FRINGE - Official Season 4 Thread

Entering its fourth season on FOX, Fringe continues to reign as one of the most innovative, impressive and ingenious shows on television – and rightfully so. The character relationships, science stories and carefully woven mythology have made the show not just a hit among fans, but among critics as well.

In anticipation of the season premiere tonight, here is a compiled brief summary of what may be important for you to know – and remember – from last season.

We were always aware that due to Peter’s connection with the Doomsday device, there would be a consequence – but we never could have guessed how massive this consequence could be. After Walternate activated the machine in the parallel universe, Peter activated the prime universe’s own machine in order to try to stop it. He was sent 15 years into the future (which included a world run by Walternate and a stable a marriage with Olivia) and found that the universe was suffering from multiple wormholes, as a result of the prime and parallel universes being merged together.

Upon waking up again back in 2011, Peter eventually realized that the only way to truly destroy the machine was to merge the two universes by bringing the two machine rooms together, thus creating a bridge. After appearing to convince both universes that they need to work together to destroy the machine, Peter disappeared – having apparently never existed in the first place.

So, what is Peter’s “role” in the world’s master plan now that he doesn’t exist? Since cast and crew are keeping mum about his plot point, all we know is that Joshua Jackson is certainly returning to the show, which means we’ll hopefully get the answer to our question sooner rather than later.

Undoubtedly the biggest aspect of Fringe’s second season was the ongoing war between the two universes – the prime and the parallel. We began the season with prime universe Olivia being trapped in the parallel world after a deceptive switch that left Bolivia to take on infiltrating the prime world Fringe division. Until Olivia managed to find a way to cross back over, Bolivia set the season in motion in many ways – including taking charge of a budding romance with Peter. This left prime world Olivia in a lurch when she finally returned, as she found that Peter had started a real romantic relationship – just not exactly with her.

With the two universes now merged, even just for a little while, we can bet on seeing a lot of parallel universe characters mixed in with their prime ones. The big question is, how will this affect our characters and their interactions?

At the end of the first season, we were left with the following cliffhanger: even though we had been seeing Peter all season…he was actually dead. In the second season, we came to find out that Walter’s real son, the Peter in the prime universe, had died when he was a child. When Walter discovered the parallel universe (and parallel versions of himself, his wife and Peter) he became obsessed with watching them, using this obsession to cure his own sadness that his son’s death had caused. The final straw was when Walter watched Walternate miss the correct cure for Peter’s illness. Along with his Massive Dynamic colleague William Bell, Walter devised a way to cross over into the parallel universe where he took Peter and brought him over to the prime universe to replace the Peter who had died. And although he had every intention of returning him once he was cured, Walter became unable to do so once he grew to love Peter as his own.

To build on that history, we discovered that both Peter and Olivia had met before – as children in Jacksonville, where Walter was using young kids to experiment with Cortexiphan. Olivia (as a child) had found a way to cross over into the parallel universe, and Walter tried to use it as a way to understand his own work. Peter and Olivia took the time to bond with each other as children, giving each other the same kind of support and advice they would later come to rely on in the future.

In the parallel universe, we learned that Bolivia was pregnant with a child – by Peter, whom she started a relationship with during her time in the prime universe. When Walternate discovered this, he kidnapped her and used a procedure to speed up her pregnancy. Ultimately, Bolivia escaped and delivered her child normally (with a little help from parallel universe Lincoln Lee, who had a soft spot for Bolivia all season.)

It was later revealed that Walternate (who figured out Bolivia’s child was a result of her and Peter’s relationship in the prime universe) was using Bolivia in order to get a blood sample of her new son – believing that if he had enough, he could activate the doomsday machine.

It’s been a long summer…but we’ve almost reached the end. Are you ready for season 4? Fringe returns on Friday, September 23 at 9/8c on FOX.

The prayers of Fringe fans from around the world have been answered: Fox has renewed Fringe for season 5, which will also serve as the series’ finale.

This news came after months of waiting in anticipation for an announcement. Ever since Fox president Kevin Reily revealed that the network was losing “a lot of money on the show,” fans of the series have been preparing for the worst.

Fortunately, Fox has somewhat of a soft spot for Fringe and its many fans. So in order for the series to continue, Warner Bros. has agreed to reduce the amount that Fox pays the studio for each episode of the show.

Here’s what Reily had to say about Fringe’s renewal:

Fringe is a remarkably creative series that has set the bar as one of television’s most imaginative dramas. Bringing it back for a final 13 allows us to provide the climactic conclusion that its passionate and loyal fans deserve. The amazing work the producers, writers and the incredibly talented cast and crew have delivered the last four seasons has literally been out of this world. Although the end is bittersweet, it’s going to be a very exciting final chapter.

What makes Warner Bros. so willing to negotiate down their asking price? With Fox renewing Fringe for a 13-episode final season, the series will pass the 100-episode syndication mark (meaning: more money for Warner Bros.).

And now with Fringe returning for season 5, the highly anticipated Fringe season 4 finale will be edited to include the additional footage which leads the story into the next season. Originally created with two endings that would either be added or left off depending on renewal, the May 11th finale will serve to wrap up many of the series storylines – but not all of them.

If you’re curious what direction Fringe season 5 will head into, Peter Bishop himself, Joshua Jackson, revealed that the battle between the Fringe team and the Observers in the year 2036 is the key. “If you watch that, you’ll have an understanding of where they want to take the series,” Jackson says.

Whether you’re a fan of the series or not, it’s always great when a television show is able to end on its own, and allow its many viewers a chance to experience the complete, intended story. That being said, Fringe has certainly earned its position to end its story properly.

Being the only purely science-fiction series on television isn’t easy. With broadcast networks looking to appeal to the masses, science-fiction often doesn’t garner a large enough audience to allow the series to grow into its own. But thanks to the many fans of Fringe, many of whom followed the series through its many moves and awkward hiatuses, network television’s last surviving sci-fi show will receive a proper farewell.

http://screenrant.com/fringe-season-5-renewed-aco-167584/

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