“Traces of Peter continue to bleed through”
So spake our favorite Observer, September, during his lunch date meeting with fellow Observer, August (Fringe S4Ep.1). (Do you suppose Observers actually say, “Let’s do lunch”? If they do, I’m sure one must bring extra pepper.) There has been much discussion on the whereabouts of Peter Bishop and Fox has gone out of its way to promote the new season with the tagline, “Where is Peter Bishop?” (Seen it about 6 million times.)
We may have received our first clue as to the location of Peter during the new orange title sequence of Fringe wherein the words “Ethereal Plane” appear.
An Ethereal Plane is defined as, “An area of existence which contains intangible concepts, such as emotions, and destiny. It very nature is oxymoronic.” The word Ethereal itself is defined as, “light, airy, or tenuous” and “heavenly or celestial”.
I, for one, had theorized that Peter had created a bubble universe of his own when he built the bridge between the two universes. He exists there alone, devoid of all people but still full of all the machinery etc. But what if he is not in another universe? What if he is in some celestial plane that is neither here nor there? Is he a prisoner there? Does he exist in the collective unconscious of the people he left behind?
What are your thoughts dear Fringe friends? How would you define Peters current existence? Ghost? Figment of “our” imagination? Celestial prisoner?
Once again, sound off, your feedback is always informative and inventive!
(By the way check out this excellent video I stumbled across while researching this post.)
Peter seems to be in a state of Temporal Displacement, much like the observers. He is out of sync with the timeline which leads to this “quantum spectre” of himself that flashes here and there and shows in reflective surfaces. Much like the married couple in the red and blue universes, Peter is Quantum entangled with Walter, the man who cured him, abducted him and raised him. Because Walter has travelled between Universes more than anyone else, because he’s had portions of his brain removed and his consciousness altered via LSD and other hallucinogenics/psychotropic drugs, he is able to see things that are out of sync with the quantum frequency of our universe much more than Olivia, Astrid, Broyles or anyone else for that matter.
The Observers are much like the so-called “Time Sensitives” from classic Dr. Who or the Adjustment Bureau. They can dwell inside and outside the time stream, leading to extremely long lives (slower quantum decay) and being much more aware of inconsistencies in the time stream that need correction in order to avoid certain disaster. Peter served his purpose and now his quantum spectre is out of sync with our timeline, coming in and out, looking for something that would tether him to this world. While most of us would think that it should be Olivia, for many men, that person who shapes who he is the most, for better or worse, is our Fathers/father figures who raised us. For Peter Bishop, it is our Walter who is that, and thanks to Walter’s altered state of consciousness, Peter has a chance of coming back into existance. Of course, Septembers decision not to flip the switch is also helpful.
Love the podcast–listen often and have phoned in on occasion.
Hank L.
Houston, TX
Thanks for the response Hank. I love your term, “Quantum Spectre”. Does that mean he exists as a being of pure energy now? (Maybe Fringe will be able to prove the existence of Dark Matter while they are at it.) Will Quantum Entanglement allow him to revert to a more solid form of energy?
What I think:
The observers wiped Peter out of space, but not of time. Hence, September saying “I need to erase someone from time.”
Xero, I’m an adherent that time and space are the same thing. That’s if Einstein’s rules still apply in the Fringe-verse! Good to hear from you!
Peter has been nearly eradicated existence-wise. He survives and bleeds time-wise into the new timeline as a result of quantum entanglement due to the strength of his emotional bonds with Olivia and Walter.
This is much like the scenario that played out in last season’s 6B.
Hi there Old Darth, episode 6B was a good primer for what may lay ahead for us in the future. Right now Walter fears “the Man in the Mirror” and love brought together the two people together in 6B. I suppose Walter will have to re-kindle the love of his son to bring him back yes?
Just throwing this out there; I noticed that when “Peter” seems to be fluctuating in and out of the blue-verse, it doesn’t seem to be him but many people. If you watch it in slow motion it doesn’t seem to be Peter at all but many different people instead. What does this mean…? I’m still trying to draw my own conclusion. I’m just waiting for the new episode to do so.
I have to say Ken I didn’t pick up on that. If its true that would be a terrific catch. Who knows who these people would be, others stuck in some sort of quantum entanglement? Hopefully more answers tonight. Thanks for the reply Ken!
The rewritten timeline may have led to other erasures-folks not being born/dying prematurely, etc. We could be seeing their Quantum Spectres as well.
Just because he’s been “erased” from ours and the alternate timeline, doesn’t necessarily mean he’s been deleted from other timelines.
Just as there’s “more than one of everything”, you can’t expect to only have one alternate reality. There would be an infinite number of parallel worlds, each one more divergent from ours than the next. I think we’ll find these new shape-shifters come from a third Universe, even more different and damaged than the Zeppelin Universe.
Perhaps Peter is residing there?