<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"The penultimate Fringe episode for 2012 opens with Astrid (Jasika Nicole) stirring from sleep after being disturbed by strange noises in the lab. Upon investigating, she finds two things - a radio that&amp;#039;s picked up a mysterious signal and Walter (John Noble) tripping on acid... The last time our Fringe favourites went on a drugs trip, the result was the fun, imaginative and visually impressive &amp;#039;Lysergic Acid Diethylamide&amp;#039; but this new offering is a much darker affair. Desperate to avoid his inevitable decline into the cold, calculating figure he once was, Walter is playing games with his own mind, but is now haunted by a ghost from his past who tries to lure him to the dark side by massaging his ego\u2026 The team behind Fringe have taken the bold decision with &amp;#039;Black Blotter&amp;#039; to show us the world through Walter&amp;#039;s drug-addled eyes - at one point, he appears to sneak out of the Harvard lab and find himself at the Observer precinct, as he flashes between his current persona and - unseen - &amp;quot;the Walter that was&amp;quot;. But it&amp;#039;s ultimately revealed that he&amp;#039;s safe with the rest of the team - Walter is spiralling into delirium, with his fractured psyche shaping the episode&amp;#039;s structure, which helps the viewer feel his confusion and torment.  Away from Dr Bishop, the rest of the team trace the origin of the radio signal, which they believe might be coming from Donald, Walter&amp;#039;s mysterious unseen contact from decades before. At first, they don&amp;#039;t find the source - only a relay point - but what they do stumble across is a litter of Observer corpses and the remains of their old ally Sam Weiss. We&amp;#039;re not sure we like this trend of off-screen deaths for major characters - given how Henry Ian Cusick&amp;#039;s Simon and now Sam (Kevin Corrigan) were dispatched, should we expect this final season of Fringe to dish out similar fates to the likes of Lincoln Lee (Seth Gabel) and Alt-Charlie Francis (Kirk Acevedo)?  Our heroes continue their pursuit of the signal&amp;#039;s source and find two people who knew Donald, and who&amp;#039;ve also been raising the Child Observer - the same one from way back in season one. Forced to recall a password that will guarantee the strangers&amp;#039; trust, we delve even deeper into Walter&amp;#039;s psyche for a delightfully bonkers Monty Python-inspired animated sequence which depicts the inner workings of his fractured mind. The two strangers, it&amp;#039;s revealed, are retired resistance fighters and it transpires that the Observer boy - who&amp;#039;s been given the moniker &amp;#039;Michael&amp;#039; - is a key part of the plan to defeat the invaders. It&amp;#039;s a neat twist - Michael&amp;#039;s return ties up a hanging plot thread from the early years of Fringe and makes for a satisfying leap forward in the season arc all at once.  The child leaves with our heroes and, most intriguing of all, remembers meeting Olivia - despite meeting her in a different timeline - tying together post-season four Fringe with what came before. Speaking of what came before, we end on the dark implication that, despite his best efforts, Walter&amp;#039;s return to past form is inevitable. Much of &amp;#039;Black Blotter&amp;#039; is essentially a showcase for John Noble - his final Emmy pitch - and it&amp;#039;s undoubtedly a wonderful performance. But then, even when given material that&amp;#039;s not as rich as this, Noble never puts a foot wrong. His work has always been the best thing about Fringe and this episode is no exception. \u2022 This week&amp;#039;s Fringe glyphs spell out the word G U I L T  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/fringe/review/a445672/fringe-recap-walters-mind-begins-to-fracture-in-black-blotter/>