In the fifteenth episode of the third season of Fringe, we learn what happened directly after Walter stole Peter from the parallel universe. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Fringe.
I’m not so sure anymore what I expected from this episode, but it unfolded in a lot more subtle way than I anticipated this late into the season. This is not to say we didn’t learn a lot from “Subject 13,†as a bunch of crucial gaps in the early story were filled. But the writers chose to go a much more subtle route of character development instead, and I am initially feeling just a bit deflated. I think that, later on, this episode will prove to be very, very pivotal to the entire series, but the commercial hypes felt so misleading to what actually happened.
This entire episode was one giant, fuzzy flashback, and it was yet another chance for the writers to toy with our idea of which Walter was “good†and which was “bad.†(Answer: neither of them, but jesus, our Walter is looking less and less desirable with every episode.) More importantly, though, was that we discovered how intrinsically tied together Olivia and Peter were. I couldn’t help but be reminded of LOST during this episode, which had the tendency to rely on flashbacks for a few seasons to give us context to the present, but in the process, they’d create 40 new questions to be answered. I mean….right??? I have a whole new set of questions I’m dying to know the answer to because of “Subject 13.â€
I had always assumed that Walter and his wife made no attempt to return Peter to the alternate world, but this episode certainly destroys that notion. Bringing Peter to our side didn’t seem to solve anything, aside from keeping him alive. The portrait we’re given here (and in both worlds) shows that this act has not only disrupted a universe, but it’s disrupted two families as well. Unless I’m reading things wrong, it seems the Cortexiphan trials were uniquely aimed at getting these children, particularly Olivia Dunham, to cross over on to the other side. Did they exist before Peter was brought over? If not, does “Subject 13†suggest that Olivia’s sole purpose in those days was to return Peter to his rightful universe?
Disturbingly so, we get to watch exactly what Walter did to Olivia all those years ago and I can’t ignore the fact that it was incredibly, incredibly hard to watch. I have always had a difficult time watching child abuse (BECAUSE DUH), and in this episode, we get a much fuller picture as to what the experiments on Olivia actually were. I don’t think Karley Collins, who played Olivia, particularly looked like the adult Olivia, but she sure acted like her. In that sense, it gave a sense of clarity to our adult version of the character. If we ever wondered why she was so sealed off, why she didn’t seem to trust people, then this episode certainly begins to provide those answers.
For Peter, too, the story is evolved in unexpected ways. It’s very apparent that Peter knows he is not from this world, given the cold open (sorry for the pun I DON’T KNOW ANOTHER WAY TO SAY THAT) and his constant fighting with his mother. This episode never answers the question it presents: If Peter knew he was from a different world, how did he come to forget that for so long? Until the end of the second season, Peter doesn’t once suspect that he’s from the other side.
Actually, on that note, how does he not remember Olivia? Now I’m interested to see what device or method caused him to lose his memories of this time for over twenty years.
We also spent a whole lot of time with Walter and Elizabeth Bishop, more so than we ever have before. We’ve already seen how Walter and Walternate are sometimes the inverse of one another (Walter will experiment on kids and Walternate won’t); the Elizabeths also seem to be having inverse responses to these events. I can’t imagine the terror and rejection our Elizabeth experiences through Peter. In both worlds, Elizabeth has to deal with her husband constantly leaving her to deal with the real-world consequences of Peter being brought to our side. I found it interesting that our Elizabeth turned to alcohol, whereas Walternate was the one who started drinking in the alternate universe. That also makes me wonder: is it possible the concept of an emotional quantam entanglement comes up again before the end of the season, especially in relation to what’s happening with the Bishop family?
There was a lot of talking in “Subject 13,†especially on Elizabeth’s part, but the real excitement for me came from Olivia’s time on screen. We watch in terror as Walter continues to subject her to varying emotional states in order to try and trigger her over to the other side, like she did when her father attacked her. And man, that moment when she discovers Nick on the ground and flashes over in a blast of fire was AMAZING. One of the coolest moments on the whole show.
It wasn’t all that surprising that Olivia and Peter headed to the field of white tulips at the end of the episode, but man…their conversation was SO LOADED with subtext. I think a problem (well, one of them) with “Subject 13†is that NO ONE TALKS THIS WAY EVER. I understand that this episode was written rather poetically and with a specific goal in mine, but the dialogue was a bit too unrealistic for my taste. THAT BEING SAID. The scene in the tulips field is still one of the best moments of the episode. Here are two kids completely damaged and harmed by one man: Walter Bishop. Does Walter have the best of intentions? Sure, I’m willing to admit that. But it doesn’t ameliorate the pain these two feel and, if anything, the scene in the tulip field was one of comfort and acceptance.
But let’s just talk about the real mindfuck of “Subject 13.†After Peter insists that Olivia should tell Walter about the abuse she is experiencing at the hands of her father, they head back to the lab in Jacksonville. And I can’t believe I didn’t catch Olivia becoming upset as she raced into Walter’s office and admitted she could move between worlds when her father hit her. Because then Walter was behind her and a huge question was answered: How does Walternate find out where Peter disappeared to?
Because fucking OLIVIA DUNHAM FUCKING TOLD HIM.
HEAD. EXPLODED. FOREVER.
THOUGHTS
- Sorry, but Elizabeth is SO IRRITATING inside the toy store. STOP HOVERING. STOP IT. STOP IT. Oh my god, that was so annoying.
- Seriously, what happens to make Peter and Olivia forget all of this?
- Again, I did not see the Observer. WTF.
- So is William Bell still in our world at this point? I ask because Walter made a video for him.
- TWO WEEKS UNTIL A NEW EPISODE? BLASPHEMY.
I want to hug both Olivia and Peter in this episode, especially Olivia. Just, OH GOD WHY ARE THEIR LIVES SO HORRIBLE?! I also really REALLY want to punch her stepfather in the face.
You already mentioned the actress who played young Olivia but I thought young Peter did a really good job too, he really captured of Joshua Jackson's mannerisms.
I did not see the reveal of Olivia talking to Walternate coming, I really thought it was our Walter until she turned around and OH MY GOD AAAAH.
TWO WEEKS?! I did not know this! CANNOT WAIT THAT LONG OMG!
Olivia did originally go to see our Walter but whist she was in there she disappeared and was transported to Walternate where she was experiencing the same type of life. One moment she is with Walter in a lab coat and the next with Walternate in his suit – dead giveaway !! This raises the question is our Olivia from the other universe and maybe their Olivia is our original and this may be why Peter feels closer to the other one.
Lucky Peter though getting to sleep with both and a plausible alibi when they find out about each other – GO PETER!!!!!!!
There was an observer behind Walternate as he is in the hall entrance to Bishop Dynamic. You see him very briefly come into the left side of the frame.
Both the child actors did a great job, especially the little girl who played Olivia. Just like our Olivia, she was so reserved for most of the episode, until she got scared at the idea of going home with her stepfather and broke down to Walter(nate). I definitely teared up when she was pleading with him to make her stepdad stop hitting her. Not only because it's such a sad situation, but because I knew Walter would send her back. From what we already knew of Olivia's childhood, we knew that her stepdad would keep abusing her until she fucking shoots him.
We also knew that Walter would keep experimenting on her, because in "Jacksonville" we saw that video of her cowering in the corner of that scorched room, a different one than in this episode. Walter tried to justify sending Olivia back to her stepdad by telling himself he could protect her, but did he really think that stern talking-to would stop him? It seemed like such an empty gesture, and it makes it really hard for me to forgive Walter. He was the one person Olivia trusted and opened up to, and he abused it. It makes me so sad that Olivia felt like she had a safe space at the day care, and now she's probably lost that, too, since Walter's going to be intentionally scaring her to try to get her to cross over. It's just terrible.
From what we already knew of Olivia's childhood, we knew that her stepdad would keep abusing her until she fucking shoots him.
What?? We know this from previous episodes? I mean, I know I forget a lot of details over time, but I can't believe I don't remember this! Do you recall how/when we learned this?
I feel so badly for little Olivia (and adult Olivia, really).
Don't worry, I had forgotten about it too until recently. It's in a season one episode, but I don't remember which one. With all the Cortexiphan stuff and then Fauxlivia, I'm not surprised we forgot! I think I'm going to re-watch season one soon as a refresher.
I thought it was that he abused her mother and Olivia shot him to protect her family? I don't remember any references before now to him physically abusing Olivia. Could fit in with the step dad not physically abusing Olivia anymore because of Walter's threats so she only remembers her step dad beating her Mam because of whatever made her forget the Cortexiphan trials.
EDIT: From Background section on http://fringepedia.net/wiki/Olivia_Dunham
As a child, Olivia suffered because her stepfather, when drunk, would accuse her mother of seeing other men and beat her. Olivia's mother never reported the assaults to the police. When Olivia was nine, her stepfather broke her mother's nose and left the house, driving away. Olivia heard her stepfather's car returning; she picked up his handgun and shot him twice when he entered the house.
Yeah, all of that is accurate, but just because Olivia never mentioned him abusing her before doesn't mean it can't be true. Maybe, like you said, he stopped beating Olivia and only went after her mom. Or maybe Olivia forgot.
I also think she might have just not told anybody. Doesn't it seem like Olivia to keep that one to herself and only tell people about how she was protecting her mother? Maybe she feels like less of a victim that way.
I agree it would be like Olivia, I just couldn't remember if the show ever mentioned it in canon before 'Subject 13'.
Man, I should probably rewatch as well. There is so much going on in this series!
I bet it'll be really interesting to rewatch the first season given all we know now!
I was thinking about this last night and had to look up the transcript! Here it is, from season 1 episode 6 "The Cure":
"I had a stepfather, and when he drank, he accused my mom of seeing other men, and then he’d hit her. And she’d just live with it. Never called the police, not once. Then one day, he beat her really bad and broke her nose. I was nine. He stormed out of the house, got in his car and drove off, my mom’s crying and I can’t help her, and then I hear his car. He’s turned back around. He kept a gun in the drawer near his bed. When he opened the door, I pulled the trigger. Then I pulled it again. And I can still see his face – – almost daring me to finish. But I couldn’t. So… they took him to the hospital and said that he couldn’t be saved, but he didn’t die. He recovered. Then one night, he just slipped away. We never saw him again. And I still blame myself, because I should’ve done it if. I should’ve killed him. And I know that rationally, he is not responsible for all the bad things in the world, but he is responsible for some of them. And every year he sends me a card on my birthday… Just to let me know… That he’s still out there."
Thanks for posting that!
Thanks for posting it.
Ugh, that is awful the bit about the birthday card. I forgot about that.
My god, I totally forgot about that too. Jesus christ, that makes Walter even worse.
Haha and it's on youtube!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZS45qIvGF8
Anna Torv is just amazing.
When Walter confronted her step-dad, I thought he was goading him into hitting or scaring Olivia again, like bringing in an outsider to question him would make him even angrier with Olivia. The mention of friends in the government made me think Walter was serious, but who knows if it didn't also make her step-dad decide to ignore Olivia and go after her mom instead?
Sadness all around.
This was a hard episode to watch. It changes so many subtle things about characters I've grown to love. Some in purely developmental ways, and some, as with Walter, in ways I don't like, liking the character. It's real, and it's absolutely interesting and fascinating. These characters are so complex.
I thought the kids playing Olivia and Peter did fantastic jobs. They had the mannerisms, attitudes down so well of their adult counterparts.
I am heartbroken for the kids in this episode.
And what I want to know more than anything else: How on earth have they forgotten???!!!???
I don't know, but Olivia had forgotten about the Cortexiphan trials, too. I can't help but wonder if Walter did something to Olivia and Peter to make them forget. I think it's easy enough to explain Walter forgetting, what with the removed brain pieces and the mental breakdown and all the drugs.
As I said in the live blog: NOTHING IS BEAUTIFUL AND EVERYTHING HURTS.
<img src="http://i51.tinypic.com/n5k7r7.gif" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic">
Walter is so conflicting. He experiments on children and that is undeniably horrible but then at the end he threatens Olivia's step dad and it's a real moment of F Yeah Walter! I mean it looks like he's decided to stop with the bad treatment of Olivia, but then again he still did it in the first place cause jesus, that scene with Nick on the ground. God Walter you make it hard to like you but impossible to completely hate you at the same time.
Judging by Walternate and altElizabeth’s relationship in this episode, does this mean that in present day Red universe they’re still married but it’s more of a marriage to look good and presentable to the public and media but really they’re not together. Could explain Walter’s relationship with Reiko while still seeming to be with altElizabeth.
Really this is the kind of episode where every body breaks your heart in some way, whether it's Olivia's terrible abuse or Elizabeth trying to cope with what she and Walter have done/are doing to Peter. Everyone is trying to do the best they can but it's just not working.
I'd actually forgotten about the significance of white tulips until I rewatched this episode this morning. I'm doubting it's a coincedence so I'm assuming that Walter was the professor Elizabeth was talking about.
<img src="http://i51.tinypic.com/xpd8iu.gif" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"> ‘It was the only drawing that looks happy.’ I loved little Peter and Olive. They picked great actors and you really could see our grown up Peter and Olivia in them
Why can't everyone just be happy for a little while?
AUGH THAT FIRST GIF. I saw it on Tumblr earlier and had to scroll past it because NO DON'T CRY BB!OLIVIA.
Crying!Olivia of any age is just sadface forever.
Plus, Walter used a white tulip as a sign for forgiveness from God, remember? From the episode "White Tulip." That can't be a coincidence.
I should've been more specific in my review, that's what I meant by the fact that I'd forgotten the significance of white tulips and why I assume that Walter is the professor who created the tulips in the field.
I always had the impression from something Nick said in Bad Dreams that the cortexikids were made to forget somehow.
I wonder if forgetting is one of the other kids future abilities. I would really like it if the kids choose to forget, even Peter, wanting to get past the pain of remembering the other side.
If Walter can't get Peter back to the other side, I think William Bell is still on this side. Also because Walter has not been operated upon. I get the impression that it isn't long after Walter asked Belly to take out his brain chunks that the latter pulled up stakes and moved permanently to the other side.
Why couldn’t William take Peter back when he realized he could cross over? I mean, I know it’d be a few years too late, but better late than never?
My guess, by that time he had adjusted to this side, were all one big happy (?) family, and they didn't want to freak him out again.
This episode was just full of sad. Poor bb Olivia with her abusive stepdad. I liked that Walter was protective of Olivia, but um… shouldn't he just have called CPS? Poor confused and upset bb Peter. Poor Elizabeth Bishop in both universes. SO MUCH SAD.
It was a good episode, but I felt like it could have been better if we'd also had a scene or two from the present day because this episode kind of felt like killing time. It could have been more effective if we saw how the revelations in this episode affected the future. It felt like it was filling in some non essential gaps in the past, but still didn't quite feel connected to the overall problems of the show in the present day, if that makes sense. Contrast this with last season's "Peter" which felt VERY much a part of the current storyline because Olivia was hearing that story just as she found out that Peter was from over there, and the fact of Peter being from over there was going to play a major part in the rest of the season. So while I do think that we learned some stuff here that will be important later, it still felt so disconnected from the present that it was a kind of unsatisfying episode.
And show, try as you might to make me feel sorry for Walternate, IT'S NOT GONNA HAPPEN. He signed off on dissecting Olivia before sending her back to our universe. NOT OK. But I didn't think that this episode made me like our Walter less just because… it wasn't anything we didn't already know. We knew that in the 80s he experimented on kids and we knew that he knew that the way to activate the Cortexiphan was through fear. So… yeah. We knew that he'd induced fear in Olivia before. Even Olivia knows that and dealt with that in last season's "Jacksonville". I mean, actually SEEING it is different but idk. I still love our Walter.
Yeah, he SHOULD have called CPS, but he just threatened to because if Olivia was removed from her home, she wouldn't be living in fear anymore and he needed her to be. I have to say that's really hard for me to forgive Walter for.
Walter only recently crossed into the other universe and I think he and William were already running Cortexiphan trials, but that Walter started a new one in Jacksonville to get Peter back.
The reason Peter and Olivia don't remember each other is because Walter made them all forget. Remember, the Cortexiphan kids were all programmed to forget until they were called upon (except Nick, who pretended to forget anyway and Simon the mind reader because he was kicked out).
I wanted Walter to call Social Services on the step-dad but I think he knew (as most of us do) that Olivia would either just be with her mom (and who knows what her current mental state is) or end up in foster care. Something I was also really curious about is what about Olivia's sister? Wasn't her father alive when they were in Jacksonville? Am I just remembering things incorrectly.
I wish they had tied in this episode more to the current storyline, because it feels like it just jerked us back to go "OH HERE'S SOME INFORMATION".
But Olivia telling Walternate where Peter is? FUCKING INSANE.
Seriously, where's Rachel?
I really want to see grown-up Olivia use that fire explosion power. That would be so cool!
Was I the only one thinking HAHAHAHA Walter's got a funny 80's hairstyle
<img src="http://thefastertimes.com/tvrecapsandnews/files/2011/02/FRINGE-Subject-13-Olivia-300×199.jpg">
But oh my god, this episode is just full of sad, the hair is no longer funny?
Oh, and I totally didn't realize that Olivia had traveled at the end. I was just like what just happened? I haven't seen all of the Fringe episodes, so I didn't understand what was with the white tulips. I was just watching it, thinking, god this is so melodramatic, they go all the way out to a field of freaking tulips to talk?
But that's why I'm so glad I found this site, so I can watch the show with other die hard fans and discuss the confusing-ness of it all.
STAR WARS DEFENSE SYSTEM DESIGNED BY WALTERNATE? LOLLOLL
Yeah at the end she traveled – one moment you see Walter speaking with Olivia at his desk in a lab coat – the next thing you know she is still in front of the desk and Water is behind her in a suit at the door and she is looking around as if to say what just happened – a dead giveaway !!! But what of Olivia in the Alternate universe did she travel to our universe ? If so, then maybe this is why Peter feels closer to the alternate Olivia then he does to our Olivia – because he has already spent time with her when he was a child and remembered her characteristics – makes sense.
Lucky Peter in his later life gets to sleep with both Olivia s and has a plausible alibi when they find out about each other – GO PETER !!!
I agree with everyone though the scene in the field of tulips was awesome – they picked good actors for these parts – the kids were great !! Well done !!!
according to http://fringepedia.net/wiki/Subject_13 the observer was inside bishop dynamic, and he stopped to look at walternate.
unless each universe has their own separate set of observers?
Do you think Walternate seeks out his own Olivia in his universe, and that's why she never had an abusive stepdad? or got rid of that stepdad, somehow?
Oooh, that's an interesting thought. I figured he would go find Fauxlivia- maybe that's why her mom is still alive?
Finally caught up with you!
Love this episode, but I just have a question.. Why did bb Olivia not seen a glimmer around Walternate when she saw him? And, come to think of it, bb Peter. Isn't it how she distinguished old Peter, and other things from the other universe, by a glimmering shine around them?
I don't think her ability had developed enough yet.
I don't think the glimmer applies when she's actually IN the other universe, which she was when she talked to Walternate. Every other time she's seen a glimmer, it was when she was also scared, and I don't think she was scared when she saw Peter in this episode. By the time she met Peter in the tulip field, she had calmed down.
Ooh! I like your explanation better. Cause I don't think her ability has any bearings on it. I remembered Walter also saying that the glimmer is sort of a sign that somethings (or someone) is from the parallel universe.
This is actually the first episode where I saw the observer. XD
Just a couple of thoughts really, I LOVE 80's Fringe theme, and always makes me think of Peter Davison Dr Who credits.
I found it hard for the first half of the episode to accept the actress playing young Olivia. Surely they could have found someone resembling Anna Torv more than just being blonde. It was distracting, but she id actually do a very good job and I could see the subtleties coming through by the end.
Also, AMAZING reveal, blew me away, IT WAS OLIVIA!!!
I hope they explain the not remembering eachother somehow, I don't buy the 'they were young' explanation
Unions make up the backbone of the nation. There may not be numerous employees left, however they fight with regard to workers’ rights. These rights, then, are converted over to additional non-union jobs. Without unions, we all have been just person employees attempting to battle for the privileges.
I think canon is that the Cortexiphan trials started when Olivia was 3-ish and that it was Bell's project. My guess is that Walter became more involved and specifically focused on Olivia's ability when he needed to find a way to return Peter.
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