Fox"They are coming," September warned.
And the Observers did come, quickly staging a takeover, leading us to the 2036-set final season of Fringe, which finds our beloved team in the battle to save mankind.
The season five premiere set the stage for the team's journey this season and answered some of fans' questions along the way, the largest, of course, being where the heck is Olivia (Anna Torv) in 2036?!
Poor Walter: Walter (John Noble) has everything he needs to defeat the Observers, but the info was scrambled in his mind by September as precaution in case it was read. To complete the plan, they need the final piece to unlock Walter's mind, which Olivia was after when she ambered herself in 2015.
After Walter's captured, the mean ol' Observer really messes with his mind while trying to get the information out of his head. We're talking permanent damage, as he can't remember the plan. "I've failed myself," a devastated Walter says. "I've failed the world. I can't do it. I can't even recognize myself." Etta (Georgina Haig) says it's unlikely Walter will ever heal and that the memories were destroyed. "The plan is gone," she says.
That last shot of crying Walter sitting in a broken-down taxi listening to "Only You" is beautiful, haunting, sad and hopeful all at once. (The shot of the dandelion growing from the scorched earth is surely a sign our team will prevail, right? Right?!)
Reunited and It Doesn't Feel So Good: Fans finally get their answer as to where Olivia was in 2036: She was being used as an amber coffee table. Seriously. After ambering herself, Olivia is taken by amber gypsies (so awesome) and sold on the black market. After being rescued, she shares a sweet reunion with Peter before having a bittersweet one with her daughter Etta, whom she hasn't seen since she was "3 years [old], 1 month and 5 days." (Sniff!) "There was not one moment I didn't think about you," Olivia tells Etta, as we dissolve into a snotty, crying mess.
However, all is not right for Peter and Olivia, as we learn they actually split up. (Neither is wearing their wedding ring, FYI.) After Etta is taken by the Observers (a scene that kicks off the hour), their marriage starts to crumble. Through a clearly much-needed conversation, we learn that when Olivia decided to go to NYC to help save the world, Peter stayed behind, or as he puts it, "when I left you alone."
"In the grief, we just weren't able or were incapable of being what we needed to be for each other. That was all it was," Olivia says of the couple after losing Etta. Peter stayed behind as he wasn't ready to give up looking for "this perfect little soul that we made."
It Gets Better, Etta!: After searching for her parents her entire life, Etta is finally reunited with her mother and shares a sweet moment with her grandfather, Walter, where he recalls taking her to the pier as a young girl. "To me you will forever be a little girl," he sweetly tells her, which earns him a peck on the cheek. (Cue brilliant acting moment from Noble #4,523.)
TV shows so often forgo acting skills when searching for fictional offspring that shares looks with their parents, so we're pretty sure the Fringe team had Haig created in a lab, because she is perfection. (Her delivery of the line "Hi, Mama" gave us all kinds of chills.)