Fringe is not a show that we devote a lot of time to here at Uproxx. It has a small but rabid fanbase, but not as rabid as some other shows with similar ratings (Justified, Breaking Bad, Mad Men), and it airs on Friday and most people time shift their viewing, so it’s a hard show to rally a base of people to devote to a discussion on the following Monday, especially after a heavy night of brilliant Sunday dramas.
It doesn’t help, either, that it’s an immensely frustrating show, one that frequently backs itself into narrative corners and gets out of them by literally rewriting reality. Like the Steven Moffat/Matt Smith years on Doctor Who, it often uses sci-fi gimmickry and time travel to cheat, reversing tragedies to get two big emotional responses out of its audience: 1) the devastation of seeing a beloved character die, and 2) the elation at seeing his return. The only character on television that’s died more than Doctor Who’s Rory Williams, for instance, is Fringe’s Peter Bishop, but for the most part, the writing has been strong enough and the characters rich enough that we’re willing to forgive those shortcuts. But if the consequences of this week’s episode of Fringe are reversed, I don’t think it’s a forgivable cheat. Yet, on the other hand, if those consequences aren’t reversed, then the death of that character is equally unforgivable.
THERE BE SPOILERS AHEAD.
Etta Bishop died in “The Bullet that Saved the World,” the episode of Fringe that aired Friday night. She didn’t die in the traditional Fringe sense, either: Her essence does not remain; her soul hasn’t been downloaded onto a hard drive; she wasn’t erased from history; and she didn’t get zapped into another dimension. She blew the f**k up. She’s in more pieces than Walter Biship should legitimately be able to piece back together.
Why is this so problematic?
Because the fifth and final season of Fringe seemed to be built around Etta. If you’re not watching Fringe, you’re not reading this post, so there’s no point in trying to explain what’s going on, and if you do watch Fringe, you already know. Everything in Fringe seemed to be driving toward defeating The Observers, and living happily ever after as a big happy reunited family in the future. Peter had to literally will himself into existence last season so that he and Olivia could have a child together, first a son, Henry, then — after reality was rewritten — a daughter, Henrietta, who would lead the Fringe revolution against The Observers. Peter and Olivia were frozen in amber for years in order to assist their daughter in defeating the Observers, and the few episodes this season have took pains to develop Peter and Olivia’s relationship with their daughter.
After all that, why would they kill her? Could she really be dead? If not, then blowing her up with an antimatter baton only to bring her back is cheap and manipulative. Also, mean. She was easy to quickly invest in, and her death was not only shocking, it was devastating, especially after the high of the previous scenes with Broyles.
If so, if she has permanently died, then f*** Fringe for taking her away so soon, leading us toward a satisfying conclusion to the series that we will never get, and for turning Etta into a token symbol of the resistance, a matyr at the expense of Peter and Olivia’s emotional well being. You can’t take their goddamn kid away from them and expect them to rally; I don’t want eight more episodes of “Let’s do it for Etta!” Or one or two episodes of Peter and Olivia grieving, wallowing in their misery, wondering if they can work through their own relationship after the loss of their daugther. There are only eight episodes left: Those should be used for kicking Observer ass.
Frankly, it’s bullsh*t either way you look at it, and a misguided attempt on Fringe’s part to jump on the kill-the-major-character bandwagon with shows like Sons of Anarchy and Game of Thrones. Fringe is not a heavy drama; it’s a nifty little sci-fi show populated with a lot of characters with whom we have enough affection to suffer through the bad arcs (SOUL MAGNETS), but I’d hate to see the show end on a bad arc.
But the reunion with Broyles was sweet, and well earned.
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But you had to know that the resolution to this was going to involve time travel anyway. Fringe is a lot of things, and most of them great, but one thing it isn’t is original. Nothing they’ve done on this show since season 2 kicked off hasn’t already been done in an X-Men or Fantastic Four comic. At some point in this season, we’re going to see them rebuild the machine that opens the bridge to Earth 2, and we’ll see Peter use that machine to go back in time to present day to stop the invasion before it starts, and then see Olivia and Peter get a full life with Etta. This just makes it more imperative.
This is exactly what I thought the moment Etta died.
No character should be off limits when you’ve only got a handful of episodes left and the stakes are so high. That said, I was stunned she was the first to go. From a writing perspective it makes sense; we don’t have as much invested in her. But the effect it will have on Liv and Peter is far greater than the effect of someone like Walter or Astrid biting it.
I have no idea where the show goes from here.
I had no idea where it was going before. Sure, they have some amorphous ‘plan’ to defeat the Observers, but it hasn’t yet looked like things are going well. Some of that’s to be expected (conflict being necessary to drama, and all that), but they could very easily loose the coming confrontation. Maybe that’s too much to hope for from a modern serial drama, but if any were to do it, it’d be Fringe.
They had to close the bridge, which probably leads to the degradation of the parallel universe since the bridge actually helped repair the parallel universe. I’m assuming Peter, Walter, Olivia, and Astro defeat the Observers and it wipes the timeline back to a point prior to the invasion and they’ll all live happily ever after. Or Walter sacrifices himself to save the others and defeat the observers, timeline wipe, happily ever after.
Walter wont die… right? they wouldn’t do that to us right?
Is it wrong that I found it kind of hilarious that they killed her? Mainly because it happened so soon. And I’m a bad person.
It’s a science fiction centered show so (as mentioned above) she’s likely either coming back or they’re going back in time ans she’ll never have been killed. Clearly they wanted shit to get real, but didn’t want to lose Peter, Olivia, Walter, or Astrid, so it made a lot of sense in the narrative to kill her.
I agree with Nathan. The whole feel of this season just screams that this reality isn’t right. Even more so than the season where no one remembers Peter or the ridiculousness of having two realities coexist this just is not right. There has to be another reset. Lets just hope that the reset is better than just going back to where everyone is happy (the park scene with Etta as a child). I hope they go back to where it all started with Walter in a psych ward and Peter being a criminal. That would at least be enough of a mind f*ck to make it worth it. Leave the series believing that it is fated to happen again.
I think this is exactly what happens. We get a reset and the final scene is them in the park, no observers around.
My wife watches this show so I abosrb it passively. That the fifth season went into the future is fine, but that the Observers are now in charge of the planet seems just lame. I liked the Observers better when they were in Dark City.
I liked them better in the Adjustment Bureau.
This just came out of nowhere, and I’m still not sure what to think of it. I wasn’t paying all that much attention to the scene because I expected Peter or Olivia to bust in at the last second to save Etta, and couldn’t believe when she actually died. In addition to the other theories of resets and retcons to bring her back, the only other thing I can think of is that the big bad Observer managed to grab her body when he teleported out of the building.
That’s what i was thinking, too. If they don’t show you the body after a death, especially someone so memorable, ESPECIALLY on a show like this, they aren’t dead.
This actually makes some sense. Him planning on using her to lure Peter and Olvia out.
I’m a little surprised how much of a gut-punch her death was considering she has only been in 5 episodes. Maybe because she was a Bishop, she immediately felt like part of the family (because she actually was part of the family).
I understand what you are saying about “if they kill her off only to bring her back, it is cheap emotional manipulation’ (paraphrasing), but I not only think they have to resurrect her somehow, but I want them to do so.
This is essentially my exact take on it. I was surprised at how pissed I was and sure they are going to write her back in somehow…
theyre already halway thru the season so they have to ratchet things up. but theyre also biding their time with that scavenger hunt for beta tapes. So theyve probably got kind an end but not really enough time to build to it. If anything feels off, its cause most everything was resolved in season 4. but they didnt get canceled, so they moved to this evil observer story.
Etta was a bland character, reminiscent of season one Olivia. I just can’t get myself worked up over the loss of someone who I really didn’t give a fuck about. She’s not crucial to a “happy” ending for the show.
Remember what the Observers did to Simon that pissed off Etta so much? You have to think the Observers would want to save her body to study how she can block them and the big bad Observer knows that he can use her love against them. Plus, they probably have the technology to bring her back. (Simon’s head seemed to be working.) The writers know the complaints about the constant resets and I really think (hope?) they will go to great lengths to avoid them this year.
I’m having a really hard time figuring out how they can possibly succeed in this time without her to guide them. Every single thing they have done so far has required her knowledge and iPad. Did she leave the iPad?
You guys don’t devote much time to Dexter either. After the rough last season and this season totally making up for it, I’d expect to see more coverage on here.
I stopped trying to figure shit out on this show a long time ago. Try it. Makes it lots more entertaining. Just drink a shot every time Walter botches Astrid’s name and you won’t care, either.
this isn’t even in the same league as last season’s horseshit moves.
That giant equation is pretty reminiscent of the episode a season or so ago with the guy that was keeping his house in a time bubble so his wife didn’t get sicker. They’ll use it to travel back in time and live happily ever after with Etta.
I agree with your post. I can’t believe they killed Etta so quickly. However, I have a feeling that the observers moved her body at the last moment. I think we have not seen the last of Etta. (I hope anyways)
We need to get back to making & keeping quality TV shows here in the US.
Far too many Sci-Fi & Thriller shows get the axe in their prime, then are replaced by some so-called, “reality shows” A few are OK, but any more it seems that’s the majority of what’s on TV.
We could use more real, fantasy & theoretical science-based shows. It’s fine to unwind on a show or two that is light & requires no thinking, other than preference or ‘entertainment’ value (Competition shows), yet some of us want shows that create a science from either fantasy or theory (Heroes, Death Note (Japanese), The X-Files, Star Trek, Fringe, The 4400, Eureka, Haven & so on – shows that either involve science or make their own rules of science, exploration, etc.), and mini-series like “The Lost Room”, “Kingdom Hospital”, etc. & movies like the Cube trilogy (Cube, Cube^2 & Cube 0) and others.
We’ve lost a lot of great shows that are replaced with quite frankly, a lot of junk shows. Sure we have science shows like “How It Works”, “Myth Busters”, etc., but good Sci-Fi that mixes science & drama seems to be getting harder & harder to find outside of Dexter, Homeland, Fringe, CSI & reruns of other shows… It seems we’re in a “dark ages” of having a variety of great new Sci-Fi/Drama shows to choose from. I hope this changes, yet cable TV, at least in my area, is not only glitchy, but expensive & not worth keeping for the very few truly great TV shows being aired.
Seasons that were once 24 or so hour-long episodes have turned into a lot of 30 minute, 12-show seasons that are staggered so far apart that the stations need to show you a marathon to recall what was going on last season & creating more work for lower quality &/or lack of consistency in seasons & feels like when you get a bag of chips that was once 16 ounces, then 14, then 10 or 12 ounces. when “seasons” are stretched & staggered.
None of us need cable TV or any video entertainment, although most of us have large collections of DVDs, many of which could last a lifetime of re-runs of really great shows, such as Dark Shadows, The X-Files, Twilight Zone, Art Gallery, One Step Beyond & so on.
With so many good shows being cancelled, shortened, etc., it’s no wonder so many ppl where I live don’t bother with TV & instead go outside, to the mountains, the beach & when they are at home, are buying streamed shows they like or watching older shows on DVD & Blu Ray, or amateur videos & movies uploaded to a plethora of web sites, or are watching TV online from other countries that aren’t cookie-cutter, Hollywood “formula” shows. These can be fine, if done well… too many are so predictable, you can often even say the next line without ever having seen it before.
I think the shortened seasons, killing really good TV shows, the addition of more & more commercials & so on is destroying TV, and should this continue, US television will loose out to amateur movies, series, etc.
I’m all for supporting our writers, directors, actors, crews, etc., yet when the corporations create nasty contract arguments, the flow & quality of entertainment is affected. Messing with the creative process has many of us looking to books, Blu Rays, DVDs & other forms of entertainment, as really great TV is getting harder & harder to find. The channels that carry good TV shows are spread over multiple “tiers” on cable TV & dish, then the seasons are shortened, good shows canceled, etc. to try to keep ppl paying more for far less & mostly lower quality entertainment, which is sad & isn’t done like this in other countries, which is one reason we are seeing an influx of amateur & foreign films that are really great!
The big networks need to understand that if they want an audience, they need to make a product people want. Those going to selling streaming shows with limited or no commercials understand this, or so it seems.
As much as there are a few shows I really love, I can live without them (or wait until they come out online or on discs commercial-free.) When we pay SO much for cable TV, then have an increase of commercials, then they are cut short & often have messed up plots that could end the series (such as this last season of Fringe where all the main characters but one appear to be killed in an explosion) there are plenty of other things we can do to keep ourselves busy – building things art, live theater, etc. (or for some, making their own movies with friends on a cell phone camera. Today you don’t even need a full-blown computer to make movies or music.
I hope TV will change back to the traditional seasons, get rid of the often ridiculously loud & excessive commercials, and return choices of TV programming that show crews of people’s creativity
whatever you say, Grandpa.
Definitely unexpected, and it seems way early for something like this to happen — and of course you’re right that Fringe isn’t really the kind of show where a major character’s death entirely works, in terms of affecting the audience directly. But where it does always affect the audience (or me, at least) is in seeing how the other characters react. I expect Peter will become a class-A revengeancer, which should be fun to watch, and Olivia and Walter to have sadder reactions. Anyway, it was probably too early to kill anyone off, but on the other hand, I can’t really say that before seeing how the season plays out. I can imagine we might see nearly every character die this season, and then maybe Olivia will be the last one standing, and through some sciencey miracle, she’ll die again and expunge the observers and bring everyone back to life except for herself.