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Usually, we would put up a list like this BEFORE the premiere of the show but, for Fringe’s case, things are much, much different. Like most season premieres of Fringe, I had no idea what to expect from last week’s premiere, “Transilence Thought Unifier Model 11.” I knew the title was weird, geeky, and awesome, but that was pretty much it. And well I found the premiere to be merely decent, what it set up for the coming season certainly had me excited. The premiere brought up a ton of questions I had about the show, and what direction it would go in during its fifth and last season. Here’s five of those questions we have about Fringe Season 5.

Will September Return?

I’ve heard a lot of people in the past few days express remorse that September is dead, but I say phooey to that. September is way too important a character to kill off off-screen with no fanfare at all, even if he was shot pretty badly in the season four finale. We know that he was alive long enough to assist Walter with finding a way to fight off the bad Observers, and he’s survived worse than a gun shot in the past. Also, he’s a fucking time traveler; the rules of time and space really don’t apply to him. Trust me, September is way too important a character for us to NOT see him return.

What Happened to Etta Bishop?

In the season premiere, we learned that Etta Bishop was taken from Peter and Olivia at the age of three, during the first day of the Observer Invasion. Not only does this add dramatic weight to the story (having a child unexpectedly taken from you has long been a source of drama on this show), but it also adds an air of mystery to the character of Etta. Where the hell was she for two decades? Did the Observers take her? And more importantly why hasn’t she mentioned it? It seems like, after your parents searched for you for years, the moment you find them, they would be asking where the hell you were. So far, no one has done that. Something happened to Etta Bishop since she last saw her parents…and I’m sure that will be a very important part of this season.

What About the Other Side?

One of the best episodes of last season was “Worlds Apart”, in which the Fringe Team rushed to save both universes from the nefarious (and later revealed to still be pathetic) David Robert Jones. This was a strange episode for the team, because they actually failed their task; they had to close the gate, effectively cutting off their ties to the other universe. And at the time, cast and crew alike lamented at how difficult it was to say “goodbye” to the other universe for one last time. Honestly, I don’t think that’s the case. The other universe was just too important for the show not to bring back in its final season. We may not re-visit directly, but it has to service into the plot somehow. Here’s my uneducated guesses (in order of most likely to least likely):

The machine Walter and September were building was going to repair the bridge, setting things back into place as they should be.

When Etta was stolen, she was sent to the other universe.

We will use the other universe as a place of refuge from the Observers, and as a new place to live away from their tyranny.

What’s William Bell’s Deal?

Last years return of William Bell came as quite a shocker to me. Not only did I think that character’s story arc ended with his “death” in “Lysergic Acid Die”, but I thought that Leonard Nimoy would actually stay in retirement. But I guess he owes J.J Abrams a life debt or something, because Fringe got him to come back for the two part season finale last season. And well that storyline was a disappointment, the character’s return was certainly a welcome sight. And if “Letters in Transit” is any indication, we’re not done with him yet. For some reason, Bell’s handprint was an important part of whatever device Walter and September were building, and its evident that Bell got involved in the process middway through building it (why else would he be there at the lab, frozen in amber like the rest of them?) Bell has some role in this final season…to what extent I have no idea.

Is There Something More to the Observers?

As for as I can tell, Fringe has never really been a show about having evil characters without any reason to be evil. Even the main baddie of Season 3, Walternate, had very strong reasons to hate the other side; jealousy and hate that they had stolen his son from him. Right now, we have very little idea why the Observers went bad; yes, we know their own world (WAY off in the future) is all dirty with pollution and stuff, but I feel like there’s a stronger things at work here. Furthermore, I don’t completely buy that all of them are evil; we know for a fact that September is good, and Walter has mentioned that there are “others” who helped us. I feel like there’s going to be some huge twist coming up about the true nature’s of the Observers, one that will make or break this entire season for me. With luck, though, it will make it.

And that’s our list. Anything you think we missed? Let us know what you think will happen this season on Fringe!

-Matthew