From the category archives:
Welcome to Fringe Observations: the comprehensive Clues and Eastereggs Round-up for episode 13 of season 2 – “The Bishop Revival”.
Below the jump we dig deep to explore the various clues and eastereggs from the episode and try to figure out what it all means.
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I love mysteries, there’s nothing like a good detective story, except maybe a JJ. Abrams production. Which is why I was interested to see how many of my previously posted “Top 12 Fringe Mysteries” would be answered by the end of the first season. For a more detailed recap on which mysteries I thought were the most pressing back in February 2009 (after the “Ability” episode), travel here.
Here’s a look at the resolution status of those 12 mysteries:
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With one episode to go of Fringe’s first season, I decided to produce a highly speculative line-up of the sides at play and the players on each side. In usual play-on-words style, I’m calling it the A to ZFT of the Fringe Inter-Reality War (although don’t expect it to be in alphabetical order, that’s not how we roll in the alterverse). Please note that the following is purely speculative, spoiler-free and in the name of fun guess-work (with a bit of reasoning thrown in):
Phillip Broyles – Has fairly close ties with Nina Sharp and Massive Dynamic but I don’t believe he is on the books of ZFT. The main question mark that I have over Broyles is that he sent Olivia to the storage facility in the Pilot. The same facility where her lover and partner John Scott effectively met his end. It was this that really kick-started Olivia’s involvement in the Pattern (at least from our perspective). A ‘dying’ John Scott even made a point of suggesting that Broyles had an ulterior motive for sending her to Steig’s den. Maybe Broyles just has faith in Olivia and her ability to find solutions, or maybe he’s in deeper than we think — clearly he knows more than he lets on, as his frequent rendezvous (see booty call) with Nina indicate. For now though, I’ll say that he’s Fringe Division and has Olivia’s back.
Agent Olivia Dunham – A Cortexiphan kid, perhaps one of the very best. Her whole life has unknowingly been influenced by those childhood trials. Her skills of perception and foresight may actually be the result of these trials and everything she thought was her own might be something that someone did to her. But not just anyone — William Bell and Walter Bishop. I get the sense that she is a commodity for several factions – not just MD, ZFT or Fringe Division..but also David Jones and even the Observers. For now she just wants to save people and discover the truth about her origins. In later seasons I suspect her perspective might shift..and with it, the battle.
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OK, since most people seem to think that the Observer is the biggest Fringe mystery so far, how about an Observer theory?
I’ve been thinking back to his centric episode, the one that really introduced him to us — episode 1.04 “The Arrival“, and I think that there are some more clues that no-one seems to have really gone over in great detail. We all want to know why the Observer is watching every breath we take in the Fringeverse — perhaps the song that was playing in the diner as he scoffed down a raw meat roll with 11 jalapenos, on the side, can offer us some insight? That song is was “Crazy” by Willie Nelson, later covered by Patsy Cline.
The song describes the “state of bemusement at the singer’s own helpless love for the object of his affection”.
The “object of his affection”. That gets some bells ringing doesn’t it! Immediately I can think of THREE possible objects of the Observer’s affection, which might offer an alternative explanation to his presence in the show:
1. The Beacon (aka cylinder). Seeing as the beacon object arrived mere minutes after those Willie Nelson lyrics struck, it seems very likely that this is the object of the Observers affection..the thing that he loves..the object that has left him feeling so “lonely” and “blue” (oh yes, I’ll come to that later)?
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ABILITY: (n.) The quality or state of being able; power to perform, whether physical, moral, intellectual, conventional, or legal; capacity; skill or competence in doing; sufficiency of strength, skill, resources, etc.; — in the plural, faculty, talent.
For a series that describes itself as the “Science Next” show, it should really come as no surprise that “Fringe” is set to reach beyond the conventional norms of regular television experience. The latest episode, “Ability”, presented us with the idea that Olivia is special, gifted. In other words, she has mad skills! It’s a possibility that gives me great optimism for the future of the show. Not only does it offer plausible explanations for why Olivia is so widely coveted by the likes of Nina, Jones and Broyles, and why these seemingly random events happen all around her. But it elevates the show above a human drama to the level of an inspirational human drama.
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A few weeks ago the cast of Fringe appeared at the New York Comic-Con along with show-runner Jeff Pinkner. It was pretty cool, as FringeBlogger Monica can testify. Fox have now released 3 official videos featuring funny and interesting moments from the various Fringe panelists. Watch them below and after the jump:
Fringe @ New York Comic Con -- Funny Moments #1
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One of my favourite things about Bad Robot shows are the mysteries, the aspects that provide extras layers and greater depth to the stories that we see play out. With 14 episodes of Fringe’s first season already observed, and a hiatus to deal with, I thought I’d compile my ‘top 12′ (top 10′s are so yesterday) Fringe mysteries so far:
1. The Blue Lights. I’ve long been of the opinion that the blue lights are ‘indicators’ of observation from unseen worlds; signs of other dimensions (realities) existing in the world of the show. The “Ability” nearly, ever so nearly, confirmed that theory. Whilst the existence of other worlds has been confirmed, I’d still like for my blue light theory to be given similar treatment. To my mind it makes sense – they’re certainly not just “styling” as has been claimed, they are there for a reason. Are the they the glints from otherworldly telescopes? Do they represent the visual ‘change’ in an experiment (The Pattern) caused by that observation? Or, are the blue lights the signs of intrusion between worlds..like a higher dimensional object pushing through into our 3 dimensional world? After all, what would a higher dimensional object look like to our limited perspective?
2. Are Massive Dynamic the Good, the Bad, or the Ugly? Ah, the ‘big bad’ – even their name suggests as much. But are Massive Dynamic actually the Prometheus figures in all of this, self appointed guardian angels of mankind? Or are they the tricksters – a group of hellions run by the “devil” himself? Story-arc entities usually unravel into many shades of gray, as Lost fans have discovered with “The Others” and the “Dharma Initiative”. That said, Massive Dynamic’s history with the Cortexiphan kids, and William Bell’s relationship with Walter has certainly shaped the future of our central characters. But is that for altruistic reasons or for self interested reasons?
We may not get the definitive answer to this question until the final season of the series, so perhaps a more immediate question would be whether Massive Dynamic’s COO Nina Sharp is on the same page as it’s owner, William Bell. Or, perhaps they’re more closely aligned than we could possibly imagine..
3. Peter’s Origins? I’m of the opinion that Peter may be a Cortexiphan Kid, but he could also be a by-product of a fathers anguish at not producing the ‘perfect son’. We know that Walter used to hook Peter up to car batteries as a kid (a fact not lost me, and as much as I love Walter, that is some sick parenting right there). But we also know that he was prepared to break the laws of time and space to ‘reach back’ and find a cure for Peter’s life threatening illness. Who knows, maybe he was successful?
Peter has had an eventful childhood – but who is he, where did he come from? Many fans have suggested that Peter is a clone of his father, or that he is his father (yeah, work that one out!). The former has never sat well with me, partly because I think it’s too obvious. Bad Robot don’t normally do ‘obvious’ when it comes to the major story elements. I can buy the idea that Peter is a hybrid and that he underwent severe ‘testing’ as a child, but even Walter wouldn’t clone himself..would he? I guess cloning could explain their mental link which was illustrated best in “The Arrival”. If it has to be outlandish, I’d say that Peter could be from one of these Multiverse worlds..which could make him a ‘counterpart’, rather than a clone. This possibility could also recontextualize his relationship with The Observer.
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How apt that the conflict should not centre around the stereo-typical little green men with four fingers and toes, but with beings much likes ourselves, who’s realities have taken different paths based on the law of averages – the brightness of their stars, and the force of their gravity, and so on. This multiversal conflict not only takes us through the looking glass, but it gives us a chance to reflect on similar conflicts within our own reality – surely a metaphor for what is to come.
Our history is littered with conquests and and wars over territory, belief systems and possessions. So much so that you can imagine that the only thing to bring us together would be a war against beings from an ‘unseen’ universe. But what is this multiverse battle over – God, gold or glory? Do the beings from these other worlds seek to purge us, like the mythological Zeus, or do they seek harmonic convergence? Are we at fault for the advancement of our science..or did we steal it from them in the first place (I’m looking at you, Massive Dynamic!)?
Usually, such ‘earthly’ conflicts result in one side extinguishing the other – or at least, having rule over the other. It should perhaps be noted that the Conquistadors victory over the Aztec and Inca Empires, was partly due to disease, which spread faster than any army. The Aztec’s and Inca’s weren’t used to European diseases and so they succumbed to the viral of the opposition very quickly – interesting considering the recent trio of viral-centric Fringe episodes.
Many ancient tribes and groups have been wiped from our earth, several now hang in the balance. Essentially, this is the prophecy that the ZFT manuscript warns of — an “us or them” rally cry.
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Episode 1.14 “The Ability” was so jammed-packed with action and mythology that I think a lot of us have missed out on some of the more subtle references deployed in the episode. One such gem is The Land of Laughs book reference. It’s a reference which I’ve used to brain-dump some of my thoughts on the episode, and which ultimately gives me a new candidate for the ZFT author. Read on to towards the end to find out who.
The Land of Laughs is a fantasy novel by Jonathan Carroll about the blurring of realities:
The book concerns a schoolteacher who is researching the life of one of his favorite children’s book authors. He is warmly, and unexpectedly, greeted by the author’s adult daughter. All seems well until a dog begins talking to him, as the line between the author’s fantasy world and the reality of the schoolteacher’s life blurs. – Wikipedia
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Fringe has ended on some good cliff-hangers in it’s short history; Broyles and Nina’s shadowy rendezvous. John Scott’s visitation. Olivia’s abduction. But Tuesday night’s “Ability” ending was one of the best closing sequences I have witnessed in a long time, from any TV show. And I’m a LOST fan. It was subtle, exquisite and perfect. I will never look at the letter “y” in the same way again, and my impression of Walter Bishop has been elevated with new intrigue.
The implications that Walter Bishop either wrote the ZFT manifesto, or that he had a ‘hand’ in writing it sends a shiver down my spine.
Prior to “Ability”, Walter was a man who was caught up in The Pattern due to his past works – random relics of a bygone age, borne out of curiosity. Now however, it seems possible that Walter was the very heartbeat of a scientific sect who’s ambition is to regulate the advancement of technology, to control (or shape) the direction of known reality with a view to safe guarding that reality from the other worlds who seek convergence. The manifesto has religious overtones and uses deliberate rhetoric geared towards galvanising the fearful; ‘Apocalypse’. ‘Control’. ‘Destruction’. ‘Warefare’.
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