History Headscratchers / Fringe

* I know he's supposed to be an OmnidisciplinaryScientist, but seriously. [[OnceAnEpisode Every single anomaly]] they investigate is invariably liked to Walter's work for the military/government/whatever. I know it [[NecessaryWeasel has to be that way for the show to function]], but it would have been nice to have one or two episodes where there's a Pattern event and for Walter to say, "sorry, no idea, never worked on anything like ''that''".

* In the Prime timeline, there are many inconsistencies from the first appearance of the Redverse in "The Road Not Taken (1x19)" and subsequent information revealed about that side in seasons 2 and 3. Olivia briefly crosses over from Fringe Division headquarters-- located, as we all know from the frequent title-ins, in the Federal Building in Boston-- to the Fringe Division of the parallel universe. She goes to Alt!Broyles' office which has a different layout, and talks to Alt!Charlie who mentions the charred victims are twins. Later it is revealed that Redverse!Boston is barely inhabited and half the skyline is encased in Amber ("Over There Part 2 (2x23)"), and Fringe Division is located in New York City. Leaving aside the stylistic differences from this first glance (agents wear business attire like in the Blueverse, not the military-influenced garb seen later, no large display of the advanced tech), Olivia cannot travel in location, so she is meeting her teams' doubles in the same place on the other side. Did the Redverse Fringe Division move from Boston after a catastrophic event occurring after 1x19 but before 2x23; or were they living in a dangerous and scarcely populated city?
** The second part of this problem is: what caused the twins (Susan Pratt and Nancy Lewis) to ignite on the Redverse side? The cortexiphan trials never took place, and there is no ZFT trying to activate cortexiphan kids to protect their side. While I'll accept that the twins had dormant pyrokinetic abilities from birth, it was cortexiphan that let them use their powers. What caused their powers to be triggered on the Redverse side?
** The only explanation I could think of, that made me accept those discrepancies, was that maybe back then Olivia was not crossing over to the red universe, but to another one, one closer to the blue universe and that was just branching from it. The red universe, when fully introduced, makes it clear that things have been this bad for a long time and one gets the feeling that Fringe Division has existed for quite a while. Also, in the universe Olivia was crossing over to those first times, there was no Lincoln Lee to be seen. There are just too many discrepancies for that universe to be the same as the red one. And besides, there is no reason why there can only be two universes and not an infinite number, it just so happens that the red and the blue became entangled because of Walter's actions. The red universe is shown has having branched off some time in the past, since by the time Walter and Bell discover it, it is already a different place, with more advanced tech, presumably the branching could have occurred some some time in the early XX century. On the other hand, the universe Olivia crossed over in that early episode looked like it was at the same technological level as the blue one, and that the same events where happening, with the exception, maybe, of either ZFT being much more aggressive there, or their own red couple -another red universe branched from the main red universe-, launching the main attack much earlier.
** It seems that early stages of the catastrophic event are taking place when Olivia crosses over. She sees buildings burning, and Alt-Charlie say something about Boston being on quarantine lockdown. So the Earth-2 characters are transferred to New York after this, as having a fully functioning division in an abandoned city doesn't make sense. The other issues are continuity that we're just going to have to deal with.

** Same problem was brought up about The Gates (a show about the supernatural) and one troper suggested that all the recent spikes in related subjects (Twilight, True Blood, etc) kind have worn away at the collective psyche so people tend to treat the in-universe stuff as old hat. Same thing here, one supposes, only on the matter of crazy pseudo-science and all that.

*** From the little we see of the alt-verse investigation there's never an indication that the twins were cortexiphan subjects, or that they were even the ones who started the fire. A rather large coincidence that they'd get charred for an unrelated reason, but it's actually kind of in line with all of the coincidences in the show's various alternate realities.

* In the first episode of season 2, Nina Sharp and Broyles kiss, and they make it romantic, and bring attention to it. After wards, it is never brought up again. Probably just an aborted arch, but now I am going to have issues every time they are in a scene together.

* In the Season 2 finale Walter insists that they will need Olivia to use her powers to return to their universe.At the end of the episode this point is [[EvilTwin conveniently forgotten]] and [[spoiler: Bell]] has to sacrifice himself for the group to return.

* The Observers are always shown eating extremely hot things in every appearance---except 2x16 "Peter", where they're drinking Slushos, which are cold. Why the change?
** It's not the physical heat of their food, it's the intensity of the flavour, hence the hot peppers. It's implied they have a very dulled sense of taste. Maybe the Slushos have some [[Film/{{Cloverfield}} special properties]].

* Continuity hole big enough to swallow a city: In the second-season episode "Unearthed," [[spoiler:Charlie]] appears in the episode and has dialogue, despite [[spoiler:both him and the shapeshifter with his face being rather obviously dead.]]
** After checking the official wiki, this is a meta-problem, as the episode in question was created for Season 1 but never aired. I'll leave this here in case anyone else notices it and wants to add a JBM.

** Yes, it's one of the documented differences between our universe and theirs - they spell it differently.

* Continuity hole big enough to swallow a city: In the second-season episode "Unearthed," [[spoiler:Charlie]] appears in the episode and has dialogue, despite [[spoiler:both him and the shapeshifter with his face being rather obviously dead.]]
** After checking the official wiki, this is a meta-problem, as the episode in question was created for Season 1 but never aired. I'll leave this here in case anyone else notices it and wants to add a JBM.
** This troper prefers to write that one off as a whole-episode flashback to Season 1.

* Peter Bishop's stubble. There's some screwed up psuedoscience right there.
** Maybe he shaves the night before, so that he can get up ten minutes later. Maybe Olivia mentioned offscreen that she likes the stubble. Maybe Walter broke the electric razor.
** The directors probably forbid him to shave; he's just not Peter Bishop without the stubble!

[[folder: Young Peter's appearances.]]
* In 2x16 “Peter” we see how young Peter actually was when he died... he looks about 9-11. Definitely too old to not remember anything about the dimension jump, right? How did nothing seem to change?
* The discrepancies between "Subject 13" and the rest of the show: Walter claimed William Bell conducted the experiments, but in "Subject 13" it was him who did it. In "Bad Dreams" Walter watches a VHS tape of young (3-year old) Olivia after starting the fire and we hear both his and Bell's voices in the tape. However in "Subject 13" Olivia is 9 when she starts the fire, William Bell is nowhere to be seen, leaving Walter to conduct the experiments himself, and the footage was on Betamax, not VHS.
** William Bell started the cortexiphan experiments over Walter's initial objections (and the Jacksonville trials weren't the first). At some point prior to "Peter", Bell left for Europe to secure funding in order to continue the experiments/found Massive Dynamic; he likely left Walter or someone else in charge of them. When Walter realised that he needed a new way to cross between universes, he took a firmer hand in guiding the experiments.
** In Subject 13, we saw her start ''a'' fire, not necessarily ''the'' fire. Given all the other discrepancies, this troper is confident they were two different events.
*** That would be logical, were it not for the fact that when the 3YO Olivia starts the fire the response from Walter and Bell is shock that she does it. If that was so, why would they experience similar shock when it happens again in Subject 13? They'd already know what she was capable of. Yet they don't appear to be. They act as though they've never seen her do that before.
*** I saw Walter's reaction as "I didn't expect that", which doesn't necessarily mean "I didn't know she could do that".
*** The Cortexiphan trials most certainly did not take place for over six years. Originally, Olivia was supposed to be 3 when the experiments took place. The vision she had during the Season 2 episode when she was injected with Cortexiphan again had her 3-year old self in it. It correlates with her not remembering any of it. I find it very hard to believe a 9-year old Olivia would forget being injected with drugs or traveling to another universe, unless Walter somehow removed her memories. I see this as a clumsy retcon tying Peter and Olivia together in their childhoods. Don't get me wrong, it's a great episode, but continuity-wise, it doesn't mesh with what we knew before.
*** Well for the sake of continuity we can always chalk the Betamax/VHS thing to be an insignificant retcon, and the age difference being due to 1) grainy footage and 2) Olivia's self-image in her recovered memories of the events was younger than her actual self at the time because of her own feelings of vulnerability: thus, she sees a three-year old in "Jacksonville" when remembering experiences from when she was very young (9) and vulnerable.
*** Olivia's memories in "LSD" seem to confirm a much earlier start to the Cortexiphan trials, back when her biological father was still alive. This isn't particularly elegant, and it seems the writers snuck this change in when they were writing "Subject 13", but it mostly works. Also, as to Olivia forgetting, the weirdness and unreliability of memory is a major theme on this show. How people can put up with all the sci-fi craziness, but not be willing to accept young children losing traumatic memories is perplexing to me.
**

[[folder: Massive Dynamic.]]
* After the first season, [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse Massive Dynamics' questionable motivations and game of counter-intelligence with the FBI were completely forgotten]], causing Nina Sharp to completely lose all her teeth. (I really miss the untrustworthy, layered Nina of S1).
** Everyone got on the same page in season 2: protect the universe from the alternate one. Of course, [[WildMassGuessing there's an argument to be made]] that Massive Dynamic's hostile attitude towards Fringe Division when it was fighting ZFT indicates they were in league. ZFT ''is'' an organisation committed to fighting the alternate universe and was first founded, in some way at least, by William Bell. Jones was a bad egg, but ZFT is a continuation of Bell and Walter's original goals.

* Rachel and Ella are living with Olivia for 2 seasons. Season 3, [[spoiler:when Alt!Livia shows up:]] where did they go?!?!
** They moved out between seasons, I assume.
** She was living in an apartment the whole time. Niece and sister simply found their own place.
** Chicago. The real question is, how did Olivia know this? As of the Season 2 Finale they were still living with her, but in Season 3 when Olivia is trapped in the alternate universe, we first hear from her that they have moved back to Chicago and that Rachel and her husband are back together. So how did Liv find this out? There's no way she could have known. Probably just a continuity error though.
** This sort of bugged me as well. The best I could come up with was that Rachel had told Olivia she was moving out shortly before she went "Over There" but hadn't actually done so. Then when Olivia was trapped in the other world, she would have known that they had already moved.
* What bloody sense does it make that Alt!Broyles got sucked into our Universe to replace Alt!Olivia's mass? Alt!Broyles was in Boston at the time, in Harvard's basement. Alt!Olivia was in Penn Station.
** Alt!Broyles was intentionally sent by Walternate in place of Ourlivia, because she had escaped, and Alt!Broyles had become a traitor to Walternate/the Other Side by helping Ourlivia. But if this troper is doing the math right, that means Our Side has extra mass (Alt!Broyles). So maybe we'll see a "disappearance" case next season.
*** Couldn't it be that Alt!Broyles wasn't whole when he came through, missing a arm and leg if I remember correctly. Wouldn't be extra mass then.
*** Ourlivia and Fauxlivia replaced each other's mass when they switched. But Ourlivia found her own way back (without exchanging any kind of mass), and the Other Side sent Alt!Broyles through to "grab" Fauxlivia and pull her back. So now both Olivias are where they started, and Our Side has Alt!Broyles' mass in addition to Ourlivia's. So, extra mass.
*** Cortexophan-based crossings are exempt from this rule, which is why Walternate is so interested in it. Walter's doorway when he first grabbed Peter also seemed to be. So, remembering the other Cortexophan patients who died right away, it looks like the other side is the one with more mass right now. The spacial displacement with Alt!Broyles getting chunked and displacing Alt!Olivia's mass might get explained if we learn how the transferrence mechanism on the other side works.
*** There is no extra mass and this is easily explained by the fact that you're talking about two entirely different processes. Olivia was able to come through without a mass exchange because she has Cortexiphan in her system - as explained above, this is why Walternate is so keen to have it. The Cortexiphan Kids can cross at will. Alt-Oliva on the other hand crossed over using the rods injected into her body by the shapeshifter - this process, without Cortexiphan - requires a mass exchange. Walternate used the dead Alt-Broyles - who had been shot and killed during Olivia's escape, and cut off an arm and leg to make sure the mass exchange balanced out. Simple!
*** I think the original troper's objection was to the fact that alt-Broyles was in Harvard and Bolivia was in Penn Station when the exchange took place. Except that it didn't because there was a decent interval between Ourlivia returning to our side and Bolivia going back to theirs, which would have given the other side enough time, particularly with their advanced technology, to transport alt-Broyles to the appropriate location to make the switch, taking time to hack bits of him off to make the mass equivalent along the way.

* In episode 4x20, at the very end of the episode, the countdown clock reverts to showing the time but why does it show time running backwards?

* So there's an evil version of William Bell… and [[LeonardNimoy he doesn't]] [[StarTrek wear a]] [[MirrorUniverse goatee]]? Aw, c'mon!

* In Season 2, as a background gag, we see that comics are different in this universe- for example, instead of The Dark Knight Returns, we have The Man of Steel Returns, and instead of the Death of Superman, we have the Death of Batman, as well as references to Red Arrow and Red Lantern, as opposed to Green Arrow and Green Lantern. The headscratcher comes in Season 4- during a one-off gag in the alternate universe, Peter is discussing the fact that Batman has moved to the Bronx,and Fauxlivia/Bolivia asks who Batman is, and the conversation turns to the fact that Batman doesn't exist in this universe, and his counterpart is called the Mantis- except Batman's symbol, and the man himself, are pretty clearly shown in some shots of comic book covers in the background. This is a minor thing, but after all these years, it still bugs me.

* So there's an evil version of William Bell… and [[LeonardNimoy he doesn't]] [[StarTrek wear a]] [[MirrorUniverse goatee]]? Aw, c'mon!

** So there's an evil version of William Bell… and he doesn't [[LeonardNimoy wear a]] [[StarTrek goatee]]? Aw, c'mon!