This Week in Fringe - 4/22/11

Things seem to be winding down for this season of Fringe, which means universes will be destroyed or saved. Let's see which happens first.

Episode 20 - "6:02 AM EST"

Zach says: Olivia is back in her body and everything seems to be progressing nicely for everyone, that is, until the universe starts collapsing. As we saw previously, Walternate got a blood sample from Peter's baby, and it appears he has used that to turn on the machine, which not only caused the standard universe's machine to power up, but also started creating vortexes that are destroying our Earth, similar to what had been happening in the alternate universe since Walter stole Peter.

Now, it is up to Fringe Division and Massive Dynamic to predict and contain these events. Peter however, thinks he can stop it altogether by interacting with the machine to turn it off. Well, that doesn't go over so well, oops.

We see a little bit of the parallel universe this episode, mostly in characters' motives and beliefs. We see that Walternate knows that destroying the other universe is quite tragic and he knows the weight of his decision, however, he is very firm in his choice. We also see that Fauxlivia doesn't agree at all with Walternate's decision, as she tries to cross universes to get Peter and stop the machine.

And the last of the events is with Sam Weiss, the bowling alley owner guy, who knows an invaluable amount about the machine, etc. He looks very concerned about what is happening, and approaches Olivia to get to the machine before it's too late.

So, it's not looking too good for the home team right now, but it seems as though there are forces on both sides working for them, so I'm sure they'll be able to turn it around quickly. Hopefully, next week's episode acts as a continuation from this week, as I would be very let down if the story diverged into some other part of the plot. But, like I said, the season is winding down with only a few episodes left, so I'll keep my fingers crossed that we get some kind of satisfying conclusion before the finale.
Zach' Score: 7.5/10

JDW says: To be specific, there's just TWO episodes left... and it seems like there's a alot to cover besides just "which world survives". My biggest gripe was that for an episode where I'm seeing that the end of our universe is imminent, I was really "feeling" it.

And why suddenly bring Sam Weiss into this with 3 episodes left? Where the hell has he been all season? And if he's that important than why haven't we seen him. I don't like be told a guy is important if I never actually see him doing anything. I know it's a nit-picky thing to complain about, but if a character is going to be central to the plot, at least have him on screen. I don't need another Walt. Hopefully the final 2 episodes have something better to offer.
JDW's Score: 7/10

Overall Score: 7.3/10

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