Fringe: S04 Ep05 – Novation

What happened?

Peter makes an attempt to explain to Walter who he is and where he has come from, but only realises for himself that The Observer apparently didn’t intervene in this timeline and is left confused as to why he therefore exists. As a means of getting to spend more time with Walter he assists with an investigation into the shapeshifters that have now taken human form.

The shapeshifter takes hostage a Dr. Truss who manages to stabilise its physical condition, paving the way for them to be near undetectable infiltration units capable of impersonating anyone. Whilst the team face up this new potential crisis Olivia experiences a strange moment of de ja vue.

At the close, the shapeshifter is seen communicating on a typewriter where she is informed that the others will be sent over now that their physical form has been stabilised.

Thoughts

Good episode, this. Managed to pick up and dive straight in on multiple plot threads. Indeed, I was most impressed by how no time was wasted in Peter breaking the news of who he was and where he had come from to Walter. I anticipated that this would have been held off for more of a Peter/Olivia focus. Not so.

I really enjoyed Peter this episode. His confidence and intelligence has previously appeared as reserved and reactionary, but here he was on the front foot, calling the shots and making things work in his favour. It was good to be reminded that he’s also a genius – a point that doesn’t always translate. Way to return, Peter! And he was quick to ask the pertinent questions that revealed the fundamental difference between the universe he came from and this one: here ‘he’ drowned in Reiden Lake rather than get saved by The Observers.

Interesting point that Broyles and co had no idea about The Observers. Originally it transpired that The Observer, September, had been noticed and photographed many times over and was subject to investigation. In this universe there is no awareness of him, or the others. Was the function of the machine that September constructed and used to simply remove the traces of any Observer appearances and interventions? As such there was no investigation of Observer sightings since they had been erased, just as much as September’s intervention in saving the drowning Peter had also ceased to exist as an event.

Until I know better, that’s my rationale. September used a machine that wiped out his own interactions, though we know he didn’t fully complete the mission since he allowed traces of Peter to remain and ultimately bleed through. The answer to Peter’s question of how he still exists surely lies with September. The answer to why he has been permitted this continued existence is a far larger question.

Walter’s reaction was nicely handled here. Just when you thought he might eventually be won around by Peter – the man with his son’s eyes – he eventually confronted the situation like a kind of morality test; a challenge to see if he would repeat the terrible acts (terrible, at least, in the sense of the devastating consequences) he made with young Peter once before. Given his conviction he’s not going to be easily swayed.

The shapeshifter plot was perfunctory, though anyone who has even half-watched Fringe over the years could have predicted the injured man at the end was actually the shapeshifter’s current form. If a person is ever found lying prone, having survived an encounter with a shapeshifter, odds are it’s because they are the shapeshifter!

I fully anticipate our shapeshifters to somehow infiltrate Fringe Division courtesy of someone we are familiar with. Would Fringe be so bold as to have another main character (like Charlie) be killed and have a shapeshifter assume their place? I’d hope not, because it’s a plot that’s well-worn. It was used with Charlie’s duplicate, and also with Fauxlivia posing as Olivia – faking a person’s identity with their likeness has been well and truly done on this show, so the only problem for me with these new near-perfect human shapeshifters is the threat of retreading old ground.

Other tantalising pieces of information: Nina stepped in and raised Olivia. This explains their easy and comforting relationship previously exhibited. A surprising reveal, perhaps, though at present I can’t see how it will prove pivotal. The other major reveal was of the shapeshifter communicating with Over There. Barring any further knowledge, I have to now assume the shapeshifter is a creation of Walternate and operating under his bidding. If the truce between the two worlds is being undercut in this way then things are going to get messy (and, for dramatic purposes, it would make more sense for this to be the case).

All this and the episode still had time cram in a little bit of romance (kind of) with Olivia asking Lincoln if he wanted to go for a drink. I couldn’t tell if Olivia was genuinely asking out of attraction or distraction. I got the feeling it was more the latter, almost like the niggling feeling of Peter’s appearance had unnerved her to the extent that she needed to shake off the incertitude and Lincoln was her nearest and best bet. Unfortunately for her he said no!

The biggest subtle moment was the de ja vue Olivia experienced. I feel like this was seeding something major for the next episode, or possibly episodes. At present I have to assume that Olivia is somehow becoming aware of how this universe isn’t quite the ‘real deal’ (although, technically, if this is the way the universe is without The Observer’s intervention then it’s arguably the definitive one!) and her momentary reliving of a moment is an event that she’s going to encounter on a larger scale. Like maybe hours, or days, lived once and then reset to live again (perhaps with the capacity to make changes). It was curious that she didn’t ‘relive’ things completely – like she saw the folder returned to her desk twice yet only asked Lincoln out once. Weird.

Out of the box final thought: Olivia is experiencing the world like how The Observer’s experience the world. Able to relive moments over. When I think of that scene in Season 1 where September was able to speak the words that Peter was saying as he said them that’s a notion that doesn’t seem as ridiculous as it may have first sounded.

What was the best part?

Tempted to plump for Olivia’s moment of de ja vue for sheer intrigue level, but really I thought the scene where Peter had hacked the intercom to hear and speak to the outside area was good stuff. Peter’s manner and proactive stance here really suits him and makes his character more dynamic than ever before.

What do I think will happen next?

I suspect Peter’s ongoing struggle to justify why he is still around will be a longterm plot for the season, and of course it must be linked into the actions of September and the role The Observers play.

The shapeshifter communicating with Over There implies Walternate is involved and, despite previous reservations, I’m going to plump for the idea that he really is behind their actions. There’s the longshot that William Bell has/had a hand in it, and perhaps the reason he pulled the plug on the doctor’s research many years back was so he could continue it down this path rather than medical advancement. . .

Most intriguing was Olivia’s moment of de ja vue, which I suspect has to have something to do with the instability of this current universe timeline and it ‘glitching’ on account of Peter’s return. Why only Olivia has experienced it thus far may indicate that she alone is receptive to the phenomena, or she’s just the first. For now my hunch is that she alone will experience the strange time shifts since she was alone in dreaming of Peter, but possibly Walter might also be involved.