The Fringe Series Finale is OVER. I'm sorry to bring you down like that. Hopefully, me rambling on about it here will lift you up a bit more by the end.

This past Fridays epic end to a 5 year, no 29 year fight (2036 - 2007 = 29) that crossed 2 universes, and multiple timelines, all to save our world from the advanced intellect breed of human like creatures came to its 2 hour finale & really didnt disappoint.

When a friend of mine & his daughter met John Noble on the final week of filming with me, they said to him they hoped for a happy ending, Mr. Noble smiled & told them "you'll get your ending". & he pretty much nailed it.

I watched the episode, knowing in my heart, it was probably going to end with a bittersweet happy situation. The sight of the Peter, Olivia & Etta in the park (a scene I saw being filmed back then...but not thinking it would end up being the 2nd to last scene of the series as well... video below), Peter getting the White Tulip from his father, who of course sacrificed himself for the cause in the end after Donald/September offered to take his place, but was unable to in the end surely cracked a smile on my generally gruff face. Losing Walter, but gaining Etta was as bittersweet as it gets.

A question I just thought of writing this... do Peter & Olivia even KNOW how important they were? Do they know that because of them the world is changed? Or did winning the battle purge that knowledge of future events they technically havent had from their minds? When Walter and Peter watch the tape of Walter telling Peter about his journey into the future, it makes you wonder if they even know they saved the world.

The finale was full of solid performances from top to bottom. Michael Kopsa as the relentless, yet at times short-sighted, Captain Windmark has amazing scenes thru most of the season, the finale was no different. Rowan Longworth as Michael, for a child actor that never spoke, his performance was strong, bordering on incredible. Hard to image a character that doesnt speak actually being notably good, but I felt he was. Lance Reddick as Philip Broyles was his typical brilliant self. Of course the main 3 were as terrific as they have been all series. It is a real crime that the Emmy Awards dont have a Cable & Network categories for actors like the Peoples Choice Awards do..... if they did, John Noble would have been nominated at least 3 times, and more than likely would have won once. I am sure someday they will come to the realization that its needed, but it will be too late to right the wrong of John, and maybe even Anna in her double role seasons, of having an Emmy nod.

My top 10 Finale moments

1 - Peter & Olivia are re-united with Etta.
Ever since they lost their daughter for a 2nd time to a gunshot while battling Captain Windmark in the year 2036, the battle weary couple have been looking to avenge their daughters death, never really considering the notion they would get to have her back a 3rd time till they were told the plan was to re-set time to 2015. They got their moment though, and in a cool Fringe planning moment, it was 1 of the 1st scenes they filmed for season 5.

2 - Olivia pancakes Captain Windmark with her Cortexiphan powers
Lots of people this season wanted to see the bad ass super-hero style Olivia back, and in the finale they got her big time. No more than when she took a vehicle & moved it with her mind, crushing the treacherous Captain Windmark like a bug.

3- Peter gets a White Tulip
Only Fringe fans get it. Anyone watching it because its a finale & they were curious sat there at the end going "huh?" & instantly went to twitter to ask about it, or google to find info on it. When I saw Peter going thru the mail at the end, I actually blurted out "no way" because I knew what was coming.

4- Apartment 513
As episode 512 ends, Donald goes to visit another fellow former Observer. December answers the door & Donald asks for his help. December lets Donald in & as the door closes behind them, we see the number 513... as fans waited impatiently for the 2nd half of the finale to start, episode 513. Little easter eggs like that are all oer the episode, such as the bloodied 6 finger handprint during the teams Fringe event attack on the Observers.

5 - Alt-Livia & Lincoln Lee still going strong
To get Michael from Windmark, Olivia needed to cross over to the Alt-Verse to get by their defenses. Once over there, we got to see how the Alt-verse was doing & got 1 last hello & good-bye to the alt-worlds best couple Blue verses Lincoln Lee & Red Verses Alt-Livia.

6- Michael VS Windmark in the interrogation
Like every interrogation Captain Windmark had this year, things seemingly were not going well for him as he grilled the Anomoly only to end up with a bloody nose and a bloodshot eye.

7- Olivia gets dosed with cortexiphan 1..err 4 last times
This was amazing for several reasons. Peter not wanting to lose her, Astrid actually refusing to help Walter thinking it was unsafe after the 3rd dose, Walter & Peter talking about sacrifice, and of course Olivia in the end insisting it has to be done & doing it. Then there was the Peter Q&A with Walter about the side effects & Walter basically answering with "thats a possibility I suppose" to all of them.

8- Ashkat
Of all the names Walter has ever come up with for Astrid, I didnt even see it coming. I should of expected Walter to have 1 more Astrid name, but I for some reason wasnt expecting it...which leads to #9

9- Gene
I am a tad sad that we didnt get to hear 1 last mooooo. But of course, the Fringe writers wouldnt let fans go without 1 last slip in of Gene, still ambered and Astrid & Walter having a moment over seeing their unofficial pet bovine.

10- Walter tells Astrid her name is beautiful
After Astrid takes Walter to see gene, the two have an emotion filled chat. It ends with Walter, knowing he is going to probably never see her again, finally tells Astrid her name is beautiful. "its a beatiful name" he says to Astrid, she replies "what is?" & Walter says "Astrid"... let he rknow, he actually does know her name as she smirks before leaving him with Gene.

There was a truckload of other moments that coulda probably made this list a top 20. The window to look between universes, Broyles vs Windmark, Polivia telling each other "I love you" before Olivia heads to Red Verse, Chelsea Clinton running for President on the screen behind Alt-Livia, Windmark confessing he has a feeling of "hate", several differnt Fringe events going on at once and many others.

Fringe was first introduced to me by a friend who thought I would like it. She was right. After I was done the 1st season I was overjoyed when I found out that season 2 was being moved....HERE, to Vancouver, where the series filmed the final 4 seasons.

I was fortunate enough to meet every major cast member & most secondary cast members many times during their time filming here. With the exception of 1 cast member who became unpleasant in the final season (Jasika, she was so amzing the 1st 2 & 3/4 yrs, I just dont know what happened to her.), they were terrific during their time here. They really couldnt have done much more to win fans over. The Crew, who many days had to do their jobs with 100s of onlookers crowding up their work area were courteous & respectful most of the time. A+ crew, A+ cast for an A+ show.

Thank you J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman, Robert Orci, Jeff Pinkner, Joel Wymans, the many writers & directors the show has had. John Noble, Joshua Jackson, Anna Torv, Lance Reddick, Seth Gabel, Blair Brown, Kirk Acevedo & Michael Cerveris for always being exceptionally classy. Thank you Jasika Nicole Pruitt for 2 & 13/4 years of wonderful encounters. Thank you Leonard Nimoy, Michael Kopsa, Mark Valley, Georgina Haig & all the other cast members I met thru the years who were all so great. Thanks to the cast as a whole for a generally solid effort from start to finish.

I will sincerely, miss this show. As a viewer, as an autograph collector and as a set watcher. It is 1 of my top 3 shows of all time, and my top show that went more than 3 seasons. It will be pretty hard to fill this void. Thanks to all that made it from the PA's who I probably from time to time irked, right up to Warner Bros & FOX for continually allowing it onto our TVs. Now, the collective IQ of television drops by a couple points because there will not be another new episode of Fringe.... but we at least got 100 great ones to look back on.

In case you havent seen my previous blog posts... Here is Peter, Olivia & Etta filming on the 1st day of season 5 filming, little did I know

Fringe was out at UBC back in Mid-August to film scnes for season 5. It was the 2nd time in about 4 days I had come across their set.

1st thing I noticed was the Observer posters on the clock tower. As I got closer I saw a police state looking check point guarded building which is believed to be Harvard University as I was told by those there.

I never actually saw any filming with cast that day, but I did run into Anna Torv (Olivia), John Noble (Walter & Jasika Nicole (Astro..err..Astrid) after their days were wrapped.

On set, I saw Georgina Haig (Etta) & Joshua Jackson (Peter) arrive to a later shoot. Georgina and Joshua both had markings under their eyes like those of loyalists, Joshua was even dressed up as 1 of The Observers loyalist soldiers.

Tonight, season 5, episode 2 airs on FOX. Check your local listings for the time in your area.

THIS POST MAY CONTAIN NOTABLE OR MILD SPOILERS. If you do not want to read or see spoilers of any kind...do not continue.

Last Warning

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If you have already read my previous blog in this section, you are aware that on day 1 of shooting for the 5th & final season of Fringe, I caught up to the cast & crew on multiple occasions that day.

The earlier shoot, with Anna Torv, Josh Jackson & the girl who is playing the young Henrietta (only heard referred to as "Abigail") wrapped up in the mid-afternoon & some of the cast moved on to a 2nd scene over in False Creek.

The second scene had Josh Jackson, John Noble, Jasika Nicole aaaaaand Georgina Haig (adult Etta) doing a scene where the group drives up to a war zone looking area. Etta is driving a ratty looking tin van as the Fringe team, now without the resources of their era at their disposal, ride along with her.

The group shows up to a destination. As they get out Walter looks across the van to the drivers side & looks upset/annoyed/angry about something that you dont see since it is just a green screen there. The other members join him & walk forward. Soon Peter sees a large wall covered with spray painted Observers on it (a fact I didnt notice till a fan pointed it out to me). Peter runs up onto the car & peers over the barbed wire covered fence. Astrid eventually joins him up there & there is this funny moment (to me at least) where Astrid cant even see over the fence.... I wonder what conversation if any is had between the characters at that time.

There wasnt much else done on that location in the time I was there.... they MIGHT have filmed longer with other scenes, but I dont know.

In either case.... here are the 2nd set of pics from day 1 of shooting for FRINGE with Peter (Josh Jackson), Walter (John Noble), Astrid (Jasika Nicole) & Henrietta "Etta" (Georgina Haig) working on this scene.

Plus, I am going to for a second hijack my own post just to make some of you Fringe fans out there aware of an event you might not have heard of yet (and if any cast ever read this... hey, try to free up your schedule for them) August 10th to 12 in Vancouver, BC there is the 1st unofficial mid-scale sized Fringe fan event planned called "The Fringe Event" http://www.thefringeevent.com/ Tickets are a tad pricey, but it has lots of fascinating features planned...and fingers crossed, hopefully a cast member or two will grace them with their appearance. Might I also say at this time, I think it was TERRIBLE of Warner Bros. to DENY this group permission to show an episode of Fringe on the big screen. Terrible, archaic thinking, disrespectful decision to a fanbase that actually ASKED you thru the proper channels & is doing all this for charity.

PS- small reminder since this was a repeat problem last season. If these photos are re-posted on your site, blog, tumblr, facebook page or elsewhere. Removing the tags & not posting the source for the material (ie- the link to this blog) may have your post removed by your sites host & could cause deletion of your site depending on what the terms of service state for unauthorized posting of materials. Please ONLY post images in whole AND with link credit