The Fox show Fringe will end its five season run this week Friday, January 18th with a two hour series finale. The show has been one of Fox's weakest performers from a ratings standpoint (DVR numbers are hard to track, but Fringe actually performs well there.), even before they moved it to the Friday night death slot three years ago. Yet at the end of last season, the show's fourth, Fox committed to a 13 episode final season for the show. A season which would allow the writers and the creators of the show the ability to tie up as many loose threads as they could and provide the fans of the show with a hopefully satisfying ending to the story they were trying to tell. It was the right move by Fox and one which I, a big fan of the show, am very happy with.
This past Friday the 11th episode of this truncated season aired. It was titled The Boy Must Live. Now if you are reading this now and are a fan of this show like I am, you have already watched this episode and also the ten others that proceeded it. If you are not a fan, well then I might recommend that you stop reading now and move on to other, equally excellent, posts on this blog. But also would tell you to get off your butts and go seek this show out. Seriously, go now! From this point forward I am going to dig into the most recent episode and the ten that proceeded it in some detail. All in an attempt to construct and posit my grand theory on how the show will ultimately end.
Now I freely claim I am not any sort of expert here, nor do I have any inside knowledge on the actual ending to the show. No, I am simply going to use what we have been shown this season, along with what the show has done in past seasons to put together a theory on how the writers will end the story. In truth, this theory will probably be wrong. I have theorized on Fringe before, although never in written form, and the show has always went in a different direction than I thought. It is one of the most annoying and yet wildly exciting aspects of this show, and one of the key reasons I feel Fringe is one of the best shows on television.
I think to begin to understand where we might be ending things with Fringe you have to look in detail at some of the overall themes of this fifth season. Many of these themes have been repeated over the course of the show's run and others have not. One of the most prominent themes of the show and this season is the relationships between parents and children, with fathers and sons being explored the most. At the center of this show we have a father, Walter Bishop, and his son, Peter. Walter committed an act of corrupt moral beliefs, unchecked hubris, and ultimately desperation when he decided to travel to another universe to steal and then save Peter. It was not his Peter, but another Walter's.
This act created the Fringe events which brought Olivia into the fold and in turn prompted her to ultimately bring father and son together again after she seeks out Peter to free Walter from St. Claires. It is the act that is responsible for the war between universes in season two and three, and also the ultimate reboot in season four. I cannot stress enough how important this event is to the world of the show, but also to the ultimate endgame as well. This act by Walter, above all others, is the one which must be corrected. It is the one that cannot remain.
Now through the five seasons we have seen Peter slowly become accepting of Walter as his father. This culminated in a conversation had between these two men in this most recent episode. Walter and Peter are standing outside of Donald's presumed apartment. Peter wants to know why Walter is so different, no longer crabby, short tempered, and rude but rather calm and at peace. Walter confesses that when the boy, Michael, touched him that he showed him all the experiences another Walter had. What experiences you say? Well those of the original recipe Walter from the pre-reboot universe of course. Walter went on to tell Peter gaining the memories from those experiences filled him with such joy and happiness. He confessed that he thought there was no way he could love Peter more, but then he found he could.
Peter, it seems, feels relieved to have the father he remembers back. The two share a hug, one that quite frankly may have led to a tear or two from yours truly. It was a key moment for this season, but more broadly the show as a whole. In that moment, the show finally brought father and son together. It finally showed that Peter had now come all the way and viewed this Walter, even though not truly his biological father as his real father and loved him as such. It was a deeply satisfying moment and one that the show and more importantly the characters earned over the past five seasons.
Now as an aside, I am going to avoid diving into any sort of evaluation or debate of the season 4 reboot or the effects it had overall on just that season, but also this final one as well. What I will say is that I am over it. Was it the way I imagined things would go once Peter disappeared from existence? No, not even close. But it was the choice that the creators of the show chose to make and it may be a choice that pays off in the show's final two episodes. For me having original recipe Walter back was great and I was happy to finally have the character I knew and quite frankly loved back, even if it is going to be for a short period of time.
So that relationship is fully repaired. Walter is at peace and Peter has finally come to love him as he should. Both men healed by time and shared experiences. That brings me to the next large theme of the show, which is the idea of the power memories and experiences have on us as people. More directly the power they have to shape us into the people we become. Olivia in the original universe was shaped by the Cortexaphan trials that Walter and Bell conducted on her. Those trials produced profound changes to her as a person, the way she views the world, and the way in which she builds relationships with others. For example, the reboot universe Olivia is a very different person due to the fact that she never was a part of those same trials. Add to this Faulivia who was another version of Olivia who did not undergo the trials and you begin to see the theme the show is exploring.
The same could be said for the differences between Walternate, Original recipe Walter, and Reboot Walter. All three men are similar in many ways, but also drastically different in others due to the different experiences they have each had. Is one better than the other? Well it could be argued the show is making a case for that. Once Olivia gained her memories from the original universe, she was able to more fully be with Peter and was a better person for it. The same can be said for Walter, who finds serenity and a sense of hope when he gains the memories from his original universe self. The show is clearly saying here that there is a best possible version of ourselves out there, one shaped by a set of very unique events. It kind of feels like the Best Possible Worlds theory, in which it is believed that the world we live in now is the best world of many. That God or a supreme being created this world by combining the best aspects of many other ones. It is a strong theory and one that lends itself well to a show like this and more directly this idea of the best version of ourselves.
One of the other themes the show seems to be putting out there is that of Love having the power to overcome anything. And yes I did write love with a capital L, as that is the power the show wants this idea and human emotion to have. Now this may seem kind of overly sentimental or sappy, but if you look at the show you can see this is a theme they touch on and embrace often. To start one need only look at the return of Peter in season 4. The man was erased from existence by the actions of the Observers and yet he returns out of literally thin air. Why? Well some, myself included, believe that the universe itself interceded and brought Peter back. Why you say? Well here we go into sappy territory....I believe Peter was brought back because in all possible timelines he is meant to be with Olivia. Cue groans. But yes this is the reason I feel he was brought back and why I think he and Olivia will remain together no matter what happens in the show's finale.
One could also look to the love shared between September/Donald and his son, Michael. To protect his son from certain death, September steals him and hides him away in another place and time. This choice by September is very similar to the one Walter makes with Peter. Due to his feelings for his son, feelings September did not understand at the time, he makes a dangerous choice in order to save Michael. And it worked. The love September had for Michael overcame nearly all obstacles. They were reunited in this last episode and it was clear that Donald was so overjoyed to see his son again. Again we are looking at the bond between parent and child, between father and son. You really have all of the themes I have mentioned playing out here. There is the aforementioned parent-child bond, the idea of the best versions of ourselves, and also the idea that love overcomes obstacles. Donald is a better man due to having Michael in his life. He is a better man due to a certain set of events that happened to him.
Now I want to take a moment to dig alittle deeper in regards to September/Donald and his son. September can be looked at, in his advanced form, as being very God-like. He operates on a level of intelligence and awareness far higher than our own. He has the ability to move through time and space at will and read people's thoughts with relative ease. He observes human history, not interfering much, and is relatively cold and impartial. That last part is very much in line with the Old Testament God. So we can say that September was very much like God. Of course he is still a man and being such is very much mortal. But for my purposes here it is clear one could view him as God-like.
For helping humanity, September is punished by losing his God-like powers and being reduced to being a simple man, plagued by emotions and human insecurities. No longer cold, no longer objective. This act reminds me of the story of Prometheus. Prometheus was a Greek god who gave fire to mankind. He was punished for his transgressions by Zeus himself and was chained to a mountainside with a hawk eating a little of his liver each day. Now of course September is not having his liver eaten or anything, but he still was punished for helping humanity, specifically Walter Bishop.
Michael is quite plainly the savior, the Christ figure, the chosen one or any other designation of similar meaning and emotional weight. Michael is born to a god-like being, September, but due to a glitch (read: divine action) he was different than others, he was special. Michael was a hybrid, possessing both his father's god-like abilities and also emotions and the other so called weaknesses of mankind from the past. Christ possessed both divine power and human frailty and emotions. He too enlightened people as to their role in the universe and provided them with a sense of peace, much like Michael did to both Walter and Nina. As everyone knows, Christ went on and sacrificed himself to show humanity that there was another way, much like Michael might do when he travels to 2169.
Add to all this the use of the song "What child is this" during this last episode and it is easy to see that Michael is meant to stand as a representation of Christ or a Christ figure. Now is this necessarily a bad thing here? No, not at all. The idea of a chosen one is a very old one, as is the idea of a human being that possess both the DNA of the gods and of the mortals. Hercules was born of Zeus and a human mother. Christ was born to Mary, due to the actions of God. Both were children of two worlds, much like Michael. We all want to believe we can possess some of the divine within us, to be better than our base selves. Michael, much like Christ, represents a figure who is perhaps the best possible version of humanity. He is what we all might aspire to, he is our perfected selves.
Which brings me to one of the final themes of this season and the show as a whole. Fringe has always wrestled with the idea of how technology both enriches our lives, but also how it can take away some of our humanity. That latter point is the more important one. This show really sets out to explore how far we can embrace technology before it robs us of what makes us uniquely human. This season there are many things that can be pointed to that support this view. The Observers themselves are an obvious one and I suspect this show will use their lack of emotions as a key reason for their ultimate defeat at the hands of Team Bishop. But also there was Peter.
Peter traveled a very dark path for a good portion of this season. It started with the unexpected and tragic death of his daughter Henrietta at the hands of Captain Windmark. Peter decided to project an image of stability in the wake of that event. But soon he became detached from Olivia and then that changed into a single minded obsession with revenge against the Observers. Peter then made a crucial and life changing decision. He was presented with the opportunity to steal the technology that makes the Observers what they are, the device at the base of their brain stem. Peter took it and chose to allow it into his body. With that action he chose to allow technology to become a part of him, to become one with the biological material that makes him who he is.
This choice started out as a brilliant one as Peter was able to anticipate events and manipulate the Observers into situation in which he could kill them. But the gaining of these superpowers came with a price as Peter began to slowly lose his emotions and ability to feel anything. Once that began to occur Peter lost the things that made him unique and who he was as a person. He crossed the line and began to lose his humanity as a result. Then friends the power of Love overcame...yet again.
Olivia pleaded with Peter and told him that killing Windmark would not bring back Etta. In fact if Peter kept going he would lose the feelings he had for Etta and in turn the memories of the times spent together. By appealing to his love for Etta, Olivia was able to bring Peter back. Peter rejected technology and decided to chose his humanity, no matter the emotional pain he may feel over the loss of Etta as a result of it. He decided his frailties as a human were more important than technology and the other advantages it gave him over the Observers. It seemed clear that for the first time the show was finally setting the line as far as what is too far when it comes to technology and mankind. That line was the Observers themselves and their technology. They represent the point where mankind went too far and allowed technology to become too integrated with the biological. The Observers represent the worst version of humanity, not the best.
Which brings me finally to what my theory is going to be for the ending of the show. Many have speculated that Michael will travel to the future, stop the Observers from being created, save humanity, and we will have yet another reboot of the timeline. I do not agree. I do not think a trip to Norway is in anyone's future. I think Michael may play his part, but it will be Walter who takes the action to restore the Observers to their human form.
It is far too easy to just travel to the future and fix things. No, this show is about consequences and more importantly about facing them. They won't simply have a magic wand, or magic Michael in this case, be waved and all would be repaired. No, there are no easy fixes in the world of Fringe. Instead, Walter will take an action that will fix the Observers and not erase them from history. He will find a way to undo their upgrades and make them human beings again. But this action will come with a price, Walter's very life.
In many ways, Walter Bishop could be looked at as a father figure to the Observers. True he is not the scientist in Norway who created the technology that led to the Observers. But it was Walter's and William Bell's actions that eventually led to the those Norway scientists. Walter may not have created the Observer tech, but he may have paved the way. This leads to the idea that Walter, being the father, sacrifices himself to redeem and restore his children. He will bring them back to the best versions of themselves.
Now it could be argued which version of themselves is best? Is it the completed human one like September/Donald? Or the one represented with Michael? I honestly don't know. But what I will say is that I feel the flawed version is the best, which would be the completely human one. So that is the version I am going to say that Walter restores them to. Walter spent his entire life advancing technology, pushing its limits, and striving to make humanity better through technology. What better way to show how he has grown than by having his final act be that of removing technology in order to restore humanity. It would bring him full circle as he realizes that it is not technology that makes us better, but rather our emotions, feelings of empathy, compassion, love, and all of the rest that make us better human beings. Walter will finally choose to reject technology, to reject his aspiration to be God, and will instead embrace his own humanity and all that entails.
I truly do wish I could tell you how Walter will do this, but I do not know. All I will say is that the Observers will be restored and not erased as the plan from last week's episode seems to suggest.
What do we make of Walter's original sin with Peter? Will he make that one right as well? Yes, I do believe he will. Somehow Walter will find a way to change what happened when he stole Peter. He will restore that aspect to where it originally should have been. There will be two Peters again and Walter will be more complete for it. Again the how eludes me. But the act of Walter stealing Peter needs to be made right. The most perfect version of Walter has him never losing his son in the first place. I believe this is something the series will strive to realize with these final two episodes.
As far as the other characters, well I think Peter and Olivia end up together no matter the outcome. However, I am not so sure Etta ever makes it back. I think that the act of Walter making his theft of Peter right will reset things to a point where Etta never comes to be. Or perhaps Henry becomes a reality again, I don't know. But those afraid of Peter and Olivia not being together need not fear.
The real question becomes how Walter will restore the Observers and fix his one true mistake. Perhaps by never losing Peter, Walter never becomes the man he is in all three universes: Original, Alternative, and Reboot. A man who is driven to crave power and the ability to control everything due to the failure to have enough power and control to stop the death of his son. If he never becomes this man, he never seeks to create dangerous technology. If he never does this, well perhaps those Norway scientists never contemplate upgrading humanity. It is a domino effect with the death of Peter being the inciting incident.
In addition, Walter never does the cortexaphan trials and Olivia therefore becomes a different person, perhaps a better person as a result. The Fringe events never occur and the lives either changed or lost as a result never are. Charlie perhaps never dies, John never dies, and everything else that has occurred does not happen. The universe is restored to the most perfect version of itself and the people in it are the most perfect version of themselves as well.
Love overcomes all. People become the best version of themselves. The bond between father and son is restored. And the path to the ruin of man through technology is never walked. It is a good ending to the show. One that embraces all of the show's themes to this point. One that allows Walter to be able to correct the one great mistake he made in his life and in turn avoid all the pain and suffering that transpired as a result of it.
It brings the series full circle and allows us to say goodbye to the characters we knew and loved from the timeline we knew and loved. While it also allows us to see the characters in perhaps a better world than the one we knew. The world that always should have been. True it is a reboot. So I may have been wrong earlier when I said no reboot. But it may also be viewed as a restoration. The Walter we knew sacrificing himself for the chance at a more perfect world and future. That sounds like a fine ending to me.
As of tomorrow night we will know. And then we will all mourn the end of one of television's truly innovative and creatively interesting shows.
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