Fringe: White Tulip

The universe has a way of course correcting. Even though Fringe and Lost are not in the same story sphere, those words spoken by Eloise Hawkings should have been the words that Walter used when attempting to talk Alistair out of going back in time to save his wife. That would have been the only thing that could have made this particular episode of Fringe any cooler. Suffice to say I immensely enjoyed this one.

After Alistair went back in time and we started to see the same scene play out again with minuscule variations I thought I was going to flat out hate this episode. Yet once we got away from the train and Alistair was located off the print I completely let go of my trepidation. By the time Walter was in a deep conversation with the professor I was completely hooked into this story. My only worry was that Peter was going to find out his true identity in this episode only to have it washed away by Alistair's actions.

That was where the real brilliance of this episode played out. Walter confessed his sins in order to connect to our time traveler not to subdue him. He was the only person in the world who truly would understand and sympathize with Walter. That sympathy paid off because the white tulip was delivered without the final version of Walter that never told anyone about his personal sign from God. Of course by delivering a white tulip to Walter, Alistair proved his point that science is God. Unfortunately for Alistair, the universe course corrected and Walter must assume that his unspoken prayer was answered.

I am aware that the time travel in this episode made no sense whatsoever. If Alistair from 10 months in the future went back and died in a car crash, Alistair from that present must still exist. Additionally dead body with that much "modification" would have certainly showed up in the Bishops laboratory at some point. That noted, I still find this to be a superior episode of an excellent show. Perhaps Alistair of that present did a little course correcting of his own.

Fringe has done a wonderful job slowly building to the Walter/Peter confrontation and it would seem like the story stars have aligned and it should happen soon. I, for one, cannot wait to see it finally play out!