The Official FRINGE (tv show) thread!

[sylvan]

I saw some Fringe discussion out there in the tv thread, but I wanted to get a direct discussion going.

Season 5, the final season, starts soon.  Meanwhile, I'm catching up on the previous seasons to try and pick up on the little things that make this show so awesome.  Let's dicsuss what's happened and what might happen in the jam packed final season.

[Zantera]

Great show. I finished Season 1 a few weeks ago, been meaning to continue watching but I'm also watching X-Files, so it's been mostly the latter recently. Still, excited about seeing the other seasons of Fringe.

Is there any reason for S5 being the last? I thought the show was doing well, but again.. 5 seasons is probably enough to wrap something up.

[GuineaPig]

Well, it's been somewhat miraculous that the show has lasted this long.  It is not doing well ratings-wise.

[obscure]

Huge fan!

[King Postwhore]

Well, it's been somewhat miraculous that the show has lasted this long.  It is not doing well ratings-wise.

Yeah this.  It's been moved around a ton too.  Fantastic storyline that those who haven't seen all the seasons will be blown away.

[sylvan]

Frankly, it's just time to get to the ending already.  I personally like Fringe more than Lost, both being JJ Abrams, and I find Fringe more understandable.  I watched all of Lost and I'm still not positive what exactly happened.  And I think that everyone that watched Lost eventually just wanted their quesions answered without having to endure several more season of setup.  Now is the perfect time for Fringe to wrap up. 

And the final season is going to be non stop awesomeness, no doubt.  I beleive it's only 13 episodes, so they wont waste anytime on irrelevent material.  Not to spoil anything for those that haven't seen it yet (although this is a Fringe discussion, so you have to expect that certain storylines will be discussed at some point, hopefully ), but seeing what they did over the last ~5 episodes of season 4, they're already giving you a lot of information about what has been going on.

[krands85]

Great show, been watching it from the beginning. Seems to have been the response from it's great fans that have helped it last this long, with all the talk about the number of viewers it gets.

John Noble is incredible as Walter (and Walternate). Brilliant, underrated actor.

New season starts around the same time as the new season of Dexter too, lots to watch over the next few months!

[lordxizor]

I like the show quite a bit, but I think it would have been better if they had just planned the whole show from start to finish to complete is three seasons or something. I feel like there were too many filler episodes and too many resets of the universes. One intentional cohesive story from the beginning would have been better. It's tough though when you don't know how long the show is going to last.

[jingle.boy]

Fan reporting.  I dropped out partway thru Season 1, and didn't pick back until the end of Season 2.  Love it though.  Gotta go back and get Season 1 and 2 at some point.

[sylvan]

I love season 2, and followed up by the multiverse season 3 which is awesome!  You have to go back and finish season 1.  In fact, everyone that watches this show would benefit from rewatching from the beginning. 

I live in Jacksonville and really want to order this shirt.
https://www.cafepress.com/mf/52150844/cortexiphan-trials_tshirt

[hefdaddy42]

Love it.  One of my favorite shows of the past decade.  It's a shame that Fox hasn't known what to do with it.

[Nekov]

Huge fan!

This. It's my favorite show right now on TV.

[sylvan]

So... The fifth and final season premiered last night.  I am so far beyong excited to see how this plays out.  I watched the two-part season 4 finale yesterday to "catch up" one more time.  I won't have an opportunity to watch the new episode until Monday, but for those of you that have seen it, please begin the speculation. 
 
Season 4 ended with September telling Walter that "They are coming."  I can only assume that "they" are the Observers, and this begins the actions that lead to what has happened by the year 2036.

Olivia is pregnant.  But, what about the Peter/Olivia offspring from the blue-verse?  What about the blue-verse in general?

The future that we see in 2036, is this the blue-verse or the red-verse, or some combination of the two?

[obscure]

I was a lil lagged behind... good motivation to go and catch up....

[Nekov]

I just watched the latest episode. Oh boy, I had forgotten how things had ended last season. I hope they can carry it out as well as they have been doing it so far

[ResultsMayVary]

Loved the season premiere that aired on Friday. Can't wait for next week's episode and where that will be taking them. There are so many questions about this Observer-controlled 2036 that they definitely gave us a tease of in the premiere.

[sylvan]

Great episode!  The entire feel of the show has changed, and so have a lot of the questions.

-What happened in the ~3 years between the end of season 4 when September tells Walter, "They are coming.", and The Purge in 2015?

-What is the plan that September and Walter came up with to defeat the Observers, and what is the device from the blueprints?

-Why did the Observers take Henrietta from Peter and Olivia when she was a child, and why are the Observers seemingly unaware of her connection to the original Fringe team?

-Are Walter's memories gone forever, or will the music be the catalyst for his brain to heal itself?

[Nekov]

The latest episode was so sad  Anyone else saw it yet? Wanna get together and cry?

[jingle.boy]

Yeah, Mrs. Jingle and I were pretty shocked.  But we have a theory as to how it's all going to end.

How many more episodes are left?  This is only a 13 show season... so what, 8 left?

[Nekov]

Yep, only 8 to go. Which also makes me sad.

[sylvan]

I loved the moment when Broyles got out of the car.  They all shared to same look of seeing a loved when that you thought was gone.  Broyles had the look of hope, like the last 21 years of being a bitch to the Observers was not for nothing. 

Captain Windmark had the exact opposite look when he realized that others can hide their thoughts.

And finally, at the end when the team watched the anti-matter bomb detonate, Peter looked sad, but he knew what Etta gave her life for, and he knew that Etta knew what she was doing.  Olivia, who appeared to share similar emotion, turns her head and walks.  But, the immediate feeling I got was that Olivia will kill Windmark.

[Nekov]

Anyone's seen the ending yet?

[jingle.boy]

Yeah ... Just posted this in the TV thread.

Spoilers if you haven't seen it yet.


Holy did it feel like they had to rush to just get to the ending. Two major parts of "the plan" go wrong (the reactor decaying, and Michael getting caught), yet they solve those two problems lickity split. And both had no point. The reactor problem, as far as I could tell, was only needed to give December a cameo, create the shootout, and a reason to use that biohazard shit (a little graphic and gruesome too). They never did explain why Michael gave himself up, but again, the only reason I can see is so they could give a cameo to the characters from the other side. Oh, and they know Michael is in big trouble, but they have time for Olivia to take a nap after the cortexiphan injections, and a sappy moment between Peter and Walter?!?!
Did Windmark die?  I wasn't clear on that.  It looked like he tried to phase out of the way of the SUV, but then I thought I saw blood splatter?
The final gun fight was weak.  Donald gets shot, but then Micheal has time to pull out that musical box and spin a few notes?  Walter and Peter can safely have another sappy moment?  And then, boom!  Series over. I understand that time resets, and nobody knows anything, but something a little more than a minute of that park scene (with a happy ending), and the tulip in the mail - which logically makes no sense how/why Walter in 2015 (before the invasion) would've sent that.

For what was a great series, and a very good season with complex twists and turns, and a long buildup, this finale let me down.

[jingle.boy]

I think the reasoning is that it's hard to complete that arc in only 13 episopes so it feels rushed because they were rushed.  They should have allowed 24 episodes to finish it.

But the previous 12 episodes didn't feel rushed at all.  It was very calculated.  In fact, too calculated at times.  Seriously, how are their faces not known to every Observer and Loyalist?  Too many times they should've been caught, but weren't. And how could the Observers not thought to look in the lab, right under their own noses?

Otherwise, excellent (1/2) season.

[King Postwhore]

I think they had it all mapped out for 24 episodes and hat to condense.  I still loved this season.  The human emotion between all the main character felt so real. it was the true humanity that in the end would triumph but I still felt that some of the episode felt rushed this year because of the 13 episodes.

[ReaperKK]

I just skipped to the bottom of this thread because I stopped watching around season 2 and I want to catch up and I don't want any spoilers.

It's a fantastic show tho.

[gmillerdrake]

They never did explain why Michael gave himself up

My theory on that is this: he knew 'how' they would have to save him...that Olivia would have to use cortexaphan and jump timelines. I think the scene where Windmark died (there was blood splatter) that was Olivia demonstrating that she still had 'powers' from residual cortexaphan. My theory is that when time reset, you can see in the scene from the park that Olivia still has that injury on her lip that she got when punched by an Observer in the alternate timeline....and, there was (IMO) great attention and detail paid to her expressions as Etta ran towards Peter....and then made it to him to hug him. I think Olivia was given a 'gift' by Michael by allowing her to remember everything...due to having re-introduced cortexaphan in to her system.

I was a bit confused on the whole white tulip thing as well. I guess maybe since Walter didn't reset with them that his 'original' actions from 2015 and the 'future' weren't affected? I don't know....that was  bit odd.

I thought there were a few good shows this season but all in all that they were just trying to get to the end and get it over with. I would have loved to see more of the Observers 'future' home also. It looked interesting to say the least.

I too was a bit upset with the 'ok here's the timeline reset and then BANG....series over'. Two friggin minutes of the reset timeline...the resolution of the whole season and series and it's done in two minutes?

Anyway, I liked the show a lot, i'd watch it all over again but it just seems that apparently it's difficult to end a series these days with any type of clarity.

[Snow_Dog]

Overall I liked the show, not as much as Lost, but it was good to see it get an actual finale. Even if a lot of it felt rushed, they had half a season to work with to finish everything up, when it could have just been cancelled.


That being said - SPOILERS AHEAD -

Those final scenes felt extremely forced to me, especially when Michael played the music box after September got shot, and the rose at the end with Peter looking up, just felt like they were thrown in for the sake of it.

All throughout this season I thought the Observers looked like bumbling fools more than anything. Can't find Peter / Walter, but know exactly where they were a few minutes ago? Go back in time to that moment and get them. Michael gets rescued? Go back and move him somewhere else, or better yet take him to the Observer Land in the future to study him. Major attack on an Observer building? Go back and stop it, etc. With the powers these guys had, they probably should have been unbeatable, but they just seemed to warp around the area a lot.

Maybe it has something to do with the leader Observer telling Windmark it's basically not important to go back and stop the rebels, but with as much hatred as he felt for them you'd think he'd do a little more to try and stop them. September did the same to help save them when he realised how much he respected them.

[Dimitrius]

The season finale could've been better, but my only true gripe is how September died. To me, he had become over the course of the show too important a character for such a nonchalant way to go!

[gmillerdrake]

All throughout this season I thought the Observers looked like bumbling fools more than anything.

What I didn't understand was that Windmore's boss in the future said they chose that era because there was a 99.999% chance of success. Really? That era? How about the stone age or shoot even the 1400 or 1500's. 2015 is when they thought mankind was at it's weakest? Maybe they needed man to be at a certain level of technology or something to assure they could assimilate them but it seemed weird to me.

And I agree with your sentiment...for as 'all powerful' and smart the Observers were...they sure seemed pretty inept and lost at times.

[Nekov]

For what was a great series, and a very good season with complex twists and turns, and a long buildup, this finale let me down.

I completely agree. The show overall has been excellent throughout the years and it deserved a better finale than this.

[sylvan]

I watched the penultimate episode yesterday and hope to get to the finale today.  Luckily I was able to click on reply without reading any spoilers.  I am super looking forward to discussing what happened, so I'll be back when I take it all in.

[lordxizor]

I'm going to dig up this thread because I finally got around to finishing the final season. I kind of grew lukewarm about Fringe over the last couple of seasons. I think it was the constant changing of timelines that did me in. I thought it would have been better if they just stuck to one throughout the series. The last season seemed like it was nearly completely unrelated to the rest of the series and I felt it left a lot of things unanswered.

I was fairly disappointed with the last episode. It wasn't bad, but I thought it was too much of a storybook ending. Here's what I would have done. Walter goes through the wormhole thingy with the boy. Then, rather than jumping back to Peter and Olivia, we follow Walter through. Walter arrives in whatever year it was that he was supposed to be going to and finds the scientists he's supposed to find. When he walks into the lab with the boy he hears a familiar voice... "Walter... I've been expecting you" and around turns William Bell. The end. Ending with a level of uncertainty (we never really knew if Walter was good or bad in the end) would have served the series better in my mind.

[jsem]

So, just finished this series. Been watching in chunks, finished the last 20 episodes or so in the last week or two. Kind of a disappointing ending. All the timeline shifts didn't do the series justice to be honest. Plus, some things still remain unanswered and inconsistent, inconsistent in an annoying way. Feels good to have completed the series though.

[gmillerdrake]

Yeah, the time line shifts and time travel threw off the flow of the series IMO. I still think overall it was a cool series that had a lot going for it, but they really dropped the ball as far as I'm concerned in wrapping that show up.

I think once 'they' knew that they had the bonus 13 episodes to get them to the magic syndication number....they just kind of threw 13 episodes together. The final season and a half didn't appear to have been too well thought out.