So last Friday, the show featured its second leap into the future with an episode set in 2036 (hence this post being numbered archives/2036…get it?) and I think the show may have finally re-established its groove and wormed its way back into the hearts (and especially heads) of its devoted sci-fi faithful.
What Happened (Spoilers): A few weeks ago we were finally told the backstory of The Observers (they’re not aliens so much as humans from the future who have the ability to travel through all universes at once, and the ones we’ve been seeing are, essentially, history students taking a field trip through time and space to study it), and that backstory led to this week’s episode. The episode saw a future in which The Observers were no longer observing so much as kicking ass and taking names and were dictatorial rulers of our world. [Although I suspect there’s another twist where they’re really saving it from environmental ruin.]
From there, we learned that humans were now referred to as “Natives,” that the ones working complacently for The Observers are known as “Loyalists,” and there is a resistance movement to get rid of The Observers. Then we were launched into more action than the entire first half of this season as the future Fringe team (Peter and Olivia’s grown daughter and some guy played by Desmond from Lost) freed Walter from being frozen in amber, and (eventually) also freed Peter after some daring heist sequences and making a building disappear…Trust me, it makes more sense if you watch the show…But this was just the beginning for what looks like a thrilling new arc for the series.
Why It Worked So Well: Initially, I was jarred by this episode because 1. It took The Observers from observing to actually interfering in the history they have worked so slavishly to merely record. 2. It was yet another alternate history for a show that has already reshuffled the deck a half dozen times, and was finally recuperating from last season’s twist that Peter was erased from the timeline (thus resetting it).
Still, once you got used to the fact that we were taking a break from the David Robert Jones storyline (now that it’s finally going somewhere), I thought it was awesome and in truly keeping with the tradition of Fringe by once again throwing us for a loop the second we get our feet on the ground. Truthfully, who wouldn’t rather watch this future arc for Fringe instead of spend another season solving routine monster-of-the-week cases that have now been all but used up?
Review for the Season: B…Review for the last couple episodes: B+…Review for this particular episode: A