So what were they showing? That, at some point September was a regular human and then became an observer, which would have happened during the future time period when they were in amber?
Nina's a fucking badass. I think they (or he) found a way to make Observers "normal" or normaler, at least. And the plan is to make that far-reaching. That's my guess anyway. Super EMP pulse thing to break the tech in their brains?
I'm not sure that I was as shocked as the show wanted me to be, given that I spent most of this season wondering when in the hell we were going to see September. That's a tiny bit disappointing (I would have preferred Sam), but still okay. Now the big question is how in the hell this show closes out in three episodes.
I definitely wasn't surprised, especially when Michael Cerveris' name appeared in the opening credits.
I agree that rehumanizing the Borg is where it makes sense to go. I hope they at least melt Windmark's face though. Speaking of faces, I wonder how that one guy felt that they cast him as a baldie because he most resembled a gecko.
Who? The kid? August? Which, by the way, is the greatest Fringe episode of all time (August, I mean).
No, Nina gives a little speech about their lizard tendencies in this latest episode (she mentions the way they tilt their heads to better catch sounds) and then they flash to the most lizard-like Observer you've ever seen just to drive the point home.
Well that was interesting. Nice work watching a 3-foot tall childlike being there Olivia! And the trailer for the finale implies we'll be seeing Olivia get her freak on and some Fauxlivia and who knows what else. Just 2 more hours left. Fingers crossed.
And the greatest villain all along was man's lust for knowledge. Blech. It would have been just as plausible to have the baldos catapult themselves back into hitory because that's the only way that they would be able to win whatever ridiculous fight they're having, instead of making intelligence some sort of fundamental evil. That's a little icky. Five hundred and change years also isn't a terrific span to jump ahead for all of humanity to invented a new frigging language based on an entirely original character set, but, whatever. We've had that argument before. I do wish that the show had managed to land on something more creative than "once again, one of our heroes has to sacrifice himself" as a hook. We've done that already. It's okay for the show to end without anybody having to shoot themselves in the brain for the good of the universe. And the pitch for a completely successful resolution on the heroes' part is....you know this whole season? Yeah - nevermind. So I have problems with the overall plot structure. I think that there's better things the show could have done with thirteen episodes. If you accept the plot stuff as a given, the execution on the episode hasn't been terrible, and I do think that this whole package will play better in trade than it does in issues. It's okay, but now they're down to two hours to sell me on why Fox thought that it was a better idea to bring this show back pre-cancelled than to invest another thirteen episodes in a different show that had growth room and that they would have the opportunity to renew to stay in business with Bad Robot in case this weird ass robot cops thing that you're working on with them turns out poorly.
So does Obi-Walter wave back to his family from the ethereal plane with Nina and Belly by his side? Happy ending or tragic? I'm guessing happy, all be it bittersweet.
Depends on whether they successfully execute on the plan or not. Which is the really bizarre thing. Because if we assume that the plan was going to work the way that they pitched it, the causality loop would immediately unsacrifice whoever happened to jump into the big green beam and give the universe reassignment surgery. Given that the show has become Walter's story whether it wanted to be or not, having him die is a pretty logical way to wrap things up, but they're either going to have to use broken logic to do that (by not having the events unhappen after the unvasion is undone) or they're going to have to pull the resolution out of their ass, which has the distinct possibility of feeling somewhat arbitrary and unsatisfying. Also, you absolutely know at this point that Nimoy is going to come tottering out for one goddamn thing or another at this point (I could swear that there was already casting news that he was guesting this season and I don't remember seeing him, but even if there wasn't, the show's not going to go out without bringing him back for something), and who knows what that will entail. Given how hard the show was pitching "Yo - Walter's gonna die" at the end of the last episode, my money would be on him surviving if I was a betting man, but I don't really think I have a good handle on what the series is trying to do creatively with this last season anyway, so I could just as easily be extremely wrong.
Tonight! IT ALL ENDS TONIGHT! Remember, the finale is two hours and starts at 8PM, not 9, so adjust your DVRs if necessary.
OK. With the finale upon us, some rambling thoughts. Do not read while operating heavy machinery! I've long held the belief that the major villain of the Fringe universe is, in fact, Walter. Not intentionally, of course, but when you look at the big picture (and I'm hardly breaking new ground here), you can make a strong argument that you can place all this mess at Walter's feet. Season One, he's only tied to a few Pattern cases. Season Two, Walter's original sin is revealed, which singlehandedly starts the war that led to the shapeshifters and so much other crap. Season Three, we go Over There and see that Walter, in fact, broke that entire world. Season Four, the timeline is broken and never restored, and in Season Five, we're staring at the end of mankind. Damn. And on a more personal level, there's tons of collateral damage as well. Cortexiphan tests on Olivia and other kids. Kidnapping Peter. His wife's suicide. Carla's death (as we found this year, trying to destroy Walter's work). Charlie Francis. Nina's arm. Alt-Broyles. You could spend all day charting all the death and destruction that Walter set in motion by crossing over. So for me, a satisfactory conclusion to the series requires Walter righting these wrongs in some way, even if he has to sacrifice himself in that pursuit. Just pressing a button and magically facemelting the Observers in 2036 wouldn't be enough; the fix has to be bigger. So I've been hoping that's where this season has been headed, with Walter dwelling on his past sins, that maybe his plan was to somehow go back and stop himself from crossing over in 1985. And while it doesn't seem like that's the current plan, maybe it is, in a roundabout way. If they go forward to 21XX and prevent the Observers from existing, maybe September doesn't exist in 1985 to distract Walternate from finding Peter's cure, and Walter doesn't cross over. Maybe that produces a whole new timeline without breaking Over There, without shapeshifters, without Cortexiphan tests on kids and the Pattern and Walternate waging war on our world. But I get the feeling that's not where we're headed. # # # # # # A few more random thoughts: I've never really bought into Olivia and Peter as a couple. I don't mind them, but I don't need an ending where they're together, either. If there's a complete timeline reset with a satisfying ending where they never meet, I'm OK with that. Has it ever been clearly stated explained why September was in Walternate's lab the night he was supposed to discover Peter's cure? Why was that event originally so important before September mucked that up? Because of Peter's later connection to the machine? Or Henry? Or was that never definitely explained? If September doesn't disctract Walternate, how was that supposed to play out? What's in store for Astrid? I've wondered if at some point Walter might send her back to 1,000,000 BC via a wormhole to tend to machine parts or something and that's how her story wraps. At the end of season one, when Walter introduces the idea of parallel universes, he doesn't refer to just one world, but multiple, infinite worlds. And the final episode of season one isn't “There's Two of Everything”, but “There's More Than One Of Everything.” So I've wondered for a while if they've been holding that card up their sleeve, that there might come a time where they go from Crisis on Two Earths to Crisis on Infinite Earths. I have no idea how you'd do that in the context of a network series, but maybe that's a curveball they could somehow throw into the series finale. One of the messier aspects of the series is the handling of the two kids, Henry and (Henri)Etta. Bolivia had Henry and then the timeline was reset and he never existed. Etta was killed. Are either of them restored? Random speculation: a scenario where Henry returns to Bolivia, and Etta returns to Peter and Olivia. I'm looking forward to a bunch of cameos in the finale. It seems like a certainty that Seth Gobel will turn up. Do we get one more turn from Kirk Acevedo as Charlie Francis? Will Andre Royo randomly turn up? And although it seems massively unlikely (no pun intended), does William Bell have one more appearance left? I miss Rachel (Olivia's sister). Rachel was HOT.
Remember that stunning realization that Walter came to in the latest episode wherein he recognized that Donald was talking about his own weird tube baby and not Peter? I would strongly recommend not pulling at this particular string. Quite a lot of series have happened over the past decade or two that purport some sort of overriding plan, and we've learned that that is universally never true. It's just a little bit more.....on display with Fringe.
Yeah, I agree. At the end of the day, I think they piled a lot of interesting ideas into the series, even if in many cases they weren't entirely sure how they were supposed to play out. In fact, I think they rebooted the timeline in season four because they weren't sure where to go next, and then couldn't figure out how to get back, so they jumped to 2036. I have hopes for the finale, but my expectations are muted at best. We'll find out soon enough. :)
I thought it did a remarkably good job of bringing things full circle. It left the viewer to fill in the overriding plan and connect the dots that have been placed throughout the series, while bringing thematic closure. It was quirky and very, very Fringe. And yes I cried, because that's what I do when tv shows I love end.
A lot of choke-up moments (Walter/Astrid being almost unbearable), but I guess that's how it goes when it all ends, right?
So the children learned how to function as a society, and eventually they were rescued by, oh, let's say... Moe.
It was a take on "nature abhors a vacuum". I figured that it was Walter saying that, with his absence, it must be filled by something else: Etta.
More questions from someone (me) who's probably really not smart enough to watch this show: I'll try to stop with the dumb questions, I promise.
Couldn't go out without one last greasy fart into the face of actual science, huh? "Tumor-inducing cell phone" indeed. Fuck you, show. And, of course, now we know why time travel is stupid - because the way it worked out makes less than zero sense and really isn't worth interrogating. Setting that rather large turd out of the punch bowl, however, it was a decent enough ending for the series. Granted, it spent a little too much time in a reality that wouldn't exist anymore anyway, and we won't even start thinking about what the fuck just happened to the red universe, since they got involved in this mess, but the scenes that got in were the ones that needed to get in. Walter and Astrid, in particular, was what finally got me. I will say that I'm baffled at the fact that Nimoy didn't elbow his way in. Not really disappointed - just surprised. It's not the greatest television series of its generation, but it still did okay for a perpetually almost-canceled genre show. Good job. Now - what's next for Jasika and Anna? And, I guess, to a lesser extent, Pacey? And is Lance Reddick, like, okay health-wise? For whatever reason his eyes looked seriously jaundiced this season.
Jackson and Torv are taking a break and sat out pilot season, although that may be a euphemism for "our agents haven't called us about anything." I do hope Jasika ends up in something good. She's completely goddamned adorable AND PLAYING FOR MY TEAM SO SUCK ON THAT. Reddick had old-age makeup on this season. Don't you think they might have yellowed his eyes as well?
