What Did You Watch? 2025-06-01 (Sunday)

Fringe S3E18 'Bloodline'
IMDb sez: The intensity of life "over there" accelerates as Olivia finds herself in mortal danger.
The glyphs for this episode spell out: FATED
Henry is seen reading a comic strip called "Opus the Peahen" drawn by Berkeley Breathed. Breathed is a real, Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, whose real strips featuring the character Opus the Penguin ran (under several different titles) from the early 1980s until 2008. The presence of this strip in the Alternate Universe highlights several differences between "our" world and theirs: in ours, the Opus character is a male penguin, while in theirs, she is a female peahen; in ours, Breathed no longer draws a comic strip, while in theirs, he apparently still does. The "peahen" strip was drawn especially for the show by Breathed himself.
As we see on Henry's cab rooftop ad, The West Wing had at least 12 seasons in the alternate universe. It had 7 in ours.
Another example of the differences in the alternate universe: Charlie makes a comment to Lincoln about Travis Bickle, and goes on to explain it's from a Francis Ford Coppola movie. In our universe, Martin Scorsese directed Taxi Driver.
Continuing with the gradual revelation of differences between "our" universe versus the alternate universe: the alternate universe's USA appears to have adopted the metric system (Lincoln reports on Fauxlivia's travel speed in kilometers per hour instead of miles per hour). In the real world, there was a campaign for the US to adopt the metric system, but the general public had little enthusiasm for the idea and (except for some liquid measurement conversions) it mostly petered out during the early 1980s.
When Olivia's mother drops her off at her apartment, a double-decker car, which was only previously shown in a blue miniature version by Walter to explain displacement in the two universes, drives past.
Fringe S3E19 'Lysergic Acid Diethylamide'
IMDb sez: "With the latest estimate that the team has only one day to save Olivia's consciousness, Walter leads a group on an LSD trip into Olivia's mind."
The glyphs for this episode spell out: "FEARS"
The whiskey William Bell is drinking when he's a cartoon is MacCutcheon, the same fictional whiskey Charles Widmore drank on Lost when he met with Desmond. J.J. Abrams was also the producer of Lost.
(I think we've established that, at least in J.J.'s mind, 'Lost', 'The X-Files', 'Fringe' and probably a few other shows are all in the same universe.)
The running joke of Walter having difficulty remembering Astrid's name is used again. This time he calls her "Astro". Now, she's had enough, and responds by calling him "Wally".  (He shows dismay at that.)
At the start of Walter and Peter's "trip" there is a feel of The Matrix, with Peter wearing the black coat and sunglasses; this continues when Walter and Peter are chased, where music similar to that of Don Davis' score from The Matrix plays as a group of people chase them, looking like Agents. Arguably, the cartoon style used later could represent that of A Scanner Darkly (another Keanu Reeves film).
As a continuation of the repeated green-green-red color motif throughout the series (though the pattern is slightly altered in this case), the doors of the military houses are green, green (seen very briefly on their left as Peter and William Bell are riding past), green, and red (on their right).
This episode pays a homage to Christopher Nolan's Inception in many aspects of the plot.  (J.J. only steal from the best.)
The 1960s prairie modern house in the LSD trip was far more stylish and wasteful in design and materials than would be found on any army base. As this is a fantasy, this point would be irrelevant.
When Walter decides they need to take LSD for the journey to work, he asks Astrid to help mix up "2000 milligrams" of LSD, which is insane. He probably meant 2000 micrograms. A fairly large dose for one person would be 450mcg so, 2000mg/3/450mcg =~1.5 million times the recommended dose, which would likely cause permanent brain damage if it didn't kill them.
Astrid Farnsworth: What you're feeling right now, it's just the effects of the LSD, but it's temporary.
Phillip Broyles: No, it's infinite.
Dr. Walter Bishop: Oh, damn. I'm back.
I'm betting Lance Reddick had a lot of fun acting stoned.  :D
Fringe S3E20 '6:02 AM EST'
IMDb sez "The beginning of the end is triggered when Walternate finds a way to wreak havoc "over here" - putting both universes in jeopardy."
The glyphs for this episode spell out: AGENT
The name of Alternate Olivia and Peter's son is revealed: it's Henry, after Henry Arliss Higgins, who helped both Olivias.
Another difference between our world and the alternate world is noted: the radio announcer in the alternate universe is talking about a baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Montreal Expos at Ebbets field. In our universe, the Expos moved from Montreal to Washington, DC, and were renamed the Washington Nationals in 2005, while the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles in 1957 and became the Los Angeles Dodgers. Ebbets Field was demolished in February, 1960.
The map of the continental United States in Walternate's office is slightly different from ours. There is no upper peninsula of Michigan and California's shoreline is much further east.  (The bit about the California coastline was also mentioned in an earlier episode's trivia.)
Peter Bishop: What time is it?
Olivia Dunham: It's 6:30 in the morning.
Peter Bishop: Oh, God!
Olivia Dunham: And, uh, your father is walking around the house naked.
Peter Bishop: Oh, yeah. It's Tuesday.
[laughes]
Peter Bishop: He always cooks naked on Tuesdays.
Peter Bishop: I think this is what I'm supposed to do, but I can't do it without your help.
Fringe S3E21 'The Last Sam Weiss'
IMDb sez "Olivia joins forces with the mysterious Sam Weiss in a desperate race against time."
The glyphs for this episode spell out: MULTI
The running joke of Walter having difficulty remembering Astrid's name is used again. This time he calls her "Ostrich".
In the opening scene where the vehicle gets struck by lightning the song the boy in the car is listening to is, "Riders on the Storm" by the 1960s band, "The Doors" from their last album, "L.A. Woman". This was the last song the band ever recorded as a whole during front man Jim Morrison's lifetime.
Peter Bishop: Ready?
Olivia Dunham: No. You?
Peter Bishop: No.
Sam Weiss: It's hot-wired. It's tricked into thinking he's already inside. That's why it's repelling anyone or any thing trying to enter.
Olivia Dunham: So you're thinking that it's malfunctioning.
Sam Weiss: What I'm saying is... it's frustrated... in a manner of speaking.
Olivia Dunham: Okay, Sam, I'm gonna make this really easy for you: I am armed and I want you to take me to the key, now.
Fringe S3E22 'The Day We Died'
IMDb sez "Peter successfully enters the machine with Olivia's help, and is transported to the future days where Walternate's universe is the one which has been destroyed. Walter learns about the origins of the machine and its ultimate purpose and sends back Peter to change his choice but gets lost in time warp."
The glyphs for this episode spell out: NO MORE
This episode has a monochrome opening sequence with fringe science subjects from the future: Cellular Rejuvenation, Thought Extraction, Cryptozoology, Neural Partitioning, Brain Porting, Temporal Plasticity, Dual Maternity, Chaos Structure, Clonal Transplantation, Water, Biosuspension, Hope.
This episode takes place on May 20, 2026.
Walter in the future has a noticeable facial droop on his right side. The condition is known as Bell's Palsy which could be a link to William Bell.
(He also doesn't have full use of his right arm so I suspect it was more likely a stroke.)
Olivia Dunham: Amanda from across the street gave it to us. That's you and me and the little baby that we're going to have, that she is planning on babysitting.
Peter Bishop: Ohh. Well, I think we should get started on that right away.
Olivia Dunham: You really going to use a drawing from a little girl to get lucky?
Peter Bishop: It sounds so dirty when you say it like that.
Dr. Walter Bishop: Our destiny was set the day we triggered the Machine. I didn't understand until it was too late that our two worlds were inextricably linked. Without one, the other simply cannot exist. When their world was destroyed, that was the day that sealed our fate. For all intents and purposes, that was the day we died.
Then since that was the end of the season, I watched the disc extras.
What Did You Watch?
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I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky dirty old man.