FRINGE: “And Those We’ve Left Behind”

When Fringe left off last week, Walter wanted nothing to do with Peter, Olivia thought of him as a stranger, and Peter was all alone in the world. When we pick up this week, well, nothing has changed really. We open with Peter having a very sweet dream about he and Olivia in the park, watching their child…er, watching Walter, swinging. When he wakes, he’s still in the nice little cell Broyles gave him. Olivia arrives to talk to him, there is a problem with time and they think it has something to do with his arrival.

A little girl, about five years old, is running about her apartment as her mom washes dishes. The mom looks at her daughter, then turns back to her task only to find that the room has burned and is nothing but ash and charred belongings now. She can’t find her daughter, but hears a baby cry and runs to her, then rushes out of the building. As she stares at the ruins of the building, the baby in her arms is now five again and asks what’s happening.

On the drive to the lab, Peter wants Walter’s theory regarding the time anomalies. Olivia says Walter doesn’t have one, he wants nothing to do with Peter. Lincoln’s call interrupts the conversation, informing them of another incident. Peter and Olivia are on their way.

On the scene of the event, Astrid is getting instructions by phone from Walter. She’s spraying something in the air. It’s supposed to indicate anomalies if there is a bleed through from the other universe. Walter complains about the poorly written instruction manual. The scorch marks in the apartment form a perfect circle, like the fire burned in the shape of a ball. Interestingly, there was a fire in that building four years ago. Broyles sends Olivia and Peter on to the lab, and he’s not happy that Walter doesn’t want to work with Peter. He says Walter doesn’t get to choose. Walter is definitely crankier in this timeline, but he’s still highly entertaining.

Walter insists on referring to Peter as “the subject”. He can’t find anything wrong and concludes that Peter is not the cause of the time related anomalies. Peter thinks he can’t know that based on the short exam. Peter is surprised to learn Walter lives in the lab, that it’s the only place he feels safe. Walter retires to his bedroom and Peter says if Walter won’t help him, he’ll do it himself. He thinks the problem is time displacement, and his return damaged the time-space continuum.

Some teenagers are driving down the road, when suddenly a train appears. They stop and get out to have a better look. The train isn’t totally there, you can see it in one small circle of space, like it only exists in that circle.

Peter has no answers. There are too many variables and not enough constants. Olivia finds that most of the incidents happened within 40 miles of Boston. Walter returns and offers to make Olivia a sandwich. He’s giving Peter the cold shoulder, can’t even look at him. Olivia says she can’t blame him, especially with the visions he was having before Peter’s arrival. Peter didn’t know about the visions, but seems pleased to hear he was also showing up in Olivia’s dreams. He tells her this is where he’s supposed to be, this is his home. Lincoln again interrupts, this time in person, and tells them about the teenagers and train. As Peter starts preparing to go with them, he’s suddenly already on the scene. He’s very confused, he doesn’t know how they got there. He thinks he had a time jump.

On the drive home, they learn the train along that route was discontinued four years ago, but mid-conversation Peter again experiences a time jump. They are on scene again. Peter investigates the vehicle involved, and finds that it’s been exposed to high levels of radiation and the bumper crumbles in his hands. Then he’s back in the car again. He mutters ’this could get annoying.’ Yeah, it could get confusing too. Peter believes there is someone is causing this.

Two scientists, Kate and Raymond, are working in their home. They are married. She’s busy solving an equation. He keeps checking his watch, which is counting down. When it runs out of time, his wife is gone. He goes to the other side of the house, she is there, staring straight ahead. He offers her tea, and she asks who he is.

Walter is listening to “Too Much Time on My Hands” with headphones on, so he can’t hear Olivia and Peter talking. Peter is searching for a pattern to the events. Lincoln reports even more events. Walter suddenly springs to life, he’s ready to present a theory…the event locations make up a spiral, and he believes the inner point of the spiral is the source.

Kate tells Raymond she must do Christmas shopping, but he’s soothing her and tells her they have all the time in the world. He takes the problem she was working on before the time changed back and enters it into his computer in the basement. Whatever it does, he now has 47 minutes counting down on his clock. He goes inside the house and she’s back at the table working on the problem again.

Olivia and Peter canvas the location that Walter pinpointed, questioning the residents. She asks Peter if he has something on his mind. He asks her if they were in a park in the dreams, did she feel anything? She says he’s a stranger, and questions what would she feel, then walks away.

Kate asks for a particular book and Raymond gets it for her. He hears a siren and looks outside where he sees police cars. He rushes to Kate and tells her he has to show her something amazing. He takes her to the basement and shows her the time change device he created from her work. He has it up to 47 minute stretches now, but needs her to complete the equation so he can keep it open indefinitely. She asks what year it is, and is shocked to learns it’s 2011.

A salesman approaches Kate and Raymond’s house and steps into an unseen bubble. He screams and Olivia turns to look just as he disintegrates. Walter relays instructions by phone for Olivia to approach the bubble and spray it. When she does, a large time bubble shows. It’s pretty, like a rainbow. Peter tells Olivia they need a particular device to allow them to cross through it, and Walter is miffed. He knows what they need, he knows what it is, a baboon would. He hangs up and gives Astrid a list of things he needs. He thinks they’re in his Spiderman pack. God, I love Walter.

Broyles has located the owners of the house. The wife has early onset Alzheimer’s. Peter has determined where the next event will happen. There is a tunnel that didn’t exist four years ago, people will drown if there is a time lapse there. Lincoln heads to the tunnel to get people out of harms way. Astrid arrives with the device Walter made and after debating with Olivia, Peter wins and will go inside to turn the time altering machine off. Peter reaches through the bubble. So far, so good. He braces, then walks through. He’s still alive! Walter, watching from the lab, remarks that Peter is very smart. Walter’s frosty demeanor is melting ever so slightly.

Kate urges Raymond to stop this, turn it off. She asks why he did this, and he just stares at her. She realizes something happened to her. Raymond tells Kate no one can come in their home, it’s impossible. All they need to do is solve the problem. She tells him she already did. She just hasn’t written it down. Peter makes his way through the house and into the basement. He sees the computer, but Raymond knocks him out from behind before he can stop it. Lincoln is in the tunnel, trying to get people cleared out. He’s sending the team a video of the bubble as it forms.

Raymond and Kate are arguing and don’t notice Peter is awake and approaching them with a bat. Kate warns Peter of the danger if the machine isn‘t shut down properly. Raymond didn’t know of the events happening to others. Kate says she will shut the machine down if they give immunity to her husband, he didn’t know what would happen. Peter goes out to relay the request to Broyles and Olivia. Raymond is telling Kate how much she means to him and how he did this for them. He needs her to write the answer to that equation and it will all be done. He will build it again for her. She cries as she writes in her notebook.

Across town at the tunnel, water is starting to burst through the bubble, Lincoln and a lot of people still inside. Peter returns to Raymond and Kate and assures them Raymond won’t be prosecuted. Kate and Raymond share a moment, she tells him she loves him, and he shuts the system down. Kate disappears. Back in the tunnel, the water disappears as well.

As the Fringe team confiscates items from the home, Raymond tells Kate (in her rocking chair) that he has to go, but a nurse will be there with her. When no one is looking he grabs her notebook out of the desk and flips through it. She blacked out all the equations and left him a final message telling him she wants him to live his life.

Back at headquarters, Broyles commends Peter. It wasn’t his appearance that caused the problems. Peter disagrees, he heard Raymond say the device only started working three days ago, same timeframe that he arrived. Peter believes it’s clear he’s in the wrong place, all the people he loves are elsewhere. He has to figure out how to get home. Broyles says he can make him more comfortable while he’s with them and arranges for him to live in the same house Peter shares with Walter in the other timeline. Peter and Olivia go there. She informs him there will be an FBI agent out front, but she will talk to Walter and see if she can get him to help him. She asks “I was important to you, wasn’t I?” She sees how he looks at her when he thinks she’s not aware. She hopes he gets back to that other version of her. She walks away, once again leaving Peter all alone.

Does Peter belong there? Or is he meant to be back in his other timeline, with his Olivia? Will he find a way to leave, just as cracks are starting to show in Walter’s tough veneer? I have mixed feelings about it, because these versions of Walter and Olivia have holes in their lives because they haven’t had Peter there. If he leaves, they never will fill that void.