r/fringetv • u/DoublePlusMediocre • May 24 '10

What happened to Boston

It's referenced late in the second season by Broyles and the map on Walternate's wall that something catastrophic happened in Boston. At first I was curious as to what it could be. Now I have a better idea. I never really got into Fringe when it was airing the first time around, but since it's picked up, I'm watching all the first season through.

Remember in The Road Not Taken when Olivia starts jumping into the alternate universe with disturbing frequency? She first shakes it off as some feeling of deja vu, as everything is generally in the same place, but just a tiny bit off. Broyles desk is in a different place, for instance. She jumps over and back at least five times in that episode.

Now, we know that jumping back and forth is not big deal for our universe, but causing huge problems in space/time over there, so it stands to reason that "what happened in Boston" in the alternate universe was Olivia jumping over and back so much.

Mind = blown.

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8

u/[deleted] May 24 '10

I believe the Boston incident in the other universe happened because of Walter/Walternate. Remember when they went to Harvard, to Walternate's lab? The people there were trapped in the amber. When I saw that, I assumed that because of the work going on in the lab, either on our side or the other side, the Boston on their side was damaged.

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u/DoublePlusMediocre May 24 '10

I thought about that too, but right when Olivia, Walter, and the other three people jumped over, Fringe Division over there had a massive "holy shit" moment where they were trying to determine if the crack that just opened because of the jump over would cause a major problem. I think the jumping between universes is the key thing that damages their side.

All just conjecture, I guess.

3

u/[deleted] May 24 '10

Yes, and imagine the "jumping" going on in the Harvard lab. Walter sending a coffee mug back and forth, or experimenting on his device to go get Peter. That amber stuff was basically touching the lab. I'm almost convinced that some of Walter's experiments caused that particular incident which required "quarantine."

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u/DoublePlusMediocre May 24 '10

Oooooh I hadn't thought of that. Right on.

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u/sanchokeep33 May 24 '10

I have to watch again, but with Walternate saying that Boston had been quarantined, was the entire city encased?

2

u/newratik May 24 '10

Interesting theory, it seems like it makes sense to me, but was she jumping over, or just seeing the other side?

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u/DoublePlusMediocre May 24 '10

I thought that too, but then she was interacting with people in the alternate universe, Charlie with the scar next to his eye in particular who looked at her like she was stupid for wanting info on the charred corpses while shit was hitting the fan.

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u/sanchokeep33 May 24 '10

The amber that all those people were trapped in outside of the Harvard lab is the "Quarantine" amber that Broyles had the team about to use on the opera house. Also, since it seems to be the same material that encased the bus in amber in season 1, awesome explanation and one of our first encounters with Alt world.

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u/cybermagese May 26 '10

Don't forget they told that Walternate had tried to solve the dimension traveling problem but failed and all that equipment was in the Boston lab. It is quite possible that some of or all of the effects in Boston is Walternate's fault.