FRINGE Recap: ‘The End of All Things’
February 24, 2012 by Marisa Roffman
I’ve said it multiple times, but FRINGE is a series that can be one thing for the first 58 minutes of an episode and then the last two minutes change everything you thought you knew.
“The End of All Things” was no exception…but for the first time, I’m not sure if those final moments tainted the rest of the hour for me.
The episode by itself was actually really good. I do want to highlight a few aspects of the hour before getting into why the end didn’t work for me…
The Ninas are badasses.
I don’t normally include photos in these recaps, but look at that woman to your left. That woman went through literal torture thanks to David Robert Jones in “The End of All Things.” She comforted the kidnapped Olivia.
Oh, and she was a dirty, rotten, lying liar who lies who was working with David Robert Jones.
Yep, it turned out alt-Nina (or “Meana” as Blair Brown calls her) was the one we saw at the end of last week’s episode and was passing as “our” Nina while in captivity to try and help DRJ to activate Olivia’s abilities. Sneaky, evil people.
New timeline or not, it seemed David Robert Jones is destined to want Olivia to turn on the lights in the box. Unfortunately for her, even though Olivia had her memories back, her abilities weren’t coming in as fast, so Jones tortured alt-Nina to try and trigger Olivia’s emotions. When it still wouldn’t work, Olivia begged for some rest, and got to spend some one-on-one time with the woman passing as her Nina. Olivia asked for “Nina”‘s assistance to help activate her abilities since they were triggered in the past due to fear for the people she loved. Olivia confided that she didn’t really remember their lives together thanks to the Cortexiphan dosing and asked if her foster mother could share some memories so she could feel things. Alt-Nina obliged and told Olivia a lovely story about the first day she and her sister came to live with her and how that night was the first time Olivia called her “Nina” instead of “Ms. Sharp.”
Unfortunately for Jones and alt-Nina, Olivia was smarter than ether of them anticipated — she may not have remembered everything from this new timeline, but she knew that first night wasn’t the first time she called Nina by her given name. On my first watch, I thought Olivia was emotionally shutting down because she didn’t connect to that memory, but the second time, it was clear Olivia knew she was being played. Olivia told Nina the only time her abilities had worked had been around Peter, and alt-Nina immediately feigned pain. Alt-Nina shared the news with DRJ, who then sent a man to wait for Peter.
After Peter spent time with the Observer (which I’ll get to in a moment), he realized the key to finding Olivia was to literally go home. He got kidnapped, and Olivia found her motivation to turn on those lights. In fact, she went one step further and fried the room — after telling alt-Nina she knew she wasn’t the woman who was her guardian. Jones and alt-Nina escaped and Olivia went to free Peter. They chased after the duo, but Nina escaped and even though Jones was shot, apparently having your atoms reassembled=bullets do nothing to you.
Meanwhile, real Nina was interrogated by Lincoln and Broyles. She insisted she was innocent, but got confused when they told her records showed that she had been in the Massive Dynamic storage logs several times over the past few months. She suggested it might be a shapeshifter (seriously, why is no one thinking about their alts? Everyone in that room except Nina has met theirs…), but they weren’t buying it. Nina clammed up and said she wanted a lawyer. It’ll be interesting to see how she reacts to the friends who doubted her in the coming episodes…
Peter goes into the Observer’s mind.
The Observer turned up in Walter’s lab, bloody and shot and promptly passed out — just after telling Peter “she needs your help.” Peter, who has never been one to let go of a challenge, insisted he could go into the Observer’s mind.
Once in there, they’re in a nifty room. Peter asked the good questions — who shot the Observer, where is Olivia — but neither was relevant to our bald friend. September explained that he was human, from the future, and his name was a code designation given to his scientific team. As many have guessed, their technology has allowed them to go back in time and observe their beginnings.
The Observer then takes Peter on a tour of his impact on the Bishop’s lives — starting with him distracting Walternate and preventing him from finding the right cure. He explained that Peter was important, so he tried to right his wrongs by saving him from drowning when he was a kid after Walter kidnapped him, but that of course caused a whole lot of other problems when Walter tore that pesky hole between universes and “drastically altered destines.” Oh yeah, and “brought about a child that was not meant to be.” (The look on Peter’s face when September said that! That was a year in the making, my friends.) The Observer noted, “He was born to the wrong Olivia Dunham” and “this event would have irrevocably altered everything that was to come.” Peter’s “I have a son” was amazing, but September told him his son ceased to exist when he stepped in the machine. Whoops, Peter.
September doesn’t quite know why Peter has reappeared, but he suspected it might have to do with reuniting with his Olivia. “This must be and everything will be as intended,” September said as pictures of Peter and Olivia flashed on the screen.
All of a sudden, Peter is warned to go home and was brought back to the lab. Unfortunately for them, September vanished into thin air off the table.
That entire sequence? One of my favorite things the show has ever done. While I was watching it, I was reminded of the way I felt when Jack talked to his father at the end of the LOST series finale. It was like answers were so close to my grasp I could almost taste it. In this case, Peter might have been learning a lot of the news (obviously there was a bunch we knew already from watching the previous seasons), but it was beautifully done.
Is Olivia really our Olivia?
Walter continued to rail against Peter “turning” Olivia into his version, and Lincoln joined in that anger. Peter seemed to be resisting those who were making him doubt his instincts, but something snapped and by the time he helped rescue this Olivia, he told her he needed to get back home to his timeline.
After Peter got Olivia safely back, he told her he needed to go home. He told her his actions at the gas stations were a “mistake.” She got frustrated, insisting that she was herself, but Peter wouldn’t have any of it.
“You have her memories,” he said. “You have my memories of her or you’re a projection, but when I looked into your eyes, what I saw was what I wanted to see.”
And now the boy wants to go back home. He left her, insisting he needed to get back to his timeline. “I have to go home,” he told her. Sigh.
Look, I’m frustrated right now. I saw this episode days ago and the frustration lingers as I write this. Whether we understood what happened in the last two episodes or not, we were getting forward movement. I love this show, I don’t deny that, but even I felt at a certain point this season that it felt like our progress had stalled.
The last couple of episodes were great in combining forward movement with good cases. This episode? It felt like it added some fantastic layers to the overall mythology, but took four steps back in terms of the season arc. If Peter is right, we’re right back where we started from. If they weren’t prepared to follow through with the Olivia thread from “Welcome to Westfield,” what was the point? To make us miss the original Olivia more? Mission accomplished. Now we’re left for weeks on that depressing note. (To be fair, this isn’t where the creators thought the break would come. FRINGE executive producer Jeff Pinkner said in the conference call yesterday, “We thought that the break was going to come after the next episode which also is a wonderful episode to take a break on. We’re sort of in a zone of episodes right now where each one is pretty amazing. Each one either turns the story or resolves something important or leaves a cliff hanger.”)
I don’t get where Peter’s mind is right now, either. He just saw how much damage messing with the timeline has caused — his son has literally ceased to exist. If this woman is claiming to be his Olivia, if he felt that, too, if she knows things he does not know, how does he not investigate that further? How does he immediately jump to, “Nope, gotta go home.”
Maybe I’m holding the show up to too high a standard. Maybe I should be satisfied with a 95% good episode. (And I did genuinely enjoy all but the final scene.) But given how epic last season was and how amazing the last two episodes were (from beginning to end), this one feels like a disappointment to have that momentum squashed.
Quite frankly, I would be thrilled if you guys loved every moment of this episode and I’m alone in my frustration. Either way, I’d love to know what you guys thought of “The End of All Things”…
Favorite exchange of the night:
Astrid: “I don’t understand how this table just knocked itself over.”
Lincoln: “A dying man suddenly vanishes in front of our eyes and the thing you’re wondering about is what happened to the table?”
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Not sure why you found the end so disappointing. It seemed like just another “will-he won’t-he” plot beat that hasn’t found resolution yet. Last week was a beat one way, this week was a beat another way. (Remember, this episode was not supposed to be the winter finale – they’re still a week off. The next episode in 3 weeks, was supposed to be the winter finale.)
And, if an Observer showed me all the moments of my life and then said “You have to go home,” well, I’d think seriously about getting home.
@Donna, yes, but that is the same beat that was hit from episodes 5-11.5. They changed things up in the last two episodes indicating differently and now they’re back to the original beat where no progress had been made. My frustration is in that there was momentum in the last couple episodes. It now feels like we’ve screeched to a halt. I’d be DELIGHTED if I was proven wrong next episode.
(And yes, as I said in the recap, Jeff Pinkner said this wasn’t intended to be the winter finale, so that’s on Fox’s scheduling for doing the show a disservice if the next episode drastically changes things.)
No, not the same beat – because Peter has brand new information…
He just found out the terrible, deeply personal and universe-shattering consequences of falling for the wrong Olivia. This is not information he had before – before, he just felt bad because he hurt Olivia by having the affair. Now, the stakes are so much higher, in his mind.
In the last scene of the episode between him and Olivia… think of what happened in the episode earlier, the information (about Henry) that Peter is now processing. Of course he would back away.
PS- In a sense, Henry DOES exist – in Peter’s mind/heart/imagination, actually. That’s really kind of huge, something that warps the gravity of the entire situation. Whether Season 4 Olivia really is “his” Olivia or not, it’s entirely believable for him to back away.
Well, I know I LOVED this episode, even its heartbreaking end, mostly because I know answers ARE coming… I just have to wait (that’s the most irriating part ;p). Besides, I can sort of understand Peter’s reaction. He’s shaky; I mean he just found out he destroyed the existence of his own son. He has no clue whether this is his Olivia or not, so as much as it HURTS… I get his confusion, his wanting to stay away, his wanting to go home. But IS he already home? That’s the big million dollar question. Is it his Olivia… or is it not? I really want to know, right now!
Also… there are some kinda spoilery but awesome Polivia-related set pictures floating around from 4×15… I think we are in for a treat 🙂 I have hope things will end positively.
(Also… am I the only one hoping we do see Henry again? I liked the idea of Peter having an accidental child with Altlivia, but still being in love with Olivia and only Olivia).
I for one wish there was some Fringey way that Henry – THAT Henry -could be retrieved from nonexistence and somehow become Peter and Olivia’s child.
And here we all thought the writers forgot about the wee tyke. No, the payoff WAS all this time in the making and throws another wild card into the situation, IMO.
I also think the line in the lab about the “palimpsest” was very important – and probably refers to what the Yellow reality *is* – it has overwritten the Blue, so Olivia’s memories are probably real – both of her Blue life and her Yellow life. When she is able to integrate both of those existences in her soul, the rest of both universes will follow, I suspect.
Yeah, I absolutely get Peter being shaken…he should have taken a step back and tried to figure out what the heck was going on. He just got a LOT of life-changing information in a short amount of time, which is precisely why I think him running head-first into going back “home” is so dangerous. His trying to prevent the destruction of the alt-universe led to his son *ceasing to exist*…that’s major. Messing with that again could have unknown consequences. He was convinced this Olivia was his. Heck, even Walter was starting to act like “our” Walter. Him not trying to investigate further seems dangerous/reckless.
Yes, I have heard a little bit about what happens in episode 15. I’ll have some things for you guy on that later, too, which may be part of the reason I’m having a hard time reconciling what happened tonight with what’s coming up.
But look, like I said, I’m SO glad you guys enjoyed it. Really. I’ll be genuinely happy if I’m in the minority about the ending…I know I’ll come back when it returns, but other fans can be more fickle.
PS – My goodness, I want Henry back, too. That kid is adorable.
I felt like this episode was intended to setup the final season arc heading to the season finale. My takeaway was that Olivia and Peter are going to have to face some big challenges to get the timelines back to where they are supposed to be, and that this episode served to get them both riled up and determined to fix things. They will work separately and seemingly at cross-purposes for a time, but ultimately, as Peter and Olivia always do, they will come back together and that is when they will prevail. Nothing ever comes easily for these two – if Peter didn’t leave, Olivia would be content to leave things as they are and the plot really would stall out. They needed to get her to a point of fighting for Peter to see her as his Olivia, and they needed to get him a little more desperate to get back to where he used to be. This despair and determination is going to be the driving force behind the remainder of the season.
But Marisa, didn’t you think that the “happy ending” from last week’s episode came a little too soon? It just seems to me that this episode simply dealt a setback to that happy scene in the garage. We DON’T in fact know what’s going on inside this Olivia. Could be our Olivia, might not be. I just think they upped the stakes. I think we still haven’t reached the end of the will-they won’t-they.
I’m reading the boards everywhere tonight and don’t really see too much disappointment over the ending. Mainly, people just seem wowed by Joshua Jackson’s acting.
The thing I didn’t like about this episode (and increasingly this season) is how much Walter is fading into the background. He just doesn’t have a huge storyline this year – basically it’s about whether or not he’s decided to bicker with Peter this week. I hope next week the “Short Story About Love” also includes fatherly love.
i’m a cheap fan, i’m usually sold ENTIRELY to pretty much every episode of every show i follow. Fringe is no exception. however, besides being cheap i’m also faithful, and i know there is a reason behind whatever disappointment or whatever uncomfortable feeling i get from any episode. that said, i LOOOOVED this episode and i thought it was quite well resolved. there were too many OMFG moments to count (how i love those!) and, in the end, i was deeply satisfied. but i do feel like that last scene was weird. i rationally understand it and i think it’s ok for the plot to play with the Peter/Olivia relationship as if it were a rubber band. but i also want to slap Peter in the face, and that is a sign of uncomfortableness with the ending of the episode. it’s like, seriously you guys couldn’t give those two a break? thereby giving US, viewers, a break?
anyway, i was THRILLED with the episode and i think i’m going to die waiting for March 23rd. since i’m a scientist, i’m gonna have to cope with Fringe withdrawal by working a lot in the lab (and having Friday nights with friends and drinks somewhere…)
Actually, I wanted to slap Olivia in the face for most of the back half of Season 3, as her dithering over her hurtness over Peter kept going back and forth. It was like she had PMS every other episode. Maybe it’s just the storytelling style.
I was also incredibly disappointed in the ending. Probably because it was So near perfection. And also because, at no point has there been evidence that this wasn’t his timeline- even the notion isnt held up by the Observers. They said he didnt exist, not that he existed elsewhere.
So since Peter is so intelligent, and he’s the one that germinated this idea of an alternate timeline, you’d think he wouldn’t be so wishy-washy. Because at some point it’s got to occur to him – what if it IS her? What if he’s home already & September was being literal, for the present moment only?
I loved this episode. I agree with some of the other commenters have said about the final moments. I don’t think it’s a step back as it is just a moment where Peter is just startled from everything he’s just learned. He sees ‘his’ Olivia, he has a son he doesn’t know about, and he’s been down this road before, and broke Ourlivia’s heart in the process. It was heartbreaking, but I think it was completely reasonable from what he/we learned.
Oh, Anna Torv and Joshua Jackson are wonderful.
Tinu, Peter may be intelligent but he is also HUMAN with feelings. Why do people keep forgetting that?
patricio agreed,peter was so stupid in this ep. i was yelling at my telly lol
I think we should round up all the Fringe writers, lock them in a dungeon and have a nice little medieval chat with them. They know they are jerking the viewers around. And they better have a darn good reason for it in upcoming episodes, They already wasted the first ten episodes of this season. They could have started off episode on with Olivia being drugged, and episode 2 Peter could have reappeared. Now we are fourteen episodes into what could be their last season, and Peter and Olivia are still not together. Sigh. Sob. Yeah, I will keep watching.
Yeah, the writers could have also laid out all this four year’s worth of Fringe in a single 2-hour pilot, too. Why are they wasting our time with all this drama, special effects and amazing acting! I’m a busy person – I don’t have time to plow through a STORY!
1st of all I have to say, these last 3 episodes,IMO are some of the best of the series. I LOVE the fact that Fringe does not get boring or become predictable. That being said, my exact words at the end last night were: “What?? That’s IT???”. It didn’t feel like they intended to leave it there, so it’s nice knowing that it wasn’t the intention.
I wasn’t upset at all with Peter at the ending. Considering what had been revealed to him-the last time he led with his heart he made a child. A child that no longer exists because of the choices he made. It was no surprise that this time he needs to be absolutely sure which Olivia he is with. I really can’t wait to see how the rest of this plays out.
Unfortunately, I feel that they wasted too much time at the beginning of the season. It feels like its really just ramping up, and with only what, 7 episodes left? There are still so many questions that need to be answered, and I’m not completely sure how they will be able to give it a proper ending if they don’t get at least a half season pickup….
A great episode i can not wait for more and Joel i agree Anna and Josh are truly wonderful.
Steph there are 8 episodes left.
What questions really remain to be answered, though?
The Yellowverse is a mystery, but they seem on track to answer that… but beyond that, I’m at a loss to think of much that hasn’t already been covered. I’m sure we’ll soon learn what DRJ’s nefarious plans involve.
We just learned who the Observers are and what they do – that’s a gigantic answer right there, probably one of the last biggie mysteries of the series. I’m kind of surprised that more people are talking about a simple romantic setback scene and not the revelation of the biggest and oldest running mystery of the series (those Observer guys).
What’s left?
Oh, and PS: I cannot fathom how anyone at this point could call this season inferior to Season 3. In fact, the entire last run of seven episodes was either strong or very strong, with the only exception being the 410 “Forced Perspective” which was just OK by comparison. Be honest and think back on the quality and momentum of episodes we were getting at this time during Season 3 – it just doesn’t compare. The only standout episodes from that period were “The Firefly” and “Subject 13” (unless you’re a Polivia shipper and would include “6B”).
Donna, I am shipper, and even if I were not, I would include Marionette as a standout episode — Anna Torv rocked each her scenes (the dryer scene in her apartment and the outdoor scene where she reveals how hurt she was by Peter’s betrayal which I don’t really think of as a betrayal per sa).
I enjoyed the episode–didn’t love it, but enjoyed it. The reveal of the Observers was awesome and now the Observer question is why the others didn’t want Peter to exist.
Can’t wait for March 23rd.
Oh yes Scully i agree about Marionette and Anna.
The scenes between Olivia/altNina and Jones made the episode. It was clear from the start that Olivia could read this Nina, she treats this Walter the same as before she had oldOlivia’s memories in 4.13, so she knows her Nina, and was testing. Great how all the mixes of Olivia’s were shown, and I felt evrything Olivia went through, Anna Torv is a genius, awesome acting.
I did not like the Observer part, not the revalation of them being scientists from the future, all men on Fringe being scientsts or god?
and least of all the remark that the wrong olivia had a child, all those scientists and they never heard of A.I. testube babies and these days even tests with artificial wombs? Women do not need men, so if he wants the right Olivia to create a baby, no Peter needed, not even Olivia being pregnant.
And that is where my problem with Fringe lies. starting around midseason 3, they are getting very religious, rightwing version. And with that comes their view on women.
Olivia has already been reduced to victim and Peters girl from Firefly, and with the return of Peter again,and we now have to believe that she only can have her ability with Peter, so said by Petergod himself, off course Peter can do everything on his own.
And Olivia is the one to fall on her knees for Peter, every time. Olivia heartbroken at the end, brilliant Anna. making up for the lack of emotion of Peter.
The endscene does not make sense at all, most of all the way Peter walks off after saying that, so that means to things:
If Olivia can only operate with him , then this is his Olivia, what else must she prove? So he is blind.
If she is not his Olivia, then Olivia does not need a Peter, and will we then get a face off between Jones and Olivia? Yes please.
This episode showed another thing I dislike about Fringe:
On the one hand the over the top sentimental father-son scene around baby Henry ( really all fathers love their child even when they did not know it existed? tell that those from single mothers family, including the leading lady of Fringe)
Father-son always sentimental emoting, all those 100 plus Bishop scenes, and then we have Olivia locked up, abused siting with fakeNina, and only through her testing of this Nina we learn another few facts about Olivia after the death of her mother at the tender age of 14.
Losing your mother at that age and being an orphan no need for attention, the writers just gave it 1 scene after 80 episodes in those circumstances, and on top of that a line with so much meaning “Olivia calling Nina miss Sharp until being an adult, not getting the Bishoptreatment, no we let Olivia say that when she is saving her Peter.
Why this Father-Son glorification? Jeff Pinkner has mentiond a couple of times Genesis, Intelligent Design, Scientology views, hence my remark rightwing religion, so are we getting a mix of that with all men being god, scientists and all the women, objects to be used and abused?
3.8-3.14 was Entrada and Marionette, with Marionette Anna being brilliant, I liked Immortatlity except for the ending.
Marionette is the only good Olivia/Peter episode, the rest of season 3 from Firefly was all about Peter and his choices with Olivia reduced to an insecure needy girl, so not very good viewing for Olivia fans.
Season 4 first half had great episodes with One night in October being still the best of season 4, and I hope Olivia and Fauxlivia are going to get another episode together.
4.04, 4.07 and 4.10 are great episodes, I have a problem with 4.08 and 4.09 for the use of over the top sentimentality when it comes to the Bishops, it was all telling and not acting.
One last thing:
alt Nina or Meana at the last minute is foul play, we did not know she existed and we were not shown the relationship between Olivia and Nina in this timeline except for a few scenes, that were mostly about giving information.
BTW the endscene of 4.10, where Nina made soup for Olivia after Olivia said a forced I love you, if you would have remembered that , you would have known that Olivia and Nina was a distant kind of relationship, confirmed by Olivia calling her miss Sharp until graduation. Nina is not the cosy kind, and Olivia coming form abusive upbringing has learned how to please avoiding be abused.
So if there would have been more Olivia and Nina scenes this episode would have had even more impact, pity they wasted that time on the Bishops.
So those who did not pay close attention, missed out.
Olivia and Nina works so great because of the amazing acting of Anna and Blair, and their chemistry.
BTW You are going to Wondercon where Fringe will be as well.
May be two interesting questions:
1.
Why are all the men on Fringe scientists = gods?
And why has peter been made the superhero, supergod since midseason 3?
Why are women treated as objects, serving men? Meana may be mean but Jones is calling the shots, and Nina was always serving Bell and now his memory, and
Olivia has become the ultimate victim since season 3 and the girl.
And an object to be tested, brainwashed, abused, oh and the worst part being needy of and dependent on peter.
2.
Why did they not spent more time on Olivia and Nina, a lot of people did not understand the endscene of 4.10 where Olivia said I love you to Nina, they would have if they would have known in advance that Olivia called Nina Miss Sharp until graduation.
Same goes for this episode, if people would have paid attention before, and only the Olivia fans probably will have noticed, Nina always calls Olivia Olivia, only after the I love you she said Olive.
Jones probably took that tape , and thought Nina was the lovebond and his fakeNina calls her Olive because of that from the start.
So those not paying attention did not get that Olivia already knew that that was not the real Nina, she felt for the woman, but not on he level she would feel for the Nina she knew, blue or yellow.
More knowledge in advance would give the scene more meaning, now all the Olivia and altNina scenes had to come from great acting of Anna and Blair, in those scenes: they had to establish that this was not the correct Nina, they had to give us some info about Olivia and they were in a position where lives were at risk.
So why so little for Olivia Dunham and the overkill for the Bishops in total contrast?
I particularly liked this episode. He was very elucidator for me, especially me answering one of the biggest issues of Fringe, “who are the Observers?” And the answer seems quite plausible, these Observers, are we, ourselves, coming from a distant future. Just do not answer the “why” they are here! And the “cylinder Observer”?
The love between Peter and Olive, is growing stronger, and, paradoxically, these facts, which now occur, increasingly separated from one another. It is a complication … Peter wants to “their” Olivia, anyway, even having, now that Olivia, Olivia of your dreams. Olivia “it” is already there, in front of him! No! Peter, want to create another timeline, similar to his old days, then go find “their” Olivia, you should recognize it … Come on, Peter wants something unattainable, or rather, everything is in front, but he still does not see, I see. Olivia came back, somehow, it was before, and no matter what was the cause of this “return of Olivia,” and yes the fact of his return. This gives me a desire to shout to him: “Hey Peter! That FBI agent is” that “your Olivia! Hold it, man!!” No, Peter wants to go, now, in search of “their” Olivia, even though she already standing in front of you (!) And all this story, it’s getting annoying to me.
At a moment in the style of Fringe, Peter learned that he was the father of a beautiful baby named Henry, with Fauxlivia. That, henceforth, would yield some “credits” to a future or possible relationship between Peter and Fauxlivia? In this frantic search for Peter, for “their” Olivia, maybe he finds in Fauxlivia, their fate seems to me …
These interrelationships between Nina and Mr Jones, had already been to “draw” from the first season of Fringe, I think. But also I think that is not only “a couple” but a “triangle”: the Nina, the Jones and William Bell. Did we could, somehow, take back William Bell? It would be great.
Quick post
Teaser Question 1
> Are The Observers from the future of the Alternate Universe?
Teaser Question 2
> Why is Peter important to the Alternate Universe?
Assume Walternate was not distracted.
A cure is discovered (for Peter, for others, and future generations).
Peter lives.
DRJ lives and makes it into the Alternate Universe (just like now).
Teaser Speculation
Olivia and Peter defeat DRJ.
Peter gets back into The Machine.
Olivia starts The Machine to send Peter Home.
Just Remember
This is a 6 year plan. There are 2-1/2 seasons left.
Enjoy
The episode was okay, not great. My biggest complaint this season is that Walter is almost non-existent in terms of a plotline. I also feel that the show is at its best when it focuses on Olivia. She’s the strongest character and Anna Torv is an acting goddess.
Okay, 3-1/3 hours later … time to get real.
Basic story.
Boy and girl meet, fall in love, and save two universes.
Okay, you can change the channel now.
But, wait. Did you realize that we are now watching timeline #3?
“What?”, you say, “This can’t be! Can it?”
Timeline #1 (original)
September is a member of a scientific team observing events in the past. In this timeline, Walternate discovers a cure, Peter lives, meets Olivia from Walter’s universe, and have a child. (We don;t know at this time how this cure or Peter or the child would have played out in tileline #1.
Timeline #2
September visits Walternate in his lab at the time the cure would have been discovered. His presence distracts Walternate and would have eventually lead to the death of Peter, except for Walter taking matters in his hands and crosses over to save Peter.
Timeline #3
Partly engineered with the assistance of the observers, Peter “sacrifices” himself by entering the machine, opening a “hole in the universe, and connecting the two universes at one point. This effectively resets the timeline back to the point where Walter and Peter were rescued from the lake. However, it does not reset back to the distraction at the lab. In timeline #1, Peter was alive. In timeline #3, he is now. September has failed to get the reset that is needed. Therefore, Peter must return in order to have any chance to recover back to the future events of timeline #1.
Will we see a timeline #4? Who knows.
Glad to see your review. I was completely disgusted with how this whole thing ended. All those promos “answers are coming” and I didn’t feel like we got much by way of answers. Who the Observers are isn’t terribly important to me, so the only thing I came away with was that Peter’s son being born was the terrible thing that forced them to eliminate Peter altogether. I was driven even more crazy by all the POSITIVE feedback on the Fringe Facebook page. Sigh.
I’m sorry but can we please ban input? She is going to keep saying the same stuff over and over again.
Season 3 was loaded with momentum and amazing myth alone episodes and performances: Olivia, The Plateu, Do Shapeshifters Dream of Electric Sheep, The Abducted, Entrada, Marionette, The Firefly…and then came Reciprocity and ruined every momentum we had and went into the Machine, the SS discs and the reconciliation part. From there, the only episodes that welcome any rush elements were 6B, Subject 13, Bloodline, LSD, 6:02 AM, The Last Sam Weiss, The Day We Died…Oh wait!…so I’ve only omitted 8 episodes out of 22…and even those 8 episodes are better than whatever TV Land is playing…so they’re still as good as the next best thing.
Having said that, I think season 4 has been outstanding in creativity achievement from the beginning, not only from the last 7 episodes. This season is packed with awesome stories, special effects and acting: Neither Here Nor There, One Night in October (almost perfect), Subject 9 (perfect), And Those We’ve Left Behind, and from then on, all enjoyable and rushed, so I’ve only omitted 2 episodes which are nonetheless pretty entertaining.
But I guess it all depends on which story-line is your favorite. Olivia’s and Walter’s has always hooked me from season 1, and baby Henry I just don’t buy it, how 2 adults can be so reckless (a guy with an IQ of 190 and a Fringe agent?) and Walternate’s purpose of Henry?; nor the machine. I think these two topics weren’t; aren’t being handled too well into the mythology.
What I loved from this episode was how the Observers are stalking September and how Olivia got activated by Jones…those scenes were awesome. I wasn’t impressed by September’s revelations or Peter’s reactions, but still, felt like we are going in the right track for the next couple of episodes. I just wished they stayed the hell away from the Machine and baby Henry. I want to see more Alternate Universe Altivia and Walternate and Broyles!