summer, I anxiously awaited to find out what happened to Olivia and our Fringe team with a dupe in their midst. But it is this first season finale that truly altered the fabric of Fringe, weaving a rich story tapestry that made me feel that this show, allowed to play out, would be something special.

General Observations

Nina Sharp was shot in the last episode. Her robotic arm was discovered and was going haywire. Part of me wonders why Jones let her live. I also find it amusing that Nina has Kevlar parts in her ribcage. Nina seems to be very paranoid. Instead of telling Broyles outright what Jones wanted, she asked for Olivia.

When Nina came to Walter’s Harvard basement lab, her reaction to seeing Peter was interesting. Still wondering why she is so unusually interested in Peter.

Nina said that Jones always felt he was special. Once again, the theme of special people was introduced.

The confusion surrounding William Bell continued. Olivia was under the impression that Jones works for Bell.

Olivia lost her normally cool and calm composure. This matter became personal for her. However, Broyles let her know that she cut him off before he could tell her that he was on her side, and that he agreed about what needed to be done. Nina Sharp noticed that Olivia’s drive to meet Bell was more than a professional desire.

I love how Broyles evolved from disparagingly calling Olivia ‘Liaison,’ to respecting her and doing whatever he could to assist her investigations.


Origins of The Pattern Emerge

Olivia has been shown to have amazing connective capabilities, and she used her smarts and tenacity to find a usable pattern to ‘The Pattern.’ However, in Brown Betty, it is Peter that shows her the map of all the incidences of Walter “stealing the dreams of children.”

As Olivia investigated she wondered why these events were increasing in number. Nina explained:

We happened, Agent Dunham. Scientific progress, advancing technologies... by meddling with the laws of nature, has hastened the decay of these constant fundamentals and increased the number of soft spots.

When Nina first said this, it seemed to me to be a remark about humanity in general. But now I’m convinced that the “We” she referred to was herself, Walter, William, Peter, Olivia, Broyles, Astrid, etc. But part of me also wonders if my first assumption was true, because the more technologically advanced society of the other universe was suffering anomalies at a much higher rate than our prime universe. The show had established the “zero event” as Peter’s abduction, caused by Walter crossing over. Did the other universe have more soft spots to begin with, and Walter’s intrusion just started the stacked dominoes to fall faster?

The constant laws of physics were really turned upside down in the S3 episode Os, as two of the most dense elements, Osmium and Lutetium, combined to form a molecule lighter than air.

As I watched the scene here in 1X20, I noticed something I had not picked up on before. Olivia asks:

Which of these events are the oldest? Do you remember? I mean, these events are somehow consequences of ‘soft spots’ --

Nina looked right over to Broyles who also gave her a knowing glance. What was that about? Also, when Olivia surmised the location as Reiden Lake, I’m surprised that Nina Sharp didn’t have a heart attack, considering that is where she lost her arm.


Olivia/ Peter

When Walter went missing and Peter was worried, Olivia wondered if he left because of the incident that Peter says Walter referred to as “the assault in the pastry shop.” Olivia was genuinely upset about hurting Walter, but it seemed that she saw how it also hurt Peter, as he was responsible for the old man. Plus, Peter had to live with what his father did to Olivia.


The Coin

Any Fringe fan knows how coins keep showing up. It is a continuous prop throughout the series. In this episode, September showed Walter a Walking Liberty coin, just like the one he later finds in the lake house and later lays on top of his Peter’s gravestone.

Walter asked September, “How did you get that?

Peter once again exhibited lapsed memories concerning his childhood. Walter told him about the way Peter loved coins when he was very sick, but Peter didn't remember. Walter replied, "I do." Was Walter still confusing the two Peters? Did this Peter continue to collect coins when he came to this universe? In the episode Peter, the Peter we now know showed his mother the coin trick that Walter's Peter had showed him before he died. In The Last Sam Weiss, confused Peter went through a lot of effort to obtain a Walking Liberty coin in order to show it to his father, "Walter Bishop. The Secretary of Defense."

Later, Walter was confused when Peter played with such a coin after he was examined.

He quickly asked Peter, “Where'd you get this?”

Walter apparently never gave the coin back to Peter. Peter told the pawn shop owner when he bought it that it “always brings him luck.” We can be sure that this seemingly mundane prop has a significance that will extend into season four.

Walter/Peter

This episode shows a great transition in the relationship between Father and Son. At the start of the series, Peter did not want anything to do with Walter and was prepared to leave as soon as possible. By this time, Peter was offering to go and gently retrieve his wayward father himself.

As Walter broke down into an angry rant-filled search in front of Peter, he said that he started something long ago, and now he has to finish it.

There is significance to the scene in which Peter told Walter about his memories of him making pancakes on Saturday mornings at the beach house. Walter remembered that they were whale-shaped, and Peter concurred. This is one of the first of this Peter’s childhood memories shared with Walter. Previously, Walter would talk about Peter’s childhood, and Peter could not remember what Walter was talking about. We find out later that this is because Walter was mixing up his Peter with the boy he stole from the other universe. In this episode, it appears Peter jarred Walter’s memory. When Walter found his son’s coin in the trunk, it really hit home that he was remembering what he did.

As Walter and Peter traveled to Reiden Lake, Peter said something striking:

After all these years, what's going to happen if we're not on time?

Clocks were very prevalent in Season 3, specifically notable were the digital clocks in The Box, The Plateau, Entrada, 6:02 AM EST, The Last Sam Weiss, and The Day We Died.

Another exchange of interest:

PETER: What else aren't you telling me, Walter?

WALTER: Lots, I'm sure, but none of it's relevant.

Oh Walter, everything you’ve kept from Peter is relevant. Or would it be if the boy would be blinked from existence eventually?

Walter loves leaving notes, it seems. Peter was happy because Walter left him a note concerning his absence. Walter also wrote a letter for Peter explaining his real origin in White Tulip, but burned it. The pictures of Peter in the machine and of Olivia turning it off telepathically were kind of a version of a note from Walter, I guess.


When this episode first aired, the scene with Walter in the graveyard was quite curious to me. I figured that it had something to do with Peter’s mother, because I assumed she was dead. The lab assistant killed in the fire that had Walter committed to St. Claire’s also came to mind. There are hints dropped throughout the previous episodes that suggest something was not quite right about Peter. My suspicions grew when Walter told Peter at the lake house:

WALTER: Yes. He theorized that properly nurtured, these abilities could be heightened, intensified, and that in time his subjects may be able to travel from here to there.

PETER: Over there? You mean an alternate world?

WALTER: Around this time, something was lost to me, Peter. Something precious. I became convinced that if only I could cross over myself, then I could take from there what I had lost here.

But I never expected the later scene that caused viewers everywhere to gasp: the gravestone inscribed with ‘Peter Bishop 1978-1985.’


The Momentous Moment

Nina Sharply rudely stood-up Olivia, after promising her a visit with William Bell. As she tried to leave the building, Olivia perceived another slip in either time or place. As she looked around the office that she was led to, she saw things that had to have been confusing. An oxygen mask. A New York Post with headlines consisting of “Obamas Move into New White House,” and a living John F. Kennedy.

William Bell’s answer to Olivia’s question asking about their location was odd. He had to have known that Olivia knew about other universes by now. I’m just not so sure their location was the red universe that would be introduced later.

But Olivia looking out from a window in the standing Twin Towers against a yellow-lit New York skyline did answer the question in a way.

We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto.


Unanswered Questions

Why did the Observer take Walter to visit his Peter’s grave?

If Observers are not supposed to get involved, why did September take Walter to the lake house?

How could Walter know at what point what he had to find at the lake house and why?

What is the true significance of the coin?

What did Walter start ‘a long time ago’ that he has to finish?

Was Walter aware prior to this episode that Peter was not ‘his’ Peter? I assume not.

Why didn’t Peter get any inkling suspicion about Walter’s explanation concerning other realities and the fact the Walter knew exactly where this soft spot was located? Subject 13 showed a very distraught young Peter, desperate to ‘go home.” But nothing jarred his memory concerning his initial few months Over Here?

What was so "special" about David Robert Jones?

Who was protecting William Bell from inquiry?

If Peter Bishop Never Existed

It is pretty safe to assume that a lot of this episode would not exist either. Although Jones did not seem the slightest interested in Peter (almost like he didn’t exist) and would have tried to get to Bell anyway. But the hole surely would not be at Reiden Lake, because this is the scene of the first crossing over, as far as the audience knows. If Walter did not cross over to cure Peter, then the “zero event” most likely would have occurred elsewhere. Then again, Walter said that he had purchased the lake house because of proximity. So maybe the lake would have been the first point of crossing over anyway.

If Peter was not there to help Walter, maybe Walter would have never found the plug at all.

If Peter had not plugged the hole ‘in time,’ Jones may have made it to the other side. Walter made it clear in several episodes (Over There, Subject 13, Entrada) that crossing back over using that method may have shattered the universes.

Fringe Summer Rewatch: #119 "The Road Not Taken"

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


One of the things that I enjoy most about Fringe is how the show has always challenged the audience to think, to imagine, to ponder, and to look at situations at more than just face-value, but at a different angle.

Long before Fringe aired, I had often wondered how my own life would have been different if certain choices were made instead of others. There is one choice I made, that although seemingly harmless at the time, changed the course of my life forever.

The series progressed with this key theme in mind: “The road not taken.” The "what-ifs’" that plague every person's thoughts, as they sit and ponder their lives and the nature of existence. As the alternate universe showed quite well, small differences can mold a person’s life in many ways. The choice to shoot a step-father, the death of a sister, the absence of one person - Peter - can alter not only one person’s life, but that of many. Peter’s absence from his universe of origin changed its destiny. How will his absence in the blue universe affect its course and that of Olivia and Walter?

The penultimate episode for Fringe Season One is jam-packed as it quickly recaps the events of the season leading up to a crescendo of action and new information. This episode is special to me because this was the first episode that I watched live.

My Observations

William Bell is suspected of funding ZFT. Right off the bat, Broyles makes an interesting statement about the ZFT group and their manifesto while briefing agents on the case. He says that their ultimate goal is to either start or get ready for war. An agent asks a question that all viewers should be asking after season 3:

“War with whom?”

It seemed that Susan Pratt’s pyro-ability was triggered by an extreme emotional response in the form of fear.

Walter shows Peter and Astrid the typewriter that he bought for William Bell. The ‘y’ character is slightly offset above the rest of the characters. (It is interesting that old typewriters are used to communicate with their quantum-entangled counterparts Over There, and that Walternate's operatives use a vintage typewriter shop as their safe-house.)

Peter is dumbfounded at the idea that not only may have Bell funded ZFT, but he may have also written the manifesto as well. Walter asserts that there is no way that Bell did this. Also, he points out that there is a missing Ethics chapter, referenced throughout the manuscript. Someone had removed it.

Charlie goes over the details of the crime scene with Olivia. He speaks of a woman… As they are walking, Olivia sees two charred bodies.

Olivia remarks to Walter that she’ll have the coroner prep the "bodies" to be taken back to his lab, which of course confuses Walter because he only sees one body. Olivia sees two, and then it shifts to one right before her eyes.

Nina Sharp: Just Whose Side is She On?

At FBI Boston headquarters, we see the stoic Nina Sharp trying to hold her composure as the FBI prepares to scour Massive Dynamic. Was she really afraid of what they might find? Something that had nothing to do with William Bell funding ZFT, but far scarier - the existence of another universe?

Nina tries to intimidate Broyles, but he’s not buying it. I still wonder how Nina and Broyles know each other. They have obviously worked together in the past.

Nina tells Broyles, “I’m not one of your street thugs that you can bully, Philip.” Is that how she thought of Olivia and the FBI? Or, does Broyles have connection to actual street thugs, possibly the same guys that were after Peter?

Nina declares that “William Bell is not the enemy.” For the longest time, fans have not been sure what to make of Bell’s allegiances. Even now, after the events of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide, I still do not know what to make of Bell’s past with Walter and his true motivations. What he told Peter in Over There still bother me: “You’re holding up better than expected.” If Bell is not the enemy, then why did he make weapons for Walternate, why did the machine appear to be his design, why did he hide the First People books from our fringe team, and why did he use Olivia as his host, at the callous risk of her life?

Walter may have called Bell names, but he always defended him in his overall motivations.

Conservation of Energy

Walter’s statement concerning the massive amount of potential energy in an adult person comes back into play when William Bell sacrifices his body to power the doorway to return Peter, Walter and Alt-Livia to our universe.

Also, Peter remarks that “we’re just not very good at releasing it.” Could there be a possibility that at some point in a time-line, either he or Walter found a way to harness this energy? Energy can be used to create or destroy. Did this cause the existence of the other universe? Maybe I’m grasping for straws, but it’s a fun idea to contemplate.

But this we do know: Peter tells Walter that he took some parts from his electron microscope to use on a project he‘s been working on. Walter bellows “The potential for destruction in each of us is infinite!” As we know, why yes, Peter destroyed an entire universe which led to a path of infinite destruction.

A Science-Fiction Parable?

When Peter and Olivia visit Emmanuel Grayson, the man seems nuts. But his story is interesting in hindsight. Grayson claims that William Bell is having his drug trial subjects activated to prepare them for a coming war with “renegade Romulans from the future. Sent to change the time-line.”

Who are these "renegade Romulans?" In the Star Trek universe, the Vulcan species tries to distance themselves from emotional responses and feeling, depending on logic in all things. In the Fringe mythology, there is a parallel found with the Observers. They seem cold and detached, and are not supposed to get involved in matters. Romulans are cousins of the Vulcans and have emotional responses. Are these renegades actually "rogue Observers" like John Mosley? Or is the reference concerning the First People, because Walter sent the machine back in time so that Peter would make a different choice to save both universes?


Olivia's Perception

I remember being so confused about Olivia’s glimpse into the other side when this episode first aired. Why was she seeing this now? We know from later episodes that she needs a trigger for her abilities. Are time-lines converging? Is it NOT the other universe but another time-line occurring simultaneously? Is Olivia experiencing déjà vu as Walter claims? This Broyles speaks of two victims, further confusing Olivia.

Sanford Harris makes it very clear that he does not want any Federal investigation into William Bell or Massive Dynamic.Why would he be protecting them?

The books that Olivia sees on the bookshelf in Susan Pratt’s apartment are of great interest for those that like to look closer.

When Charlie asks Liv if she thought that their was something wrong with Susan, because she’s a good looking woman in the prime of her life, with no boyfriend, I could just feel my heart hurt because this is the life Olivia is living. Complete with the ‘uniform.’ Pratt’s wardrobe reveals a fondness for grays…

Olivia’s confrontation with Sanford Harris makes me love her even more as a character. She just seethes at his questioning her judgment and professionalism. Her anger however seems to have fueled her perceptive capability, as she flashes to another reality long enough to see the file about the burned twins there.

At this point, I’m confused. We see Charlie with a scar, just like Charlie in the ‘red’ universe. He tells Olivia that half of Boston is in quarantine lock-down. We know that Boston had a huge Fringe event Over There that resulted in massive Amber quarantines. But I’m still not sure about what, when and where concerning Olivia’s perception.

A man named Isaac Winters cut a large check to Susan Pratt. A photo of Winters shows an older man wearing glasses. Nick Lane mentioned in Bad Dreams that someone came to him. In Olivia. In the Lab. With a Revolver James Heath mentioned that a man wearing glasses also came to visit him. Susan Pratt’s answering machine message mentioned the word “tests.” Like the tests that were in the box in Ability? Since we see the light box as Olivia tries to save the twin, I’d say so.

Walter and Peter

Peter is drinking a lot of alcohol in this episode. First, at the lab when Walter is explaining the divergence of paths due to choices, then at the FBI office when he takes some of Olivia's stash for his coffee. Is he really stressed out?

Yet he seems OK as he retrieves some cereal from the grocery store for Walter. He also makes a device to aid in digitizing Walter’s records. Then employs it in reading sound waves from melted glass in order to figure out what happened to Nancy Lewis. Astrid even cracks that he sounds just like Walter, and Peter does not get upset. Walter says something of concern when he tells a story of how Peter made him a popsicle napkin holder when he was five. We know that THIS Peter, is not the same boy. Would the Peter from this universe be mechanically inclined if he had lived?

The Cortexiphan Children

Walter mentions as he looks at a photo of Nancy, that he had seen her before. Of course, Peter remarks that it is because Walter worked with her dead twin's body. But now we know that most likely Walter knew her as a Cortexiphan trial subject.

When Olivia joins the raid on the facility entered by Harris, she comes across pictures and dossiers on the wall of an office including Pratt, Lewis, Nick Lane, David Robert Jones and - herself. One of the dossiers is for a Samantha Gilmore and shows she born in 1984. If she is a Cortexiphan subject, than the trials were still occurring later than what Nina Sharp previously stated.

Over the course of three seasons, we’ve seen Olivia confront the fates of her Cortexiphan cohorts, such as Nick Lane, James Heath and Simon Phillips, with great understanding and pity.

She encourages Nancy Lewis to harness her power, with success. But Olivia still doubted her abilities, right up to the point of deactivating the machine so that Peter could enter it in The Last Sam Weiss.

I think up until this episode, Olivia showed great reservation in dealing with Walter. But this episode became the straw the broke the camel’s back. I really think that her outburst at Walter finally knocked some sense into him. HE had done terrible things in the name of science. But in his defense, he truly felt he was preparing the children for something terrible, and he couldn’t remember exactly what.

Walter: We were trying to help. We meant no harm. 

Olivia: No harm? You were drugging children. Three-year-old children, Walter. Why did you do it? 

Walter: We were trying to prepare you. To make you capable. Able. Something terrible is coming.

Walter grabs Peter’s hand after Olivia leaves, and this is where it sinks home just how broken he is and how much he holds on to Peter for stability.

As Olivia sinks into her SUV with a look of utter shock, I think that this is where she begins to seriously consider the possibility that her life has been manipulated from a very young age, and that yes, she is part of The Pattern.

Unanswered Questions

Why was Olivia able to see the other universe sliding into ours?

Was what she saw even another universe at all?

When Sanford Harris said, “He’s losing patience…” Who is he? Jones? Was it Bell? Or someone else?

Was Isaac Winters the ‘man in glasses” that met with Nick Lane and James Heath to activate them?

What did Nina Sharp mean about the Observer when she told Broyles that “you know what happened the last time when he appeared with that kind of frequency.”

What exactly is the ‘time’ that the Observer refers to when he comes to visit Walter?

If Peter Does Not Exist?

Would the Fringe team been able to connect Sanford Harris to the abduction of Nancy Lewis?

Walter said that “something terrible is coming.” He and Bell knew this before Peter was taken from the other side. Will this terrible occurrence happen without Peter, or will it happen BECAUSE Peter is missing?

Peter offers Walter an anchor in the chaos that has been his life involving Olivia. Would Walter still work with Olivia after her accusations if Peter had not been there for him to lean on?

John Noble to explore fringe research in freaky new Science Channel show-EXCLUSIVE

John Noble to explore fringe research in freaky new Science Channel show -- EXCLUSIVE
by James Hibberd

How perfect is this: Science Channel is teaming with Fringe star John Noble to host a show about, yup, real-life bizarre experiments.

In Dark Matters, Noble explores the most unusual scientific research ever conducted — including head transplantation studies, actual zombie investigations (!) and attempts to cross-breed humans and those damn dirty apes (trailer below).

“The stories we share in Dark Matters are as outlandish as a great sci-fi script or as disturbing as a classic horror tale — the only difference is that they’re all true,” Noble said. “The series offers a glimpse into the dark side of science, as well as human nature.”
The show will use reenactments and CGI to tell the true stories of sometimes ethically challenged experiments throughout history.

“Dark Matters offers a fascinating insight into moments of scientific history where individuals went to extreme measures to achieve a breakthrough,” said Debbie Adler Myers, general manager and executive vp of Science. “It’s impossible to turn away from these true stories that you always assumed were just outlandish urban legends. This is real science — just the dark side of it, featuring brilliant minds who eventually took a dramatic turn. John Noble is the perfect tour guide to escort viewers through this sordid world of research gone horribly wrong, but in some cases, led us the technology and science that we enjoy today.”

Dark Matters has an initial series order of six episodes and debuts Aug. 31 at 10 p.m.

And, hello, here’s a preview:

Source:insidetv.ew.com

Fringe Summer Rewatch: #118 "Midnight"

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.

Midnight was definitely one of those episodes you don't forget. Starting off with a relatively handsome guy that the writers let you think is the killer when he’s watching the news report and grabbing a pocket knife. We follow him to a bar where you begin to think this guy is a real sleaze, cheating on his girlfriend for a one night stand and he might even kill someone. He finally finds a girl who goes back with him and in typical Fringe-fashion, we find out the killer is actually the girl he's taken home.

When the body is discovered and the Bishops and Olivia show up Walter is clearly excited and Peter is in rare sarcastic form as he tries to cheer up a clearly down Olivia who is trying to avoid his questions. We later learn the reason she is down is because her sister, Rachel's, husband has filed for a divorce and also for custody of Ella.

Family drama aside, we get a good peek into ZFT through scientist Dr. Boone who has been coerced into creating experiments for them. The Fringe team is then tasked with saving Boone's wife in order to learn more about ZFT. Problem is, Boone's wife is the big bad spinal fluid vampire.

They're eventually able to track her down through a thermal gun that tracks her above temperature body heat (thanks to the syphilis) at a dance club before she can hurt anyone else. Peter and Olivia are taking her back when she wakes up and tries to make a midnight snack of Olivia while Peter is driving. Luckily Peter saves the day by tranking her again and they're able to get her back in one piece and without becoming food themselves. Meanwhile back at the lab, Dr. Boone with Walter's help has created the cure that should save his wife, but it must be injected directly into her spine with other spinal fluid. Since Dr. Boone knows that his spinal fluid is compatible with hers, he offers up some of his, claiming that he has enough left for her and him. We find out later that this s a lie when he dies on the table after they save his wife. Lucky for team Fringe, Dr. Boone left behind a video spilling all the secrets to ZFT that he knew and all the members he'd heard of, including the benefactor, William Bell.

Side Notes:

• The Observer walks by twice in the club intro scene.




• We learn the state of Broyles’ home life. Divorced with kids.




• 81 people have died up until this episode in Fringe related cases. +146 people on flight 826.




• Peter introduces Olivia to Mako a chop shop guy from Peter's mysterious past.




• Walter enjoys sharing his lab with Boone and they talk the relation of faith and scientific breakthroughs.




• Peter has way too much fun with the sirens.




• Boone claims it is William Bell funding ZFT, which would explain Boone’s hesitance when Walter brings up sharing a lab with Bell.

Quotes:

• How far would you go for someone you love?”




• “You’re my kind of guy”

Song:

• “Tear you Apart” – She Likes Revenge

If Peter Bishop didn't exist...

• We wouldn't have nearly as much sassy sarcasm in the episode.




• Olivia wouldn't have her sound board to talk to.




• Let's face it, only Peter can hold a thermal reading gun and make it look hot.

Fringe Summer Rewatch: #117 "Bad Dreams"

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.

Bad Dreams is a key episode in the mythology of Fringe, introducing to us another Cortexiphan subject -- Nick Lane. The connection that he and Olivia share from the past allows her within her dreams to see what he is feeling and experiencing. Nick is hyper-emotive and highly infectious. His feelings are killing people. Olivia can see and feel what Nick Lane sees and feels. Olivia's mind is capable of translating what Nick feels into images her mind can recognize.

New Questions raised in this episode that remain unanswered:

Ella gets vaccinated. Perhaps there is more than meets the eye.

Nick Lane had a very comprehensive military policy. Where did he get this from?

Cortexiphan, a highly experimental drug -- might enhance predisposed abilities in certain children. It worked on perception. "Perception is the key to transformation." The key here is "certain" children. How did they determine which children to run the cortexiphan tests on?

While Olivia is put under REM sleep and she tries to find where Nick Lane is at she becomes stressed from watching him murder a dancer. It is Peter that reaches out and takes her hand which calms her down. What is it that helps her calm down? His touch? Something else?

Why is there a scar with the number "2" on Nick Lanes face? What about the tattoo on his right arm?

"Olive, you heard me." Nick intentionally sought her out. It seems he remembers the drug trials. Were they capable of doing this as children? How much so? Speaking to each other telepathically? Or through dreams? Perhaps another way?

Other Notable Stuff:

In the beginning there are red, blue and yellow balloons tied to the girls stroller. It is the red balloon that floats to the top of the ceiling.

Olivia's wardrobe we see for the first time, all blacks and grays.

"Why do I feel I don't fit in, anywhere I go." Walter sings this line.

"Must be a terrible thing, not to be able to trust your own mind." Peter Bishop tells Olivia this while waiting to speak with the doctor regarding Nick Lane at the mental hospital.

Nick remembered about the past, Olive, and the coming war against a parallel universe.

Nick was born in Jacksonville, Florida. He too was a Cortexiphan test subject. The children were paired together, to keep them from feeling isolated. Cortexiphan may have greatly amplified the bond.

Peter: "If you can make a better world, you can dream a better world."
Walter:"Or perhaps travel between it."

We see Nick's wardrobe is just like Olivia's, everything is blacks and grays.

"What was written will come to pass." Written on the wall. Olivia has seen this before when David Robert Jones escaped the hospital.

Olivia is immune of Nick's abilities from having Cortexiphan in her body.

"You were made for this." Nick tells her when he begs her to kill him, to stop him from killing others.


If Peter Bishop Never Existed:

In this episode Peter is the force that keeps Olivia grounded. He is confident that she did not kill these people, that the first was a suicide and the second a murder that was committed by the wife as everyone witnessed, not by Olivia in her sleep.

Without Peter having calmed Olivia down by taking her hand, she may not have been able to continue under REM sleep and wouldn't have been able to find where Nick Lane lives.

Fringe Summer Rewatch: #116 "Unleashed"

"Aunt Liv... monster-of-the-week episodes will fade away soon, right?"

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.

"Unleashed" is the ultimate "Monster of the Week" Fringe episode, for better and for worse. And to help you recall it, here are my Fringemunks with their 2009 recap of this episode, via a parody of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean":

Nearing the end of Season 1, Fringe's standalone format reached its formulaic zenith (or pit, depending on how you look at it) with this episode. Starting with the very next episode, "Bad Dreams," Akiva Goldsman and company would start working against this model.

The formula, already seen in numerous episodes preceding it, was as follows:

1. Something strange happens in the neighborhood.
2. "Who you gonna call?" The Fringe team, of course.
3. Walter realizes that his previous work and research may have led to the strange occurrence.
4. Peter's discontent with Walter's past work boils to the surface.
5. Convenient coincidences lead to clues.
6. It is discovered that Walter's previous work wasn't exactly the cause.
7. The Fringe team saves the day.

... which is pretty much exactly what happens here. This is, even more than Episode 1.02, "the same old story."

This episode is fun and exciting to watch, and features some great performances by the principle actors. But the plot is inconsequential to the overall Fringe storyline. And to be quite honest, I am less interested in the plot here, and more interested in other tidbits.


BISHOP VS. BISHOP

The argument over the ear omelet is funny to watch now. At the time the episode aired, many viewers felt it was frustrating to watch (predictions were being made as to when Peter would finally call Walter "Father" or "Dad"). But by the end of the episode, Peter's triumphant smile at Walter's successful cure would signal a little growth in their relationship.


KIRK NOT IN ENTERPRISE

When over-here Charlie Francis was killed off in the Season 2 premiere, complaints about Kirk Acevedo's removal from series regular were heard from viewers to the cast themselves. The cast's discontent spilled into public knowledge via means of interviews, and perhaps the showrunners helped soften the blow (and helped mitigate the further loss of morale) by hiring Kirk to play over-there Charlie later on.

I mention this because the death of over-here Charlie brings an emotional level to this episode in retrospect. We meet his wife (played by Kirk's real-life wife, Kiersten Warren), who probably suffered the greatest sense of loss when Charlie died.


GAG REEL

This is one of the gross-out Season 1 episodes that would continue to be referred to by the cast in later seasons, most notably by Jasika Nicole, who numerous times has discussed how she was grossed out at the larvae scene.


NO TURNING BACK

The episode ends with Olivia restless while trying to sleep - perhaps hinting at the "bad dreams" she would have in the next episode. Or perhaps it embodies where Fringe was at this point in time - restless, knowing things will change, and knowing that things will never be this way again.


IF PETER BISHOP NEVER EXISTED

Without Peter, the episode's events could have unfolded pretty much in sequence, as Peter's existence was inconsequential to what happened. Peter served as a sounding board, sarcastic commenter, comic relief, and a voice of encouragement - but not as a vital element to the standalone plot.


... So, Ella, to answer to your question: monsters aren't real, sweetheart. At least not every week. And thank goodness.

Fringe Summer Rewatch: #115 "Inner Child"

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.

Inner Child was an episode that threw all of us for a loop in season one. We’d gotten so used to gory episodes with bodies being put the through the metaphorical and physical ringer and our favorite fringe team trying to solve the murder. Outside of having an innocent, albeit weird, looking boy, there was an “old” case of Olivia’s that was reopened involving a killer known as the artist, but these are perhaps the least disgusting bodies we've seen so far.

The show starts off at a construction site with a demolition crew checking each part of a building for squatters before the wrecking ball goes through the building. Two men are just leaving the building talking about their plans afterward when one of them pauses, looking very confused. He then makes an excuse to back track to an area he wasn't sure they thoroughly checked and after looking more closely he discovers a cavity. Inside the cavity is a wild looking boy who is half starved and has never seen daylight.

At the same time as Olivia is notified that past unsolved case has been opened, Broyles puts the Fringe team in charge of finding out where the boy came from. At first Olivia spends most of her resources trying to solve the case of the Artist, working tirelessly to find clues and follow evidence to solve the case and the boy recognizes this and tries to help her by giving her hints and clues. It takes a mention from Walter about how he theorizes that the boy is an empath picking up on her feelings mostly and only wants to help her to wake her up more to the boy who's mystery she is supposed to solve. The boy senses her guilt over the matter and her desire to keep him safe and to give him a good home and helps her out one last time. This ends up being the final hint they need to save the latest victim from the Artist's planned fate. Olivia then begs Broyles to pretend to lose the boy so that the CIA won't take custody to run tests on him and for him to be put with a family so he could have a normal and happy life, despite his bizarre past. Broyles eventually agrees and I think looking back this is a big hint to what Broyles is really like. After having given his word to the CIA agent we would expect him to deny Olivia's request, but he doesn't, and I think this reflects Broyles soft spot for children and also for Olivia whom he is growing fond of despite their rocky start.

Things of special notice:

• The striking similarities between the boy and the Observers. Both their appearance and methods of relating to others. He even writes like the observers; not in the foreign language, but without looking at the paper.


• Olivia should've maybe considered going into a children's division with as good as she is with not just Ella, but other children as well. The found boy is only the first of several examples of how easy it is for her to relate to children and make them feel at ease.


• The child's first encounter of sadness and anger is through Olivia when she hears of the boy being taken away and the boy goes into a panic attack that only she can bring him down from. He obviously isn't used to feeling such strong emotions which begs the question how long has he been hidden and alone?

References:

• Amala and Kamala, the feral children of India. http://www.learninginfo.org/amala-kamala.htm
  

Unanswered Questions:

• How many others are there? The CIA agent suggests that this boy is only one of several that are already undergoing tests.


• Who put the boy into the cavern?


• How old is the boy? Walter theorized that he is "much older" than he appears and that he could not put an age on him.


• What medicine did Olivia have to take as a child that was yellow?


• What role does the CIA have in Fringe related cases and the Observers?

And lastly, If Peter Bishop never existed...

This episode really didn't have much Peter drama in it, but they might not have discovered the relation between plastic and cow's blood without Peter's meat packing facility experience. I guess Walter may have done some more strange stuff to the boy without Peter there to supervise if Astrid wasn't able to stop him.

Fringe Season 3 Finale - Part 1 of 2 - Slip Up Or Set Up?

Hey everyone!  Hope you are having a pleasant summer.  FringeTV is doing an episode rewatch of the entire series in the run up to the Season 4 Premiere but unfortunately that is more than I can take on at the moment.  I really wanted to do an article or two about the state of series after such a unique finale.


So here it is.  At least Part 1.  Enjoy!

---

Ever had one of those experiences where you walk out of a movie or concert feeling so transcendent because you have just experienced something amazing?  You cannot wait to share the experience with your friends.  But when you do, you get a big shock.  


Most of your friends hated it.  Or had problems with it.  


Something you felt was brilliant, others detest.  Is there anything more deflating?


Deflated is how I felt about the general reception for the Fringe Season 3 Finale.  However, my opinion of the S3 Finale has not wavered.  I found it, and still find it, a bold and exciting direction for the show to take into Season 4.  


The removal of Peter not just from the events of the timeline of the past 3 seasons but Existence itself is unprecedented in serialized television.  The implications and possibilities of the removal of Peter for the next season are mind boggling.  Yet a lot of the feedback from fans and TV critics has been negative.  


As I read the feedback and the reviews certain issues began to repeat.  The main one, naturally, is the fate of Peter. Is he gone for good?  Is Josh Jackson done with Fringe?   Such reactions are understandable given the unique storyline Fringe has sprung upon its viewers. 

The removal of a main character from a TV series is absolutely unsettling.  It is meant to be.

The obvious answer is Peter will be back.  

For me, the more pertinent questions are:

1) How will Peter be reintegrated into the timeline?  
2) Will the new timeline Peter created allow both universes to survive?  
3) Did Time, like water finding the easiest path to flow, reconfigure itself as expediently as possible by removing the source of irritation?  ie Peter?  Is that correction a long term viable one?


Let us call the timeline we are familiar with in, 'The Day We Died,' the Prime Timeline.  It is not a timeline with a viable future.  The red universe is gone and our blue universe is dying too.  So the Prime Timeline is a dead end.  Peter came back to the present and built a bridge between the two universes. The result was a new timeline was created.  A new timeline with a chance to correct things. A new timeline where Peter Bishop does not exist.  

That is the sacrifice Peter made; most likely unknowingly. 


After the confusion about the removal of Peter, the next big complaint was that the future we were shown and the characters that inhabited it was a world many did not care about.  Here the complaints do carry weight because of the rushed nature of the finale.  More time was needed to build up the emotional ties for the audience.  The previous two episodes could have been compressed into one or one and a half installments and the extra time freed up would have been beneficial to the finale.


This is speculation on my part but it is possible that part of the lack of investment of the Prime Timeline is that is far too reminiscent of those Star Trek - The Next Generation or Voyager episodes involving time travel.  What worked beautifully in, ‘Yesterday’s Enterprise,’ later became a repetitive story device.  A future would be shown where cataclysmic major changes such as the destruction of the vessel and crew would take place.  Only to have it all undone by the end of the episode.  So any buy in by the audience was quickly dissipated and by the third or fourth of fifth time this trick was used the reaction became boredom.  


But that is not the case here with Fringe.


The end of the two universes is still in play.  Peter may have built a bridge between the two universes but the characters left behind have to be willing to cross not only the spatial gap but the philosophical differences it represents.  And yes it is sure to play out that the future world and destruction of the two universes will be prevented.  But that is a logical extension of any story where we expect the protagonists to triumph.  The two universes are still headed to their respective dooms at the start of Season 4.


Where the finale faltered was by not having the actions of the future characters tied to the events that caused Peter to leap into the future using previously setup antagonists.  In, ‘Yesterday’s Enterprise,’ the Picard Enterprise is fighting a war with enemies well established in that franchise.  A war the Enterprise C should have prevented.  In the Fringe future, the team is fighting a new entity that we have no pre-existing investment with. Ah, where was Mr. Jones, or even a, ‘Don’t Trust,’ Sam Weiss when one needed them?  A storyline tied to the Machine is what would have brought that needed emotional heft to the world of Fringe in 2026.

The drama for the next season should be how difficult will it be to prevent this mutual destruction. Especially with one of the major players no longer in the picture; Peter.  The journey next season should not only be a technological challenge but an opportunity for major character journeys and re-evaluations.  Without Peter, who will take his place in the Machine?  We know the Machine is going to be built and sent back in time based on the rules of Time in the discussion Walter had with Peter after Olivia’s funeral.  So someone has to take Peter’s place.  Is it Olivia?  Or will a paradox arise when the realization that the person needed is nowhere to be found?  To see the fallout with the remaining regular cast and how they have changed, and not changed, in a reality without Peter will be fascinating to see.

---

This concludes Part 1.

Look for Part 2 next Friday.  In it a further exploration of Peter's removal from the Prime Timeline will offer some, hopefully, new concepts for everyone to mull over.

Fringe Summer Rewatch: #114 "Ability"

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


Ability is one of the key episodes to the Fringe mythology, and the episode specifically builds upon the background of Olivia Dunham. It’s often cited as a favorite episode, and for good reason. I feel this is where Fringe gripped me for the long haul.

Viewers return to Germany and Wissenschaft Prison for a visit with Mr. Jones. Jones uses Walter's technology to escape from prison by teleportation.

Walter’s discussion of Dis-Re made me think of a few things. Although Jones just used it as a teleportation device, Walter said that it’s intended purpose was to travel through time. Peter’s present consciousness was ported to the future in The Day We Died. Did Walter at some point actually use the Dis-Re to visit the future or past?

Olivia’s meeting with Mitchell Loeb drops a few more bread crumbs. This is where the phrase “what was written will come to pass” was introduced. Nick Lane would use this phrase later in Bad Dreams. After Season 3, I wonder if Jones and his group knew that time-lines were being altered, and set out to stop it.

The ZFT manifesto was introduced here as well. One of Peter’s 'weird connections' reoccurs several times in the series. The rare and used book seller, Markham, was able to find the rare ZFT manuscript in a short amount of time. He obviously had several dealings with Peter. Markham even owned a copy of the First People’s book. How did he even get a copy?

When Olivia speaks to Jones after the raid, one sentence sticks out to me:

“Don’t worry, Ms. Dunham. If I wanted to hurt you, I would have… long ago…”

The ZFT excerpts are of great interest going into the fourth season. At first, I thought that the ZFT section read by Walter was describing the parallel (red) universe. But his mention that the beings' history is slightly beyond ours doesn’t make sense. The Observers may be these beings? Or the First People? (Walter? Peter? Ella? Astrid?)

We think we understand reality. But our universe is only one of many. The unknown truth is that the way to travel between them has already been discovered - by beings, much like us, but whose history is slightly ahead of our own. The negative aspect of such visitation will be irreversible both to our world and to theirs. It will begin with a series of unquantifiable natural occurrences - difficult to notice at first - but growing, not unlike a cancer, until a simple fact becomes undeniable. Only one world will survive.  It will either be us - or them. 

Olivia’s first try at the light box test was mirrored in The Last Sam Weiss when she tried to use the quantum entangled typewriter.

Olivia: So, I am supposed to just turn these lights off by looking at them. (Ability)

Olivia: No, it’s ridiculous, and even if it was possible, manipulating a light is nothing compared to manipulating the machine. (The Last Sam Weiss)

It is striking that Jones knew about Olivia’s treatment with Cortexiphan. Of course, Olivia is the most reluctant “recruit” of them all.

Jones is so happy to see Dr. Bishop. Later it is discovered that he despised Dr. Bell (There is More Than One of Everything) I wonder if something happened between Walter and William Bell that may have provoked Bell to remove parts of Walter’s brain…

After Olivia was successful in diffusing the bomb, Jones was happy and called her “My girl.” I’m one of the fans that has the suspicion that Jones may be someone important to Olivia, possibly even her real father.

Peter/Olivia

Of course, the biggest thing to note here is when Peter came back as Olivia was trying to diffuse the light-box bomb. He could have died along with Olivia, but he did not abandon her. With Peter present, Olivia was able to turn off the light box.

It has not been explicitly stated on the show, but several occurrences over the series have led to the belief that Peter must be present for Olivia’s abilities to work, in addition to heightened emotion such as fear and love.

Examples include, the Jacksonville “almost kiss," Peter/the apartment glowing in 6B, the typewriter in The Last Sam Weiss, and also Olivia's telepathy used in The Day We Died.

Some fans, including myself, believe that Walternate had to separate Peter from Olivia in order to kill her. Otherwise, she could have used her abilities to stop the bullet or to remove the gun from his hand.

Unanswered Questions

• Who is Olivia to Mr. Jones?
• 
  
• How long has Jones been keeping tabs on Olivia?
• 
  
• Was Sanford Harris’s group at odds with those that Jones was involved with?
• 
  
• Did Sanford Harris send Olivia on the raid to prevent her from helping Jones?
• 
  
• Who is the ZFT really describing?
• 
  
• Who devised the box of tests? Walter or someone else?
• 
  
• What were the symbols on the cards found in the box?
• 
  
• How did Jones and his people know about the Cortexiphan drug trials?
• 
  
• Did Jones know that Olivia would be needed as the "crow-bar" that could turn off the vacuum machine?
• 
  
• What exactly were the effects of the Dis-Re on Jones, who exhibited superhuman strength to escape from the hospital?

If Peter Does Not Exist?

It seems this war between worlds was in the making long before Walter stole Peter from the other universe.

• Olivia was treated with Cortexiphan at age three, before Walter crossed into the red universe and stole their Peter Bishop. Bell supposedly discontinued the trials. If Walter had no need to try and return Peter to his world, would Olivia have gone on in life without any further notice of the Cortexiphan?

• Since there is seemingly a grounding/activating link between Olivia and Peter, could Olivia even use her abilities at all without him?

• The ZFT manuscript was retrieved as a result of Peter's weird connection. Would there still be a way to find a copy?

• Would there even be a reason for the light box test, without Peter and the machine?