Fringe

Subject 13

Season 3, Episode 15, Aired 2/25/11

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Episode Summary

In a look at the past, the six months after Young Peter was saved from the lake are examined, and secrets of Olivia's past are revealed.

9.3

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Cast & Crew

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John Noble

Dr. Walter Bishop

9.1
Orla Brady

Elizabeth Bishop

8.9
Chandler Canterbury

Young Peter

8.6

Fan Episode Reviews (10)

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Whole Story of the past

9.5

"Superb"

By dreamgoat, Feb 02, 2012 Report Abuse

This is great to see 2 different moms of Peter. I think they both have unique characteristics, for me I see the same in the two Walters noting really different just small details. It was very nice to see what happen right after Walter took Peter from the other side, and how Peter and Olivia met when they were little. A fascinating episode about two families torn all for the future that is here now.moreless
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2/25

7.0

"Good"

By thefanof, Oct 11, 2011 Report Abuse

Okay, I think we can all agree that the 1985 version of the Fringe theme song is awesome. Where I differ with most of my tv.com community is in the rest of the episode.

This was good, but I have to admit a little tedious at points. John Noble still looks like he is 70 during the flashbacks and Peter and his mom are too annoying to empathize with. They could have accomplished the main point of this in a flashback during a regular episode. I have to question the motives behind dedicating an hour to it.

It was a fun episode though. It definitely felt like a television broadcast from the 1980's, like the second incarnation of The Twilight Zone or something, but not one of this season's best.moreless
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Beguiling...

9.5

"Superb"

By idlescribe, Oct 08, 2011 Report Abuse

"The beguiling Olivia Dunham beguiles." This is said by Walter when young Peter first sees young Olivia and can't get his eyes off of her. And why would he? Or more to my point: how could he? Given that the young girl was every bit as beguiling as the adult character. With the proper material, she managed - just like her adult self, to make other characters revolve around her emotionally...

This episode seemed to be about young Peter dueling with his 'mother' to get her to admit he wasn't her child. It seemed to be about Walternate actively engaged into self-destruction. It even seemed to be about Walter's fight with morals.
It ultimately ended up being about young Olivia allowing Peter to find a reason to believe this could be his world, about her giving to Walternate the information he needed to sober up and start his quest, and finally, about her inspiring Walter to make the right decision.
The above distinction matters to me as it means she made things happen by influencing others' lives. It means that just like her adult self, she drove the plot...

I liked the tulip field scene. Both kids sounded much wiser than their age would allow but it worked. Plus the cinematography was wonderful, just like at Reiden lake.
I particularly liked the scene in which young Olivia ended up in front of Walternate. It was brilliantly constructed, with an icing on the cake: the puzzled but adorable look on Olivia's face when she turned to speak to Walter standing at the door.
I liked that though she had a stronger character, both kid actors were very good.
I liked that Peter even as a child was already extremely smart in a con-artist sort of way: "Because it was the only drawing that looked happy."
And finally, I liked the attention to details about the eighties: the episode intro, the lab equipment, the furniture, and my favorites: the Betamax reference by Walter and the Macintosh computer in Peter's room.

The episode was wonderfully put together and only improved our understanding of the overall story and more importantly of the characters. I had no issue whatsoever with the few points that raised some red flags as they can easily be dealt with later.
How I wish I knew how to convince viewers that matter (Nielsen families) to watch Fringe live...moreless
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Fringe does the time warp again. Following on from the season 2 classic 'Peter' we get to see what happened after Walter crossed over. This time the action centres around Olivia.moreless

9.5

"Superb"

By readingjuice, Oct 08, 2011 Report Abuse

'Peter' was a landmark in Fringe history delving LOST style into the past and revealing the backstory of how Walter crossed over in an attempt to save his peter, and consequently starting a war between parallel universes. Subject 13 takes place six months after the events in that episode and delivers another dose of powerful story telling combined with some amazing performances.

You know you're in for a treat when the show opens with the retro credits (my personal favourite) and the story starts with young Peter who has been having trouble adjusting to life on the other side. Both young versions of Peter and Olivia have to deal with some tough subject matter in this episode and in the cold opener we see Peter trying to drown himself in Reiden lake in order to get back to the other side. The action soon moves to Walter's lab in Jacksonville Florida where he has been conducting the cortexiphan trials. It was a shocking moment when it was revealed that Walter had been experimenting on Olivia as a child way back in Season one and now we get to see how her ability developed as well as her first meeting with Peter.

Olivia first crosses over as a result of the emotional stimulation of being beaten by her father but and though she doesn't admit this to Walter he figures it out. Walter then tries to recreate this in the test facilities, with a segment we see through the lens of his betamax video camera. This was well filmed and adds to the authentic feel of the episode, especially as it's in a 4:3 ratio. The experiment results in Olivia starting a fire when her ability is stimulated as we've seen from Walter's tapes of the experiments in previous episodes. The whole episode sees Walter trying to return Peter with the hopes that Olivia will be the key, but when given a choice between returning his son and sparing Olivia more violence at home he decides to stick up for Olivia. At the end Olivia briefly crosses over for long enough to provide Walternate with the giveaway clue to the missing Peter's location sparking off the war between the parallel universes. What's interesting about this episode is the choices Walter makes and how it was in his efforts to return Peter that he lit the fuse that he had made when his original plan failed.

The actress who portrays young Olivia plays her part convincingly and there are some touching scenes between her and Peter at the end (though I find it hard to believe Peter doesn't remember meeting her in the future). Once again a good wig and a soft focus make the past believable also helped by John Noble's consistently awesome acting. The trauma resolves itself for both children with a threat from Walter against any further violence from her step father and Peter being convinced by his mother that he is not from the other side. Though it lacks the impact of the first episode where we seen into the past it's just as enjoyable and proves that the Fringe universe is an exciting one whether in the past, present or on the other side.moreless
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You could call it "Olivia begins"

8.0

"Great"

By Lccf, Jun 02, 2011 Report Abuse

This episode was a sequel to "Peter", but let me say, that, even with some really good scenes ( the shocking opening, the first time Olivia crosses over, and the tulip field ) , it's not exactly on the same level. "Peter" had some revelations ( about Nina's arm and the Observers' involvement, for instance ), this one ... not so much, except that Walter originally started the cortexiphan tests to bring Peter back home, and that Olivia unwillingly sparked the interdimensional war, which is interesting, but not exactly mind-blowing. What matters here is that we got origins stories for both Peter and Olivia. We see how she became the tough, doom-and-gloom woman we know. We see how he, too, was hardened by his ordeals, and in the tulip field scene, the boy looked so much like Joshua Jackson in the way he moves and talks it was weird. There are some nice nods to other episodes : "White tulip", obviously, Peter references the alternate comic book covers seen in "Over there" and Walter trains the children with the very same words he'll use in that same episode ... So, all in all, if the thrills weren't exactly there, the emotion was, particularly in the scenes with Peter and his mom, and, yes, even Walternate was touching in this one. But I was expecting some twists that never came.moreless
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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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Trivia
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- Trivia: The periodic chart on Walter's wall contains the elements Osmium and Lutetium. This is a clue toward the next episode, "Os."
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- When Walter enters his Jacksonville office, at 9"40, the periodic table of elements is visible behind him, and there seem to be 117 elements on it - but elements 110 through 117 were not discovered until 2004-2009, though the scene takes place in 1985.
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- Alternate Earth general differences: - The Dodgers are still in Brooklyn, having never moved to Los Angeles. - Airplanes were never invented or are not in common use (note Peter's fascination with them). - There are no peanut M&Ms. - Americans use 24-hour military time and not 12-hour AM/PM time. -The space program is based out of Jacksonville, Florida, not Cape Canaveral.
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Notes
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- Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, Lance Reddick, Blair Brown, and Jasika Nicole are credited but don't appear.
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- Injoke: The tower puzzle that Olivia attempts to solve is the same one used to test a young Sydney Bristow in the J.J. Abrams' produced Alias, in the episode "The Indicator".
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- The opening credits are done in the same retro style as the season 2 episode "Peter."
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Quotes
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- Elizabeth: He is in such distress. He-he looks at me, and he doesn't trust me. I'm his mother, but no matter what I say, he... Walter: Elizabeth, Elizabeth, you are not his mother. He's a little boy very much like our son... and we saved his life. Elizabeth: No, you...you-you saved his life. I'm just trying to keep him alive.
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- Elizabeth: You know, tulips don't usually grow in areas like this. Young Peter: Well, then what are they doing here? Elizabeth: A professor who was working here missed them, so he imagined a tulip that would grow in this climate and he invented them. He used his brain and his imagination to turn the world into what he wanted it to be. How would you change the world if you could, Peter? What would you wish for? Young Peter: I wouldn't make stupid flowers grow. Elizabeth: What would you do? Young Peter: I'd go home.
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- Walter: Don't you see what I've done? I crept over in the night, and I stole their child. If we don't return him, they'll figure it out, and they'll come after him, after us. I know because that's what I would do. Elizabeth: So you would sacrifice one for the other... this little girl Olivia for Peter? Walter: No. But for thousands of others, or millions... it would have to be considered.
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