Olivia’s Near Miss
Fringe - 120 There's More Than One Of Everything | Theories & Speculation | Posted by ScullyI would like to talk a bit about Olivia’s almost car crash. At first I just thought they inserted it to show us that Olivia was distracted and not concentrating on what she was doing, but the more I thought about it, the more I was sure that there was more to it than that. So, I watched it frame by frame, over and over again, then I noticed something.
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The first screencap is taken just a split second before Olivia swerves to avoid the silver car…notice the man in the gray blazer standing on the sidewalk…
Image #1
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During her avoidance of the car, she moves quite a few car lengths down the road, but when she comes to a stop, the man with the gray blazer is standing there again.
Image #2
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Normally, I would have thought this to be a Fringe Fumble, and filed it as such. This time, I believe it was done on purpose. I’m just not sure why.
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My first theory would be that this is actually where Olivia crossed over into the other dimension. Perhaps from the silver car’s driver’s point of view, Olivia’s car appeared out of nowhere, which is why he/she pulled out in front of her. This would explain why, when Olivia phoned Nina, she was told that Nina was out of the country. It would also explain why she was alone in the elevator, then there were other people, then she was alone again. She momentarily slipped back to her own universe and back again. It might be that they are trying to show us how seamlessly she can make the crossover now. This could lead to serious complications for Olivia, if she is unable to tell where she is.
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My other theory would be that it is a set up for a plot line to be revealed in Season 2. In some other dimension, perhaps even back in her own, she actually hit that car. We do hear a crash, we just don’t see one. It’s possible the crash involved the silver car and the car behind Olivia, or maybe it was something else. Perhaps Olivia died in another universe, or was hospitalized and did not get to meet William Bell. Or maybe the person in the silver car was killed. Someone of importance. Whatever the case, I think it’s possible that something changed in that moment, something that we are going to come across in Season 2 and say…’OMG, that’s what that was all about!’.
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There is one other thing that I will point out. Look at the reflection in the window. Is that the Observer? I’m not sure if I believe it is or not, but I thought I would let you decide for yourselves.
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May 15th, at 12:03 am
That’d be wayyy too much if they put the observer’s reflection in the window… first of all it’s so hard to make out that I wonder how *you* found it, but also that I seriously doubt they’d spend the effort to put him in again when he featured prominently throughout the episode. But I guess it’s possible.
But yeah, the entire car swerve/crash scene was just too random to be coincidence. I’m sure they’ll explain it in the next season… your idea of it being the crossover into the other dimension is what I thought at first, but then again it looks like they’re trying to explain the blue flashes as indicators of those occurences.
May 15th, at 12:04 am
*forgot to end that last sentence, there was no blue flash during that scene, so if she did cross over that means the blue flashes mean nothing again… or something else.
May 15th, at 12:43 am
i thought it could be bell on the gray blazer, but bell’s hair is dark and he was wearing all black on his office. although bell would make all the sense in the world. regarding the observer, i wouldn’t put it past jj to do something like that. the purpose of hiding him like this would make all the sense in the world if olivia [at least ever so briefly, as i believe on the restaurant she was on our reality still, and the crossover came in the elevator], did cross over to the other reality, and we haven’t seen september there, have we? maybe another observer? we do know they are all very attached to olivia [hints when it comes to september, a fact when it comes to inner child], so i think it makes a lot of sense to see his reflection if olivia was ‘on the other side’. specially ’cause the portals were described over and over again throughout the episode as ‘windows’.
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May 15th, at 1:22 am
This scene was def there for a reason … and I SOOO hope they didn’t just have a sloppy editor piece the scene together, leading to the continuity error That would be seriously disappointing to mess up a scene that was so obviously placed.
That having been said, the sound of the incident sounded totally like a car crashed, yet there was no car crash. So I don’t know about yall, but I audiblly heard a crash, yet saw no visible crash. More sloppy editing, or purposeful?
And I’ve analyzed that possible Observer reflection over and over, and I just don’t think it is. I could be wrong, but that image stays in that exact same spot on her windshield even as she drives off, and never changes shape or direction. It only disappears for a moment when she lifts her arm up a little, blocking the reflection. When she lowers her arm , it’s there again in the exact same place. So if this really is the observer, it’s photoshopped in. Otherwise, I think it’s something reflecting in the car. We keep calling it a rabbit, when it’s a duck (lol)But you can look here if you like at this high-def collage of images of some of my “digging” on this sighting:
http://ktwray.webs.com/random%20images/big%20observer%20hunt.jpg
I took multiple clips of the supposed Observer in high def, increased the contrast, inverted it, etc etc, placing the originals side by side with the altered versions in an attempt to see old Baldie. I’m not convinced it’s him. But I could be wrong …. O_o
May 15th, at 6:31 pm
Okay. Been thinking about this a bit more. Here is how I think it went down:
First, Olivia is driving to Hotel to meet Nina, She jumps into an alternate timeline, thus almost causing an accident. She gets to hotel, which in this time line is built where the WTC was. Nine from this timeline is out of the country, so she leaves. In the elevator, people flash in (possible 4th realty?) and then she gets off on a strange floor, bam turns into WTC.
(sorry if this is kind of off topic :S )
May 15th, at 10:30 pm
The gray blazer man looks bald so I thought that mabey that was the kid/mini observer many he has rapidly grown while out of the sealed tunnel and mabey been following olivia. Just a theory/guess/thought.
May 16th, at 1:07 am
I was also thinking of more than 2 realities - which brings me to another funny theory - they’re constantly throwing those 3 colors at us, red, blue, yellow! It’d be fun if those signified 3 dimensions.
So this seems to be a decent theory:
Starts off in 1st dimension,
Car accident(?) - Crossover,
Hotel - in 2nd dimension
Elevator - Distortion, crossover into 3rd dimension, or flipping back and forth between 1st/2nd?
I guess that’s the question that’ll be answered in the fall.
May 16th, at 3:41 am
I also believe that this scene is here for a reason. It just seems too out of place. The first thing I thought of when it happened was, “I hope the people on Observers are Here will be able to explain this!” lol.
Skeptical: You were wondering if the sound of the car crash was purposeful or just sloppy editing. I believe that, in another dimension, Olivia didn’t see the car, and there was a crash. Maybe she dies in that dimension or something. I don’t think she crossed over, but instead, the producers were showing us how the different dimensions are affected by our actions.
May 17th, at 2:01 pm
@ Andrew I was thinking that Suga Mama asked about the lift and how she was in an empty lift got transported into a crowded lift then ended up in another completely different empty lift. The Observers statement of there is more than on of everything is preparing us for a multi branched universe with several other realities.
May 17th, at 11:03 pm
Stress seems to be a factor in activating the Cortexiphan kids’ abilities. Perhaps this was a staged accident to startle Olivia into crossing over by herself? She’s obviously contemplating the impending meeting with Bell, thinking of nothing else, and when activated by the near-accident, crosses to where he is because that’s who she’s thinking of.
July 5th, at 7:51 pm
Mic,
That makes sense! In the previous ep (I beleive it was the prev.) the firestarter almost set herself on fire because she was having alot of stress and anxiety.
Oliva tried to get her to calm down and to think of something else. When the girl did that, the man she was thinking of combusted!
This would make sense with what you are saying: She was focused on Bell and contemplating the meeting with Bell and at that same moment in time, she had a near collousion with a car, thus causing anxiety and the start of a cross over.
Of course, I am wondering what happened to Oliva in the other world.. time will tell!
I know I am going to buy the whole season on DVD and watch it again to catch on some things I may have missed as I am sure there are many!
J.
July 7th, at 7:29 pm
Thanks, Jollygreenguy! We could be way off, but I appreciate that you think my logic is– logical.