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The Fringe episode titled "Peter" has really worked its way into my brain in a way that's generally reserved for Lost and Lost alone, as far as television based entertainments are concerned. After reading a few TV blogs' impressions of the episode, I thought I would offer my own insights that I haven't yet seen brought up.
The Observers: We seem them conversing in the parallel world, with Mr September setting out to rectify a mistake. We later see him in our world, making good on his promise. Do the observers freely move between the two worlds? And if so, does that make them exceptions to the general rule of there being two of everything? Or have they a way communicating with their counterparts on the other side?
How serious is this rule of two? Surely there can't be double of everything or, more accurately, everyone. The fact that the other side is about a generation, in people terms, not technology, ahead of our side in science and technology would make for a lot of differences. I'm willing to believe that many people would have their dopplegangers, but surely some people would simply not exist in both worlds.
Are there only two worlds, or are they infinite in number? Is the reason why travel and communication between the two on the show is possible is because they are something akin to temporal twins? Was there an event in the past that caused the metaphorical zygote to split, but still gestate within one womb?
Walter really is the start of everything: The show made it pretty clear that Walter's sojourn across the dimensional divide was the beginning of the Pattern--somewhat funny as the Pattern hasn't really factored into season 2 at all. Not only did he lay the scientific ground work for the lesser men who followed, as we learned in the first season, but his selfish-yet-understandable quest is what allowed the boundary between worlds to weaken. But does it go farther? Did Walter accidentally inflict the Blight on the other world? And is it possible that the mastermind behind the assault from the other side is Bizarro Walter, a man done an unimaginable sin by our Walter?
Pre-lobotomized Walter wasn't just more cool and confident, he was also a bit of an a-hole, a narcissist, and an egomaniac. Obviously, it's incredibly wrong to kidnap a child. I can understand his decision to keep other Peter; the unspoken exchange between Walter and his wife as she held the seemingly resurrected child in her arms almost brought me to tears. But I didn't forget that on the other side a bizarre scene of confusion, suspicion, and loss must have have been playing out. Secondly, Walter appears to have been suffering a God-complex. "There is only room for one God in this laboratory and it isn't yours." I'm happy to see them add more complexity and depth to whom is already the most compelling character on the show. Now if only some of that would rub off on Peter and Olive.
The more Walter I get the better. He's certainly the most interesting character, and I think the actor steals almost every scene he's in. Maybe it's those gravelly pipes. He can cycle through 2-3 emotions in a scene, it's nuts.
ReplyDeleteI wondered about many of these things myself. From the rationale about why the other world exists, it seems like an infinite number of worlds would be possible. It seems like that would be too much to tackle in a TV series so I'm guessing they'll shy away from it unless they really want to get into Lost territory.
We know some people don't exist on both sides, like Peter. I wonder with the theory about mass balancing if Other Nina's arm was transported somewhere into Olivia's world. Or what happened when Peter was pulled out of the Other world? Was he trans-dimensionally exhumed, giving Walternate an even more bizarre story? If Walter was willing to end the world to save his other son, what wouldn't Walternate do for revenge?
I have my suspicions about The Observers. They specifically remind me of something from Lovecraft's "Shadow Out of Time." Although, I'm guessing Lovecraft's idea may be a little more complex.
I hope this season they can swap out some of the monster episodes to add some depth to Peter and Olivia as they're not very developed. Olivia seems like a slave to the plot line, with Peter as her facilitator. If they aren't careful Walter's lifetime of amazing accomplishments that are coming to light could outshine the rest of the characters.