FRINGE: Order is Restored to the Universes

FRINGE fans, let’s take a moment to process all that went down in “Entrada.”

How flipping good was that episode?!

Was I the only one who finished the hour, literally shaking?

This is what good television is my friends: making you care. Making you want more. Making you have a physical reaction and then yelling at your screen. (Oh, that last one was just me? Moving on, then.)

So much went down last night, so let’s touch on some of the highlights. Also, keep reading for more from executive producers Jeff Pinkner and J.H. Wyman on what’s to come…

Olivia is home: A little amazing that this arc has only lasted 8 episodes of the series, right? Major props to the writers for keeping it at a more-than-tolerable length — I’m actually a little disappointed to see the storyline end. Sure, it’s not totally over, but I do wish there were going to be a couple more episodes to learn about alt-Astrid or finally see alt-Nina.

But thank you alt-Broyles for trusting Olivia enough to get her home. Her return through Walter’s deprivation tank in his lab? Perfect. Just amazing. And Astrid’s shock over having her back was fantastic as well.

How heartbreaking was the hospital scene between Peter and Olivia? “Don’t apologize. You were the only thing that got me through,” Olivia told Peter. Her then saying that he saved her life, etc.? Poor, poor broken, deceived Peter. Poor about-to-be-broken-when-she-finds-out-the-truth Olivia. He simply kissed her forehead, but man, are they going to have to have a conversation at some point.

Fauxlivia is a badass, but might harbor feelings for Peter: Fauxlivia, I’m a little disappointed that you didn’t realize Peter was using that Greek phrase as a test to see if you were who you claimed to be? I had a total flashback to ALIAS’ “Francie doesn’t like coffee ice cream” scene when Sydney realized she’d been duped by an imposter. Sure, Peter and Fauxlivia didn’t have a huge physical fight, but the mental torture is going to last longer.

After Peter eventually caught up to Fauxlivia, she claimed the relationship wasn’t all a job to her. Peter insisted that it would be easier for him to believe if she wasn’t in handcuffs at the time, but then he found photobooth snapshots of the two of them together in the items Fauxlivia was trying to return with. She didn’t get to reclaim them before she was brought back to her universe, but now she’s in her rightful place. Who knows what will happen there next?

Peter is broken: Peter, still reeling from the discovery that his Olivia was actually trapped on the other side, seemed to emotionally shut down. When Fauxlivia asked if he was going to kill her, he replied, “No, I’m gonna get answers. And if I find out you did anything to Olivia, then I’m going to kill you.” His blank stare through most of the episode fantastically displayed how deep his pain was.

I never realized that Peter and Olivia’s relationship wasn’t out in the open, so Walter’s attempt to lie to Broyles about why Peter was at Olivia’s place in the middle of the night was awkwardly adorable.

R.I.P. alt-Broyles: Just one episode after I said I liked the alt-Broyles more than the original, the most likable alt-character sacrificed himself to make sure Olivia got home. “If you don’t trust me, there is no hope,” she begged him, and after a talk with his wife, he listened. He got Olivia to Walternate’s old Harvard lab, but paid the price with his life.

Was it me, or was that one of the most gruesome deaths the series has done to date? Good for Peter for having the realization that Broyles seeing alt-Broyles’ remains might not have been the best thing for him. Of course, Broyles didn’t listen and peeped his alternate side’s mangled corpse anyway.

But now alt-Broyles is dead and his poor wife and kid are alone on the other side. Hopefully no harm will come to them. And perhaps we’ll check in with them next time we’re over there.

What’s to come: “The first half of the season was [about] the condition of Olivia being trapped on the other side over there and Bolivia being among our characters,” executive producer Jeff Pinkner said earlier this week. “Now with this episode, I don’t know how much we want to spoil, but this episode sort of brings the first half of the year to an end. Then the rest of the year will be the consequences and the fallout of what happened both emotionally and plot wise for all our characters. As we’ve said from the beginning, we’re committed to telling stories over there and the first half of the season will dramatically change the conditions over there as well. Once Olivia returns to our side, the storytelling’s not just going to be contained on our side.”

But will it be an every other episode flip-flop like before? It seems that mode of storytelling is done.

“Having Olivia — one of our three main point of view characters — over there gave us license to tell every other story over there,” Pinkner said. “Once we get into the remainder of this series, the storytelling will be focused more on our side, but the conditions over there — certainly character-wise with Bolivia and Walternate — are still ongoing and have changed based on what happened. Walternate’s got a plan in mind. He  was using Olivia for a reason: to try to figure out how to cross safely to our side, and now he has some answers. [Around] the middle of the season, we’ll sort of [start] build[ing] to a collision point for these two sides as we get to the end.”

And what about the Olivia-Peter-Fauxlivia triangle? When I asked Pinkner and J.H. Wyman how long it would take Olivia to find out about the depth of the Peter-Fauxlivia relationship, it sounded like we won’t have to wait much.

“That’s certainly the big thing and it won’t take long at all,” Pinkner reassured. “What we find really valuable is just letting the truths come out and then playing the consequences of those truths. This is certainly — plot aside, from a character point of view — that’s certainly the most significant thing that has happened in the front half of this year.”

“Yes, last year, we really focused on the secrets, and this year, it’s definitely the results,” Wyman agreed. “We wanted to get into the real dramatic equation between Peter and Olivia, with [the Fauxlivia debacle] at the center, as quickly as possible.”

Sounds good, right?

New favorite term: “Vagenda.” Thank you, Walter Bishop, for your fabulously freaky brain.

What an amazing episode. Anyone else want to spend the next few days rewatching it over and over again?

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