January 2013

Even though Fringe is the most complicated TV show I’ve watched, I think the series finale will resolve with a basic reset–solve the current problem by going back to the beginning.

It’s strange because the Fringe writers don’t take the easy way out (and I’m not saying the finale will be easy), but resetting is a basic device in television. Think of all the sitcoms with no forward motion, where past events have no effect on the characters. Joss Whedon called it “reset TV” in a 2009 interview with Green Cine:

The thing is, I’ve never been able to make reset TV. I’ve never understood it and I’ve never liked it. I cannot just have people get kidnapped and then next week be all chipper so they can have their next adventure. I find that offensive and bizarre and as a kid it would frighten me, it would confuse me. “But he was engaged in the last episode, why isn’t he talking about his dead girlfriend?” It’s just not the way I operate. That doesn’t mean I need to tell some serpentine tale, it just means that if something happens to somebody, they’re going to be a different person. That’s just how it is. People evolve, and that’s the only kind of storytelling that interests me.

Fringe has always been a serialized show that moves forward and evolves its characters. We saw glimpses of a larger story, but how we saw those glimpses constantly changed. First it was case by case and then universe by universe.

We got our first reset in season 4. Peter bridged the universes and inadvertently erased himself from existence. When he returned, everyone he knew was living without having known him. By the end of the season, the reset broke down.

Season 5 fast-forwards to the future and the fringe team is losing the fight against the Observers. The trailers for the final episodes hint that Peter, Olivia, Astrid, and Walter are going to reset time. But how far back? If it’s enough that the characters undo the experiences they’ve had over the series, then what does that mean for them?

The writers continue to surprise, entertain, and challenge the fans, and so I’m not worried about how the show will end because I know it will satisfying. But I keep wondering, what will this reset do? We can guess the next steps but not the conclusion.

Welcome to Fringe.