"Fringe" Finale - Over There

I've had a difficult relationship with "Fringe." For two years I've been trying desperately to love it, but so far have only been able to like it. I keep waiting for it to grab me and, occasionally, it does. It grabs me in the moments where they address the alternate universe or the Pattern but for a good portion of the second season, it was a lot of monster-of-the-week episodes. The procedural aspect of it is sort of justified by being part of the mysterious Pattern or having to do with the alternate universe, but more often than not, I feel a "Lost"-like sense that none of it is really as connected as they want us to believe. Sometimes I feel like the show is a little too convoluted when it's trying to tie in lots of fringe science, but the last few episodes focused on the characters over the epic plot which helped the show immensely. My favorite episodes are the ones about Peter, Olivia, Walter, etc. The focus on their experiences elevates this show above merely being a procedural with a SciFi twist.

The two-part "Fringe" finale was the show at its bizarre best. Peter crossed over into the alternate universe with Walternate after he discovered a few episodes back that Walter plucked him out of his native universe after Walter's son died. Walter finds a way to go after him with the help of the other Cortexiphan kids and they go off on a quest to find Peter. We get plenty of fun alternate versions of our characters, including a still-living Charlie. I always was kind of ticked they killed him off; shows with lots of SciFi or technobabble need an everyman, and I thought he filled that void nicely. Walter reunites with William Bell and gets to ask some questions he's had, Peter gets to meet his original mother, everyone finds out that Walternate is quite sinister, Fauxlivia (also known as AltLivia or NoLivia or, my least favorite, Bolivia) also seems quite villainous, and Peter ends up back on our side in the end. Olivia is left behind, though, in a switcheroo that is going to have some very interesting ramifications in the fall.

I was disappointed with the fact that they killed off the other Cortexiphan kids, but I understand why they needed to get them out of the way for the plot to continue. It was just hard to see these people who had been through so much and come so far only to die miserably after a universe jump. This brings me to the alternate universe. I sort of liked their vision at first of a bleak world that is aware of fractures in the fabric of their universe. But the futuristic look of it threw me off because I had to keep reminding myself that this was supposed to be our universe, only slightly different. It's hard for me to imagine all these people and events as only slightly different when other things are radically different. I suppose I'm a believer in the "step on a butterfly, alter history" theory of things. Especially when the alternate universe had such advanced technology compared to ours. That was probably the most difficult leap for me.

I did like what this episode did for our characters. Peter had to confront the awkwardness that was his situation and figure out how to handle being with his real family. On one hand, this is his real family. But on the other hand, he was raised in a different world that became his home. He's right to be angry, but he was also completely right when he commented that Walter had crossed universes twice to save his life and that that had to count for something. I enjoyed the touch that Peter's abduction story is famous. I also enjoyed the revelation that William Bell cut into Walter's brain because Walter, fearing for what he was becoming, asked him to.

I was uncertain about the Fauxlivia and I wish they had made her less...cartoony. I don't mean she was completely one-dimensional, but I felt like they were trying too hard to make her Olivia's complete opposite that they turned her into a simplistic villain for next season. That leads me to another thing, regarding the alternate characters. I wish they all didn't seem so sinister. I know they have respected Walternate telling them how dangerous the people from the other side are, and I guess they don't question the Secretary of Defense's intel on the threat, but it seemed too simple to say "the people from the other side want our destruction, so let's destroy them first." I'm holding out hope that Fauxlivia has some doubts in the fall when she encounters her alternate sister and niece and finds out more about what our side is up to. This would make for an interesting conflict between loyalty to her side and what she sees with her own eyes and I'm really hoping they explore this.

Oh, yeah, Peter and Olivia kiss finally. I know this is supposed to be some huge development, but I'm perfectly happy with their relationship being completely platonic. I'd feel differently if they had some wild onscreen chemistry, but I just don't think it's there and I don't quite buy their romance. It feels forced in by some mandate that all TV shows involving two lead characters of opposite gender have to have sexual tension.

Season 2 of "Fringe" has been a rollercoaster ride of ups and downs for me, but when they focus on the characters amidst the backdrop of the mythology, this show works perfectly. I'm glad it's coming back in the fall and I'm very hopeful that this show could finally hit its stride.