Over There (Fringe)
Encyclopedia
"Over There" is the two-part second-season
finale
of the Fox
science fiction drama series Fringe
. They are the 22nd and 23rd episodes of the season, and the 42nd and 43rd episodes of the series overall. Both parts were written by Academy Award-winning screenwriter Akiva Goldsman
, together with showrunners Jeff Pinkner
and J. H. Wyman. Goldsman also served as director, his first such credit since the season premiere
.
Fringes premise is based on the idea of two parallel universes
, our own and the Other Side, each of which contains historical idiosyncrasies. The two universes began to clash in 1985, after Dr. Walter Bishop
(John Noble
) stole the parallel universe version of his son, Peter
, following his own son's death. The finale's narrative recounts what happens when Peter (Joshua Jackson
) is taken back to the Other Side by his real father, dubbed "Walternate" (Noble). FBI agent Olivia Dunham
(Anna Torv
) and Walter lead a team of former Cortexiphan test subjects to retrieve him, after discovering that Peter is an unwitting part of Walternate's plans to bring about the destruction of our universe using an ancient doomsday device
.
In the finale, the main characters spend the longest amount of time in the parallel universe to date. The writers sought to emphasize the differences between the two worlds: Anna Torv created a unique personality and physical demeanor for her character's doppelgänger
, Fauxlivia; DC Comics
designed special covers based upon some of their classic editions to display in the Other Side. These and other popular culture
differences were noted and appreciated by critics, persuading the writers to add more in the third season
. The episodes mark the first appearance of recurring character Lincoln Lee
(Seth Gabel
), as well as the return of actor Kirk Acevedo
as Agent Charlie Francis. At the time, guest star Leonard Nimoy
's appearance as William Bell marked his final commitment to the show.
Although originally intended to air on the same night, the two parts were broadcast in the United States a week apart. On its initial airing on May 13, 2010, an estimated 5.99 million viewers watched part one. Part two aired on May 20, and was viewed by an estimated audience of 5.68 million. Both episodes received overwhelmingly positive reviews, and the season was chosen for a significant number of "best of" lists by various media outlets; many critics praised the second episode's cliffhanger
in particular. The finale was included in most of the categories at Entertainment Weekly
s voter-driven TV Season Finale Awards, placing first in two. Pinkner, Wyman, and Goldsman submitted both episodes for the drama writing
and directing
categories for the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards
, and Nimoy submitted his work from the second episode for consideration in the Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series category; none received a nomination.
(John Noble
) and FBI agent Olivia Dunham
(Anna Torv
) discover that Peter Bishop
(Joshua Jackson
) has agreed to return with his real father, dubbed "Walternate" (Noble), to his own universe
called the Other Side, which runs parallel to ours. One of the mysterious Observers (Michael Cerveris
) leaves Olivia a note indicating that Peter is named in a prophecy as the one responsible for the end of the world. To warn Peter of his impending role, the Fringe Division work with biotechnology corporation Massive Dynamic to come up with a way to cross over. They form a plan that takes advantage of Olivia's universe-hopping ability, and recruit three other Cortexiphan test subjects who have unique abilities: Nick Lane (David Call
), Sally Clark (Pascale Hutton
), and James Heath (Omar Metwally
), two of whom appeared in previous episodes. The team—composed of Walter, Olivia, Nick, Sally, and James—successfully arrives on the Other Side. James dies shortly after arrival, but the rest manage to escape the alternate reality's Fringe Division, who had used their special technology to detect their arrival. It is revealed that Walternate is the Secretary of Defense
on the Other Side.
Peter reunites with his real mother, Elizabeth (Orla Brady
), while Walter's team journeys to meet with William Bell (Leonard Nimoy
) at Central Park
. But instead of Bell the alternate Fringe Division appears, and attacks Walter's team. Nick is shot and Sally stays with him; she produces a suicidal fireball that torches both her and Nick to ashes and severely burns the Other Side Fringe Division's principal investigator Lincoln Lee (Seth Gabel
). Walter is shot and is taken to the hospital. Olivia follows her alternate counterpart and encounters Bell, who insists he did not betray their location to the Fringe Division and tells her that Walter is in trouble. Walternate is seen in the room housing the doomsday device Peter will be a part of, and leaves with its final component.
) to apprehend him, but before their arrival Bell and Olivia liberate Walter and escape. Fauxlivia sees a surveillance shot of Olivia and Walter and decides to confer with Walternate about the doppelgängers. During a discussion in his office, Walternate lies to Peter about the doomsday machine's real purpose, claiming it can help to heal both worlds. Fauxlivia meets Peter in Walternate's office and subsequently drives him to his new apartment. Walter and Bell travel to Harvard to collect some equipment necessary for the journey back to their own universe, and Walter reveals his intense dislike for Bell, whom he considers to have been a selfish war profiteer while he himself was locked away for seventeen years. Bell tells Walter that the parallel universe equivalent of himself died in a car accident as a young man. Olivia confronts Fauxlivia, who recognizes that Olivia has feelings for Peter. The women fight, and after rendering Fauxlivia unconscious Olivia dyes her hair to assume Fauxlivia's identity. Meanwhile, Peter discovers that the machine is symbiotic and needs a particular human to control it—him.
Olivia and an oblivious Charlie visit Peter to take him to a safe location. Olivia knocks out Charlie and reveals herself to Peter, informing him of the machine's real purpose and Walternate's intentions. Peter tells her that he does not belong in either reality, following which Olivia admits her romantic feelings for him and convinces him to leave with her. The couple race to meet Walter and Bell at the Opera House, where Fauxlivia and a team of Fringe Commandos catch up with them. Bell and Olivia hold off the assault while Peter and Walter set up the dimensional device to enable their return home. Lacking a fuel source for the device, Bell sacrifices himself to create a nuclear reaction, using his body's unstable molecular state. Close to death, Bell reveals that he removed Walter's memories at his own request, and he and Walter are reconciled. Olivia, Walter, and Peter return home. Peter tells Walter he will never understand him, but because Walter traveled to another universe twice to save him—which has "gotta count for something"—he forgives him. Olivia is revealed to be Fauxlivia, infiltrating Our Side, when she arrives at a typewriter communication station to await orders. The Olivia from our world is then seen in a military detention center on the Other Side. Walternate visits and stares at Olivia without speaking before leaving her in the dark, in solitary confinement.
, together with showrunners Jeff Pinkner
and J. H. Wyman. Goldsman directed the episodes, his first such credit since the season premiere
. He explained the finale in a January 2010 interview with Entertainment Weekly
: "We're trying to do the last two episodes as a singular event, a little bit more movie-like. It's really one big story. We're approaching it like a mini-feature. It'll have a singular narrative drive." They originally intended for the two parts to air on the same night, but Fox
told them it would be shown on two nights, a week apart. The episodes first aired in the United States on May 13 and May 20, 2010. The writers, finding the script to be easily divisible, ended the first episode with William Bell and Olivia
meeting outside Fauxlivia's apartment, and began the second with Bell helping Walter
escape from the hospital.
Pinkner and Wyman brought back the "Cortexiphan kids", introduced in the first two seasons, because they felt that part of the storyline was really interesting. They wanted the end of the season to be a "beautiful culmination of everything" while traveling to the Other Side. The show had been developing a parallel universe storyline since its conception, but "Over There" marked the longest time spent in that world thus far. Pinker explained the idea of two worlds: "One of the big themes of the show is how small choices that you make define you as a person and can change your life in large ways down the line." Wyman said that the parallel universe "is a reminder to our viewers that your life is what your choices are." The two began discussing details about the Other Side early on, especially what the differences between the two universes would be. Pinkner commented in an interview with the Los Angeles Times
that "a lot of them are ideas that we jokingly threw out. Some of them, like the notion of zeppelin
s or the Statue of Liberty
if we didn't let it oxidize or the Grand Central Hotel
, we're not making up. Had the Hindenburg
not blown up, zeppelins would be passenger air ships docking at the Empire State Building
. That was the plan. We opened ourselves to the standard that it had to be possible." Pinkner later elaborated, "We're interested in world building and all that stuff is the texture that actually makes it a world. The richness of detail is what makes it feel real." They used comic books as one way to subtly differentiate the two worlds. Goldsman, Wyman, and actor Joshua Jackson
are longstanding comic book fans and decided to make the character of Peter
a fan as well. Goldsman called on his friend Geoff Johns
, Chief Creative Officer at DC Comics
. He arranged for DC to specially design ten alternate covers for some of their most iconic editions, which were displayed in Peter's apartment on the Other Side. Visual effects company Eden FX created Peter's apartment and the alternate New York skyline visible outside his window. When fans reacted positively to these detailed characteristics written into the parallel universe, the producers stated their intention to show a lot more similar details in the third season.
The finale introduces parallel-universe versions of familiar characters, including the Fauxlivia version of Olivia Dunham, both played by actress Anna Torv
. One topic of conversation among fans, journalists, and those working on the show was what to call the alternate Olivia to differentiate the two. Names varied, with many using "Fauxlivia", "Bolivia", and/or "Altlivia". The writers chose Fauxlivia because a character in a season three episode
referred to her as such. Torv and Akiva Goldsman discussed various ways to differentiate the two depictions of Olivia; ultimately two different physical demeanors were created. Torv wanted to make the new character "completely different", but she and Goldsman recognized that the two share some major similarities, as they both are in the same profession and are "fundamentally, genetically really the same person." According to Torv, Fauxlivia holds herself differently and has "a different silhouette. She's got a little firefighter, a little military in her." Torv further explained, "Olivia wants to be the best, but [Fauxlivia] just wants to win;" "There's just a front-footedness I think to [her], simply because she just doesn't carry the weight of the world on her shoulders like Olivia does. Olivia's mum died when she was really little, and [Fauxlivia]'s mum is still around. There's lots of little, subtle differences." The producers discussed cutting her hair, but ultimately decided on the auburn hair color to differentiate her. They also made her "a little bit more playful". Pinkner describes shooting the Fauxlivia scenes in the DVD audio commentary
: "When [Torv] first showed up on set in this different guise, she had really embodied this other character in a very playful and sexy way. She turned a lot of heads." Goldsman remarked that Torv's depiction of Fauxlivia was actually much closer to the actress' real personality than her performance as Olivia. The producers were so pleased with her Fauxlivia depiction that they thought "it really opened up a bunch of possibilities ... it went from 'let's see if this experiment works' to 'how can we get more of this?
"Over There" marks the first time Olivia meets Fauxlivia. Their meeting was one of the first scenes to be shot; this caused Anna Torv to be anxious about her new character's traits "coming across", as she had not yet developed all her mannerisms for Fauxlivia. While filming the conversation between the two, they did not use a double; Torv memorized the timing and where she should be looking and pointing her gun, and the characters were filmed one at a time. Torv commented about the scene, "You're talking to air. Learning both sides ... was tough." For the fight scene that followed, Torv had to block and aim her gun carefully while being mindful of her movements and the camera's location—though she was aided by stunt doubles. Torv credits the crew for successfully completing the scene: "I give them all the credit in the world. It took a while. They had to change the makeup, change the clothes, change the hair, change every little thing, every time they [moved] the camera."
A later scene depicts Walter in a hospital recovering from a gunshot wound. Olivia and William Bell try to smuggle him out. As it was a real emergency room in a Vancouver hospital, the crew had only one day of shooting. One of the scenes included "monitor acting", in which Torv had to react to a blank computer screen, because the writers had not yet chosen what images they wanted to display. The scene between Olivia, Walter, and Bell was originally set in a coffee shop, but the producers changed their minds when they realized they needed more funding for the finale. Consequently, they began "hawking" the scene in the hopes of gaining a sponsor. KFC
responded, agreeing to pay them for shooting the scene at one of their locations. Walternate's office scenes were shot in a mortuary overlooking a cemetery. Goldsman had Joshua Jackson react in different ways during his first meeting with Fauxlivia, including showing "anger and testiness". He ultimately decided he would be "quite taken with her". For the second episode's cliffhanger, the producers worried about making it as "provocative" as the first season's
. They were originally going to have Olivia sacrifice herself to allow Peter and Walter's return to Our Side, but changed their minds when Wyman suggested she be secretly swapped with Fauxlivia instead. Wyman commented, "We were ecstatic when we figured [the cliffhanger] out." Co-creator J.J. Abrams and other cast members were also pleased with it, with Abrams calling it "different, but I think equally impactful." They wrote the cliffhanger before they knew whether the series had been renewed—they would have had to make an "eleventh-hour redraft" had the show been canceled by Fox.
reported that Dirty Sexy Money
actor Seth Gabel
had been cast as the lead Fringe investigator in the parallel universe, and would be making his first appearance in the finale as a possible recurring character. Jeff Pinkner described the character as "the scientist-cop-leader of the team on the Other Side." In an interview with TV Guide
, Gabel commented that during shooting he felt that he looked "like such a doofus holding a gun," but changed his mind when he saw the finished production. Gabel elaborated, "I was so scared that I wouldn't pull it off. Once I saw myself being a scientist-slash-FBI hero, I felt more confident and relaxed." His character is caught in a large explosion in the finale, but Gabel confirmed, in a Chicago Tribune
interview, that his character would be returning for the third season. He states that the parallel universe has "special technology than can heal burns".
The finale marked the return of actor Kirk Acevedo
as the Other Side FBI agent Charlie Francis. In the DVD audio commentary, the producers admit they "faced a bit of hatred" when they killed off Acevedo's character near the beginning of the season. They were aware the entire time that Charlie exists in the parallel universe, and that "nobody ever dies on Fringe. Acevedo describes the parallel universe version of his character as someone who is "so much more fun." He is subtly different, with a lighter personality; he jokes around more, and is less "doom and gloom" than the original character. Some viewers refer to the new character as "alt-Charlie" to differentiate the two. The actor, the producers, and some fans have called the new character "Scarlie" in reference to a scar on his cheek, which takes ten minutes to apply before shooting, according to Acevedo. Previous guest actors Orla Brady
, Lily Pilblad, Ari Graynor
, Omar Metwally
, Ryan McDonald
, and David Call
appear in the finale, as well as new guest stars Philip Winchester
and Pascale Hutton
.
Some cast members portray alternate versions of their characters, including John Noble
, Lance Reddick
, and Jasika Nicole
. Noble described his doppelgänger—nicknamed "Walternate" by Walter—as "[physically] the same man and the same actor." He continued, "I think of [Walternate] as a soldier. He's like a general in the army. He's very upright, he's very strong." Reddick called alt-Broyles "a great patriot and a great mind," but "a bit of a maverick, so I guess we'll see just how that loyalty and relationship plays out." Nicole based "alterna-Astrid"s characteristics on her sister, who has Asperger syndrome
, partly by avoiding eye contact with the other characters when relaying information to them and by focusing solely on the data in front of her.
Though guest actor Leonard Nimoy was reluctant to return after completing his three-episode commitment on the show that had ended with the season's tenth episode
, he returned for the season finale when the producers "essentially called him up and pleaded". They discussed their plans for the character, and "told him it was a story we couldn't tell without him." He "graciously agreed." "Over There" marked Nimoy's longest appearance on Fringe, a longer and "much more involv[ed]" shoot of roughly seven days was required. It was Nimoy's last physical appearance on the show, due to the assumed death of his character, William Bell. Despite this, the show's producers have said that nothing is final in the Fringe world. Pinkner commented that Nimoy's retirement from acting obviously hinders his character's possible return but, "if Leonard chooses to come back, there is a story in place that we'd love to tell." Wyman elaborated that "I think it's fair to say that you have not experienced the last of William Bell". When the producers told Nimoy their ideas for Bell's storyline in the third season, he returned for some brief voice and animation work in the episode "Lysergic Acid Diethylamide
".
references are used to subtly differentiate the two universes. The American drama series The West Wing is beginning its 11th season in the parallel universe, and US politicians Barack Obama
and Sarah Palin
are in one of the show's advertisements. The parallel universe's Statue of Liberty is still its original shiny copper. “We imagined that Over There, they really liked copper and they cleaned it all the time,” one of the creators says.; Liberty Island
is the location of Fringe Division and the Department of Defense
on the Other Side. Also the Hotel Attraction
projected by catalan architect Antoni Gaudí
was finally build. Former president Richard Nixon
is shown on a dollar coin in the parallel universe, rather than Dwight Eisenhower. Fauxlivia finds a twenty-dollar bill
from Our Side and questions who Andrew Jackson
is, implying that he was either never president or is far less known in their universe. Civil rights
activist Martin Luther King Jr. is shown on their version of the bill, which has been nicknamed a "junior".
Aviator Charles Lindbergh
is less well-known in the parallel universe, and the famous kidnapping
of his son presumably did not occur, as Fauxlivia expresses confusion when his name is brought up. When Walter, Bell, and Olivia are on the Other Side eating at KFC, Walter puts on a Brooklyn Dodgers
baseball cap. Unlike in Our Side, the team never moved to Los Angeles
. The parallel universe has a number of famous comic book issues from DC Comics, similar to Our Side, but with notable differences. For instance, the Red Arrow and Red Lantern exist on the Other Side, rather than the green versions of both characters in our universe, and there are different members in the Justice League
. Fauxlivia's cellphone ringtone is taken from the 1975 film The Rocky Horror Picture Show
. Other films, both real and invented, are also shown in the parallel universe, such as Superman vs. Batman 2, Indiana Jones and the Hex of the Hydra, Star Wars: Legion of Droids, Splash 7, Smokey and the Bandit: The Final Lap and Mask vs. Joker.
" while driving a Ford Taurus
; the scene's reference to a "Ford exclusive", as well as the perceived "loving shots" of the car, caused it to be noted as a prime example of product placement
by some critics. The scene was advertised during the second episode's commercial breaks in the US, advising viewers to view the clip at Fox's official website. As with other Fringe episodes, Fox released two science lesson plans for grade school children focusing on the science seen in both parts of "Over There"; the first part's intention was to have "students learn about how the various forms of energy can be converted into other forms of energy and how these conversions can be used to either disperse or concentrate energy." The second part's purpose was for "students [to] learn about how various types of sensors can be used to remotely collect information about a geographical area, which allows for unique scientific analyses and discoveries."
According to the Nielsen ratings
system, upon its original US broadcast, part one garnered an estimated 5.99 million viewers and a 3.6/6 ratings share among all households. It received a 2.3/7 ratings share among adults 18–49. In keeping with the rest of its second season, Fringes ratings suffered due to tough competition from episodes of CBS
's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
and ABC
's Grey's Anatomy
, as these programs were also broadcast in the same time slot. Fringe and its lead-in, Bones
, helped Fox place third for the night, behind CBS and ABC. The second part was viewed by an estimated 5.68 million viewers, with a 2.0 ratings share among adults 18–49. This was a 13 percent fall in the 18–49 ratings share from the previous week, as the second episode faced competition from the season finale of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and the two-part season finale of Grey's Anatomy. "Over There's" second part helped Fox place third for total viewers that night, behind CBS and ABC, and tie with NBC
for third place among viewers 18–49.
The finale aired on two separate nights in the United Kingdom. The first part was scheduled to air on May 25, 2010, on the UK's Sky1, but was put back a week to make room for the series finale
of Lost
. The first part aired on June 1 in the UK, with an estimated 195,000 viewers tuning in. The second part aired on June 8 to an estimated 246,000 viewers.
thought it "fantastic," because it was "a great story that leads us into one hell of a conclusion to the season," and that it "right away [gave] us the deepest, most exciting look into the alternate universe we've seen so far." He rated it 9.0/10. Ken Tucker from Entertainment Weekly
and MTV
's Josh Wigler agreed on this last point, with Tucker noting the first part "was a complete success and a blast at giving us a fully lived-in alternate universe." Noel Murray of The Onion
s A.V. Club graded the first part with an A−, calling it "a fun, exciting episode that nicely set up next week's finale". Isler, Wigler, and Murray loved the return of the Cortexifan subjects; Murray docked the episode a half point, explaining "I love the idea of Olivia & The Cortexifanatics so much that I'm bummed Fringe burned through the group so quickly." Critic Andrew Hanson, writing for the Los Angeles Times
, noted that because of the parallel universe focus, the first part felt like the following season's premiere. He praised the opening scene, and believed the scenes between Peter and his mother helped "ground the episode. They might be out of pace with the action and drama pouring out of every other moment, but there was weight and emotion. Bravo Joshua Jackson and Orla Brady. Bravo." Ken Tucker noted that the scenes with Peter and his true mother indicated "a great, humantistic use of a sci-fi trope". MTV's Josh Wigler praised Torv's performance, but wished the two-part finale was not broken up, explaining "I could have easily tuned in for another several hours. Heck, I could watch an entire parallel series focused solely on the alternate universe!"
Like part one, the second part premiered to positive reviews. IGN's Ramsey Isler wrote that it "changed the whole landscape of the show's main plot arc. Although there were some rough spots in the execution of this story, overall it's one hell of a way to end the season." He rated the episode 8.6/10. While praising Noble's performance, Isler criticized some plot aspects. He was "kind of torn" on the Peter-Olivia kiss, wished Peter and the doomsday device had been set up more for the third season, and believed the Olivia-Fauxlivia interaction to be "a little strange," as the two went from discussing their respective families to "ass kicking". Isler did praise the fight itself. Ken Tucker praised the acting and the writers, noting "The fact that the series can accommodate a fan like me only confirms what a well-wrought piece of pop culture Fringe has become." Tucker included the second part of the season in his mid-year "Top 10" list for 2010, partly attributing this ranking to Fringe "offer[ing] the season's best cliffhanger", alongside Breaking Bad
. Noel Murray declared that he enjoyed part two slightly more, grading it an A. He praised Torv and Noble's performances for "inhabiting their respective worlds so well", and Goldsman for "[shooting] this episode with an emphasis on the characters more than the setting".
Andrew Hanson of the Los Angeles Times felt the second part fulfilled all of the criteria for an incredible season finale: the season's arc had a "pay-off" he "didn't see coming" in the aftermath of Walternate crossing universes to take back Peter; the entire episode was an "event" because it spent more time in the parallel universe than ever before, and it had an "A+ cliffhanger". MTV's Fringe reviewer Josh Wigler enjoyed the ending, calling it "one heck of a cliffhanger!" James Poniewozik
from Time Magazine positively compared both parts of the finale to The X-Files
, writing that, unlike that series, Fringes standalone episodes contribute to the overall mythology of the show. To him the finale "demonstrates how well the show now manages to balance its far-fetched sci-fi with grounded character storylines." Poniewozik concluded his review by expressing that it was not as strong as "Peter
", but Over There' was a season-ender that did what it should—left me wanting more".
Many critics praised the many subtle differences between the two universes, while others lauded Leonard Nimoy's final appearance as William Bell and his scenes with Walter. Website blogger io9
listed both parts of "Over There" as one of the select few "crucial" episodes new viewers must watch to understand the show, referring to it as "one of the most epic season finales ever". Another io9 reviewer called the ending one of the "best SF/fantasy cliffhangers ever shown on television" in a September 2010 list. The finale helped propel Fringe onto a number of 2010 "best of television" lists, including Digital Spy
, Entertainment Weekly, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
, The Daily Beast
, The New York Times
, TV Squad, the New York Post
, and IGN; the last of these named Fringe the best sci-fi series of 2010, beating fellow nominees Lost, Caprica
, and Stargate Universe
. Some critics predicted that, because of the increased focus on looking into the alternate universe and advancing its mythology, Fringes "monster-of-the-week
" episodes would become less frequent. This could make it more difficult for casual viewers to follow the show in its third season.
category at the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards
, and director Goldsman made a submission of both parts for the Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series
category. None of the three secured a nomination. Leonard Nimoy submitted part two for consideration in the Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series category. He and fellow guest actor Peter Weller
(who appeared in "White Tulip
") were not chosen for nominations. At Entertainment Weeklys June 2010 voter-driven TV Season Finale Awards, Fringe was nominated for multiple awards, and won in several categories. The Olivia-Fauxlivia swap was named the "Best Non-Romantic Cliff-hanger" of the season and placed third for the "Single Most Clever Twist", but it also came in third place for "Single Weakest Twist". The ending scene with Walternate and Olivia was voted the winner of the "Spookiest Image" category. Olivia's kiss with Peter finished in fifth place for the "Best Kiss" category, and her fight with Fauxlivia placed second in the "Best Fight" category. In the "Biggest Regret That I Didn't See the Finale, I Just Read About It" category Fringe won third place.
Fringe (Season 2)
The second season of the American science fiction television series Fringe commenced airing on the Fox network on September 17, 2009, and concluded on May 20, 2010. The season was produced by Bad Robot Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television, and its showrunners...
finale
Season finale
A season finale is the final episode of a season of a television program...
of the Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
science fiction drama series Fringe
Fringe (TV series)
Fringe is an American science fiction television series created by J. J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. The series follows a Federal Bureau of Investigation "Fringe Division" team based in Boston, Massachusetts under the supervision of Homeland Security...
. They are the 22nd and 23rd episodes of the season, and the 42nd and 43rd episodes of the series overall. Both parts were written by Academy Award-winning screenwriter Akiva Goldsman
Akiva Goldsman
Akiva J. Goldsman from Walker Valley, New York is an American screenwriter and film producer. He received an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the 2001 film, A Beautiful Mind, which also won the Oscar for Best Picture....
, together with showrunners Jeff Pinkner
Jeff Pinkner
Jeff Pinkner is an American television writer and producer. He graduated from Pikesville High School in Baltimore Maryland in 1983. He is known for his work on Alias where he served as executive producer. In 2006 and 2007, he worked as an executive producer and writer for the mystery series Lost...
and J. H. Wyman. Goldsman also served as director, his first such credit since the season premiere
A New Day in the Old Town
"A New Day in the Old Town" is the season premiere and first episode of the second season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe, and the 21st episode overall. It was written by co-creator J.J. Abrams and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, with Goldsman also directing...
.
Fringes premise is based on the idea of two parallel universes
Parallel universe (fiction)
A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
, our own and the Other Side, each of which contains historical idiosyncrasies. The two universes began to clash in 1985, after Dr. Walter Bishop
Walter Bishop (Fringe)
Walter Bishop, Ph.D. is a fictional character on the Fox television series Fringe. He is portrayed by John Noble. Noble also plays Walter's counterpart in the show's parallel universe, who is referred to in the show as Walternate.-Arc:...
(John Noble
John Noble
John Noble is an Australian film and television actor, and theater director of more than 80 plays. He was born in Port Pirie, South Australia, Australia and is currently starring as scientist Walter Bishop in the J. J. Abrams television series Fringe.He made occasional appearances on the...
) stole the parallel universe version of his son, Peter
Peter Bishop
Peter Bishop is a fictional character on the Fox television series Fringe. He is portrayed by Joshua Jackson.-Fictional character biography:...
, following his own son's death. The finale's narrative recounts what happens when Peter (Joshua Jackson
Joshua Jackson
Joshua Carter Jackson is a Canadian American actor. He has appeared in primetime television and in over 32 film roles. He is best known for playing Charlie Conway in The Mighty Ducks film series, Pacey Witter in the television series Dawson's Creek and Peter Bishop in the television series...
) is taken back to the Other Side by his real father, dubbed "Walternate" (Noble). FBI agent Olivia Dunham
Olivia Dunham
FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series Fringe . Olivia first appeared in the pilot episode on September 9, 2008. She is portrayed by actress Anna Torv....
(Anna Torv
Anna Torv
Anna Torv is an Australian actress known for her role as FBI agent Olivia Dunham on the Fox television series Fringe.-Early life:...
) and Walter lead a team of former Cortexiphan test subjects to retrieve him, after discovering that Peter is an unwitting part of Walternate's plans to bring about the destruction of our universe using an ancient doomsday device
Doomsday device
A doomsday device is a hypothetical construction — usually a weapon, or collection of weapons — which could destroy all life on a planet, particularly the Earth, or destroy the planet itself, bringing "doomsday", a term used for the end of planet Earth...
.
In the finale, the main characters spend the longest amount of time in the parallel universe to date. The writers sought to emphasize the differences between the two worlds: Anna Torv created a unique personality and physical demeanor for her character's doppelgänger
Doppelgänger
In fiction and folklore, a doppelgänger is a paranormal double of a living person, typically representing evil or misfortune...
, Fauxlivia; DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
designed special covers based upon some of their classic editions to display in the Other Side. These and other popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
differences were noted and appreciated by critics, persuading the writers to add more in the third season
Fringe (season 3)
The third season of the American science fiction television series Fringe premiered on Fox on September 23, 2010, and concluded on May 6, 2011, consisting of 22 episodes. The series is produced by Bad Robot Productions in association with Warner Bros...
. The episodes mark the first appearance of recurring character Lincoln Lee
Lincoln Lee
Captain Lincoln Lee is a fictional character on the Fox television series Fringe . Lincoln first appeared in the season two finale on May 13, 2010. He is portrayed by actor Seth Gabel....
(Seth Gabel
Seth Gabel
Seth Gabel is an American actor. Gabel plays the role of agent Lincoln Lee on Fox's television series Fringe.-Career:...
), as well as the return of actor Kirk Acevedo
Kirk Acevedo
Kirk Acevedo is an American actor. He is primarily known for his portrayals of Miguel Alvarez in the HBO series Oz, Joe Toye in Band of Brothers and FBI Agent Charlie Francis in the science-fiction series Fringe....
as Agent Charlie Francis. At the time, guest star Leonard Nimoy
Leonard Nimoy
Leonard Simon Nimoy is an American actor, film director, poet, musician and photographer. Nimoy's most famous role is that of Spock in the original Star Trek series , multiple films, television and video game sequels....
's appearance as William Bell marked his final commitment to the show.
Although originally intended to air on the same night, the two parts were broadcast in the United States a week apart. On its initial airing on May 13, 2010, an estimated 5.99 million viewers watched part one. Part two aired on May 20, and was viewed by an estimated audience of 5.68 million. Both episodes received overwhelmingly positive reviews, and the season was chosen for a significant number of "best of" lists by various media outlets; many critics praised the second episode's cliffhanger
Cliffhanger
A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma, or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode of serialized fiction...
in particular. The finale was included in most of the categories at Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
s voter-driven TV Season Finale Awards, placing first in two. Pinkner, Wyman, and Goldsman submitted both episodes for the drama writing
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series
The Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series is awarded to one television episode each year at the Primetime Emmy Awards. Often regarded as the highest honor that can be bestowed upon an individual episode of television, the nominees and winners often reflect outstanding achievement in...
and directing
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series is an Emmy presented to the best directing of a television drama series.-Best Direction of a Single Program of a Drama Series:*1959: Jack Smight – Alcoa-Goodyear Theatre ...
categories for the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards
62nd Primetime Emmy Awards
The 62nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, took place on August 29, 2010, at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California beginning at 5:00 p.m. PDT...
, and Nimoy submitted his work from the second episode for consideration in the Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series category; none received a nomination.
Part one
Dr. Walter BishopWalter Bishop (Fringe)
Walter Bishop, Ph.D. is a fictional character on the Fox television series Fringe. He is portrayed by John Noble. Noble also plays Walter's counterpart in the show's parallel universe, who is referred to in the show as Walternate.-Arc:...
(John Noble
John Noble
John Noble is an Australian film and television actor, and theater director of more than 80 plays. He was born in Port Pirie, South Australia, Australia and is currently starring as scientist Walter Bishop in the J. J. Abrams television series Fringe.He made occasional appearances on the...
) and FBI agent Olivia Dunham
Olivia Dunham
FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series Fringe . Olivia first appeared in the pilot episode on September 9, 2008. She is portrayed by actress Anna Torv....
(Anna Torv
Anna Torv
Anna Torv is an Australian actress known for her role as FBI agent Olivia Dunham on the Fox television series Fringe.-Early life:...
) discover that Peter Bishop
Peter Bishop
Peter Bishop is a fictional character on the Fox television series Fringe. He is portrayed by Joshua Jackson.-Fictional character biography:...
(Joshua Jackson
Joshua Jackson
Joshua Carter Jackson is a Canadian American actor. He has appeared in primetime television and in over 32 film roles. He is best known for playing Charlie Conway in The Mighty Ducks film series, Pacey Witter in the television series Dawson's Creek and Peter Bishop in the television series...
) has agreed to return with his real father, dubbed "Walternate" (Noble), to his own universe
Parallel universe (fiction)
A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
called the Other Side, which runs parallel to ours. One of the mysterious Observers (Michael Cerveris
Michael Cerveris
Michael Cerveris is an American singer, guitarist and actor. He has performed in many stage musicals and plays, including in several Stephen Sondheim musicals: Assassins, Sweeney Todd, Road Show, and Passion...
) leaves Olivia a note indicating that Peter is named in a prophecy as the one responsible for the end of the world. To warn Peter of his impending role, the Fringe Division work with biotechnology corporation Massive Dynamic to come up with a way to cross over. They form a plan that takes advantage of Olivia's universe-hopping ability, and recruit three other Cortexiphan test subjects who have unique abilities: Nick Lane (David Call
David Call
David Steven Call , is an American film and television actor- Personal life :He is a graduate student of NYU Tisch School of the Arts and the Atlantic Theater Company Acting School.- Acting career :...
), Sally Clark (Pascale Hutton
Pascale Hutton
Pascale Hutton is a Canadian actress. She was born in Creston, British Columbia. Hutton attended the conservatory acting program at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.- Filmography :- Television :...
), and James Heath (Omar Metwally
Omar Metwally
Omar Metwally is an American actor.Metwally was born in Queens, New York to an Egyptian father and a Dutch mother, and moved with the family to Orange County, California at age three where he was raised...
), two of whom appeared in previous episodes. The team—composed of Walter, Olivia, Nick, Sally, and James—successfully arrives on the Other Side. James dies shortly after arrival, but the rest manage to escape the alternate reality's Fringe Division, who had used their special technology to detect their arrival. It is revealed that Walternate is the Secretary of Defense
United States Secretary of Defense
The Secretary of Defense is the head and chief executive officer of the Department of Defense of the United States of America. This position corresponds to what is generally known as a Defense Minister in other countries...
on the Other Side.
Peter reunites with his real mother, Elizabeth (Orla Brady
Orla Brady
-Early life and career:The second of four children born to Dublin publican Patrick Brady and his wife Catherine who had appeared in amateur productions at the Gate Theatre, Brady first became interested in an acting career after reading works by Germaine Greer and Simone de Beauvoir.Brady drifted...
), while Walter's team journeys to meet with William Bell (Leonard Nimoy
Leonard Nimoy
Leonard Simon Nimoy is an American actor, film director, poet, musician and photographer. Nimoy's most famous role is that of Spock in the original Star Trek series , multiple films, television and video game sequels....
) at Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
. But instead of Bell the alternate Fringe Division appears, and attacks Walter's team. Nick is shot and Sally stays with him; she produces a suicidal fireball that torches both her and Nick to ashes and severely burns the Other Side Fringe Division's principal investigator Lincoln Lee (Seth Gabel
Seth Gabel
Seth Gabel is an American actor. Gabel plays the role of agent Lincoln Lee on Fox's television series Fringe.-Career:...
). Walter is shot and is taken to the hospital. Olivia follows her alternate counterpart and encounters Bell, who insists he did not betray their location to the Fringe Division and tells her that Walter is in trouble. Walternate is seen in the room housing the doomsday device Peter will be a part of, and leaves with its final component.
Part two
Walternate learns of Walter's presence in the hospital and dispatches "Fauxlivia" (Torv) and "Alt-Charlie" (Kirk AcevedoKirk Acevedo
Kirk Acevedo is an American actor. He is primarily known for his portrayals of Miguel Alvarez in the HBO series Oz, Joe Toye in Band of Brothers and FBI Agent Charlie Francis in the science-fiction series Fringe....
) to apprehend him, but before their arrival Bell and Olivia liberate Walter and escape. Fauxlivia sees a surveillance shot of Olivia and Walter and decides to confer with Walternate about the doppelgängers. During a discussion in his office, Walternate lies to Peter about the doomsday machine's real purpose, claiming it can help to heal both worlds. Fauxlivia meets Peter in Walternate's office and subsequently drives him to his new apartment. Walter and Bell travel to Harvard to collect some equipment necessary for the journey back to their own universe, and Walter reveals his intense dislike for Bell, whom he considers to have been a selfish war profiteer while he himself was locked away for seventeen years. Bell tells Walter that the parallel universe equivalent of himself died in a car accident as a young man. Olivia confronts Fauxlivia, who recognizes that Olivia has feelings for Peter. The women fight, and after rendering Fauxlivia unconscious Olivia dyes her hair to assume Fauxlivia's identity. Meanwhile, Peter discovers that the machine is symbiotic and needs a particular human to control it—him.
Olivia and an oblivious Charlie visit Peter to take him to a safe location. Olivia knocks out Charlie and reveals herself to Peter, informing him of the machine's real purpose and Walternate's intentions. Peter tells her that he does not belong in either reality, following which Olivia admits her romantic feelings for him and convinces him to leave with her. The couple race to meet Walter and Bell at the Opera House, where Fauxlivia and a team of Fringe Commandos catch up with them. Bell and Olivia hold off the assault while Peter and Walter set up the dimensional device to enable their return home. Lacking a fuel source for the device, Bell sacrifices himself to create a nuclear reaction, using his body's unstable molecular state. Close to death, Bell reveals that he removed Walter's memories at his own request, and he and Walter are reconciled. Olivia, Walter, and Peter return home. Peter tells Walter he will never understand him, but because Walter traveled to another universe twice to save him—which has "gotta count for something"—he forgives him. Olivia is revealed to be Fauxlivia, infiltrating Our Side, when she arrives at a typewriter communication station to await orders. The Olivia from our world is then seen in a military detention center on the Other Side. Walternate visits and stares at Olivia without speaking before leaving her in the dark, in solitary confinement.
Writing and filming
"Over There" was written by Academy Award-winning screenwriter and frequent Fringe collaborator Akiva GoldsmanAkiva Goldsman
Akiva J. Goldsman from Walker Valley, New York is an American screenwriter and film producer. He received an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the 2001 film, A Beautiful Mind, which also won the Oscar for Best Picture....
, together with showrunners Jeff Pinkner
Jeff Pinkner
Jeff Pinkner is an American television writer and producer. He graduated from Pikesville High School in Baltimore Maryland in 1983. He is known for his work on Alias where he served as executive producer. In 2006 and 2007, he worked as an executive producer and writer for the mystery series Lost...
and J. H. Wyman. Goldsman directed the episodes, his first such credit since the season premiere
A New Day in the Old Town
"A New Day in the Old Town" is the season premiere and first episode of the second season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe, and the 21st episode overall. It was written by co-creator J.J. Abrams and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, with Goldsman also directing...
. He explained the finale in a January 2010 interview with Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
: "We're trying to do the last two episodes as a singular event, a little bit more movie-like. It's really one big story. We're approaching it like a mini-feature. It'll have a singular narrative drive." They originally intended for the two parts to air on the same night, but Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
told them it would be shown on two nights, a week apart. The episodes first aired in the United States on May 13 and May 20, 2010. The writers, finding the script to be easily divisible, ended the first episode with William Bell and Olivia
Olivia Dunham
FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series Fringe . Olivia first appeared in the pilot episode on September 9, 2008. She is portrayed by actress Anna Torv....
meeting outside Fauxlivia's apartment, and began the second with Bell helping Walter
Walter Bishop (Fringe)
Walter Bishop, Ph.D. is a fictional character on the Fox television series Fringe. He is portrayed by John Noble. Noble also plays Walter's counterpart in the show's parallel universe, who is referred to in the show as Walternate.-Arc:...
escape from the hospital.
Pinkner and Wyman brought back the "Cortexiphan kids", introduced in the first two seasons, because they felt that part of the storyline was really interesting. They wanted the end of the season to be a "beautiful culmination of everything" while traveling to the Other Side. The show had been developing a parallel universe storyline since its conception, but "Over There" marked the longest time spent in that world thus far. Pinker explained the idea of two worlds: "One of the big themes of the show is how small choices that you make define you as a person and can change your life in large ways down the line." Wyman said that the parallel universe "is a reminder to our viewers that your life is what your choices are." The two began discussing details about the Other Side early on, especially what the differences between the two universes would be. Pinkner commented in an interview with the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
that "a lot of them are ideas that we jokingly threw out. Some of them, like the notion of zeppelin
Zeppelin
A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship pioneered by the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin in the early 20th century. It was based on designs he had outlined in 1874 and detailed in 1893. His plans were reviewed by committee in 1894 and patented in the United States on 14 March 1899...
s or the Statue of Liberty
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886...
if we didn't let it oxidize or the Grand Central Hotel
Grand Central Hotel
The Grand Central Hotel, later renamed the Broadway Central Hotel, was a hotel at 673 Broadway, New York City, that collapsed on August 3, 1973, killing four residents and injuring at least twelve.-History:...
, we're not making up. Had the Hindenburg
LZ 129 Hindenburg
LZ 129 Hindenburg was a large German commercial passenger-carrying rigid airship, the lead ship of the Hindenburg class, the longest class of flying machine and the largest airship by envelope volume...
not blown up, zeppelins would be passenger air ships docking at the Empire State Building
Empire State Building
The Empire State Building is a 102-story landmark skyscraper and American cultural icon in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. It has a roof height of 1,250 feet , and with its antenna spire included, it stands a total of 1,454 ft high. Its name is derived...
. That was the plan. We opened ourselves to the standard that it had to be possible." Pinkner later elaborated, "We're interested in world building and all that stuff is the texture that actually makes it a world. The richness of detail is what makes it feel real." They used comic books as one way to subtly differentiate the two worlds. Goldsman, Wyman, and actor Joshua Jackson
Joshua Jackson
Joshua Carter Jackson is a Canadian American actor. He has appeared in primetime television and in over 32 film roles. He is best known for playing Charlie Conway in The Mighty Ducks film series, Pacey Witter in the television series Dawson's Creek and Peter Bishop in the television series...
are longstanding comic book fans and decided to make the character of Peter
Peter Bishop
Peter Bishop is a fictional character on the Fox television series Fringe. He is portrayed by Joshua Jackson.-Fictional character biography:...
a fan as well. Goldsman called on his friend Geoff Johns
Geoff Johns
Geoff Johns is an American comic book writer, best known for his work for DC Comics, where he has been Chief Creative Officer since February 2010, in particular for characters such as Green Lantern, The Flash and Superman...
, Chief Creative Officer at DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
. He arranged for DC to specially design ten alternate covers for some of their most iconic editions, which were displayed in Peter's apartment on the Other Side. Visual effects company Eden FX created Peter's apartment and the alternate New York skyline visible outside his window. When fans reacted positively to these detailed characteristics written into the parallel universe, the producers stated their intention to show a lot more similar details in the third season.
The finale introduces parallel-universe versions of familiar characters, including the Fauxlivia version of Olivia Dunham, both played by actress Anna Torv
Anna Torv
Anna Torv is an Australian actress known for her role as FBI agent Olivia Dunham on the Fox television series Fringe.-Early life:...
. One topic of conversation among fans, journalists, and those working on the show was what to call the alternate Olivia to differentiate the two. Names varied, with many using "Fauxlivia", "Bolivia", and/or "Altlivia". The writers chose Fauxlivia because a character in a season three episode
Reciprocity (Fringe)
"Reciprocity" is the 11th episode of the third season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe, and the 54th episode overall. The episode has the Fringe division following a chain of shapeshifter murders as the assembly of the doomsday device nears completion.Josh Singer wrote...
referred to her as such. Torv and Akiva Goldsman discussed various ways to differentiate the two depictions of Olivia; ultimately two different physical demeanors were created. Torv wanted to make the new character "completely different", but she and Goldsman recognized that the two share some major similarities, as they both are in the same profession and are "fundamentally, genetically really the same person." According to Torv, Fauxlivia holds herself differently and has "a different silhouette. She's got a little firefighter, a little military in her." Torv further explained, "Olivia wants to be the best, but [Fauxlivia] just wants to win;" "There's just a front-footedness I think to [her], simply because she just doesn't carry the weight of the world on her shoulders like Olivia does. Olivia's mum died when she was really little, and [Fauxlivia]'s mum is still around. There's lots of little, subtle differences." The producers discussed cutting her hair, but ultimately decided on the auburn hair color to differentiate her. They also made her "a little bit more playful". Pinkner describes shooting the Fauxlivia scenes in the DVD audio commentary
Audio commentary
On disc-based video formats, an audio commentary is an additional audio track consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with video...
: "When [Torv] first showed up on set in this different guise, she had really embodied this other character in a very playful and sexy way. She turned a lot of heads." Goldsman remarked that Torv's depiction of Fauxlivia was actually much closer to the actress' real personality than her performance as Olivia. The producers were so pleased with her Fauxlivia depiction that they thought "it really opened up a bunch of possibilities ... it went from 'let's see if this experiment works' to 'how can we get more of this?
"Over There" marks the first time Olivia meets Fauxlivia. Their meeting was one of the first scenes to be shot; this caused Anna Torv to be anxious about her new character's traits "coming across", as she had not yet developed all her mannerisms for Fauxlivia. While filming the conversation between the two, they did not use a double; Torv memorized the timing and where she should be looking and pointing her gun, and the characters were filmed one at a time. Torv commented about the scene, "You're talking to air. Learning both sides ... was tough." For the fight scene that followed, Torv had to block and aim her gun carefully while being mindful of her movements and the camera's location—though she was aided by stunt doubles. Torv credits the crew for successfully completing the scene: "I give them all the credit in the world. It took a while. They had to change the makeup, change the clothes, change the hair, change every little thing, every time they [moved] the camera."
A later scene depicts Walter in a hospital recovering from a gunshot wound. Olivia and William Bell try to smuggle him out. As it was a real emergency room in a Vancouver hospital, the crew had only one day of shooting. One of the scenes included "monitor acting", in which Torv had to react to a blank computer screen, because the writers had not yet chosen what images they wanted to display. The scene between Olivia, Walter, and Bell was originally set in a coffee shop, but the producers changed their minds when they realized they needed more funding for the finale. Consequently, they began "hawking" the scene in the hopes of gaining a sponsor. KFC
KFC
KFC, founded and also known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, is a chain of fast food restaurants based in Louisville, Kentucky, in the United States. KFC has been a brand and operating segment, termed a concept of Yum! Brands since 1997 when that company was spun off from PepsiCo as Tricon Global...
responded, agreeing to pay them for shooting the scene at one of their locations. Walternate's office scenes were shot in a mortuary overlooking a cemetery. Goldsman had Joshua Jackson react in different ways during his first meeting with Fauxlivia, including showing "anger and testiness". He ultimately decided he would be "quite taken with her". For the second episode's cliffhanger, the producers worried about making it as "provocative" as the first season's
There's More Than One of Everything
"There's More Than One of Everything" is the finale of the first season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe. The finale followed David Robert Jones' attempts to open a doorway to the parallel universe, while the Fringe team tries to stop him.The episode's story was...
. They were originally going to have Olivia sacrifice herself to allow Peter and Walter's return to Our Side, but changed their minds when Wyman suggested she be secretly swapped with Fauxlivia instead. Wyman commented, "We were ecstatic when we figured [the cliffhanger] out." Co-creator J.J. Abrams and other cast members were also pleased with it, with Abrams calling it "different, but I think equally impactful." They wrote the cliffhanger before they knew whether the series had been renewed—they would have had to make an "eleventh-hour redraft" had the show been canceled by Fox.
Casting
On April 5, 2010, Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
reported that Dirty Sexy Money
Dirty Sexy Money
Dirty Sexy Money is an American prime time drama series created by Craig Wright, which ran on the ABC from September 26, 2007 to August 8, 2009. The series was produced by ABC Studios, Bad Hat Harry Productions, Berlanti Television and Gross Entertainment...
actor Seth Gabel
Seth Gabel
Seth Gabel is an American actor. Gabel plays the role of agent Lincoln Lee on Fox's television series Fringe.-Career:...
had been cast as the lead Fringe investigator in the parallel universe, and would be making his first appearance in the finale as a possible recurring character. Jeff Pinkner described the character as "the scientist-cop-leader of the team on the Other Side." In an interview with TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
, Gabel commented that during shooting he felt that he looked "like such a doofus holding a gun," but changed his mind when he saw the finished production. Gabel elaborated, "I was so scared that I wouldn't pull it off. Once I saw myself being a scientist-slash-FBI hero, I felt more confident and relaxed." His character is caught in a large explosion in the finale, but Gabel confirmed, in a Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
interview, that his character would be returning for the third season. He states that the parallel universe has "special technology than can heal burns".
The finale marked the return of actor Kirk Acevedo
Kirk Acevedo
Kirk Acevedo is an American actor. He is primarily known for his portrayals of Miguel Alvarez in the HBO series Oz, Joe Toye in Band of Brothers and FBI Agent Charlie Francis in the science-fiction series Fringe....
as the Other Side FBI agent Charlie Francis. In the DVD audio commentary, the producers admit they "faced a bit of hatred" when they killed off Acevedo's character near the beginning of the season. They were aware the entire time that Charlie exists in the parallel universe, and that "nobody ever dies on Fringe. Acevedo describes the parallel universe version of his character as someone who is "so much more fun." He is subtly different, with a lighter personality; he jokes around more, and is less "doom and gloom" than the original character. Some viewers refer to the new character as "alt-Charlie" to differentiate the two. The actor, the producers, and some fans have called the new character "Scarlie" in reference to a scar on his cheek, which takes ten minutes to apply before shooting, according to Acevedo. Previous guest actors Orla Brady
Orla Brady
-Early life and career:The second of four children born to Dublin publican Patrick Brady and his wife Catherine who had appeared in amateur productions at the Gate Theatre, Brady first became interested in an acting career after reading works by Germaine Greer and Simone de Beauvoir.Brady drifted...
, Lily Pilblad, Ari Graynor
Ari Graynor
Ariel Geltman Graynor, better known as Ari Graynor, is an American actress.-Life and career:Graynor was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She was raised in a Jewish family and attended Buckingham Browne & Nichols, a private school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Trinity College, in Hartford,...
, Omar Metwally
Omar Metwally
Omar Metwally is an American actor.Metwally was born in Queens, New York to an Egyptian father and a Dutch mother, and moved with the family to Orange County, California at age three where he was raised...
, Ryan McDonald
Ryan McDonald
Ryan James McDonald is a Canadian actor born 5 August 1984 in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada. He is sometimes mistakenly credited as Ryan MacDonald.-Filmography:* "The Ballad of Jack and Rose" * "Terry"...
, and David Call
David Call
David Steven Call , is an American film and television actor- Personal life :He is a graduate student of NYU Tisch School of the Arts and the Atlantic Theater Company Acting School.- Acting career :...
appear in the finale, as well as new guest stars Philip Winchester
Philip Winchester
Philip C. Winchester is an American actor. He is known for his roles in The Patriot, The Hi-Line, LD 50 Lethal Dose, Thunderbirds, CSI: Miami, King Lear, Flyboys, In My Sleep, The Heart of the Earth, and Shaking Dream Land.- Early life and career :Philip C...
and Pascale Hutton
Pascale Hutton
Pascale Hutton is a Canadian actress. She was born in Creston, British Columbia. Hutton attended the conservatory acting program at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.- Filmography :- Television :...
.
Some cast members portray alternate versions of their characters, including John Noble
John Noble
John Noble is an Australian film and television actor, and theater director of more than 80 plays. He was born in Port Pirie, South Australia, Australia and is currently starring as scientist Walter Bishop in the J. J. Abrams television series Fringe.He made occasional appearances on the...
, Lance Reddick
Lance Reddick
Lance Reddick is an American theater, film and TV actor and musician born in Baltimore, Maryland. He starred in The Wire as Cedric Daniels, appeared in Oz as Detective Johnny Basil and appeared in the fourth and fifth seasons of Lost. He now has a prominent role in Fringe...
, and Jasika Nicole
Jasika Nicole
Jasika Nicole is an American actress and illustrator from Birmingham, Alabama. She is most famous for portraying the character of Astrid Farnsworth in the TV series Fringe....
. Noble described his doppelgänger—nicknamed "Walternate" by Walter—as "[physically] the same man and the same actor." He continued, "I think of [Walternate] as a soldier. He's like a general in the army. He's very upright, he's very strong." Reddick called alt-Broyles "a great patriot and a great mind," but "a bit of a maverick, so I guess we'll see just how that loyalty and relationship plays out." Nicole based "alterna-Astrid"s characteristics on her sister, who has Asperger syndrome
Asperger syndrome
Asperger's syndrome that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction, alongside restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. It differs from other autism spectrum disorders by its relative preservation of linguistic and cognitive development...
, partly by avoiding eye contact with the other characters when relaying information to them and by focusing solely on the data in front of her.
Though guest actor Leonard Nimoy was reluctant to return after completing his three-episode commitment on the show that had ended with the season's tenth episode
Grey Matters (Fringe)
"Grey Matters" is the 10th episode of the second season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe. The episode was written by Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz, and directed by Jeannot Szwarc...
, he returned for the season finale when the producers "essentially called him up and pleaded". They discussed their plans for the character, and "told him it was a story we couldn't tell without him." He "graciously agreed." "Over There" marked Nimoy's longest appearance on Fringe, a longer and "much more involv[ed]" shoot of roughly seven days was required. It was Nimoy's last physical appearance on the show, due to the assumed death of his character, William Bell. Despite this, the show's producers have said that nothing is final in the Fringe world. Pinkner commented that Nimoy's retirement from acting obviously hinders his character's possible return but, "if Leonard chooses to come back, there is a story in place that we'd love to tell." Wyman elaborated that "I think it's fair to say that you have not experienced the last of William Bell". When the producers told Nimoy their ideas for Bell's storyline in the third season, he returned for some brief voice and animation work in the episode "Lysergic Acid Diethylamide
Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (Fringe)
"Lysergic Acid Diethylamide" is the 19th episode of the third season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe, and the 62nd episode overall...
".
Cultural references
A number of popular culturePopular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
references are used to subtly differentiate the two universes. The American drama series The West Wing is beginning its 11th season in the parallel universe, and US politicians Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
and Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...
are in one of the show's advertisements. The parallel universe's Statue of Liberty is still its original shiny copper. “We imagined that Over There, they really liked copper and they cleaned it all the time,” one of the creators says.; Liberty Island
Liberty Island
Liberty Island is a small uninhabited island in New York Harbor in the United States, best known as the location of the Statue of Liberty. Though so called since the turn of the century, the name did not become official until 1956. In 1937, by proclamation 2250, President Franklin D...
is the location of Fringe Division and the Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
on the Other Side. Also the Hotel Attraction
Hotel Attraction
Hotel Attraction was a proposed project by architect Antoni Gaudí, for a skyscraper in New York City.The project was commissioned in May 1908. Planned at a total height of 360 metres, it was probably unrealistic for its time...
projected by catalan architect Antoni Gaudí
Antoni Gaudí
Antoni Gaudí i Cornet was a Spanish Catalan architect and figurehead of Catalan Modernism. Gaudí's works reflect his highly individual and distinctive style and are largely concentrated in the Catalan capital of Barcelona, notably his magnum opus, the Sagrada Família.Much of Gaudí's work was...
was finally build. Former president Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
is shown on a dollar coin in the parallel universe, rather than Dwight Eisenhower. Fauxlivia finds a twenty-dollar bill
United States twenty-dollar bill
The United States twenty-dollar bill is a denomination of United States currency. U.S. President Andrew Jackson is currently featured on the front side of the bill, which is why the twenty-dollar bill is often called a "Jackson," while the White House is featured on the reverse side.The...
from Our Side and questions who Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...
is, implying that he was either never president or is far less known in their universe. Civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
activist Martin Luther King Jr. is shown on their version of the bill, which has been nicknamed a "junior".
Aviator Charles Lindbergh
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist.Lindbergh, a 25-year-old U.S...
is less well-known in the parallel universe, and the famous kidnapping
Lindbergh kidnapping
The kidnapping of Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., was the abduction of the son of aviator Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh. The toddler, 18 months old at the time, was abducted from his family home in East Amwell, New Jersey, near the town of Hopewell, New Jersey, on the evening of...
of his son presumably did not occur, as Fauxlivia expresses confusion when his name is brought up. When Walter, Bell, and Olivia are on the Other Side eating at KFC, Walter puts on a Brooklyn Dodgers
History of the Brooklyn Dodgers
-Early Brooklyn baseball:Brooklyn was home to numerous baseball clubs in the mid-1850s. Eight of 16 participants in the first convention were from Brooklyn, including the Atlantic, Eckford, and Excelsior clubs that combined to dominate play for most of the 1860s...
baseball cap. Unlike in Our Side, the team never moved to Los Angeles
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
. The parallel universe has a number of famous comic book issues from DC Comics, similar to Our Side, but with notable differences. For instance, the Red Arrow and Red Lantern exist on the Other Side, rather than the green versions of both characters in our universe, and there are different members in the Justice League
Justice League
The Justice League, also called the Justice League of America or JLA, is a fictional superhero team that appears in comic books published by DC Comics....
. Fauxlivia's cellphone ringtone is taken from the 1975 film The Rocky Horror Picture Show
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
The Rocky Horror Picture Show is the 1975 film adaptation of the British rock musical stageplay, The Rocky Horror Show, written by Richard O'Brien. The film is a parody of B-movie, science fiction and horror films of the late 1940s through early 1970s. Director Jim Sharman collaborated on the...
. Other films, both real and invented, are also shown in the parallel universe, such as Superman vs. Batman 2, Indiana Jones and the Hex of the Hydra, Star Wars: Legion of Droids, Splash 7, Smokey and the Bandit: The Final Lap and Mask vs. Joker.
Broadcast and ratings
Fox renewed Fringe for a third season in early March 2010. The episodes aired on May 13 and May 20, 2010, in the United States and Canada. On May 17 Fox announced that the show would remain in its Thursday timeslot for the new season. A deleted scene cut from the finale featured Walternate and Peter discussing the fictional band "Violet Sedan ChairThe Firefly (Fringe)
"The Firefly" is the 10th episode of the third season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe, and the 53rd episode overall. The episode centers on a chain of events created by Walter crossing over into the parallel universe in 1985 that has had subtle but significant effects...
" while driving a Ford Taurus
Ford Taurus
The Ford Taurus is an automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company in the United States. Originally introduced in the 1986 model year, it has remained in near-continuous production for more than two decades, making it the fourth oldest nameplate that is currently sold in the North American...
; the scene's reference to a "Ford exclusive", as well as the perceived "loving shots" of the car, caused it to be noted as a prime example of product placement
Product placement
Product placement, or embedded marketing, is a form of advertisement, where branded goods or services are placed in a context usually devoid of ads, such as movies, music videos, the story line of television shows, or news programs. The product placement is often not disclosed at the time that the...
by some critics. The scene was advertised during the second episode's commercial breaks in the US, advising viewers to view the clip at Fox's official website. As with other Fringe episodes, Fox released two science lesson plans for grade school children focusing on the science seen in both parts of "Over There"; the first part's intention was to have "students learn about how the various forms of energy can be converted into other forms of energy and how these conversions can be used to either disperse or concentrate energy." The second part's purpose was for "students [to] learn about how various types of sensors can be used to remotely collect information about a geographical area, which allows for unique scientific analyses and discoveries."
According to the Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
system, upon its original US broadcast, part one garnered an estimated 5.99 million viewers and a 3.6/6 ratings share among all households. It received a 2.3/7 ratings share among adults 18–49. In keeping with the rest of its second season, Fringes ratings suffered due to tough competition from episodes of CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American crime drama television series, which premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...
and ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series created by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC; since then, seven seasons have aired. The series follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in...
, as these programs were also broadcast in the same time slot. Fringe and its lead-in, Bones
Bones (TV series)
Bones is an American crime drama television series that premiered on the Fox Network on September 13, 2005. The show is based on forensic anthropology and forensic archaeology, with each episode focusing on an FBI case file concerning the mystery behind human remains brought by FBI Special Agent...
, helped Fox place third for the night, behind CBS and ABC. The second part was viewed by an estimated 5.68 million viewers, with a 2.0 ratings share among adults 18–49. This was a 13 percent fall in the 18–49 ratings share from the previous week, as the second episode faced competition from the season finale of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and the two-part season finale of Grey's Anatomy. "Over There's" second part helped Fox place third for total viewers that night, behind CBS and ABC, and tie with NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
for third place among viewers 18–49.
The finale aired on two separate nights in the United Kingdom. The first part was scheduled to air on May 25, 2010, on the UK's Sky1, but was put back a week to make room for the series finale
The End (Lost)
"The End" is the series finale of the ABC television series Lost, consisting of the 17th and 18th episodes of season 6. It is also the 120th and 121st episodes overall...
of Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
. The first part aired on June 1 in the UK, with an estimated 195,000 viewers tuning in. The second part aired on June 8 to an estimated 246,000 viewers.
Reviews
The first part of the finale received generally positive reviews. Ramsey Isler of IGNIGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
thought it "fantastic," because it was "a great story that leads us into one hell of a conclusion to the season," and that it "right away [gave] us the deepest, most exciting look into the alternate universe we've seen so far." He rated it 9.0/10. Ken Tucker from Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
and MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
's Josh Wigler agreed on this last point, with Tucker noting the first part "was a complete success and a blast at giving us a fully lived-in alternate universe." Noel Murray of The Onion
The Onion
The Onion is an American news satire organization. It is an entertainment newspaper and a website featuring satirical articles reporting on international, national, and local news, in addition to a non-satirical entertainment section known as The A.V. Club...
s A.V. Club graded the first part with an A−, calling it "a fun, exciting episode that nicely set up next week's finale". Isler, Wigler, and Murray loved the return of the Cortexifan subjects; Murray docked the episode a half point, explaining "I love the idea of Olivia & The Cortexifanatics so much that I'm bummed Fringe burned through the group so quickly." Critic Andrew Hanson, writing for the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, noted that because of the parallel universe focus, the first part felt like the following season's premiere. He praised the opening scene, and believed the scenes between Peter and his mother helped "ground the episode. They might be out of pace with the action and drama pouring out of every other moment, but there was weight and emotion. Bravo Joshua Jackson and Orla Brady. Bravo." Ken Tucker noted that the scenes with Peter and his true mother indicated "a great, humantistic use of a sci-fi trope". MTV's Josh Wigler praised Torv's performance, but wished the two-part finale was not broken up, explaining "I could have easily tuned in for another several hours. Heck, I could watch an entire parallel series focused solely on the alternate universe!"
Like part one, the second part premiered to positive reviews. IGN's Ramsey Isler wrote that it "changed the whole landscape of the show's main plot arc. Although there were some rough spots in the execution of this story, overall it's one hell of a way to end the season." He rated the episode 8.6/10. While praising Noble's performance, Isler criticized some plot aspects. He was "kind of torn" on the Peter-Olivia kiss, wished Peter and the doomsday device had been set up more for the third season, and believed the Olivia-Fauxlivia interaction to be "a little strange," as the two went from discussing their respective families to "ass kicking". Isler did praise the fight itself. Ken Tucker praised the acting and the writers, noting "The fact that the series can accommodate a fan like me only confirms what a well-wrought piece of pop culture Fringe has become." Tucker included the second part of the season in his mid-year "Top 10" list for 2010, partly attributing this ranking to Fringe "offer[ing] the season's best cliffhanger", alongside Breaking Bad
Breaking Bad
Breaking Bad is an American television drama series created and produced by Vince Gilligan. Set and produced in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Breaking Bad is the story of Walter White , a struggling high school chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with advanced lung cancer at the beginning of the series...
. Noel Murray declared that he enjoyed part two slightly more, grading it an A. He praised Torv and Noble's performances for "inhabiting their respective worlds so well", and Goldsman for "[shooting] this episode with an emphasis on the characters more than the setting".
Andrew Hanson of the Los Angeles Times felt the second part fulfilled all of the criteria for an incredible season finale: the season's arc had a "pay-off" he "didn't see coming" in the aftermath of Walternate crossing universes to take back Peter; the entire episode was an "event" because it spent more time in the parallel universe than ever before, and it had an "A+ cliffhanger". MTV's Fringe reviewer Josh Wigler enjoyed the ending, calling it "one heck of a cliffhanger!" James Poniewozik
James Poniewozik
James Poniewozik is an American journalist and television critic. He writes Times Tuned In column and has a blog with the same name.Originally from Monroe, MI, Poniewozik attended the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, graduating with a BA in English. He subsequently attended the graduate program...
from Time Magazine positively compared both parts of the finale to The X-Files
The X-Files
The X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...
, writing that, unlike that series, Fringes standalone episodes contribute to the overall mythology of the show. To him the finale "demonstrates how well the show now manages to balance its far-fetched sci-fi with grounded character storylines." Poniewozik concluded his review by expressing that it was not as strong as "Peter
Peter (Fringe)
"Peter" is the 16th episode of the second season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe, and the 36th episode overall. Considered a keystone episode of the series, "Peter" is a flashback episode, told as Walter Bishop reveals to Olivia Dunham that his son Peter is really the...
", but Over There' was a season-ender that did what it should—left me wanting more".
Many critics praised the many subtle differences between the two universes, while others lauded Leonard Nimoy's final appearance as William Bell and his scenes with Walter. Website blogger io9
Io9
io9 is a blog launched in 2008 by Gawker Media. The blog focuses on the subjects of science fiction, futurism, and advancements in the fields of science and technology....
listed both parts of "Over There" as one of the select few "crucial" episodes new viewers must watch to understand the show, referring to it as "one of the most epic season finales ever". Another io9 reviewer called the ending one of the "best SF/fantasy cliffhangers ever shown on television" in a September 2010 list. The finale helped propel Fringe onto a number of 2010 "best of television" lists, including Digital Spy
Digital Spy
Digital Spy is a British entertainment and media news website. According to Alexa Internet traffic statistics, as of February 2011, Digital Spy is the 93rd most popular website in the United Kingdom, with an overall Alexa ranking of 2,088....
, Entertainment Weekly, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is an online newspaper and former print newspaper covering Seattle, Washington, United States, and the surrounding metropolitan area...
, The Daily Beast
The Daily Beast
The Daily Beast is an American news reporting and opinion website founded and published by Tina Brown, former editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker as well as the short-lived Talk Magazine. The Daily Beast was launched on October 6, 2008, and is owned by IAC...
, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, TV Squad, the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
, and IGN; the last of these named Fringe the best sci-fi series of 2010, beating fellow nominees Lost, Caprica
Caprica (TV series)
Caprica is a science fiction drama television series. It is a spin-off prequel of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, taking place about 58 years prior to the events of Battlestar Galactica. Caprica shows how humanity first created the robotic Cylons who would later plot to destroy humans in...
, and Stargate Universe
Stargate Universe
Stargate Universe is a Canadian-American military science fiction television series and part of MGM's Stargate franchise. It follows the adventures of a present-day, multinational exploration team traveling on the Ancient spaceship Destiny many billions of light years distant from the Milky Way...
. Some critics predicted that, because of the increased focus on looking into the alternate universe and advancing its mythology, Fringes "monster-of-the-week
Villain of the week
"Villain of the week" is a term that describes the nature of one-use antagonists in episodic fiction, especially ongoing American genre-based television series...
" episodes would become less frequent. This could make it more difficult for casual viewers to follow the show in its third season.
Awards and nominations
Writers J.H. Wyman, Jeff Pinkner, and Akiva Goldsman submitted both parts of "Over There" for consideration in the Outstanding Writing for a Drama SeriesPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series
The Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series is awarded to one television episode each year at the Primetime Emmy Awards. Often regarded as the highest honor that can be bestowed upon an individual episode of television, the nominees and winners often reflect outstanding achievement in...
category at the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards
62nd Primetime Emmy Awards
The 62nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, took place on August 29, 2010, at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California beginning at 5:00 p.m. PDT...
, and director Goldsman made a submission of both parts for the Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series is an Emmy presented to the best directing of a television drama series.-Best Direction of a Single Program of a Drama Series:*1959: Jack Smight – Alcoa-Goodyear Theatre ...
category. None of the three secured a nomination. Leonard Nimoy submitted part two for consideration in the Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series category. He and fellow guest actor Peter Weller
Peter Weller
Peter Frederick Weller is an American film and stage actor, director and lecturer.He is best known for his roles as the title character in the first two RoboCop films and Buckaroo Banzai in the cult classic The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension...
(who appeared in "White Tulip
White Tulip
"White Tulip" is the 18th episode of the second season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe. It followed a scientist in his quest to time travel back and save his fiancée, while the Fringe team investigates the consequences of his actions, and Walter struggles to tell his...
") were not chosen for nominations. At Entertainment Weeklys June 2010 voter-driven TV Season Finale Awards, Fringe was nominated for multiple awards, and won in several categories. The Olivia-Fauxlivia swap was named the "Best Non-Romantic Cliff-hanger" of the season and placed third for the "Single Most Clever Twist", but it also came in third place for "Single Weakest Twist". The ending scene with Walternate and Olivia was voted the winner of the "Spookiest Image" category. Olivia's kiss with Peter finished in fifth place for the "Best Kiss" category, and her fight with Fauxlivia placed second in the "Best Fight" category. In the "Biggest Regret That I Didn't See the Finale, I Just Read About It" category Fringe won third place.