No Normal Days

I Remember Everything

That’s a Lovely Planet

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Links Mentioned in this Episode:
The Ghost Who Walks by Karen Elson

Would you be upset if this season of Fringe took place solely in the mind of Peter Bishop?

I had a conversation with Fringe fan “lemoneyes” recently where we explored the concept of the unconscious or “sub-conscious” as I later put it.  (See that conversation here.)   Lemoneyes had pondered if there were some sort of unspoken or unconscious communication going on between Peter and Walter from the other universe.  I tried to expand on this line of thinking by adding that the sub-conscious was another way of perceiving things through the mind and that perception is reality.

Are we looking at a new reality born of the human mind?

Jasika Nicole recently told Clint and Darrell at the Fringe podcast that this season represented neither a new universe or timeline.  So what is it?

I’m not saying that this season of Fringe is a figment of Peter’s imagination or is taking place in a dream (ala that bizarre twist in the old TV series of Dallas) I’m saying we may be looking at a new reality, one of the mind.  You could argue that we are seeing this new reality through the eyes of Peter Bishop, or better yet his mind.

What if this “dimension of the mind” (something the old Twilight Zone used to explore) is something that the Observers can travel through.  There have been two intriguing teasers circulating recently, the second of which can be observed here.   If you watch this teaser, specifically the end, we see Peter suggest and Walter deduce that Peter wants to enter the mind of September.  Will Peter be granted access to this dimension of the mind that the Observers may travel through?

Yes, could it be that the Observers not only travel through time and space but the dimension of the mind also?  What if the Observers can access the past and the future the collective conscious of the human mind?  Not only the minds of those present in humanity but those that preceded us and those that are to come?  This access to the stream of consciousness of humanity may not be confined just to the living, what if this access can be expanded to that of the dead?  Isn’t that what we saw an inkling of from the very beginning of Fringe when Massive Dynamic kept John Scott on ice?  Is this why we’ve seen so many flashbacks to Olivia in the sensory prevention tank.  Fringe is hinting at that dimension yet to be explored by man that of the human mind?

I don’t think it is a coincidence when Walter was talking to the man in the mental institution (this past episode) who was currently orbiting the planet Venus that he referred to his friend “Tim”.  Tim being Timothy Leary the famous Harvard professor that experimented on and explored the mind using the psychedelic effects of LSD.

Is it any coincidence we seen so many references to Angels (and making Angels)?   If we include the stream of consciousness to that of the dead is that why we get so many references to God on Fringe?  Religion and the afterlife play a heavy role at least in subtext to Fringe.  I’ve often wondered why.  Is this our answer?  (And did anyone else notice the white tulips in this past episode?  Look to the left of the picture below.)

As Rod Serling used to say, “You unlock this door with the key of imagination, beyond it is another dimension, a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind.”   This theory includes all of the aforementioned and it treads where that of the dead and angels walk.  It explores the deep recesses of the human mind and comes out the other side.

Is this the Path Fringe is taking us on?  Will this be our peek to the other side of the looking glass, the rabbit hole or yellow brick road?  Answers are coming.

Your thoughts please.

01 The Ghost Who Walks

Just for fun, if you listened closely during the middle of the episode,when Walter is walking about his lab, we heard a song by Karen Elson, “The Ghost Who Walked”  you can listen to it with the link above.  Another clue to the road we must travel?

For starters I must say that this season though it has had interesting episodes and events, hasn’t been the greatest for me on a personal level. I am however have begun to warm up to it as it appears what once was will be again and that the previous seasons have counted for something (which was obviously going to be the case but it was a long wait).  I have been really happy with some of the moves in season 4 such as Astrid being more front and center. This however isn’t capitalized on that often though. The recent episode “Making Angels” was one of the more rewarding episodes of the whole series. This is because it not only allowed two Astrids to meet and provide some detail for this character and her alter but it also granted the talented actress Jasika Nicole some well deserved attention.

John Noble deserves a lot of overdue awards for his work on the show but Jaskia has been a shining star in the shadows. Her character gets to have some one line zingers and is placed is odd circumstances and tasked to do crazy things like checking an anus or crotch but to have a Astrid  episode  that featured Jaskia in duel roles for these characters allowed her star to shine very brightly. When the show is all said and done with, I hope that both John and Jasika find lead roles or significant roles elsewhere on television or on film.

With that said, the show is in the ever so familiar and ever so gloomy position of being thrown out. The writers have been saying that they have an ending in mind and can do it but after almost a full four seasons of a show this complex, could we really get a series final at the end of Season 4 or a season 5? I am not sure if they can cover everything that should be covered but I am sure that it will be at least mostly satisfying. I am fully aware that most everyone cares about Peter, Olivia, and Walter. Those three are the characters that everyone tends to focus on but my favorite characters are actually Nina, Astrid, and Lincoln Lee (alter versions as well).

I would like to learn more about Broyles, Nina, Astrid, and Lincoln. I would love some more in depth back story on these characters and why haven’t we seen Astrid fall in love, or at least date? Same goes for Lincoln? I actually do care about these characters’ life outside of work. I understand the need for Peter, Olivia, and Walter to be the main focus of episodes but must they dominate the series? I am a huge Star Trek fan and I believe Star Trek: The Next Generation may have done it best out of all the Star Trek shows of having the spotlight shared. There were a good number of episodes centered around each character and the biggest name on the show, Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard didn’t get even 50%  of the episodes focused on him. I guess that I would just really like to see a bit more done with these shadow characters before the show reaches its end.  I know (or at least I think that I know) Olivia and Peter like the back of my hand by now, but I don’t know Astrid, I just know of her.

New topic, the show as a whole. I believe I joined this community of insane Fringe fanatics somewhere before or during Season 2. I remember having to watch Season 1 (and parts of 2?) in order to catch up. It was @theLOSTpassenger aka Chris from New York that got me into the show. This was our first show (still on the air) to watch together as a couple and I am glad that it has lasted as long as it has. Regardless of how many more seasons we get (if any), I will be sad to see it end.  This show is really good and thus far easily makes it into my top 20 tv series. It is my second favorite by J.J. next to that amazing show (NOT LOST) called Alias. I am just very honored to have this podcast to make the show even more magical.

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Needs More Butter

A Place to Call Home

You’re Perfectly Fine

We’ll Face it Together

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Links mentioned in this podcast:
JR Orci Chat Log
Pooping Robots

I am just so happy that we are finally moving away from this timeline; Olivia remembers, and before long, Walter and Astrid will, and I have a theory regarding what we’re going to see happen somewhere between now and the end of the season. I think that we’re slowly going to see more of the original timeline come to fruition until finally, Jones and Colonel Broyles will “die” (or, perhaps more accurately, cease to exist), which is why the writers decided to pair them together; they are the two people that shouldn’t be alive. The question is what purpose, then, the Machine will serve; obviously, if I’m right, then Walter and Walternate will no longer need to help Peter find a way home, which I have thought to be kind of ridiculous ever since Peter came to the conclusion that he was in a different place. He is and has been home; people just don’t remember him. This is not a parallel universe; September says in “Neither Here nor There” (4.01) that “the timeline has been rewritten,” not that “a new timeline has been written.” That’s key. With this new development, I can’t wait to see where this story is taking us.

But how important is the recap is? I say, very important. Those sneaky Fringe writers put easter eggs even in the recap!

Like this:

Looks like in a timeline where there is no Peter, Fauxlivia might have seduced (and possibly) sleep with Walter.

Why would Walter give back her CLOTHES? Why would they be seemingly like having a lovers quarrel in the episode? Why would Fauxlivia and Frank break-up? Hmm…

This is not the first time the Fringe writers make use of recap as a place of easter egg. In the premiere of S3, they made sure to let everybody know that Walternate was behind the switching Olivia plan.

So next time, make sure you listen and watch the recap carefully.