After five seasons, we said goodbye to Fringe last night. There's certainly a lot of nitpicking we could do with the series finale: Like the final season as a whole, it was too simple, too straightforward, the culmination of an overly simplistic scavenger hunt. It was predictable and sentimental, but it was also beautiful, heartbreaking, and in its own way, the perfect ending to a series marked with so many high and lows, resets, and frustrations. That white tulip was not only a sign that the universe had forgiven Walter Bishop, it was a sign that we'd forgiven Fringe for all its missteps. Whatever you want to say about Fringe, unlike another J.J. Abrams' series, the series finale was immensely emotionally satisfying. We may have been cheated out of much of the narrative complexity that marked earlier seasons, but we were not cheated out of gratifying closure.
Let's not dwell on the series' mistakes, let's instead revisit the highs of last night's finale.
It felt almost as if the only reason that Michael allowed himself to be abducted by The Observers was so that we could revisit the parallel universe and be reunited one last time with Lincoln and Fauxlivia. And you know what? Totally worth it.
Lincoln made the right decision to stay. He and Fauxlivia are happy together, and not much worse for wear (I hope a few highlights in my hair will be all the aging I do in 21 years). They also got an opportunity to save Olivia from some supercharged Observers.
We already got our goodbye with Nina Sharp (although note that, with the reset, Nina Sharp is alive again, because Nina NEVER DIES),
and this week, we also got to spend a final few minutes with Phillip Broyles, who brought out some emotion in Windmark.
Speaking of Windmark, we also said goodbye to him, but not before Michael demonstrated to Windmark that he had the upper hand the whole time.
By the way, this is Michael Kopsa, the actor who plays Windmark.
Also, Windmark: Do NOT f*ck with Olivia, dude. Here's Michael and Olivia's drop-the-mic moment.
I will mention this quibble I had with the Observers all season long: We never really understood their motivations, why they had taken over Earth, what their endgame was, and why they insisted on being such assholes. They were cool villains, but they were not that interesting.
There hasn't been a lot of moments of levity in the final season, but Walter brought it with this, the funniest moment of the finale.
September and Michael's relationship was supposed to parallel that of Walter and Peter, but September's subplot felt kind of forced, and was never really allowed to flower because, like everything this season, it took a backseat to THE PLAN. Farewell, September, all the same. It was neat to see an Observer as a human.
And then there is Astrid. Turns out, Walter knew her name the whole time, and thought it was a beautiful one. This, folks, is where the waterworks started.
So long, Astrid.
And then, after the death of September, and Michael's defeat of Windmark, THE PLAN finally came to fruition, but not before Peter and Walter had a few heartfelt moments. Tissues, please:
I absolutely loved the callback here, too.
And that was that. Walter and Michael went to 2167, where Walter would live, having finally atoned from the mistake that led to everything else: Traveling to another dimension to retrieve Peter, who also forgave Walter, and forged a true father-son relationship with him. I would have loved to see Walter and Michael in 2167, but Fringe reset us back to 2015, no one the wiser. There we got another callback to the picnic scene that we've seen so many times this season, but this time, there are no Observers to steal Etta away. Just father, mother and daughter living happily ever after.
But there was one final moment of ambiguity: The white tulip and a flash of recognition from Peter. What did it trigger? Considering all the resets, alternative dimensions, and timelines in Fringe, who could say. We'll never know, although I'm sure in some dimension, in another timeline somewhere, Fringe continues on.
So long, Fringe. Thanks for the memories, and thanks for bringing great science-fiction to network television.
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Am I the only one that felt like Fauxlivia had a bit of a Nina Sharp vibe going on with the full-length black coat and streaks?
Though the same thing
You think Michael crushed Windmark? I thought it was Olivia. It started with Olivia picking up the bullet necklace and the electricity from the city started going out from her direction. She’s the one who has been shown causing electrical outages and moving things with her mind. I’m open to being proven wrong, though.
That’s how I took it too. I figured she still had cortexiphan in her system and got angry. Either way, still a great moment.
The way I saw it it was intentional misdirection. Olivia is sapping the electricity city-wide and preparing to unleash the beast on Widmark and before she can do anything Michael slams the cars together and kills him. Basically, “nah Olivia, I got this” and “ssshhhhhhh.”
The reason Michael got himself captured was so that Olivia would use cortexiphan and get her powers back so she could then do the lights and truck thing and kill Wyndmark.
That was definitely Olivia that moved the truck, not Michael.
Walter+Astrid+Gene 4ever. That scene was so wonderful. Really great finale overall. And I cackled like a madman at that “Because it’s cool” line.
Yeah, that Gene scene, gah… all the pew-pew is forgiven. So long, Fringe.
The Gene scene was the BEST. So glad that they gave Astrid some love.
Walter calling Astrid “Asgard” was pretty great, too.
Asperger’s Astrid would have been too
much for my heart to takehard to shoehorn in. May she go on to do interesting things. The actress, I mean. Heck, both of them.Did anybody else think that there was a good chance that Walter Bishop would be the scientist who, in the future of 2167, makes the major jealousy/human cognition discovery?
I kind of felt it would be either him, or maybe another character, such as Donald who then somehow got moved into the future or something. Science.
I thought Olivia was going to use the bullet to kill Windmark, but the car crushing worked just as well. It was great to see Gene one last time, and how could you not mention the hallway of death? The observers and loyalists all suffering from the various fringe events (the enormous common cold, the squids, the real dreams) was amazing.
And of course, the callback to wihte tulip, which I still maintain is one of the best standalone episodes of television I’ve ever seen.
Not gonna’ lie, I loved seeing the giant cold virus again.
I just watched the finale, I loved this show. Christ there was about 4 or 5 times in the finale that my room became incredibly dusty. What a great finisher to an outstanding show that for all its science fiction awesomeness had an amazing emotional heart to it.
Fantastic finale. Not afraid to admit I cried like a little sissy when Walter and Peter had their moment after watching the videotape.
“You are my favorite thing.” OH MY GOD I WILL NEVER STOP CRYING…um, I mean shotgunning beers and crushing pussy cuz I’m a man. A MAN WHO JUST WANTS HIS FATHER’S LOVE…..
Pours one out to Gene the Cow
Man, the very VERY ending scene realization. What a scene to end on. Fantastic.
agree with every one here. for all its flaws fringe was a good show. the astrid (who is fine as #@$@ by the way) walter and gene scene almost made me tear up. whenever they do the peter walter dad stuff gets to me every time. and with the end of fringe and the cancelling of alphas i don;t know what i’ll do for my sci fi tv fix
I had a theory that the Observers came from an alternate future, maybe even the Fauxlivia/Walternate universe, since September told Peter that were only one of many possible futures for mankind. After all, they can pop between universes like it’s So the Observers invading before their creation wouldn’t frak everything up.
… My cat just hopped on the keyboard and posted before I was ready.
But ANYWAY, I don’t mind the science-y explanation stuff taking a back seat to the emotional stuff, because the emotional stuff was fantastic and I cried like a little girl.
I’m going to miss this show so hard, y’all.
I said the “Because it’s cool”line 3 seconds before Walter. Because it was, of course. I’m sorry we only got 1 floater!
Great finale. Rushed, but then it had to be.
I wish Fox had given them a full season. But I thought (and I may be in the minority here) the season was good, even though it was shortened. It wasn’t to the heights of season 3 or 4, but I liked it. The finale made up for the flaws through this season for me, too.
The floating Observer was pretty cool.
I saw criticism of this season but I enjoyed it a lot. That’s the only measure of a season that I need.
more lance reddick on my tv please
I felt that while there were some things in the final few episodes that were time-stalls, I absolutely loved the 2 hour finale.
The character moments (Walter/Peter, Ourliva/Boliva,Lincoln, Broyles/Windmark) made it. Near tears with the Walter/Peter moments during the episodes. Again, John Noble will get passed over (unfairly) for any awards consideration. He’s been so good throughout this series and is overlooked every year.
As for the plot: yes, there were many plot holes/paradoxes caused by The Plan, but it didn’t matter to me so much in the end. The character moments did everything they were supposed to do and the final two shots (White Tulip and curious Peter) had a beauty and poetry to them that made up for any questions related to The Plan.
I also loved/had my heartbroken by the slight reprieve where September decided that he couldn’t leave his son and couldn’t let Walter leave his son only to be killed and force Walter to be the one to take Michael forward in time. For a moment I thought Walter would be able to live happily ever after and his admission of his mistakes would be enough. I hoped that it would be true, but then September got shot and I knew my hope wouldn’t be enough.
A bittersweet ending that worked very well, flaws and everything.
I think Michael killed windmark before oliva could do her thing. He needed him to be distracted… Michael knows the futire… or, Olivia killed windmark in front of Michael and Michael said shhhhh cz he didn’t want Olivia to justify anything? ….
I started to tear up after realizing Peter had said “Dad” instead of “Walter”.
At the risk of being a big dork, I’m kinda missing it already. “Archer” does help fill the void. Kinda.
Anyone else realize that if the observers never exist, Walter is never saved in the ice and then Peter dies? The whole time travel theory as fluid does not explain why they observers would just stop existing when they were supposed to invade.
I had to watch the finale a few days late since I was out of town on Friday…. needless to say, this was a fantastic ending to the series.
There’s probably a million holes you could poke in the science of the ending, but the central themes of the story (and series as a whole) along with the spectacular acting by everyone involved makes this just an amazing ending. It’s very tough for a shows like this to have a satisfying endings, so for me, they hit this out of the freaking park.
My apartment started to get really “dusty” with the scene of Walter and Peter watching the video of Walter explaining why he has disappeared in 2015. Such amazing acting by both Joshua Jackson and John Nobel. John Nobel really deserves some serious recognition. By the end of the episode, I was crying like a baby.
They pushed all the right buttons. Finding that balance of closure, callbacks, sacrifice and reward that you need for a fitting and successful conclusion to a series. While this was a bit of an uneven season in terms of some episodes hitting and some not, they closed on a really high note.
Fringe, you will be sorely sorely missed! Thank you for bringing something weird and different to the land of repetitive and predictable that is network TV dramas.
My heart broke with the finale, I’m happy that it got the chance to end and wasn’t cancelled but still I feel sad.