Top 5 Favorite Fringe Episodes

My rule in regards to determining my top favorite episodes of a TV series is that the list is five episodes per approximately 100. In other words, if a TV series, in total, features approximately 100 episodes, my list of favorite episodes will consist of five selected episodes, and if the series, in total, features approximately 200 episodes, my list of favorite episodes will consist of ten selected episodes, and so on. Because of that, compiling a list of favorite Fringe episodes was immensely difficult because even though there are, indeed, a handful of episodes that are so good that they deserve to be officially heralded as some of the best television that has ever aired (in my opinion), there are episodes that I love to a great extent that obviously do not make the top 5, and it deeply saddens me to make such cuts. As anyone knows me is aware, Fringe is a TV series about which I was and am immensely passionate. It holds an incredibly special place in my heart, and I will never forget it. This is merely one way that I honor it - by honoring the best, in my opinion, of course, five hours that it had and has to offer. Without further ado, in addition to an honorable mention, here are my top 5 favorite Fringe episodes.

Honorable Mention - "Subject 13" (3.15)

I have a few problems with this episode. One is that, for whatever reason, the actor who plays young Peter the first time around during season 2 must not have been available the second time around during season 3 because he does not return and is replaced by a different actor, one who really does not look much like the original actor at all, and I prefer the original actor because he looks a lot more like Josh Jackson. The second problem that I have with "Subject 13" is that the actor and the actress look a little too old to be playing how old Peter and Olivia would have been in early 1986, and this is especially true of the actress, Karley Scott Collins, although she did a wonderful job. Olivia says in "Ability" (1.14) that in 1981, she was three years old, which suggests that she was born in 1978. This means that in early 1986, she would have seven or eight, and the actress looks much older than this; she was, in fact, about eleven when this episode was filmed. The third problem that I have with this episode is that we see Peter and Olivia meeting as children and sharing a very special moment together in a white tulip field, and Olivia makes it snow in Florida. Firstly, no one near the daycare center finds it odd that it is snowing, and secondly, the series never once goes on to explain why, as adults, they seem to have no memory of it. I think that it is beyond safe to say that this is because Walter somehow tampered with their memories so that they would not remember, but it is never explicitly stated. This is, however, a fantastic episode. We get backstory. We return to the 80s, which is awesome. Karley Scott Collins and Chandler Canterbury, in their own rights, do fantastic jobs. We get answers, such as how Walternate found out that Peter was in the Blueverse and how he came to be aware of Blueverse Olivia (and probably, for that matter, why he recruited Redverse Olivia). It is, despite its flaws, a great episode, and it is also worth mentioning that Quinn Lord (who plays Peter the first time around in the season 2 "Peter" episode) and Karley Scott Collins play Hansel and Gretel in the "True North" (1.09) episode of Once Upon a Time, doubtfully a coincidence.

5 - "The Man from the Other Side" (2.18)

I absolutely love "The Man from the Other Side" for so many reasons. One is that we finally see what the Shapeshifters look like as infants, before they shape-shift, and prior to this episode having aired, I had been hoping that that would be something that we would see. The scene when the lights in the lab go out and the Shapeshifter talks to Walter is extremely creepy, and this episode also introduces the mysterious character initially known only as The Secretary. I was immediately sure that it was Walternate, crossing over to take Peter back, and this is strongly hinted at when the Shapeshifter seems to recognize Walter as his superior. This is also the episode when Peter finally finds out that he is from the Redverse, and this is such a great scene, setting the stage for the phenomenal season finale. I can't find any more words; it's simply a fringetastic episode for so many reasons.

4 - "Ability" (1.14)

"Ability" is definitely my favorite season 1 episode, and it is easily one of my favorite episodes of the entire series. This is the episode that sets the stage for so much. It is during "Ability" that we learn of the parallel universe from the ZFT manuscript (which I think could also be interpreted as potentially being about the Observers), and we also learn not only of Cortexiphan but that it was given to Olivia when she was a child. These are two major pieces of Fringe's overarching mythology, and this one single episode opens the doorways into them. I also love the scene when Olivia successfully turns off the lightbox to prevent the orifice-sealing toxin to be spread around the city. I remember first having seen it and being blown away by it; it struck a nerve (in a very good way) and still does. I remember the Cortexiphan trials having reminded me of Alias's Project: Christmas. "Ability" is definitely a classic quintessential episode of Fringe.

3 - "Over There" (2.21) (2.22)

"Over There" is the best season finale of all five seasons, with "An Enemy of Fate" (5.13) coming in second. So much happens in this episode, and I remember how immensely exciting it was finally seeing the Redverse in more detail, actually meeting Redverse versions of characters. There is the memorable "You belong with me" scene, which, of course, is followed by the heart-wrenching cliffhanger that leaves us feeling vehemently desperate and angry, desperate because we know that Olivia is trapped and angry because we know that Peter is going to think that Redverse Olivia is his Olivia, which, of course, he does. The cliffhanger is, in my opinion, the best cliffhanger of all four, and it really sets up the season 3 conflict. "Over There" is a fantastic season finale and, as I said, definitely the best that Fringe has to offer.

2 - "A New Day in the Old Town" (2.01)

My #2 and my #1 selections are so close that they're just about tied (as is the case with #3, as well). The season 2 finale, apparently titled after a quote from Josh Jackson after the show's filming location was moved from New York City to Vancouver, Josh's hometown, is so great because of how exciting it is. The scene when Olivia crashes through the windshield of her S.U.V. may be the best scene of the entire series, and this premiere not only introduces the Shapeshifter mythology but also leaves us with a pretty intense cliffhanger - one has killed Charlie and is now posing as him. The only problem that I have with this episode is that it introduces a character by the name of Agent Amy Jessup and makes her seem like she is going to be an important character of the season; we even see her near the end of the episode connecting Fringe Division cases to the Bible, and not only is this never again explored, we only see her again in one more episode, and it is a brief scene. It seems like the Fringe crew started something and then abandoned it, which is frustrating, but this episode is phenomenal and is definitely my favorite season premiere of all five seasons, with the pilot episode probably coming in second.

1 - "Peter" (2.15)

I will never forget the way that this episode made me feel when it first aired (and still does) and how stunning it is, overall. First of all, it surprises us with an unforgettable new intro, the Fringe theme retrofitted to sound like 80s synth. We finally get pieces of an incomplete puzzle regarding Peter having been taken from the Redverse, and it also surprises us by showing us that, indeed, nothing is at seems, as something that we had thought that we fully understood is not actually accurate. The series does something similar near the end when we discover that even though, as September says in this episode, we had believed that Peter was the boy who was important, it was actually September's son, Michael, the Child from "Inner Child" (1.15). We had believed that Walter taking Peter from the Other Side was purely selfish, was done out of pure greed because he had missed his own son that had died, but this ended up not really being the case. "Peter" shows us that Walter had initially intended merely to bring a cure to Redverse Peter so that another version of his son wouldn't have to die, but the vial of the cure broke, so Walter, therefore, brought him back to the Blueverse, and Elizabeth was unable to let him go. I would imagine that Walter also figured that it was for the greater good if he kept Peter because returning him would mean opening another hole between the universes, which would do even more damage, something that I believe that he even says six months later during "Subject 13" (3.15). "Peter" is a heartbreaking episode, and Quinn Lord does such an amazing job as young Peter. The casting was a great choice (as he even kind of looks like Josh Jackson actually did at around that age, and it's a shame that he was replaced during season 3). I would also argue that this is the first time that we see just how expansive John Noble's acting ability truly is. Josh Jackson is not in this episode at all, and Anna Torv is in very little of it, and it's simply such a special episode. Season 2, as a whole, is fantastic, as evidenced by the fact that four of my selections are season 2 episodes.

Dead Man Down


Dead Man Down is a recently released action thriller released by Original Film, Frequency Films, IM Global, and WWE Studios and was directed by Niels Arden Oplev, probably best known for having directed The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. What makes it related to Fringe, however, is that it was written by none other than J.H. Wyman himself. I think that I recall Joel saying quite some time ago that he was writing a screenplay, and I am assuming that this is to what he was referring. I am so happy that he is establishing himself outside of J.J. Abrams by writing a screenplay. Upon doing some research, I discovered that he also wrote the 2001 film The Mexican and created the 2003 TV series Keen Eddie (which starred Mark Valley), but this is his first effort following Fringe, and I hope that he will do more work outside of J.J. Abrams. I recently learned that the TV series on which he is working, tentatively titled Human, will also have J.J. on its crew, of which I hadn't been aware. I really love J.J. Abrams, so don't get me wrong, but that's my point; J.J. has a major name in the TV and film industry, and I would really love Joel to establish a bigger name, as well. Joel certainly has a large, expansive mind because Dead Man Down is certainly very different from Fringe in many ways, and I believe that The Mexican is a comedy film. After having seen Dead Man Down, however, I would ultimately say, unfortunately, that Joel should stick to science-fiction and stay away from these revenge films that are quite honestly getting to be a bit tiresome, in my opinion.

Dead Man Down stars Colin Farrell as Victor, a man who has infiltrated a crime organization in order to exact revenge upon Alphonse, the man responsible for the murders of his wife and daughter. Along the way, he meets Beatrice (played by Swedish actress Noomi Rapace), who was facially disfigured as a result of a car accident, and after seeing Victor murder someone, she blackmails him, telling him that he is to kill the man responsible for her accident or else she will report what she saw to the police. It is honestly a bore, as revenge stories are becoming so common in Hollywood today. That is not to knock Wyman's work because I am very loyal to him, but I just don't know if this is the right genre for him; I think that he would have more room for creativity in a genre such as science-fiction because this film just didn't really do much for me. Comparing the film to Fringe, Fringe is something that is full of emotional and philosophy, leaving you with something deep and meaningful to think about, but I regard this as the same-old, same-old action flick that has been done time and time again. I recall something that a Creative Writing professor once said, which is that Hollywood has tended to move toward prioritizing special effects over storytelling, and I have seen a good amount of films lately that have fit that bill, and this one is certainly no exception. Visually, you see a spectacle, but emotionally, you are left feeling empty.

Part of the problem could be, I admit, that as a viewer, I was not given enough time to get to know and connect with the characters, which is one reason why it isn't really fair to compare a film to a TV series. Fringe notwithstanding, though, something about this film reminded me of Hitchcock. I said after seeing it that it seemed like a film Hitchcock might be involved in today, if Hitchcock were more focused on sex, violence, which he wasn't; he was more about mystery and psychological thrills. I love Hitchcock's films (who doesn't, right?), but most of them are not going to be up for Best Feminist Film; as a feminist, you just have to know that and accept that before even beginning the film, and Dead Man Down certainly is not going to win any Feminist Film of the Year award, either. Beatrice lacks a great deal of narrative control of the film's story; we see her and learn about her primarily through the eyes of the male protagonist, Victor. Her desires are channeled through him; her primary desire is for the man responsible for her disfigurement to die, but she wants Victor to kill him for her, and he keeps putting it off, indirectly saying that it will happen when he says so. She exists solely as an object of desire for our male protagonist (also a typical aspect of James Bond films), and even any kind of romance between the two of them is on his terms. He is a model of strength and courage, whereas she is a model of weakness and fearfulness, and this is quite frustrating coming from one of the main writers behind those whom created the character of Olivia Dunham. I think that it also reminds me of Hitchcock, though, because of the concept of identity playing such a huge role, particularly in Victor using a false name (his name is really Lazlo Kerick) so that he can infiltrate Alphonse's organization.

I do appreciate the perceived Hitchcock feeling, and I think that the writing and the acting are decent, but as I have said already, this film really just left me feeling empty; I wanted more from it, having gone into it knowing that Wyman wrote it. That was, in fact, the sole reason why I had any interest in seeing the film in the first place. I needed more out of it; I needed to understand Beatrice on a deeper level, and I needed her to have more narrative control, to be more of a subject than an object, to not be the "Bond girl" to the extent that she is. The story, as I said, is also tiresome. The Punisher, Punisher: War Zone, Law Abiding Citizen, Taken, and so forth are all action films about male protagonists, formerly or currently some sort of militant operative, out for revenge because members of their families have been harmed and/or killed, and those are just a few examples that come to mind; there are probably a lot more, and that is not to say that the films that I mentioned are not good films (I love all but Taken, which I haven't seen), but the plot has become a tiresome plot that Dead Man Down does not do much to make original. I also feel that aside from the fact that it is how and why Victor and Beatrice meet, the subplot of Beatrice wanting her offender dead serves very little purpose to the story and helps create a film that is a bit convoluted. I don't much care for any of the characters, and the storyline, for a number of reasons, falls a bit flat, leaving me feeling disappointed, and I can only hope that if Mr. Wyman writes more screenplays, they will do his sheer talent justice and be the basis of better films than Dead Man Down, a film to which I award 5 rabbit's feet.

Fringe - "Liberty" (5.12) / "An Enemy of Fate" (5.13) - Series Finale

"Liberty" and "An Enemy of Fate" certainly make for an amazing series finale. I have very minor issues with it, but honestly, I still give it 10 tumor-inducing cell phones because it moved me emotionally to such a great degree. There is so much to talk about, and this will very likely be my longest review of an episode, which makes sense not only because it is double-length but also because it is the series finale; I had expected that my review of the series finale (which, sadly, feels a lot like it came too soon) would be very long. I will start, obviously, with the first part of the finale. "Liberty' is really good and also very surprising, as I was not expecting to ever see the Redverse again. The end of "Worlds Apart" (4.20) seems to be a final goodbye to the Redverse, and it brings about a great deal of closure, with Lincoln suggesting that his home might be with Redverse Olivia and with Blueverse Olivia telling Redverse Olivia to keep looking up after Redverse Olivia says that they don't get rainbows anymore over there. I said then that we probably were not going to see them again, and once we were a couple of episodes into season 5, I was sure of it. After all, the Redverse is not mentioned in "Letters of Transit" (4.19), and that episode was foolishly aired prior to "Brave New World" airing. We do get the chance to see the Redverse once again, though, one last time, and we see Redverse Olivia and Lincoln and see that they have a son. I don't believe that the episode itself names him, but according to IMDB, his name is Trevor. Fringe tends to choose names very tactfully and with a strong purpose, so I looked up what the name Trevor means. Unfortunately, I think that I would really be stretching if I were to say this name was chosen because of its meaning. "Large settlement" is what it means, so unless it refers to him being direct evidence of Blueverse Lincoln and Redverse Olivia settling down together, I think that we can count this one out.

The name Donald, after all, means dark stranger, so other than the fact that September himself chose the name Donald O'Connor because that is an actor from the film Singin' in the Rain, the first film that he and Walter watched together, there is not a doubt in my mind that the writers chose the name for that reason, that Donald was the "dark stranger" of season 5, always making us wonder who he was. I, for one, was not banking on him being anyone that we had already seen because I couldn't imagine why anyone would have changed his name to Donald. Such disappointments have happened before on TV shows. For example, the Fringe producers hinted during their one and only episode of an official Fringe podcast that William Bell was someone whom we had already seen but that the actor didn't know that he was playing William Bell, so my thought was that Broyles was William Bell and was using Phillip Broyles as an alias. That did not end up being true, though; they had lied, and Bell ended up being a totally new character whom we had never seen before. The same happened on LOST; such a huge deal had been made of Jacob for so long, and my theory, since he was born on the Island, was that Aaron was Jacob, and that also did not turn out to be true. Jacob, like Donald, was a character frequently spoken of but who did not have a face to go with the name, a dark stranger. It happens, unfortunately, and that is totally what I had expected to have happen here with Donald, but I was pleasantly surprised that he is September, a revelation that I was very happy with. I am so happy that September came back, and his character really went out with a bang, didn't it? That's in my opinion, anyway; I've seen some say that it was cheap, with which I disagree.

Michael is another one whose name was definitely chosen intentionally. Michael, as most of us know, was God's archangel, and the name's meaning actually implies a question - "Who is like God?" Isn't it ironic that via his unfeeling arrogance, Walter told Carla Warren in 1985 that "there's only room for one god in this lab, and it's not yours," fancying himself a god, only to ultimately fulfill that role after becoming a much better man who sacrifices himself in the face of worldwide annihilation? I bring that up because Michael serves as Walter's right-hand man (or boy) in manipulating events, playing God, in a sense, only this time selflessly, not selfishly. It's ironic, and it's such a fitting end to the series because everything started with what we see in "Peter" (2.15), Walter destroying a universe by taking a boy through a wormhole, and it ends with him saving a universe by doing the same; the irony is immensely beautiful. I am willing to bet that as Peter looked at Walter as Walter took Michael through the wormhole and mouthed "I love you, dad" that he thought of what his mother had said to him, how she had told him to "be a better man than your father" and thought to himself that that would not be possible. The way that Peter looks at Walter one final time in juxtaposition to the way that he first looks at him in the pilot episode is simply beautiful; I would say that Walter was definitely redeemed and that his redemption was definitely a poignant facet of the Fringe story, and that's why I have been so sure for as long as I have that the series would end with Walter dying. He doesn't die, not physically, but he surrenders time (an ironic word to use) with Olivia and Peter and Astrid, those that he loves, so that (a) he could save the world and that (b) Peter and Olivia could be together with Etta. "How could a father not do that for his son?" he asks Peter rhetorically.

I am getting way ahead of myself, though, as I am discussing "Liberty" first. Near the beginning of the episode, we see a very snippy Broyles, talking smart with a Loyalist. The Loyalist tells Broyles that he can't tell him where the prisoner (Michael, of course) is being held because of new security protocols put into place, and Broyles says something quite funny here. "Are you suggesting that I might be the Dove? I'm more of a raven, don't you think?" This is such a good line. Broyles finds out that Michael is being held on Liberty Island (an ironic name in this world), and when we see the Statue of Liberty, she has been torn down with nothing but a small part of her at the bottom remaining, and this sort of reminds me of the foot of the destroyed statue on Lost. This is blatantly obvious symbolism, since the Statue of Liberty is symbolic of liberty, like the Statue, having been destroyed. We not only get a return to the Redverse as a reward from this episode, we get more Cortexiphan, something else that I was sure that we were done with, since Walter, at the end of the season 4 finale, says that Olivia having used Cortexiphan to bring herself back to life cleaned all of it out of her system. She uses Cortexiphan via a method that appears to be quite painful in order to cross over, and I love how the writers keep something in mind here in order to avoid a plothole. During season 3, Walternate learns via a series of experiments that adults cannot be given Cortexiphan because it kills them, yet here is Olivia, just like she was in season 4, being given Cortexiphan as an adult. Walter, however, says that it can be done because her neural pathways have already been altered since she was dosed as a child, which is also in keeping with Walternate and Redverse Brandon seeing the anomalies in her brain structure during "Amber 31422" (3.05).

The Cortexiphan dosages, as I said, seem to be very painful, and they're having quite a troubling effect on Olivia, which seems to worsen with every dosage, and Peter demands that Walter stop. Walter, however, says that she needs enough to be able to cross over four times - one to cross to the Redverse, one to cross to the Blueverse once she reaches Michael's location, one to cross back to the Redverse to avoid being tailed by Observers, and then one to cross back to the Blueverse once they're at a safe location. "I created Cortexiphan; there is no better authority." This definitely looks like Walternate and the old Walter, and I'm not sure why that is because Walter, in "The Boy Must Live" (5.11), says that when Michael touched him, he effectively purged that Walter. Perhaps, there were still some lingering effects that would fade in time? It reminds me of how Walter kept referring to Michael as a subject during "Anomaly XB-6783746" (5.10), earning cold stares from Peter, but that was before Michael gave Walter the gift that he gave him. Walter says that Belly made the shelf life of Cortexiphan 127 years and stresses that he made sure of it, and that makes me wonder what the purpose of that would be. I initially thought 2167, but the math doesn't add up; close, but no cigar. Why not 100? Why not 150? I am drawn to believe that there must be something significant about 127, but I have no idea what.  The scene when Olivia crosses over after her nice moment with Peter is kind of trippy, as we spin around Olivia, and the air turns different colors. That is apparently what it looks like to Olivia when she crosses over, which is cool.

I do have a bone to pick, though, and I think that it's one that I have already picked during season 3, but I am going to pick it again because this episode further validates a need to do so. Near the end of "The Abducted" (3.07), Olivia, having learned who she really is and having received help from Henry Higgins, goes to Liberty Island and attempts to get into Walternate's tank and cross over so that she can go home, but while she is in the Blueverse, some of Walternate's agents yank her out of the water. This told us that when Olivia crosses over, she is in two places at once, with her consciousness going to a double that is created in the opposite universe, since Walternate's agents were able to physically pull her out of the water while she was in the Blueverse. In this episode, however, we see that that is not the case, that Olivia is not physically in both universes. This is definitely a plothole; there are no ifs and ands about that, but I won't spend any more time on that. When she crosses over, she sees Redverse Olivia and Blueverse Lincoln, and Redverse Olivia is very happy to see her. It's so funny to see them so close now when they were once mortal enemies and Redverse Olivia was being portrayed as a villain of the series. They even hug, and I love that scene. I think that we definitely get an answer to a question that is asked by the two Lincolns themselves during "Everything in Its Right Place" (4.17) - the two Lincolns lived such similar lives, so why were they so different? Well, Blueverse Lincoln has now spent a great many years with Redverse Olivia and is now a lot more like Redverse Lincoln, so as many had theorized, I think that it was definitely Redverse Olivia that had rubbed off on Redverse Lincoln. That's just an observation that I thought to be worth pointing out.

Did anyone else, by the way, think that Redverse Olivia was dressed a lot like we used to see Nina dresses? She is all in black and is in a long robe-like outfit, which is very similar to how Nina dresses. That's not important at all, but it's just an observation that I thought that I would throw out there. Another reason why I was so sure that we would not see the Redverse again was because Olivia and Lincoln would have to be pushing sixty, and I couldn't see the writers wanting to go down a route of having to use makeup to make us believe that. If I remember correctly, Olivia was about forty-seven in the 2026 "The Day We Died" (3.22) future, which means that she would be close to sixty in 2036. Here's the thing, though; they definitely do not look like they're in the fifties. They barely did anything to Seth Gabel at all, in fact except grey a few hairs. I am letting it go, though; it does not bother me, and here's why; at the end of season 2 and carrying into the first few episodes of season 3, Redverse Lincoln was burned to a crisp, yet the Redverse possessed medical technology to completely heal him, not even leaving any scars, so if they have that capability, they certainly have the capability to medically hide aging, possibly even slow it down. Redverse Olivia definitely does have some wrinkles, and I think that Anna did an excellent job of making her older simply via the way that she carried herself. Anna is fantastic. I love how Redverse Olivia says to Lincoln, "You can stop checking out my young ass." That is such an awesome line. I wonder, though, how Redverse Olivia knew about Etta and even seemed to know about the Observer Invasion. With the Bridge closed, they shouldn't have had any way of communicating, yet when Blueverse Olivia mentions Etta, Redverse Olivia says, "So, you found her?" I find that to be really odd.

We don't see Walternate, but Lincoln says that he retired as Secretary of Defense and is, at ninety years old, teaching at Harvard. This is accurate because we had known that Walter was born in 1946, so in 2036, he would be ninety. When Blueverse Olivia asked about him (surprising after all that he had put her through), I fully expected Lincoln to say that he had passed away. It's also funny how Lincoln, having originated in the Blueverse and probably having known what Walternate did to Blueverse Olivia, whom he had cared about, seems to greatly admire and respect the man. I really wonder why the Observers didn't invade the Redverse. I do have a possible explanation, though. We have obviously seen from episodes such as "Peter" (2.15) that the Observers have the ability to not only move through time but also hop universes. The calendared Observers, though, traveled to the Redverse because of September's emotive attachment to and dealings with Walter and Peter. These Observers see no reason to invade another universe because even if they had the knowledge that Peter was from the Redverse, which they might not, they would probably consider it irrelevant. The Commander, after all, tries to convince Windmark that despite Windmark's desire to annihilate the fugitives, the fugitives are inconsequential. Why invade the Blueverse specifically, though? I have given that some thought, too. We learned from "The Boy Must Live" that the Observers' future exists in the Blueverse, due to the spelling of Manhattan. The Blueverse is, therefore, their universe, so that is the naturally the one whose past they invaded. They may not even be aware that they can cross universes because they didn't see a need to try, up until now when one followed Olivia.

It's so nice to see BAMF Olivia back. She shoots the Loyalist in the room with the surveillance video playing, then shoots an Observer, and finally shoots the male doctor who is about to kill and study Michael, and I would imagine that this probably reminds her a lot of what almost happened to her when she was being held captive in the Redverse. After Olivia retrieves Michael and crosses to the Redverse, an Observer, as aforementioned, follows her, and he attacks her. He almost takes Michael back, too, but Redverse Olivia is there to save the day, and that Observer literally didn't know what hit him. Then, when an Observer almost gets Redverse Olivia and Lincoln and Blueverse Olivia screams at them to warn them, I thought for sure that Redverse Olivia and Lincoln were going to die, which really would have sucked, but that fortunately did not happen because they stopped him in time, and it must be that their Redverse guns are high-level enough to kill Observers because they both shoot at him, but I'm not sure which actually made the shot that killed, not that it matters. When Blueverse Olivia then takes Michael back to the Blueverse, right before she does so, she tells Redverse Olivia that she has a beautiful family, and the first time that I watched the episode, I thought that she was going to say that Redverse Olivia has a beautiful face. That would have been quite silly, though, seeing as how that is her own face. I also find it really sweet that Blueverse Olivia and Lincoln have the discussion that they do. Blueverse Olivia tells Lincoln that each of them made their own decisions and that she doesn't regret any of her own, that Lincoln deserves all of the happiness that he found. It's a really sweet scene that involves closure for the potential relationship between the two of them during season 4, especially before Peter returned.

"Liberty" is a great first-half of the finale. I like how we see the universe window again. We see it earlier in the season during "The Bullet That Saved the World" (5.04) I believe, and that was obviously intended to be a clue that we would be returning to the Redverse again or at least see it again. When the Redverse finally shows through the window, Walter says, "Isn't she beautiful?" I wonder if he's talking about the Redverse in general or the Statue of Liberty. I'm not sure and could honestly go either way, although I would say that it's probably slightly more likely that he is referring to the Statue of Liberty, really asking, "Isn't freedom beautiful? She is our chance to conquer the Observers." I love how when Olivia first mentions the Redverse, she refers to it as the Other Side, and Astrid asks, "The other side of what?" I always laugh at that. I love how Walter refers to Astrid as Asgard, instantly making me think of the alien species from Stargate. It's funny, in fact, because Stargate Atlantis also aired for five seasons and 100 episodes, and the series finale title - "Enemy at the Gate" - is very similar to the Fringe series finale title. In addition, Joe Flannigan guest-starred in "Neither Here nor There" (4.01), and Paul McGillion guest-starred in "The Recordist" (5.03), both having been series regulars on Stargate Atlantis. In addition, Peter Kelamis guest-stars in this episode as Tobin, and he was on Stargate Universe. I do believe that someone on the Fringe team is a gater. I love the scene when Walter hugs Olivia and kisses her on the forehead not too long before she crosses over, saying, "Be careful, my dear." There are so many sweet scenes during the finale. We see that Michael is, indeed, very special, as he is causing Windmark to bleed as Windmark is trying to read Michael, a fitting punishment for Windmark for the time being, a taste of his own medicine. The first half of the finale ends with Donald showing up at someone's doorstep, and we see that it is December. Donald asks for December's help and says that December owes him. The door shows us that December's room number is 513, the episode number into which we then move.

Jasika Nicole said that the cliffhanger at the end of "Liberty" would be huge and that that was why she was happy that both episodes were being aired the same night. I have to admit, however, that I find myself pretty disappointed. December was never a major character on the series, so seeing him again was not that big of a deal to me. It did kind of surprise me, however, because it slightly threw my theory out the window. I had been sure that the calendared Observers had had the same agenda as the "evil" ones whom we see during this season but that September diverged from the plan and went his own way and that that was why he always seemed to be at odds with the other Observers. I was right about one thing, that September was going his own way, but not because the others were evil and bent on world domination. We learn from "An Enemy of Fate" that the scientific team realized that they were developing emotions as a result of having spent too much time here in this era but agreed not to speak of it; September and August, however, did not fight it and instead embraced it. The calendared Observers were told to observe the past but were not told why; intentions of world domination were kept secret, which I find interesting because it implies that the ones who gave the orders imagined that emotive attachment would be possible. Otherwise, why would the calendared Observers care? They would see matters the same way. I am thinking that when Donald/September tells December that December owes him, he is referring to the fact that he had been locked out of the universe back during season 4 due to his attachment to people. We then do not see December again until later in the episode when we see that Windmark and his men got to him and killed him, which is unfortunate. That is, however, why I say that I feel pretty disappointed by Jasika Nicole having said that the cliffhanger would be big; December hardly plays a role at all in what follows. I, too, am happy that both episodes aired the same night or else that really would have been a disappointing cliffhanger, in my opinion.

It's good to see that the Observers are finally listening to cell phone conversations. It has also puzzled me that in 2036, the Observers, who have very sophisticated technology, were not listening to cell phone conversations as the Fringe team freely has conversations via cell phones, which really shouldn't work at all because you would think that Observers would have put a stop to cell phone lines, not having seen a need for it. After all, even though we never got a concrete answer to why coffee isn't available to drink, it could either be because the Observers deemed it as unnecessary or because, like the Redverse, it can't be grown because of the damage that the Observers have done to the environment. Speaking of cell phones, though, I love the scene when Walter is frustrated because Anil can't seem to hear him via talking on cell phones, and Walter says, "What I wouldn't give for a good old-fashioned tumor-inducing cell phone." That is such a funny line, and it also makes me wonder if that's our answer as to how they have avoided detection for so long. Perhaps, the Resistance has developed a new kind of cell phone that the Observers can't track or listen in on. John Noble gives a phenomenal final performance, and there are so many awesome scenes. One of my favorite scenes from this episode and from the entire series in general is when Walter shows Peter the video that he recorded in 2015 and tells him that he must take Michael to the future, resulting in he and Peter never seeing each other again. He says that he must do that so that Peter can see Etta again and, as mentioned, rhetorically asks how a father could not do that for his son. They hug and cry, and Walter says, "You are my favorite thing, Peter, my very favorite thing." This line is so beautiful, and John Noble said that Joel Wyman said that he says that to his own son. This is such a beautiful and heartbreaking scene, and I sobbed.

Another great Walter scene is when Astrid shows him Gene in the amber. This is another incredibly beautiful scene. Astrid, unaware of what Walter is planning to do, tears up and says, "Walter, this is not the end. We're gonna win this, and when we do, we'll be drinking strawberry milkshakes in the lab and not even gonna remember that this happened."Then, as Astrid is leaving, Walter tells her that Astrid is a beautiful name. There are just so many beautiful scenes throughout the series finale. I also love the scene when Walter suggests using Osmium to make Observers float, obviously a callback to the "Os" (3.16) episode. Peter says, "If we shoot them, they're dead. Why would we want them to float away?" Walter, smiling, replies, "Because it's cool." This scene is so funny, and then, near the end of the episode, Walter actually does it and says, "Peter, Peter, look! What did I say? That is cool!" I love Walter so much, and I am really going to miss him a great deal. That whole scene near the end when Headquarters is attacked is just awesome. It is dark and disturbing and horrific, especially because of the alarm blaring and the disgusting images, and it's so rewarding for fans who watched all episodes, as it paid homage to old cases. I caught callbacks to "Pilot" (1.01), "The Cure" (1.06), "The Dreamscape" (1.09), "Bound" (1.11), "Ability" (1.14), and "Snakehead" (2.09). There may have been others, as well, but those are the ones that I saw. The team basically uses old Fringe science to kill off Observers and Loyalists, and it is such an awesome montage to old episodes. Then, Olivia does something really awesome; she, after having been thrown by Windmark, uses her Cortexiphan abilities to turn all of the lights in the city off and then rams Windmark with a car, crushing him, and it seems like it gets him a millisecond before Windmark blips away. I really thought that Peter would be the one to kill him, especially since he and Windmark started to fight, and it's kind of ironic that he wasn't, but it's fitting; Olivia lost a daughter, too. This was, for me, a very satisfying death, and I have gathered that it was for many. I also want to point out that I love the hat Olivia is wearing, but she was wearing something similar near the beginning of the pilot episode when she and Broyles first meet; that's not important, but it caught my attention.

It is interesting how Windmark, after having captured Broyles but before Peter and Olivia freed Broyles, tells Broyles that he is experiencing an emotion and says, "I believe you call it… hate." Broyles says, "The feeling is mutual." I love this because it shows just how different Windmark and September are. Near the end of "A Short Story About Love" (4.15), September says the exact opposite to Peter, offering a theory as to why Peter could not be fully erased from the timeline, and he says, "I believe you call it… love." Donald decides that he wants to be the one to go with Michael because he is his father, and he is sure that when he takes Michael's hand, Michael will know that he is loved. Walter nods, understanding, and says, "That's being a father." I love this scene, too; Donald says that he could never fully understand his feelings for his son but that he had and does love him. I find it funny when Olivia, near the beginning of the episode, asks why Michael would have gotten off the car, knowing that the Observers would have wished to harm them, and Donald admiringly says, "Apparently, there was a reason." I find it funny because obviously, there was a reason; it seems like a rather obvious thing to say. It is beautiful, though, because he definitely says so admiringly, and he goes on to add that "there always is." Michael says "I love you" by playing "Greensleeves" on the music box as Donald dies after being shot, and this is another scene that makes me choke up. I don't feel that it's fully explained how Michael doesn't have the tech in his head, and it's confusing to me. He is bald and hairless, and Peter having begun to lose hair at the end of "Five-Twenty-Ten" (5.07) suggests that it's the tech that causes that, so that is confusing. In the end, time is reset, and I have very mixed feelings about this. I am so happy that Peter and Olivia have their happy ending and get to raise Etta and be with her; Etta probably won't be murdered as a young woman. However, with that being said, I think that it is safe to assume that Peter and Olivia have no memories of anything that happened in season 5, and that's disappointing to me because there was so much development. I think that because of all of the chaos and the pain that they endured, they were closer than ever, and now, for them, none of that even happened.

I have seen theories, however, that involve people saying that Walter having mailed the white tulip to Peter will eventually mean that, similar to how Olivia's memories of Peter returned to her during season 4, Peter and Olivia will eventually remember events from season 5, will remember Walter's sacrifice, because they love Walter, and I love that idea. David Wu pointed out how Peter breaks the fourth wall in the final scene and looks at the audience, suggesting that fate is in the hands of us, and I love that, too, especially since our having been so committed to Fringe is what kept it on for as long as it was on, which was very long considering the odds that were stacked against us. I really wanted seven seasons (and I know that Blair Brown once said the same), but five is honestly more than we should have gotten, and I am happy. I am confused as to how Peter wasn't erased, though. How was the timeline up until 2015 the same? If the Observers were never created due to Walter dissuading the scientist in Oslo, Norway from creating them due to Michael being proof that emotion does not need to be sacrificed, September shouldn't have existed to distract Walternate from finding Peter's cure in 1985, which means that Walter wouldn't have taken Peter from the Redverse, and Peter would have grown up there. I am, however, guessing that it has something to do with the paradox which Walter talks about; apparently, only 2015 onward was changed, which seems convenient to me, but I got a happy ending and was right about Walter making a grave sacrifice, so I'll go with it. I wonder if that means that Nina, like Etta, is now alive, too, since her death was technically caused by Observers, albeit not as directly? I also wonder if the look on Nina's face when Michael touches her during "Anomaly XB-6783746" is because he did for her what he did for Walter - gave her memories from the previous timeline. Did she know that time would be reset, and that's part of the reason why she shot herself so fearlessly, knowing that she would be back? I still don't understand why collapsing the wormhole in "An Origin Story" didn't work, and I am disappointed that we didn't see Bell, especially since an earlier episode mentioned how he had been found in the amber, but maybe, Nimoy was unavailable. I love the finale, and obviously, I love Fringe, and I am going to miss it so much. Fringe is my favorite thing, my very favorite thing.

Fringe - "The Boy Must Live" (5.11)

"The Boy Must Live" (5.11) is a fantastic episode, primarily because we get so many answers, and I feel like I have been paid off as a viewer since season 1. For starters, we see a return to the tank, even though it is not Olivia who returns to the tank this time but Walter, who goes into the tank believing that he can revive his memories of Donald. I love how Olivia sees that Walter took his underwear off, too, when he got into the tank, and she asks, "Walter, why did you remove your trunks?" He says that if his mind is to be free, then his body needs to feel free, as well, and the trunks felt constrictive; you then see his underwear floating in the water, and this is such a funny scene. During the scene when Walter remembers the apartment in which he saw Donald, he looks from a window and sees that he is a City but is, at first, unable to determine what city that it is. He sees a bridge, and I thought that notable because bridges have tended to be a motif on Fringe. A bridge plays a very pivotal role in "The Man from the Other Side" (2.18), for example, and during "Over There" (2.21) (2.22), Redverse Olivia has a picture on a wall of her apartment that seems to be of the same bridge. Then, Peter builds a bridge between the two universes during "The Day We Died" (3.22) that allows the two teams to work together during season 4. I was initially confused about this because I could have sworn that Walter said during "Letters of Transit" (4.19) that September had been killed for aiding the Resistance, so I went back and rewatched the episode, and he actually does not; he says that what happened to September was unexpected, and I think that because of that, we all, or, at least, a lot of us, assumed that he had meant that September died. However, that was at a time when he had had his memories but before Windmark wiped them during "Transilience Thought Unifier Model-11" (5.01), so Walter knew that September was now Donald.

I am so happy that we finally get to see what the Observers' future looks like, what their world looks like. I said a long time ago that I really hoped that we would see that by the end of the season, and sure enough, we have, and I am thrilled. It certainly looks very macabre, almost like something out of a Tim Burton film, and it's so cool. It is Manhattan 2609, and since Manhattan is spelled the way that it is, a question has been answered for us; we now know that the Observers' future is set in the Blueverse, not the Redverse, so I'm really happy that we got that answer. This episode introduces us to the Commander, who is above Windmark. Every boss has a boss, right? He reports to the Commander and tells him that Anomaly XB-6783746 has been found and is being hidden in 2036. He says of Michael, "It did not exist, but someone wanted it to exist. Someone wanted to ensure its survival because they thought it was important." I love this line because it has a double-meaning for fans, referring not only to Michael but to Peter, who was erased from the timeline at the end of season 3, but because September did not want to stop him from bleeding through and because people such as Olivia, Walter, and Astrid loved Peter, he could not be fully erased from the timeline. September, at the beginning of season 4, was instructed to prevent Peter from continuing to bleed through the timeline via a device, and he failed to do so, deciding not to, and I think that now that we know that Michael is September's son, we understand why that is. He saw the love between Walter and Peter and was reminded of his own son.

I also find it interesting how Windmark, throughout this episode, refers to Michael as it because in the last episode, when he is speaking of him to Nina, he refers to him as he. I don't think that this is inconsistent writing; there must be a reason for it. Perhaps, it is because he was using language that he figured would appeal to Nina the best, since Nina was a human, and since he is now in the presence of a fellow Observer, one above him at that, he is using emotionless, unattached language, and speaking of which, I found something to be really interesting recently because I recently rewatched the "Letters of Transit" episode. During that episode, we see multiple examples of Observers showing emotion. For example, Broyles asks Windmark what he did during his own time to get such a crap detail, and Windmark smirks and says, "I like animals." Windmark smiles quite a bit during that scene, in fact. Additionally, just before the Observer that's killed in the Massive Dynamic anti-matter explosion dies, you see downright fear consume him, and this is in direct contradiction to what the Observer whom Peter kills near the end of "An Origin Story" (5.05) says; he says that the Observers do not experience fear. I would say that this is a possible inconsistency in the writing or that they had originally planned to go down one route that they then abandoned, but I don't think so. Windmark, in this episode, admits that he is beginning to experience emotion, that he has become consumed by the idea of eradicating the fugitives. There is, therefore, something to that, for sure. He also asks for permission for a protocol suspension in order to travel back to a point in time at which he can get rid of them, and the Commander refuses, saying that they are inconsequential. I wonder what a protocol suspension is. A Beacon, perhaps?

We also see during the scene when Windmark and another Observer go to Donald's apartment that, despite what Windmark says back during "Transilience Thought Unifier Model-11" (5.01) about music serving no purpose even though it is tolerated, that the other Observer is tapping his foot to music, as he plays a record found in Donald's apartment. It seems to be music from the 1940s or so, and that is most interesting because the Observers are dressed in suits and fedoras much like that time period, male Loyalists are dressed like Nazis, and female Loyalists are dressed like women from that era. Additionally, we learn that the first movie that Walter and September watched together was Singin' in the Rain starring Donald O'Connor, from which September took his name. This film was released in 1952, fairly close to the 1940s. Donald tells Walter that his fate of being turned human wasn't really much of a punishment, as he has enjoyed humanity and has always had a fondness for this era, and I love that line, begging the typical question asked by good science-fiction of what it means to be human. I wonder, though, if by this era, he is clumping together the entire twentieth century. After all, sixty years seems like a long time to us, but to an Observer who can travel to any point in time that he chooses, that would be relatively insignificant. To an Observer, an entire century may be considered an era, and it might truly be the 1940s that Donald loves. Additionally, Walter, during "Brown Betty" (2.19), tells Ella a story about evil Observers (suggesting that he may have possibly had some insight into what was to come), and he chooses to set it during the 1940s. It's very interesting to me and really makes me think.

Back to the foot-tapping scene, however, we, once again, see the colors green and red on the device above the door that would have killed Windmark and the other Observer had they not narrowly missed the explosion. I also wonder what it is with Fringe and snowglobes. Windmark picks a snowglobe up of Donald's and examines it, and I half-expected him to smash it, but he does not. Fans will remember that this is not the first time that snowglobes have been seen on the series, as Nina used two during "Momentum Deferred" (2.04) to demonstrate what would happen to the two universes if they were to collide - one would survive, and the other would not, and conveniently, she somehow manages not only to just have two snowglobes on hand but also to smash them together will only one breaking. I have always found that scene to be funny for those reasons. Windmark looks kind of disgusted with the other Observer for tapping his foot to the music, and that, again, calls back to what he says to Walter during the season 5 premiere about music. We learn, as was expected, a lot about Donald during this episode, how September became Donald, and a big question on a lot of our minds prior to this episode was - did September become Donald, or did Donald become September? His punishment for interfering with the Resistance and for developing such strong emotive empathy for the people of this era landed him in a situation that involved him having his tech removed, which I find odd because "The Human Kind" (5.08) teaches us that what the technology does to you is not irreversible, but maybe, it's because September was grown as an Observer, whereas Peter was not, or maybe, it's because the Observers have technology so much more sophisticated than what Walter and Astrid had in the lab.

We see that Donald has definitely aged since we saw him in Walter's vision at the end of "Anomaly XB-6783746" (5.10), and I think that this was such a great aging makeup job, as Donald totally looks like he could be in his fifties, pushing sixty or so, possibly even older. Props to the makeup department. We learn from Donald that the Observers are created in labs and come from a donor, and September was Michael's donor, effectively making Michael his son, making the scene at the end of "Inner Child" so poignant, as the look on September's face during that scene now says to us, "How did you get out?" We finally learn why Michael was underground like that; he was scheduled for termination due to his being an anomaly (something that we learned during the last episode), and September took him and hid him in the past where he would not be found. This makes me wonder if September ever went down there to visit Michael, to check on him, as he must have struggled to survive, and he must have gotten terribly lonely since he is capable of emotion. The Observers, when conceived, are raised, like the Borg of the Star Trek universe, in maturation chambers where they rapidly age to a certain age and then stop. We also learn from this episode that there were, indeed, twelve Observers in the original calendared science team, but to my disappointment, we do not learn why they took months as names. It could have just been because there happened to be twelve of them, so that was an easy way to remember. Was September a code name, or did he have a different given name? I am thinking that September was his actual name, as I think that he was created precisely to do what he did - observe.

Someone, I forget who, wrote a post on a website about their issues with this episode, and one was that they had a problem with the fact that Observers are created using the DNA of a donor, yet Peter was able to gain Observer abilities just by putting the technology in his head, and Peter is a human. We have to keep in mind, however, that near the end of "Through the Looking Glass and What Walter Found There" (5.06), Peter encounters an Observer whose neck he snaps, and that Observer tells Peter that Peter doesn't know what he has done. Then, during "Five-Twenty-Ten" (5.07), we see Peter bleeding from his ear and experiencing extreme headaches, so I am going to say that the technology is only compatible with Observer DNA, not human DNA, and that if Peter would have kept it inside of his head, it would have eventually killed him. This would explain why Windmark did not seem concerned that Peter had put the technology in his own head and was developing Observer abilities; in fact, he seemed thrilled by it and said that everything was occurring as he had foreseen, which suggests to me that Windmark knew that it was going to kill him, effectively eliminating him. That is my explanation to that. Unfortunately, Donald does not explain why Sam Weiss was protecting the signal, and it's mildly frustrating because you would think that Olivia would be interested in that and would ask, but she doesn't. She probably figured that there were much more important matters at hand, which is true, and didn't want to waste time by asking. I just know that I probably would have asked, since Sam Weiss was such a poignant figure from her past. It's possible that September, having known that, recruited Sam himself because he knew that he could trust him, and he may have even somehow convinced him of what needed to be done by somehow giving Sam his memories of Olivia.

I am so ecstatic that Walter's memories from the previous timeline have been restored to him. Michael returned them to him when he put his hand to Walter's face at the end of the last episode, and I can only imagine that that is because he can see time so expansively. I love the scene when Walter tells Peter of this and mentions events from previous seasons. It is such a touching scene, especially when they hug. Did anyone else notice that at the beginning of this scene, as he is getting out of the vehicle, he is sporting a black umbrella? Sadly, we also learn from this episode that Walter will have to sacrifice himself in order for the plan to work, and I have been saying that he would die for a long time because it just seemed like, after Walter had caused so much destruction and had stolen Peter from the Redverse, that it would be a fitting end to the show, and I was right. I wonder, too, if Michael did the same for Nina before she died, giving her memories from the previous timeline. We also learn when Observers were first mentally conceived, which was in 2167 by a scientist trying to expand human intelligence by sacrificing emotion for logic, and we learn what the plan is, which is to send Michael to that time period so that he can prove to that scientist that emotion does not need to be sacrificed, and the Observers will never exist. We learn that when September says during "Peter" (2.15) that the boy must live, that he is important, he is not referring to Peter but to his son, Michael. It was an incredibly daring and bold move by the writers to take that piece of the mythology and answer it by undoing it. I absolutely love it; you don't find many shows with clever writers like these. I do have a couple of minor problems with the episode; to start, Astrid is left alone in the lab yet again, and also, since Olivia is on RewardWire and is a fugitive, why does no one recognize her when she walks around with Michael? Quite a few times this season, it has seemed like the team has roamed about freely without being recognized. I still, however, due to the load of answers that we get and the some of the awesome scenes that we get, give "The Boy Must Live" 10 penultimate memories returned to Walter. The big question now is - why the heck did Michael get off the train and turn himself in?