Fringe

[TrekBeatTK]

I haven't seen any of this season. I missed last year's finale, and I decided when I have time I'll give the whole season a rewatch before I go into the last year.

-TK

[CRAMBAM]

Thoughts on the finale?

[gavin1701]

This was one of THE great finales. Loved it. Although technically the first episode wasn't the finale it was very enjoyable and great to see the alt-universe again briefly. Possibly the best acting from John Noble ever. So glad they didn't do the often cliched "Kill a main character off" trick that most finales feel obliged to, to provide closure. Although technically they could have killed any one of the leads, barring Walter, before resetting the timeline and it wouldn't have been permanent.

There's some poetry that the man who broke the universe redeems himself by saving the universe by sacrificing what he holds dear the most: his family. Somehow, some time in the future you would hope Walter would find a way to time travel back for a visit to 2015 to see Peter and have some strawberry liquorice!

Oh and ending with the white tulip was a stroke of genius!

[CRAMBAM]

What was the significance of the white tulip again?

It was a pretty good finale, though I'm unclear as to Walter's true fate. Does Peter forget about him, or does he simply disappear in 2015?

A perfect ending would show some hope for reuniting. If time travel is possible, I see no reason why Walter couldn't find a way.

[gavin1701]

There was an episode in season 2, a fan favourite, called White Tulip. In it Walter asks God or a higher power for forgiveness for breaking the universe and for steeling Peter. He tells Peter Weller's character this -- Weller is a time traveller, and that he always found comfort in White Tulips and would see that as a sign of forgiveness because they don't grow around his area.
Before killing himself, Weller time travels back to an earlier point in time and posts Walter a picture of a White Tulip. This Walter having no memory of his chat with Weller's character believes he has been forgiven by God and finds tremendous comfort in the drawing -- a sign of hope.

The timeline was reset: Walter said he was creating a paradox that would erase him from the time of the invasion. Peter still knows who he is, he will just not know where he is until he watches the video that Walter recorded for him (obviously we saw him watch it in the future so they weren't going to repeat that and decided to end it with hope with the white tulip).