A spectacular and spectacularly informative montage at the end of Fringe 5.10 tonight - the 4th last hour of Fringe we'll ever see. A precis of crucial moments in Walter's life, conveyed by the boy Observer (who we learn is not a child but a genetic anomaly) to Walter, with the crucial information that Donald is ... September. I had been wondering what had happened to September, and if he would play some crucial role in the liberation of humanity from the Observer overloads - overlords with whom he disagreed increasingly in season 4 - play some crucial role even after he disappeared back in season 4, which now seems more like an eon than a season ago on Fringe. And now we know he will. And via some kind of time reset - as per Olivia in the coming attractions - which means all things are possible, including the return of even Etta in some fashion. For all things are possible in time resets, except perhaps the paradoxical removal of that which caused, triggered, or was otherwise necessary for the reset.Nina could come back, too. But just as Etta's death seemed so wrong, unfair, several weeks ago, so Nina's tonight seemed nobly appropriate. Her time had come, and she used it to defeat Windmark's attempt to get what was in her head - the saving montage which the good Observer, the child who is no child and has no chip implanted, later conveyed to Walter. Nina's death may also mean that Walter may not be able to get the troublesome parts of his brain removed - if Nina is the only one who could perform such surgery. I'm hoping he doesn't get the surgery - he has more potential with his brain intact, even in whatever unseen universe Fringe continues in after the end of the show on Earth in January. But certainly Observers have technology sufficient to such a task - their technologies are impressive indeed.
We got another cool example at the beginning of tonight's show, as Windmark and crew recover sound from whatever tiny impacts it made on the glass in Nina's office. I explored a related possibility in The Silk Code - recovering sound from ancient pottery - and it's an intriguing gambit indeed. Edison's phonograph was based on this very approach - not digital, of course, but not even electric, just the impact of sound upon some Victorian composite material which would later yield the sound when the recording was submitted to the proper stylus. This kind of classic science fiction mein has always been one of Fringe's strong suits.
And tonight's episode even had a nice little piece of humor, at least by my lights. Hastings corrects Windmark when the Observer calls Hastings "Mr" - it's "Dr." Hastings, the scientist replies, and Windmark complies. Why did I find that funny? I've been known to utter similar corrections, when someone I don't like, especially an authoritarian, calls me "Mr."
Just three episodes left - all in January - and now that we have a glimpse of a younger, more human September with hair, there's hope in the air.
... Fringe 4.2: Better and Worse Selves... Fringe 4.3: Sanity and Son ... Fringe 4.4: Peter's Back, Ectoplasm, and McLuhan ... Fringe 4.5: Double Return ... Fringe 4.6: Time Slips ... Fringe 4.7: The Invisible Man ... Fringe 4.8: The Ramifications of Transformed Alternate Realities ... Fringe 4.9: Elizabeth ... Fringe 4.10: Deceit and Future Vision ... Fringe 4.11: Alternate Astrid ... Fringe 4.12: Double Westfield / Single Olivia... Fringe 4.13: Tea and Telepathy ... Fringe 4.14: Palimpsest ... Fringe 4.15: I Knew It! ... Fringe 4.16: Walter Likes Yiddish ... Fringe 4.17: Second Chances ... Fringe 4.18: Broyled on Both Sides ... Future Fringe 4.19 ... Fringe 4.20: Bridge ... Fringe 4.21: Shocks ... Fringe Season 4 Finale: Death and Life
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