It’s expected, but while everyone’s been talking about the very last shot of Fringe’s finale, I’m still thinking about the best shot of the episode. As you can see, the shot I’m talking about takes place when Peter is arriving at his family’s old beach house to look for Walter. Director Brad Anderson begins the shot looking at the road from within the house and tracking right as Peter drives in the opposite direction.
As the camera moves, we see Peter drive through several panes of glass, some of which are slightly warped and some colored. It’s almost too pretty for network television. While the season’s last shot is literally awesome, this shot is achieves greatness through metaphor. Throughout the season we’ve had hints that something is different and special about Peter, ramping up to this episode’s confirmation that he was actually kidnapped from the alternate world. This shot perfectly foreshadows that revelation in a very simple but evocative camera move, without any need for special effects at all. In a way, even though Peter doesn’t know it, he’s straddling the two worlds. He belongs in the other but largely grew up in this one, and here’s a shot symbolizing his traveling between worlds. I really can’t say enough about it. The only thing I wish is that the shot were longer. As soon as I started appreciating it, we cut to outside.
I really hope Brad Anderson sticks around for the future of Fringe, because I firmly believe he’s what helped bring it to greatness after some rocky early episodes. He pulled a producer’s credit on the last couple episodes, so I hope that’s a sign.
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