Our Top 10 Fringe Moments… so far
8. Olivia Knows
Season 2, Episode 14 ‘Jacksonville’
Over the first two seasons, Peter and Olivia grew closer and closer. In the fourteenth episode of the second season, when the pair almost kiss, they finally become more than friends. That particular episode they avert disaster by using Olivia’s Cortexiphan abilities, which allow her to see a ‘glimmer’ on things from the other side. When the panic is over Peter and Olivia are going to go out for drinks. Neither of them have had much romance lately, with Olivia’s last romantic interest being John Scott in the pilot (ok, there was that guy in Germany who she almost slept with). However, when Olivia arrives at the Bishops’ door she sees Peter glimmer. It can mean only one thing – he is from the other side. Walter immediately knows what has happened and pleads with her “Please don’t tell him.”, but as hard as Walter tries, the audience know that this is the beginning of the end of the secret.
7. Peter is Erased
Season 3, Episode 22 ‘The Day We Died’
The season three finale is truly one the most breathtaking hours of TV I have ever seen. Peter glimpses 2026 and realises that the universes are linked, and if one dies, the other dies with it. So he uses the machine to create a bridge between universes to make crossing easier so that they can begin to repair the damage caused by Walter’s first crossing. As the Walters and the Olivias face off, Peter explains that the universes have to stop fighting and work together. But, half way through his speech, he disappears. However no one reacts, they just turned away as if he wasn’t ever there, and, as the Observers inform us as the they stand around the Statue of Liberty, he wasn’t ever there.
Fringe throws out a total game changer – Peter has been removed from existence by our bald friends. Pretty awesome, right?
6. Meet the Observer
Season 1, Episode 4 ‘The Arrival’
‘The Arrival’ is one of my fondest Fringe memories. It’s the moment when I realised that this show was something special. The episode opens beautifully with Willie Nelson’s ‘Crazy’ playing as we meet a very peculiar bald man. He is strange in the way he looks, talks and acts and it is great meeting him for the very first time. But the best part is, this isn’t the first time we’ve met him. In fact, he (or one of his fellow Observers) have appeared in each and every episode to date.
The opening is quite calm. The Observer, officially known as September, enjoys his sandwich and uses a few weird gadgets that appear futuristic, yet dated. Then the ground begins to shake and there is chaos at a nearby construction site. Everyone panics, except our bald friend, who calmly pays for his meal, puts on his fedora and his sunglasses and ominously says into his phone “It has arrived.”