*Spoiler Alert* I’m assuming many of the world wide legion of Fringe fans watched last episode but if you didn’t you are warned not to read any further!
So where did Peter go at the end of the stunning conclusion to season three of Fringe? There has been quite a bit of confusion amongst the interwebs and the reaction of most folks that watched it live was one of utter disbelief. Judging by the small sample that was in the Fringe Podcast Chat room you could characterize the emotion of the faithful by statements such as “Huh?” “What just happened?” and ubitquitous, “WTF?!” (What The Fringe?) So let’s hear your thoughts. What is Peter’s fate?
- Back to the future in 2026?
- Signed up with the Observers?
- Trapped in a nether world between two universes?
- The land of incomplete sentences?
- A cup of tea?
Sound off let’s hear your theories!
My guess would be, he’s with Henry Gale in the south Pacific in 1971…
Or, more likely he’s down the wormhole somewhere. Perhaps he’s the person who went back and buried the machine in the Paleozoic era? Then we spend part of next season with Peter working his way up in time, perhaps meeting the kids on that snowy day in the in-between universe, before making it back to some changed reality in 2026. Did he step on a bug somewhere a la Harlan Ellison in the way-back-when and change evolution?
I do love the concept of Liberty Island as a new kind of waypoint, vs. its history.
Ferd
What The «fringe» is right, im not at all surprised at the end of the series they rap it up by bringing us back to the institution were Walter is halucinating or dreaming all this. Well anyway im hoping that the writers know were there going with this, and lead us all into amazement in how they are going to explain this…and why did they show us the time? the clock was like what 5:20 and then its like 5:26 when we ccan see it again?
I counted 10 Observers, what happend to th other 2? one died so weres the other one?
My guess is that Peter was either trapped by the observers and Sam Weiss or he’s in another reality.
What I mean is the reality in wich the Blueverse destroyed the redverse is A, there’s the one in wich Peter created the bridge B, and then there’s the one in wich Peter is C. (However I don’t think that this is a universe of nothing-ness)
I think that Peter was just a tool that the observers are using to fix an even bigger situation than the whole “who stole Peter” one that we thought the whole show was about up to this point. Is Peter even real? I’m not so sure now.
I have to say… I really liked future Astrid!
The biggest thing that I haven’t seen people talk about yet is that because everything has been “rewritten” none of the events we’ve seen over the previous 3 seasons happened the exact same way. All we know is that Walter crossed over and set the destruction of both universes in motion and the red verse isn’t thrilled about it.
If there’s no Peter, season 1 and season 2 are essentially null. Still, it’s not the destination but the journey.
I wonder how much time will be spent on the unintended consequences that Walter was so worried about during his final conversation with Peter? Will characters killed off suddenly be alive? How about all those shapeshifters Peter killed? Fauxlivia was never pregnant, etc., etc., etc. I’m overwhelmed! I can’t imagine where they’re going to go with this for next season.
I have so many questions. First if Peter never existed then why would he cross over? Also how could the machine work without peter? Side-note: did anyone notice that in the red verse a ghost like Peter could be seen in the machine.
If I accept that Peter never existed then how did ANYTHING happen. It took Peter to get Walter out of St. Claires. It took Peter to activate the machine. I mean WTF?
I know the season finale is supposed to be a huge cliffhanger but come on! Are the writers going to completely throw out everything that happened and start over?
I need answers!!! 🙂
Someone asked about the 10 Observers. Either they are going by the old Roman Calendar or they are making a point to show us that there are two observers missing. We know August was killed so maybe the other is the so called Rogue Observer.
If Peter really doesn’t exist then nothing we saw in these three seasons actually happened. Which brings the question why did we even bother with it? To me, this ending ruined the whole show. I will never look at Peter the same way I used to and any subsequent rewatches of old episodes are going to be tinted by that nagging thought in my head: “This scene between Olvia/Walter and Peter is pointless because they retconned the whole show!”
Clint asked the right question in last week’s podcast, but he reached the wrong answer. In observing Peter’s behavior after he woke up in the hospital last week, I think we can begin to guess where Peter might be now. Clint thought his consciousness was from the future 2026 timeline, but we know now that this is not consistent with the 2026 we saw in the finale for a few reasons (he does know there are two Walters, Walternate is not the Sec of Defense, since “over there” is destroyed, he should not be surprised by the appearance of the statue of liberty).
What’s interesting, though, is that his state of mind isn’t consistent with any reality he has experienced on the show so far, which makes me think his actions, reactions and social miscues are hints as to where we’ll find him next season. My guess is that he’s been sent to the redverse life he would have had if Walternate had not been interrupted by the observer in his lab and had in fact found childhood Peter’s cure himself. In this scenario, it makes sense that Peter would be unaware of our (a second) Walter, that he would consider Walternate his father.
Technically this would be introducing a third universe, I guess, but it would be interesting to see a world where the Observers never intervened in the first place; in fact, it seems like a very logical purgatory for Peter to end up until Olivia and Walter fix the bridged universes, realize he’s real and lost (Lost!), and bring him back next year.
Thus ends my own crackpot theory.
I agree with the comments of John M and GeigerC. If Peter never existed, none of the events would have ever happened. Both Peter Bishops would have died from the failed attempts of Walter and Walternate to cure him of his childhood disease, unless of course, August (Observer) never interrupted Walternate’s breakthrough, therefore not changing the event that led to this season finale.
Sadly, Peter executed the paradox and cancelled himself from existence. I can only imagine how they’ll bring him back next season. Hmmm, anyone see a temporal energy ribbon somewhere?? – Joking. (Ref: Star Trek Generations: The Nexus)
I’m feeling the way many here are…I fear we’ve invested in three years of character development only to be told that none of it really happened. That’s the downer.
The upper (upper??) is that that we’ll have a fresh story to look forward to. If Peter is, in fact, alive in the Redverse, it would be great to see how he turned out as an adult who had a stable childhood. Would he be even more brilliant than he already is? Would he have paired with Fauxlivia? What of his relationship to Walternate. It would be as much fun to investigate as the original Over There episodes were — a whole new sandbox for the writers.
I’ll swallow my apprehension about the big bill the writers have to pay with the extinction of Peter. For now…