Continuing in the dark Observer ruled future, last week’s episode of Fringe, the Bullet that Saved the World made some major shake ups. Characters returned, characters died, but overall the new setting solidified itself as Fringed up the ante for the remainder of their final season.
My biggest complaint of has been that the Observers had become too small. Revealing themselves as time traveling conquerors turned Fringe’s greatest mystery into a tangible cliche group of fascist. I’m still not happy with them being time travelers taking over the past. Perhaps if they were a different species of humans from a parallel universe I’d feel more comfortable with their conquest. The major driving force of Fringe’s crazy science has been alternate dimensions. The Bullet that Saved the World helped resort a great deal of the Observer’s alien nature. They question what is baseball, and don’t understand what the purpose of a necklace is. The have trouble understanding the nature of the people they now rule over. It’s a small detail but it helps align this flash forward with what preceded it.
As for the meat of this episode The Fringe team has to go on the run from the Observer forces. In doing so they weaponize Walter’s storage of Fringe Event evidence. I liked seeing the little callbacks to the first and second season. The skin healing gas that seals up its victims face was a great call back. Boyles return was awesome. Lance Reddick has been sorely missed. Olivia’s reaction to seeing him again reflected the audience’s feelings. To think when they first met, Broyles didn’t like Olivia.
Warning: SPOILERS HERE AFTER
The biggest event of this episode was the death of Etta. Georgina Haig was a great addition to the cast, and added to the family dynamic. Though it feels like she was killed off before we really got to know her, she was given a heroic death. For the second time Peter and Olivia have to deal with the lose of their child. The question now is how will this effect the remainder of the series? Fringe’s mythos is built on the loss of a child. It drove Walter to extremes, one can only assume that it will drive Peter and Olivia to similar ends. The title is the Bullet that Saved the World. Maybe it isn’t referring to Etta’s necklace but instead to the shot that kills her. September seemed to feel she was of the utmost importance. Maybe her death will cause the Fringe team to save everyone. I have a sneaking suspicion that when all is said and done Etta will return in some form. Fringe is escalating towards an epic season finale. The return of the lost daughter would be a good way to give a happy ending to the show, particularly because love in Fringe’s multiverse tends to trump the rules of physics.
On a Scale of 1 to Epic (Epic = 10): 
The Bullet that Saved the world gets an 8.3
