FRINGE Recap: ‘6:02 AM EST’

“I was never good at letting you go.”

Oh, Walter. Everything inevitably comes back to the possibility of him losing his son and his stubborn refusal to accept that.

And really, that’s why we’re in the position we’re in on FRINGE, isn’t it? Walter simply loved his son too much to let him die. When the worst happened to his Peter and he saw the potential to save the alt-version of Peter, he risked everything to just save that boy. He had no intention of keeping him, but he did and everything has led to these moments where Walter might be forced to sacrifice the boy who became his son in order to right the wrongs of his past.

As much as it’s enjoyable to watch Peter and Olivia or Lincoln and Fauxlivia or any of the other romantic pairings on the show, there is no denying the father-son dynamic is the heart of this story. The Peter and Walter relationship has grown, splintered when the betrayals were revealed, deepened with the forgiveness that was granted and the fact remains that these men will do literally anything for each other.

It’s with that knowledge that I can’t help but go into these last few episodes of FRINGE’s third season with a bit of worry that something is about to go terribly wrong for our Bishop men.

When we last saw Walternate, he had a blood sample from Fauxlivia’s newborn baby and we were left to wonder what he was going to do with it. I speculated it was possible Walternate wanted to give Peter a living, breathing reason to come “home.” Instead, he used Baby Henry (LOVE that Fauxlivia named the kid after my favorite cabbie) and his DNA to turn the doomsday device on to begin the destruction of our side of the universe. Walternate felt guilty about what he “had” to do, but he thought it was the only way to prevent the destruction of his world.

However, our guys didn’t know about Baby Henry or his DNA, so they went under the assumption that the machine turned itself on. Have we ever seen Nina as rattled as she was when she called Broyles to tell him the news? Vortexes popped up in our world and began destroying everything in their path. It wasn’t pretty.

The only good news? Olivia’s experience on the other side — where those sort of Fringe events happened on a more regular basis and the destruction was minimized by amber — led to a realization they could set up some sort of early alert program which could potentially save lives.

Peter was looking to do more than just fix the fallout from the destruction of the machine…he wanted to stop it completely. His solution was for him to go in the machine, like the drawings predicted. Understandably, Walter objected.

Peter: If your theory is accurate, we’re running out of time. The way that machine responded to me after I touched it, it’s like it’s been calling out to me. Every piece of data we have about the machine points to one conclusion: somehow, that machine was made for me.
Walter: Peter, you could die.
Peter: And if we do nothing, we’re all going to die.
Walter: ‘Give him the keys and save the girl.’
Peter: What?
Walter: That’s what he was doing. He was preparing me.
Peter: Who?
Walter: The Observer. He was preparing me because he knew I would have to let you go. That I would have to sacrifice you to fix the problems I’ve created.
Peter: I think this is what I’m supposed to do. But I can’t do it without your help.

These poor Bishop men never have anything easy.

Nina finally told Olivia about the prediction Sam Weiss made. “I was told on good authority that if you and Peter were together, it would all work out,” she told an annoyed Olivia. Olivia wanted to question him, but Nina told her Sam was MIA. Since William Bell told Nina to trust Sam implicitly, if he turns out to be untrustworthy, will that make Nina question anything else about Bell?

As Peter prepared to enter the machine, Broyles and Walter had a surprisingly touching talk.

Broyles: Peter’s your son. As a father, do you think this is a good idea?
Walter: It’s because of my selfishness, my inability to let my son go 26 years ago that this is happening. My opinion as a father doesn’t matter.
Broyles: Walter, it matters to me.
Walter: I honestly don’t know what’s going to happen, Phillip. The current is so powerful, it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen. The thought of what that could do to my son…I don’t want him to suffer.

And Walter didn’t want to let him go. “I was never good at letting you go,” he told Peter. But he did. And when Peter touched the machine, he was thrown off a platform, injured, much to the horror of his father.

As Peter was examined by doctors in the hospital, Walter turned to an unusual source for comfort: God.

“I don’t know my way around here. Other people, I suppose, find comfort being in chapels, speaking to you. I have no other place to turn. I asked you for a sign and you sent it to me. A white tulip. And I was so grateful. Since then, in moments of deep despair, I have found solace in believing that you had forgiven me. I was willing to let him go. I was wiling to let Peter die. I’ve changed. That should matter. God, I know my crimes are unforgivable. So punish me. Do what you want to me. But I beg you, spare our world.”

Olivia rushed to the hospital when she found out about Peter’s injuries. It was there that Sam found her and requested she take him to the machine. Hmm…

Over on the other side, Fauxlivia figured out that Walternate had set off the machine on our side and she was unable to accept that our world would be completely destroyed. She threatened alt-Brandon (who double-crossed her) for technology to cross over, in hopes that she would be able to bring Peter back to talk some sense into his bio-daddy. Instead, Fauxlivia is now stuck in the same holding cell Olivia was when season two ended.

While Fauxlivia might be right that Peter could change Walternate’s mind, I don’t think she considered that if Peter was safely on their side, Walternate might not hesitate to accelerate the destruction of our side because now he had no emotional ties over there.

A few other notable things…

– Since we spent time in both universes this week, I wish we had gotten the red/blue combo credits we saw in “Entrada.”

– We saw a softer side of Fauxlivia as a mother. Baby Henry seems to be fine so far, so maybe that accelerated pregnancy didn’t do any permanent damage to him. Maybe.

– As Peter said his goodbyes before he went into the doomsday machine, I loved the hug he shared with Astrid. She’s very much become part of the Bishop family.

– I think it’s safe to say Nina never found out about William Bell possessing Olivia’s body? That’s a bit disappointing. If she ever finds out, she’s going to be pissed off.

And in a bit of semi-shameless self-promotion, you guys have all read what John Noble (Walter) and Joshua Jackson (Peter) told me about the rest of the season, right?

What did you guys think of “6:02 AM EST”?

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