Who's watching FRINGE - Final Season?

[JoLLyRoGer]

I've watched this show religiously since the pilot and so I understand this is the final season and they're supposed to be wrapping up the loose ends. We're set in the future now and fighting off the invading observers which really doesn't follow season 4, except for E4-19 which sets the stage.

The bridge has been destroyed, Peter is now in what timeline exactly? Still not really sure how that whole thing resolved... did the real and alternate timeline just somehow morph together in some kind of hybrid timeline? Did it go back to the original when the machine was destroyed? If it did it wasn't obvious (like when Marty and Doc, got the book back from 1955 Biff)

The other premise... There is an alternate universe just like our own but with subtle differences where basically the same thing happening here is happening over there... So what about the "other side" are they being invaded by Observers too? What's going on "over there"? By my count, no one has crossed over this season so far.

Discuss.

-JR

 

[cronos]

The one that we're watching is the alternate timeline, after Peter was eliminated completely from (both/all worlds) but somehow a trace of him remains in this timeline and he became a person again.

The bridge is between worlds (parallel worlds, not timeline), so if you are asking about the other world, it was destroyed completely at the end of last season, when Spock went full crazy and detonated a bomb right at the portal between the worlds.

 

[JoLLyRoGer]

yeah, I remembered them destroying the bridge.. I didn't think it destroyed the other world though.., just the bridge and our connection to them but they still would exist it seems or our universe would have been destroyed too.. (like when David Robert Jones was moving buildings from one side to the other then something else would just vaporize to maintain the balance between two universes) I'll have to go re-watch season 4 finale.

Now the timeline - a separate issue. So it's still the Alt. timeline but if that's the case, and maybe I'm off the mark a bit here, but didn't original timeline Peter get Other Olivia pregnant - and it was going to be Walternate's grandson? They talked about that some in the beginning of this season trying to explain the origins of Etta, but I don't remember at what point Alternate Timeline Peter got Our Alternate Timeline Olivia pregnant. Wasn't it Original Timeline Peter who also got Our Original Timeline Olivia preggers And if Original Timeline Peter was erased, wouldn't Etta have been erased as well or am I again off on the details?

And what still doesn't make sense to me is how Alternate Timeline Olivia "mind melded" with Original Timeline Olivia over the due course of .. well... time... once Peter came back to re-gain memories of Peter that technically she never had once the Original Timeline was altered.

 

[bigrash]

Lost interest in it midway through the 1st season. How's it right now?

 

[JoLLyRoGer]

I think this season it's as good as it's ever been.. Completely new overarching story that is headed somewhere.

Still I have a few questions about what I see as some loose ends (as evidenced above).

 

[cronos]

yeah, I remembered them destroying the bridge.. I didn't think it destroyed the other world though.., just the bridge and our connection to them but they still would exist it seems or our universe would have been destroyed too.. (like when David Robert Jones was moving buildings from one side to the other then something else would just vaporize to maintain the balance between two universes) I'll have to go re-watch season 4 finale.

Now the timeline - a separate issue. So it's still the Alt. timeline but if that's the case, and maybe I'm off the mark a bit here, but didn't original timeline Peter get Other Olivia pregnant - and it was going to be Walternate's grandson? They talked about that some in the beginning of this season trying to explain the origins of Etta, but I don't remember at what point Alternate Timeline Peter got Our Alternate Timeline Olivia pregnant. Wasn't it Original Timeline Peter who also got Our Original Timeline Olivia preggers And if Original Timeline Peter was erased, wouldn't Etta have been erased as well or am I again off on the details?

And what still doesn't make sense to me is how Alternate Timeline Olivia "mind melded" with Original Timeline Olivia over the due course of .. well... time... once Peter came back to re-gain memories of Peter that technically she never had once the Original Timeline was altered.

I think it was largely believed that the other world is destroyed. Although I'm aware that there are some who think that it still exists, it's just that our world has no way of reconnecting with them.

Olivia was pregnant at the end of last season, way after we're deep inside the alternate timeline. There's no need to qualify it with 'alt timeline' anymore, as it is now the current timeline and the only timeline that currently exists.

That last part wasn't really explained and somewhat left to our imagination. Maybe Peter's effect on the people that loved him were so strong that it made him materialize again? Remember that he didn't only 'mind meld' with Olivia, he made an appearance to both Walter and Olivia before he became a person again.

 

[Red Storm]

I still can't believe she died!

 

[cronos]

I still can't believe she died!

Those bastard writers!

 

[Printer Bandit]

etta was so hot

 

[JoLLyRoGer]

I think it was largely believed that the other world is destroyed. Although I'm aware that there are some who think that it still exists, it's just that our world has no way of reconnecting with them.

Olivia was pregnant at the end of last season, way after we're deep inside the alternate timeline. There's no need to qualify it with 'alt timeline' anymore, as it is now the current timeline and the only timeline that currently exists.

That last part wasn't really explained and somewhat left to our imagination. Maybe Peter's effect on the people that loved him were so strong that it made him materialize again? Remember that he didn't only 'mind meld' with Olivia, he made an appearance to both Walter and Olivia before he became a person again.

Ok, I remember that now about him making the appearances, and come to think of it didn't September make mention to the other two Observers of back-then how he wasn't able to get rid of Peter entirely? Either way that whole situation is still a bit of a cliffhanger as well as what actually happened to/is happening to the alternative universe.

 

[Red Storm]

etta was so hot

Quite hot, but I was also rooting for her! She symbolized what they were fighting for (the future).

 

[Harrod]

I'm watching it, but alittle confused as to how they got to where they are from the last season. I'm not sure if I wasn't paying attention or if they found out they were being cancelled and just skipped a few years of the story.

 

[JoLLyRoGer]

There is a big skip.. Nobody knows exactly when, how, or why. But what we do know is that at some point between seasons, Observers showed up and decided to stop Observing and overran the planet after environmentally destroying theirs. So they traveled back in time to 2012 to occupy ours. At some other point in between, the Fringe team developed a way to destroy the Observers with help from September but when they got caught, their only recourse was to amber themselves and the plan and place all bets and hope on the future.. This is where Season 5 picks up apparently, with Etta finding her parents and members of the original Fringe team.

And yeah, I'm really looking forward to seeing Peter lay the smack down on some Observers after his recent "acquisition" from last week. This is gonna be AWESOME!!

 

[cronos]

Ok, I remember that now about him making the appearances, and come to think of it didn't September make mention to the other two Observers of back-then how he wasn't able to get rid of Peter entirely? Either way that whole situation is still a bit of a cliffhanger as well as what actually happened to/is happening to the alternative universe.

Yes, he did.

I agree with you that it was not explained in details. I would also suggest you to just forget about it . I don't think it will ever be explained. As far as the series concerns it was way in the past and the story has moved on.

They'll probably fill in some of the gaps between the end of last season until the team ambered themselves, and also probably some tidbits after they are ambered until they are revived (I'm clearly hoping for some more appearances by Etta here, and also Desmond! - what's his name, Foster?), but that's about it. The conclusion of this series would be how they successfully get rid of the Observers and (hopefully) their lives afterward.

 

[cronos]

Quite hot, but I was also rooting for her! She symbolized what they were fighting for (the future).

She's also a badass not unlike her mother :thumbsup:

 

[Red Storm]

She's also a badass not unlike her mother :thumbsup:

Although it seems like Olivia has kinda lost her balls compared to previous seasons. Understandable given what they've been through, but still.

 

[Connoisseur]

And yeah, I'm really looking forward to seeing Peter lay the smack down on some Observers after his recent "acquisition" from last week. This is gonna be AWESOME!!

a) The observers are a future evolution of humans and they polluted their future or something like that so they're taking over the past. Pretty much the same plot as the south park "Goobacks" episode.
b) I'm calling it right now. Peter dies/sacrifices himself at the end. He might do some crazy stuff until then but there's no way there isn't going to be SOME repercussion with what he's done. Writers just think that way.

 

[cronos]

Although it seems like Olivia has kinda lost her balls compared to previous seasons. Understandable given what they've been through, but still.

Agreed. Losing her daughter just broke her, I think. Remember that when she ambered herself she was only three months or so from when they lost Etta in the attack.

But just you watch, with her losing her daughter again I won't be surprised if she changes again.

Btw, I can actually say that so far this season of Fringe is one of the best seasons of any series I've watched, ever. There's no bad episode yet. Hopefully they get this right until the end.

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

Holy crap, I remember marathoning the first 3 seasons (season 4 wasnt out yet) and then I just stopped

Reading this thread, I have no clue wtf you guys are talking about, LOL did season 4 change things that much? The last thing I remember was Peter trying to prove he was the real deal, right at the start of the season... Because everyone thought he was dead

Is it worth picking it up again?

 

[ImpulsE69]

The short answer is yes.

When they decided they were going to cancel the show after season 5, they more or less changed the story arc dramatically. I don't think the original concept of the observers was ever to be what they actually turned into.

The change came over the course of 3-4 episodes toward the end of season 4. The major change happened in the last 2 episodes. The jump to the future was a complete surprise to me and came out of left field. I think doing it that way made it easier to have a story of the observers to play with.

The sad part is in doing that, they've pretty much so far completely left the dual universe and special abilities that Olivia had. Don't get me wrong though, the story change makes for some new interesting shows.

I'm just glad they are going to end it and not just leave it hanging.

(still doesn't top season 3 of Torchwood though, but it's not over yet)

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Story changed from solving cases with a side story to the side story taking over.

 

[techs]

There is a big skip.. Nobody knows exactly when, how, or why. But what we do know is that at some point between seasons, Observers showed up and decided to stop Observing and overran the planet after environmentally destroying theirs. So they traveled back in time to 2012 to occupy ours. At some other point in between, the Fringe team developed a way to destroy the Observers with help from September but when they got caught, their only recourse was to amber themselves and the plan and place all bets and hope on the future.. This is where Season 5 picks up apparently, with Etta finding her parents and members of the original Fringe team.

And yeah, I'm really looking forward to seeing Peter lay the smack down on some Observers after his recent "acquisition" from last week. This is gonna be AWESOME!!

I thought that they destroyed the bridge to save the alt universe. They had already healed it a lot and I assumed they are still there and doing ok.

I don't think it will be Peter who sacrifices himself but Walter. Walter will stay behind and off the Observers while Peter, Olivia and Astrid will be sent back to just before the Observers arrived to take over, but now they don't. Etta is still alive and Peter and Olivia live happily ever after.
I think an alternate ending will have Astrid staying with Walter in the future which will be a different future since the Observers never arrived.
The series will end when Peter, Olivia and Etta eventually get to the time of the events in the final season and will reunite with Walter and Astrid.

 

[JoLLyRoGer]

a)
b) I'm calling it right now. Peter dies/sacrifices himself at the end. He might do some crazy stuff until then but there's no way there isn't going to be SOME repercussion with what he's done. Writers just think that way.

Wow, you should go in the biz.. cant wait to see how this shakes out. That observer Peter took out called him on it and said straight out he doesn't understand what he has done to himself and has made a grave mistake..

The plot thickens...

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

Decided to catch up and it was worth it... Season 5 is awesome so far, finally they got rid of useless side stories and just focused on a main plot

Plus, Walter is pretty much the main character now, with the tapes and all, which is great because John Noble is an amazing actor, and I cant get enough of his performance... I think the biggest fringe event is how he hasnt won a ton of awards already

Anyway, I guess we will have a Neo vs Smith ending in this one... aka Peter vs Windmark, though I wonder if Peter will also become emotionless like all observers

 

[KIAman]

There was so much focus on Olivia's abilities and now... nothing? What's her role in this season anyways other than the fact she is a main character?