Broadcasting Station: Fox
Status: Ended
Creators: J. J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci
Official Site
Official Synopsis: The year is 2036. The Observers have become overlords on Earth. An underground resistance fights the opressors from the future, alongside the previously ambered Fringe Team. A series of Walter's videotapes guides Olivia, Peter, and their long-lost daughter Henrietta, towards an ultimate plan of defeating the invaders.
STEPH SAID
Rating:
Review:
A joke of a season, a complete waste of time and money, and a colossal, avoidable paradox. This sentence perfectly summarizes my feelings towards the last season of Fringe.
This season is set in a future where the Observers have invaded Earth and the original Fringe team is part of a resistance group. Walter, with the help of a man named Donald, created a secret plan to get rid of the Observers. But he forgot the plan and Donald was nowhere to be found. Fortunately, Walter recorded the plan in different tapes that where scattered across his lab at Harvard. This was supposed to be a super secret plan, yet the tapes were within anyone's grasp.
The writers of this series apparently didn't have much for this last season and decided to milk every moment they did have. Thus, each episode deals with a part of the plan; one tape per episode. In each episode the characters had to jump trough hoops to follow the clues and instructions and at the end they would have discovered just that one clue. It turn out to be rocks or an impossible equation etc. In other words: they would only find one part of the plan per episode and that was still nothing because they didn't know what to do with it.
Besides this, some unimportant subplots were introduced this season, either to add drama to the series or to be able to fill 13 episodes of approximately 45 minutes each. Peter converting into an Observer was pointless, and the resolution was unbelievable. Walter's double personality was unrealistic and unnecessary. But the one that took the cake was Etta's mini-story. She was only written so the protagonists could have someone trustworthy to show them the ropes in the future. She was mean, cruel, seemingly guilt-less, practically useless and utterly un-relatable. Thus, when she died, after only three episodes, I was completely unmoved. I understand her background and why she is how she is, it's not that. Maybe if she had stayed longer she could have grown on me. Then again, I guess it didn't help that not even her mother was exited to see her. That alone should tell you something.
On top of those things, the season ended with a huge, definitely avoidable paradox and with a bunch of questions left unanswered. To fulfill the plan, someone had to go to the future; Walter decided to do it. He goes to the future, solves the problem and the Observers never invade Earth. This resets the timeline and life continues its course as if the Observers had never invaded - rendering this whole season moot! This is not a paradox in itself; the paradox is that, even though the Observers never invade, Walter "stayed" in the future. Walter went to the future to stop the Observers' invasion, if the Observers never invade, why would Walter go to the future?
The writers' position was, from what I could gather, that Walter needed to stay in the future so the fix in the timeline could work. As if the fix would have been to close a door and Walter needed to make sure the door stayed closed. However, time travel doesn't work like that. When a timeline is reset you are supposed to go back to where you were and continue your life, not having any memory of the timeline that had just been erased.
Among the questions that were left unanswered are: what happened to Astrid in the end?; if Peter stayed "Over Here" it means that someone must have distracted Walternate while he was creating Peter's medicine, who was it?; what happened "Over There" after the Observers crossed? Did everything went back to normal?; what did the apple, the hand and the other symbols mean?; did that scientist from the future created the new type of super-humans? If he did, what are they like? Are there any women?; what happened to the other Observers that were members of the group of 12 scientists?; and, exactly how and why was Peter important in the beginning? Why did September went to see the creation of the medicine? The universes originally were not supposed to collide (September once explained that his meddling was what brought the war between the universes), so, Peter wasn't needed to power the machine because there would be no need for the machine. He wasn't needed to take Walter out of St. Claire's, as was pointed out in the Amber universe when his timeline was erased. It wasn't because of Henrietta either because without her the plan worked out perfectly. So, why was Peter so important?
Besides these questions there is one that troubled me throughout the whole season: how did Peter managed to convince Olivia to give their baby girl such an unusual name? I know Olivia would have asked the reason behind Peter's choosing of that particular name - I don't think she came up with it herself- and she wouldn't be satisfied with a "Just 'cause." Yet, I bet he didn't say "Oh, Bolivia and I had a baby boy in the original timeline, she named him Henry but he no longer exists. So, in his honor I want to name our daughter Henrietta, that way every day that you call her name you can remember that time I cheated on you."
On the good side, I liked that September had a bigger role in this season, even if his last appearance left much to be desired. Also, I liked that we were able to see and understand the Observer kid. Actually, we were able to understand the Observers overall. That was nice. So, the good thing about this season is the "bad guys", how ironic.
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