I have been wondering if there are 2 sides fighting each other or 3?

Massive Dynamics vs ZFT vs The Observer?

What do you guys think?

Man - this episode was great.  It had great laughs and some intense moments.  Walter Bishop is phenomenal as always and I'm starting to make a case for him to be the most awesome character on television ever.  He already is the most awesome current character currently but his status as ever is becoming more apparent every episode.  He's just so bizarre and unique and...he's just off the wall.  He's performed very well by John Nobel who I don't really remember from anything else.  Maybe a small part here and there but nothing notable.  I mean this guy is great...I love all the small nuisances he gives Walter like his face after Astrid tells him he wouldn't have found those apple fritters if he HADN'T went down the wrong way ergot somewhere he wasn't familiar with reflecting on his fears of not sticking with what he knew.

The reviewer makes a good point of the character helping Olivia not breaking new ground in his approach but I think the writers know that as well - I love it when she called him Yoda.  If you think about it Yoda and Mr. Miyagi were the same in their approach sort of, too.

It's shocking to see that maybe the Observer isn't as helpful or in the background as we might have previously thought.  I can't wait to see how it unfolds.

To answer Chopsaki - I think Abrahams said there are many but we're only focusing on two.  I have no idea what the dynamics of anything is but I think ZFT came first and then Bell broke off and either used what he learned from his time in ZFT to form Massive Dynamics and then went off from there.  I think the Observer might not necessarrily be on any side - they threw me for a loop with the last part of the episode.  Now I'm back at square one with what I thought was going on.  The only thing I think I know is that MD is and off-shoot of ZFT in some way, some form and that one of them did something bad to piss the other world off.  The thing is did the other world know about us before we knew about them?  Did we catch them just in time?  Before they could launch a surprise attack on us way back in the day?  Because it seemed with the video the girl was on talking about the shapeshifter that they were already planning something or they are already way ahead of us techonology wise so they had to have been aware of us prior to them.  Also, if they are so advanced what do they want with our world?  Man, this show has me on my seat and spinning wheels in my head constantly.  

I'm not even going to try to come up with answers or theories because ever time I do some new one comes up or I catch an episode like this one and it's a wrench in the gears again.  God, I love this show and to think after watching the first episode I said I wouldn't - for some reason - watch it again.  I don't even know why I tuned back in but I'm glad I did.

Also, I dont' think the whole war is because of Walter taking Peter.  I think that's going to be small beans compared to everything else; an ant on a mole hill if you will.  But it might have to do with something that will happen within the confines of the series but more on a personal level between the Walters of both worlds or maybe just between Walter and Peter.  My guess is when we get the full answer of what's going on with the war that Peter is going to find out where he's from and that he's going to be mad - rightfully, so - and then have to decide where his alliances lie; with our world or his.

Wow, this episode gets an A while the Supernatural episode gets a C? Really?

Okay, this was a paint-by-numbers episode where nothing is really filled in until the last two minutes of the show. It was a bad X-Files episode of 'find the bad guy'. We've seen it before. We've seen the Observer with Walter before, so the war is not with the Observer(s) otherwise this would have been taken care of in season one. The one thing they kept hitting us over the head with is that when you travel between worlds, you get head trauma. Hmm....maybe like the kind Walter may have and never recovered from? Maybe Walter gets 'fixed' by Sam? 

In season one, the glimpse of the other world gave us the cryptic 'He is coming' scrawled on buildings. Maybe the 'he' is Walter. Maybe Walter was leading a faction of soldiers in opposition to what Massive Dynamics was doing to the other universe. We saw him training children to become soldiers, so it's not that far fetched. And since we know Walter essentially wrote the ZFT manifesto, this looks like the right track.

This episode was a B minus, maybe a flat B at best, but mostly due to the last two minute revelation.

Well, I disagree that this was a paint by numbers episode, but it is beyond me how Supernatural's episode got a "C".
One of the many great things about this show, which Orci and Kurtzman do well (Lost) is the end reveal/tease. Some might say "Well, I guess I can just watch the last few minutes and get what I need" But  the fact is, you have to watch the whole episode for the end reveal to have any impact. I didn't think while watching this episode that it had anything to do with "The Pattern" or anything else we had seen before, but lo and behold, one of the observers show up, subsequently connecting everything again. To me that is just really good writing.
Also , all through the episode we get little glimpses into Peter's past. I wonder where the other new agent was?
Anyway, definitely an A episode.

It's such a sick joke that horrible show involves something called a "Pattern" when, in fact, every episode is just built on the same lame pattern.  Is there any episode of this trash where the resolution doesn't hinge on something the crazy old scientist already did 30 years ago? Please tell me, I really don't know. I've only been able to stomach 4 episodes and I will not watch it ever again. I can't believe this garbage got a second season.

I knew right away that this episode was going to tie into "The Pattern." And I didn't even see the recap at the beginning. When some cool event like a man turning to crystal and exploding happens, The Observer is always around. And when the dead cop was being referred to as a soldier, I immediately thought about "The Pattern." Once a soldier, always a soldier. And if I remember correctly, members of ZFT are called soldiers.

It is an excellent episode, but not better than Supernatural for me. Is the writer of these reviews related to Abrams in anyway?

Here's a suggestion, if you don't like the show, don't watch.  It really doesn't make much sense to waste your obviously valuable time commenting on a show you seem to despise. I mean, wouldn't you rather be doing something productive, like writing your own  episodic genre show which shows off your magnanimous talent. Wouldn't that be time better served, than complaining like a petulant child?

Mr. Jawbreaking...

Never saw John Noble before??  Did you not see the Lord of the Rings??  He was awesome as Denithor, steward of Gondor, and father of Boromir and Faramir. Anyway I agree totally with your post. Fringe is currently my favorite genre show on TV.

And it keeps getting better!!

Any way you cut it this show is the X-Files.  Which is fine because I was a huge X-Files fan.  Lone difference being instead of Aliens its the alternate reality.  This is a great show. 

I have to disagree with you pony, someone wants to vent their dislike for the show I'm okay with that. That's what blogs are for.  He didn't spew hate just for sake of hate, he did make an observation that every episode is built on the same pattern.  Besides which, oko just said he isn't going to watch it anymore so you probably won't see his comments anymore.   

Freedom of speech, its a wonderful thing.