FRINGE: “The End Of All Things” Recap

Peter and Lincoln search Olivia’s apartment for any clues. Nina denied having been involved, but they don’t believe her. Peter is sure Olivia has been watched and he eventually finds the camera, hidden in a smoke detector. Lincoln has taken Walter’s place in shaming Peter for projecting his memories and feelings onto Olivia. Or maybe he’s just jealous because he’s realizing why Olivia suddenly doesn’t seem so into him.

Nina, the captive one, tells Olivia her story of how she came to be taken prisoner by Jones. It wasn’t her that came to Olivia’s apartment to care for her when she was sick, she’s been there a while. David Robert Jones comes in to enlighten Olivia a bit as to what he has been doing to her, continuing the cortexifan trials. The old notes made it quite clear that her responses in the trials were prompted by strong emotional responses. They torture Nina in front of her to gauge Olivia’s reaction. When she pleads with them to stop, Jones thinks they are on the right track.

A group of observers meet in a public square to discuss September. That doesn’t look strange at all. It seems none of them can locate him. December reminds them that September has repeatedly intervened on Peter’s behalf despite numerous warnings. They will wait, he will surface again and he will then face the consequences.

The Nina in residence at Massive Dynamic talks to Broyles. Only now she’s in residence at a holding cell in Fringe Division. Broyles isn’t buying her innocent act. He’d like to believe her, but if she means what she says then she needs to cooperate. Lincoln brings in records for Broyles that corroborate she has entered the storage area where the cortexifan was kept several times recently. She seems confused, insisting it isn’t possible, and thinks it must be a shapeshifter. She feels they’ve convicted her already and wants to lawyer up.

Back in the lab, Peter goes over the chip found in the hidden camera. Walter is angry with Peter, still believing Peter’s memories were being manifested in Olivia. While Walter rants, Peter starts picking up an image on the chip. He can see Olivia. He tries to dig deeper to see if there are images of anyone else.

Jones has captive Nina removed from the cell so he can talk to Olivia alone. Thinking she needs incentive to perform the task, he opens the blinds so that she can see Nina in the next room, strapped to a machine that looks like it was probably designed to torture someone. Jones opens a box of lights, same as the one Olivia manipulated before in the other timeline. Despite Nina being tortured in the next room, Olivia is not able to light them. Jones gives her a short time to rest, but it’s pretty clear when he returns she’d better have more success.

Peter, Astrid, and Walter continue watching video, finally finding an image of a man’s face looking directly into the camera. Peter says he’s been trying to think of any reason Nina might do this to Olivia, but in his timeline the only person who ever did anything like that was Jones. Maybe he’s doing it this time too, trying to activate Olivia. September, who has entered the room unnoticed, announces his presence by confirming Peter’s suspicions. September is still bleeding from his chest, as he was last time we saw him, and just before he collapses onto the floor, he tells Peter that Olivia needs him. They get him up onto a table, Astrid noting he’s been shot. His lung is collapsed, and as Walter tries to work on him Peter tells them that observers only show up at significant events. If he’s there, it’s important. Lincoln calls just to let them know Nina still isn’t talking.

Olivia and captive Nina discuss their situation. Olivia needs her help to perform the stunt required of her. Cortexifan is based on emotions, and Olivia’s trigger has always been fear for the safety of those she cares about. She tries to tell Nina about the recent effects of the cortexifan, that she doesn’t really remember their time together clearly right now, and maybe Nina could help her remember so that she can feel that connection. Nina tells Olivia some of their story, she brought Olivia and her sister home, but Olivia had a hard time adjusting and kept calling her Ms. Sharp. Nina had assured her they were a family now and they’d be okay, then she kissed her on the forehead, and Olivia called her Nina for the first time. Olivia told her she could only remember fragments of that life. She realizes this will never work, the only person it’s ever worked with was Peter. Nina seems astonished, Peter Bishop? Nina then has a much too conveniently timed attack and needs help. The thugs take Nina from the room on a gurney. When they get to Jones, she stands up and tells him they need Peter. She’s Alternate-Nina! Or, Meana, if you prefer.

Broyles has joined the gang at the lab, and tells them about September’s prior warning to Olivia. Walter wonders if, when he warned Olivia weeks ago, he was talking about events that are happening now. Walter says September’s organs are shutting down, he’s in septic shock, there’s nothing they can do for him. Astrid informs them they identified the man in the video, Leland Spivey, a man who died years ago. This is possibly his alternate from the other side. With September unable to help them, Peter wants Walter to help him get into September’s brain, since his brain is still alive, because he is the only one with answers.

Peter and September are joined in the mind. September knows that he is dying, but who shot him is not relevant. Olivia’s location isn’t relevant yet, either. He tells Peter he doesn’t have long and there is much Peter needs to understand before he goes. His name, September, is a code designation given to members of his scientific team. They are from many generations after Peter’s lifetime, one of many possible futures. Their technology allows them to travel inside and outside of time so that they can observe their beginnings. But he did more than observe. He made a mistake and he has done much to try and rectify it. Peter’s real father had found the cure that would have saved Peter’s life, but in September’s desire to witness the moment he distracted Walter from finding it. Peter is important, so September had to save him at the lake and allow the other Dr. Bishop to save him. The more he did to set things right the more it corrupted the timeline. The war between the universes drastically altered destinies, and brought to life a child that wasn’t meant to be, Peter’s son, Henry. Surprise, Peter, it’s a boy! Or it was a boy. He was born to the wrong Olivia Dunham, and this event would have altered everything that was to come. September tells Peter that when he made the sacrifice and stepped into the machine, Henry ceased to exist. September thinks Peter’s return to physical form was to allow him to put things right, and save the Olivia with whom he is to share a future. Something dark starts happening, September tells Peter they are coming, and Peter must go home. Peter awakens from the experience, and September vanishes from the examining table, much to the astonishment of all present.

Peter reflects on how September kept telling him he had to get back to his timeline, his Olivia. Lincoln makes a snide remark that he thought they were one and the same to him, then hurries away. Peter wonders whether September was being more literal when he said he had to get home, maybe not to his timeline but to his house. He grabs his jacket and heads home. He calls out to Olivia as he walks in the door, but Leland and another of Jones’ henchmen are there instead and knock him out.

Olivia hears noise coming from the torture room, and when they open the blinds she sees Peter with a knife to his neck. Jones returns to her and tells her she was being monitored (taking pains to not tip her off that Meana is his partner). He issues the warning to her again, and she starts turning on all the lights in the box with her mind, then starts playing with the lights all over the building. Jones is impressed, until she won’t stop and it feels like a lightning storm is happening in the building. Nina begs her to stop, and Olivia tells her she knows she’s not Nina. The first time Olivia called her Nina was her high school graduation, Nina told her she was an adult then so no more Ms. Sharp. Jones and his people rush out as the sparks fly from the light fixtures around them. Peter is knocked out, and Olivia rushes to get to him. She had remembered that when she was a little girl she did something similar and thought that if they brought him to her she might do is again. As they try to make their escape, Olivia has a seizure. Peter tries to tend to her, and they are attacked by one of Jones men. Peter knocks him out, helps Olivia up, and they go after Jones. He has opened a portal to the other side, and Nina has just gone through it. Olivia warns him to step away from the corridor, and he doesn’t listen. She shoots him, and it hardly fazes him. He tells her there are fringe benefits to having your body reassembled on an atomic level. He waves and crosses over. Olivia still isn’t well, so Peter holds her up and helps her outside as he calls for medical help.

Outside, Peter thinks maybe he is to blame, just as Walter said. At the gas station before she was taken, she was ready to come home with him, and he was ready to think it was okay. But it wasn’t. He promised himself he wouldn’t make the mistake again. He tells her he saw his Olivia, the one he was supposed to be with. She tells him if he looks in her eyes he will see it was her, but he thinks when he looks in her eyes he’s seeing what he wants to see. He knows his Olivia is out there in his timeline waiting for him. Despite her proclamation of love for him, he tells her he needs to stay away from her. He needs to go home.

Fringe will take a three week break, returning in late March with eight new episodes in a row. Fringe airs Friday’s at 9/8c on Fox.