The Fringe finale - time travel, tears and a white tulip

Sky1 made the brilliant decision to simulcast the last two episodes of Fringe with Fox in America, uniting fans around the world in one final two hour adventure. I intended to be watching at 1am on Saturday, but the snowpocalypse prevented me from getting to my sister's house and her Sky subscription.



I avoided the interwebs, made it through the snow and sat down for the last two episodes Liberty/An Enemy of Fate on Sunday afternoon.



I spent the last two hours of Fringe oscillating between weepy emotional fangirl and confused science fiction fan. The grand plan to defeat the Observers by taking Michael to the future and thereby ensuring they never existed in their present form was fine by be - until Walter explained the paradox. Why would time reset to just before the Observers invaded? And why would Walter be erased from this point?

If The Observers never existed, then they never would have visited us, Walternate would never have been distracted by the Observer in his lab when he was researching a cure for Peter, Walter wouldn't have crossed over to the Other Side, Walter and Peter wouldn't have been on Reiden Lake, they wouldn't have had a car accident, September would never have rescued them... And when did Walter send Peter the white tulip in the mail? Wibbly wobbly timey wimey headhache!

But enough with the questions, my heart hurt way more than my brain by the end of the finale.

The thing I've always loved about Fringe is how everything comes back to the fathers and sons, to Walter and Peter. Fringe may have been a scifi show but it always paid attention to the emotional consequences of the science on the screen.

There were plenty of emotional moments and fan-friendly references in this finale without the wrap-up of five seasons feeling like a "previously on Fringe" montage: Gene in amber! Fauxlivia and Lincoln! Unleashed nasty toxins from Fringe cases of the past! Olivia's cortexiphan powers!

We were left with lots of questions, but that was kind of the point of the show wasn't it? I think Fringe is a show that gets better the more you watch every episode. I'm looking forward to re-meeting Olivia, Peter, Walter and Astrid in the pilot episode from 2008. It's time to play 'spot the Observer' all over again.