FRINGE Recap: ‘Worlds Apart’

First of all, let’s start this off with a “yay” for FRINGE’s fifth season renewal! It’s bittersweet the end is near, but I’m so glad things will get the chance to properly be wrapped up.

But before we get to season 5, we still have to survive season 4. So let’s get to talking about what went down in “Worlds Apart”…

“I think I shall miss them. More than I imagined.” – Walter Bishop

It’s only fitting that a day after we learned that we’d soon be saying goodbye to FRINGE as a whole, that our characters were dealing with similarly painful farewells in “Worlds Apart.”

See, David Robert Jones’ evil plan to collapse both universes meant both worlds were at risk for “mutual destruction”…so that Jones could form a new universe where all the rules were designed by him. That’s pretty badass, but very bad news for our Fringe teams. While some members of both teams had some doubts when Walter reveals he figured this out due to a dream, Walternate didn’t want to dismiss his alter’s theory.

That’s a good thing because while the teams were debating what to do, those Cortexiphan kids were busy little bees — Jones was using them to cause earthquakes all over both universes…basically trying to tune the two universes so they vibrate at a common frequency. (Which sounds so insanely complex/dangerous.) The combined Fringe teams theorized that Jones was perhaps using the Westfield experiment as a test, proving he could find a safe place as the worlds around him collapsed so he and his new creatures could remain safe.

At first, their only solution to stop him is to find him and kill him. But since Jones is a squirmy little brat who manages to almost always get away, the teams catch a break when alt-Nick Lane (!) comes into the Fringe Division looking for alt-Lincoln. He finds Lincoln — who apparently doesn’t bother to tell this guy that the man he was looking for is actually dead? — and tells the agent that he had a vision of the earthquakes before he ever knew they occurred. When Lincoln calls up Olivia on our side to tell her of his visitor and Olivia quickly realizes that the woman our Fringe team was trying to identify was another Cortexiphan kid.

Walter realizes Jones is using the Cortexiphan kids’ abilities to link the two universes (versus using a weapon). Unfortunately for them, Peter realizes that the connection he forged between the universes is what is making this possible to begin with and the solution might be to close the bridge between worlds and shut down the machine. Walter points out that if they do that, they may not ever be able to start it back up and the two sides could be separated forever.

In order to prevent that, Olivia has the alt-Nick come to our side and she connects herself to him to try and locate Nick. She’s able to lead Peter and Lincoln to him, but it doesn’t stop the earthquakes from occurring.

With time running out, Olivia offers to interrogate Nick. He tells her about the “war” that is going on and that Jones is protecting them and their interests. Nick says the damage on our side isn’t bad, but the damage on the other side is far worse, which is good because he thinks the other side is about to surrender. Olivia has to break it to him that the two sides are actually allies and Jones is the bad guy.

Meanwhile, Peter is taking apart the watch Nick was wearing (which had alt-tech) and Lincoln came over to chat. Peter noted that it was weird to think of never seeing the people from Over There again, “knowing that they’re right there, so close” but “everything goes back to the way it’s supposed to be…almost everything.” Lincoln immediately realizes Peter is talking about himself, given that he was born in the other universe, but he chooses to stay on our side. Peter says that “home is where the heart is,” and really, that’s just good advice even if you aren’t facing a decision like which universe you want to stay in.

Unfortunately for them, the timer on the watch starts back up so Olivia tries once again to get Nick to see her side of things. When she mentions going along with Jones’ plan will put the people he love at risk, Nick tells her when he moved away from Jacksonville, he got depressed and the night he was going to kill himself, his sister beat him to the punch. Apparently Jones told Nick that his emotions were contagious, so Jones taught Nick to control them and recruited the youngster to be a “warrior.” Olivia finally convinces Nick that Jones was lying and that he may be the only one who can save two universes.

Nick tells the team he once met Jones at a warehouse, but surprise, it’s actually a trap and he uses his emotions to get the agent watching him to stab himself. Dude, I hope you live to regret that. Because if you survive, Olivia should kick your butt.

With Nick gone, the teams’ hopes of keeping the bridge open is fast fading. Eventually the decision falls on our teams to figure out what the right call is. Walternate says that unless someone can think of an alternative, the bridge needs to be closed so they have the best chance at survival.

Peter does his magic with the machine and overloads the system. As they wait for the power to surge so they can shut it down, Walternate and Walter discuss Peter and Walternate praises the man his son has become. Walter is overcome with emotion and has to leave, but Walternate follows him out and the two have a quiet moment alone. Walternate points out that it occurs to him that if the machine stops working, Peter may disappear. Walter admits he is worried about that, but “I’ve come to accept that he’s not ours.” (How sad that once again we’re at the 20th episode of the season and Walter is bracing himself to lose his son? This is almost an uncanny parallel to Peter interacting with the machine in “6:02 AM EST.”) It was amazing to see these two men come together — given how simultaneously similar and absolutely different as they can be — and just exist in that moment knowing they both love this man they view as their son and they could be sacrificing him in order to save both worlds.

As the two sides prepare to be disconnected, Lincoln decides he wants to stay Over There. (We all saw the look you gave to Fauxlivia, sir. She does want a nice man…) Peter tells him it was a pleasure working with him and getting to be his friend. Aw, I’m really going to miss Lincoln.

Also saying goodbye are Olivia and Fauxlivia. “You know, there’s a lot of things about you I wish I had,” Fauxlivia admits. “There are a lot of things about you I admire.”

“That’s funny, I was about to say the same thing about you,” Olivia says. She tells Fauxlivia — who had previously expressed regrets over no longer being able to see rainbows on her side — to keep looking up when it rains. Considering the chaos Fauxlivia once brought into Olivia’s life (in both timelines), what a lovely parting scene.

The teams take their sides and the connection between universes is severed. Walter immediately looks over and finds that Peter is still very much there in the flesh (is poor Walternate always going to be wondering? How tragic.), so at least the loss wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

And yes, like Walter said in the quote I started this off with, I will miss those alt-personas. I will miss Lincoln. I am sad and weirdly enough, I do feel like I’m already mourning them. So much of this season feels like it’s letting go of what we knew about the show before — the comforts of our characters and their histories, their previous relationships and now we’ve lost a little more by losing these new versions of the alts and access to that entire universe.

With only a handful of episodes left in the series, I truly, truly, truly hope this isn’t the last we’ve seen of the other universe and those characters. (It is worth noting that nothing was mentioned about the other universe in last week’s 2036 episode. Perhaps they’re all safe and unharmed by the Observers’ reign in the future?) If it was the end, it was a beautiful way to say goodbye, but…I don’t know. It just still seems a bit unfathomable. And really, who the heck would have thought we’d feel this way when these characters were first introduced all the way back in season 2?

A few other notes…

• It’s amazing…the first time I watched the scene where the bridge being closed was first brought up, I thought Walter’s discomfort was due to the notion that the other universe wouldn’t continue to be healed. It would only make sense Walter would feel incredible guilt for the damage he caused, after all. Instead, after seeing Walter admit to Walternate that he feared if the machine was turned off, Peter would disappear, too, upon rewatch, those scenes were even more powerful. Goodness. The notion that John Noble (Walter) hasn’t even been NOMINATED for any major acting award is wrong in every single way possible.
• Watching Anna Torv (Olivia) act opposite herself is just unreal. Fauxlivia and Olivia have such different presences that it’s almost jarring to remember midscene that it’s the same actress playing both roles. Torv is just so good that she makes it look seamless.
• Walter noted that he and Peter figured out the machine “back when we thought the machine was key to his returning home, back to his timeline.” Does that mean he totally knows now that this is his Peter and he’s the one missing memories? I know what Josh Jackson (Peter) said about that storyline being addressed, but I wish there was a little bit more between Peter and Walter — if Walter knows this is his son, you’d think he’d be doing everything in his power to remember the 20+ years of memories he lost. If he doesn’t, you’d think he’d still have questions.
• Alt-Astrid’s wave goodbye was adorable. I hope someone snuck her some coffee before she had to leave.

Stuff Walter(s) say…

• “If I have learned one thing, it’s that anything is possible.” Preach it, Walternate.
• “It’s horrible and deranged, but you have to agree — it’s really quite ingenious” — Walter on David Robert Jones’ plan.
• “One more thing — have you ever tried LSD?” Walter shortly after drugging alt-Nick.

Enough from me. What did you think of “Worlds Apart”?