Fringe: Commentary on the Finale
It has been so much fun rewatching Fringe seasons 2 & 3, on the Science Channel, and slowly trying to watch Season 4 on my own. Season 5 was a culmination of a great show that came full circle in the end. It was the best finale for a scifi show that I have ever seen. As we all know, many scifi shows have endings that are either non-existent,(TSCC) as they are cancelled, made into a bad movie (oh Serenity, you rocked but not as a movie), or are just plain wrong (that's you BSG!) & disappointing. Although a few years have passed, I still feel like I was left hanging after the BSG finale, and I hoped that Fringe would not disappoint, and it did not.
So, these are my thoughts and theories:
Technically the definitions of fate and destiny are that fate cannot be changed, but you can change your destiny. September felt that you could do both, as he tells Walter that it was ultimately about love, hope and protecting those you love. Hope was something that had vanished in 2036, except for those who were brave enough to be part of the Resistance. Love of your children, partner, parent and hope were the threads that linked all of the events and characters of Fringe.
As Walter said, he wanted to give Peter his life back, and for Peter to give Etta back to Olivia. It was then that, Peter would be with his little girl, the other love of his life, and Olivia, his soul mate and first love of his life. But it mean losing Walter, who he had come to love more than he could ever have imagined, and was devastated when he discovered that he was losing him. I look at that moment the Observers arrived as a fixed point in time. In my world that means everything that happened before, and season 5 remained the same. The only thing that changed was that Walter and Michael got to the future and were successful in their mission, thus deleting Walter from that moment forwards. He could not have done what he did, without the events that led up to that moment when he left with Michael. Walter said that this created a paradox, and nature responded by deleting both he and Michael at the moment the Observers would show up.
I came up with this theory after Walter tells Peter, via the tape, that their time together was "stolen", and a light bulb went off, and suddenly everything made sense. I even feel like my theory of explaining it as a fixed point in time, could not explain something that I am unable to put into words. But it is my best theory as to why we got a great finale of our favorite show.
I believe that Olivia was waiting, & waiting to see if Etta would reach Peter in the park, and I thought her small smile, was one of relief & joy. If anyone would remember Season 5, it would be Olivia, as she was always special, and maybe it was the cortexiphan, I don't know, but it worked for me. The tulip triggered the memories for Peter, as seen by the badass look at the camera at the end. After everything that happened between them, and to them, I think they deserved to remember what happened. Peter deserved to know how much stronger his relationship with Walter had become, and the same with his love for Olivia. We saw the struggle to save the world, the pain in losing Etta again, and by the end, when they were sitting in that car they were more in love than ever. It was do or die, so they could get Etta back. A scary moment for most, but a loving moment for them.
Peter and Walter came so far, and the third best quote of the season: when Walter says to Peter "Peter you are my favorite thing, my very favorite thing", could not go w/out shedding some tears. The first being the moment Olivia hugged Etta for the first time, and the second when Nina gave Windmark the F-you and sacrificed herself for the plan. Walter was made whole again by Michael, and bonded with September about the meaning of being a father. I think Peter, and even Walter in the far future, should know how much they loved each other, how much Peter loved his father, and had even called him "Dad" a few times, before he mouthed it at the end.
We also had Etta, who was so damn brave, and rock star in her own right. She had the gift of hiding her thoughts, and she was the leader of the Resistance after Simon was killed. She was taken that day, by who I still believe was September, as only an Observer could blink in and out fast enough to save her. It was never explained, most likely due to the fact that this show was about Walter & Peter, Peter & Olivia, and Etta was the cherry on top. Someone told Etta who her parents were, which makes no sense as why didn't they bring her back to Olivia & Peter? Time was fluid from the perspective of the Observers, as they were able to predict multiple outcomes (as we saw with Peter), and ultimately moving forwards with the one, that would be xxxxx% chance of being successful. Etta was being hidden for a reason, because she had a role to play, and there was no question that her bravery and conviction in the plan, made her the daughter of our Peter and Olivia. I believe that she was part of the Resistance since she was a teenager, and even as she was dying, she turned the anti-matter device on, before her parents showed up and were with her, when she died. She was the one to find them, so that the events of season 5 unfolded as they did.
Michael is the perfect example of performing one act, so another could take place. We know he saw all of the timelines, as he proved when he touched Walter. He knew what the desired outcome could be, and always did what he did, to continue along that path. September said "there is always a reason" when Michael does something. September figured this out only after he lost his ability to move through time. Michael knew that it was delicate balance of events that would provide the desired outcome. Thus he stepped off that train, so that Olivia would take cortexiphan, save him, and kill Windmark. Oh, and maybe he wanted to stick it to Windmark as well. He could not tell Olivia what to do next, because if he said anything, it could change the delicate balance of events that were already in motion. We saw him standing back in fear as Windmark walked towards him, as there was another outcome possible. He watched Olivia, and then she picked up Etta's necklace, and like an animal stalking prey, pulled herself up, and did her thing. Perhaps he put his finger to his lips at the end to say "this was why I could not tell you what would happen next".
Seeing Olivia and Astrid running to the wormhole, and then watching all of them, standing there, praying that Walter would make it, was one of my favorite moments. The ease at which the scales can be tipped towards good & evil are always so close, is a scary commentary on all of the choices we make (not between good and evil, but how we become who we are). It reminded me of the final moment in the "The Return of the King" from LOTR, when Frodo fights w/Gollum, and almost loses his life and the ring.
On a side note: John Noble still has a chance to win an Emmy for his brilliance on this show, but credit must be given to Anna Torv as well. When she appeared in "Over there part 1", we could see that she was completely different person than our Olivia. She was happier, loved her job, and was still joking w/Lincoln when they were on the verge of possibly being ambered. Season 4 gave her the chance to develop her character even more, and it culminated for me in 4.02. The two Olivia's, side by side, Olivia had a migraine, clearly tired and run down, while her counterpart was joking with Lincoln when she put on a wig, that did not look blonde btw, had a zeal for her life and job. She just looked at Lincoln and said, " its' showtime", and Olivia just stared at her. But, Olivia had also been kidnapped by the other side, and it seemed that she did not know Lincoln. I do not think she was integrated into their team as she was in season 3, or but it seemed Fauxlivia was w/our team. Peter was the mitigating factor, as was the attempt to brainwash our Olivia failed, because her subconscious kept appearing as Peter in Season 3. So with no Peter, we never really knew what they did to Olivia over there, in the Amber timeline. But the show is over, and she was w/Peter in the end, so what happened during that period w/out Pete would never be fully explained. I felt everyone ended up where they should be in the end, which made for satisfying conclusion to the series.
I will write more about this when I talk about the alt-universe in another post. But I was very happy that we went to the alt-universe because and got closure on Lincoln & Alt-liv, as well. In the end, everyone ended up in the right place
So, these are my thoughts and theories:
Technically the definitions of fate and destiny are that fate cannot be changed, but you can change your destiny. September felt that you could do both, as he tells Walter that it was ultimately about love, hope and protecting those you love. Hope was something that had vanished in 2036, except for those who were brave enough to be part of the Resistance. Love of your children, partner, parent and hope were the threads that linked all of the events and characters of Fringe.
As Walter said, he wanted to give Peter his life back, and for Peter to give Etta back to Olivia. It was then that, Peter would be with his little girl, the other love of his life, and Olivia, his soul mate and first love of his life. But it mean losing Walter, who he had come to love more than he could ever have imagined, and was devastated when he discovered that he was losing him. I look at that moment the Observers arrived as a fixed point in time. In my world that means everything that happened before, and season 5 remained the same. The only thing that changed was that Walter and Michael got to the future and were successful in their mission, thus deleting Walter from that moment forwards. He could not have done what he did, without the events that led up to that moment when he left with Michael. Walter said that this created a paradox, and nature responded by deleting both he and Michael at the moment the Observers would show up.
I came up with this theory after Walter tells Peter, via the tape, that their time together was "stolen", and a light bulb went off, and suddenly everything made sense. I even feel like my theory of explaining it as a fixed point in time, could not explain something that I am unable to put into words. But it is my best theory as to why we got a great finale of our favorite show.
I believe that Olivia was waiting, & waiting to see if Etta would reach Peter in the park, and I thought her small smile, was one of relief & joy. If anyone would remember Season 5, it would be Olivia, as she was always special, and maybe it was the cortexiphan, I don't know, but it worked for me. The tulip triggered the memories for Peter, as seen by the badass look at the camera at the end. After everything that happened between them, and to them, I think they deserved to remember what happened. Peter deserved to know how much stronger his relationship with Walter had become, and the same with his love for Olivia. We saw the struggle to save the world, the pain in losing Etta again, and by the end, when they were sitting in that car they were more in love than ever. It was do or die, so they could get Etta back. A scary moment for most, but a loving moment for them.
Peter and Walter came so far, and the third best quote of the season: when Walter says to Peter "Peter you are my favorite thing, my very favorite thing", could not go w/out shedding some tears. The first being the moment Olivia hugged Etta for the first time, and the second when Nina gave Windmark the F-you and sacrificed herself for the plan. Walter was made whole again by Michael, and bonded with September about the meaning of being a father. I think Peter, and even Walter in the far future, should know how much they loved each other, how much Peter loved his father, and had even called him "Dad" a few times, before he mouthed it at the end.
We also had Etta, who was so damn brave, and rock star in her own right. She had the gift of hiding her thoughts, and she was the leader of the Resistance after Simon was killed. She was taken that day, by who I still believe was September, as only an Observer could blink in and out fast enough to save her. It was never explained, most likely due to the fact that this show was about Walter & Peter, Peter & Olivia, and Etta was the cherry on top. Someone told Etta who her parents were, which makes no sense as why didn't they bring her back to Olivia & Peter? Time was fluid from the perspective of the Observers, as they were able to predict multiple outcomes (as we saw with Peter), and ultimately moving forwards with the one, that would be xxxxx% chance of being successful. Etta was being hidden for a reason, because she had a role to play, and there was no question that her bravery and conviction in the plan, made her the daughter of our Peter and Olivia. I believe that she was part of the Resistance since she was a teenager, and even as she was dying, she turned the anti-matter device on, before her parents showed up and were with her, when she died. She was the one to find them, so that the events of season 5 unfolded as they did.
Michael is the perfect example of performing one act, so another could take place. We know he saw all of the timelines, as he proved when he touched Walter. He knew what the desired outcome could be, and always did what he did, to continue along that path. September said "there is always a reason" when Michael does something. September figured this out only after he lost his ability to move through time. Michael knew that it was delicate balance of events that would provide the desired outcome. Thus he stepped off that train, so that Olivia would take cortexiphan, save him, and kill Windmark. Oh, and maybe he wanted to stick it to Windmark as well. He could not tell Olivia what to do next, because if he said anything, it could change the delicate balance of events that were already in motion. We saw him standing back in fear as Windmark walked towards him, as there was another outcome possible. He watched Olivia, and then she picked up Etta's necklace, and like an animal stalking prey, pulled herself up, and did her thing. Perhaps he put his finger to his lips at the end to say "this was why I could not tell you what would happen next".
Seeing Olivia and Astrid running to the wormhole, and then watching all of them, standing there, praying that Walter would make it, was one of my favorite moments. The ease at which the scales can be tipped towards good & evil are always so close, is a scary commentary on all of the choices we make (not between good and evil, but how we become who we are). It reminded me of the final moment in the "The Return of the King" from LOTR, when Frodo fights w/Gollum, and almost loses his life and the ring.
On a side note: John Noble still has a chance to win an Emmy for his brilliance on this show, but credit must be given to Anna Torv as well. When she appeared in "Over there part 1", we could see that she was completely different person than our Olivia. She was happier, loved her job, and was still joking w/Lincoln when they were on the verge of possibly being ambered. Season 4 gave her the chance to develop her character even more, and it culminated for me in 4.02. The two Olivia's, side by side, Olivia had a migraine, clearly tired and run down, while her counterpart was joking with Lincoln when she put on a wig, that did not look blonde btw, had a zeal for her life and job. She just looked at Lincoln and said, " its' showtime", and Olivia just stared at her. But, Olivia had also been kidnapped by the other side, and it seemed that she did not know Lincoln. I do not think she was integrated into their team as she was in season 3, or but it seemed Fauxlivia was w/our team. Peter was the mitigating factor, as was the attempt to brainwash our Olivia failed, because her subconscious kept appearing as Peter in Season 3. So with no Peter, we never really knew what they did to Olivia over there, in the Amber timeline. But the show is over, and she was w/Peter in the end, so what happened during that period w/out Pete would never be fully explained. I felt everyone ended up where they should be in the end, which made for satisfying conclusion to the series.
I will write more about this when I talk about the alt-universe in another post. But I was very happy that we went to the alt-universe because and got closure on Lincoln & Alt-liv, as well. In the end, everyone ended up in the right place