The greatest void created by Peter’s absence is, of course, in Olivia and Walter’s lives. This is underlined many times, such as when Astrid asks Olivia if she thinks her type just might not exist. While his current location remains a mystery, an interesting theme emerges: can someone exist only through memories, however vague and dim they might be? Can it be said that through Walter’s visual and auditory hallucinations and the emptiness Olivia feels, Peter still somehow exists? What implications would such an understanding of the meaning of existing have on our day to day lives and the decisions we make, knowing that physically, our time in this world is limited?

One major decision that John made with the help of Marjory was to not look into the darkness within him. Granted, it’s no easy feat and it takes a lot of work, but it gives hope for all of us to defeat the darkness that, to a certain extent, we all have. Similarly, it gives hope to Olivia to defeat the darkness that is within her. Helen Keller said it well: “Keep your face to the sun and you will never see the shadows.” The question remains: Olivia seems to have not been able to rid herself of that darkness without Peter in her life; will John be able to cling to the lessons Marjory taught him without remembering where he learned it from?

The fact that John from our universe wanted so desperately to tell his alternate that things do not have to be that way reminds me of the website Dear Teen Me, where adults write letters to themselves as teenagers they wish they had received during those turbulent times. It really underlines the importance of having deep friendships not only with people who are of the same age as ourselves, but with people of various ages and experiences. None of us will have the chance to reach back to our teenage selves, and none of us will be contacted by our alternates and be told that it doesn’t have to be this way; but perhaps, just like Peter did with Olivia, we can reach out to others (and allow others to reach out to us) and help each other avoid the darkness. This seems to be a powerful, underlying message in this episode.

Two other characters in Fringe have a lot of darkness within themselves: Walter and Walternate. Both of these extremely intelligent scientists have made in the past the choice to explore science that can destroy as well as science that can create. Various circumstances helped Walter avoid, for the most part, the darkness; however, under these same circumstances, Walternate has succumbed to the darkness. It makes me wonder if there is going to be any hope for Walternate to ever conquer the darkness within him and contribute to saving both universes.

While as always, there were numerous themes addressed in this episode, the main one continues to be the concept of self-reflection both in a figurative as well as a literal way. As Nadine mentioned in her review (here), alternate universes have never been used in such a unique way before; I really hope that Fringe will continue to push the boundaries with this unique setting to underline the differences between each character and their alternates, as well as the effect that a single person, i.e. Peter, can have on a timeline.

The most fascinating study in alternate characters remains, of course, that of Olivia reflected in the eyes of her alternate, Altivia. Once again, these two are going to have to learn to understand each other. Unfortunately, it seems like it is going to be a lot harder without Peter around, as Olivia has even more trust issues than before, and Altivia seems to have more attitude than before.

It does seem that, with the revelation that in this timeline, Olivia killed her abusive stepfather, a kernel of an empathic bond of sorts might have started between the two. After all, Altivia now knows where the trust issues stem from; however her attitude might rub some (like me) the wrong way, she isn’t cruel, and can’t ignore the fact that Olivia’s trust issues come from a very dark place. And it underlines the interesting fact that, more often than not, we tend to be harsh in our assessment of others despite knowing that certain aspects of their character might have come from a dark place; but instead of giving other the benefit of the doubt, we judge them, until we are faced with the sometimes shocking truth. Again, it brings us back to reaching to one another with a higher level of understanding. Perhaps Altivia and Olivia will be able to reach out to one another even without Peter’s presence. After all, they have it within them, and they have the help of both versions of Lincoln Lee.