Fringe is going into another extended hiatus….and mirroring the events of said hiatus the final episode is an other-world filled letdown. The series really needs to decide on the route it wants to take because these unnecessary filler episodes and then otherworldly finales are just all over the board. In the end the episode opens a lot of doors but those doors will probably take a scattered route before they’re opened.
Olivia (Anna Torv) and the others investigate a series of earthquakes that are set to decimate a building in New York. With time running short the group discovers the earthquakes are a sign that the alternate and current universes are attempting to occupy the same space, the stronger trying to destroy the weaker. To figure out what building is next Olivia must confront the experiments performed on her as a child by Walter (John Noble) and try to confront her fear.
The strongest aspects of this episode continue to be the past experiments performed on Olivia as a child. It opens up so much potential and watching Olivia confront Walter about what he did was an interesting character dynamic. Olivia had to come to terms with her fear and anger, and Walter was forced to see the effects the experiments had on his patients. The episode also attempted to put the wheels in motion on the Olivia/Peter romance fans have been clamoring for. It wasn’t the best start, with the two meeting for a drink at the end, but it could offer some romance considering the two have very crazy backgrounds. As the show came to a close it had a fantastic cliffhanger, one of the few high points in this finale, with Olivia seeing Peter in the shimmery way as the buildings of the other universe and Walter quietly saying, “Don’t tell him.” Peter has the most mysterious past of all the group, and by far the most fascinating, and by the looks of things Peter might finally learn about his past.
Much like the last finale episode this installment was all about the alternate universe. The big issue continues to be that this storyline is so scattered that it becomes downright boring. After weeks of individual mysteries, it puts the main storyline in stark contrast. There seemed to be a lot of technical jargon and it just seemed like the group needed to find a building and that was all. There doesn’t seem to be a way the writers can effectively juggle both these stories, ironically enough, but the fans are seeming to find the alternate universe not nearly as fun as the individual stories. With a return date of April 1st, the second season of Fringe is just limping to the finish line. There have been at least three hiatuses this season and considering we’ve only gotten about five episodes in between breaks it makes it frustrating to follow the storylines.
Fringe is over until April and hopefully that will give the show time to settle into a groove. The first episode seems to be setting up the origins of how everything started and what happened to Peter. Thankfully that sounds fantastic and will hopefully reinstate the faith audiences are losing with the series.
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