After a much too long hiatus and weeks upon weeks of fans losing their shit about what the writers have or haven't paid off this year, FRINGE returns with an appropriately named episode.
Pacey Poof, who unpoofed back into Peter Bishop a few episodes ago and is now unknown by those he loves, thinks he needs to utilize the machine that saved the day and then poofed him at the end of season 3.
Peter realizes, or believes, that he has to cross over to the other universe to speak to Walternate. He gets Olivia and that dude with the glasses who Olivia is totally going to bang to help him out.
Back in the other world, Fringe Division Fauxlivia and the dude not wearing glasses run into political red tape during an investigation into one of those shape-shifter goons.
Peter and the dude who had glasses but now doesn't... oh hell, I should learn this dick's name.
Oh, Lincoln! I knew that.
So Lincoln and Peter go to the alternate universe to get chummy with Walternate, who is busy dissecting a shape-shifter and hiding shit so he can start a massive war and kill everyone or something. Lee pretends to be Flee (that's what I'm calling the alternate universe Lee now) and brings Poof to Fliberty Flisland (that's what I'm calling ahhh who gives a fuck).
Meanwhile, someone has a fuckin' lightsaber! George Lucas is going to sue somebody!
Back at the opera house, Baltar and Six... err Fauxlivia and Flee are on their own investigation after a breach is registered and the two FD agents ponder whether some dicks came over from the other side illegally. After some sloppy critical thinking, they decide it was a false alarm but do start to discuss the shape-shifter issue.
Seriously. What's the fascination with these shape-shifters anyway, writers? Couldn't you have just made them ninja bunnies? They'd be so much cooler. But I digress.
Fauxlivia actually figures out the whole conspiracy but Flee slaps her down right before he ruins Peter and Lee's plan to penetrate deep into Fliberty Flisland. The illegals are arrested with the promise land in sight. Then, after their driver gets a sexy phone call, he shoots his buddy and then tries to kill Lee and Peter. But the dumbass is stopped by his not-dead-yet buddy and then killed by Lee. The Poofster then bolts with a gun and leaves Lee behind to get caught and raped in jail.
Now, this is actually where the episode gets good, because Peter goes back home, his real home (yes, we are meant to believe that this is actually not the right timeline and Peter needs to get back to where everyone knows him but anyone who is not a total idiot has already figured out that Peter is WRONG and that he was simply erased from ALL timelines so he has nofuckinwhere to go) and meets his MAMA!
I am sure someone could easily argue that there is no fuckin' way this chick should recognize an adult version of her child but I'm willing to let it go. She does and she has an instant love for him. This is a much better episode for them than the last one where Peter met and then abandoned his REAL MOTHER with no trouble at all.
Her reaction to him and her willingness to help is very well performed and the two actors play off each other expertly. When a quick-reaction force arrives to arrest Peter, she stands up for him and makes them bring the two of them to Walternate. The meeting between father and son brings the show back to its expected level of performance and intensity as Walternate demonstrates his willingness to help Peter by frying one of his own, exposing his shape-shifting.
Walternate and Peter discuss the shape-shifter problem and Poof agrees to help his father (who he thinks isn't his father) so that he can in turn be helped with his own problem. Back in Fleelivia world, the FD agents try to figure out what to do with Lee, who they have hidden away in a closet, as they start their own investigation into the potential conspiracy. It is here we discover that the bossman is da evilz and he is working with the shape-shifter big dog who we've seen before (watch the episode for that spoiler).
Finally, Olivia is just chillin' back at the transportation hub thingy when she is visited by an Observer who tells her some startling news. Go watch!
If I had to rate this episode, I'd give it:
86 out of 100
It had a lot of Peter and that's always good. Some really good scenes between his parents and him. Also, a few tense scenes that weren't totally predictable or lame. It's not one of my favorites but also a couple of times better than the last episode.
