Contributor: John Keegan
Written by Kristin Cantrell
Directed by Tommy Gormley
It’s become a tradition for “Fringe” to have an off-format installment with Episode 19 of each season, but with only 13 episodes for the fifth and final run, that obviously wasn’t going to happen. Yet the writers wanted to keep the tradition alive in some sense; it makes sense that Episode 5.9 would be the one to get that duty.
Essentially melding the concepts of the first three off-format forays, this story is all about Walter’s mindscape following a hit of particularly potent LSD, as he deals with the struggle to maintain identity in the future circumstance they have found themselves in since the season began. The visuals are all well and good over the course of the story, but it’s rooted in Walter’s intense desire to keep the cold and immoral earlier version of himself from dominating the man he’s become.
With the previous episode reinforcing the show’s central thematic focus on the nature of human psychology and the dangers of science run amok on human and societal consciousness, Walter’s mindset is especially important as a metaphor for everything we’ve seen since the very beginning. It was Walter’s inability (along with William Bell) to recognize the consequences of his experimental actions that led to the war between Fringe Prime and Alt-Fringe, and might have set the stage for the Observers themselves, after all.
Walter’s existential crisis is a lot more nuanced than the relatively simple process that Olivia and Peter went through in the wake of Etta’s death. Olivia retreated into herself in a recognizable way, and needed the experience with Simone and the danger to Peter to rouse her from her introversion. Peter, of course, opted to use advanced tech to match the Observers and beat them at their own game, at the potential loss of his emotional core. Walter, however, is fighting a subtle influence of a personality aspect that had been literally excised and then re-introduced.
The LSD trip, and the insight into Walter’s subsequent perception, provides the tangible framework for the visual metaphor required to communicate Walter’s struggle. Nina came to represent the part of him that wanted to retain his current sympathetic humanity; his former assistant was the personification of the insatiable desire to push the boundaries. And the fairy, of course, was the embodiment of the temptation to let down his guard.
At the end of the day, Walter comes through the gauntlet with the realization that his personal weaknesses against temptation and curiosity make it impossible to resist on his own. The final scenes are heartbreaking for that very reason; Walter is slipping, and he knows it. And it’s unclear whether or not Olivia and Peter (and Astrid, for that matter) will be able to keep him grounded enough to avoid another fall.
I believe this, once again, emphasizes Olivia’s central role in the entire equation. It was Olivia that managed to pull Peter from the brink, allowing him to retain his humanity, and that in turn keeps him available and viable as a support system for Walter. And Olivia has been just as important in terms of Walter’s restoration over the years as Peter, even if the fourth season demonstrated that Walter needed both influences to become more whole.
The message is that it is the human capacity for love, expressed in family and mutual care and respect, that drives and facilitates the process of healing and the hope for a better future. The battle to overcome the Observers is a metaphor for the battle to overcome the cold and unfeeling parts of ourselves and our society that would destroy everything we hold dear for the sake of ill-defined progress. The ability of this troubled, broken, yet resolute family to handle threats on every level and losses of such a profound nature is itself a metaphor for all our everyday struggles. The anticipated victory over the Observers simply completes the journey of self-discovery that the characters have taken.
It’s fitting that this episode came on a day of great tragedy, when most of us were taking a close look at the society we live in and its many flaws. It was easy to fall into the cynical view that everything is falling apart, that the needless slaughter of innocents represents who we are. This story, and the “Fringe” story as a whole, presents a very different picture. As another series put it:
“It changed the future…and it changed us. It taught us that we have to create the future, or others would do it for us. It showed us that we have to care for one another, because if we don’t, who will? And that true strength sometimes comes from the most unlikely of places. Mostly though, I think it gave us hope: that there can always be new beginnings. Even for people like us.”
And if it has a truly inspired Monty Python homage along the way, all the better.
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 4/4
Final Score: 10/10
