Fringe: "White Tulip" 4/15/10 - Grading & Discussion

[MeanJoePhaser]

When Reyes pulled the plug on Dogget, it was heart-wrenching....oh, wait, wrong show...

I'd like Walter to have opened the envelope, see the picture upside down...not understand what it was, wad the paper up and toss it in the trash.

 

[Icemizer]

So what happened to the Alistar of the past time period? Did he just disappear or did I miss his body lying dead in the field with the hot air balloon???

 

[sidious618]

This one was really good. The scene with Walter and Peter Weller was fantastic and earned this episode an "Excellent."

 

[label]

Ok, I know Fringe season 1 started off a little klunky and had some issues but ever since the last part of Season 1 and most Season 2 this show has been one of the best on TV. I sincerely don't understand why more people on this board don't watch this show.

Great episode....emotional, compelling, smart story-telling......it's everything I want in a show.

 

[Samurai8472]

Dear Son,

I abducted you from your real father(no wonder you look nothing like me) on the other side some 25 years ago today in order to save your life. Please forgive me.

Love

Dad

P.S. Oliva has wide birthing hips. Please make a note of that

fixed

 

[Aragorn]

They sure love to make the usual conventions of sci fi pretty difficult on this show, don't they? The teleporter requires tons of equipment and screws you up to the point where you will eventually die, and time travel requires total self-mutilation.

 

[Hyperspace05]

Wow... Definately 'Excellent'... All the Weller/Noble scenes were excellent. And a touching end to the 'timeloop' as well. This kind of time travel is not completely new ground, but it was executed SO well.

Best episode of the season, I think.

 

[Aragorn]

Shouldn't there have been two Peter Wellers a year ago though? And what would everyone think upon seeing his mutilated body? It's the Skynet paradox!

 

[Hyperspace05]

The episode doesn't clarify what happened to the other Peter Weller when he jumped back - BUT since he had jumped many times, and there weren't a boat load of them running around, I guess we can assume that his 'other self' disappeared. At least in the field at the end, he seemed to jump into where his old body was at the time.

 

[Teek]

Yeah, he jumped to the train car multiple times. Since there were not multiple versions of him appearing in it, he must then be wiping out any pre-existing versions of him in that timeline.

 

[propita]

I love John Noble. Nothing more to say on that.

He and Michael Emerson (Lost) should be receiving Emmys. Last year too. I'm tired of Emmys going to the same stupid shows year after year. How about recognition for acting that actually builds on the written script?

 

[label]

I love John Noble. Nothing more to say on that.

He and Michael Emerson (Lost) should be receiving Emmys.

No doubt. Both are incredible but I'd say the emotional conflict and depth he's shown in this season puts him ahead of even Emerson for this year at least.

 

[Procutus]

They sure love to make the usual conventions of sci fi pretty difficult on this show, don't they? The teleporter requires tons of equipment and screws you up to the point where you will eventually die, and time travel requires total self-mutilation.

I was actually somewhat surprised there was no mention made of the fact that Walter's teleporter was also capable of temporal displacement (though it apparently was never used for that).

 

[stj]

Walter's speech about God punishing him made him look like he should still be in the loony bin. I have this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that the writers really think Walter is reaching a new milestone in his endless quest for redemption.

As for the episode, of course it was touching: It was the basic Walter/Peter story done with new characters so that Walter could emote about his story yet again. John Noble does it so well. For lack of originality, and because I have no real idea why Peter Weller gave Walter a white tulip, I gave it an average. I know why the writers did: It makes Walter feel justified in not telling Peter after all. The sudden out of the blue decision at the end of the last episode gets undone!

 

[propita]

Walter's speech about God punishing him made him look like he should still be in the loony bin. I have this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that the writers really think Walter is reaching a new milestone in his endless quest for redemption.

As for the episode, of course it was touching: It was the basic Walter/Peter story done with new characters so that Walter could emote about his story yet again. John Noble does it so well. For lack of originality, and because I have no real idea why Peter Weller gave Walter a white tulip, I gave it an average. I know why the writers did: It makes Walter feel justified in not telling Peter after all. The sudden out of the blue decision at the end of the last episode gets undone!

I guess you didn't like Walter's story about not having believed in a God before taking Peter, but then afterwards feeling that he (Walter) had somehow betrayed him (God) by his actions. And that everything going wrong since has been God's punishing Walter for overstepping.

Had you continued listening closely, you would have heard Walter discuss white tulips--that he would take seeing one as a sign that God forgave him and that Peter would also forgive him. Perhaps you DID hear that, but didn't understand why Peter Weller sent him one. They had a little talk about it being the wrong time of year for tulips--and that Walter had never told a soul about these thoughts. That was the important part--he had NEVER mentioned that to anyone before.

I think Weller's character, knowing that having gone into the past and dying there, knew that he and Walter would never have that conversation at all. So Walter's receiving the white tulip, having "never told this to a soul" as he put it, was the sign he was waiting for to confess to Peter. NO ONE else knew about the white tulip's significance.

 

[stj]

Yes, Walter interprets the white tulip as a sign from God that he can be forgiven, by Peter as well. (I'm assuming that the dead body with the exotic gadgetry in it was somehow not a Fringe case the year before. Which I suppose is why Weller thought the letter needed to wait a year, though I don't know how he could know that.) But if Walter was now planning to tell Peter, why is it necessary to burn the letter?

 

[firehawk12]

I was fully expecting a bad time loop episode and the ending surprised me. Good episode!

 

[Canadave]

^ Yeah, like some of the live commenters, I had a few minutes where I was expecting to see Fringe does "Cause and Effect," but it went in a pleasantly refreshing direction. Excellent.

 

[firehawk12]

Yeah, and I like that it had a long lasting effect on Walter. It was such a nice touch. More often that not, these episodes end with everyone none the wiser.

 

[Mitty]

Just loved, just love this show, but they seem to be taking the "Seven Days" model of time travel where you can't possibly travel back and meet yourself, which seems incredibly convenient.