Farewell to Fringe

I honestly still can't believe that we will never have another new episode of Fringe, but then I also think about how absolutely incredible it was that such a show actually was able to survive through five seasons and reach 100 episodes.

The two-hour series finale aired last week and I thought it was a bittersweet and beautiful ending for the show. There were many things that I loved, that made me laugh, and that made me cry. I loved that we were able to see the alternate universe again where alt!Olivia and Lincoln are living happily ever after. I practically squealed with joy that Olivia got her cortexiphan mojo back and used it to finally kill Widmark. I laughed when we saw one dead Observer floating and Walter thinking it was "cool." I cried (a lot) when Walter told Astrid that her name was beautiful and when he told Peter that he was his most favorite thing in the world. It was a finale that really did satisfy emotionally perhaps to make up for the season-long arc that failed to match the creative highs the show experienced in seasons 2 and 3.

I wished we had gotten more of Donald and Michael during this season so we were more invested in them as characters as opposed to chess pieces that needed to exist to get to the endgame. With that said, it was a pleasure to have Michael Cerveris those last few episodes to really ground the entire arc of the series especially since he's probably the only character in the end that has had a fairly straightforward narrative and he jumps time! Speaking of, like many myth-laden shows that also feature time travel and alternate realities, many of the plot specifics of the show (especially in the finale) can defy logic to the point of annoyance. I could nitpick the whole chicken-egg scenario of the Observers ceasing to exist and yet events that they influenced (like Peter meeting Olivia) still happening, but there's no point. Olivia and Peter get their happy ending with their daughter while Walter gets to make the noble sacrifice to make up for the damage he inflicted by crossing realities all those years ago.

So I say bravo and thanks to Fringe, its creators, its writers, and most definitely its actors for a thrilling five years. It is easily one of my favorite shows ranking in my top ten year-end list for the past three years. I'm still flabbergasted that John Noble was never nominated for an Emmy and if Anna Torv doesn't become a big star after this it will be a tragedy. I started watching the show in the beginning because of Joshua "Pacey" Jackson and was proud he had grown to be such a great actor and there's nothing I could say to express how much I adore Jasika Nicole. Much thanks also to Blair Brown, Lance Reddick, Seth Gabel, Kirk Acevdeo, Leonard Nimoy, Jared Harris, Georgina Haig, Gene the Cow, and all the rest who filled out the talented cast.

See the cast say thanks to their loyal fans below: