Season four of the sci-fi thriller Fringe starts with both Olivias (I will call them Olivia and Faux-livia for the sake of clarity) arguing about stealing the other’s identity before they started sharing the same universe. Oddly enough, neither of them mentioned Peter Bishop. As the argument comes to an end and the two Olivias walk away we can see a quick distortion in the background that resembles Peter. From there we witness a meeting between two “observers” in an empty diner. The Fringe Division’s “observer” tells us that after Peter’s disappearance, in the season three finale, neither universe has any recollection of him. Ever.

Then episode then goes to Agent Lincoln Lee and his partner Johnathan Danzig getting ready to get to work on time from Danzig’s home. We instantly get into a chase scene with the two agents and an unnamed suspect. Rooftops and abandoned buildings are a must for epic chase sequences. Of course the partners must split up at one point and Agent Lee apprehends the suspect but Agent Danzig is not to be found. Lee searches the building and finds a “man” kneeling over his partner. Lee pursues but the man jumps through a window, across an alleyway, and through another window. Skills! Lee goes back to check on his partner but it seems like he is already dead. Here’s a kicker though, his face was translucent with a strange color pattern emitting from it.

Lee is then introduced to Olivia and the Fringe Division as they ask him questions about his partner’s death. Two Observers are watching the interaction and one notes that Lee doesn’t remember Olivia anymore and the other reminds him that it is because the “timeline” had been changed. Lee asks questions about the division and why there are no records – all the normal questions they get asked. All in all, they fill him in about the Fringe Division and show him the other victims of the suspect’s crimes. From now on it seems that Lee is an honorary member of Fringe division. They now are on the hunt for the mysterious suspect.

While in the lab Walter is hiding in a panicked state from a “man in the mirror”. A Peter sighting perhaps? But the group assures Walter that it was nothing – relatively easy seeing as though Walter is borderline insane anyway. We get to see the makeshift lab of the suspect and it shows him working on equations while injecting himself with unknown substances from syringes. His face is disfigured and the color distorted like that of Agent Danzig. One of his fingernails grow rapidly and he peels it off – just as disgusting and gooey as you’d expect. It seems as though this is a huge breakthrough for him from his reaction.

The Observer is doing some shopping in a antique shop to find some parts he needs to “erase someone from history”. He eventually finds what he needs.

Two agents report that the suspect has been sighted at a train yard and they pursue him. One of the agents is dragged away under a train and the other goes to his partner’s aid. Shots ring out. Olivia and Lee arrive on the scene for back-up and they find that the first agent has been killed the same way as the other victims and his partner suffered a gunshot wound to the leg that needs immediate attention. Lee tells Olivia to go ahead and pursue the suspect as he tends to the wounded agent. Olivia catches the suspect inside the warehouse near the train yard and a fight breaks out. Olivia gets possession of her firearm and shoots the suspect several times. Outside the wounded agent tells Lee that there were multiple assailants. He then finds and kills the other man that has the same skin type as the other suspect. The bodies are taken away to be analyzed and we are taken to another location where another figure is shifting into the appearance of one of the other previous victims. So we can assume that this won’t be the end of the shapeshifter saga.

Olivia takes Lee through what seems to be a machine that instantly transports them to the alternate universe to meet Faux-livia and briefs her on the situation. While traveling Olivia tells him that she has always felt like “something was missing for as long as she can remember”. Walter is back at the lab preparing for bed while the Observer is outside with some mechanical device seemingly torn over whether to activate it or not. He ultimately decides not to and walks away. Walter clearly sees Peter on his television screen and alerts the guard outside his room as the episode comes to a close.

Questions about the season

When is Peter going to be reintroduced into the show?

What is going to happen to the Observer for nothing activating the machine “to erase someone from history”?

What happens to everyone’s wiped memories when Peter returns?

How have they perfected traveling between the two universes?

What is the state of the alternate universe?