PopSyndicate.com

Tonight’s Pattern: leaf (bottom right dot); frog (bottom right dot); Leaf (top right dot)

SPELLS GRAVE. Reports from Hulu and Canada confirm that there were more commercials (because of American Idol’s longer than usual airing) that were cut from the actual network airing. Source.

(Spoiler alert) This is the moment where I say, “I told you so.” I called William Bell being in another reality/dimension 2 weeks ago! And here he is in the flesh, in a world with a new White House and the world trade center towers are intact. Then there is the fact that Peter is dead, grave and all. So if Peter is dead, who is “Peter”? I have a theory about that from something Walter said in the episode, but I’m not going to spoil the surprise here. Overall, a great season on Fringe with intrigue and drama, not to mention moving between our world and another. I liked the finale but since I already understood where Bell was, that wasn’t such a huge shock to me. What was a shock was Peter’s grave. I really thought it would be Bell’s! So what did you think of the season finale? Good? Just ok? Discuss.

Most of my reviews are very plot oriented and I draw questions based on what happens and when, but this review will be different. In saying that, this episode was more a set up for next season and what is to come, so I wanted to discuss the episode by theme. Don’t freak out, it will be ok! I just think this episode is very important in shedding light on many of the themes and overarching ideas more than on the plot. So here we go. Everything I talk about is open for discussion, so please leave comments if you agree, disagree or have questions.

    Nina Sharp and William Bell vs. Robert David Jones.

The episode opens on Nina being wielded into the hospital with a gun-shot wound to the chest. So I guess they did really shoot her because I thought it might have been a tranquilizer gun to kidnap her. But, she pulls through surgery only to find her arm is acting weird. Nina confesses that the reason they came after her was for the energy cell implanted in her arm. Bell put it there to hide it. Why would he hide it there? Why is she so special?

Back at FBI, Olivia goes over the surveillance video with the team. It turns out the men were all masked, except one with bandages on his face. The one man with bandages speaks while they are in the elevator, so they enhance his voice and put it through voice-recognition software. Guess who it turns out to be? Robert David Jones! So why would Jones want to hurt Nina and steal an energy cell out of her arm? Does that mean Jones and Bell are not on the same side? Why is he wearing bandages on his face? Is he trying to change his looks?

So, what about this energy cell? Jones and his cohorts park their van on a city street and take out some equipment. They set it up literally in the middle of the street where he turns on the machine and it emits a very strange frequency. The atmosphere where the machine is pointed starts warping and changing before our eyes. A truck is coming through the hole from the other side but something happens to the coordinates of the hole and it shuts with half the truck sticking out of it. The truck careens out of control. So what is Jones trying to do with this machine and the energy cell? Is he trying to make a hole to another reality? And what is with his bandages? He looks like he has puss coming through the open spots. Does he look like a monster under there? Curious.

Olivia comes to the truck crash site to find the truck in half, literally split in two. The eyewitnesses say there was a noise and it was like the atmosphere got “shimmery.” Very puzzled is the team. Plus, the vehicle and the dead driver don’t even exist. How is that possible? That is when Nina tells Olivia about Jones and his connection to Bell. About fifteen years ago, Jones worked for Bell. He was an employee of Massive Dynamic. Jones always felt like he was special, but believed that William didn’t see it. He got laid off at one point and felt spurned by him, so he started his quest to prove he was special. Before the shooting, Jones kept calling Massive Dynamic for a meeting with Bell and it had escalated into threats. Nina said it was impossible to have them meet because Bell wasn’t there. She didn’t know where he was because she had only been talking to him electronically for months. She believes that Jones is going after Bell, to kill him. If Jones gets to Bell first then Olivia can’t get her answers. Nina makes a deal with her: if she stops Jones from getting to Bell, Olivia can meet with Bell himself. But if Jones gets to Bell first, all bets are off. I don’t believe for one minute Nina doesn’t know where Bell is. She definitely knows! Why didn’t she divulge all this information on Jones before so they knew who they were dealing with? He is the bad guy, right?

So after the incident in the street, there is a second one at a soccer field in Rhode Island. Olivia and Charlie get there but it’s is too late.

Jones is gone and so is half the body of poor soccer player. A witness says that he was playing and all of a sudden the air around him got shimmery, but once it was over only half of his friend was left. I mean, at this point, we all knew that Jones was trying to reach another dimension/reality right? Isn’t it apparent? Olivia even tries to explain the déjà vu theory and the fact there are different dimensions/realities. But, why does Jones so desperately need to get to that other dimension? I know why. Bell. That isn’t revealed till later, but I’ve known for weeks that he wasn’t in this dimension/reality. Isn’t it obvious now that we know Jones wants to kill Bell that he is trying to find him? Also, all the attacks that happened create a pattern. Is this pattern, “the pattern” or just a coincidence? Olivia figures out that all of the attacks POINT to a specific place. But what is that place? Reiden Lake. What is its significance? Is that where you can break on through to the other side? (Thanks Jim Morrison for that line) Now to find Jones before it is too late…

So what does this all mean? That Jones is a rogue operative for the ZFT? Is Bell only connected to this manifesto because he wrote it and at some point it changed into something that he was not a part of? Is that why he fled to another dimension/reality? Or did he just go there for something else? So at least we know they aren’t on the same side, which means Walter is innocent as well. I know that Jones wasn’t the boss either, so who is his boss? Will we find out more about this operation next season? Is this the answer to what the pattern or is there something else. I believe this is what these people were working for in their attacks was a way to find a portal, a rip in time to another dimension.  But it could be much deeper than that, so we will have to see. Also, was this a way for Jones to show off and show William Bell that he was special? Why would that be so important to him? If he knows Bell wasn’t “in the country” then why would he do that? Is there a deeper connection between Jones and Bell?

    The Observer and Walter.

Why does the observer come to see Walter? It is still unclear why he had to lead Walter to his old beach house and to a grave site. I guess it is because Walter doesn’t remember much about his past. So, he takes him there and tells him it is time for him (the observer) to go. Now if it is true that the observer appears in times that are important, what does this mean? What does Walter have to do with everything going on? Before he goes the Observer tells Walter there is more than one of everything.  What does that mean? Worlds? Observers? What is his significance? I guess we will have to find out next season!

Back at the lab, Peter and Astrid can’t find Walter anywhere. Olivia believes it is because she upset him at the coffee shop. Peter refers to it as the assault in the pastry shop.  That is when Broyles and Nina show up to talk to Walter about her arm and the whole situation. Peter says they can’t find him and Nina says that she can find him through a grid search. Peter is afraid that Jones had something to do with his disappearance. But they find him in some images that Nina got from Massive Dynamic. Peter knows exactly where he is going to be, the family’s old beach house. He goes after him.

Peter arrives and finds Walter frantically looking for something, although he doesn’t know what it is he is looking for. Peter starts talking to Walter about his childhood, how he would wait for his father to come on the weekends and make pancakes in the morning. That is when Walter remembers what he made was in the shape of waves and he knows exactly where it is.

He goes to a window bench and finds a device (called a Pluck) that looks like it belongs in circa 1950! Walter explains that it is a patch; a patch that can close a portal between two worlds. It was created in case there was a breach or if the portal got into the wrong hands. This is that “emergency” situation he says.

He goes on to tell him there are slightly different worlds out there with slightly different versions of themselves. I don’t think Peter really buys it, so he goes on to explain that children can see these worlds naturally. He and William experimented with Cortexiphan on kids to determine if they could see these alternate universes. Over time, those children would be able to travel between realities. So this must be Olivia’s power, right? She can go between worlds? Then he makes a cryptic comment, saying that at that time he had something lost to him and he used the device to go into another reality and take what was no longer here. Huh? What is he babbling about? Of course, this becomes apparent later, but it just seems like random ramblings. Finally, he says there is a right place to cross over. You just have to find it.

Thus, Peter and Walter take off to find this right place…

    Jones vs. the Portal.

Back at the FBI, they are stumped because there is no relationship or connection between the two events. Olivia starts compiling all locations of attacks, incidences, etc that might be linked to Jones or anything like that. She starts to see a pattern. Nina sees the pattern and says she believes that these events point to soft spots in our reality. She says due to the advancement of science, these spots have become more prevalent. The Bermuda triangle is one of these “soft spots”- how funny! She says that Jones is looking for the right spot (like Peter and Walter now are) to go between the two realities.  Olivia asks where the oldest incident is on their map.

What is odd is that all the attacks and incidences up to that time all POINT to area where the first incident occurred, at Reiden Lake. That is where they must go. And wouldn’t you know it that is when we see Jones again and he looks terrible. His eyes are glossing over and he has pockets of puss or something on his face. Is he dying from the teleportation? Why is it changing him? Why does he look like that? With that he looks at his men and says, “We’re going to the other side.” Bingo. I knew he was going to try to leap between realities and get to Bell!

As you might have guessed, Olivia and the FBI as well as Walter and Peter find each other in the exact same place at the climax of the show. Walter explains to Peter that his friend said there were dire consequences if they were too late. Peter asks who and he says the observer. Peter can’t believe his ears. So at Reiden Lake, they catch Jones trying to connect at the soft spot with another reality. Olivia takes the lead and threatens to shoot him if he goes through, but he taunts her saying that because of the effects of the teleportation that he can’t be hurt. He says that William Bell is going to see just how special he is. As he tries to go through the portal, Peter volunteers to be in the line of fire and zaps the portal with the pluck device. The hole immediately closes with half of Jones’ body inside. Jones is cut in half! Wow! No more Mr. Jones. Winner: The Portal by a landslide.

So now that Jones is gone, will this rash of incidents and attacks subside? Will this squelch the pattern and the ZFT? Was Jones just using his knowledge outside of the ZFT to his own agenda or will we have more insight into that organization? Was Jones really going to try to kill Bell or just show him he was special? I guess we’ll never know. What happened to the people he was working with? Did they all get carted off to FBI? Will they get answers? Who did Jones work for? Was there someone above him? Does that mean the Fringe division is done? What will they investigate?

    The grave.

Before going to the beach house, the observer took Walter to a cemetery. He is visibly upset and distraught. Who’s grave is that? Why is that so important to our story?  Then in the car on the way to Reiden Lake, Walter shows him the coin and says that he used to collect coins when he was a sick, young boy. Peter says he doesn’t remember any of that. So why doesn’t he remember being sick? The coins? This is why…

It is Peter Bishop’s tombstone. Yes, I said Peter Bishop. It says he died in 1985 when he was 7 years old. So that begs the question, if he died a sickly boy, then who is the Peter we know? Is he a clone? Or better yet is he from another reality? Remember when Walter was saying that something he loved dearly was lost to him during the time that he made the pluck device? He said that he could go over to another reality/dimension and take there what was lost here. Is that Peter? What about the other reality, how did that change it? Does it have ramifications here? There? How is this Peter (besides being sick) different here than there? It all just blows my mind. I was so expecting to see William Bell’s name on that grave or maybe Walter’s estranged wife? But not Peter. Never Peter. Right?

So now what? Will we get answers next year that explore Peter’s past and how he came to be a part of this reality? Oh Peter, I thought you were a clone or some creation of Walter, not from another dimension! So cool! Does he play a role in the coming war with these people from another dimension? What is this war and why is it so important?

    Walter has grown up.

We have seen Walter go from a nut case to a gifted scientist to being able to survive in a world that rejected him. Before we end I would like to say that I found the scene where Peter and Astrid find a note from Walter one of the best of the episode. It showed the growth of this character over the season, and illustrates that Walter has finally realized those around him and is now living actively and presently in the real, here world. Before that, he really didn’t have that internal voice that tells you what was acceptable and true, like when he would ask for things in the middle of investigations and go off on tangents. Maybe next year we will see a more grounded Walter and get to know more about him now versus before his time in the loony bin. That is something I would definitely like to see.

    Please to meet you, William Bell.

Back at the FBI, Olivia is cleaning out files. Broyles comes in and says they have to stop investigating William Bell now. Olivia is upset but she understands. So is that it for Fringe division? I’m not sure it is over, there has to be more operatives than Jones, right? What is their end game? As all this is going on, Olivia gets a call from Nina. Nina says since she got to Jones first, Olivia can come to New York to meet William Bell. Praise heaven!

Olivia goes to a restaurant in a New York building but Nina never shows. She gets angry and goes to the elevator. While she is on it, there is a light and the doors open on the 15th floor to a white corridor. It doesn’t look like we’re in Kansas anymore, does it Dorothy? Nope! It is another dimension! She can pass between them! And there she is, in an office with William Bell.  The William Bell. Let’s mull over this a minute. We have been waiting 20 episodes to see him. He is definitely a presence with Nimoy playing him. The geek that I am was so giddy with excitement that I almost couldn’t contain myself. YAY! Finally! William Bell! In the flesh! Are you as excited as I am to see this come to fruition? So back to the scene, she asks where she is and he says that it is complicated, with that we see the newspaper about Obama moving into a NEW White House and as the camera pans from the building, the audience realizes that she is standing in the world trade center. In that reality, 9/11 never happened! Wow. What a shocking and awe-inspiring visual representation to show she isn’t in our world!

    What was before was only the beginning.

Plus, for next season they tease that “what was before was only the beginning.” I sure hope so. There are so many questions. I need more on the pattern, the observer and character intensions. Why is Bell in another reality? Who is Peter and what does that mean for the show that he is not from our dimension? Will we learn of the different realities and explore more of them? Where is Peter’s mom? What is Nina’s connection to Walter and Peter? Is the pattern simply to find that soft spot for Jones or is it a bigger and broader conspiracy?

With that I bid you adieu for the summer. September can’t come soon enough.

4