Fringe

[Warren_Paul]

Ah, I think I made a mistake in my theory. It was Walternate that got distracted? That's right... I remember now.

Okay, but the same outcome still happens.

September has to be in the laboratory, but no matter what, Walter was always going to cross over. I say this, because if Walternate hadn't been interrupted by September, and had cured alt Peter, then Walter would have very likely kidnapped the cured Peter to replace his Peter who died before that night in the laboratory.

That's a very confusing sentence...

Okay, so knowing my mistake, this is what happened:

• Peter in blue reality dies because Walter can't figure out the cure.
• Walter starts watching through the window into the red reality.
• September went to Walternate's laboratory in the red reality to witness the discovery of the cure either because he was curious or because he knew Walter would cross over anyway to kidnap the cured Peter, and wanted to ensure Peter lived to control the machine, but distracts Walternate at the critical moment. September wanted to stop the damage from being done to the realities, but by interfering he was the catalyst of it instead.
• Walter, who was watching Walternate at the critical moment, knows the way to save Peter, so crosses over into the Red reality and brings Peter back, and in doing so breaks the balance of the realities.
• September saves them from the lake because the only way to repair the damage he caused by prompting Walter to cross over is to ensure Peter lives to control the machine.
• Everything continues on like normal until the fourth season.
• September never comes back to warn them that the observers are coming at the end of season 4 - and the future episode never happens.
• September never removes Peter from time. So the events of the fourth season never happen.*
• The Yellow reality never existed.**
• At the end of the third season, Peter isn't sucked away, and the machine restores balance, so the blue and red reality end up working together peacefully like they were before the gate was closed for good.

* Peter was removed from the timeline because the observers suspected the threat he was to their existence. But September interfered with their plans, knowing that Peter had to exist, so he created a way for Peter to be brought back.***

** The storyline of the fourth season was based on a what if Peter never existed reality, and it ended up making it so that David Robert Jones who should have been dead was still alive and causing trouble. With Peter never being taken out of the timeline, David died at the time he was supposed to. Did Bell still do the same thing as he did in season 4, just without David's help? We'll never really know, but I think something happened, because Etta is still the same age as she was in the yellow reality. If everything went on as fine in the blue reality and the yellow reality never happened, then wouldn't have Olivia got pregnant sooner? So, yes, yellow reality never happened, but something else happened in the blue reality to delay Etta's birth.


*** The only way I can see Peter still being removed from the timeline is if the observers wanted to make it so that Walter never crossed over, and in doing so never damaged the realities. But if he never crossed over, then how come the machine still exists in the yellow reality? I'll have to look it up, but did they invent an explanation for this in season 4? I don't remember. And why would September create a way for Peter to come back? That's why I think the purpose was never to fix the damage done to the realities, and that was just an excuse used to make September co-operate. The real reason was to stop September's plan.

 

[Lenny]

Aww man, that's kind of sad - sure, Lincoln's partner never got killed, which is a plus, but he also never got to the other side and built a family with Fauxlivia.

Whilst alt-Lincoln may have ended up doing the same with Fauxlivia, it's not his family picture we saw, so I don't mind him snuffing it until the cows come home (though we can't guarantee that he and Fauxlivia would have had a family - maybe blue Lincoln consoling Fauxlivia was the catalyst that made her act on her feelings for [any version of] Lincoln?).

---

I see what I think may be a flaw, though - the original twelve did not know the reason for their mission, so could not know that Peter was a threat to them, surely?

I always thought that they removed him because he was an anomaly in the timeline - a result of September's interference.

EDIT: Duuuude! Stealth-edit...

 

[Warren_Paul]

Sorry, yeah. I had more thoughts after I'd posted it.

Very true, it was the other twelve, not Windmark that made him remove Peter, wasn't it... I don't know then. Will have to think on that.

 

[Warren_Paul]

Okay, so it can possibly make sense that the other twelve were completely oblivious to September's plan and all they thought about doing was correcting the mistakes September had made with his interference, and to them, that was erasing Peter's existence. They wanted to fix the world by resetting time back to before Walter crossed over to get Peter.

If that is so, then they'd still want to remove him from time, even though September had already fixed the balance of the realities.

But if we take that avenue and use it to say that the yellow reality still happened, then why did September create a way for him to come back? And why did the machine still exist if it was created for Peter to use? Why create something for somebody who never existed?

I was given the impression that Peter was able to come back because he was needed for the season 5 plan to be a success, because it required Etta. That's why September left behind a trace of him. So if the invasion wasn't going to happen, then when he was removed from time, there would be no reason to bring him back, and in fact it would be better for the world if he'd never existed, because then the damage to realities would never have happened. So I am still of the opinion that he was never removed from time in the reset, because otherwise, the ending of the final episode would be impossible. Both him and Etta wouldn't exist.

In regards to the twelve, for all we know they could have been acting on orders they got from Windmark or somebody else in charge who suspected September had ulterior motives, and once again oblivious to the real reason behind those orders.

Here's another question though. Does resetting time in blue reality reset it in red as well? We don't know the answer, but if it doesn't, then Lincoln is still with Fauxlivia in the red reality, and there is a third version of him in blue reality. Time was reset in both realities in season 4 because Peter was tied intrinsically to both realities. But the observers never invaded the red reality, only the blue. So resetting the observers had nothing to do with the red reality which means it's possible that the red reality went on like normal with alt-lincoln dead, Lincoln in a relationship with Fauxlivia and everyone happy ever after. To give everyone a happy ending that's what I'm going to believe; that the red reality wasn't reset.

 

[Erin99]

Well, I cried. Told myself I wasn't going to, and tried to stop myself, but I still cried (three times! Twice before the episode had even entered the final act!). And I'm a person who doesn't cry.

I started watching Fringe back in May 2011, and it's been my favourite programme ever since, and probably will remain my favourite programme for many years to come.

Whilst the fourth series couldn't really live up to the incredible third series (which I think is only topped by the two-part finale to series two), it makes for far better viewing the second time round, and I think the same will be true of the fifth series.

Now it's all finished, I really look forward to being able to do a marathon from start to finish, but at the same time I mourn its passing - I don't think we're likely to see anything with such a rich mythology, or as well-developed characters, for a very long time.

I'm actually tearing up again, now.

I haven't read the rest of the posts (too long, and I'm only adding to them - oops!), but here goes:


!!!!!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!

Seph and I didn't cry. I feel Nina's death was more emotional than any other. In fact, I feel the opposite from you, Lenny, and I've been a huuuuge fan for years. I feel a little let down. I don't feel the paradox could be healed by Walter going as well as the kid, too. Once the kid got to the future and the future people saw what he was, they would never create Observers (ha! Yeah right. 'Course they would - they'd love the kid's powers!). This in turn means that if they stopped the Observer creation, the kid was never born and thus was never there to show them NOT to go down that same path of creating Observers...

I like that Walter would have existed until a certain point, though, which (I think) means Peter and everyone remembers him, although he isn't around in the new, fixed future...


Anyway, I felt Fringe could have done more with their final SHORT series, but it seems like they just send the gang on an item-of-the-week quest so they could build the machine at the end. And, if you noticed, those dangerous red rocks weren't so dangerous because September handled them without even gloves or a hazard suit! SO it felt like that entire episode where they got the red rocks (which was emotional) was all for drama, since they didn't follow it through.

I must admit, though, I loved seeing the alternate universe. I hoped they would show it, somehow. But blimey! I had to suspend my disbelief when Olivia didn't really suffer serious side-effects from the four doses of cortexifan. Also, looking back, I feel like the show didn't live up to its potential. They had so many great ideas but they just let them fizzle away. Olivia's powers could have been amazing - they hinted enough at it - but what really came of them? Really? I mean, in one episode she switched on all those lights that the psycho wanted her to, promising Big Things to come... and, what, the Big Thing was that she was going to be an energy source - a battery! - for Spock's plans, since the other baddie had died?

Also, Olivia's daughter - I didn't feel anything at her death, because I barely knew her. And then suddenly her face was on every resistance poster, which didn't make sense as no one knew she was in the resistance until her death.

Also, Peter got an implant - wow! - but that fizzled out, too, until I was left wondering what the point was... Was it just another parcel of random excitement that filled an episode or two until the end episode? I felt the final series should have been working up towards a big end, and I didn't feel I got that.

So, uh, as much as I LOVE the alternate-universe series, and Walter's humour, and Olivia and Peter's relationship, I am left somewhat disappointed... But I'm glad I stayed with them all till the end.

 

[Erin99]

Just another thought...


As regards those above (yes, I've now read some of it!), I don't feel you could make a race of Observers WITH emotions (if they'd had to lose emotions to fit in intelligence in the first place, what would they have to lose this time???) and still call them Observers. They would be so different, think so differently, they would not do the same things, or care about the same things, that the original ones did. You couldn't guarantee that events would happen the same way if these people had compassion and love and such.

Would they even care about the same things?

No, I think everyone's trying to fit explanations into something that just wasn't planned very well, as horrid as it is for me to write that...

And that's not to say I'm not a huge fan of the series. In fact, that series is, quite literally, the only thing Seph and I watch(ed) after Lost finished. Our TV is dusty...

 

[Lenny]

I agree that so much more could have been done with the fifth series, but at the end of the day I've always seen Fringe as more characters in a story, than a story with characters.

I too wish that things like Peter the Observer could have been stretched over more episodes (at one point I thought Peter was going to become Windmark - similar faces, y'know), and it felt like they were storylines that had to be chopped significantly because of the shorter series length... but they still had a point. Peter the Observer, for example, set up Michael's big plan: Peter was trying to kill Windmark. He managed to get his lieutenants, but he couldn't get the big boss, who worked out the plan. Michael, however, played a longer game and achieved it! By stepping off the train and getting caught, the team eventually reached the point where they had to re-introduce Cortexiphan to Olivia's system. She rescued Michael and they made it to the final act. In the final act, up pops Windmark at the vital moment and he is killed by none other than Olivia and her amazing mind (the lights in the city went down, Windmark realised something was up, but was flattened by the cars Olivia smashed together before he could escape). Yeah, the Cortexiphan should have been burned out of her system by the jumps to and from the other side, but hey...

Putting the ending aside for one minute (the brain cogs are still whirring though - I will shoehorn in an explanation that works! ), a friend has mentioned something that I completely passed over - the new Observers (whether or not they can be called that is a different matter) are designed by Walter.

The cleverest guy on earth happens to go forwards in time with a boy to inspire a race of highly intelligent, deeply emotional humans. I can't for a second believe that he wouldn't have had a hand (maybe even taking the role of the "scientist in Norway"). In a way, it would also satisfy his original desire to build a new world with Belly, except this time, he has full brain capacity and his emotions - God-Walter who can do anything and damn the consequences does not return, but is replaced by a loving Walter who can do anything.

That's an interesting parallel (from a writing perspective, at least) - Walter's journey in the fifth series mirrors the evolution of the Observers when Michael is sent forward in time.

 

[ctg]

But Leisha look at the Child Observed and you see he didn't had any emotions. They were hidden better than Winmark rage, which was really obvious. He wasn't simply OCD over the team. He was properly consumed by the hate against the humanity. And I appriciated JJA's nod towards the Walkowski Brothers. I mean you cannot really miss that matrix reference.

I also noticed that September didn't handle the rocks properly, but how much he'd really to lose? He's the professional, when it comes to the time-travelling and I believe that he knew how to handle the material. And if they'd had given enough of time, I believe that the proper time-machine would had been written in the story.

So we can wish that JJA get enough of money from the Star Trek to be able to make a TV movie or an alternative version to our ending. It would fit the canon, wouldn't it?

 

[ctg]

The Fringe finale left plenty of questions unanswered, but did it really need to tie up every last detail for its fans?



Spoiler warning: for obvious reasons, don't read this until you've seen the Fringe finale.

Fringe brought its five seasons to a close last Friday, and we’ve had a few days now to let it all sink in. We’ve mourned the passing of the show while celebrating its delightfully unexpected swansong, we’ve had a commemorative meal of root beer float and Red Vines, we’ve tried to alleviate our withdrawal by deciding to watch all of Alias from the beginning. But when all’s said and done, do we feel satisfied, as if swamping after a good roast dinner?

Fringe’s series finale and the episodes leading up to it answered a lot of our questions. Donald was September. The Child Observer was September’s son, Michael. Sam Weiss (MIA since the re-setting of the timeline at the end of season three) was still poking his nose in and got himself killed helping our heroes. Walter never forgave William Bell for what he did to Olivia and left him in amber. Fauxlivia and Clark Kent-Lincoln Lee were happily married and had a son. Walter, as we’d always suspected, really did know Astrid’s name.

But there were plenty of questions left unanswered as well. The biggie: if the Observers have been wiped from existence, why is Peter still in our universe? Walternate should have been able to cure him Over There (because he wasn’t distracted by September) and none of the series should have happened. And other questions: does it ever bother Peter that his son winked out of existence when he did? What happened to the shady characters chasing Peter in season one, Agent Amy Jessup from the beginning of season two, Rachel and Ella or Scarlie? What was going on with September and December, and did all the original twelve Observers end up going soft? Why does September confirm that he meant Michael when he said "the boy must live", when it’s very clear from watching Peter that he does mean Peter? Did Michael know exactly how everything was going to go down and, therefore, did he knowingly let his father die? If so, why? And what on earth was up with Nina and Broyles snogging way back in the season two premiere?


Some of these questions may yield reasonable answers with just a bit of fan-tweaking. Peter was an anomaly anyway, having popped back into existence for no reason at all early in season four, so presumably anything relating to him and his presence Over Here – and the creation of the door that Walter wouldn’t have otherwise needed to create, sparking off the whole series – is just a bit, for want of a better phrase, wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey. Amy Jessup obviously found better things to do and there were brief handwaves in season four to get rid of Rachel and Ella and Scarlie. The mysterious criminals who were after Peter disappeared so long ago everyone’s probably forgotten about them, and as of season four Peter never existed for them anyway. But some things will remain eternally a mystery – there’s just no explanation for Nina and Broyles.

Perhaps the real question is, should the finale have answered all our questions? Is it the job of a series finale to wrap everything up in a neat little bow? As io9 has pointed out, Fringe was always more about family, and parent/child relationships in particular, than it was about weird science (this had been obvious from at least season two – just count how many season two episodes are about parents going to extreme lengths for their children. Or, in one case, performing dangerous scientific experiments on their children). If we didn’t already know that emotional truth was more important to the show than scientific accuracy, Peter’s utterly nonsensical existence in season two, and Olivia’s equally nonsensical recovery of her memories of him, was a dead giveaway. So why might we expect more from the series finale?


Perhaps Fringe’s problem is that, when it comes to long-term storytelling and payoff, it set the bar too high too early on. Season two’s Peter is one of the most satisfying revelation-episodes in a long term story arc that you’re ever likely to see. At that point in the series (before season three’s Subject 13, which is one big continuity hole), Peter offers an explanation for slow-burning plots that ties in to the tiniest hints dropped throughout seasons one and two (Peter thought GI Joe’s scar was on the other side of his face, he’s always hated custard even though Walter insists he enjoyed it as a child) as well as explaining most of the bigger mysteries that the show had been pursuing up to that point – not only why Peter has a gravestone and Walter remembers his death and a partial explanation for why September saved them from drowning in Reiden Lake, but also an explanation for the Pattern and for why Fringe events have been happening at all. And the explanation itself is a doozy: Walter caused all these Fringe events, causing thousands of deaths in our universe and probably millions Over There, because he was desperate to save a single life, that of his son. It’s a beautiful and yet chilling metaphor for the abuse of science, but more importantly for the lengths to which a parent will go to save their child. In Peter, the logic of the science fiction and emotion come together to create an almost perfect arc-based episode.

So maybe that’s why we might have expected more from the Fringe finale. We’d all like to recreate the experience of watching Peter for the first time and being impressed by a story arc that had been so carefully thought out and that came together so beautifully. But TV writers and producers can only do so much intricate long-term planning and after five years, it’s probably not possible to tie all the loose ends up so neatly (not to mention the host of anomalies created by season four).


But that one, big unanswered question – why did the timeline snap back into place in 2015 when the Observers had had such a huge impact on events before that date? – will still bother some viewers. Ultimately, it comes down to how far you are willing to suspend disbelief in terms of science fiction for the sake of emotional truth. Because (Nina and Broyles’ alternate timeline hijinks aside) Fringe’s emotional stories were wrapped up perfectly in this finale. Olivia gets the chance to be a mother, Walter shows Astrid how much she means to him, Broyles kicks ass and a few episodes earlier, Nina proved her true mettle when she killed herself to protect our heroes. And the most important of all, those last words Peter mouthed to Walter as he stepped through the portal – "I love you, Dad." From their frosty reunion in the pilot, through the shattering revelations of the end of season two, to putting Peter on the opposite foot in season four when suddenly he had to pursue Walter’s love instead of vice versa, Fringe’s five-year story has been about Walter’s love for his son and, eventually, his son’s for him. For some, that won’t be enough, for a story that doesn’t make logical sense will remain forever naggingly unsatisfying. For others, that swell of emotion renders all logical inconsistencies null and void. Both points of view are equally valid: both will be as strongly felt.


So, what do you think? Should the Fringe finale have answered all our questions?

http://www.denofgeek.com/tv/fringe/24174/should-the-fringe-finale-have-answered-all-our-questions

 

[Warren_Paul]

The biggest misconception is that viewers think the purpose of sending Michael into the future was to stop the Observers from ever existing, which just isn't true. It was to stop the scientists from removing the emotional part of their brain to enhance intelligence. When December said they would cease to exist in the discussion with September, he meant cease to exist as they know them. The observers that Walter guides into creation with Michael's help in the future are a completely different type of observer. We know for a fact that the observers still exist because the white flower card still gets to Peter in the final scene of the finale - an observer delivered that card.

I think people just aren't using their thinking caps, but oh well. Thanks for the links, ctg.

 

[Connavar]

Im a new Fringe fan since i watched last week Seasons 1-3 on Netflix. I have seen some eps of season 1 earlier and stopped watching because i thought it was too much X-Files copy. Season 2 and the whole battle,struggles with the alternate world made it more fascinating, better story, character wise. Im hoping that story, war and struggles end well. Also hope the finale of season 5 isnt weak. Fringe is a rarely smart SF tv show. Most of SF tv shows in recent years deserved to be cancelled, just not good enough.

Im surprised and glad that Fox gave Fringe 5 seasons and didnt cancel it.

 

[ctg]

It was cancelled but they gave it 16 weeks to finish the storyline.

 

[Connavar]

It was cancelled but they gave it 16 weeks to finish the storyline.

5 seasons is good for that channel. I have read that they werent sure if there were gonna be a season 5 so they completed the main storylines in season 4 which is good. Its worse when they dont get to finish storylines and the creators never finish the series like they want to.

I cant blame Fox for the cancelation, US ratings was bad for years with Fringe and they cancelled shows with more viewers. Someone had good taste to keep it around. Im more annoyed there isnt a room for a SF like this on US tv. Its must be some superhero or some horror series to a hit. A great show like X-Files wouldnt even survive with the lack of viewer for SF in US tv right now.

Shame us internationals fans dont count like US comics companies count international comic sales. Fringe was big over here.

 

[Anthony G Williams]

My take on the whole series, from my SFF blog: Science Fiction & Fantasy

Well, I have finally reached the end of Fringe. It has unquestionably been one of the highlights of my TV watching over the last year, and will remain in my mind for a long time. I have been reflecting on why I found it so special.

In my first take on the series (posted in January 2013), which I wrote after watching only the first few episodes, I commented that Fringe frequently involved gruesome X-Files type biological/medical scenes which pushed it towards the horror field. On the other hand, it starred Australian actress Anna Torv as Agent Olivia Dunham, who "has immediately joined the select group of actors whose presence is an incentive for me to watch whatever she's in". I compared it with Warehouse 13, which I started at the same time but subsequently stopped watching after the first couple of series as it was too lightweight and repetitive to hold my attention, whereas I remained gripped by Fringe through all 100 episodes.

The second time I commented on Fringe was in September, when I wrote "Fringe continues to impress, with Anna Torv playing Agent Olivia Dunham (actually two of them, in parallel worlds) still very much the highlight of the series. The way she shifts body language and expressions depending on which Liv she's playing is fascinating; the uncertainty and vulnerability of the 'original' Liv, the result of experiments she was subjected to as a child, being replaced by the bold swagger of the confident 'alternate Liv' who did not experience that. The progress of the plot threads is somewhat erratic, with some episodes focusing on carrying forwards the intriguing parallel worlds mystery while others take a time-out for more or less unrelated X-Files type weird events."

This remained true for much of the series although as the climax of the final season approached, the parallel worlds plot was wound up (but not forgotten) and replaced by a new threat: the invasion of the bald, robotic Observers, supermen from the far future who set about ruining the Earth's atmosphere to suit what they were used to. I wondered beforehand how it might end – perhaps an all-action finale in which the Fringe team battle their way to their goal, getting killed off one by one until Olivia succeeds in thwarting the Observers' plan with her final dying effort? Not quite – in fact, not at all like that. The conclusion was satisfactory (with some reservations) but the pace surprisingly slow, with time-out being taken for various protracted emotional scenes - which I would have preferred rather less of.

It is probably not a good idea to think too deeply about the internal logic of the plotting in the final series. Having previously established the get-out-of-jail-free card of all time-travel series – the existence of parallel universes, thereby neatly sidestepping all of the usual paradoxes – the story line ultimately depends upon changing their existing time line rather than creating a new one. This throws up all of the usual "suppose you kill your own grandfather" type of questions. However, the story charges forward with such conviction and pizzazz that the plot holes rarely become obvious at the time of watching.

So, what was the basis of the appeal? An intriguing premise, much better than the X-Files because it was so much more than a collection of macabre stories; variety in the story lines with an overarching plot which kept developing in new and interesting ways; and above all, a really great ensemble cast backing up the deservedly multi-award-winning Anna Torv and making the most of the generous opportunities for character development. They really drew me into their world and made me care about what happened to them, which is the ultimate test of any fiction, written or on screen.

 

[Connavar]

Im watching season 5 on Netflix currently and it doesnt feel like as ambitious. Too few characters and limited scope the future story compared to epic sf stories of parallel universes clashing, different timeline of earlier series. Understandably the cancellation changed the way the final season became.

Still overall the series is my fav, best of its kind. Much better premise, more consistent series than compared to series like X-Files.


Anna Torv is to me the standout performer of the series and she is to me an actress i will follow when she does other works. I hope she gets to star in other strong tv series.

 

[Dave]

It is probably not a good idea to think too deeply about the internal logic of the plotting in the final series. Having previously established the get-out-of-jail-free card of all time-travel series – the existence of parallel universes, thereby neatly sidestepping all of the usual paradoxes – the story line ultimately depends upon changing their existing time line rather than creating a new one.

I'm watching the final season now and this did cross my mind. I also wondered why not, having mastered time travel so eloquently, the Observers didn't try to conquer all the other alternative universes (much as the Kromaggs did in Sliders) but instead they only exist in our own timeline. Then maybe that explanation is still to be given to me in the remaining episodes.

And I deliberately avoided some of the spoilers about what is still to come but someone did say that they enjoyed it until it became Star Trek in the 5th Season and that has intrigued me for 4 Seasons now. I still don't consider it anything like Star Trek even though I just saw a redshirt die inside the subspace bubble in S5:06.

I also felt very little when Etty died. She hadn't been around long enough to mean much. It seemed to be just an excuse for Peter to turn to the dark side in his interrogation of the Observer. Then he inserted the cyber-tech into his brain. I hope that actually leads somewhere, because I just read a comment that it is buried.

I've really enjoyed the series though, for all of its faults. I'll now get back to the final 7 episodes.

 

[Dave]

Watched all episodes and read your posts now. Your theories sound solid, and for the most part the continuity of the series is actually very good. I particularly like the way in the future they very casually used a lot of the technology that Fringe episodes had first discovered such as the glass recorded, sound reading machine and generating power from the mineral that David Robert Jones was mining. I also liked the way that in early Season 5 they used weapons from past cases like the rotting virus, and that parasite they used in the last episode. Olivia's powers from the Cortexiphan too, established throughout the series but brought to a climax in the final minutes.

Like you, I have a problem understanding the paradoxes of Peter and Lincoln. My assumption was that the original twelve were a precursor to the invasion. If the invasion no longer takes place then the mission of the twelve doesn't take place either. I also thought that September disturbed Walter during his work which caused him to miss the positive value in his experiment that would lead to a cure for Peter. He therefore felt responsible for Peter dying, and so when Walter and alt-Peter were about to die, he rescued them. Without September, Walter discovers the cure in time, saves Peter and therefore Peter exists and therefore Etta exists. Walter does not cross over into the alt-universe, none of that story occurs. Lincoln never goes and stays there.

But what about Belli? Belli still crosses over and manipulates things, but he never works with the Observers because they aren't there.

The plot of the chip in Peter's head didn't just fizzle out as Leisha said. He realised that it was turning him into an emotionless Observer and took it out again. He did get all the information that he was ever going to get, and still couldn't catch Windmark with it. I didn't have a problem with that at all.

I probably have more of a problem that the future just wasn't futuristic enough. Surveillance by the Observers was pretty poor. They had car tracking in the alternative universe in 2009 so why not in ours in 2026? And how they were never discovered in the Harvard Lab despite drawing all that power for weeks. Difficult to believe the loyalist guards only checked it over the one single time.

The biggest misconception is that viewers think the purpose of sending Michael into the future was to stop the Observers from ever existing, which just isn't true.

You know, I never thought that until I read it here from you, but if true, I can see why. In the "last time on Fringe" part at the start of the last episode they have Peter say this, cut from a longer, earlier conversation. He doesn't mean that but it is exactly what he says on the clip shown.

The conclusion was satisfactory (with some reservations) but the pace surprisingly slow, with time-out being taken for various protracted emotional scenes - which I would have preferred rather less of.

But the the same was true for the whole series not just the final 13 episodes. It was always about the emotional journey (especially that of Walter) and the pace of the arc story was excruciatingly slow. As Lenny says:

...at the end of the day I've always seen Fringe as more characters in a story, than a story with characters.

That kind of very slow, character-driven long story arc is what JJ Abrams is known for isn't it? Only on Dollhouse and Firefly the shows got cancelled before he could finish. In Dollhouse you learn more in the final two episodes than the rest of them. And we still don't know everything about the Firefly story. At least, Season 5 gave good closure and tied up loose ends.

 

[Bugg]

I'm just starting to re-watch Fringe - saw the first five episodes over the last few days. It was like seeing an old friend. My enthusiasm for it was stoked again when a friend who likes similar fare to myself asked me for recommendations and I found out she had never seen it. Of course, imagine my frustration when I found it is no longer on Netflix Fortunately I have the first two seasons on blu-ray, so that'll keep me going until I get the rest.

It prompted me to look up what the cast members are doing these days, and I noticed Anna Torv is in a new Netflix series coming this year: Mindhunter (TV series) - Wikipedia

 

[BAYLOR]

A great show , way better then the XFiles.