I think sports should operate like network television and go on hiatus every summer and for the holidays because sometimes we need a break from all this madness and who would really want to watch baseball instead of Fringe? That is not a world I want to live in. One more thing to add to my to-do list for when I achieve world domination. Until then, here is what happened on Fringe this week.

Peter (Joshua Jackson) is back and everyone at Fringe division is giving him the side-eye because they just know he’s up to no good and his uber-confident demeanor is a bit off-putting to the men in the room. So far only Astrid seems immune to his well-groomed charms. There is no question about who he is because his DNA is a 99% match to Walter’s. But when his own father fails to recognize him Peter knows he has to change tactics. This is not the world he left. Thankfully there is a new case to focus on involving a new breed of shapeshifter and Peter happens to know a little about them. With some prodding from Lincoln (Seth Gabel) they agree to let Peter help them out. Just like old times, sort of.

The case involves a kidnapped scientists who used to work for Massive Dynamic developing human cell replication. The project was nixed by William Bell due to some ethical argument but on the other side the project lived on. But there is a problem, and the shapeshifters are here to get the man who started it all to help fix it. Not surprisingly the man agrees, but only because he doesn’t really know what is going on. Things go bad very quickly.

After some fancy keyboard work Peter figures out that these new shapeshifters replicate down to the cellular level which means that they don’t bleed Mercury and unless you open them up you’d never know, opening the door for some shapeshifting moles in the FBI or even Fringe division. I expect this will come up again soon. In the meantime Peter has to figure out how to get everyone to recognize him again.

I mentioned earlier that this timeline is different and without Peter in the picture there are big changes in our main characters. Olivia (Anna Torv) and her sister were raised by Nina Sharp after her mother died and is interested in Lincoln. Walter has long since accepted the death of his son as well so when faced with an adult Peter he sees it as a temptation and a gift he is not worthy of receiving since it was his own selfishness that put them in their current situation to begin with. This Peter is merely another iteration of his dead son and he treats him as such. Peter could start telling them things about their lives that he knows but they may not even be valid any more in this timeline. I can’t wait to see how they resolve this.

So far this season Fringe has really delivered some top notch television and while I do enjoy the addition of Lincoln Lee (Seth Gabel) to the mix on our side he’s no Peter whose absence has really revealed his role as the anchor of the show. That isn’t to say that Olivia, Walter and Astrid aren’t very capable on their own but for me their story only works when I know Peter is lurking underneath. It could be argued that I have a soft spot for Joshua Jackson, and that would be correct, but I doubt I’m the only one ready for him to come back to Fringe. Well this week we got our wish.

Armed with the knowledge that Olivia (Anna Torv) has also been having visions of the same strange yet captivatingly handsome man who has been terrorizing the lab Walter (John Noble) sets up an elaborate camera trap based on an idea he got watching The Matrix. He aims to catch a photo of this man but isn’t having much luck, and Astrid (Jasika Nicole) is visibly annoyed with the whole project. The situation is further complicated by the strange cloud of electromagnetic energy that seems to be chasing Olivia and bending space/time a little bit. Walter wonders if one of the Cortexiphan kids might be behind it and he sets off for New York with Olivia to track down Subject 9, his first trip out of the lab in three years.

But what made Walter decide to leave the lab after all this time? I’m happy you asked. Walter noticed a letter to Olivia from St. Claire’s asking her about Walter’s mental state. His future is in her hands and if she thinks he isn’t coping well he will be sent back to the loony bin. He decided his best bet was to show Olivia he was improving, but it does not go so well. After an amusing and amazingly well acted journey down a New York sidewalk where his senses are being overloaded he has a complete meltdown in his hotel room over unseen germs on the bedspread. Olivia takes him out for a root beer float and he confesses his motives, and Olivia seems to be on his side but not completely sold on the whole sanity thing. Their date is cut short though when that ball of energy materializes in the diner and causes some mayhem.

Olivia and Walter finally track down Subject 9 who isn’t too happy about seeing Walter again. It doesn’t take long to determine he isn’t behind the Angry Blue Ball of Light but Walter thinks he can help destroy it. Olivia puts a stop to that business when the ball of light takes the shape of the handsome young man from her dreams and the Angry Blue Ball vanishes…and Peter emerges from the depths of Reiden Lake. For those following along, Reiden Lake is where Peter died as a child…both Peters.

John and Anna acted the shit out of this episode. These two continue to amaze me every week with their range and how the smallest thing can make or break a scene. In this Peter-free timeline we’ve been treated to yet another version of our main characters and how they evolved without Peter in their lives. The differences are mostly subtle but there all the same. Walter is a bit more off center and less grounded and Olivia seems a bit softer, but still cold. Both the scene in the hotel room and the scene where Cameron James confronts Walter about what he did to the Cortexiphan kids were powerful stuff. It was interesting to learn that she has a past with Nina Sharp (Blair Brown) and that Nina and Walter are not at all friendly. With Peter back I wonder if we will get to fully explore the new shared history here or if things will be reset again. The Observer was watching when Peter was reborn from the lake after all.

Fringe returns next Friday on Fox.

Just when I thought Fringe couldn’t get any better they pull out an episode like “One Night in October”. This was a perfect hour of television.

The crime this week takes place “over there” and involves a man extracting happy memories from his victims using a machine right out of The Matrix. Now that the two universes are working together a unique opportunity has presented itself. Fauxlivia (Anna Torv) suggests that they interview the killer’s alternate on our side for some insight into his mind. Brilliant! Our Olivia is skeptical of course and her fears are realized when the man finds something that links him to the suspect in a very personal way and bolts.

The revelation that one seemingly small change in someone’s path can result in such drastic differences in their lives. On our side the fact that John ran instead of enduring the beatings his father rained down on his alternate meant that he met a kind soul who taught him how to battle the darkness in his mind. Therefore he became a teacher instead of a killer. The lesson here being we are the product of our choices. Wise words indeed.

The real story this week is the interaction between Olivia and Fauxlivia. Each is learning a bit about the other during this period of cooperation and the subtlety of Anna Torv’s performance is just amazing. When Olivia admits to her counterpart that she killed her abusive stepfather you can see the wheels in Fauxlivia’s brain turning. How closely does that mirror her own childhood? Will we ever know? I must applaud the production team here because the scenes with the two Olivias are seamless. I completely believe that there are two Anna Torvs occupying the same space. This is a far cry from the ridiculous looking compositing being done on that new Sarah Michelle Gellar evil-twin series Ringer. I can’t wait till we get to see the two Lincoln’s meet. Imagine a Seth Gabel sandwich if you will.

Also worth noting is that the alternate Broyles (Lance Reddick) is alive. Remember when he died helping our Olivia escape the other side last season? This means we are on yet another timeline from the two we’ve been following since the second season. What else is different in this one? I’m going to have to bring out the whiteboard to plot all this out I think.

This episode also saw the return of Commando Astrid (Jasika Nicole) who is so smart she shudders ever so slightly when rattling off complex calculations like her head is about to explode with random knowledge. Our Astrid is much less high strung which I’m sure helps her tolerate Walter (John Noble) and his increasingly eratic behavior. But who can blame him? He hasn’t slept in weeks because Peter (Joshua Jackson), wherever he is, is keeping him awake shouting HELP ME WALTER, I’M RIGHT HERE! Peter is obviously getting stronger and I imagine it is just a matter of time before he makes his presence known to someone other than Walter.

Fringe returns next Friday at 9pm on Fox.