OK, so I know that Peter really returned in the last episode, but this week he is back with his family. I didn’t mind the absence of Peter in the first few episodes, but Joshua Jackson back on my TV screen made realize how much I really did miss Peter. I was just fooling myself while he was gone.
Can you even imagine coming home and those that you love not remembering you? Even worse, they aren’t the same people that you left? Peter remembers everything, but no one else remembers him or the previous world. Walter and Olivia, in particular, are incomplete without the love of Peter; they just don’t know it.
While Walter, Olivia, and Broyles all struggled with the mysterious Peter Bishop, the work of the Fringe Division didn’t stop. The shapeshifter, Seven (Michelle Krusiec), resurfaced to find a cure for her skin problems. Leaving bodies in her wake, she tracked down Dr. Malcolm Truss, who previously worked in the Biotech Department at Massive Dynamics on a skin regeneration project.
Peter wasn’t going to sit this case out and jimmyrigged the speaker system to eavesdrop on the Fringe team (nice to see Peter is still … Peter!). I worried that Peter was going to be restricted to the interrogation room indefinitely and that would have been boring. The only way he will earn their trust is to use what he knows to help them.
Peter knows more than any of them about the shapeshifters from his turn to the dark side killing and examining the original shapeshifters. Now that we know they can turn into anyone undetected, will they suspect Peter of being a shapeshifter? Or, which Fringe Division team member is going to be replaced? Has it already happened? What was the deal with Olivia at the end with the papers?
The bigger question that came out of this episode is why did Peter disappear in the first place? Peter wondered what went wrong when he used the machine that Walter built and wants his father’s help in figuring it out. When Walter sent the machine back neither he nor Peter were aware of Peter’s son. I speculate that’s what went wrong. They had no reason to even imagine that someone other than Peter could use the machine. But, if that’s the case, how to they fix it? Can they go back in time somehow, so Peter never sleeps with Fauxlivia or at least … uses protection?
Or, do they just move forward in this altered timeline with the two universes? Will Walter stop punishing himself for what happened with Peter so many years ago? Can Olivia love Peter again and allow herself to open up? In many ways, the show has reverted back to the beginning of Fringe with them all having to learn to trust and open up again.
Other stuff:
It’s pure agony to watch the scenes between Walter and Peter in this episode. I so want Walter to give Peter a big hug and let himself feel that indescribable joy.
Regarding why Nina Sharp took in Olivia and her sister – I’m guessing it’s because Olivia was the most promising of the test subjects used in Walter and William’s experiments. Nina probably knew about the experiments, knew that Olivia had special abilities, and wanted to keep her close.
Wasn’t this episode 5?
*POST AUTHOR*
Oops. You are right. I was thinking there were 3 episodes without Peter, but he technically returned in the last episode #4. Corrected. Thank you!
What’s different now is: Lincoln Lee. I feel that Olivia has a stronger connection with Lincoln now. She did ask him to dinner. And I love Lincoln.
I’ve been looking forward to this episode for a long time, it’s good to have Peter back.
The one thing I would have liked is for more screen time between Olivia and Peter. I know they can’t continue right where they left off relationship-wise, but I do hope the writers won’t try to build up a Lincoln/Olivia thing as a romantic false lead.
Are we sure this isn’t a third universe instead of an altered timeline of the first?