“This is anti-matter. You’re smart, you do the math.” – Walter
A long time ago, when Fringe was first frisking the air for a solid fan-base and a consistent timeslot, the show’s creators intimated to viewers that Fringe had three, five, and seven-year plans for its storyline. I’ve vehemently maintained the position that Fringe should at least be given the opportunity to end on its own terms – I would sooner accept the end of Season Three as the show’s conclusion than grudgingly accept a story quickly remedied following an unjust cancellation.
Given Fringe’s potential seven-year plan, we finally receive some foreshadowing to the potential developments planned for the coming seasons. In fact, in three years’ time, the Observers will have abandoned their namesake, directly intervening in human affairs and eradicating those who might resist their ubiquitous control. The self-proclaimed protectors of the “native” population will then go on to manifest a police-state, so perfectly explored in the re-imagined title card that goes along with the episode, which takes place entirely in 2036.
Broyles, though hardly in charge of the Fringe Division following his demotion to “agent,” is still responsible for his native colleagues in the eyes of the Observers. Unfortunately for him, he has lost his best and original team, who have been trapped in amber for twenty years. Enter Agent Simon Foster (Lost alum, Henry Ian Cusick) and Etta (Georgina Haig), who have been so fortunate as to have stumbled across an amber tomb wherein Walter Bishop awaits in stasis.
Perhaps inspired by the ominous number 19 so familiar to fans of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower, Fringe has endeavored to produce their nineteenth episode of each season as something dynamically progressive – not only in regard to the story, but in how it is told. “Letters of Transit” opens with introductory text reminiscent of something in-between Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica, progressing to perfectly capture the Orwellian dystopia beneath the thumbs of the Observers.
After freeing Walter from the amber, Simon and Etta take him to meet with Nina Sharpe — white-haired and in a wheelchair. Although Walter represents the future of the native uprising, he is more or less incapacitated without the pieces of his brain removed by William Bell. Nina provides Etta and Simon with the relevant information, and then they’re off to restore the physics-defying mental capacity of Dr. Bishop.
The show’s final sequences may stand amongst the most memorable moments of Fringe to date. No stranger to sacrifice, Henry Ian Cusick’s character, Simon, manages to switch spots with Peter inside the amber, freeing him and Astrid into Etta and Walter(nate)’s care. As it becomes clear that we won’t be returning to the present any time soon, so does Etta’s true identity.
Following last season’s jump into the future, I assumed that Olivia’s niece, Ella, had slightly changed her name in order to conceal her identity as the upcoming “Etta.” There were moments, however, when Georgina Haig, the blasphemously talented actress portraying Etta, reminded me so much of Anna Torv’s Olivia Dunhams (notice the plural) that I didn’t even realize that she wasn’t even in the episode. “Etta,” as I am ashamed to admit I didn’t catch, is short for “Henrietta,” a subtly significant alteration to the future fawn designated for Peter and Olivia.
Some stats and info about Fringe, “Letters of Transit”
TV SHOW – Fringe
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 4, Episode 19
AIRED ON – April 20th, 2012
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – FOX
GENRE – Science Fiction, Drama
CREATED BY – J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci
CAST – Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, Jasika Nicole, John Noble, Lance Reddick, Blair Brown
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.