Fringe: There’s More Than One of Everything

SPOILER WARNINGS APLENTY for this post!

When this show first started I was bored with it. It seemed to be an X-Files rip off and that’s saying something considering I don’t think I’ve ever watched a complete episode of the X-Files (I know I’m a terrible geek). It also seemed like it was trying too hard to shock us and it was not doing enough to establish its characters. My other gripe was that it didn’t make us buy into the world before doing completely crazy and fantastic things like the bio weapon on the bus or the heart monster incident.

Slowly over the course of the season I started to let down my defenses and simply bought in regardless of my initial misgivings. I believe the reason for my buy in was because I started to get very interested in the Massive Dynamic story thread. By the time they beam a dude out of a German prison I realized I was on board for this show and would be until cancelation or conclusion. Which brings us to this weeks season finale.

First off I enjoyed this episode of television even if I could see the two major plot reveals coming they were still very cool to watch unfold. I loved that Peter had died in this reality back when he was a child and the ramifications that it must have for Walter and Peter’s relationship in the future. The fact that Walter traveled inter-dimensionally to find a new version of Peter to replace his dead Peter reveals a dark side of Walters’s personality. Did he kidnap this Peter or travel from dimension to dimension until he found a little orphan Peter?

Additionally interesting was the creative choice to put William Bell into the Twin Towers. I loved seeing the cover of the New Yorker with the Obama’s on the cover followed directly by a full view of the Towers still standing in this alternate reality. The fact that Bell would choose to inhabit an office in one of the Towers says something important about his personality. I’m thinking it points to a significant God complex and I wouldn’t be surprised if William Bell was directly responsible for the Towers survival in this alternate reality.

That being said placing Bell in the Towers didn’t make complete sense to me because the “soft spot” phenomenon as described by Nina earlier in the episode seemed to have a 1 to 1 ratio between dimensions so where ever Olivia was would have had to be within the area of our world’s Ground Zero. It seemed to me that Olivia was in a high rise building with a fancy restaurant. So unless I am misinterpreting the logic of how this works (and that’s possible) I believe Fringe just established a rule in their universe and then broke it all within the span of one episode.

Even with that little snag I am actually very excited to see where this show goes from this point forward. Too bad we have to wait till fall to find out!

Speaking of Olivia in the elevator did anyone else wonder if she was going to be transported into the white room to see the big cat? If you get that reference you are cool enough to guest write a blog entry, let me know if you are interested!