- Written By: David Fury
- Air Date: 12/21/2012
- Directed By: Jeffrey G. Hunt
- Starring: Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, John Noble, Jasika Nicole, Lance Reddick, Blair Brown
- Guest Stars: Michael Kopsa, Gabe Khouth
Last week, Walter and the crew gained an integral part of their plan… Michael, a child observer. While it’s a new actor (Rowan Longworth, an Observer-fied Lucas Haas), he’s recognizable to FRINGE fans, as the boy showed up in an alternate universe in a previous season. He has something to do with Donald, and is a key part to taking down the Observers. But why? How? And who the hell is Donald? We learn at least one of those answers in this episode, the 10th of the 13 in FRINGE’s final season.
Walter, who’s all over the place (loving, high, strict, and/or evil), wants to experiment on the child/subject and figure out what’s in his brain, and how to communicate with him, because he doesn’t talk or seem to recognize the group or really respond to anything they send his way. Flummoxed, they turn to Anil Nina Sharp! Apparently, there are still underground “black” Massive Dynamic labs around the city, and one such lab may have the clue to figuring out the Rubik’s cube that is Michael’s brain (because it was used to study Observers).
It’s not long after Nina leaves that her absence is noticed by the Observers, and Captain Windmark (Michael Kopsa) is after her, interrogating everyone who works with Nina in the Ministry of Science one by one. Because, god forbid, any other Observer does any work (seriously, is Windmark the only capable Observer? Loyalists do more than his Observer henchmen). Even in the lab, the computers are unable to comprehend Michael’s mind. And so, they go after another device in another warehouse to hook their minds up together.
This (obviously) doesn’t go as planned, as Windmark closes in on Nina, Michael, and the Fringe team, and while this episode was rather scatter-shot there is a tragic, yet satisfying, conclusion with a fairly big reveal. The episode’s title also has an awesome meaning, which should come as no surprise to loyal viewers. After a bombastic and fantastic start to its final season, FRINGE has kind of stumbled since the death of Henrietta (with the exception of Peter’s too brief run as an Observer himself), and Walter’s vague plan almost seems to be purposefully keeping the story from moving forward, but it still looks primed for a satisfying finish.
After all, only the final three episodes remaining…
