Josh Jackson ‏@VancityJax Until the end…. Thank you to everyone who has come along this 5 year journey with us.

JOEL WYMAN ‏@JWFRINGE GO FRINGE! THANK YOU SO MUCH. It cannot be overstated how much I appreciate your love for Fringe. From ALL of US to ALL of YOU. Enjoy XO.

It has taken me an hour and a half to literally compose myself to write this recap. If you follow me on Getglue, than you know what I wrote after Peter opened the envelope from his father.

“Fringe was the shiny beacon in a sea of less than stellar TV. It showed us what a show can and should be, entertaining, action-packed, heartfelt, humorous and intelligent. There is nothing else on TV like it and that is an utter shame. Fringe will be missed, but thank god the reruns are on the science channel.”

We were told that this shortened season would be like an epic movie and during the two hour finale we went through a roller coaster of emotions as we watched this beloved and highly thought of show barrel to the end.

We watched Olivia, not once, but multiple times step up to the plate to take care of business. She risked her life to snatch Michael before the observers dissected him, took on a slew of observers with Peter and Astrid to get items that would enable Michael to go to the future and finally she took out Windmark like the bad-ass she is.

Peter learned of his father’s plan to sacrifice his life to transport Michael to the future. When September tells him that he will be the one taking Michael, but then seeing September die… he knew what was going to happen. There he stood, watching his father about to escort the little observer boy to the future and he mouths to his father who considered Peter to be his favorite thing, “I love you, Dad.”
Just thinking about it makes me cry.

By Walter and Michael jumping to the future and prohibiting the creation of these observers, we see Peter calling out to his three year old daughter, Etta. This time she runs to him and they hug.

Bawling here.

In hindsight, this show was never about Olivia and the fringe events that sucked her into this crazy time traveling, universe hopping world… this show was about parental love. If you are a parent, you get it. You will sacrifice everything… even your own life for your child. That is what we heard from Walter, September and Peter. It was clearly stated in the following in a discussion between September and Walter after he realized that September had used the last time travel shot on himself, this would enable him to lead Michael to the future. September described how he felt when he was reunited with Michael. This coupled with seeing how Walter is with Peter made him realize that by escorting Michael to the future it would show Michael how much he loved him.

“When I saw what Peter meant to you, then I understood why [my feelings] were important,” he said. “When I take his hand and I lead him, he’ll know that I love him.”

Walter followed with, “That’s being a father.”

Walter had the most heart wrenching scenes. Yes, there were his moments with Peter, but it was the moment with Astrid that had me burst out into tears. This is a relationship where Astrid was the one constant in Walter’s life that could soothe him. She was almost maternal towards him. Astrid held on to hope, even if she knew that there was a good chance that this was not going to end the way she wanted, with the two of them drinking strawberry shakes in the lab. Walter hugged her and told her that her name was beautiful and he said it correctly for the last time.

Flash forward to the very end. Peter, Olivia and Etta are home. Peter picks up the stack of mail and he sees a plain envelope addressed to him from a “W. Bishop.” Inside, a card with a white tulip on it.

A fitting end to a wonderful show.

There were other high points to the episode:

We got to visit the alternate universe and we saw the other Olivia and Lincoln happily married and they had a son. This universe also seems to be faring well.

Broyles survived.

We got to see almost all the Fringe events happen in one hallway. It took out all the Observers and their sympathizers.

The last highlight happened when Peter looked at the stack of mail. Fringe thanked all their fans for their support.

We crossed the finish line indeed…

Image Credit: @ObFuSc8

Synopsis: While Walter tries to learn more about the mysterious Donald after Michael’s revelation, Windmark undertakes his own quest for knowledge.

Do you remember all those moments in the past five seasons where things happened and you thought revolved around the love of a father for his son, well after tonight’s episode we learned that it was not the love of Walter of Peter the set this course… it was the love of September for his little hybrid observer/human child, Michael. That boy will change the course of the future. How that happens gets a little sketchy as the observer that we’ve come to love to hate, Windmark, is hell bent on destroying the Bishops, September and Michael.

What was interesting about Windmark and another Observer was that they could appreciate music, plants, snowglobes, etc… Also, Windmark explained how he had this uncontrollable feeling of ridding the world of the Bishops. These moments show that observers still hold on to their humanity, they just cannot comprehend it.

Things come to a frenzied pitch when at a monorail station Michael hopped off the train leaving Peter, Olivia and Walter freaking out. We were left wondering what the hell…????????

What we did learn was that 1. Walter knows he will have to sacrifice himself and 2. Olivia believes that they will have a show to get Etta back. 3. September became human again after a biological reversal and when he was adjusting back to being human he stayed with Walter. 4. Michael is genetically linked to September and has the capacity to feel… even if he cannot emote it.

Lastly, there were a couple of bitter sweet moments that revolved around Peter and Walter. Walter voiced his love for his son and with the knowledge that he knows that he will have to sacrifice himself… this moment is all the more poignant.