Fringe: Peter

By Rhea Dee

Dudes. How freaking rad was that 80’s alternate opening for Fringe? Like, I may have yelled “Boo-yah!” at the screen I liked it so much. This whole episode was filled with delightful 80’s alternate universe tidbits, from Eric Stoltz starring in Back to the Future (something that actually did almost happen in our universe) to the design of the gigantic floating scene place markers (like New York City) written in a really 80’s looking 3D font.

But of course, this episode isn’t about all the 80’s alternate universe awesomeness. This episode is completely Walter driven, as he tells Olivia the story about how he came to steal away alt-universe Peter.

In the beginning of the episode Walter shows some military officials his window into another universe, a literal window that when turned on, shows images of the alternate universe. Walter has been using this window to observe his “Walternate” (as his assistant calls him) search for a cure for alt-Peter, who is suffering from the same genetic disease that regular Peter is suffering from. Since the alt-universe is more technologically advanced than our own (in certain ways), Walter believes that Walternate will be able to find a cure for Peter’s illness quicker than himself. Unfortunately, Walternate doesn’t find a cure fast enough for regular Peter. Walter returns home one night from the lab to comfort his son, and Peter gives his father a silver dollar and tells him he isn’t afraid to die. When Walter gathers Peter up in a hug, he dies in his arms.

Walter and his wife try to move on from their loss. Walter shows his wife the alternate universe window, and tells her that in some universe Peter will live a full life. However, Walter still obsessively watches Walternate in the window as he continues to search for a cure. One day, Walternate is visited by Baldo. While his back is turned, one of the tests Walternate is running shows a positive; however it isn’t stable enough so it turns back to negative before Walternate can see the results. But Walter sees the results through the window and creates the antidote to save Peter’s life. Determined to save Peter, Walter creates the alternate universe doorway to cross over into the next universe so he can save Peter’s life.

Walter’s rescue is messy, of course. The antidote bottle he brings to the alternate universe breaks, which means he has to bring Peter back with him to our universe so he can make a new batch. The pair passes through the alternate universe gate okay, but fall through the ice. Luckily before either of them can drown, Baldo saves them. Walter wakes up in his car, as Baldo is driving the pair back to the city. He tells Walter to save the child’s life as he’s really important. And Walter does. But even though he promised to return alt Peter to his universe, he can’t bring himself to do it, especially not after his wife sees that Walter brought alt Peter to their universe.

This episode did a wonderful job at explaining the Peter mystery without feeling like a tell-all episode. It even did a good job and explaining small plot lines that I didn’t think about before (like how Nina lost her arm).

But the heart of this story, despite all the mysteries solved, is Walter’s love for his son. Walter’s love for Peter is one of my favorite parts of the show, because he’s so earnest and honest about his affection, even though their relationship has hit many low points. And it’s this honesty that makes you more accepting of Walter’s decisions. Because despite everything he’s done, despite the problems he may have caused by opening a doorway between the universes, he really is just a man who loves Peter so much that he would do anything to save him.

And it must be said that John Noble can work a flashback wig way better than some other actors in certain other J.J. Abrams shows (ahem…Matthew Fox).

Last Thoughts: The Observers get more and more interesting as the series goes on, don’t they? Baldo made a mistake! They go to movies! I actually really liked when the Older Observer and August went to see Back to the Future and the Older Observer didn’t understand movies as entertainment, whereas August did, which I thought was amazingly in character since August was the Observer that fell in love. It just makes sense that he would enjoy and understand movies.

I also can’t help but wonder about the relationship between alt Peter and Walternate. In the alternate universe, alt Peter gave the “I’m not afraid to die, have my silver dollar” speech to his mother. Were alt Peter and Walternate not close? Is this why alt Peter has so many problems with regular Walter?

Next Time On Fringe: Makeout party! Okay, not really. But the almost makeout party that happened between Peter and Olivia is referenced. Will it destroy our little nerdy Fringe family?

Rhea Dee spends her time collecting vintage junk, daydreaming about Eli Roth, and pondering the genius of John Carpenter soundtracks.  She really likes horror films.

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