Fringe's Biggest Mysteries

Sharp-eyed Fringe viewers are typically rewarded for their vigilance.  For example, you can catch glimpses of the Observers even before they're introduced into the plot.  These pale, bald men in suits can often be seen in the in crowds at the scene of strange events that the Fringe Division investigate.

Though the Observers are playing an ever increasing role in the story, we still know almost nothing about them. One of the few things we do know is they possess technology beyond the dreams of Walter Bishop, which recently has been revealed to be the root of their omnipresence in time.  That is to say that they actually don't experience time in a linear manner and instead exist at all points in time simultaneously.  There just seem to be more questions than answers when it comes to the Observers.  Where are they from? When are they from? Why do they watch us? Only time will tell.    

Few season finales will make people yell at their television sets like the end of Fringe's third season.  After fighting a cold war with a parallel universe and beating them to assemble a potential doomsday device, you would think that Peter Bishop would finally be able to get a break.  Unfortunately for Peter, this is Fringe, and what actually happens shocked even the most stalwart fan.

The result is that Peter is apparently sacrificed to save the two universes, fading from existence as neither side seems to notice.  Was he transported to another dimension or was he erased from time like the Observers claim?  Needless to say fans were left to wonder 'til the next season, and even then we didn't find out where Peter was for a few episodes.  If there's one thing that Fringe is good at, it's cliffhangers.    

The story of Walter Bishop has really been at the core of the show since the very beginning.  Though his intellect is second to none, he is also deeply disturbed and very crazy.  This hasn't always been the case, though. Through recollections and flashbacks we are treated to a very different Doctor Bishop who is not only lucid and relatively sane but also commands the attention and respect of those around him.

This leads us to one of the greatest mysteries the show will pose to the viewers: What could possibly make such a great man fall so far as to spend years in a mental institution while his partner went on to change the world? The answers of the 'what' and 'why' are nowhere as shocking as the 'who.'  In the end, we are left with the story of a broken man who not only went to the very edge but fell over and was never able to return.    

If you were to read about a technologically advanced people that live long before the dinosaurs, you would most likely dismiss it as a work of fiction.  The agents of Fringe Division tried just that at first, but they had to start taking the story seriously after discovering that the alternate universe is trying to find pieces of a machine left behind by the First People.

As if the story of the First People and their mystery machine isn't strange enough, documents and blueprints for the machine are discovered that depict Peter Bishop using the machine.  How is it possible that a race of advanced people are completely undiscovered?  How did the authors of the book gain knowledge of the First People?  How is it possible that Peter could appear in their ancient plans?  Hands down, it is one of the more unusual mysteries in Fringe.    

William Bell is a successful businessman and former partner of Walter Bishop.  Their research together would eventually be the groundwork that Bell used to form Massive Dynamic, one of the world's foremost science and technology companies.  William Bell eventually becomes one of the wealthiest and most powerful men on Earth, but more recently he has become a recluse.

When Fringe Division start investigating the Pattern, they discover that William Bell is not just a recluse but has actually gone missing.  Even Nina Sharp, Executive Director of Massive Dynamic, has been out of contact with the CEO and is unaware of his location.  When Bell finally does make contact with Olivia, it only leads to more questions.  It also led to one of the series's greatest guest stars, Leonard Nimoy.    

The mystery that started it all.  When Olivia Dunham first came onto Fringe Division, their focus was to figure out what the Pattern was.  Sure there were strange things happening that were resulting in death and destruction, but what was most disconcerting is that all these events began to form a pattern.

As the Fringe Division investigated these events, they found more and more such patterns.  Many of these were related to research previously conducted by Massive Dynamic, or sometimes even to Walter Bishop himself.  Special Agent-in-charge, Broyles, would go on to describe the events "...as if someone out there is experimenting, only the whole world is a lab."  Eventually, there is even a geographic pattern that emerges, and dark secrets of Walter's past are forced out into the light    

From the very first episode, Fringe would display weird looking photos when cutting to commercial.  Frogs with Greek letters on their skin, apples with what looked like fetuses in the core, and hands with more than five fingers were part of this strange gallery. While they seemed to be nothing more than creepy x-ray-inspired art at first, more analytical fans noticed that the images and their order changed from episode to episode.

Eventually, the fans deduced that these little commercial bumpers actually produced a crude cipher with each unique glyph representing a letter in the English alphabet. These glyphs produced short word messages that were unique to each episode, often times having something to do with the episode itself or giving a clue to that week's story. This is just one of the many little mysteries that makes Fringe unique and helps the show engage its fan base even further.    

In the episode "Lysergic Acid Diethylamide," Walter and Peter are forced to enter the mind of Olivia in hopes of rescuing both her consciousness and that of William Bell.  Much of the episode is spent in a cartoon world full of colorful craziness, but there are a couple dark and sinister moments.  One such moment is when a man in a t-shirt with an X on it sabotages the zeppelin they are using.  Very little is said about him until the end of the episode when Olivia very nonchalantly reveals that he is the man that will kill her.

Nothing more is ever said about it as we are left wondering what she meant by it and how she knows this. Though with the revelation from one of the Observers that Olivia is going to die, the chances are increasingly high that the X-man will make a return this season.  It is also equally possible with the timeline being reset that anything from that episode might be moot and not mean a single thing...    

Depending on the context, ZFT can be one of many things in the Fringe universe. There is a group of terrorist/smugglers that specialize in dealing with fringe science that call themselves ZFT.  This group acts as the main antagonist for the first season or so, but that's not where it ends.  ZFT is also the title of the manifesto that the group is based on. This manuscript tells of a coming war between two parallel universes.  While it is incomplete and parts are missing, it speaks of recruits and preparing our children to fight in a war with an alternate universe that far more technologically advanced than our own.

But wait, there's more! In the alternate version of the Fringe universe, ZFT is a book written by their Walter Bishop that outlines terrible natural disasters due to a degradation of their universe.  He then reveals that his original hypothesis of it being a natural event is wrong, which leads to his hostile actions towards the universe we know and love.  Confused yet?  Don't worry, we're all still a little fuzzy on the whole thing.    

From the very first episode, we've known there is a history between Walter Bishop and the people in charge of Massive Dynamics.  William Bell and Walter were research partners as well as friends, while there are clearly some negative feelings between Nina Sharp and Walter. One thing's for certain: these three people have a long and mixed past.

As the series goes on, we learn that these people have shared a history of lab fires, experiments that are ethically questionable, and so much more.  The story of what came before Fringe is just as entertaining as the show itself, and this fact is perfectly illustrated by the popularity of flashback episodes like "Peter" in season two.  This rich backstory also led to the production of a comic book prequel that was written by show writer Zach Whedon, brother of Joss Whedon.