User Reviews

After a very BladeRunnerIsh introduction to the "History" of this episode — we are shown a dysfunctional Dystopia that reminds us of that classic Ridley Scott landscape. A world where Observers police the... The, er, world... And nobody is allowed to think what they want, be what they want, do what they want.

With an observer on every corner who can just walk up to you and read not only your mind but everything about you? Who have hints of other Arcane powers? There is just no future in this future - It's all pointless. Michael Kopsa is "Captain Windmark" of the Observers: the same name as his character in the 2008 horror short "Fringe."

The Fringe Agents police "The natives" i.e., the humans. That is the only freedom offered in this ObserverTopia

But there is a Girl, an "Agent" Etta, Georgina Haig who can hide her true thoughts from these people. There is something familiar about her. She and her Fringe Boss Henry Ian Cusick are members of a meager Resistance cell that comes across an artifact from 20 years in the past - A piece of Amber with Walter in it!

But in order to use this artifact, we are taken on a Mr Toads Wild Ride through Hell, and after the Agents are able to get Walter out, all he can think about is... Nothing, his brain has rotted away - How can they fix it?

If this episode takes place in a possible future of "The Orange 'Verse" aka "The Bridge Universe"— then we are due for some shocks:

Such as, the pieces of Walter's Brain that "Belly" took out upon Walter's request-We KNOW that they were destroyed. Right? Wrong.

If Massive Dynamic had The doorway that Walter used to try to get Peter - Then what other fun things did they have locked away in the Building in NY? Oh Lots of fun stuff, I'm sure. It's all there in Walter's Swiss-Cheese Mind.

If they can just FIX Walter, Oh if they could JUST Fix Walter, he'd have a surprise or two. But - What KIND of Walter will they end up with? Would he be more like Walternate? Because we know Walternate is not really a Nice man. Walter has genuine regard for life and would not hurt anyone intentionally. But Walternate? And Nina tells the Future Agents WHY Walter had those pieces removed.

And so let us just say, they "Fixed" Walter in this ep - How well did they Fix him? TOO well? Would he in fact *become* "Walternate"? Maybe, But I think the "Bridge Universe" Walter, is "our" Walter, Brain or No.

So the question is, where does this Episode go from here? Are we going to get to see more of this? Is any of this going to get explained?

If they had, say, a 5th Season, where this possible Fringe Future could be explored, Oh, I'd give, eh, I'd give my Right hand to see such a season!

Because there are only... 3 more Fringe Episodes left of this season, is that enough to give us a bow on all of these MythArcs?

Producer Akiva Goldsman Directed this Very Akiva Goldsman style Episode written by what appears to be the Big Three Guys - JJ, Kurtzman and Orci. Don't know if this is his first time in the Director's Chair - He really understands this show and this episode reflects that.

This Friday Fringe was a bit fantastic. I had my doubts for the episode this week, since the plot for this season has been mostly predictable, and I'm assuming JJ Abrams is getting nervous because of the impending doom of the show. But it has done something which it has not for while now; it surprised me. Much more than that actually from the very beginning of the episode it has been nothing short of impressive.

It has my heart pumping overtime even a good ten minutes after it has ended, pulling together all that's good about fringe and then some. One of the greatest things about the episode is that it introduces us to brand new characters and reminds everyone just how good this show is at developing relationships through phenomenal directing. From the first scene I knew that our lead female character of the episode was going to be as strong and tough as Olivia, (and she's a gorgeous blonde as well… who knew!).

Our new blonde, Etta, introduces us to the future that she lives in and fearlessly faces the oppression of the Observers who have taken over the world. She works for the Fringe team that deals with "Native" disturbances (basically she deals with people who aren't Observers nor have sworn alliance with them), but on the side, she is an active member of the resistance.

Her mission, as it becomes clear, is to bring back the Fringe team of the past (whose existence has become somewhat of a legend) so that they might save the world from the Observers. She is helped by Simon (Henry Ian Cusack), another agent of the Fringe team and member of the resistance, to revive Walter who had placed himself in amber for the last 20 years along with unknown members of the Fringe team.

We all know how superb John Noble is, he has played so many characters that are all so very different yet are all distinctly Walter, and this Walter is no exception. If I were to actually choose, this Walter is the greatest yet, because, while at the beginning he was the childish and adorable Walter, he transformed quickly into the genius he always has been. Walter's incredible mind does more in seconds for the resistance than what seems to have been done in the 20 years of oppression.

Although Fringe has done the whole end of the world future thing before, I always love it. It gives the actors a reason to change around how they act and absolutely amaze us, introduces us to new characters, and basically excite me to no end. Every part of the episode was top notch and gives me everything to look forward to next week. I could kiss you JJ you big old gent! Who knew you had this up your sleeve?

In 2036, Earth is a totalitarian society ruled by The Observers. In 2015, they overthrown the governments and killed great part of the society in a purge. The Fringe Division only exists to control the "Natives" and The Observers are capable to read minds. The Fringe Agents Henrietta "Etta" Bishop and Simon Foster retrieve the amber- encased body of Walter Bishop, who also encased the Fringe team, to protect themselves from The Observers. They rescue Walter but he has brain damage; however Nina Sharp warns that parts of his brain are stored in the old Massive Dynamic building and may restore his capability. However the Fringe Division has tracked their movement and told The Observers. Will they succeed to escape?

"Letters of Transit" is a totally different and misplaced episode, giving the sensation of mistake on the Blu-Ray or DVD Boxes to the viewer. This will certainly be the promising theme of the Fifty Season, but the interruption of the lead story of the Fourth Season is deceptive. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Letters of Transit"

In the year 2609, the earth's resources were tapped out and death for the inhabitants (the Observers) was imminent.

As a means of self preservation, they traveled back in time to inhabit the planet in the year 2015. But they're end goal wasn't just friendly cohabitation with the natives of the time, it was global takeover Nazi style. Natives were either killed, made into loyal subjects, or followed the rules for fear of death.

Since the Observers can read minds, so to speak, people that resisted couldn't really even carry out the plan before being found out and killed. This led to complete submission.

Apparently, our team had figured out a way to force the Observers out and before the Observers could kill the team, Walter ambered everyone, so that one day the future Fringe team might be about to unamber them and wake them up. This is exactly what happened.

The episode then takes turns I don't want to spoil. I imagine that this future is one in which the infamous Mr. X had his way with Olivia and killed her. This is only implied, but pretty strongly.

The episode was strong enough to be second only to Entrada. It could have been a full length movie and it would have only felt like 20 minutes had passed. 10/10

I fought long and hard when I worked at the BBC to get Dr Who regenerated. Eventually, the next generations of fighters took over from me and my gang and won. History shows how right we were to keep the flame alive. It is just possible that canceling the show allowed it to come back truly reborn - but, although that is a good argument - the truth to my mind is that the gap between death and re-birth lasted as long as the boss who hated Who stayed in power at the Beeb. Once he had gone, the Dr could restart house calls. Get rid of the money-men and the show can make money.

Should the worst happen and Fringe season five not show up next year, all may not be lost. Even a lost hand can grow back after all, and look what came from that :-)

i know i'm in the minority here, but i was hugely disappointed that this episode and the 5th season made the observers out to be just another set of bad guys. throughout the series they had been advanced and otherworldly, and seemed above things like conquering. in this episode suddenly there are lots of observers and we are in the future and they have conquered the human population. i know this series has revamped itself a few times, but this was too much for me. it trivialized the observers for me to see them hanging out like lame bad-asses in a club and being just another powerful set of bad guys. also, i liked the worlds that Fringe had resided in up until this point and found the new scenario for this episode and the fifth season to be an all-too-familiar dystopia. i was looking forward to buying the blu-ray complete series when it comes out, but will pass on it like i did with the also disappointing Lost, also created by J.J. Abrams. i feel like the writing his shows have popularized is sloppy is happy to throw away everything in the story that has gone before. ultimately, for me he is too gimmicky, like M. Night Shyamalan. i will always love the characters this show made me love like Walter Bishop, but ultimately i don't care to follow where this story goes.