FRINGE: Jeff Pinkner and J. H. Wyman on Peter’s Memories and Fate Versus Choice. Plus, ‘Witness the Return’ with a New Promo!

Sadly, there is no new episode of FRINGE tonight. But the good news is we’re one week closer to seeing what the heck will happen now that Peter knows no one in his life remembers him. (After everything he went through, how unfortunate is that?!)

I talked with FRINGE executive producers Jeff Pinkner and J.H. Wyman about what state Peter’s mind is in now that he’s back in solid form and they discuss fate versus choice, in regards to the future we saw presented at the end of season three…

In the last moments of the third season finale, Future Peter’s consciousness seemed to be in our Peter’s body, but aside from our Peter’s memories briefly going forward to the future and being confused by his surroundings, we don’t really know where his mind went —
Jeff Pinkner: To be clear, when Peter was in the hangar, he has that awareness, [but] he never disappeared from the machine [physically]. His consciousness took a little trip in to the future and then he came back with knowledge of that.

Right. So it seemed like the Peter that woke up in the machine had the memories and knowledge of all the things that had gone down in the 15 years we had missed, because he was very clearly happy to see the woman he thought was his wife was alive.
JP: That’s right.

Does that mean the Peter we got back is the one we’ve known for the past three seasons? Or is he the one who has all that future knowledge in his head?
JP: [Long pause] Um, well, the answer is yes to all of the above, and it’s slightly complicated because the future that he was aware of — in other words, everything that happened from 2011 to 2026 — was based on Peter making a choice inside that machine which destroyed the other universe. So when he made the choice to not destroy the other universe, presumably many, if not all, of the events from 2011 to 2026 that he witnessed, changed.

In other words, in A CHRISTMAS CAROL, when Scrooge decided to be benevolent, Tiny Tim’s family didn’t go broke. The Ghost of Christmas Future, those events didn’t happen, because they changed the present. So it’s similar with Peter — he will come back with the awareness of what could happen, but that doesn’t mean that it will.

And hopefully we will bypass whatever caused Broyles’ creepy eye, because that might be hard to look at for extended periods of time.
JP: Which is funny, because that gets into things of what is fate and what is choice? Sometimes even though you take a different step on the path, you end up in the same place, inevitably.
J.H. Wyman: Yeah, you may have different things happen, but you may end up in the same place [anyway].

If we end the show with poor Olivia getting a bullet in her brain from Walternate, that will not be fun.
JP: Oh, no, that would suck.

But we do have the fun prospect of Peter now kicking Walternate’s butt for shooting his wife in the head, given that he remembers what went down in the possible future timeline.
JP: Yes, kicking his ass for something he might do in the future would be awesome!

–

I’m totally Team “Peter Kicking Walternate’s Butt.” But on a serious note, do you have any theories about how Peter is going to deal with all those memories when no one remembers him?

And in case you haven’t seen the amazing “Witness the Return” promotional trailer, please watch it now, so you can understand why I’m still geeking out over it…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTXOZbSB0KU[/youtube]

Related:

FRINGE: Anna Torv and John Noble Tease ‘Subject 9,’ Massive Dynamic, Nina and…William Bell?!
FRINGE Spoiler Alert: Guess Whose Mother is Returning?
FRINGE: Seth Gabel Talks About the Lincolns, Their Relationships with the Olivias and More!

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