Hello again Fringe Fans!
Before I begin, make sure you join the LIVE TWEET with Jeff Pinkner, Joel Wyman and millions of Fringe fans tomorrow evening on Twitter at 9 PM EST/PST during the east and west coast airing of “The Day We Died”! Included are great Fringe videos courtesy of FOX Broadcasting. Enjoy !
Can you believe that “The Last Sam Weiss” was not the season finale of Fringe? What an outstanding episode! Let’s go through this masterpiece together! We first find ourselves in Peter Bishop’s (Joshua Jackson) hospital room with Walter Bishop (John Noble) watching over him. 
Walter is concerned about Peter’s health even though Astrid Farnsworth (Jasika Nicole) tells him the doctors believe that Peter will be okay. Walter is only lured from Peter’s bedside with the promise of tapioca pudding. We then find ourselves traveling with a family in their car on a road in Holyoke, Massachusetts.
This scene is seriously awesome. We get to listen to a rock classic by The Doors (Riders on the Storm) and the colors of the stormy day are amazing. 
The best part is when the kid listening to the music sees his arm hairs move up and down to the song.
I got chills! He had just mentioned this weirdness to his father when… BLAM
The car up front rolls across the road and then… BLAM… another lightning strike. The dad throws the car into reverse and backs away. He then proceeds to get out of the car to check out what’s going on. Note: Do NOT leave your car during a lightning storm!
We get a splendid view of a massive dry lightning storm. The visual effects here were pretty cool. After the title sequence, we find Sam Weiss (Kevin Corrigan) and Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) at the machine. Sam tells her that these events don’t make sense. Olivia explains Walter’s theory that the two machines are quantum entangled and their machine was turned on when the one on the other side was activated.
Sam explains that the machine thinks that Peter is already inside it and a force field has been activated to keep anything or anyone else out. He believes the machine to be “frustrated” and that this frustration is causing all the damage out in the world. When Olivia asks how to stop the machine, Sam replies, “In case of emergency, break glass”.
Sam shows Olivia the manuscript that the book was based on and reveals unpublished pages explaining that the force field can been broken by a “crowbar” hidden inside a box. Once the box is opened with the key, the crowbar will open the force field long enough for Peter to enter the machine. Sam believes that Peter will be safe inside the machine and he and Olivia leave to retrieve the box. Back at the hospital, we find that a lot of people have been hurt during the lightning storm. 
We see an awesome job by the make-up department on the burn victims. Agent Broyles (Lance Reddick) appears and tells Walter and Astrid that many people have been hurt in these storms. Walter agrees to leave Peter and work on the problem after Astrid quotes Ben Franklin by saying “God helps those who help themselves”. Sam Weiss and Olivia arrive at the tomb of his great great great great grandfather who turns out to have been named Sam Weiss. Sam explains that he is a descendent of a family who first found the information on the First People and the machine. The box containing the proverbial crowbar was hidden in this tomb. 
Sam wavers on the decision to retrieve the key and open the box because the time line seems incorrect. Olivia persuades him by mentioning that she’s armed. 
We discover that Astrid’s Ben Franklin quote has lead to Walter flying a kite during a lighting storm. Note: Do NOT fly a kite during a lightning storm (see photo below)! 
After lightning strikes Walter a second time, he tells Astrid that he’s found the missing variable (repetition). Note: Lightning has no memory and most certainly can strike the same exact place more than once. Peter finally wakes up and we find him in his hospital room looking thoroughly confused. 
Perhaps he should be confused by his complete lack of attention by the ICU nurses. Seriously this is the worst nursing staff in the history of hospitals. He gets up and gets dressed and strolls down an empty corridor. I was beginning to think he was dead or dreaming due to the lack of people around. He finally sees a nurse, who totally ignores his existence, and find that the emergency room is packed with burn victims. Let us all hope none of them need to go to the ICU. 
Peter steps outside and gets a view of the town being pounded by the lightning storm. What a cool shot! Peter leaves the hospital and hails a cab. He asks to be driven to Midtown. He’s clearly confused as to which city he is in and it turns out he’s also confused as to which universe he’s in. Sam and Olivia arrive at the museum where the key is hidden. It’s a mess and we are told that lightning is appearing out of thin air inside the building. Aside: generally if lightning strikes a building the electrical current will travel through the wiring and plumbing to the ground. We get a cute moment where after Olivia flashes her badge, Sam shows his museum membership card. The expression on Olivia’s face when he does this is priceless. 
Sam and Olivia enter the building to retrieve the key. Meanwhile, with Astrid’s help, Walter finds all the places where lightning has struck more than one. He overlays maps showing the frequency of multiple lightning strikes, frequency of seismic events, and multiple radiation and thermal spikes. 
The map shows fringe events focused around two points and a rift between them. The two points correspond to where the machines are in both universes. Walter goes to Agent Broyles office to demonstrate the effects of these two machines pulling at each other. 
To slow the pace of destruction, they decide it’s best to move their machine to Liberty Island (the location of the machine in the parallel universe). We find Sam and Olivia inside the museum about to retrieve the key when lightning starts striking inside the building. Sam grabs that artifact that houses the key while Olivia unsuccessfully attempts to stop a security gate from closing and trapping them inside. 
Sam, the bowler, saves the day by picking up a piece of debris (probably from a priceless artifact) and rolling it so that it knocks down a giant vase (probably another priceless artifact) and stops the security gate from closing (probably not a priceless artifact). 
Now that they have collected the key, they use it to open the box. 
The box opens to reveal a scroll. 
It appears to be a picture of Olivia surrounded by single letter codes for nucleotides, which are molecules that make up the structural units of DNA. 
Walter examines the scroll and explains to Olivia that she has a connection to the machine. He tells her that she must use telekinesis to turn off the force field so that Peter can get inside. Olivia must turn the machine in the parallel universe off in order to control the machine on this side. 
Walter wants her to practice using the typewriter that AltLiv used to communicate with the other side. 
He tells her to focus on a specific phrase and that the process should be like meditation. She stares at the typewriter in the mirror but nothing happens. Meanwhile, the ICU nurse FINALLY decides to check on Peter. Seriously! How long has it been since she lasted checked! NURSE FAIL! 
She finds his note: I AM GOING HOME. Remember that in “Subject 13” we saw young Peter leave Elizabeth the same note right before he dove into the bottom of Reiden Lake. Which universe does Peter believe is his true home? Olivia is still having typewriter troubles. When she expresses her insecurities in her control over her abilities, we get a heartwarming scene between Walter and Olivia. He talks to her like a father would to a daughter and tells her how extraordinary she is. It was a sweet and touching moment and both actors did a phenomenal job. After his pep talk, she tries again. 
But nothing happens! I really thought it was going to work. That’s what normally happens on television right? One person doubts themselves… along comes the father figure… inspiring pep talk… and voilà …RESULTS. Not this time! Color me surprised. About this time, the hospital finally gets around to informing the team that Peter is missing. We find Peter seemingly lost in New York City looking for a pawn shop. 
Peter goes into the pawn shop and is looking for a silver half dollar. He mentions that it has always brought him luck. Remember that the Peter who died as a child in the prime universe gave Walter his lucky half dollar. Walter then placed it on his grave after his death. 
As the team worries about Peter’s location, Olivia finds out that his credit card had been used to take a cab to NYC and at a pawn shop. Just as they are wondering why Peter would go to NYC, we find Peter stepping onto Liberty Island. 
Peter tells an officer that he needs to see his father, the secretary of defense. He obviously thinks he’s in the parallel universe. 
We find Sam upset at himself for intervening just as Agent Broyles reveals that Peter has been found at Liberty Island. Sam is told that his involvement with the team is over. We then get a shot of Sam staring out at Liberty Island with his Newton’s cradle clicking away. What’s up with that thing? Is it representing the energy passing between the two universes? I’m sure this is not the last we see of Sam Weiss. Walter and Olivia are finally reunited with Peter. He mentions that there are two Walters and that he has been confused. 
As Walter questions Peter to check his mental state, there are some cute interactions between Olivia and Peter. 
Walter finds the half dollar that Peter bought and acts really weird about it. 
Olivia tells Peter about the telekinesis and she mentions that she concentrated on a phrase while trying to get the typewriter to work. The scene cuts to Astrid hearing the typewriter clicking away in the other room. Maybe Olivia needs Peter to be near here to use her ability? We find out the phrase that Olivia was thinking was “be a better man than your father”. Remember that in “A New Day in the Old Town” Olivia woke up and blurted this phrase out in Greek. She explained that William Bell had given this message for her to give to Peter. Peter said that his mother used to recite this to him every night before he went to bed. 
After a quick pep talk from Walter, it’s time for Olivia to take down the force field. Olivia and Peter hold hands and look lovingly at each other before moving towards the machine. 
Olivia walks up and uses her abilities to lower the force field. 
Olivia tells Peter she loves him and they kiss. Peter walks up to the machine while his life for the last few years flashes before his eyes. As he looks at Olivia, he sees their history together. 
Peter enters the machine and looks like he’s being electrocuted! FLASH! 
Suddenly we find Peter on the ground during what looks to be an apocalypse! WHAT? What is going on? 
He bumps into something and looks down. September 2021!!! WHAT?!? He’s time traveled? 
A guy wearing a coat with a FRINGE DIVISION patch calls him AGENT Bishop and pulls him to the ground just before an explosion. Peter’s hurt and bleeding. He asks “where am I?. And the episode ends. SAY WHAT? What the hell just happened? Did you notice his hair was a different color? Did you notice the wedding ring? 
Seriously, I’m so tripped out that this wasn’t the season finale! Did he really time travel? Is he actually still physically in the machine and has just traveled mentally? Is this a different alternate universe? The machine is supposed to be able to create worlds, right? Holy cow! I can’t wait for next week! This excellent episode was written by Monica Owusu-Breen and Alison Schapker. It was directed by the great director Thomas Yatsko. I hope you have enjoyed this review of “The Last Sam Weiss.” Fringe returns Friday May 06, 2011 9 PM EST/PST for the season three finale. In the meantime we include the entire episode and “The Day We Died” extended trailer below courtesy of FOX via Hulu. Enjoy! 
I hope you have enjoyed this interview. As always we thank you for visiting WormholeRiders News Agency. Please feel free to share this news article by clicking one of the social media icons below. You may also leave a spam free comment or question here, or feel free to visit and chat with me on Twitter by clicking my avatar or the text links in this news article. XO Rachelle Smith, Ph.D.
