'Fringe': End of a chapter

What do you want from a season finale? Many things.

You want a pay-off. Those past 20-odd episodes better have been building to something. 

You want an event. The explosions have to be bigger, louder and more damage-inflicting than anything so far. And that includes the emotional bombshells.

You want to have a peek at what’s to come. A taste. A great season finale makes you curse the summer months. All that sunshine and picnics keeping you for finding out what happens next. You’re craving September more than a stay-at-home mom with six kids. 

Did “Fringe” deliver an incredible season finale? 

Let’s go down the list.

Payoff: This season brought the slow reveal of Peter’s past. In the first few episodes, it came out in tiny hints. Comments or observations. It almost became a game, waiting for the mention of Peter’s origins. Then the hints grew larger, building to the winter finale, when Olivia learned the truth. It was only a matter of time before Peter figured it out himself.

Did it pay off? And then some. Not only did Peter learn the truth, but he traveled back to the other side with his true father, Walternate. It’s a bittersweet return. Last week, we got the sweetness from Peter’s interactions with his biological mother. In the second half, we got the bitterness. The episode begins with Peter’s flight to meet Walternate where the helicopter pilot explains the differences Peter sees in the New York landscape. That becomes a theme for Peter through the finale as he realizes even though this universe is where he’s from, it isn’t where he belongs. 

Plus there was the payoff I didn’t even see coming. Season 2 began with a shape-shifting soldier from another dimension who tried to stop Olivia from meeting with William Bell. Gradually through the season, the shape-shifters found their leader, put together the pieces of Walter’s brain so they could find out how to open a door, and then opened that door so Walternate could pass through and persuade Peter to return with him, but Walternate also wanted to use Peter to power a machine that would destroy our universe. 

That might seem like just a run-on sentence, but it shows how well planned Season 2 was from the start. So few shows, especially shows doing 22 episodes, seem to put that much forethought into a season, and I can’t thank the minds behind “Fringe” enough for that extra mile. 

Event: You’re kidding, right? The majority of the finale took place in the alternate universe, a place seen for maybe 30 minutes total in the entire series. 

That not enough of an event for you? How about finally seeing Walter and William Bell reunite? It was great to see them bicker and poke -- the way only two people who know each other extremely well can. Too bad Leonard Nimoy is retiring. He and John Noble could do a movie together called “Grumpy Old Scientists.”

Plus we got a fight between Olivia and Bolivia (as show runners Jeff Pinkner and J.H. Wyman refer to her). Olivia goes to her other self to find Peter. She is aided by their similarities, knowing where Bolivia keeps her spare key or how to tug on her counterpart's heart strings, but she is undone by their differences. Specifically, where they keep their backup firearm. Olivia not only knocks out Bolivia, she takes her doppelganger’s hair color. Good thing too. It seems Peter prefers her as a brunet.

The finale gave us emotional events as well -- the top of which was Olivia confessing the main reason she wants Peter to return to our universe is because she needs him to be with her and following up with a little smooching. Personally, I felt this was a little out of the blue, but I like how it played out so well, I’m willing to run with it.

And don’t forget the actual explosions. Nimoy got to play the action star: shooting, running, blowing up cop cars. Not a bad way to say goodbye to acting. 

A peek at what’s to come: Of course, everyone’s going to be talking about the ending. Bell sacrifices his millions of atoms to power our Fringe Division’s trip back home. Only ... during the detonation of one of Bell’s experimental grenades (that were not to be jostled), Bolivia pulled the old switcheroo. Now Bolivia is on our side, playing spy for Mr. Secretary, while Olivia is locked in a cell on the other side. A+ cliffhanger.

But there’s so much more than that. We got a peek at the new relationship between Walter and Peter. Peter can’t understand why Walter did the things he did, but he knows Walter crossed universes twice to save him. What an interesting dynamic that will bring.

We also got a peek at Walter getting a peek at the disaster his original crossing caused. The blight. The quarantine. Another heaping load of guilt to pile on an already guilt-racked mind. 

So on my scale, “Fringe” went above and beyond all the goals of a season finale. The producers, writers, cast and crew deserve all the praise I can give them, followed directly by my hatred. Now I have to wait all summer for new episodes. Maybe I’ll stick in my DVDs of Season 1.

Quick notes: There were so many details I loved about the finale that I couldn’t fit in anywhere else: like Bolivia’s ring tone from “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” or Walter saying of Bell, “nice of him to finally show up." I also really appreciated the amber from Season 1 returning as the quarantine. And I’ll say right now that I can live with all the “Fringe” product placements for KFC and Ford as long as they keep putting in details like the issue of the Red Lantern/Red Arrow comic book hanging in Peter’s alternate apartment. 

Astrid Action: Astrid got in right under the wire on this episode. She’s spent all her energy from worrying about Peter baking and eating, but she’s nowhere near ready for a lapband.

Spot the Observer: I was so wrapped up in the finale, I didn’t even think to look for our little bald-headed pal. I’m still trying to track him down in “Northwest Passage.” Oh well. It’ll give me something to do over the summer.

-- Andrew Hanson

RELATED:

Jeff Pinkner and J.H. Wyman: the Evil Geniuses behind "Fringe"

"Fringe": Finale Part One

Complete "Fringe" coverage on Show Tracker

Upper photo: Anna Torv. Credit: Fox Television

Middle photo: Leonard Nimoy. Credit: Fox Television

Lower photo: John Noble. Credit: Fox Television

---

Clicking on Green Links will take you to a third-party e-commerce site. These sites are not operated by the Los Angeles Times. The Times Editorial staff is not involved in any way with Green Links or with these third-party sites.

---

Comments

[KarenJ]

The Observer was SO hard to see in Northwest Passage! He was harder to find than Waldo - plus he was verrry far awaaayyy.... I had a hard time AFTER I looked it up on the net.

I have to watch last night's episode again, as usual, to find all those little things I missed.

Looking forward to the interaction of Peter and Bolivia. She won't fool him for long - I don't think.

[JJAwesomes]

I hate summer. If it wasn't for true blood I'd hibernate til Fringe premiere. I agree that Olivia and Peter hooking up was rushed but its something I felt they were going to do eventually so mite as well get it out now before the new season. Though i doubt Olivia will be happy to find out Peter couldn't tell it was her for however long Bolivia will run amuck.

I want to live in the world with a red latern and red arrow...smallville could benefit..

[Seth]

The Observer was in the KFC. I didn't see him, but I read that elsewhere. Right after Walter or William says that they're fugitives.

And, great finale...My only problem with it was that Olivia at the end acted differently from what we've ever seen (the way she pleaded with the Secretary). Was anyone else bugged by that?

[Nate]

Seth,

I was a little bothered by Olivia's begging, too. I'm not saying I would be the stiff-upper-lip type in that situation (far from it, I'm sure), but she has always been the strong, stoic soldier. It was jarring - and to that end effective I guess - but I feel it took the coolness out of the situation and made it way too tragic. I can't imagine many shows would lock their main character in a sensory-depriving blackened room for an extended period of time -- something that is usually thought of as a torture device and has certainly been used to mentally break down if not drive crazy many prisoners around the world. 24 had Jack Baeur tortured by the Chinese for at least a year's time during a hiatus, but Jack Baeur is such a machismo cartoon fans can buy that would roll off his back like water off a duck (btw, Jack Bauer eats his duck rare - with the feathers still on and it quacking).

Its not that I mind tragedy in fiction TV necessarily, but Fringe to me is more about fun and cool and it didn't fit the overall atmosphere of the show. Of course that's just me, and your mileage may vary.

I think they gave us one too many hints before the grenade went off that O/Bolivia were going to switch (me and the fiance both said it as soon as she and Charlie exchanged looks and she showed up behind Bell). I feel like I'm complaining too much, though - overall I liked the episode, and I certainly can't wait for them to come back!

PS: how can NOBODY on a sci-fi TV show comment thread not have already compared Bolivia to Flocke this season on Lost?! Until we get the switch back next season, I think I will call Bolivia Smokey Olivia.

[KarenJ]

Funny - I've always thought Olivia was a little too cool emotionally. It was satisfying to see her so upset - she's just told Peter how she feels, she's being kept in a blackened cell, she's being held by a malevolent Walternate bent on destroying HER universe, and she's alone in the world. It all sounds pretty distressing to me. (But then - I'm a Lost fan for the characters - and the myth/sci-fi comes second for me)

Hadn't thought of Bolivia in regards to Flocke? I just find the whole 'other world' 'time tripping' thing to be very similar. But - would think Walternate would be the Fringe's Flocke. How 'bad' was that guy?

As far as hating summer - well - there's also Weeds? Not sci-fi, but a pretty darn interesting show.

[Sandy]

The other great thing about Fringe? The actors have real faces. Walter, with all his lines and emotion - someone give John Noble his emmy NOW! It is so refreshing to see a show with actors that aren't botoxed and lifted so that actual emotion seeps through into their performances.

Last comment - she's not a brunette. She's a redhead. BRING IT ON!

[EEM]

Olivia's emotions were totally believable. She's a DO-er...remember how she slammed her fist on the table and said, "Walter! Stop! How can we get to the other side!?" or her determination to go get Peter, regardless of the odds against survival. She can't be still and do nothing. So for her to be caged up in the dark like an animal, aware of how "impossible" it will be for anyone to rescue her (I put "impossible" in quotes because we KNOW once Walter and Peter figure out what happened they'll be going back) since Bell is now presumably disintegrated and there aren't that many special "kids" left to help them cross over--definitely she's going to react emotionally.

What's not believable to me (yet) is how quickly "Bolivia" adapted to the situation. Didn't she just learn about the parallel universe, oh, say an hour or so ago? Yet not only does she jump through the open door, she knows precisely what to do and where to go (the typewriter room). OK, maybe Walternate "uploaded the schematics to her cell phone" (speaking like a true 24-phile here), but it all seems just a tad too quick & easy. Also, the whole grenade/switcheroo thing. We're to believe that Bolivia and Broyle's counterpart managed to tackle Olivia, hurl the grenade, etc. without our Olivia with her super-keen fighter instincts putting up a major fight? I know, we're supposed to "suspend disbelief" (or is it suspend belief)...but still. A little logic in this illogical universe would be nice....