At the end of last season, Peter created a new reality in which there exists a bridge between Over Here and Over There. The unfortunate side effect of this new world was the negation of Peter’s existence. Well played, Fringe writers! Well played indeed.
The fourth season premiere introduced us to a world without Peter Bishop, which was altogether confusing, sad, and fascinating. In this new reality (which of course comes with its own new yellow opening title sequence), Olivia is more like the closed-off Olivia we met in season one. New Walter is slightly crazier and lacks his usual zest for life. (He didn’t mention Red Vines or strawberry milkshakes once!) This is probably due to the fact that, according to Olivia, he “never had anything to tether him to the world.” Like, say, a charming young son with a striking resemblance to Pacey from Dawson’s Creek. Lucky for us, the Fringe Powers That Be saw fit to give us Lincoln Lee to help dull the pain of losing Peter (and I mean “losing” in the literal sense, as in, we’ve just temporarily – and temporally – misplaced him). And it totally worked. I was almost too distracted by the adorableness of Lincoln Lee to be devastated by the absence of Peter. Almost.
The truth is, it’s a different show without Peter. It’s not that he was the heart of the show, necessarily, but that he brought out the heart in everyone else. Without him, they’re all just sad and alone, with nothing holding them all together. When Olivia and Lincoln were bonding over the grief of losing their partners, she told him that she knows what it feels like to have a Peter-shaped hole in your life. She explained that her partner (John Scott) had died three years earlier, which lead to her recruitment to Fringe Division, as well as Walter’s release from St. Claire’s.
Is it just me, or is there some definite sexual tension between our universe’s Lincoln and Olivia? (As evidenced by their matching sexy-nerd glasses in the promo for next week.) They’re working a kind of timid-librarian-meets-strong-and-silent-heartthrob dynamic. (Lincoln is the librarian in this analogy, in case that wasn’t clear.) Speaking of intersecting love triangles, what was with that unusually in-depth discussion of toast at the beginning of the episode? I really think that was some kind of inside joke, because toast has been a very important part of the Fringe fandom ever since season three, in “Lysergic Acid Diethylamide”, when Olivia calmly munched on a piece of toast while she told Peter that the man in her drawing was going to kill her. So here’s my Insane Fangirl Conspiracy Theory: Lincoln, discussing why he prefers cereal to toast because toast takes time, said to Robert’s son, “If we don’t catch the bad guys, there might not be any toast.” Clearly (I use that term loosely) “toast” represents Peter and Olivia’s relationship, and if they don’t “catch the bad guys” – meaning, find a way to restore Peter’s existence – there might not be any Polivia. I know it sounds crazy, but have you seen this show? It’s the definition of crazy.
Despite his lack of appreciation for toast, Lincoln Lee did a pretty good job of taking everything in stride as he became acquainted with the creepy weirdness of Fringe Science. I mean, you have to be a really good sport to agree to hold a dead bird for Walter while he injects it with a reanimation serum. The best part, however, had to be when Walter declared that the tech they found in the hybrid shapeshifter was “not from here” and Lincoln responded, “Not from here, like, China?” HAHAHAHA! Silly Lincoln. What do you think this is, 24? Olivia decided that showing would be more fun than telling, so she got Lincoln a new ID with level infinity clearance, or whatever the code is for people who are allowed to know about the other universe. (Did you catch the leaf glyph on the palm scanner after Lincoln’s handprint went away?) Then Olivia lead him down a blue corridor, past some yellow lights, into a chamber where they underwent a red body scan (so much color symbolism!) before they exited into the warehouse, which is now the bridge between Over Here and Over There. At first, Lincoln seemed flabbergasted by the different weather on either side of the warehouse, and slightly perplexed by the blimp hovering Over There. But he went into full aneurysm mode when he saw AltLivia (looking bold and sassy as always) come out to meet them. She seemed amused by him, no doubt comparing him to her Lincoln and making a mental note to tease him later about having a nerdy doppelgänger. The Olivias traded barbs while Lincoln stared slack-jawed at the two identically beautiful women in front of him. If only AltLincoln had joined in; then it really would’ve been a party.
Back in his living quarters, under the expert supervision of Timmy the security guard, Walter had a startling vision of Peter in his television screen. Too bad he didn’t know it was Peter. With all the flashes of Peter throughout the episode (there were only two that I noticed, other than his appearance in Walter’s TV), it seems Walter is the only one who can see Peter in these moments when, as the Observer explained, “traces of him continue to bleed through.” If anyone can figure out a way to bring Peter back, it’s Walter. The only problem (okay, the biggest problem) will be getting him to realize who Peter is. Do I sense a resurgence of the sensory-deprivation tank? (Which happens to be where Walter was hiding earlier in the episode when Lincoln found him.) Maybe Walter can hook himself up to some electrodes and find a way to access his memories from the other reality.
Another character that got some extra screen time without Peter there to hog the spotlight was the Observer. He and his pale, bald, hot sauce-loving friends were apparently working on eliminating these residual Peter flashes. Probably the most shocking moment of the episode was seeing the Observer go shopping, like he was just a regular person, picking up parts for his Peter-erasing machine. He needed some really obscure parts for this mission I guess, so he perused to a little shop that looked like Ariel’s cave of thingamabobs in The Little Mermaid. One table had a display of doodads with a sign that read, “Pick a part”. You got me again, Fringe writers! I accept your challenge to “pick apart” this entire episode and everything in it, including your toast references!
When it came down to it, the Observer just couldn’t bring himself to push the button and erase Peter for good. It seems like someone has gotten a little too attached to his human chess pieces. Or is “chess pieces” more of a Lost metaphor? The people on Fringe seem more like threads in a tapestry that the Observers want to make sure gets woven the way it’s supposed to. Except for our Observer, who apparently has a soft spot for the Bishop family, as we saw when he helped Walter save Peter and bring him Over Here, and again in this episode when he refrained from wiping Peter out of the world for good. My question is, why? The Observer has become a very complex and interesting character, and I love that they’re continuing to humanize him. Hopefully we’ll get some clearer answers about him at some point. Then again, you heard what Olivia said this week: “Sometimes answers lead to more questions.” Isn’t that pretty much the moral of Fringe? That’s how we ended up here, after all. Last season posed the question, “How can you stop both worlds from annihilating each other?” And now we have our answer, and with it, a whole new world of questions. What are these new hybrid shapeshifters? Are they working for someone? How can we get Peter back? Is AltLivia still with Frank in the other universe? What is the significance of toast? Why is “Philosopher’s Stone” included in the new opening title sequence? Are they planning a Harry Potter crossover? More importantly, is it true what Robert said to Lincoln about sarcastic people being more prone to illness? Because if so, I’m in big trouble.
Photo Courtesy of FOX
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