| Fringe season 4 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Fourth season promotional poster |
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| Country of origin | United States | ||
| No. of episodes | 22[1] | ||
| Broadcast | |||
| Original channel | Fox | ||
| Original run | September 23, 2011 – present | ||
| Season chronology | |||
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| List of Fringe episodes | |||
The fourth season of the American science fiction television series Fringe premiered on Fox on September 23, 2011,[2] and will consist of 22 episodes. The series is produced by Bad Robot Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television. The show was officially renewed for a fourth season on March 24, 2011.[1]
Contents |
| № | # | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Production code |
U.S. viewers (million) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 66 | 1 | "Neither Here Nor There" | Joe Chappelle | Story by: Jeff Pinkner & J. H. Wyman & Akiva Goldsman Teleplay by: J. H. Wyman & Jeff Pinkner |
September 23, 2011 | 3X7001 | 3.48[4] |
| A week passes after the Fringe divisions in both universes have begun to work together to solve the impending collapse. Olivia investigates a case where Lincoln Lee from the prime universe witnessed a man with translucent skin attacking and killing his partner Robert (guest star Joe Flanigan) while tracking a sale of illegal weapons. Lincoln insists on following Olivia and the division around to solve the case for his partner's sake and he discovers that there is more than one victim and multiple bodies have turned up undisclosed by the Fringe division. They eventually track down not one, but two killers with the same translucent skin at their hideout and kill them, but not before the killers burn their research notes and a third suspect, unobserved, gets away. Olivia decides to bring Lincoln into the loop and have him visit the hangar with the doomsday device with both teams setting up inside the facility. Lincoln meets Fauxlivia as she is being informed by Olivia about a biological device recovered from one of the killer's bodies and deduce them to be a new form of shapeshifters originated from humans. Throughout the episode, Peter Bishop appears and disappears and Walter gets a fright upon seeing him although not recognizing him due to the changed timeline. The Observer is sent to "correct" the timeline by erasing Peter's presence completely but does not go through in the end, while Walter is shocked to see Peter appear again on the reflection of his TV screen at the end of the episode. | |||||||
| 67 | 2 | "One Night in October" | Brad Anderson | Alison Schapker & Monica Owusu-Breen | September 30, 2011 | 3X7002 | 3.05[5] |
| The parallel universe Fringe division requests the prime universe's counterparts to help capture a highly intelligent serial killer, John McClellan, who has killed his victims by freezing their brain while experiencing their happier moments of their life. The parallel universe's Olivia wants Olivia to escort the prime universe's version of John, a professor in forensic psychology, to track down his movements, but without revealing the existence of the parallel universe to him. John helps to identify the killer's movements, but soon comes to realize that he is in the parallel universe, and escapes from the Fringe team. He ultimately meets with his doppelganger, and together discover that though sharing the same life as a boy, their lives diverged due to the presence of a woman named Marjorie in the prime John's life that helped to soothe his homicidal tendencies. The parallel universe's John uses his equipment to experience the joy of Marjorie from his counterpart, but becomes distraught over his actions and commits suicide. The experience traumatizes the prime universe's John, removing the memories of his experience in the parallel universe and of Marjorie. At the end of the episode, Walter starts hearing Peter's voice, begging for his help. | |||||||
| 68 | 3 | "Alone in the World" | Miguel Sapochnik | David Fury | October 7, 2011 | 3X7003 | 3.18[6] |
| Two young bullies are found dead and in just a few hours they rot to an advanced state of decomposition. The Fringe team investigates and uncovers an amorphous figure claiming more victims. Walter becomes increasingly distracted with his mental state. | |||||||
| 69 | 4 | "Subject 9" | Joe Chappelle | Jeff Pinkner & J. H. Wyman & Akiva Goldsman | October 14, 2011 | 3X7004 | 3.16[7] |
| Olivia uncovers a dangerous force that may be connected to past experiments with the nootropic drug Cortexiphan. The investigation forces Walter to leave the lab for the first time in years and travel to Massive Dynamic to examine old case files. Walter struggles with his emotional state as he confronts the demons of his past. | |||||||
| 70 | 5 | "Novation" | Paul Holahan | J. R. Orci & Graham Roland | November 4, 2011 | 3X7005 | 3.21[8] |
| The Fringe division deals with the threat of the translucent shapeshifters when a former Massive Dynamic scientist is taken by a shapeshifter. They discover that Peter Bishop knows about shapeshifters. | |||||||
| 71 | 6 | "And Those We've Left Behind" | Brad Anderson | Robert Chiappetta & Glen Whitman | November 11, 2011 | 3X7006 | 3.03[9] |
| The Fringe team investigates a series of time loop fatalities with a married couple, one an electrical engineer, and the other a professor of theoretical physics. | |||||||
| 72 | 7 | "Wallflower" | Anthony Hemingway | Matthew Pitts & Justin Doble | November 18, 2011 | 3X7007 | 2.88[10] |
| A man mysteriously dies by an invisible force, while Olivia suffers from migraines. | |||||||
| 73 | 8 | "Back to Where You've Never Been"[11] | David Fury[12] | January 13, 2012[11] | |||
| Peter tries to find his way home and the Fringe team continues to deal with the threat of shapeshifters. | |||||||
| 74 | 9 | "Enemy of My Enemy"[13] | January 20, 2012[11] | ||||
| 75 | 10 | January 27, 2012[11] | |||||
| 76 | 11 | February 3, 2012[11] | |||||
| 77 | 12 | February 10, 2012[11] | |||||
| 78 | 13 | February 17, 2012[11] | |||||
| 79 | 14 | February 24, 2012[11] | |||||
Peter's return will "give us an engine for the greater part of the season."
According to executive producers/showrunners Jeff Pinkner and J.H. Wyman, the fourth season will start with the idea that "Peter no longer exists", and also that the audience will "very much see the consequences of what happened in Seasons 1, 2 and 3".[15] These consequences may include changes in the past; Pinkner and Wyman note that though Peter was the impetus for Walter to cross over starting the chain of events, in this alternate history, Walter and William likely would have found their own way to cross, leading to the same events but with some events that "may have happened differently".[16] Specifically, they identified that instead of Walter being brought out of a mental institution by Peter, Olivia becomes the one that does this; this changes Walter's re-acclimation to the outside world, and further alters Astrid's fate, now a field agent instead of being Walter's caretaker.[17]
The producers stated they will continue to employ the use of flashbacks episodes as they "deepened the emotions of these characters", using these as well as flash-forwards "if it suits the story and the things we are trying to get across".[18] Pinkner and Wyman also stated that they view the premiere episode of the fourth season "like a new pilot" to draw in viewers who wanted to watch the show but did not know when to start.[19] Actor John Noble later clarified that this approach can be used "to unravel some of that mythology a bit" to explain the impact of the disappearance of Peter to new viewers.[20] Despite the apparent disappearance of his character, Joshua Jackson remains as the show's lead actor and is committed to a full fourth season.[16] Jackson stated that Peter will be back on the show, but "will be different than he was before".[21] This fact was played with at the 2011 San Diego Comic Convention where the Fringe cast appeared for a panel; a teaser video showed fake auditions for the open role of Peter, and included cameo appearances by Michael Emerson, Zachary Quinto, Jorge Garcia, Danny Pudi, and Jeff Probst and concluded with Jackson himself dressed as an Observer.[21]
The season premiere was watched by an estimated 3.5 million viewers.[4] It scored a 1.5/5 ratings share among viewers 18-49, up 25% from the previous spring's season finale.[22]
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