Fringe: Season 4 Episode 22 - Brave New World Part 2

Welcome, Fringe Fandom, to the final recap of the season!  We were treated to quite an awesome hour of television.  One that the producers thought could have sufficed as a series finale if it had to be.  Now having seen it, I can see what they mean.  But, obviously, there were plenty of loose ends from episode 19 as well as a few tidbits in this one to have us salivating for the next step!  But, they went all out in this one and it was AWESOME!   I'm going to share a few links here that contain interviews with the producers on where things may be going.  I may be referring to them in my commentary below.  Basically, it sounds like they are very excited to bring us a 13 episode "no filler" season that brings great conclusion to their 5 year story.  I figured as much, but it's great to hear it from them.  Here are the links:
TV GUIDE
TV LINE
Give Me My Remote

Okay, homework done?  The show definitely ended on a quieter, happier note this season than the last 3 (of course it didn't seem so at one point!).  But, it is just the calm before the coming storm.   We were treated to a preview of that storm in episode 19.  And we'll speculate at the end on how we think season 5 will be laid out.  But for now, we need to bring this season to a close!  Let's do it!  Oh right, and of course the episode earned a well deserved "WOW!!!"

Fringe: Season 4 Episode 21 - Brave New World Part 1

Hello my friends!  Welcome to the season 4 finale part 1 recap of Fringe!  We had another crazy episode on our hands.  Of course, it's only half of the story that will be told so we're kind of left hanging for the big conclusion.  But, WOW, didn't see that twist coming!  I guess we should have after the future vision we got a couple episodes ago.  But, the advantage the writers had was a logistical thing with a certain "retired" actor returning that somehow they kept secret from the media (or at least me).  Anyway, it led to things taking an unexpected turn in the final moments of this season, let alone series.  I'm guessing this recap might be a little lighter than usual as we will have more to dissect after part 2 airs next week.   But, you know me, I do like to ramble on about things.  So, let's see where this thing takes us!

Fringe: Season 4 Episode 20 - Worlds Apart

Hello my multi-dimensional friends!  We're here to recap one emotionally charged episode of Fringe.  But, first we have to take a brief pause in celebration to discuss Fringe's 5th and final season renewal!  WOO HOO!!!!!!  Maybe Fox and WB timed the announcement to come after last week's pivotal 19th episode that gave us a brief glimpse at a possible future and what the series end-game might be about.  Regardless of how it happened, the 2 big studios came to some kind of compromise to give us a 13 episode send-off.  Fringe will have closure folks!  And judging by how this series has always seemed to dot its i's and cross it's t's I think we're in for a real treat of a final season.  No word on if we'll get the 13 episodes in the fall (to be split up when the MLB playoffs come to town) or if they'll save it for some kind of Jan/Feb to May run, but it IS coming!! Well done to the dedicated Fringe viewers that have stuck with it this long and kept the discussion of the show alive in order to show the studios we mean business!

Of course, even knowing that the series is drawing to a close, it would seem like a lot of closure to some major arcs is happening this season as well.  When we first were introduced to OVER THERE, who would have ever foreseen the final 10-15 minutes of this episode happening?  It was a very powerful sequence and I will admit, there was a bit of welling of eyes going around in this house!  But WOW, what a great episode.  And that's only part 1 of the 3 part finale!  Of course, now that we know a little bit about the FUTURE, we can discuss where this season is going and perhaps its implications to said future.  Let's dive into the discussion!

Fringe: Season 4 Episode 19 - Letters of Transit

Well, my friends, this is one weird, wacky and AWESOME show!  As anticipated, this season's "19th" episode took us on a wild ride and made us question a lot of things about the "future" of the show.  It seemed like this episode was just randomly plucked out of what would be a season 7 of Fringe.  (or season 26 for that matter)  First, let me get my WOW out of the way because of course it's deserving of it!  Second, I just want to speculate at what the brains behind Fringe are doing here.  They had always envisioned a 7 season show, but with the ratings so low they may have known that time is short and are speeding up the plot a bit.  So, while the remaining 3 episodes of this season will close up this season's plot as they always planned, they used episode 19 as a chance to give a sneak preview of where the show was/is heading.  (We still don't know about renewal)   Maybe season 5 and 6 would have gotten us to 2015 (considering the show follows a calendar year pretty much) and we would have seen Walter encase the team in amber.  Maybe a season 7 would have taken place 20 years later when they finally take the world back.  But, we have already been told that this episode was a preview of what a shortened and final season 5 may look like.  So maybe they showed us where the plot is going and we'll be leading up to that in a fast-forwarded story in season 5 (as well as continuing that 2036 plot).   All speculation of course. They could have always planned to show us this peak into the future in season 4.  We have seen other peaks into the future too.  With an infinite amount of timelines, nothing is certain.

But, my intro paragraph is way too detailed in speculation and we haven't even recapped yet!  So, let's get to it!

Fringe: Season 4 Episode 18 - The Consultant

Welcome back Fringe-dom!  We had a decent episode last night that resolved some questions that have been growing over the season.  But, mostly it was basically a setup for things to come.  It actually seemed to be a mostly Alterna-Broyles centric episode which is probably a character we never thought we'd spend too much more time flushing out.  But, the episode was very effective in helping us sympathize with his predicament.  Anyway, let's get into the recap!

Fringe: Season 4 Episode 17 - Everything in its Right Place

Hello Fringe fans!  We had yet another great episode of Fringe last night.  It probably wasn't everyone's favorite since there was limited Walter, Olivia and Peter.  But, I was happy to visit the OVER THERE world again and catch up with what was going on.  And we finally got a bit of resolution to one of season 2 and season 3's big plot lines.  The case was definitely mythology driven with us following one of Jones's shapeshifters and setting up some chess pieces for the final conflict of the season.   And there were some other interesting developments along the way.  Let's dive in and discuss!

Fringe: Season 4 Episode 16 - Nothing as It Seems

Hello Fringe-dom!  We were treated to a quite interesting episode last night.  If it's been awhile since you've seen season 1, you may have been feeling some deja vu but not quite pinpointing that the opening clip of the episode was reshowing us something we've already seen.  Of course, since we're in a revised timeline (of sorts), things were a bit different.  But call me totally confused.  The big point I couldn't get over is that it is 3 years later, so I'm not sure how any of it could be EXACTLY the same.  But, if we can all get past that, then the other points brought up in the episode are very interesting.  Plus, the title of the episode pretty much seems to be telling us, "don't worry, it's okay to be confused."  So, I'll try not to harp on that too much in the recap.  And, I should mention that the comedy and heartfelt moments were at an all time high in this episode, making up for the questionable case.   Let's get to it!