Fringe (TV Series) The Day We Died (2011) User Reviews

The Purpose of Peter

[claudio_carvalho · 9/10 · 25 March 2017]

In 2026, only our universe has survived after the destruction of the parallel universe but with damages since they were inextricably linked together. The Fringe Division uses amber to contain the vortices and are investigating the terrorist group called "End of Dayers" led by Moreau that are creating more vortices. When a cylinder is retrieved by the Fringe Division, Peter asks Broyles to release Walter to help to understand how it works. Soon he finds that it is an advanced technology and Peter meets Walternate that promises him that he will suffer a pain for what he has done destroying his universe. Soon he kills Peter's beloved wife Olivia and Walter tells that there is a chance to change Peter's decision in 2011. Will his plan work?

"The Day We Died" is one of the most intriguing episode of "Fringe". After the activation of the doomsday machine by Peter, it would be difficult to have a next season of "Fringe". However the writers succeeded in changing the present and produce one of the best episodes. What will happen to Peter? Will the plan of team-up people from both universes work? What will be the enemy in this season? And what will be the consequence of the the comment of the Observers in the end of the show? My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "The Day We Die"

Season Three: Finally Taking The Big Swings And Almost Always Coming Through

[zkonedog · 10/10 · 30 June 2019]

For its first two seasons, "Fringe" was a solid installment of network episodic TV. Yet, by its very nature (not wanting to follow the frantic LOST route), the show could also be a massive tease. This was especially apparent during the second season, which spent as much time treading water story-wise than it did really digging into its sky-high potential. Here in season three, however, the writers and producers take off all the restrictor plates, cranking out episode after episode that throws caution to the wind and really "goes for it". Not every single thread works, of course, but enough do (and with enough frequency) to produce a season of television that takes a back seat to nothing before or since.

After the shocking switcheroo of the S2 finale, the first half of S3 bounces back and forth between the "red" and "blue" universes. This smartly prevents any of the material from feeling stale or formulaic. On "our side", "Fauxlivia" (Anna Torv) infiltrates the secrets of the Fringe team, while also forming a unique partnership with Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson). "Over there"? Our Olivia is experiment upon by "Walternate" (John Noble) in his ongoing nefarious attempts to strike vengeance upon the Walter that cost him everything.

About half way through the season the format changes a bit, focusing more on the primary characters/universe (but still checking in on the "red side" from time to time). This includes plot threads like:

-How Peter factors into the mysterious machine that seems like it could spell doom for either side.

-A pregnancy that actually reveals the humanity of Walternate.

-A 1980s-era flashback episode that might be top-five for this entire series.

-A thread that hints at the return of old friend William Bell as Walter struggles to find answers to the universe's degradation by himself.

To continue the titular baseball analogy, if S2 was having a good eye at the plate and taking a lot of walks, S3 was swinging from the knob and almost always seeing them land fair (or even over the fence!). Myth-arc wise, there's nothing held back here, and the finale episode is--in its own way--as good as anything LOST ever put to air.

As if all of the above wasn't an embarrassment of riches enough, S3 also produced some of the remarkable standalone episodes that this show was known for. "Marionette" is a truly haunting Frankenstein-esque tale, while "6B" is a heartfelt treatise on how emotions can charge both universes as much as science. Even with the full-tilt lean in towards mythology-building episodes, the Fringe writers by no means lost the ability to craft smaller, more personal tales in S3.

Is everything perfect in S3? No. As is the case with most 20+ episode season orders, it can struggle with pacing in brief doses and embark on tangents that are indeed biding time until the "next big thing". But even when that happens, the show is able to explore at least one interesting story or character beat.

Overall, Fringe Season Three is a true masterwork (perhaps one of the last) of network episodic dramatic TV. From the premiere to the finale, it covers an astonishing amount of plot/character arcs while somehow managing to make almost every bit of it as compelling as anything that would be found later on streaming/cable. There are so many emotional twists & turns that--when finished--you'll feel as if more than just one TV season has flown by.

Universe Collision

[XweAponX · 10/10 · 7 May 2011]

I've been waiting for this episode since the show started - Here are the answers to all of the mysteries... Or not! Now what? This episode simply arse-kicked me, I wasn't expecting this ending - Which is par for the first 2 seasons. Season 1 showed Walter standing over Peter's Grave, Season 2 had Olivia looking out over NY from the WTC, and this one...? "Future" Walter spoke about consequences, well he could not have foreseen this, and it is worse than the "Future" Peter saw. I do not agree that this is a Nonsensical ending, when a large group of Observers gather, something incredible is happening.

I just can't see how they are going to dig their way out of this, which is why I greatly anticipate Season 4. 22 episodes are just not enough for a season of Fringe - I always leave an ep wanting more, it is a form of post-coital letdown. But each season had an enigma to solve, only to create a new enigma for the next season. Season 1 had The Pattern and ZFT. Season 2 had William Bell and the hint of Alternate Universes. Season 3 had the Alternate Universe and The Machine.

Now we see things like Time being futzed with, and some new items are listed in the Fringe opening theme: Thought Extraction - Brain Porting - Temporal Plasticity - Cellular Rejuvenation - Chaos Structure - and Biosuspension, some of these items being directly referred to in this episode - I've always seen these items as "clues" to what the central theme of the season is or was or is going to be, these things have been hinted at since the very first Pilot Ep.

This episode, well... When the story is even partially written by Akiva Goldsman we know that reality is going to be bent and our comfort mosty shattered. I've said in other reviews I liked how Fringe explores the most fantastic of new science, be it cosmological, temporal, genetic... New sciences are being discovered daily and old sciences are rediscovered, theories are being refuted or confirmed or changed to fit new facts as they come into our knowledge.

When I was a child, I read a book by a crazy guy named Theodore Suess Geisel called "Horton Hears A Who" - The character Horton appears in a 1941 cartoon, so we know that these ideas have been floating around for years - The Concept there, being, there was a whole world on a speck of dust on a Flower, and people living on that speck. This was my introduction to Quantum Physics... How many worlds could be on particles which we perceive as electrons spinning around an Atom? And is our earth itself a particle on some larger Quantum's Horton-Flower? I was first presented with these ideas in a cartoon written by a guy who wrote Children's books - Fringe is just another way of telling these stories, stories infused with these crazy ideas which we are just learning. So Fringe is always on the Fringe of science, and we can always depend that the science of Fringe is actually based on some theory from somewhere... So it is not really that far gone. Maybe there are people who can perceive alternate time-lines, maybe that explains prophecy, perhaps certain people can see across probability lines.

Now in some science fiction, when two particles that are identical from two alternate universes touch, they would cancel each other out. Clearly this does not happen when Olivia and Fauxlivia fight, at least not in Fringe. But in some science, two identical particles cannot be in the same space-time continuum, one or the other or both must be destroyed, and that in much the way William Bell released his energy in s3e1 and propelled the Fringe team home.

So, I with great anticipation, await the Fall return of Fringe and all(?) of the characters I have gotten intrinsically, elementally, and cosmologically attached to.

IMDb Special Rating Exemption #Ry8y986668

[A_Different_Drummer · 10/10 · 5 March 2016]

Good news.

After a series of protracted emails, I was able to get the IMDb Special Rating Exemption Permit as above, to issue this one-of-a kind episode a rating of 25 (instead of 10, which is usually the highest).

Also for clarity I am binge-watching the whole series in 2016 which in a way makes me as guilty of playing with the fabric of time as the characters in this show.

Quick review -- I have done my fair share of reviews, I think 1100 or so, and I have watched a lot of TV and films but I have never seen a time paradox handled so well and I have never seen such vivid portrayals of characters in an alternate timeline.

And frankly I have never seen the longer time arc of the serial TV series so beautifully used to build drama. Makes BSG look like a walk in the park. Makes the Star Trek Voyageur time paradoxes look like Romper Room.

Best work JJ ever did.

The Best Finale Ever

[heythisisrishabh · 10/10 · 6 May 2011]

I'm following the season from its first ever episode and throughout the journey the fringe team surprises me a lot of times but the finale of season 3 is just awesome.The winding up of entire theory and story into a single finale is done exceptionally well by the writers and director. I cried when Olivia died in future i was shell shocked when observers said that peter never existed and i was in merriment when Walter discovers that the existence of both universe is possible. The writers have explained each and every question that have been raised throughout the season and yet many questions were raised at the end.

I'm thinking how to survive for nest few months without fringe and these many questions including about our beloved peter.

10/10. could have given more if there's scope....

Daredevil and X-Filesean finale 3rd part

[igoatabase · 10/10 · 7 May 2011]

With all the conspiracy theories still surrounding 9/11 and the upcoming memorial I can't imagine how the American audience felt at the end of The Last Sam Weiss. Peter Bishop going all John Connor on us for a few split seconds was just mindshaking and my brain was suddenly connecting the electrifying productions we enjoyed in the past decades, from Back to the Future to Lost. In fact when it comes to time travel the last is definitely one of the strongest reference these days considering how its last seasons were astonishing. I mean episodes like The Constant practically redefined the way I thought about science fiction. That's why I couldn't help linking this 22th episode to Lost's season 6 16th one, What They Died For. The Day We Died was in the same vein, a cookie jar full of all the elements that made Fringe's season 3 so stellar. But the difference with Lost is that it was actually a finale, an excellent one and respectful of all the hope its audience had in it. My only complain would be about Emily Meade guest starring as Ella. She seemed misplaced and to tell the truth the self proclaimed dumb than dumber being I am didn't really get who she was. Moreover of course she was pretty as hell but far too young to play in the same league as Olivia & Peter. I understand that their intention was to introduce a new character who will probably be featured in season 4 but the story didn't need her. All I wanted was a raw wormholy versus ! Don't get me wrong it happened. Oh yes it happened ! From the wicked orange amber to futuristic devices it had it all, and more. The one thing that should dazzle you the most is the cautious, intriguing and twisted writing. It's simplex the story was filled with jaw dropping events and its ending should put your eyeballs in orbit around your head. Be prepared for everything ! You've been warned. After The X-Files and other cult shows I never thought I would be so excited about an upcoming season but the fourth is coming and its 22 episodes could make us tremble even more. The day they died should be the one you never felt so much alive !

Maybe a different ending then we thought. ?

[machinshin-2 · 10/10 · 10 May 2011]

Im not going to review this episode, you have already done that very well. Thou I might be up to something on whats happening in the end. The observers tells "He never existed, he has served his purpose" Everyone is discussing the paradox that if he hasn't existed, then the universes shouldn't be in danger and therefore not in need of fixing. But My thoughts are as follows. What if the whole idea from the beginning were the rift between them ? Maybe Peters entirely "existens" were to make Walter go over, damage the universes, that would in the end lead to what happened. That he saw the future, and went back to "fix" it by making the rift (that from the observers point of view was the whole idea) That means that everything that has happened in the earlier episodes needed to happened to make this ending occur. The funny thing is that the paradox of having found the machine parts, put them together to destroy the universes, and because of that send them back in time to make the whole thing start over again. I mean who started the whole thing =) ? If Im right, thats EXTREMELY well written by the author(s)

Trying to figure this out is almost like trying to think of how big the universe is. Its to immense and you just end up getting entangled with your own thoughts and the impossibility of the human brain to comprehend the "thing" knows as eternity.

Cringe

[Georgie-boy-Costanza · 9 May 2011]

I felt disappointed, very disappointed.

First of all, the whole episode feels rushed, and the ending feels like they didn't really know how to end the show.

I didn't feel any response to the rushed and unemotional death scene as did i with the funeral scene where the transition from dialogue to music feels as if they didn't know how to write a proper eulogy. But i guess it kind of works, because of the ridiculous easy way they came to reverse the event. Although the partial explanation of the origins of the machine was worked out pretty satisfying.

The last act (reversing the death of Olivia and the destruction of Walternate's universe), it could easily be one whole episode, like i now wish it would be. If they did it that way they could enhance the death scene and give it more of a emotional backdrop, for instance, they could have shown shots of peter rushing to find Olivia and discovering her fate.

The end was too confusing and and borderline preposterous, but i definitely look forward to season 4 to see how the revelation of Peters existence and the combining forces between the universes will work out.

The cgi also looked kind of silly in some places, such as the dumb telephone and the lame screen, but that's just nitpicking so i wont elaborate further on that.

All in all i love Fringe, but compared to previous season ends this was easily the worst and most confusing.

I hope season 4 kicks of nicely, because end of day, this is still the best sci-fi/ thriller series since X files, and that says a lot.

The best but the last

[MsMoebius · 9/10 · 22 May 2022]

This episode has been so great with the time travel, the possibility to change the future, the universe collision and Peter's dispperance as, with it, we can expect that both universes will be saved.

I cannot deny that it has left so many doors opened so to continue watching

However, I think I'm done. Fringe also contains so many filler episodes which just lead us to no-where. I just prefer to imagine a closure .... Or maybe, I'll catch up later, when I become patient enough to withstand episodes which do not contribute to the main story arc.

Coming back some time later .... I will not erase what I have written, but I decided to come back to Fringe after the dissappointing final season of "Dark" .... Fringe is great sci-fi with certain hope in the plot and quite fun stories. I understand this is not a "Dark" review but, by the end of episode 9, everything was so depressing that I was just hoping all characters would Just kill themselves and not appear in any other time or universe !!

Well, How About Them Apples!!

[Hitchcoc · 10/10 · 12 November 2023]

I will need to watch this again to sort things out. Two-thirds of the episode puts us in the final days of the one existing universe. The other one, the alternate one, has been destroyed. Walternate, who is ultimately responsible for the worst of this, has made his way into the original and is orchestrating its demise. His face is stern and unyielding, his eyes scrunched together. He is, for all practical purposes, a madman. Walter has been in a maximum security prison and the whole world blames him for what took place. He has been through a trial and was found culpable, even though it is Walternate who started the machine. I know the conclusion isn't for everyone, and we don't even understand half of it. But there are two more seasons. Can they sustain it?

A very good episode ruined by one of the most nonsensical plot twists ever

[josh598-538-892671 · 7/10 · 8 May 2011]

Look, I'm a Fringe fan. John Noble should have won at least one Emmy by now for his performance as Walter Bishop, and if Anna Torv doesn't win one for her pitch-perfect performance of three distinct characters this season (Olivia, Fauxlivia, and Walter Bell-living-inside-Olivia) it will be a damned crime. I generally find the plots interesting, well thought out, and occasionally mind-blowing.

So I came into this episode with high expectations. This was the episode that was going to take the amazing "Alternate Universe" storyline and give it an equally amazing conclusion. And for the first 59 minutes, it was working quite nicely for me. Everything was hitting on all cylinders. Having Olivia's niece become a Fringe agent was a nice touch, along with President Broyles. The death of Olivia was both surprising and poignant.

And then... then ending happened. Specifically, the very last line of the ending. My first reaction was anger. Anger at the Hand of God being used to wield the Sledgehammer of Plot to drive home a point that doesn't make any sense. Peter never existed? If Peter never existed, then what the hell was the point of the first three seasons? There would be no need for the universes to work together, because if Peter never existed, Walter would never have crossed over and stolen Walternate's child, the rift between the universes never would have opened, and, quite possibly, all of the "Fringe" events wouldn't have happened.

I am somewhat interested in the potential for people from both universes crossing back and forth on a regular basis in Season 4, and I'm curious to see if Peter is "resurrected" at any point and how that gets explained away, but on the whole, I haven't been this disappointed since the end of the third season of "Heroes."

Season 3: Strong season that benefits from higher stakes, more characters and fewer "filler" episodes

[bob the moo · 26 January 2013]

As much as I enjoyed the second season of Fringe, I didn't totally like the way it seemed to lull in the middle with lots of holding episodes that mostly let the main story fade into the background. I assumed this would continue to be the pattern but actually in this third season there are very few episodes which stand totally alone – the majority are directly related to the main story while the few "case per week" ones tend to have some connection to it. I can think of only two maybe three that were very much time-fillers and they stood out because they took the focus out of the show in most cases but were also the weaker episodes (the Marionette one was terrible for example). Mostly though this very strong season keeps the focus where I wanted it to be and delivers more than I expected.

Picking up where the last season left off, we have the cold war between the two universes continuing but on the smaller scale we have the two Olivia's swapped for the first third of the season. This I liked as a device but the season also uses it well to develop the characters and show the emotional damage done to everyone by that period; it is a nice touch that means the show is never just about the sci-fi action but has people in there too. In terms of the main story though the season does have a good build of tension across the whole run and I did find it very hard not to wolf down the whole of the season in a short period of time. It is funny because with a lot of shows with JJ Abrams' name attached to them, I get the feeling of it not knowing where it is going and just filling space – but with Fringe I never doubted the season or felt it wasn't sure what it was going to do next. This isn't to say that I found it perfectly satisfying though and the season finale was a bit less impacting than I had hoped, but it was still very good.

Some specific episodes are weaker than others and there are some ideas and threads that don't always work; so, for example, Peter becoming "weaponized" (for one episode) seemed to be a way of making a twist rather than a real change in his character but by far the worst idea was having the spirit of Bell living inside Olivia. OK so this is a show where you need to go with it, and it did produce a really good episode that references Inception and is partially animated, but it did also mean that Torv has to spend 3 episodes doing some odd low voice trying to impersonate Spock! Speaking of Torv, she does show her limited range here and seems to be on the edge of her ability but she does some very good work – her Fauxlivia is not great but the insecurities in Olivia were convincing and engaging. Jackson benefits from having more to do than before and this was the first season where I felt he really had something to work with. Of course the heart of the show for me continues to be Noble, who is great in every aspect of his character(s). Support from Reddick, Brown, Nicole etc is of a high standard and again, as a Wire fan, it is fun to see the continued casting of people from that show (the main one in this season being Andre Royo).

Fringe is a sci-fi set across parallel universes and features odd characters and scenarios, so it is perhaps not for everyone in that regard but for me the show works because it tells the story really well and the main characters are very well drawn – in particular Walter. Season 3 benefits from the stakes being very high and having twice the characters to play with than in the previous seasons and as such it probably my favorite thus far. I'll try to leave it a while before I seek out the fourth season, but it is very enjoyable and accessible so I doubt it'll be that long before I'm back in it.

Fringe's very own "Jump the Shark" episode

[professor_of_gamez · 6/10 · 20 September 2022]

From this episode, on, the writers had trouble keeping track of times periods and sides. If the writers were having trouble keeping track, how were the viewers supposed to?

The writers had enough trouble when all they had to do was switch sides. They had trouble keeping track of which characters were doing what on which side. NOW, throw in the added element of time shifting, and these poor writers are understandably lost.

The IMDB site appears to be glitching now and doesn't recognize that my review is already over 600 characters. I am adding these 2 sentences to see if that compensates for the site bug.