The fourth season of the American science fiction television series Fringe premiered on Fox on September 23, 2011, and concluded on May 11, 2012, consisting of 22 episodes. The series is produced by Bad Robot in association with Warner Bros. Television, and its showrunners were Jeff Pinkner and J. H. Wyman. The show was officially renewed for a fourth season on March 24, 2011. Lead actors Anna Torv, John Noble, and Joshua Jackson reprised their roles as FBI agent Olivia Dunham and the father-son duo Walter and Peter Bishop. Previous series regulars Lance Reddick, Jasika Nicole, and Blair Brown also returned. Previous recurring guest star Seth Gabel was promoted to series regular. Prominent guest star Leonard Nimoy and first season guest star Jared Harris reprised their roles in the alternate timeline storyline. Former main cast member and previous recurring guest star Kirk Acevedo, however, did not reprise his role.
The season follows the truce between the two inextricable universes through a bridge Peter created after his consciousness was driven forward fifteen years to make a different choice in activating the doomsday device, as seen in the third-season finale. The first part of the season establishes an alternate timeline through the premise of one single character's absence: Peter himself. After being erased by the Observer named September (Michael Cerveris), subtle and drastic changes occur. An amber title sequence replaces the traditional blue opening sequence, and thus the new timeline was dubbed the "Amber timeline". The differences in history without Peter are remarked upon casually in each episode.
The fourth season received generally positive reviews by television critics. Despite its low ratings, viewership was more stable than the previous season which saw a 2.5 million viewership drop from its premiere to the finale. The season premiered with 3.48 million viewers and concluded with 3.11 million viewers. Reviewers reacted well to the reintegration of Jackson's character in the alternate timeline, the return of David Robert Jones (portrayed by Harris), and the performances of Torv and Noble, who each played differing versions of their original characters. Criticisms toward the season were pacing issues in its first-half, unanswered questions regarding strong similarities in established history despite Peter's absence, and lack of answers. The series was renewed for a reduced thirteen-episode fifth and final season on April 26, 2012, of which this season's episode "Letters of Transit" serves as an introduction.
Season summary After making use of the Wave Form Device to create a bridge between the two universes, Peter's actions have led to a timeline drastically different than the Observers desire. September prevents his initial choice in the second season flashback episode "Peter". He no longer saves a seven-year-old Peter from drowning in 1985 after Walter crossed to and back from one universe to another to cure him. As such, a new timeline is formed and background history of the characters is altered forever. The bridge has created a healing effect on the parallel universe, and both Fringe teams resolve their former differences and begin to work together.
Olivia and (now more sheltered and reclusive) Walter continue to explore Fringe events, but are aware of a memory of Peter that haunts them. Due to their actions, Peter suddenly materializes in this timeline, though his identity is not initially known nor is he trusted. However, as he spends time with the Fringe team, Olivia starts to gain memories of the original timeline, and though both are initially worried about this effect, allow it to continue on, rediscovering their romance from before. During one case, a wounded September appears to Olivia, warning her that she dies in every future that he can see, before disappearing. September later appears to Peter after he activates a strange artifact, which acted like a homing beacon to September. September explains the other Observers hid this universe from him purposely, and that this timeline is Peter's true home.
As part of the change of the original timeline, David Robert Jones remains alive and is able to cross back and forth between the two universes, using an advanced army of shapeshifters, the parallel universe's version of Nina Sharp, and the parallel Broyles, whom he has blackmailed to initiate events. He gathers a large collection of the mineral amphilicite, which enables him to build devices that can merge the two universes for disastrous results. Both Fringe teams fear that a larger plan is afoot, and later, when Jones is able to trigger microquakes across the globe in both universes simultaneously, the two sides agree that Jones must be stopped before both worlds are destroyed.
Their first action is to disable the bridge created by the Wave Form Device, believing this enables the simultaneous events, but this proves ineffective. The prime universe Fringe team continues to track Jones' actions, and discover that he is in the employ of William Bell, still alive in this timeline, who seeks to destroy both universes as to create a void for a third one to be made, with Olivia's Cortexiphan abilities enabling this event to occur. In a stalemate, Walter shoots Olivia in the head with a bullet, disrupting Bell's plan, and as Bell escapes, Walter helps to extract the bullet from Olivia, her Cortexiphan healing her body.
After Olivia's recovery, she finds herself pregnant with Peter's child. Walter is approached by September and told that "they are coming", alluding to a future in 2036 where the Observers have taken over humanity.
Cast
Main cast Anna Torv as Olivia Dunham Joshua Jackson as Peter Bishop John Noble as Dr. Walter Bishop Lance Reddick as Phillip Broyles Blair Brown as Nina Sharp Jasika Nicole as Astrid Farnsworth Seth Gabel as Lincoln Lee
Recurring cast Michael Cerveris as September/The Observer Jared Harris as David Robert Jones Michelle Krusiec as Nadine Park Eugene Lipinski as December Leonard Nimoy as Dr. William Bell Orla Brady as Elizabeth Bishop Rebecca Mader as Jessica Holt Ryan McDonald as Brandon Fayette
Episodes
Production
Crew In May 2011, David Fury joined the series as a writer and producer, having previously worked with co-creator J. J. Abrams on Lost. His first writing credit included the season's third episode, "Alone in the World".
Writing
According to executive producers/showrunners Jeff Pinkner and J.H. Wyman, the fourth season would start with the idea that "Peter no longer exists", and also that the audience would "very much see the consequences of what happened in Seasons 1, 2 and 3". These consequences included changes in the past; Pinkner and Wyman noted that though Peter was the impetus for Walter to cross over starting the chain of events, in this alternate history, Walter and William likely would have found their own way to cross, leading to the same events but with some events that "may have happened differently". Specifically, they identified that instead of Walter being brought out of a mental institution by Peter, Olivia becomes the one that does this; this changes Walter's re-acclimation to the outside world, and further alters Astrid's fate, now a field agent instead of being Walter's caretaker.
The producers stated they would continue to employ the use of flashbacks episodes as they "deepened the emotions of these characters", using these as well as flash-forwards "if it suits the story and the things we are trying to get across". Pinkner and Wyman also stated that they viewed the premiere episode of the fourth season "like a new pilot" to draw in viewers who wanted to watch the show but did not know when to start. Actor John Noble later clarified that this approach can be used "to unravel some of that mythology a bit" to explain the impact of the disappearance of Peter to new viewers. Despite the apparent disappearance of his character, Joshua Jackson remained as a main cast member and his commitment to a full fourth season was confirmed. Jackson stated that Peter will be back on the show, but "will be different than he was before". This fact was played with at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con where the Fringe cast appeared for a panel; a teaser video showed fake auditions for the open role of Peter, and included cameo appearances by Michael Emerson, Zachary Quinto, Greg Grunberg, Jorge Garcia, Danny Pudi, and Jeff Probst and concluded with Jackson himself dressed as an Observer.
Timeline differences Summary After September allowed Peter to drown, Elizabeth Bishop (Orla Brady) immediately committed suicide fifteen years earlier (mentioned in "The Man from the Other Side") in 1985 from the grief of losing her son twice (altered in "Back to Where You've Never Been"). Walter became mad with grief, wanting to destroy both universes to create his own idealized world acting as God ("Brave New World").
Walter still requested William Bell (Leonard Nimoy) remove pieces of his brain out of fear of who he was becoming (as seen in "Grey Matters", and mentioned in "Over There: Part 2"), but Bell took the idea on for himself anyway ("Brave New World: Part 2"). It is implied that Bell's intentions were always dubious in the original timeline, and his fate in the alternate timeline was merely incidental, hence why Junior Agent Amy Jessup (Meghan Markle) connected Fringe cases to the Bible, as Bell had been planning his own Noah's Ark. ("Night of Desirable Objects")
Olivia ran away from the Cortexiphan trials after six months according to "Subject 9", instead of connecting with Peter during the 1986 experiments to bring him home ("Subject 13"). Without opening up to Peter about her abuse, she still shot her abusive stepfather as a child ("The Cure") but finished him off in the new timeline ("One Night in October").
Walter hated Nina Sharp (Blair Brown) for the next 26 years; he blamed her for breaking the vial with the cure for Peter's disease—ultimately leading to the kidnapping and Peter's death ("Subject 9"); her subsequent guilt led her to gain guardianship of the Dunham sisters after Marilyn (Amy Madigan) died of cancer when Olivia and Rachel (Ari Graynor) were due to go into foster care ("Novation"). Following this, Olivia took on some of Nina's hobbies like horseback riding (seen in "The Cure") in her teenage years (seen in "Novation" and "Forced Perspective") while Rachel still met Greg and gave birth to Ella (Lily Pilblad), though their marriage remained intact and they had a second child named Eddie ("Nothing As It Seems"). "Brave New World: Part 2" reveals Senator Van Horn (Gerard Plunkett) was never replaced by a shapeshifter and is alive.
"Neither Here Nor There" shows that Olivia was able to release Walter from the mental institution without a living relative, instead of Peter originally ("Pilot"). However, without Peter, Walter has become reclusive and refuses to leave the laboratory. "Alone in the World" reveals monthly evaluations by the director of St. Claire's were a condition for Walter's release from the institution. The fourth season opener also reveals Walter was unable to save John Scott (Mark Valley) during the Flight 627 investigation, leaving Richard Steig (Jason Butler Harner)'s fate unknown in the rewritten timeline (as Scott killed him upon his recovery originally). Consequently, Astrid Farnsworth is a field agent to account for Walter's agoraphobia.