There's More Than One of Everything
The finale followed David Robert Jones' (Jared Harris) attempts to open a doorway to the parallel universe, while the Fringe team tries to stop him.
It ends with FBI agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) discovering a startling secret about Massive Dynamic founder William Bell (Leonard Nimoy).
While Nina Sharp (Blair Brown) recovers from the gunshot sustained in the previous episode,[note 1] the Fringe team's investigation reveals that the man in white bandages is David Robert Jones (Jared Harris).
Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) and Phillip Broyles (Lance Reddick) discuss locating William Bell for questioning, who they believe is behind all the fringe events that have been occurring all season.
Olivia, Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson), and Astrid Farnsworth (Jasika Nicole) begin searching for Walter.
Nina tells Olivia that an energy cell was stolen from her mechanical arm by Jones, and that he was formerly a Massive Dynamic employee who had looked up to Bell as a "father figure" until they had a falling-out.
Olivia and Walter come to the same conclusion, that Jones is going to use a site at Reiden Lake to reopen the doorway, the epicenter of these Fringe events.
After reading a newspaper headline indicating that President Obama was preparing to move into the "new" White House, she is greeted by William Bell (Leonard Nimoy) and inquires where she is.
The final shot pans out the window revealing that they are standing inside the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
The character of Massive Dynamic founder William Bell was originally meant to be revealed earlier in the first season, but the writers changed their minds as the show progressed.
[3] In early April 2009, Entertainment Weekly announced that Star Trek actor Leonard Nimoy had been cast as Bell.
This exchange of phone calls, in which Nimoy responded with interest when pitched the idea, was also how Abrams was able to cast him in his Star Trek reboot.
[16][17][18] J. J. Abrams called the finale "the end of one chapter and the start of another",[3] and believed it was "a huge turning point" for all three main characters.
[19] Co-creator and executive producer Roberto Orci explained in an interview that the big reveal at the end of the episode, in which Olivia meets Bell in the parallel universe, was actually planned for a fourth season, but the writers decided "let's actually answer something instead and not get, not just rely on that mystery forever.
He explained, "But then, when we started thinking about it, we thought collectively America really understood 9/11 is such a monumental moment so we felt it wasn’t exploited but indicative of the times we’re living in right now.
[26][27] The episode received generally positive reviews, with multiple critics lauding the performances of actors Anna Torv and John Noble.
[23][28][29] In his review for Entertainment Weekly, critic Ken Tucker wrote this his "mind was blown not once, but twice" due to the many revelations about two universes; Fringe "has vaulted to the upper reaches of current television".
[31] Writing for the Chicago Tribune, critic Maureen Ryan heaped praise on the "excellent" episode, and complimented "the quietly creepy atmosphere, the slowly building tension in the dual Walter/Olivia stories, the way those stories were skillfully woven together, the suitably tense lakeside encounter between Olivia, Peter and Mr.
[32] Jeff Pinkner defended their decision by explaining they chose it because the building is "obviously very iconic" and it best displayed that in the parallel universe, "things are both better and in some ways worse.
Wyman submitted the episode for consideration in the Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series Category at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards.
