Fringe/Tear Jerker

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • A the end of the pilot, Olivia goes to ask Peter to stay and help them. Every time he asks "where's John" she doesn't answer and starts talking faster and faster. It's painfully obvious that she's trying not to cry.
  • When Thomas Jerome Newton shows Walter a series of still images and asks what his strongest association with them is, four out of five of them draw an association with Peter: an image of Peter as a boy, a glass of orange juice, a bowl of custard, and a child-sized coffin.
  • Walter breaking down over comatose Olivia in "A New Day in Old Town." He insists, at first, that she can be revived, then examines her himself and moans, "I'm so sorry, Olive." (Probably for a lot more than just failing to revive her.)
  • The one sentence that will dissolve any fan of Charlie Francis into a puddle of tears. "You're gonna be fine."
  • The Observer who sacrificed himself for his human love.
  • Walter's breakdown in "Snakehead".
    • And again at the end when he sees that Astrid was hurt by the gang members.
  • The entire episode of "Peter."

Elizabeth: Please. Please turn it back on again. Please turn it on. I want to see him again!

  • The white tulip.
  • When Peter calls out Walter for kidnapping him from the alternate universe, says that Walter isn't his father, and then leaves.
  • It's a little bit of Fridge Horror(Fringe Horror?) but in "Brown Betty," when Fairy-Tale-Noir Walter is implied and then later revealed to be a monster who steals the dreams of children, you realize that this is either how Walter views himself deep down or how he thinks Peter sees him. Either way, it's a little heartbreaking.
  • Olivia's speech about why Peter should return to her world in "Over There Part 2" (2x23).
  • Olivia's confrontation with Fauxlivia's mother. The hug, the little "I'm not your daughter" and the fact that the brainwashing actually works because of it. A part of you just knows that the reason it worked was because she wanted it to.
    • "This is your safehouse."
  • This conversation between a shape-shifter and the boy who thinks that it (he?) is his father.

Shape-shifter: *about a monster under the bed* You know... sometimes... monsters aren't all that bad. Sometimes... if you get to spend some time with them, they can be very surprising. They can be, um, incredibly sweet and pure and capable of great, great love. And then, one of them might actually become your very, very best friend.
Boy: But you're my best friend.
Shape-shifter: *quietly* Yeah, that's right.

  • The scene in Marionette where Olivia is trying to wash all her clothes, then breaks down at the sight of Peter's sweater, is just... It's heartbreaking to watch the stoic Action Girl be suddenly broken.
    • Just about every interaction between Peter and Olivia in that episode is a Tear Jerker.
  • Whatever parts of Subject 13 that didn't make you feel warm and fuzzy. Heck, even Walternate inspired a few sniffles.
    • Little Peter's breakdown especially. The hitch in his voice when he shouts "I wanna go home" is heartbreaking.
  • "She's me, only better." Oh, Liv...
  • There's one brief moment in "Bloodline" when Lincoln thinks Fauxlivia has died in childbirth. She's fine two seconds later but he just looked so sad.
  • Peter and Walter in "6:02 am".
  • Olivia and Walter's reunion in the Bad Future.
  • Peter's Ret-Gone. Sudden, no acknowledgement, no goodbye, just... gone.
    • From 4.02 "Walter, I'm here. Can you hear me? I'm right here. Walter, I'm right here. I'm here, Walter. Walter, right here. Right here, Walter. Right here. Walter, I'm here. Can you hear me? I'm right here. Walter...Please. Help me."
    • And they did it again in 4.03: "Walter, I'm scared. I wanna come home."
  • Walter's situation in the Amber Timeline. The Peter we know drowned immediately after being brought to A-Side, which is why he's Ret-Gone. Without him to help keep Walter anchored emotionally, Walter didn't receive the Character Development of the past three years, and didn't leave his lab in all that time.
  • The end of "Novation"

Walter: *holding Peter's face* Every day, for the past 25 years, I've tried to imagine what you'd look like as a man...my son. *lets go* But I don't deserve this. I don't deserve you. I realise now that this was my punishment. You were sent to tempt me. See if I would repeat the mistakes of the past. You shouldn't be here.

Peter: Walter, no!

Walter: Wherever you came from, however you got here... it doesn't matter. I can't help you.

Peter: Walter, you don't understand-

Walter: I tried to help a boy. A version of my son. 25 years ago. But that boy was never my son... and neither are you.

  • And Those We Left Behind. Pretty much all of it.
  • In The Firefly, when Roscoe is talking about his son's death and the subsequent collapse of the band, breaking up emotionally over it... which is made even stronger by Walter's realization that he's responsible for not only Roscoe's son's death but the collapse of his favorite band and Christopher Lloyd's intense, emotional performance.
  • Peter's scene with Walter in Back to Where You've Never Been. Walter tells him how Elizabeth committed suicide and then refuses to help him because of what happened last time.
  • In "Making Angels", Alt-Astrid comes to Blue universe without asking for clearance. We know something bad happened to her but we don't find out until this conversation.

Alt-Astrid: I thought I would come here. I didn't know where to go after. Mother had traditions for such occasions but I don't know. I don't remember her. My mother died of cancer when I was a girl. Did yours as well?
Astrid: Yes.
Alt-Astrid: At first I thought I would walk in the park. But it was so cold. And I cannot stop thinking about the word Reverend Stewart said. What a leader he was. A great man. A great friend. Reverend Stewart said he would be sorely missed. *starts to cry* And they lowered the box down into the ground and we put down flowers. I didn't know where to go. Because the park was so cold. May I ask you a question? Yours. Did you love him?

Olivia: Astrid. What's going on?

Astrid: I think my fa... I-I think her father is dead.

    • And this.

Alt-Astrid: My father...I cannot get the thought out of my mind. That I couldn't give him what he wanted because of... the way that I am. That he secretly wished that I could love him back in a way that he could understand. Do you think that if I were more like you, he would have loved me more? If I was normal?

    • Even sadder is finding out that he would have loved her more if she was normal.
      • It's impossible to watch this episode without wanting to give Alt. Astride a hug.
  • September tells Peter about Henry.

Peter: I have a son.
September: You had a son.

  • Peter refusing to believe that Amber!Olivia is his Olivia. We don't even know if it's true but she looked so sad.
  • September is dying/dead. Considering he's been in practically every episode and has gone out of his way to help Peter, Olivia and Walter it's rather sad.
    • He's alive!
  • Olivia and Nina at the end of A Short Story About Love.
  • Peter and his mother reunite during the season two finale.
  • Olivia now has a nephew that she can't remember.
    • The brief scene with Nina was fairly depressing.
  • The Bad Future. The universe is breaking apart. The opening credits now include water and hope. The other universe, with baby Henry, Henry the cabbie, Marilyn Dunham, Alternate Astrid, Christopher Broyles, Lincoln, Scarlie, Fauxlivia and all the characters we have come to care about, is already gone. Walternate shoots Olivia. Ella, who once fixed Walter's story, doesn't believe in happy endings anymore. But Walter has a plan. A really drastic plan.

Peter: Imagine the repercussions.
Walter: There's no telling what the cost might be. *touches Peter's face* But it can't be worse than this. Can't be worse than this.

Peter: What would I need to do?

Walter: I think I shall miss them. More than I imagine.

    • The first thing Walter does after they turn off the machine is to check if Peter is still there.
    • They stop Jones for now. But the alternate universe has stopped healing.
    • Walternate's reaction to the news that they might have to turn off the machine. This man fought tooth and claw for his universe. His world was healing. And now it'll go back to what it was before the truce. A world falling apart. Damn.

Walternate: Okay.

Walter: I know you loved him-
Nina: *shouting* Oh Walter, just stop it! *Olivia and Walter look startled* The car crash wasn't an accident! William had lymphoma. *quietly* He'd being trying to fight it but... I think he didn't want me to see him that way any more. He didn't want to be vulnerable. He wanted to go out on his own terms and he did.
Walter: It's still possible-
Nina: *shouting* Oh Walter, anything is possible! But the man I knew wouldn't try to destroy a universe! That doesn't sound like William.

  • 4x22. Astrid's scene in the hospital. That woman shouldn't be allowed to cry, it's too damn sad.
  • Walter shooting Olivia. Not the act itself because of Foreshadowing, the Foregone Conclusion and pure disbelief but Walter and Peter's reactions were awful.
  • In the season 3 finale, even knowing that it (probably) won't stick, Olivia's funeral and Peter breaking down in their kitchen is absolutely heartwrenching.
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