Picking up where Fringe left us at the end of "The Last Sam Weiss, Peter entered the machine and found himself transported to the future. The year 2026 to be precise, where all shit is hitting all sorts of fans worldwide. The earth is being destroyed not only by the very fabric of nature collapsing, but also a rogue terrorist group known as the "End of Days" who are intent of bringing about the end of the world. It's a very bleak place, in utter chaos and hanging on by the slenderest of threads, and one thing which season finale "The Day We Died" manages is to perfectly visualise and create a new environment and world in its short forty minute lifespan. It's no easy feat to get so much into so little time, and the fact that the future reality we are presented with feels fully fleshed out is testament to the quality of the writing.
Peter meanwhile awoke in the future with an injury which sees him taken to the Fringe Medical complex, the place where the now well known and much bigger Fringe Department run out of. It's almost as if the NYPD is no more, Fringe Division is the new law enforcement in this bleak time, and it is cool to imagine how the team we all love has grown once the public understanding of the two universes has been exposed. It's clear that the writers have a lot of fun manufacturing this world, knowing that the fans of the series would relish the chances to see what could become of our characters if they continue down the path they are presently taking.
Grown up Ella in concept was a great idea, but I did find her inclusion a little unnecessary and took time away from the main cast. We were watching the finale and I feel it is always important to focus more on the leads at this point than a character barely seen all season. (my only exception to this rule is Desmond in LOST's S2 finale)
I would have loved to have seen a little more of the mysterious terrorist Moreau, played by the incredibly creepy Brad Dourif. He was given very little to work with, but even his pale, greasy exterior oozed quality and evil as he terrorised the town.
It was exciting to hear that Astrid becomes a field agent, I'm sure there are many that are patiently waiting for the day when Astrid gets herself out of the lab and gets a gun in her hand. A little teaser of her like this certainly whetted the appetite and I have a feeling it won't be too long until we see this in present times. One-eyed Broyles was also an exciting proposition, and even though the writers are unlikely to return to this reality now Peter has changed what is coming, it would be only fair to offer us an explanation on how this happened later down the line. I wager that Broyles will be one-eyed come the shows ending regardless of what Peter has done, and in an almost LOST like fashion the writers get to play the backwards storytelling method. Where we knew in LOST's fourth season who got off the island, we didn't know how until the finale and with little set-up's like this Fringe can dabble in this effective tool as well.
In terms of what we learn, the alternate universe has been destroyed, yet chief villain of the season Walternate was on our side at the time and was therefore safe. He has set about ending this world as punishment for what we did to his world. It is rare to see such a complex villain, and although at times I have struggled to accept Walternate's actions I fully understood his reasoning and motivations here and his character worked better as a result. The lines between good and bad are incredibly thin, we must never forget that Walter did steal Walternate's son to start the whole process.
The writers played with this concept even more by showing how Walter had been imprisoned for his part in the starting of this worldly destruction. To see the mad scientist so hated and alone again was saddening and incredibly creepy to us all who have watched the sanity and guilt build within him over the past year. However we also can't deny his actions in the past had a lot of wrongdoing in them. This to-ing and fro-ing of good and evil is one of Fringe's true core strengths, the lines between sides are so blurry I couldn't see them if I was standing on top of one with 800 magnifying glasses directly aimed as it. It's complex, rich and deep storytelling, and for those reasons alone more people should be watching this TV show.
As the story began to come full circle, with a Peter who was trying to adjust to the new world he found himself in, Walter is released and returns to his old lab to try to solve how the bomb the "End of Days" are using works. It felt very similar to the pilot, but the subtle changes such as no Gene the cow or Astrid not being there to help him expertly highlighted how things actually weren't the same. I always feel more for Walter because of how little Bell had to pay for his part in the story. To me Bell remains a weakness in Fringe's mythology, his story appearing over yet still underdeveloped enough to leave gaping holes and resolution unresolved. Perhaps we will get the true story later on in the day, but for now Bell's role always leaves me more angry than satisfied. I still feel that the writers wasted the opportunities they had with Bellivia a few episodes ago to give us more depth on Bell's true motivations.
To deal with the episodes first major bombshell, the moment Walternate kills Olivia point-blank with a gun shot to the head, was to deal with the coolest execution of using "the future" in film making. You can kill the lead, the star, the driving force of the show and play around briefly with what that means to the people that are in their life. It was therefore slightly disappointing to not hear what Peter had to say at the funeral. It may have made for effective and emotional visuals at the time, but I for one truly wanted to know what Peter thinks about his current girlfriend/future wife. Afterall, it wasn't long ago we all were told he may still have had feelings for Bolivia. Couldn't they have given us a little bit? I guess we did get the few scenes of Olivia and Peter's domestic life, which looked calm and relaxing amid the chaos as well as giving us something in the future we hope happens in the true timeline, but I still needed a little more...
Rehardless of that fact, Olivia's death was a heart-stopping, pulse pounding moment that helped villain-ize Walternate, but we shouldn't forget that in the animated "LSD" world we saw a different man who Olivia believes kills her. The dynamic of a two way potential killer for Olivia could be a fascinating element to play with this season; but more excitingly could the man with the X on his shirt from "LSD" be the man who no longer exists. The X could literally mean no longer there, gone, de nada. That would be eerie, spooky and I won't lie that the animation does look a little like an older version of Joshua Jackson. Count me as a believer in that theory...
The second bombshell I was a little less satisfied with. The revelation that the first people were their potential future-selves realising their wrong actions and sending the machine through one of the wormholes created by the worlds destruction is a little too hard to wrap your head around and accept. How does that work? How do they know where the pieces will go? Do they just know it will work because of the fact that in the past the pieces were there? It's something that Walter's explanation to Peter did not explain sufficiently. I want to know if Walter goes back into the past with the pieces? Will we even see how this transportation of the machine through the wormhole works? It's admittedly a clever concept, but it's also one which has been fundamental to the entire season and needed more time devoted to it. I worry that we may move on and leave it as is, which would be okay during the times I think about it casually but the days when I sit down and think properly will be less satisfactory.
We also do not see how Peter gets back to the present time, he seems to be able to return once he has a grasp on what he has to do, of how the machine works. As we see the present day team delighted that Bishop jr. has returned, Peter takes it upon himself to somehow bring Walternate and Bolivia's lab into the same room in a flash of light. The jaws of Fringe fans are now truly on the floor with a collective "what the f&*^?" Peter has created a bridge between worlds, a way for the two universes to work together and try to solve the differences. Peter knows now that destroying one world will not save the other, and so they have to find a way as a single team to save both. It's such a fascinating concept, and all Fringe fans were already salivating at the prospect of both universe's characters working together in season four.
Also the Walter - Walternate showdown finally took place, the man looking for redemption versus the man looking for revenge. We only got a taster of how it went down, but both men clearly have a lot of issues to work out. It's all incredibly tasty, everyone watching waiting for the screen to turn black and the hiatus to begin.
Yet then Peter disappears...
... and everyone ignores the moment. A split second of confusion is followed by an argument on how they can work together. It all feels very strange, Olivia seems to be following Peter's words by suggesting that they fix what is broken. What exactly is going on?
Then we cut to the...
OBSERVER ALERT:
...Observers standing outside the Statue of Liberty. They all are looking, together, as one unit. This is clearly a moment of utmost importance. Nothing thus far has seen the convergence of all The Observers to one spot.
December: "You were right. They don't remember Peter."
The Observer: "How could they? He never existed. He served his purpose."
If your jaws were not on the floor before, they were now. If your jaws were already on the floor, they should have detached from your body and been running around the room.
Peter is gone. He doesn't exist. What. The. Fuck. Happens. Now.
9/10
Adam
(tbc tomorrow with my preview/theories for season four and also my answer to #whereispeterbishop)
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