Do we already know how Fringe ends?
Last night's episode of Fringe gave us a huge dose of mythology and cosmology, as we finally got some answers to the major questions the show's been teasing us with for years. This episode worked as a twisty thriller and as a heart-breaking piece of drama, plus it managed to bring up some fascinating issues about identity and selfhood.
But most of all... do we know how Fringe is going to end?
Spoilers ahead...
So it's almost hard to remember at this point how unlikely a Peter/Olivia romance once seemed. For the first couple years of Fringe, Peter actor Joshua Jackson in particular was very vocal about saying that he didn't want to see the two characters become romantically involved. (Sample quote, from a Sept. 2009 interview: "I don't think they're going to go in that direction. I see Peter and Olivia as more brother and sister rather than lovers on this show."
And now, it's become clear that the Peter/Olivia romance isn't just a thing — it's the center of the show, the thing everything revolves around. This has been clear at least since the Peter/Olivia/Olivia triangle, and the producers floated the idea that whichever version of Olivia Peter chose, her universe alone would survive. (This idea was floated via Sam Weiss, who at the time seemed to be the Voice of Truth on the show.) In any case, now we know — the Peter/Olivia romance really is the show's axis.
At least, that's what I got from the telepathic PowerPoint presentation that Peter gets treated to in "The End of All Things." We got a lot of context for stuff we already knew about Peter and the Observers. In 1985, when Walternate was on the verge of finding a miracle cure for Peter's illness, September distracted him at the wrong moment, so he missed out on the cure. And Peter was so important to the future, that September decided to step in and save Peter from drowning after Walter brought him back to our universe. September's interference inadvertently led to the devastating war between universes — but apparently, none of that was a major deviation from the timeline that leads to the best futures. What was a major deviation? Peter making a baby with the wrong Olivia.
Let's pause and process that for a moment — apparently, the Observers (or at least September) always wanted Peter and "our" Olivia to get together. And it's strongly hinted that the romance between Peter and Olivia is important — way more important than any of the fallout from all that universe-on-universe violence. Important enough that Henry, Peter's son with the other Olivia, was a major problem. Henry had to be erased from the universe, even at the cost of erasing Peter himself.
That, in turn, means that even if September hadn't disturbed Walternate in his lab — and Walter hadn't had any reason to cross over and kidnap Peter — Peter still would have needed to cross over at some point and meet "our" Olivia, for the Observers' desired future to come to pass.
So after the offending baby Henry was erased, and Peter along with him, there was a difference of opinion between September and August. August wanted Peter to stay erased, but September disobeyed his orders and failed to hold a magnet to the last traces of Peter-memory in the universe. Because, I guess, September still believes Peter can fulfill his original destiny — the destiny that made it worthwhile to pull him out of a lake in the first place.
So how does Fringe end? My bet is, with Olivia giving birth to Peter's baby. Or at least, being pregnant. It's pretty obvious, at this point, that Peter and Olivia have a child who's important to the future — some kind of historic figure. Basically, their child is John Connor. At least, that's the most likely scenario, given what we've just been told about baby Henry being the "wrong" baby, and the Peter/Olivia romance being vital to the future. I feel like the show is telegraphing a baby-related ending pretty hard, at this point.
Read the entire io9.com article here.
Posts
I think when you say August above you actually mean December
ReplyDeleteIf producing the "right" Henry lies at the root of the Observers' actions, how does erasing Peter achieve that end? And it is September who delivers the devastating news that Olivia "has to die". (He might not be saying her death is inevitable. He might be saying it is necessary if the Observers' ends are to be achieved.) Removing the mother would be equally counter productive!
ReplyDeleteSince season 3, Fringe is about, how to configure things the right way in order for Peter Olivia to be together, by showing us all the ways they can not be together, but keeping on configuring, erasing (memories, timelines, delaying at all cost (even a baby...) is getting a bit too previsible. To seperate them whatever the cost is the main tool, the storymakers are using, so I guess if they end up together for good, it could allow the show to evolve, and check on if the writers have another story about love, that is not to short.
ReplyDeleteMy theory, September is really Henry, and Peter and Olivia is suppose to be his parents. And maybe that's why he is dying, I know there's no way that could be true.
ReplyDeleteWow.. this post completely read my mind. I was totally thinking all of those things. Peter being important....and why?? And the whole thing about him still needing to cross over in order to meet and be with OUR Olivia. But what if our Olivia was always meant to cross over? The cortexipham trials had started long before Walter crossed over. So regardless, Olivia was meant to have her abilities. As to why she would ever cross over, who knows... ???
ReplyDeleteAnd what is the consequence of the wrong baby Henry? What I do not agree with is baby Henry being the end game (agreed with previous comment about erasing Peter and killing Olivia as counter productive). I do believe the Observer wants Peter to be with our Olivia. But that doesn't mean the current timeline Olivia and Peter's Olivia are not the same people. So I don't understand why Peter still thinks she is in another timeline? Where did he get that from?
Interesting but wrong........... They will not make it obvious. Maybe there will be two Henrys. When things are restored, over there Olivia will have her 'ordinary' Henry and Peter and over here Olivia will have 'special' Henry, progenitor to the "Observers". All is well. Of corse nothing speculated on will matter until the final episode of the series. Then as with "LOST" everyone will be disappointed.
ReplyDeleteSeptember said that Henry is a mistake, because he was born to the wrong Olivia, and in unapporiate circumstances (true !). My point of view is that somehow, Peter is in the right timeline, newlivia is his Olivia, but what Peter has to restore is his past in this new timeline but in his red universe. Without September's mistake, Walternate should have found the cure, and Walter would have never cross to the red verse to save Peter. He is supposed to have a past in the red universe, so if I'm right I don't know how he is going to do that ?
ReplyDeleteI like this theory. If the show gets another season it can be about how Olivia's incentive to develop her powers was Peter from the red universe, when the observer said go home which universe did he mean? My question like you is how is he going to do it without the need of everyone having their memories re-set. September was literal in a lot of the things he said, when he told Peter "we are you, many generations form now" did he mean literally Peter/Olivia descendants.
DeleteIF September accidentally disturbed Walternate from saving Peter, then one can assume that if he hadn't been there Peter would have never crossed over to the other side... so wouldn't Peter have eventually hooked up with Polivia, meaning that he was in fact with the RIGHT Olivia??
ReplyDeleteOlivia could cross to the other universe even when she was a child, so maybe she met Peter in his red verse where he survived, I think that could be the new story they have to tell...
ReplyDeleteThere is on thing I think about a long time now, maybe the Olivia we think is ours, is the one coming form the red verse, and Bolivia is originating from the blue verse, Like the 2 olivia's were swapped when they were children, meaning Peter and our Olivia are both coming from the red verse, but our Olivia grew up in our blue world and maybe that's why she is so broken. Maybe Peter and Olivia were destined to be together and to meet in the red verse if he survived (if semptember didn't disturb Walternate), During season 3 the producers said that the baby henry was a unique case, maybe it means he has a blue universe mother and a Red universe dad, maybe that's what scealed the universes as one and won't allow to fix and seperate them. Maybe all will end up with Peter and Olivia coming back to their universe in order to save the two worlds ! What do you think ?
ReplyDeleteFabsie
If the September told Peter Henry no longer existed, if he goes back to his time line then red universe Olivia would be freaking out because her baby would have disappeared from existence. Peter would have to explain what happened. This must be his right timeline, who knows what Peter and Olivia will have to go through to realize this. A short story about the way Peter and Olivia met had September not gotten in the way would be interesting.
ReplyDeleteMaybe September springs from Peter and blonde Olivia. They are his grandparents(great...) so he has to have them to create him.
ReplyDeleteSo as I have come to believe this season .. the memories Olivia is having are her own memories returning .. there is no 3rd Olivia. The Olivia who didnt remember Peter until now is his true Olivia so Peter's insistence that he must leave to go home, to find/return to his Olivia is misplaced. He is home. Why the heck didnt September just tell him that? Oh of course, if he did we'd not have any conflict to move this along ..
ReplyDeleteI agree with Daryl, he is in the right timeline , that is why september said "go home" . He is home , he is in the right timeline, just erased from some memories, but since Olivia and him share so deep of a connection, she was able to remember. In any case the observer should had just said that, but of course then it will be too easy. I do not think the whole drama will end with a baby from any universe. In any case the serie has lost his frontal point, strange events as consequence of scientific and natural issues, they need to retake the line of investigation & rare events and not concentrate on the romance for it will loose it purpose later on if they continue to play games with our minds, either put them together , and start from there again with the cases or leave them apart ..
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 7:24AM... I like your theory about Redverse Dad and Blueverse mom being the solution to saving both worlds. Finding a balance between the worlds.... That thought had never crossed my mind until now and without having a real answer as to why that would be the solution it somehow makes sense.
ReplyDeleteI agree too. I think Henry spawned from the right P/O combo might grow up to be a leader and possibly the lead scientist who will discover a way for both worlds to heal, not to mention the pioneer for the technology that will allow the Observers to travel within time. Maybe the end of season 4 is the birth of Henry and season 5 and a half is about Henry growing up to become that leader/scientist. OOO.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what the cortex will do to Henry? I'm betting the observers are genetically engineered and treated with cortex from birth. That's how they travel through space and time. That's why DRJ wants Olivia so bad. Olivia is probably the most powerful person on earth... Henry will be more so. My guess......
ReplyDeleteWhat if there never were supposed to be two universes? Seems if there are two, there should be more. Lots more. There may be a divergent point further in the past that caused the two universes to come into being. Seems almost silly (though acceptable in tv terms, I guess) that so much would be similar with so many things being different at the same time. Even having the Dodgers in Brooklyn would mean anyone ever meeting at a Mets game wouldn't have. They really haven't covered when the paths difverged. A few historical events are mentioned (JFK alive, WTC standing) and some things are insinuated (other verse seems to be ahead in some tech but behind in others... Vaccines are an example).
ReplyDeleteThe ultimate goal may be convergence. Other-Peter and our Olivia getting together (perhaps having a baby, perhaps not) however it would have occurred, may be the catalyst to get that started. September may have gone rogue to protect that. The others may either have been banking on some other catalyst presenting itself or resigned to letting things pkay out with one universe dying out if it didn't.
maybe september is peter's son and that's why he wanted to witness the making of the cure that was going to save peter.that's why he saved Peter from drowning, etc.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like a lot of people are drawing the wrong conclusions from this episode. You cannot assume that the right Peter/Olivia copulation is necessary, or even important to the timeline. We can only gather that the WRONG Peter/Olivia copulation is detrimental to the timeline. In Season 3, Walternate uses Henry to start the machine, forcing Peter to destroy the Red Universe and which ultimately culminates in the destruction of the Blue Universe sometime shortly after 2026.
ReplyDeleteNow, the simple fact that the Observers are willing to erase not only Peter from the timeline just to prevent him from copulating with the wrong Olivia means that neither Peter nor Henry are important figures in the timeline whatsoever. Their dismissal from the timeline would not produce any appreciable damage that would warrant the Observers' will to find another way.
September also didn't know that Peter would find his way back to the timetime, which is why he said it was a unique chance to put thing back the way they were intended. He never made any suggestion that Red Peter and Blue Olivia had to make a child, only that in the original timeline (before September's mistake in Walternate's lab in 1985) Peter and Blue Olivia get together.
September is only trying to fix a mistake he made, not make sure some historical figure is born. Henry is not John Conner, he's just a normal kid born to extraordinary parents.