What happened?
The Fringe team
track down September to his home, where he lives as a regular person as a
punishment for what he did against his own people. However, he reveals that he
is technically Michael’s father, and had taken him from the future because he
represented a hybrid of emotion and intellect that, if taken to the future,
could avert the course of time so that The Observers never come into being.
This is the plan he and Walter conceived, and all looks set to be in motion
only for Windmark to arrive and capture Michael.
Thoughts
See, the problem I
have often had with Fringe is that I don’t follow the show closely enough, as
in reading online and so forth, to remember and recall all the minutiae and
details. And the nagging feeling I am left with now, at the point of the show’s
finale, are that things I expected to get resolved may not even need resolving
at all. The First People business is one such thing that, I feel, was
definitely something that got left hanging and I figured that if Fringe was
going to really complete itself then that was something that needed to be
addressed.
Now I fear that this
may never happen at all – and that intriguing quandary of why Olivia’s face
featured in an image taken from an ancient, dissolved civilisation has been
made somehow redundant. (Or maybe it won’t? Or maybe the matter was resolved
and I just haven’t realised it? This is my problem!) So I’ll park that idea for
now and try to continue this piece as though that wasn’t something I had ever
heard about – God knows that looks like what Fringe is doing!
This episode was a
curiously sedate affair and, actually, for one that was a lynchpin reveal of
massive meaning and one that paved the way for the finale, it felt very
underwhelming. I think it was September (now Donald, a name I can’t quite get
used to even if he was named after an actor from Singin’ In The Rain) and his
subdued manner that bled into the vibe. His mellow, easygoing nature undercut
the impact of what he had to impart. And he had some big bombshells to impart.
He was from far into
the future, and during that time his DNA was used to generate Michael who was
considered an anomaly. Realising his son had emotional development against the
nature of The Observers, a quality that could ultimately be used to change the
passage of time entirely, he stole Michael away into the past to keep him safe.
Now the time has come for him to be used to stop The Observers. . .
Right. Hold up.
Hands up who can’t see the obviously plot hole? Namely: Why did September
transport Michael back so far into the past when he could have just taken him
directly to these people who would realise that removing emotions from humans
for superior intelligence was not the correct course of action? If September
had done that then The Observers would never have existed, right?
OK, so maybe there
we have our answer in a paradox. If September took Michael to meet the scientists
then that would change their minds and the course of time and mean The
Observers would never come into being and, thus, there would be no September or
Michael. Ah, right, so if there’s no Observers there’s no September or Michael
to then stop them from existing. Space-time continuum meltdown. It’s the
classic grandfather paradox that anyone who has a passing interest in time
travel theories will have encountered. Fringe does have the option of
alternate universes to resolve such matters, but there’s been no hint of that
this season.
The paradox issue
hasn’t gone away, either. Even if Walter’s plan is successful and Michael
manages to change the course of the future it will mean The Observers never
come into being and, ultimately, that Michael could never have existed and the
same paradox will present itself. So how will that work? How can that work?
Maybe it won’t. Maybe
the plan will fail. That would certainly avoid a paradox, though of course
leave our gang with a big Observer-shaped problem to try and resolve. . . But I
don’t imagine that the finale is going to go smoothly so such failures are to
be expected.
However, there’s
another matter in play here, mentioned in this episode, which suggests Walter
and September’s plan will work: Olivia, Peter and Etta. I really liked the
moment where Olivia took herself out of the room and took a glass of water as
she absorbed the hopeful wisp of chance that this plan would change the course
of time and bring Etta back. In this idea we have a happy ending for the entire
show and it’s one that I simply cannot imagine not occurring. Hear me loud and
clear: Olivia, Peter and Etta reunited has to be the end of the show. Only,
if it is, and that means some kind of timeline reset occurs, then I have to
wonder if it can possibly be the same Olivia and Peter we are seeing here.
It’s a bit like when
Peter stepped into the machine and crunched the timelines, erasing himself and
creating this new timeline. For that at least he had Olivia to bring him back,
and furthermore he then brought back the ‘old’ Olivia. Maybe they could pull
the same trick again? Re-write history, shift the universe around them and the
two together still retain their consciousness – perhaps getting to enjoy the
sunny day in the park without The Observers arriving. (Indeed, that’s the scene
which is my best bet for the last scene.)
That’s a lot of
projection, but this episode was a bit of a data dump that was all about setting
up the final hour and a half of the show that remains so, you know, it’s to be
expected.
I do have an axe to
grind about how Walter’s character was handled this episode. The phantom menace
of his alter-ego threatening to rise like a maniacal demon that has been
brewing for the past couple of episodes was abruptly cut dead here. A bright
and breezy Walter had emerged following Michael’s touch.
To be fair the
episode did a good job in explaining why Walter had changed, and it was a
convincing one. This was a man that had been loaded up with memories from a
different universe, refreshed with momentous moments and powerful emotions from
his and his alternate’s histories. He felt like a new man because, in effect,
he had been imbued with the memories of another, better life. Furthermore he
had also been given the knowledge that for his plan to succeed he had to die,
and so he was also a man facing the final days of his life. So don’t get me
wrong, I understand why he has changed and, for the record, I think it’s a
terrific accumulated union of the various Walters we have seen finally reaching
a form of reconciliation.
As September
remarked, Walter himself had agreed to the plan because he considered it a just
and righteous thing to compensate for the misdeeds of his past. And, in truth,
it had occurred to me that Walter’s conclusion before the show ended would
almost certainly mean his death. For all of his positives and lovable quirks he
was responsible for breaking through into another universe and all the death
and destruction that has happened since. There has never been any getting away
from that, not to mention the terrible deeds he wreaked on the Cortexiphan
kids. Yes, Walter is a hero and has found nobility, but I do anticipate his
death will have to occur to give his character closure.
What’s my problem
with Walter’s sudden change then? Basically because it feels like the previous
episodes’ build-up was a misfiring anti-climax. The spectre of Walter’s dark
side threatening to capsize everything was actually a terrific plot in waiting
and would have made for a terrifying finale. Consider how intimidating
Walternate was. The intellect mixed with a lack of compassion is far more
fearsome than Windmark can ever hope to be. But this has now, apparently, been
dropped like a hot brick.
Windmark has become
interesting, however. Fuelled by revenge he can’t even articulate and
disobeying his superiors, he reminded me of Agent Smith in The Matrix (not
for the first time has Fringe made me think of that movie), unplugging
himself from the system. I don’t know if Windmark’s thirst to stop the Fringe
Team is headed in a clever direction or if it’s just creating a focussed
villain for our heroes to contend against. It seems late in the day for
Windmark to, ironically, discover human emotions that allies him to the very
people he hunts in a meaningful way. But you never know. There’s still a little
bit of time for twists and turns yet and I like that the show is doing
something interesting with him.
Coming into the
finale I am excited about it, purely because it is the finale of a show that I
have been watching for years and so to see it all come to a conclusion is an
exciting prospect. Strangely (and probably unfairly, actually) I am not excited
in the sense that I have high expectations I am certain will be blown away.
Fringe has been in great form and yet, for whatever reason, I can’t help but
feel that the resolution will pretty much go with a bittersweet happy ending
(Walter dead, Olivia, Peter and Etta together) and with some convoluted
plotting through time and maybe realities to see that happen.
But I’ll tell you
this: If they do manage to drag that First People stuff back and make it
matter then Fringe will have me clapping and nodding and maybe, just maybe,
make me revise and review the whole show with a whole new level of respect.
What was the best
part?
Whilst the final
scenes were enjoyably tense as everyone tried to slip through the Observers’
net and get onto the train, surely the best scene was when Walter spoke with
September/Donald alone and there came the flatly-delivered reveal that Walter
knew he had to die. The little speech about how it was that Michael had shown
Walter those amazing moments in his life as if to prepare him to commit to such
a deed was beautifully played by John Noble. Whilst I thought the sudden
squandering of the menace of evil Walter was too conveniently sidestepped this
bittersweet moment went a long way to compensating for it.
What do I think
will happen next?
Barring the
far-flung idea of the First People concept being reintroduced then all I can
conceive for the finale is that, as Olivia hopes, a reset button of sorts gets
hit and a new timeline is generated – one where Olivia, Peter and Etta all
live. (How that happens without erasing the characters we know and replacing
them I can’t imagine. Maybe it won’t. Maybe the show will erase the timeline
and a new, happier timeline will be installed where the likes of Peter and
Olivia never did any of the things we saw them do. . . Not sure I’d like that,
but it wouldn’t exactly be a unique concept for the show considering it’s done
it before!)
Here’s some things I
do expect. I expect to see Broyles again. I expect to see William Bell. I
expect at least one or two of our heroes to venture into the future, after
rescuing Michael, and trying to show that world the folly in abandoning
emotions in pursuit of intellectual superiority. And I expect, as stated, a
timeline reset switch to be hit. (And maybe the only way Olivia and Peter can
avoid erasure is by going way back into the past and becoming the First
People!? I just can’t let it go!) Lastly, whilst I can anticipate that Walter
may very well pay the ultimate sacrifice, Olivia, Peter and Etta will be
reunited and live together again. That’s the happy ending. It absolutely has to
occur. . . right?
No comments:
Post a Comment