FRINGE: Jeff Pinkner and J. H. Wyman on Peter's Memories and Fate Versus Choice. Plus, 'Witness the Return' with a New Promo! - Give Me My Remote : Give Me My Remote

FRINGE: Jeff Pinkner and J. H. Wyman on Peter’s Memories and Fate Versus Choice. Plus, ‘Witness the Return’ with a New Promo!

October 21, 2011 by  

Sadly, there is no new episode of FRINGE tonight. But the good news is we’re one week closer to seeing what the heck will happen now that Peter knows no one in his life remembers him. (After everything he went through, how unfortunate is that?!)

I talked with FRINGE executive producers Jeff Pinkner and J.H. Wyman about what state Peter’s mind is in now that he’s back in solid form and they discuss fate versus choice, in regards to the future we saw presented at the end of season three…

In the last moments of the third season finale, Future Peter’s consciousness seemed to be in our Peter’s body, but aside from our Peter’s memories briefly going forward to the future and being confused by his surroundings, we don’t really know where his mind went —
Jeff Pinkner: To be clear, when Peter was in the hangar, he has that awareness, [but] he never disappeared from the machine [physically]. His consciousness took a little trip in to the future and then he came back with knowledge of that.

Right. So it seemed like the Peter that woke up in the machine had the memories and knowledge of all the things that had gone down in the 15 years we had missed, because he was very clearly happy to see the woman he thought was his wife was alive.
JP: That’s right.

Does that mean the Peter we got back is the one we’ve known for the past three seasons? Or is he the one who has all that future knowledge in his head?
JP: [Long pause] Um, well, the answer is yes to all of the above, and it’s slightly complicated because the future that he was aware of — in other words, everything that happened from 2011 to 2026 — was based on Peter making a choice inside that machine which destroyed the other universe. So when he made the choice to not destroy the other universe, presumably many, if not all, of the events from 2011 to 2026 that he witnessed, changed.

In other words, in A CHRISTMAS CAROL, when Scrooge decided to be benevolent, Tiny Tim’s family didn’t go broke. The Ghost of Christmas Future, those events didn’t happen, because they changed the present. So it’s similar with Peter — he will come back with the awareness of what could happen, but that doesn’t mean that it will.

And hopefully we will bypass whatever caused Broyles’ creepy eye, because that might be hard to look at for extended periods of time.
JP: Which is funny, because that gets into things of what is fate and what is choice? Sometimes even though you take a different step on the path, you end up in the same place, inevitably.
J.H. Wyman: Yeah, you may have different things happen, but you may end up in the same place [anyway].

If we end the show with poor Olivia getting a bullet in her brain from Walternate, that will not be fun.
JP: Oh, no, that would suck.

But we do have the fun prospect of Peter now kicking Walternate’s butt for shooting his wife in the head, given that he remembers what went down in the possible future timeline.
JP: Yes, kicking his ass for something he might do in the future would be awesome!

I’m totally Team “Peter Kicking Walternate’s Butt.” But on a serious note, do you have any theories about how Peter is going to deal with all those memories when no one remembers him?

And in case you haven’t seen the amazing “Witness the Return” promotional trailer, please watch it now, so you can understand why I’m still geeking out over it…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTXOZbSB0KU[/youtube]

Related:

FRINGE: Anna Torv and John Noble Tease ‘Subject 9,’ Massive Dynamic, Nina and…William Bell?!
FRINGE Spoiler Alert: Guess Whose Mother is Returning?
FRINGE: Seth Gabel Talks About the Lincolns, Their Relationships with the Olivias and More!

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Comments

8 Responses to “FRINGE: Jeff Pinkner and J. H. Wyman on Peter’s Memories and Fate Versus Choice. Plus, ‘Witness the Return’ with a New Promo!”

  1. kurt on October 21st, 2011 5:50 pm

    um, that was a weird interview. Was this interview conducted during the summer?

  2. Marisa Roffman on October 21st, 2011 6:08 pm

    @kurt: No, but this wasn’t the only part of the interview. There’s more here: http://bit.ly/o2Xz1P http://bit.ly/n0TyJQ and http://bit.ly/paOqf1

  3. AngelMoonGirl on October 21st, 2011 9:53 pm

    Thanks for the scoop! My absolute favorite part of Fringe is Peter and Olivia’s- in my opinion- pretty darn EPIC romance, so the fact that Peter recalls being married to Olivia and all that entails- it makes for a very interesting upcoming storyline, to say the least! I can’t wait to see what Peter does to get Olivia to remember. Or what he does to go home I guess, since I think that’s what will be happening, right? Maybe? Hmm. I kinda hope the timelines merge or something. I want to go back to the original one of seasons 1-3 because without that history the show and all its relationships don’t quite hold the same “weight” (particularly in Polivia’s case!), but in the same instance… there’s a lot of potential in this one too…
    I also sort of miss the Olivia/Peter/Altlivia/Lincoln dynamic with Baby Henry thrown into the mix. Season 3 was so intriguing, so unique- it’s probably my favorite season, what with everything that went down, so I think if given a choice I’d rather go back to that than stay in this new reality. Hence why combining the two might work??

  4. mr. doom on October 22nd, 2011 1:35 pm

    Curious as to when Josh Jackson will be allowed to give interviews? I’m sure you’ll let us know.

  5. Hemo_jr on October 22nd, 2011 3:24 pm

    If I were Peter, I would start writing down all the facts I remember and putting them in chronological order. In the mean time, I might make a few bucks on sports betting.

    Btw. The idea of fate can be deadly in the hands of writers. The way that the writers on FlashForward handled it is one of the reasons that series died.

  6. Fringe Fan on October 22nd, 2011 3:42 pm

    “So it’s similar with Peter — he will come back with the awareness of what could happen, but that doesn’t mean that it will.” So Peter really IS an observer!! (in a way….) Ha ha! 😉

  7. Sofia on October 23rd, 2011 12:16 pm

    Thank you, I do love this interview and I love Fringe producers, they are so smart, fun and amazing with the fans.

  8. Laffers18 on October 24th, 2011 10:36 am

    There are literally no words for how excited I am. None….I mean, this is all I’ve got.

    Just….eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek! My head may explode by end of Season, but what a way to go!