Olivia Dunham, my wife, was everything to me.

When we first met, I was a nomad, moving from place to place, job to job. She gave me a purpose; she taught me to believe in something bigger than myself. She taught me to fight to keep our world safe. And more recently, to keep it from dying.

But the truth is–we’re all dying. From the moment we’re born, we are all dying, and the universe is unspeakably cruel. Our one hope is that we can find some purpose, some meaning before that last day comes. Some happiness … and love. Olivia was all of that to me. There was no one like her.

While I will not cease to fight, now that she’s gone, I’m afraid I’m already lost. That we are all lost. The world is a darker place without her.

Walter is “reviled” and has been imprisoned for life. Why?

Well, let’s assume it’s not for public indecency after a Naked Tuesday gone awry. Most would guess that once the vortexes and Fringe events start picking up in frequency, the world’s going to start wondering what caused this crazy crap. Do a little digging and you’ll track it to this team—and to one man who stole a boy from a parallel universe. Now, if this is correct, does it mean that the world will also know about Peter’s origin? Will this make him a global fascination? Or are there soon going to be enough other-worlders on our side that he’s really not that special anymore? (More on that later.)

Who’s the third figure in the fridge drawing?

In the original promo, we see a few frames of Peter crying in front of the fridge, his fingers resting on a child’s drawing of a family. The adult figures sure look like Peter and Olivia, but I’m not jumping to any conclusions here about the third figure. The way I see it, there are three possibilities. It could be an old drawing of Ella’s, who ended up being raised by her aunt after a Fringe event killed her parents. If so, that fridge drawing has been hanging up there for an awful long time. It could be Henry Dunham, who came to live with his father in this universe after surviving his side’s apocalypse. If so, Henry has girlishly long hair and wears pink shoes. Option number three is that the child depicted in the fridge drawing is Peter and Olivia’s young daughter, and I don’t think I need to tell you all how thoroughly that would destroy me psychologically.

In my circles, we are not getting our hopes up for option number three, but we have been calling her “Elizabeth.”

It’s funny, because, as you can see in the “The Future Is Now” video, Joshua Jackson wears a particularly hideous sweater in the slew of BTS videos made for May sweeps. I’ve been joking for weeks that the only reason I could forgive that sweater is if it’s a gift from Peter’s well-meaning daughter. If that turns out to be true, I will be gutted. And if Peter doesn’t wear that sweater in the finale? Well, then Joshua Jackson paid money for that thing, and that is hilarious.

Olivia and Fauxlivia share screentime. WHAT. HOW. WHEN.

The Scenemaker shows just a few frames of Fauxlivia, where she is clearly face-to-face with a ponytailed Olivia. When The Gingerskank was locked up in the Liberty Island facility last week, I was relieved. Not because I wasn’t grateful for her plan to save our side, but because it was one storyline I didn’t have to deal with. It was like, While we’re at it, can we lock up all the shapeshifters and this whole thing about “The Man Who’s Gonna Kill Me”? I thought she was a variable we were putting off until next season, but apparently not. Yep, looks like Henry’s mom is making an appearance after all. The real question is—when? It’s possible that she’ll be part of our universe in the future, in the same way it appears that Walternate is. If that’s the case, was there a situation where, as the other universe was collapsing, a couple of people were able to dimension-cannon themselves over here? If so, where’s Henry?

The other possibility is that she somehow escapes from the facility and dimension-cannons herself to our side while Peter’s in the machine. I like this for one primary reason:

Imagine if Olivia finds out about Henry before Peter does.

Here’s how I picture it going down. Fauxlivia pops over with the intention of bringing Peter back. She gets here, though, and it’s obvious that’s not going to happen. Not only is Peter currently powering the machine, but there’s no way that Olivia’s going to take her alternate’s word for it that she has good intentions. The two sing a short rendition of Brandy and Monica’s classic 1998 duet, “The Boy is Mine.” Fauxlivia shares a warning with the team, and right as she’s about to jet off to her own universe, she leaves Olivia with this parting gift: “BTDubs, I had your boyfriend’s baby. His name is Henry and he’s awesome.”

So now when Peter wakes up later, Olivia’s got a serious secret. Yummy.

How is Walternate alive in the future if Peter destroyed the other universe?

Walternate is quickly becoming Fringe’s Cigarette Smoking Man. He can survive anything! We won’t believe he’s actually dead until we’ve literally seen his face flesh burned off in a fiery missile attack. (Hell, even then we won’t be totally convinced.) We know he had the technology to get himself out of there, but it makes me wonder—was it just a handful of people who were able to cross over in time, or are there now a buttload of doubles hanging out on our side? Because that’s gonna get crowded and confusing REAL fast.

How is this all going to fit in one hour of television?

I have no idea.

i've got some serious evidence, crazypants. also, i approve of all your choices. // fox promotional photo

Every morning I wake up and think, “Today, I am going to write about something that isn’t Fringe.”

And then I remember it’s my blog, and I’ll write about whatever I damn well please. Or, as the case may be, whatever happens to have soul-magneted my conscious mind.

Here’s a little backstory.

handwatch '11, part one. // spoilertv.com

A couple months ago, Joshua Jackson was photographed on the set of Fringe wearing a wedding ring. I immediately, um, exploded into a fit of fangirly squee (albeit confused fangirly squee), until Carrie politely informed me via Twitter that Mr. Jackson is just a devoted non-husband husband (to Diane Kruger, who’s also been wearing a ring, even though they are not legally married). And actually, I think it’s sweet that between takes, he slips the ring out of his pocket and goes back to being Mr. Kruger.

But if he had a secret plan to screw with my brain, well, congratulations. Mission accomplished.

So when pictures from the filming of 3×21 were leaked about two weeks ago, showing Jackson in costume, wearing a wedding ring, I wasn’t fazed. I patted myself on the back for not spazzing like a lunatic and continued about my day. Well, I spazzed over Peter’s outfit, which included a gun holster, but I dismissed the ring.

(By the way, the original married-hands photo was from filming of “Os,” I believe, which has obviously come and gone without a wedding.)

handwatch '11, part two. // spoilertv.com

Well, yesterday, more set photos were leaked.

And there was a ring. On a left hand. But it was not Josh’s. It was Anna’s. Which means. That. Someway, somehow. In whatever universe. I don’t even care. Except, okay, I care. In some universe in the season finale. And probably the episode before. Peter and Olivia are married.

Oh, snap. All bets are off, people.

Every theory I could come up with between now and the finale has been tainted by this knowledge. My brain cannot and will not put together coherent thoughts on things like machines, flash-forwarding, shapeshifters, and third universes—not when I know that Peter and Olivia (at some point, in some universe, whatever) will be married.

handwatch '11, part three. // spoilertv.com

Sidebar: I suppose, technically, they could be independently married to other people, but I trust these producers too much to even speculate on that grim possibility.

Now, all signs point to this being a flashforwardy third universe. (Holla.) But what the rules of that universe are, how Ourlivia and her team and Walternate and his team factor into it, how we get there, why we’d go there, what it has to do with the machine … all those questions are unanswered and I have very few ideas.

But you want ideas on how my new favorite love story makes it to the altar? SOMETIME IN THE NEXT THREE EPISODES?

That I can do.

The way I see it, this can go one of three ways.

1. Peter rescues Olivia from her Bell-squished brain and, in a grand gesture of life-affirming romance, whisks her away to Vegas to marry her. Meanwhile, doctors struggle to diagnose the surprisingly severe stroke I’ve had at age 24. (This is unlikely.)
2. These photos are from scenes that take place in the future, where Peter and Olivia are happily married, have children, and fight crime. Peter coaches the kids’ soccer. I spend the evening running around the apartment screaming Taylor Swift’s “Mine.” FLASHFORWARD AND WE’RE TAKING ON THE WORLD TOGETHER AND THERE’S A … Oh, wait. That’s every night. Never mind.
3. These photos are from scenes that take place in the future, where even though Peter and Olivia are married, things are not good. They’ve stolen a kid and are fighting a lot. It worked out for a while, and then he was like WE HAVE TO GO BACK and she was all I CAN’T HAVE YOU LIKE THIS AROUND MY SON and he’s all YOUR SON. YOU’RE NOT EVEN RELATED TO HIM. Or something like that. (Although, if this is the case, why are they still wearing rings? To answer my own question—because the show is weird like that. Walternate still wears a wedding ring even though he’s having sex with that Asian lady and not Peter’s mom.)

There’s also another option, which is that this takes place in an entirely separate universe, where an entirely separate Peter has married an entirely separate Olivia. (But then what is the point?)

I think the most interesting combination of ideas is #1 and #3. Peter and Olivia do get crazymarried before the finale, but then things are really bad between them in the future. What’s interesting is whether or not, in the present day in the present universe, Peter and Olivia become aware of all this future business, thus giving them something to fear and fight against—terrorist attacks, divorce, haircuts. (Could this awareness be related to the machine? To the 6:02 AM event? What if whatever happens at 6:02 AM happens at that time on some day in the future, which is the really bad event that they’re trying to prevent? You know, because there are worse things, in the grand scheme of the universe, than marital discord. And is this sounding too much like Flashforward?)

Ultimately, I’ll go along with the story regardless and just be excited about this whole marriage thing. Which, by the way, I’m really excited about. (Will she have changed her name? Do they have children? Did Peter wear the purple tuxedo at their wedding? Does Olivia call Walter “Dad”? SO MANY QUESTIONS.)

Okay, I’ll excuse myself now.

American Idol’s Bleep-Filled Shockfest. I kind of hate the American Idol results shows—they almost always feel like 57 minutes of filler before 3 minutes of actual tension and results. But last night’s show was different from start to finish, including a performance from my favoritey favorites, Sugarland. I could’ve had a great night just talking about Jennifer Nettles’s pants. But then with the extremely surprising announcement that Casey Abrams, long considered a front-runner (EW picked him to win the whole shebang), had been eliminated, the evening just went insane. From Randy Jackson stopping Casey mid-song to announce that the judges were saving him to Casey’s bleep-riddled relief, that was just GOOD TELEVISION. I make a point not to talk about reality television on this blog, but I’m not sure anyone could have scripted that five minutes any better.

Michael’s Proposal to Holly on The Office. God, that was so well-done. The show set that episode up to play out absolutely tragically. The somber moments about Holly’s family peppered throughout the episode (especially her poignant conversation with Phyllis about caring for aging parents) weighted the half-hour so heavily that it seemed Michael would completely botch the proposal by not picking up on his girlfriend’s pain and would end up ruining their relationship forever. Contributing to this set-up were the rumors we’d heard that Amy Ryan would (or wouldn’t or would or wouldn’t or would) be in one or any of Steve Carell’s final episodes. I felt a sad kind of fear throughout the episode, which was so nicely resolved by the sweet, realistic, dare I say beautiful final scene. He didn’t screw it up! She said YES! (Actually, she said, “Your wife becoming be will I.” Classic.) And the tension was broken with the announcement we’ve all known was coming—Michael is leaving. On his own terms, for the right reasons, the result of one good decision. Perfection.

Aaron Sorkin on 30 Rock. Oh, holy crackers. A walk-and-talk between Aaron Sorkin and Liz Lemon is something I did not know I needed before last night.

“You know my work,” he tells Liz. “I’m Aaron Sorkin—The West Wing, A Few Good Men, The Social Network…”

“Studio 60,” she interjects.

“Shut up.”

This one’s staying on the DVR.

Fox Renews Fringe! There was dancing. There was a celebratory shot of whiskey. There was a scream so loud I’m sure my neighbors thought my apartment was being burgled. I’m surprised, relieved, and so so so so so happy. I have a feeling the rest of the season is going to be pretty dark, and while I’m really excited, it would have killed me if this series had ended on a bleak note. It would have killed me if this series had ended at all. For Fox to make such a vote of confidence in the series (Kevin Reilly says it’s “truly hit a creative stride and has distinguished itself as one of television’s most original programs.”) just pleases me beyond explanation. The climb up the ranks of Twitter’s trending topics was the icing on a really joyful cupcake. Next step? Spending the summer politely convincing people to watch it.

This doesn’t even get into how great Parks and Recreation was, or how better-than-mediocre Grey’s Anatomy managed to be last night. Now I’m tired, and my throat hurts from all the screaming. Not bad for a random Friday morning in March.

As our Dillon family leaves us, old friends return, in the form of Matt Saracen, Tyra Collette, and recently paroled Tim Riggins. And while Tyra and Riggins seem to be around for nostalgic purposes (at least in these clips), ol’ Matty has a job to do.

That’s Mr. Matt Saracen, down on one knee at the Alamo Freeze with his grandmother’s ring, proposing marriage to Julie Taylor, who until very recently was a wayward college freshman having inappropriate relations with her TA. “Oh my God, my dad must have flipped,” she says after accepting, admiring her new bling. There’s some confusion, and Matt admits he kinda just went for it–he didn’t actually ask Coach Taylor for his daughter’s hand.

Oops.

So Julie instructs him to backtrack and request her dad’s blessing–without telling him the proposal’s already been done.

Heretofore, I thought Jack Bristow held the record for Scariest Dad From Whom to Request His Daughter’s Hand in Marriage.

And, heretofore, I may have been right. But then I saw this scene:

“The answer to your question is no. The answer to your question is gonna be no today. It’s gonna be no tomorrow. And it’ll probably be no until the sun burns out. Is that clear?”

Did you hear that? UNTIL THE SUN BURNS OUT. Here’s the thing. I understand that Matt and Julie are young. But putting aside her transgressions with a married grad student and his dalliances with Carlotta the Live-In Nurse, those two have pretty much been together for five years. (Oh, except for that whole situation with The Swede. Remember him? Me neither.)

So while I can understand Coach being concerned that they are too young, I think “until the sun burns out” is a little harsh. I mean, this is Matt! This is exactly the kind of boy you want your daughter to bring home! He’s never been to jail (Riggins). He’s never killed anyone (Landry). You’ve never had to break his headlights with your plumbing tools (Derek the TA). He respects girls, and doesn’t comment on your alien-looking baby, and he loves his grandmother–I mean, holy crap, Coach Taylor’s standards are higher than mine. Unless in the episodes between now and the finale, Matt goes on a drug-fueled rampage that takes out both East and West Dillon, I really don’t understand the problem.

It’s Matt–you gotta lock that down. Lock it down, Julie Taylor. Lock. It. Down.

Mindy Kaling spilled some excellent news to New York Magazine yesterday, telling the folks that Subtle Sexuality is preparing a sophomore single in the wake of “Male Prima Donna”‘s success. Even better, the follow-up happens to be from my favorite genre.

Quoths NYMag.com:

“It’s a pop-country song,” Kaling told us, saying there are elements of Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift in the ditty. (The video is based specifically on Swift’s 2009 hit ”You Belong With Me,” in which Swift plays, as Kaling puts it, “both the girl next door and the hot, bitchy girl.”) The plot of the webseries revolves around how Erin (Kemper) and Kelly (Kaling) “are obsessed with the video” and remake it, Subtle Sexuality–style. “Erin plays the hot, popular girl and Kelly plays the dorky, shy nerd,” Kaling explains. “Kelly realizes that on some level the actual star part is to be the nerd, but she’s still jealous of Erin.”

“You Belong With Me” happens to be one of my very favorite songs, and not just because of its relation to Fringe. [Aaaand this reference has officially been on the blog twice today, which should tell you something about my love for it.]

The short skirt/t-shirt dichotomy is one that most girls can identify with post-high school, and as a girl of the t-shirt persuasion, I can say it’s pretty frustrating and hilarious. Because, like Kelly, you know that Sneakers is going to turn out great while High Heels gets the clap at community college, but Sneakers will still be envious.

And, of course, what Swift posits in the music video is that maybe every girl is a little bit Cheer Captain and a little bit Bleachers. Which is really quite profound when you think about it, the duality of the female experience. Perhaps the true meaning of this music video is that for every well-intentioned hairbrush-singing blondie trait, there’s a bitchy brunette whore trait just waiting to be revealed. Dark, eh? It’s quite possible that Darren Aronofsky was inspired to make the film Black Swan after seeing the music video to “You Belong With Me.”

How will Subtle Sexuality navigate these complex motifs? It’s a serious challenge.

Well, not really. It’ll be damn hilarious.

Just for fun:

First of all, the Parents Television Council should be far less concerned with GQ magazine photos than with the notion of schoolteachers undressing each other on school property whilst being creepily watched by bicurious cheerleaders through a window.

The most exciting bit about this scene is that, holy crap you guys, it’s REAL. This is no fantasy. This is no coma dream. This is Emma helping Will rehearse.

(Oh, right. Because according to sources, Will steps in to play Rocky when Sam gets uncomfortable. Because nothing is more comfortable than a teacher playing the golden-underpantsed Rocky to a student’s Janet. That’s TOTALLY normal and not at all gross.)

While the concept is creeptastic (seriously, Schue, rumor had it at my high school that a teacher got fired for far less), this scene is sweet and sexy and all kinds of awesome. As Jayma noted back when she used the song to audition for Emma, the song’s kind of perfect for the buttoned-up character. Watching her let loose a little bit (or a lot, actually) is funny, and seeing Will’s stunned reaction is just amazing. It’s like he thought he knew what he was getting himself into when he asked for Emma’s help, but he really has no idea.

Also, since we’ve seen Will be a skank for the last year or so, it’s always fun to see just how smitten he can be with Emma. Slut or not, he definitely has it bad for this one particular woman. My favorite part of the whole video isn’t the shirt-ripping or the desk-writhing, but rather when she’s pushing the chair and he touches her face. FACE-TOUCHING! It’s so randomly innocent and sweet. Will doesn’t say much of anything in this number, but his facial expressions are pretty much spot-on throughout the scene.

I’ve made this prediction several times, and it didn’t come true at Sectionals or Regionals, but maybe Nationals will be the charm: Schue will take Emma’s virginity in a dirty hotel room at Nationals. Preferably immediately after a triumphant win by New Directions.

Oh, which brings me to my last point. Spoiler Alert! I was wrong about how this episode ends. Apparently, Will tells Emma he’ll back off if she really wants to be with Carl, but this doesn’t lead to Emma/Carl sexing. Which just further prolongs the inevitable: that in this gross race to deflower Miss Pillsbury, Will eventually wins. At Nationals.

Because in this week’s Entertainment Weekly, there are photoshoots and interviews with the casts of the three shows that defined my fangirl existence, post-ER and pre-Lost: Gilmore Girls, Alias, and The West Wing.

While Alias got the epilogue I needed to effectively move past that obsession, the other two weren’t so generous. (Well, The West Wing‘s final season kicked off with a flashforward that gave us a little insight into the future, but I’m not counting that.) So when they asked cast members what they thought their characters were up to and they unequivocally said babies … it’s like seventeen-year-old Allie can finally let it go. Here are the quotes.

EW: Do you think Lorelai and Luke would have had a kid?

Alexis: Maybe, like, two.

Lauren: Two? Well, oh my goodness, we just got busy really fast! We didn’t even have the wedding. All right, well then, hey–we probably got married in year one. We’ve been away from the show three years. We had kid one in year two, and we had kid two in year three. That’s what Alexis says, and I am very overwhelmed by my toddlers.

That’s officially my personal canon, y’all. Also, that one of the kids is a boy named after Luke’s dad.

EW: Any plans to work together again?

Jennifer Garner: We’re always trying to work together. Everything I do, I say, “I have a father in this! You know who would be great?” I don’t know why they don’t go for it.”

Victor Garber: I know exactly why: ’cause we’re impossible. We laugh too much.

I want to be friends with both of them. In the article, Jen also talks about how Victor Garber is the best addition to any dinner party, to which I would like to say, girl, you’ve never been to a dinner party with me.

EW: What would Josh and Donna be up to now?

Janel Moloney: I don’t think they got married; I think they were just living together.

Bradley Whitford: I’m thinking we got married. And am I, like, working at a think tank?

Janel: Sure. What am I doing?

Bradley: I think you were working at the think tank until the kid came.

Oh, sweet Cheesus, you guys. My younger self would be dying. She’d be curled up in the fetal position under her desk, cackling maniacally and probably crying a little. Luckily, I’m way more mature.

Let’s just be glad it’s late-twenties Allie who’ll be dealing with any kind of Lost reunion.

asdfjkl;. that's all. // fox promo via tumblr

In order to illustrate how amazing this is, here’s a transcript of a GChat conversation I just had with my friend Hannah.

She has a boyfriend, so it’s hard to imagine that they’re just, you know, GOING AT IT in his office.

Neither of them is IN Rocky Horror, so it’s hard to imagine they’re just … practicing.

Could it be a fantasy? Yes? Whose? Hers? His? Could it be that she’s writing a novel and he’s having a coma dream ABOUT the novel?

You know what, though–it doesn’t matter. See above photo. Who cares what the circumstances are.

For six years, I hated your guts. Now, I wonder how much you’re hurting. Your couple was never endgame. Mine was.

End of story.

No, really, end of story.

I win. You lose.

One more time: Jate is fate.