I wanted to throw this one out there before the big Comic Con and we get any spoilers. Will Peter Bishop be in episode one of season four of Fringe? No flashbacks, no dreams, no hallucinations and no child actors! Straight up Peter, yes or no?
Will he or won't he?
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I wish… but I think at best, we’ll get hallucination-Peter. Maybe we will see him stuck somewhere outside of the known time-line, but that’s it. In all honesty? No for the Peter we know.
I said on twitter earlier today that it would do the show a massive disservice by having Peter Bishop in the first episode, my reason is basically – why would they invest so much into the plot and have Peter vanish out of existance to have him back in the very next episode, Im sure I wouldn’t be the only one to feel cheated.I don’t know what the writers have planned but I trust them to make it very on the edge of your seat. I hope they dont bring him back for at least 4 or 5 episodes, have him pop up where least expected. Id be interested to see what became of the baby?? Does this mean everything has changed?? eg now that Peter doesn’t exist what happened previously?? Did the Olivia’s crossover? We know Walter did. Anyway I look forward to the next episode and podcast.
The answer has to be no.
I think the writers have completely painted themselves into a corner. The show was built on the triangle Walter-Peter-Olivia. Remove Peter and the Triangle is destroyed completely. Therefore all three season’s worth of episodes never happened. It was such a great TaDa moment that Peter disappears from this timeline. Its going to take a lot of logical steps to restore the timeline. I really hope they just don’t gloss over this point and just restore the peter time line.
To answer the original question, if Peter never existed , then all previous scenes of Peter including all ramifications of Peter’s actions is also removed.
Only in the “Previously on Fringe…” will Peter appear. I’ll also predict the premiere won’t pick up exactly where the finale left off. I’m guessing it’ll open with a scene featuring some freaky incident in one of the universes that will lead to some exposition of the current relationship between worlds.
But despite the predictions, I love a good surprise!
@Aime, Duly noted. Outside the timeline? Are you saying we might see him in a picture ala the Observers?
@wombatjedi. I hear what you are saying but they are paying a lot of money for Josh NOT to be on the show. Do they have the courage for that? I hope the answer your challenge. BTW, no Peter, no baby.
@charliefromVA. Good to hear from you! I think you are right in the corner painting. See my answer to wombat above. Are they really paying Josh NOT to be on the show? Darrell is always counseling us to trust the writers. Well, they have an entire season to work this out. Bringing Peter back should mean a whole new timeline!
Trish! (Where have you been?) Wouldn’t it be cool if in the “previously on Fringe” segment we see something we’ve never seen before? It would represent a whole new timeline and then we’d pick up where you predicted. WDYT?
I like Trish’s hypothesis of where S4 will begin. I just started watching S4 of Angel. Spoiler Alert! Cordelia comes back in episode 3 and she doesn’t remember who she is. I hope that doesn’t happen with Peter! 🙂
Yes, Peter will be in the first episode, but not the one of the past three seasons. This Peter will have a different history, where he was cured by Walternate in the Redverse and never travelled to the Blueverse.
Here’s something else to think about…what if this Peter and Fauxlivia have a relationship in their universe and the joining of the two universes allows Peter and our Olivia to get together. Kind of like the opposite of what happened in Season 2. I’m not saying that I want to see this storyline, but I think the writers may find this turnabout is fair play theme interesting.
@dave: I think it would be absolutely incredible if we got a pre-show fake-out of some sort. Either an alternate timeline or maybe a scene with a detail we *missed* on initial viewing.
Whatever we get, I’m good with, though.
Part of the beauty of Fringe, for me, is the creativity it inspires in the viewers. What’s nice is the writers often surpass my imaginings!
Great question, Dave. Simple, yet intriguing.
Humm .. No we are not going to see him till the end of the episode as a shadow , they can cheat the time but not the existence imo , i think they can bring him back if they will uncover Olivia’s character more , and to uncover Olivia’s character they will need at least 8 or maybe 12 episodes , so he will be as he will not be till episode 12 …
Hey .. do we even know the time line for S4 ? I mean it will start after how many years from the end of S3 ? .. that’s will count for something too …..
@Gobosox54. If Peter makes it back, and he will, he must know everyone. Unless he’s 3rd universe Peter.
@BlueEagle, Walternate doesn’t know who Peter is right? So there was no cure right? Unless! See some of Trish’s thoughts above. Things may have advanced past where we left them and who knows, a whole new timeline created?
@Trish, Thanks Trish. It would be cool wouldn’t it? We’d start a new timeline somewhere in the middle and we’d have to back track to find out what changed.
@Real1, You seem to be following the same line of thinking that Trish and I are pursuing. But 12 episodes until we see Peter? That would be courageous! Will Olivia’s character reveal a talent for untangling Quantum Entanglement???
@Inter-dimensional Dave : “Will Olivia’s character reveal a talent for untangling Quantum Entanglement???”
LOL , I think (IMO) that the fans were patient enough during the episodes where Olivia was trapped in the alt-universe , and maybe we will be patient enough during s4 till they will uncover Olivia’s identity , if you want Peter back .. you have to look in to Olivia’s character more 😀
as for “untangling Quantum Entanglement” … i have something else what about Telekinesis ? 😉
Prediction: Peter will be found in the first episode at Claire’s Psychiatric Institution. He will doubt his own sanity, may have a beard and be heavily medicated echoing Walter’s condition in the pilot.
He will know who people are, yet no-one will know him. He will know many things that people will think it impossible for him to know. Yet some of those things will be wildly wrong.
Walter, Olivia and an agent X will be called to the hospital because this appears to be a Fringe even. None of these people will know who Peter is. But Peter will know everyone but Agent X.
But Agent X will be very familiar because agent X has done most of the things that Peter did ever Since Walter left Claire’s Psychiatric Institution.
Agent X will be Walter’s wrangler and baby-sitter. He/she will have helped solve many of the mysteries and know Walter better than anyone else. Agent X is the person who did what Peter had done prior to going non-existent.
@Hemo_jr, Wow that is a wild a crazy theory! What is the Fringe event? Will it be his asking for Walter? I like how you tied Mr. X into it all.
he Fringe event is the sudden appearance of someone whose records cannot be found, whose ID looks absolutely authentic but are for someone who does not exist, and who knows things he can not know. In short the event is the appearance of someone who cannot and should not be. Which is why he ends up at St. Claire’s Psychiatric Institution.
@Hemo_jr, OK thanks for the clarification. You know, you can get in trouble for sneaking around the writers room. Be careful, they may send you to another dimension and lock you in a room with Olivia!
Hi Interdimensional Dave!
This is a great question. First off, I disagree with the premise that the writers have written themselves into a corner. It is clear from the SDCC Fringe press room interviews that the show runners mulled over using Peter’s nonexistence as a story point. Part of the examination must have been how it could be used within the constraints of a serialized TV show without being painted into a corner.
Will Peter appear in the first episode? Possibly. Maybe as a very last shot. What I would put even money on, is the Observers being in the first episode.
My expectations for S4 are that, much like it was revealed that the two universes need each other to co-exist, so it will be found that Peter’s presence is also essential.
The Obervers are able to foresee cause and affect but what they cannot foresee is the human element. What Walter and Olivia are missing from the original timeline are those human qualities for love and compassion that Peter enabled in both of them. Without those qualities they will be unable to arrive at a solution to save the two universes. Something that the Observers seem incapable of comprehending.
Once this is realized, perhaps in the first episode – though unlikely, the Observers must find a way to reinsert Peter into the timeline and be able to preserve all those growth moments the three principal characters have gone through. And that, I suspect, is where the drama will lie. How to do that AND preserve the Bridge that Peter has built? The ripple affects are enormous as seen in last season’s ‘The Firefly’ episode.
My prediction is that Season 4 will follow the structure of Season 3. The first 4 episodes will show the impact of Peter’s removal – some by revisiting past moments, others by showing conflict in the present with their counterparts ie Walternate & Fauxlivia – and demonstrating why Peter’s return is vital. The next 4 will deal with reintegrating Peter back in the timeline with minimal changes to the original one we know as the past 3 Seasons.
Shameless plug – I am in the midst of a two part article over at FringeTV that is addressing this and other Season 4 questions. Part 1 can be found here – http://tinyurl.com/42slffg
Part 2 will be up next Friday.
Again, great question! Which is why I am so pumped for Season 4.
Hey OldDarth thanks for joining us! I’m glad you liked the question, we’ve had some serious debate about it. I’m inclined to agree with your initial observations concerning Peter. Plus the fact that you can’t pay and promote Josh Jackson/Peter and then leave him out of the series. I’m not so sure Peter enabled the love and compassion in Walter and Olivia. Olivia and Agent John Scott were a pretty hot item before he died and Walter became a better man after he had portions of his Brain removed. Perhaps Peter gave them both perspective on how to free themselves from their emotional burdens.
I’m hoping for a literal interpretation to “The Day We Died” where Peter is left alone in the universe and must use everything at his disposal to rejoin the rest. Better yet, I’m hoping the Observers will do anything they can to prevent Peter from rejoining the others. (Who knows what their agenda is?) He’ll eventually make his way back using the machine but the only person to recognize will be Sam Weiss. Oh, but we all know you can’t trust Sam Weiss!
Thanks for the shameless plug I’ll have to check out your work!
Don’t be a stranger!
Most kind.
Its all conjecture at this point but if Olivia is really jaded then the John Scott relationship may have never happened.
Hope you enjoy the article. Also do the FBI Podcasts over there. Love the work Darrell and Clint do with their podcast.
I’ll keep an eye for your work too.
Cheers!
Lou
I almost forgot that when Olivia sees Peter, she sees him shimmer. So what would an Olivia, who never knew Peter, think of him when she first sees him?
She thinks he is from the other universe and an enemy spy/saboteur! And Peter, who just buried his wife and comes back to prevent her death, sees the woman he loves and she not only doesn’t know him, she thinks he is the enemy.
The new season of Fringe will be in for some interesting times.