The End Of All Things

"The End of All Things" is the fourteenth episode of the fourth season of the American science-fiction drama television series ''Fringe'', and the series' 79th episode overall. In the episode, the fringe team investigates Olivia's (Anna Torv) disappearance, ultimately tracing back to David Robert Jones (guest star Jared Harris).

It was written by co-executive producer David Fury and directed by Jeff Hunt. The episode marked the beginning of a four-week break for the series, though the producers initially thought the gap would start with the following episode, "A Short Story About Love". Executive producer Jeff Pinkner's background.

"The End of All Things" first aired on February 24, 2012 in the United States on the Fox network to an estimated 3.1 million viewers, an increase from the previous week. It received generally positive reviews from critics, with many praising Harris' performance and the unveiling of more of the series' mythology. In 2013, following the conclusion of the final season, IGN ranked the episode the fourth best of the entire series.

Plot

Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) has been taken to a disused medical facility by David Robert Jones (Jared Harris) and his agents. She is placed in the same room along with Nina Sharp (Blair Brown), also secured to a chair, revealing she was also abducted by Jones the night before. Jones arrives and asserts that Olivia has great abilities due to her Cortexiphan doping but he must coax them out of Olivia. He presents a light box test that Olivia should be able to activate with her mind, torturing Nina to create the emotional driver, but Olivia admits she can't do it without rest. During this period, Olivia, her memories a mix of her own and that of Olivia from Peter Bishop's (Joshua Jackson) timeline, asks Nina to help her make an emotional connection, but she recognizes that this Nina is not the real one but instead the one from the parallel universe. Olivia continues to play along, explaining to Nina that her Cortexiphan abilities could only be induced by being near Peter; Nina fakes illness to be extracted from the room, where she explains to a complicit Jones that they need to abduct Peter.

Following Olivia's disappearance, Peter discovers a surveillance camera in her apartment. He takes its memory device, which has been overwritten numerous times like a palimpsest, to Walter Bishop's (John Noble) laboratory, using forensic tools to examine previous images on the disc. Lincoln Lee (Seth Gabel) and Phillip Broyles (Lance Reddick) take Nina into custody, learning that someone with Nina's bio-metric signature had accessed the Massive Dynamic supply of Cortexiphan over the last few months; Nina is surprised by this but refuses to talk. As they work, Walter accuses Peter of taking advantage of Olivia's state, even if unintentionally, imprinting his memories of Olivia of the original timeline onto her. They identify a face belonging to Leland Spivey (Monte Markham), a man with ties to Jones and Nina, and Peter suspects that they are dosing Olivia with Cortexiphan for nefarious purposes. Their work is disrupted by the sudden appearance of the Observer September (Michael Cerveris), bleeding from a chest wound.

With September nearly dead, Peter decides to use Walter's equipment to enter the Observer's mind to try to learn of Olivia's location. Within September's consciousness, Peter learns the Observers are a team of scientists from one possible future of humanity, having used technology to travel to the past to witness their own creation. September, however, disrupted events by attempting to observe the point where Peter's cure was discovered, and his disruption has since caused several unintended changes within the timeline, including the war between the two universes. Ultimately, this would lead to the birth of Henry, Peter's child with the parallel universe's Olivia, which September claimed never should have happened and will be a catalyst for disruption of future events. By Peter entering the Machine and altering the timeline, Henry also ceased to exist. September explains that Peter's reappearance may be a means to set things right, and insists he find a way to reunite his romance with his original Olivia. As the reality of September's mind breaks down and he claims "they are coming", the Observer tells Peter to "go home". Peter is suddenly awakened in the lab, September's body goes into convulsions and vanishes.

Peter realizes that September's message was literal, and returns to his home, where he is knocked out by Jones' men. He is brought to the same facility as Olivia and tied up. As they prepare to torture him, Olivia begins to use her powers to activate the lights, not only on the box but within the facility, creating electrical sparks that kill one of Jones' men. As Jones and Nina retreat, Olivia frees Peter and they give chase, though Olivia suffers from a seizure, following excessive use of her powers. They catch up to Jones and Nina as they are crossing back to the parallel universe, but the two are able to escape. Peter contacts the authorities to bring medical help for Olivia. As they are waiting, Peter admits to Olivia that he fears what he has done to her memories, and has seen his original Olivia through the Observer's mind. He leaves her, believing that staying away from this Olivia would be for the best.

Production

"The End of All Things" was written by co-executive producer David Fury and directed by ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'' veteran Jeff Hunt. It was Hunt's third series credit (his other two being "The Man from the Other Side" and " The Box"). Leading up to the episode's broadcast, executive producer Jeff Pinkner

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases