Tag Archives: fringe

Halfway there: Fringe midseason thoughts

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This post contains spoilers for Fringe season 5.

by Gabby

With last Friday’s episode, “Five-Twenty-Ten”, we have officially breached the halfway point of Fringe’s ultimate season. The story was getting along fine; the team had to retrieve tapes that Walter had hidden which contain parts of a plan to get rid of the Observers. At first, I thought this was the start of a season that would play out as a treasure hunt. In a way, this is accurate; each episode since has been dedicated to retrieving the parts of this plan. However, it’s not the primary focus, really. Number one, the tapes are ambered in the lab at arm’s reach, and number two…

Etta Bishop died.

a screencap from Fringe, Etta dying while Peter and Olivia watch

So sudden, so unexpected was her death that I feel like it acted as a catalyst for character transformations.

Let me explain: every single character has changed, basically overnight (except for one, but I’ll get back to that).

an image of Joshua Jackson dressed as an Observer

This picture is a still from a video that was shown at SDCC in 2011 (before season 4). Foreshadowing, much?

I think Peter, the loving father and husband, has suffered the most dramatic changes. Not only did he pull away as he did when Etta was kidnapped, but he got a flash while torturing an Observer that implanting Observer tech in his brain would give him an edge over the invaders. With this edge, he can more forcefully and intelligently execute the only thing he has on his mind: revenge. At first, the changes enacted by the implant were minimal. He became a Peter on steroids. Now, with the latest episode, he has the demeanor, the speech pattern and the impending baldness of the very people he is trying to beat. Not only that, but he is making the same mistakes his own father, Walter, made when Peter died. Peter’s motto, “be a better man than your father”, is ringing especially hollow. It is particularly ironic that Peter told his father that he wouldn’t “let him” turn back into the man Walter used to be, when Peter’s very physiology was changing. He’s gone further than he’s ever been, alienating Olivia in the process.

an image of Anna Torv as Olivia Dunham looking sad

Poor Olivia; she is also changing, but in the opposite direction. She told herself that for once, she would be open and honest about her feelings so that she and Peter can grow stronger together, not apart, as once they did when Etta was kidnapped. I saw this in the way she called Peter while she was watching a tape of baby Etta; the “old” Olivia wouldn’t have let herself appear so vulnerable. The look of disgust and panic she had when Peter told her he had implanted the tech confirmed her fears that all of her efforts were in vain. She probably regrets taking Walter’s advice that he gave her in “An Origin Story”; that the pain of Etta’s death is part of her legacy, and that she and Peter need to live it together.

an image of John Noble as Walter Bishop in the lab

Speaking of Walter, he is running around terrified that he is reverting to the “old” Walter. I definitely saw hints of this in John Noble’s brilliant acting; flashes of Walternate peeking through the facade. Now that the pieces of his brain are reinstalled, the one-track mind, god-complexed man that he used to be is slowly taking over. He was sure Peter’s love would keep him tethered, but not only is Peter not himself, Nina confirmed last episode that love, as strong as it is, isn’t enough.

What is enough? I’m thinking it has something to do with Astrid Farnsworth, the only character of the core-four who hasn’t changed. She is still the ever-loving mother figure to Walter, the confidant to Olivia, the sister to Peter. She is still, regrettably, relegated to a supporting role in most episodes. However… I am envisioning that this will change. What gives me that impression? The kiss on the cheek she gave Walter at the end of the episode. That kiss… It reminded me that Astrid is the anchor of the Fringe family. She is the lighthouse, the moral compass, the tether. That is why I think that she will be the one to keep everything from falling apart. She is the one that will bring back the characters as they are following roads that lead away from their core selves. I think all of this, but truly, I hope it comes to pass. Because it is what the character deserves, and it is, for me, the logical conclusion for Astrid, who has always been so important but overshadowed.

I’m rooting for you Astrid; the Fringe family needs you. Because love, on its own, is strong. But love and family are stronger.

an image of the four main characters in the lab

Expectation of Endings

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As I said in my recent post about Once Upon a Time I don’t believe in happy endings. In life I follow The Last Unicorn school of thought: “There are no happy endings because nothing ends.” In fiction, my reaction to series finales runs the gamut.

Law and Order was cancelled after the (20th!) season finale had been filmed, it became the series finale, and while a good episode, it was not a good send off.

Hellcats was also cancelled too late to film a finale. The end of that show is an absolute train wreck. I still haven’t recovered.

a promo poster for the short-lived series "Hellcats"

The final episode of House M.D. was brilliant, but I haven’t seen more than a handful of episodes in between it and Dr. Cameron’s last appearance a year and a half before. I’ve never seen the series finale of E.R. and thogh I did watch for years after Julianna Margulies’s departure, Carol Hathaway’s last regular episode serves as my finale for that show.

The truncated last season of La Femme Nikita rushed to tie up loose ends and when it couldn’t it blew them up, sometimes literally. But I love the ending. I love imagining Nikita turn Section into a power for good. Battlestar Galactica’s last season also felt rushed, random, and explosive. I found its finale to be equal parts bittersweet and infuriating.

a promo picture for the series "Battlestar Galactica"

I fell asleep halfway through Star Trek: Voyager’s final episode. I had a high fever, I was legitimately delirious with exhaustion and infection. I’ve never seen the ending.

Now I’m looking forward to two more series finales. Fringe is an esoteric science fiction crime drama. Gossip Girl is a sensational teen romance melodrama. It’s honestly a toss-up which is more fantastic but they both take place in a heightened reality and revolve around a close knit circle of eccentric characters. Both shows might have been cancelled last season, but were instead given a shortened final season. Ten episodes.

Serial fiction works best with definitive start and end dates. Especially end dates. I’m sure everyone can name a television or comic book series that was cancelled abruptly and “too soon” — but I bet everyone can also name a television or comic book series that was drawn out and went on “too long”. It is, of course, a matter of opinion. But it is also an ailment. And I believe, pretty strongly, that limited series are the cure.

a promo picture for the series "Gossip Girl"

The television landscape is already changing. “Seasons” are fluid (Doctor Who recently had its “Fall season finale” after 6 episodes). Summer is no longer a dead zone, it’s when USA and TNT kick into high gear. Series and seasons launch throughout the year. With DVR, On Demand, Hulu, Netflix, and channel apps, television episodes can be watched whenever and wherever and however the viewer wants to do it. The studios and stations have very limited control over how their series are watched. When they try to wrench it back we get an HBO and Game of Thrones situation. But even these squabbles are proof the concepts are evolving. Fringe and Gossip Girl were not cancelled, they were given ten episodes.

Comic books are harder because the audience is so much smaller and the financial stakes are so much higher. Serial fiction of any kind becomes formulaic because once it attracts a fanbase it wants to keep them. It makes business sense. But convoluted continuities scare away new readers; limited series could target them, and grow the audience. I believe that was some of the thought behind the DCnU and Marvel NOW! but I’m unconvinced it isn’t more of the same. End dates are important.

a promo picture from the series "Fringe"

The creators behind Fringe and Gossip Girl know these final ten episodes are the final ten episodes. They have the opportunity to tell one last story. The characters and universe are established, they know exactly how much time they have to tie up loose ends or present new ideas. When something ends often dictates how it ends. I expect Fringe and Gossip Girl to end well. Not “the way I want it to” (I don’t believe in happy endings!), not even, necessarily, the way the showrunners want it to. But with closure. With thought. With purpose.

A series being created or presented under the constant shadow of possible cancellation is never going to be as good as one that is considered safe OR one that is ending on its own terms. No one wants something they love to be cancelled. But it’s so much worse without even the possibility of a proper goodbye.

It’s in the little things: Fringe’s final season premiere, “Transilience Thought Unifier Model-11”

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by Gabby

This contains SPOILERS.

Last time we saw Olivia, Peter, Walter and the gang, they were all smiling and a lot of people agreed that the fourth season finale could have acted as a series finale.

Call me selfish but I wanted MORE. Always and forever.

Thankfully, the show runners (now show runner, singular) heard my prayers and cortexifans are getting a 13 episode fifth and final season.

Arguably, the biggest mystery of the Fringe-verse resides in the Observers. Since the pilot, these bald, suit-wearing, pale dudes have been showing up at decisive moments in the show’s history. Every once in awhile we’d get nuggets of information about these strangers. For instance, how they like jalapeños because they can’t taste anything, or how some of them have feelings for humans. However, the observer I most connected with was September, portrayed by Michael Cerveris.

an Observer from the tv series "Fringe"

Last season in the episode “The end of all things”, Peter made contact with him, entering his subconscious. September explained many things, like this important and foreshadowy bit of info here:

… we are you — we’re human… many generations after your lifetime. We are one of countless possible futures for humanity. Our technology has uniquely afforded us the ability to travel within and outside of time so that we may observe our beginnings.

Then, in the staple “weird” episode that has become the seasons’ 19th episode, we flashfowarded to 2036. We landed in bizarro world; the observers have taken over planet Earth, in a way that would have George Orwell running for his money.

Now the season premiere is upon us, promising to delve into the trials and tribulations of yet another Universe that Fringe is exploring. However interesting this concept may be, I’m not exactly watching for this.

I’m watching for Walter’s many nicknames for Astrid. I’m watching for Olivia’s secret smile reserved for Peter. I’m watching for the forever troubled Broyles, and the ever-enigmatic Nina. I’m watching for the eventual fleshing out of Etta Bishop’s character, for Gene the cow, red vines and strawberry flavoured death. I’m watching for human relationships, for love, for family.

And the season premiere did not disappoint.

This episode was all about the little moments.

a still from the tv series "Fringe": Peter and Olivia, on a date in the park

Olivia and Peter on the blanket. Etta kissing Walter. Astrid touching Walter’s cheek. Olivia reuniting with Etta (especially this one).

As for the plot, it left me wanting more, which is always excellent. What exactly happened after Etta was taken in Boston? We know that Peter stayed, and Olivia went to New York to try and save the world, but where exactly did their daughter go? How will the Fringe team rally the many factions of resistance that seem to have sprouted up? What is September’s plan? Will they be able to make sense of the pieces of Walter’s brain that have been erased or moved by Captain Windmark?

Let’s talk about this for a second. First, how amazing is John Noble? His work here as the tortured Walter is made so much more amazing by the fact that we know he was most probably battling severe sleep deprivation at the time of filming. My heart was swelling in pain as I watched his whole body shake with tremors and his eyes get bloodshot. Second, can we give Walter’s brain a BREAK? In “Letters of transit”, Henrietta and Simon had to inject a part of his brain to make it whole, and in this episode, Captain D-Bag basically scrambles it into one of those disgusting looking egg sticks! And that’s just what happened after he got de-ambered, not taking into account the countless abuse it’s been under in the past four seasons. Quick, somebody make a Save Walter’s Brain tumblr!

As awesome as it will be to answer all these questions week after week, I am really grateful that I’m getting more time with these characters that I love. I feel I need that time to get familiar with these new people who have spent the last 20 years of their life trapped in amber. They are being thrust into this unfamiliar world, two of them with a daughter that’s aged and become a full grown adult woman. I fully trust this Fringe family to go where I need them to in order to reach a satisfying end. I trust them because hope is a central theme in Fringe, and this hope did surface in the season premiere.

It comes from the single yellow dandelion that ends “Transilience Thought Unifier Model-11”. Where a white tulip was a sign to Walter from his god, and also a sign of bonding for Peter and Olivia, we’ve moved past this. The Universe is different now, and hope now rests inside that yellow dandelion that springs forth from the rubble; Henrietta Bishop, the light at the end of the tunnel.