“You know why you didn’t die today, right? Because you didn’t know the protocol... You did something that he couldn’t factor in; you kept running. You know why you did that... you’re not from this world Olivia.” – Peter [Olivia's subconscious]
Right from the off this was an excellent episode. Watching who was clearly this episode's antagonist manipulate probabilities towards securing a fatal outcome was immersing, and by the end of the opening you could just tell this would be one of those way above par Fringe episodes.
Walternate here reveals at least the first part of his plan for deluding our Olivia with regards to her identity – because she holds one capability that Alt-Olivia did not; the ability to cross between universes easily. If this is the only reason for undertaking such extensive effort to get her to believe that falsehood, I found it a little underwhelming. Also, surely making her reach ‘the plateau’ and fully become Alt-Olivia would mean she lost everything Olivia-like about herself, including the ability to cross over? And if she retained it somehow, then during the tests that they are about to put her through, using Peter’s clothes as a stimulant, surely such items would also remind her of her true identity, meaning as the experiment succeeds she’d essential turn against them anyway?
It is also revealed here that Alt-Olivia had a partner (in the relationship sense), with whom our Olivia is now with. The key question here is does her partner know that it isn’t his Olivia (i.e. has he been told)? If he hasn’t been told then surely someone as close as a partner would be able to tell the difference? And if he has – his insistence for her to tell Broyles could be sign that he has been told, or could simply be the caring worries of a partner – why is he so ok with the change? By threat from Walternate?
Probability manipulation/prediction as a topic here was an excellent choice. Everything this show boils down to is the fact that how a single decision, however minor, made in different ways can and will branch off into separate universes. Showing us Milo's perspective as he observes all the possible outcomes of a given situation - them using a segmented screen to show us all the variable outcomes at once - reinforces and highlights for us the idea mentioned above; that an infinite number of universes exist for each outcome of every possible decision we make (the 'many worlds theory').
This makes me wonder if this show will ever venture into focusing on more than two universes at a time. Charlie Jade managed three at once successfully (even if this confused some people, making them calling it 'complex' and probably thus was a minor contributing factor towards the show's cancellation), so I think at least one more could be added to the mix without things getting out of hand. After all, isn't the plot hole here that really there should be a bunch of other Walters who also stole a Peter from other universes, and subsequently a bunch of other Walternates bent on destruction? With all of those trying to cross over into other universes, why has only this one managed to access ours? Shouldn't there be a storm of them knocking at our Walter's door, thinking him the perpetrator of their theft?
Neatly slipped in is another reminder of just how different this universe is to our own, with Olivia’s mention (presumably through the implanted memories) of “how much did you pay for those?”, referring to some avocados; implying that avocados are considerably rare and thus expensive in this universe.
Overall, I think this is the best episode of the three we’ve had so far for this season. The Alt-universe (and thus odd numbered) episodes are proving more interesting so far.
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