Fringe: Peter Review

Fringe has finally returned after its two month hiatus (Now we just need Glee to return and life will be fully restored once more), and from everything I saw last night the next seven episodes are sure to be amazing. Just not as amazing as this episode. The episode for the most part takes place in 1985 looking back upon Walter Bishop's quest to save his dying son. It's needless to say that Walter fails, and Peter dies. But that is just the beginning, and what happens afterwards will no doubt affect the outcome of the rest of the season.

For so long the show runners have been talking about their priority on the emotion behind the secrets of Fringe instead of the secrets behind the secrets, and until now I haven't quite been convinced of this. There's not just one, but several moments during this episode that are far more powerful than any of the forced tragic mishaps of any Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook, Dear John, The Last Song) novel, and it's all due to the amazing central performance delivered by John Noble. I definitely see an Emmy nomination for him coming from this.

More than that this was just a beautifully heartbreaking episode, and I hope all of the secrets of the series have the same pay-off as this. The episode also sets up the inevitable reveal to Peter of the truth of his origins. And yes this episode does offer us more mysteries, such as how Walter tuned Peter in to our own reality, and whatever deal he made with the observer. It's also quite obvious to anybody that there will be consequences of what Walter did that may or may not have something to do with what's been going on this season.

No matter how unfamiliar with the series you are this episode is a must see. I'd speak about some of the problems with the episode, but I fail to find any except that after seeing this episode you may be motivated to look back at the previous episodes of the series to find something more. Michael Giacchino's score excells as it always has, and the cinematography in particular is quite stunning. The greatest talking points of Peter is its script and the actors who bring it to life. At the close of the episode Anna Torv does her best with almost no dialogue and brings across exactly what Olivia is feeling. This is the once in a lifetime episode that requires little knowledge of the existing mythology to get it's point across, and I'm convinced that anybody who sees will be moved in some way. My grade for this episode is a rare 10 out of 10 and you can see it at this link: http://www.hulu.com/watch/136811/fringe-peter