For all those frustrated shippers of Peter & Olivia, aka #POlivia, on Fringe, tonight may be the night their expectations are finally met this season in the Spring premiere, the aptly-titled “A Short Story about Love”. I make no promises but the white tulips on the table in front of Anna Torv’s Olivia in the opening restuarant scene, filmed this January for episode fifteen, are an unmistakable sign in the Fringeverse.
A year ago, season three’s episode fifteen laid out the origins of the Peter & Olivia love story, showing that even as children they were destined to be together, as you can see in this beautiful scene of a young Peter Bishop talking to a young Olivia Dunham in a bed of white tulips, filmed in Stanley Park in January 2011.
At the end of last season, Joshua Jackson’s grownup Peter Bishop made the ultimate romantic gesture, erasing himself from existence (and her memory) in order to save his beloved Olivia’s life. Did this sacrifice backfire with #POlivia shippers? It took two-thirds of the season for their couple to find their way back to each other in the closing scene last night. filmed on an exceptionally cold night on Alexander Street in Gastown.
Worth the wait? Definitely. As beautiful and romantic a scene to see in person as it appeared on the screen.