For any who have followed my reviews of Fringe over the past year, you will know that this has been a long time coming. A hectic schedule led to a delayed write-up and had me preparing this review of Fringe's final two episodes almost a month after they had aired. Instead of releasing the reviews at a time where Fringe fans would be happily lounging by the side of a pool or crying in a darkened room, (depending on how they choose to deal with a hiatus) I figured best to wait until just before the season four premiere before unleashing them. That way I could turn it into a bit of a preview of the up and coming season as well as looking back at where we last were. The first part of my three part review/preview of Fringe S3/S4 is focused on "The Last Sam Weiss," tomorrow will focus on "The Day We Died" and then on Wednesday I will preview S4. Time to start getting excited.
Where I left my previous review was with Sam Weiss and Olivia reuniting in order to save the world from the titular destruction at 6:02AM. Eastern Standard Time if you're being picky, but in general there's not long left until Walternate's machine over there rips a hole in our world's butt like none we've ever seen before! It was all building to a great crescendo, and with a penultimate episode title as exciting as "The Last Sam Weiss" I am sure I didn't stand alone in thinking that this episode was whetting the appetites perfectly.
I also don't stand alone in feeling underwhelmed with the reveal of Kevin Corrigan's Sam given what we all were expecting. Admittedly it's cool to add a layer of back-history and mythology that Sam's forefather's have all been protecting and discovering secrets connected to a ancient manuscript a Sam Weiss found many years ago. It's also a story that would be great to see, and with the creative team that is behind the show we may still yet see it, but to have an explanation that Sam is not some time-travelling/never-aging being but rather a man who is just named after his father is slightly disappointing given the twists and reveals we have come to expect from the show. Where we leave Sam means there is undoubtedly still more of his story to discover. That helps in easing my fears that Sam isn't as important as I hope he is, but for now it leaves a slight sour taste; I want my answers now!
In spite of that, the Sam/Olivia scenes felt as fresh, fun and gripping as they always have, the dynamic between Kevin Corrigan and Anna Torv has always brightened the episodes where they meet and the almost tongue in cheek method that Sam used to help their escape from the Whitley Museum (the bowling vase) was one of the neatest pay-offs to come from their many meetings at the alley.
"The Last Sam Weiss" was less of a set-up episode than "6:02" was as the reveal of the crowbar key was as big a revelation as the show managed last season, but elsewhere felt very much like it was placing pieces into place from whatever was to come in the finale. Returning firstly to the crowbar key, the discovery that Olivia was in fact that missing piece was the best part of the episode, the hairs on the back of my neck standing up as the famous image of a fiery Peter Bishop adjoined with the long locks of Olivia's blonde head.
It was the sort of pay-off that we hadn't realised was coming, the signs right before our eyes but never even being questioned. It was this element where the episode won it's kudos and deservedly so. It shows forethought from the writing, and adds depth to the structure of the series, and it also adds to the Peter/Olivia relationship to know that they too share a reciprocal connection. Could this connection be important in her finding Peter again in season four. I perhaps wouldn't bet my house on it, but if I owned a couple then I would certainly consider betting one of them. The layers that the writers have added to that relationship throughout season three, in particular in "Subject 13" hint at a much bigger importance to Peter & Olivia's lives being pulled together throughout.
Elsewhere, Peter had been booted from the machine is electrifying fashion, landing himself into first a coma and secondly a small bout of amnesia. As a worried Walter and a motivated Astrid tried to uncover the meaning of the bizarre electric storms circulating the country, Peter awakens and slips out of the hospital silently as the staff deal with the ever-increasing victims of the doomsday. I am sure that many people felt that Peter had slipped into believing he was from over there and that there would be more focus on his memory loss as we headed into the finale, but it was a small red herring to help get Peter where he needed to be around the final five minutes of the episode. That place of course is Liberty Island and his most important encounter with his reciprocal metal partner.
John Noble may not have been given a great deal to play with in the episode, but his overwhelming sense of grief was fantastically conveyed, and his shift into action through Astrid was believable and exciting to watch. Providing great humour in his kite experiment, Noble proved once again that he doesn't need much to work with to make his character as loveable and powerful as he always is. His driven determination for his son is a gripping and powerful focus for the former mental asylum inmate, and given his son's new-found absence as we begin season 4 (I'll get into this more tomorrow) it will be interesting to see how his world swerves out of control.
As Sam is benched by Broyles to watching from afar, the main cast all...
OBSERVER ALERT:
...converge on Liberty Island for the moment everyone expected in the final moments of the finale. Surely they were arriving at their destination too soon? Surely Sam Weiss is going to do something given his apparent importance to the episode? Surely... something!
But no, Fringe played its cards early, and as the moment arrived it became clear why. The Fringe writers had something else up their sleeves. They wanted to tell us exactly what happened when Peter went into the machine this season. Our finale cliffhanger was to be something else entirely!
The emotion and drama of Peter arriving into the machine was perfect; his girlfriend, father and colleagues with him all hoping and praying he survives the interaction. As the clamps closed shut on him everyone watching still had no clue what was coming, and as Peter thrashed around in agony from the machine's effects I'm sure many breaths were being held across the globe. It was intense, powerful and important film making and the moment that the entire season was aimed at reaching and for such a pivotal moment it was delivered with perfection.
As Peter's eyes reopened and the world came into focus, the feeling everyone watching had went from hope to confusion. Your breath of course still being held and the need to start breathing again reaching critical levels at this point. The world is on fire, military running around aimless, smoke, ash and dust cover the streets and an equally confused Peter rises to see himself in a foreign and unknown place. Ahead of him is the Freedom tower, the signature twin towers of the alternate world not present. So we're not over there, but that must mean... we're over here. Still holding breath... Peter looks down at a plaque on the floor, just in case you hadn't quite gotten there yet. "Dedicated to their memory. September 11 2021." Finally everyone watching Fringe breathed again. But only to gasp at the air and turn to whoever you're watching with.
"He's in the future!?!"
If only you had known at that point what was coming next!
9/10
Adam
(tbc tomorrow...)
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