# Fringe - January 20, 2012 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 21, 2012, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-january-20-2012/610203 "2012-01-21T06:36:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-january-20-2012/610203/21 "2012-01-22T18:12:42Z")
> [@Snooooopy](#): > > I’m a latecomer to the series, so I’m just getting to know David Robert Jones. He certainly has given this season a much-needed shot in the arm! [Here’s how he died the first time.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Obv_lTDONDQ) ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-january-20-2012/610203/22 "2012-01-22T19:16:43Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > The theory is that The Machine didn’t change time at all. What it did was shove Peter (who there’s apparently only one of, in all the universes) into a whole new parallel universe. So there’s Earth-Walter (where our Peter grew up), Earth-Walternate (where our Peter was stolen from), Earth-Walternate-2 (where some other Peter was stolen from), and Earth-Water-2 (where Walter-2 stole Peter-2 but failed to save him). The machine didn’t change time so the Earths became the Earths-2 versions, it moved Peter from the regular Earths to the Earths-2.\ Yeah, still gonna need a diagram. 🙂 > [@](#): > > I don’t want Monster of the Week, I want Monster-Every-Third-Week with the war between Walter and Walternate’s earths heating up and coming to a head…and resolved. That would work for me. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-january-20-2012/610203/23 "2012-01-22T19:31:45Z")
Old Timeline-------New Timeline ------------------------/ -----------------------/ ----------------------/ ---------------------/ -Peter saved—Peter not saved from drowning from drowning | ---------------- | | --- | ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-january-20-2012/610203/24 "2012-01-23T01:34:28Z")
Oh - that makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-january-20-2012/610203/25 "2012-01-23T01:44:42Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Oh - that makes sense. Since there’s no tone of voice or body language that comes with typed messages, I’ll assume that you’re being serious and not sarcastic. 🙂 And for anybody who’s gotten into the show late and doesn’t know what I mean by Peter drowning (probably no-one), I’m talking about when Walter went over and came back with 8 year old Peter. The machine to open the portal between worlds was on ice. After Walter came back with Peter they fell through the ice. In the old timeline an Observer saved them (well, Peter anyway). In this new timeline he didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-january-20-2012/610203/26 "2012-01-23T23:20:32Z")
> [@Nawth\_Chucka](#): > > I want to pop in here and say Lance Reddick was on my flight to SLC from BWI last night _while Fringe was on the air_. I thought, ‘Gee, you’d think if he wants to save his job he’ll watch his own show.’ But I didn’t ask him that, he’d have shredded me into pieces in the name of Greater Good. > [@RikWriter](#): > > I’m sure he has a DVR. > [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > And I doubt he’s a Neilsen family. Also, it’s not unheard of for actors to not be able to watch their own performances. No idea if that’s the case for him, but just wanted to throw that out there. > [@Nobody](#): > > And for anybody who’s gotten into the show late and doesn’t know what I mean by Peter drowning (probably no-one), I’m talking about when Walter went over and came back with 8 year old Peter. The machine to open the portal between worlds was on ice. After Walter came back with Peter they fell through the ice. In the old timeline an Observer saved them (well, Peter anyway). In this new timeline he didn’t. And the Observer only had to interfere there because previously one had distracted Walternate and prevented him from discovering the cure for Peter’s illness, which lead to Walter’s entire universe destroying misadventure in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-january-20-2012/610203/27 "2012-01-23T23:28:18Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > Since there’s no tone of voice or body language that comes with typed messages, I’ll assume that you’re being serious and not sarcastic. :)\ I was - your diagram helped me understand why we have four universes now. I’m not sure if it’s good or bad that I’m having such a hard time understanding what the hell is going on - it sure ain’t a show aimed at the lowest common denominator! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-january-20-2012/610203/28 "2012-01-23T23:28:24Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > And the Observer only had to interfere there because previously one had distracted Walternate and prevented him from discovering the cure for Peter’s illness, which lead to Walter’s entire universe destroying misadventure in the first place. See, this is what has been bugging me for the longest time. The Observers say that Peter is special and must fulfill a purpose. What is that purpose? A season or two later we learn that it’s to operate the machine. But it seems that it wouldn’t be necessary to operate the machine if the observer hadn’t interfered in the first place because Walter would have no reason to cross over. I can only guess that maybe there was going to be a breach between universes one way or another, and that if it wasn’t Walter trying to save Peter then it would have happened another way. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-january-20-2012/610203/29 "2012-01-23T23:36:48Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > I was - your diagram helped me understand why we have four universes now. Glad to help. I got the idea for the diagram partially from _Back to the Future part 2_ :D. > [@](#): > > I’m not sure if it’s good or bad that I’m having such a hard time understanding what the hell is going on As said before, I don’t like it because there’s no good in-world reason for it. The executive producers wanted to show how much Peter has impacted everybody’s lives and how things would be different had he not been around. That’s why they temporarily erased and then brought back Peter. > [@](#): > > - it sure ain’t a show aimed at the lowest common denominator! 🙂 No it isn’t. And that’s probably partially why it’s always in danger of cancellation. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-january-20-2012/610203/30 "2012-01-24T13:25:05Z")
I really enjoyed this episode, probably more so than any other this season. Only thing I’m getting tired off is Fauxlivia, or rather, the way Anna Torv plays her. Over on TWOP, somebody described her as ‘all swagger and jazz hands’, and I think that’s all too fitting; it seems like she’s trying way too hard to project some aura of impulsiveness, or something. But then again, that’s like the fourth version of the character she’s had to play, giving them all their own unique identity can’t be easy… ---
**Author:** ![SykoSkotty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@SykoSkotty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SykoSkotty)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-january-20-2012/610203/31 "2012-01-24T14:40:11Z")
> [@](#): > > The Observers say that Peter is special and must fulfill a purpose. What is that purpose? The way I understood it, Peter’s purpose was to unite the two universes. Which is what happened at the end of last season. He was then erased (and a new universe was brought to reality where no one knows Peter ever existed) because his purpose had been fulfilled. For reasons yet to be explained Peter somehow has reappeared, in a universe where the two sides know of each other and frequently interact. Did anyone notice in the last episode, the Observer in the crowd right behind Peter? I’ll see if I can find a screenshot somewhere. My wife and I were watching and I said, “did you see that?” I backed up the DVR and hit pause and there he was, right in the middle of the crowd. My theory is that the Observers thought no one would remember Peter but Walter’s fragile mental state allowed memories of Peter to come back, and somehow it was these emotional ties that have Peter existing in this new universe. ---
**Author:** ![SykoSkotty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@SykoSkotty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SykoSkotty)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-january-20-2012/610203/32 "2012-01-24T14:55:32Z")
[http://www.fringefiles.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=230&pid=81158#top\_display\_media](http://www.fringefiles.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=230&pid=81158#top_display_media) Check that - I was wrong, he was behind Agent Lee with Fauxlivia, not behind Peter, but still, the link above shows the screenshot. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-january-20-2012/610203/33 "2012-01-24T20:28:03Z")
You’re supposed to be able to find an observer in every episode if you look hard enough. I never do though. Anyway, in this timeline Peter didn’t activate the machine since he died when he was eight. So since someone else activated the machine, that seems to make Peter not so special. Unless maybe they use some mumbo-jumbo that in this timeline the machine seemed to activate on its own, but in “reality” it was quantum entangled with the machine from Peter’s old timeline and so that’s how it could activate without Peter being in the new timeline. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-january-20-2012/610203/34 "2012-01-24T21:46:18Z")
Since there’s only one Peter in all the parallel universes (becaus the Observer only saved one of him), maybe if he activates one machine they all activate. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-january-20-2012/610203/35 "2012-01-24T22:14:23Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > Since there’s only one Peter in all the parallel universes (becaus the Observer only saved one of him), maybe if he activates one machine they all activate. Wondertwin powers - Activate! (the more this talk about this show, the more I’ll be glad when they wrap it up - good/bad/indifferent - I just want to see what they were intending to do). ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-january-20-2012/610203/36 "2012-01-24T22:26:04Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > Since there’s only one Peter in all the parallel universes (becaus the Observer only saved one of him), maybe if he activates one machine they all activate. In the original timeline the machines in both universes were “quantum entangled” which is why I’m guessing they’ll say something similar about the machines of both timelines. All four machines (two universes \* two timelines) were/are quantum entangled. So yeah, Peter activating one activates them all through quantum entanglement. > [@simster](#): > > (the more this talk about this show, the more I’ll be glad when they wrap it up - good/bad/indifferent - I just want to see what they were intending to do). Amen. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-january-20-2012/610203/37 "2012-01-24T23:43:45Z")
> [@simster](#): > > (the more this talk about this show, the more I’ll be glad when they wrap it up - good/bad/indifferent - I just want to see what they were intending to do). Famous last words of anyone who ever watched a JJ Abrams show, shortly before the wails of disappointment and anger arose. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fringe-january-20-2012/610203.md?page=1)