Fringe Series Finale Airs Tonight “An Enemy of Fate” [Fister Goodbyes]

Dearest Fringe,

I understand your choice to leave tonight, but I’m not thrilled about it. I feel like maybe I love you more than you love me. It’s cool. Not really. It is. It isn’t. Cut me some slack, because my emotions might derail my train of thought with little effort. We have two more hours together, then I’ll be forced to enjoy you via Blu Ray and syndication. Don’t get me wrong; I’m really excited to go back and re-watch with all these recent details you’ve so articulately provided – it’s just not the same. I know you talk to Lost a lot, tell those guys I still think about Hurley’s peanut butter cache, and Vincent’s excitable bark. See? Derailing. The last time television made me cry was when Vincent curled up next to the dying Jack in the Lost finale. When Nina took her own life, I was sad, but it didn’t hit me until Walter found her lifeless body. I wiped a tear away. I think my wife caught me.

Much like The X-Files (RIP), Fringe greeted me once a week with creepy, thought-provoking and brilliant standalone episodes that all helped perpetuate the show’s main theme. I laughed along the way, how could I not. I loved seeing the stiff-lipped Broyles accidentally tripping his ass off, Walter suggesting we check people’s anuses, the occasionally dry Astrid or Lincoln comments always made me smile. I know those times are coming to an end. Just know that my love is real – you earned it, you deserve it, you’ll always be entitled to it. Consider this lowly geek to be on your side.

On a related note, I would like to personally say fuck you to those of you that never gave the show a chance, pigeon-holed it with no experience, or just blew it off by and large. I do that too, but come on new CSI show – who gives shit about you? Well, my Dad, of course, but he’s like 70 and enjoys CBS. Before some dumb ass brings up ratings, let me just remind you that Nickeback are millionaires a thousand times over and a lot of you wait for your shitty ass beer to “tell” you when it’s at the proper drinking temperature. Your potential argument is invalid. Enjoy your Bud and Two and a Half Men.

At its core, Fringe is a show about a father who loved his sick son too much to let him go. Granted, most fathers would just become an alcoholic or completely jaded. Walter Bishop’s genius is unmatched, so he caused some serious multiverse trauma. Get past the serums that turn people into monsters on airplanes, razor-sharp butterflies, and homemade Xanax, and you have a touching love story that literally transcends linear time and space. A show without a gripping interpersonal show is no show at all. I could list two dozen examples still in production.

I’ve written a lot just to say “goodbye”, and I haven’t even officially accomplished that. So, with that, I bid you farewell, my beloved Friday night staple. I’ll miss you and think about all the great times we had. All the licorice we consumed, all the times we took something potent and briefly turned into an animated episode; lastly, I’ll think about how awesome it was for Walter to get his precious Peter back. I’ll think about two men and their terrible struggle against fate, and how they finally changed it. I’ll think about the love between Olivia and Peter, and how they could both tell a story with the most subtle of facial expressions. I’ll think about how I was almost convinced you’re real people. Lucky for me, you’re not. That would make this goodbye that much more painful.

Goodbye, Walter, Peter, Olivia, Astrid, and all the alternate versions the universes spawned. I miss you already and you still haven’t driven away for the last time. My terrible gut feeling is that we’re going to lose one of you tonight – and I don’t mean Walter. Think about it. In the end, one man’s death might not be required, but it would certainly set the world right in so many ways. Talk about balance. I know a lot of us are thinking it. Regardless, I’ll have my strong ale and Kleenex on standby. Safe travels, my friends.

XOXO,

Fister

The acclaimed series that has explored the human condition through the prism of parallel universes, unexplainable phenomena and unimaginable threats, reaches a milestone 100th episode and comes to an epic and climatic conclusion. First, the Fringe team engages a desperate plan as Olivia embarks on a dangerous and otherworldly journey into the unknown. Then, Peter, Olivia, Walter, Astrid and Broyles face off against the Observers in one final and extraordinary battle for the fate of mankind.

If you’re a real fan, I think you’ll find this song from moe. more than appropriate.