226 replies to this topic

[AimingforYoko]

After recent emotional events and shocking revelations, Peter considers his options; a killer targets love.

Aw, September's just a big romantic sap, isn't he?
Yeah, Michael Massee isn't scary enough, so let's make him look like he's been dipped in acid.
Essential Walter Quote: "Of course, beaver hunting meant something different then."

[MissPutter]

I hate the idea of having to get used to the new timeline. :(

I guess it could be interesting, though...

[prodigalchicken]

As always, I am a complete emotional wreck. So, a lot of us were correct in that the reason Peter is back is because he loved them and they loved him too much to let him go.

Can we leave the amber credits behind. I vote for a nice green next week.

Edited by prodigalchicken, Mar 23, 2012 @ 9:07 PM.

[Nightmare Logic]

Ok initial first thoughts

Poor Nina. That was a heartbreaking scene between Nina and Olivia. They both hit their multiple scenes together out of the park.

Peter/olivia shippers screamed with Joy.

I actually felt a little sorry for Lincoln Lee during that last scene where the wife was telling her story.

I loved the scene between Walter and Peter.

The Bad Guy of the week was ok but people came to see Peter and Olivia kiss......And yes I guess that Peter was already in his own universe. It was the only scenerio that made sense....plus Yay,,,,Peter and Olivia.

[cycat]

Kudos to everyone who called it! God, I love this show.

Lincoln Lee is going to break my heart.

Is September back in Observer rotation, now?

[djns]

I knew it!!

I always, always believed that this Olivia was blue!Olivia without the Peter! Gah, I am such a shipper. I loved how he was just standing there waiting for her. But what I really loved was that Olivia knew without words exactly what that meant.

My shippy heart is full.

[calguy2009]

The same music theme used for Olivia's funeral was used during the final Nina/Olivia talk. Perhaps this the death of one Olivia and the birth of another one?

[prodigalchicken]

Now. .. fanfic writers, take your positions!! We gotta see what happened after that kiss. I am going to be rewatching those last five minutes for a few days. I love September!! No wonder September cares so much for Peter. He saved him from that weirdly penis-like prison.


ETA: Peter's face when September said, "She is your Olivia." Josh Jackson does not have to say a word, but he makes me feel Peter's desperate joy.

Edited by prodigalchicken, Mar 23, 2012 @ 9:17 PM.

[AimingforYoko]

Is September back in Observer rotation, now?

No, now he's rogue Observer.

Edited by AimingforYoko, Mar 23, 2012 @ 9:16 PM.

[Oldgeek]

Didn't Michael Massey look like the Phantom of the Opera?

[cycat]

No, now he's rogue Observer.

Even better!

[lizw65]

Oh, man, I just realized something!
In Season One, in the blue timeline, Nina was always pushing to have a relationship with Olivia, trying to get her to work for Massive Dynamic, and even comparing herself to Olivia's mother at one point. I was mulling over this episode and it suddenly hit me: Nina remembered the amber timeline. That is so freaking brilliant it just leaves me...speechless.

[Oldgeek]

Setember is playing Juan Peron in Evita on Broadway next month so who knows what that means if by some miracle we get another season

[Money Magnet]

It was a pretty good episode, but not a great one. (I'd have to watch it again to be sure) I still don't understand why or how Peter got erased, just why he got brought back. Since there are still eight episodes to round out the season's story, I hope we'll find out more.

I was most impressed by the scene with Olivia and Nina at the end, where Olivia made her promise to build a relationship with her even if Olivia forgot all their time together. Flash back to the early season episode about the Alzheimer's wife and her husband; in a way, Olivia was going into a sort of Alzheimer's journey into a different reality - of course, usually it's the older character that happens to, not the younger. Of course, the Stephen Root character did it all the wrong way - trying to force a scientific solution. The proper response to shifting realities is to try and maintain relationships, to keep "the bridge" open that way.

As for the question "What happens now" with the blue and yellow realities - which is which, and which takes precedence over the other - I think the watchword is continued bridge-building. After all, in this world, the red and blue worlds have built a bridge and are working in alliance. Peter and Olivia's love is the bridge between the yellow and blueverses. Walter has not "blue-ified" yet... will he ever? I really hope so.

Loved September's line, "I have a theory..."

I get the sense some viewers won't like the answer to the question "Why did Peter not get erased" because really it is very lovey-dovey (as opposed to timey-wimey). However, the Olivia-Nina exchange did a lot to get me on board with the idea that even the yellow and blue realities could coexist, as the red and blue worlds do.

I thought some of the lines for Olivia elsewhere in the episode were weak. I only tolerated the furtive glances between her and Lincoln because this episode, after all, was "A Short Story About Love." Okay. And it would seem that

Spoiler

Lincoln goes on the rebound after his rejection and heads Over There to throw himself into his work

so I'm looking forward to the reaction to that action.

Still don't know WHY Peter was erased, though, and that bugs me a little because we're still waiting for the narrative to become clear. But this is the third act of the season we're heading into, so...

[prodigalchicken]

Quantum emotional entanglement. Hell yeah!

[LonePirate]

While the Peter and Olivia reunion at the end was magical, I was moved more by the Olivia and Nina scene. It is heartbreaking that Nina finally achieves some happiness this season due to her history with Olivia and now Nina will be losing Olivia slowly due to a Fringe version of memory loss. This show makes it impossible for everyone to be happy I suppose.

I wonder the other characters will regain\replace their memories or if Olivia will be the only one.

[Money Magnet]

Oh, forgot to add, that scene where Lovelorn Baddie bakes the poor guy in the dehydrator was horrific! I don't know HOW horrific because I literally had my hands over my eyes the whole time. Which I put over my eyes the moment I realized what was coming ("Oh God... Oh God...") Again, between that and "The Hand" from 409, I do have to say that Fringe has a couple times this season, delivered some indelible images of horror.

I'm embarrassed to say I don't really know who Michael Massee is but he was quite good.

[TheSeasAsleep]

So, that horrible man basically dry-roasted those men alive?! This show is so nasty. I love it. But for real, I was tearing my hair out as the minutes ticked down the hour and there was no Peter and Olivia reunion. The conversation between Olivia and Nina in her apartment was gut-wrenching. I almost didn't know how to take it, like I wanted to feel bad for amber!Olivia's moment of low self-esteem ("she's a better version of me.") but I was hard-pressed to disagree with her. The closer this Olivia got to blue!Olivia, the more I loved her. Unfortunately, my shipper-based dislike of amber!Lincoln hasn't diminished. I did like the parallels drawn between Olivia and Lincoln. In the first few episodes it was Olivia who was awkwardly searching for an emotional connection with an oblivious Lincoln. Now, it is Lincoln hoping for more from an otherwise engaged Olivia. I want to feel bad for him but I really didn't like even the appearance of an interloper on my POlivia ship. When did I love this couple so much? When did this happen? I wish the show had lingered a bit more on the final minutes when Peter and Olivia threw themselves into each others' loving arms.

[Money Magnet]

It is heartbreaking that Nina finally achieves some happiness this season

Nina never struck me as unhappy in the blueverse, though. She ran Massive Dynamic very well, and didn't seem to have any major hangups. Blair Brown has been quoted as saying that the difference between Nina and "Meana" is that Nina, a brilliant woman, had access to avenues of achievement (through her association with William Bell). Meana, having come from Over There where there was no William Bell (he died), apparently grew up a brilliant and thwarted mind. I really hope this actually comes up in the future episodes because this show is about science, and girls/women in science is a serious topic worth touching on just a bit.

Basically this season the Nina we were seeing was really Meana, and we're only just spending time with the real Nina, who seems pretty okay.

[GreenPhoenix]

I can't believe I was actually right about September being removed from the lab by another observer. I wasn't expecting that. It's nice to see him alive and healthy once again.

The villain's motives really rubbed me the wrong way. He wasn't as bad as Owen Harper in Torchwood's series premiere, but bad enough to remind me of him.

[shapeshifter]

Irony or You-know-you've-been-watching-too-much-Fringe-when: During the scenes with Walter working on Peter's eye my contact lens wearing daughter was tweeting about her nervousness in a new optometrist's office.

...And at the end I had something in my eye...that ran down my face.
No bad robot in that final scene.

Poor Lincoln Lee.

No wonder September cares so much for Peter. He saved him from that weirdly penis-like prison.

My memory isn't very good, but didn't David Robert Jones use those things as weapons in an earlier season?

I still don't understand why or how Peter got erased

I thought it was so a) the universes wouldn't disintegrate and b) so Olivia wouldn't die.

At the beginning of the episode my thoughts were: What? Do they create X-Files make-up and then write a story to go with it?
But. No. Fringe is way better than that. Total story.

[Money Magnet]

OK, so, Peter erased himself to save the world (and Olivia) and their love brought him back? OK, I think I got it.

So what we have now is still a transitionary period. The only thing that's been "resolved" is that Olivia has decided to regain her blue self and that Peter has been reassured that he IS in the right place with the right woman.

We have another third of the season still to unspool, so I guess I'm cool with some unanswered questions. But the issue of Walter still seems unresolved. Shouldn't he be making an inner reality switch as well?

Oh, and as for September - HAS he now become the Rogue Observer? Is he still at odds with his people? Walter said that the others didn't see him place the disk in Peter's eye. I need to watch that scene with him again (some doof who was watching it with me wouldn't stop talking).

[Sandman]

Anybody else notice the single white tulip on the table in the restaurant when Olivia was telling Nina about her feelings for Peter?

Quantum emotional entanglement. Hell yeah!

Ha! Excellent.

Also, I think the poster who commented on the last episode to say that Henry may in some sense still exist because of Peter's knowledge of him might have hit on something brilliant, given September's theory about how the people Peter cares about held on to him.

Edited by Sandman, Mar 23, 2012 @ 10:01 PM.

[prodigalchicken]

I think the whole love bringing Peter back goes back to what Walter said in The Day We Died, that Olivia would be their failsafe. So, maybe it was Olivia more than Walter that protected Peter from permanent erasure, and maybe that's why he hasn't recalled any part of the former timeline yet, though he is reverting back to that blue personality, I think.

[URFloorMatt]

John Noble's delivery of that line about beavers --to say nothing of the look on his face when he did it--was one of the funniest things you'll ever see coming a mile away.

[oconnellaboo]

Josh Jackson does not have to say a word, but he makes me feel Peter's desperate joy.

I am unashamedly - but with TOTAL proper credit - re-tweeting that to Josh on Twitter, prodigalchicken. Well said. Couldn't agree more!!!

[AngelKitty]

Well, I guess since the observer said it's so, Peter and I can believe this is Our Olivia.

[brisbydog]

My DVR cut off the last two minutes of the show...unreal! Thank God I live in Canada and there was a broadcast right away at ten.

[Money Magnet]

I think the whole love bringing Peter back goes back to what Walter said in The Day We Died, that Olivia would be their failsafe.

Good point.

I still think that scene with Olivia and Nina was fucking boss. And very much needed, because in order for there to be a CHOICE - to have Olivia and Peter's embrace mean something - something we care about needed to be lost in the exchange. Even though we never really saw Nina and Olivia together as mother-daughter, it felt right (even when we didn't know it was Meana impersonating Nina) and of course Nina and Olivia have a long history in the blueverse, just in their dealings re Massive Dynamic.

[prodigalchicken]

Oconnellaboo, let me know if he responds :) It's the truth. His expressions say so much more than words could sometimes, right?