Whatever happened to "The Pattern"?

[cvbxsta]

They mentioned in like every show in season 1, it was a major plot element in the first season, and now in season 2 and 3, I don't remember anyone even mentioning "The Pattern" anymore. Did I miss something or what?

[Joe Curwen]

They mentioned in like every show in season 1, it was a major plot element in the first season, and now in season 2 and 3, I don't remember anyone even mentioning "The Pattern" anymore. Did I miss something or what?

No. IIRC there's been no mention of the Pattern past episode 2.1. I figured that with the death of Jones, the Fringe team put a stop to it all, or those responsible for the pattern events decided that they had to stop.

What bugs me though is that in season 2 they had a couple of cases that looked exactly like the pattern cases they had in season 1, but Peter and Olivia seemed to have forgotten about it. A good example is "Olivia. In the Lab..."

PETER: I've never heard of a drug that can cause what happened to Miranda Greene. It just seems like an awful lot of trouble to go through to kill somebody. Why not just hire a hit man?
OLIVIA: Well, a hit man would draw too much attention.
PETER: Really? And spontaneous, fatal tumor-growth wouldn't?
OLIVIA: I suppose you have a point.

It's not a huge deal, but the continuity seemed more than a little lacking to me there.

--
Joe

[jophan]

"The Pattern" was solved in "There's More Than One of Everything" when Olivia developed the connections between case locations that homed back to the three soft spots, Brooklyn, Providence (http://black-celebration.net/caps/displayimage.php?pid=822488&fullsize=1)and Reiden Lake (http://black-celebration.net/caps/displayimage.php?pid=822492&fullsize=1). Additional cases probably were analyzed by support personnel to see if they fit, but it wasn't important enough to bring to Broyles' and Olivia's attention unless they didn't.

[Joe Curwen]

"The Pattern" was solved in "There's More Than One of Everything" when Olivia developed the connections between case locations that homed back to the three soft spots, Brooklyn, Providence (http://black-celebration.net/caps/displayimage.php?pid=822488&fullsize=1)and Reiden Lake (http://black-celebration.net/caps/displayimage.php?pid=822492&fullsize=1). Additional cases probably were analyzed by support personnel to see if they fit, but it wasn't important enough to bring to Broyles' and Olivia's attention unless they didn't.

Olivia didn't solve anything, really. If the Pattern were something like a jigsaw puzzle, then sure, she solved the pattern. But the pattern events were perpetrated by people (probably), and knowing where they struck doesn't tell you where the perpetrators are, why they are doing it or how to stop them. Unless Jones was to blame for everything, I don't get what you think Olivia actually did.

--
Joe

[Omniscient_Jay]

Olivia didn't solve anything, really. If the Pattern were something like a jigsaw puzzle, then sure, she solved the pattern. But the pattern events were perpetrated by people (probably), and knowing where they struck doesn't tell you where the perpetrators are, why they are doing it or how to stop them. Unless Jones was to blame for everything, I don't get what you think Olivia actually did.

--
Joe

She figured out the What and Where (anomalous events caused by Soft Spots in the membrane of reality), but the Why, Who, and When are not totally resolved at this point, which is why the answer appears to be incomplete.

Seasons 2 and 3 have given insight into the missing clues, but there is still much to learn concerning these questions.

The Pattern was the entry point into something much bigger, which is likely why its importance have been diminished as of late...:confused0006:

[crocodilian]

They mentioned in like every show in season 1, it was a major plot element in the first season, and now in season 2 and 3, I don't remember anyone even mentioning "The Pattern" anymore. Did I miss something or what?

They've jumped the shark. They've told us too much about the alt-U, so there's no more mystery. "The pattern" was about unexplained-but-connected paranormal phenomena, that had some tantalizing connection, only partly visible. Now everyone's hopping between universes and the mystery of the thing is gone.

[empty_encounters]

I think the interference with universal stability that was started by Walter crossing over, and acts of fringe science, have a synergistic effect on each other.

Acts of fringe science decrease universal stability, and the lack of universal stability makes more acts possible.

I'd also say most of the first season's fringe acts were related to Jones and ZFT, where as more of the second and third seasons tie into the universal war.

[jay_eilthabhae]

The Pattern Storyline In Fringe = The 4 8 15 16 23 42 Number Storyline In Lost

That's why I just think a suspense thriller/sci-fi tv series should end itself in 3 seasons MAX, connecting everything nicely, finishing EVERY angle they created satisfactorily.....otherwise a lot of seasons just creates MORE and MORE storylines and angles and mysteries, while suddenly there is very little to do justice to a LOT of them......and people end up feeling disappointed, just like they did with X-Files, just like they did with LOST.......both of which were otherwise marvelous tv series..

[rh]

I haven´t seen a single episode of Lost, so I cannot comment on that.

But creating a tv show is quite complicated, because you never know when the plug will be pulled. I guess the pattern was some kind of escape plan in case Fringe would only survive one season: the characters hunt down bioterrorists for one whole season and catch the mastermind in the final episode, and everyone is satisfied.

Then the producers get the green light for another season, so the final episode becomes a cliffhanger, introducing the idea of a parallel universe, and so on. I can only try to imagine the pressure of
a) sitting on a story you want to tell
while
b) never knowing when you will have to wrap it up

As for the pattern itself, we know that the "culprits" were a bunch of "misguided" scientists preparing for some kind of war to come - and season 2+3 focus on this war on a universal scale. I am also a bit disappointed that they don´t reference to the pattern anymore - but they already connected it to some bigger stuff.

What bugs me more is the fact that they dropped any references to this mysterious group Broyles and Nina were reporting to during season 1 along with the pattern. This is discontinuity.

[TheOtherMe]

I think it's not so much that the Pattern is solved, but that we know what it is now...from where a pattern derives.

It comes from the effects of Walter taking Peter back. Chaos Theory -->breakdown of the universes... I don't know if we know of ZFT knows that they were apart of "the pattern", but clearly Massive Dynamics" does.

I personally think the pattern continues and that the FRINGE team may have to keep looking for them in order to make proper variable exchanges in order to seek balance to the equation, or rather save the universes.

[dcwombat]

The Pattern Storyline In Fringe = The 4 8 15 16 23 42 Number Storyline In Lost

That's why I just think a suspense thriller/sci-fi tv series should end itself in 3 seasons MAX, connecting everything nicely, finishing EVERY angle they created satisfactorily.....otherwise a lot of seasons just creates MORE and MORE storylines and angles and mysteries, while suddenly there is very little to do justice to a LOT of them......and people end up feeling disappointed, just like they did with X-Files, just like they did with LOST.......both of which were otherwise marvelous tv series..

I just gotta say right here... Fringe, Lost, and the X-Files are my 3 favorite tv series EVER!

[PaceyWitterLover]

They've jumped the shark. They've told us too much about the alt-U, so there's no more mystery. "The pattern" was about unexplained-but-connected paranormal phenomena, that had some tantalizing connection, only partly visible. Now everyone's hopping between universes and the mystery of the thing is gone.

How far did you even get into the show?

There are lots of mysteries going on right now.

[jay_eilthabhae]

I haven´t seen a single episode of Lost, so I cannot comment on that.

But creating a tv show is quite complicated, because you never know when the plug will be pulled. I guess the pattern was some kind of escape plan in case Fringe would only survive one season: the characters hunt down bioterrorists for one whole season and catch the mastermind in the final episode, and everyone is satisfied.

Then the producers get the green light for another season, so the final episode becomes a cliffhanger, introducing the idea of a parallel universe, and so on. I can only try to imagine the pressure of
a) sitting on a story you want to tell
while
b) never knowing when you will have to wrap it up

As for the pattern itself, we know that the "culprits" were a bunch of "misguided" scientists preparing for some kind of war to come - and season 2+3 focus on this war on a universal scale. I am also a bit disappointed that they don´t reference to the pattern anymore - but they already connected it to some bigger stuff.

What bugs me more is the fact that they dropped any references to this mysterious group Broyles and Nina were reporting to during season 1 along with the pattern. This is discontinuity.

I doubt it, because when a show is created, ofcourse they do not create the precise storyline for the entire series, however they create a mythology from the very beginning of the show, and many of things which goes in this mythology may not even be revealed throughout the series but it's information for the writers to base the developments on, and I read somewhere that with Abrams, he creates his mythology in such a manner that he ensures that whatever developments the series take, each and everything could be answered through that mythology, as he works kinda backwards, i.e. to envision the end of the show, and then work backwards to determine how to get to that specific ending....

Yes there are fail safe plans always in case of cancellations but when they start out with a concept, they pretty much have a ball park figure in their mind as to how long they envision the series to go, i.e. how many seasons, depending upon cancellations or renewal, they slow/increase the pace or introduce something to end it quicker (in case of cancellation) So no, I don't really think the Pattern was ever an escape plan...infact as this season is unfolding, I think we might just get back to Patterns sometime before the end of this season....

[Orion7486]

But what about people like Mitchell Loeb, Jones, and John Scott?
What was it that Loeb knew when he said to them after he was arrested and show the photo of his dead wife? He said something like: you don't know what you've done...you don't know what this is really about....

What info did Jones know to get that test box, and where did he get it from?

What was that about John Scott in Olivia's dream world? Mainly the part when he told her he was undercover and actually working for the good guys.

Did they know about the alt verse, and knew the war that was coming was from there? How?

Also, did they drop completely the storyline with Olivia's sister?

[paburrows]

I kind of agree that a lot of connections between season 1 and 2 could have been paved a little better.

Having said that from what I understand Jones, Scott, Loeb, etc were kind of doing the same thing as Bell which is preparing for theoutcome of Walter's kidnapping Peter and the coming invasion for Walternate. The differece is the methods, Bell was spying and working against Walternate secretly. But Jones and the rest were taking more extreme messures without concern for human casualities. Once the leadership died off that organization stopped opporating. The other thing though was the pattern which was revealed to be random things that happened in all three seasons that was a result of the three weak spots that were a result of Walters crossing over and Peter started adressing that in season 2 by searching out those typoes of things before they happened. In fact the pattern was brought up again in the Brown Betty episode (which is actually a good uverview of the series up till then. then there was the randon human caused freak of the week like the Mole boy which was just caused by a Dad who used Animal DNA to impregnate his infirtle wife or the recent guy who was trying to cure his sons not being able to walk via floating. (although that was the pattern also.) Early Season 2 we are introduced to the William Bell created, Walternate used Shape Shifters who we learn have been on our side working for Walternate since the late 80's/early 90's. Which has been the start of the war that Jone's group and Bell's people have been working against.

So I agree that they could have done a better job of naming things and connecting the dots, but thats the way that I understand it all.

[Orion7486]

So with what you're saying, John Scott was working for Jones, along with Loeb. But did I miss an explanation on how Jones knew about the alt universe? And if they were working for this universe against the alt, why was Loeb involved with the super-cold bug. What benefit was there to that?

[paburrows]

Well it was explained that Jones was a disgruntled employee of William Bell who was fired from Massive Dynamic for taking things to extremes and that why he was trying to cross over in order to kill Bell. So I would assume that he knew about the Alt-Universe because Bell originally had him doing stuff in relation to his work to prevent the war. I believe that the Cold bug and everything else that Loeb and Scott were doing were under Jone's orders to take extreme measures in preparing for the eventual attack of whatever they were expecting Walternate/Alternate Universe to do.

[KevinTheWatchman]

This seems to be an older thread that has been revived, but something that Walternate said in a recent episode made me think of the Pattern. Alt-Brandon asked him if he missed being a scientist and he replied with, "I am still a scientist Brandon, I just have a much bigger lab now." As soon as I heard him say that it reminded of when Olivia was first learning of the Pattern in season one and I think it was Nina that told her, "It's like somebody's using the entire world as a laboratory."

We know that the shapeshifters work for Walternate so is it possible that John Scott and Mitch Loeb were replaced by shapeshifters before the Fringe team knew enough about them to be identified or maybe were somehow being conned into working for the other side?

[CazzX]

We know that the shapeshifters work for Walternate so is it possible that John Scott and Mitch Loeb were replaced by shapeshifters before the Fringe team knew enough about them to be identified or maybe were somehow being conned into working for the other side?
John Scott's blood was red, so he couldn't be a shapeshifter.

Joshua Jackson says the Pattern was caused by the parallel universe. Some crazy scientist and ZFT may have added some cases.
AU "attacks" + ZFT terrorism + crazy scientist = Pattern
Obviously the producers see no need to mention the Pattern anymore. They could have explained the connection between the alternate universe and the Pattern better.

[Zero]

For me it was very clear (at the beggining of season 2) that the steal of Peter from the AU was the trigger of The Pattern.

The mistery about the pattern remained on the fact that NO ONE except Nina and Walter (and of course Bell) knew about the ZERO EVENT...called like this as considered to be origin of everything.


And it actually is:


Zero Event+Massive Dynamics Tech+ Bell going to the AU to prevent war (ref. Over part 2)+ Jones and ZFT= The Pattern


The Pattern was "resolved" by Olivia at the end of season as she discovered WHERE it was "created", WHO moved the strings behind it (Jones) and WHY he did it (to reach and kill Bell)


On the other hand, we have to remember that Jones had knowledge about the war coming, the expermients conducted by Bell and Walter, Olivia´s ability and of course, the fact that Bell was on the AU.

The pattern is then understated as the consequence of Walter´s actions (as mentioned by him) used by Jones to complete his revenge.


The only 2 thing really "unclear" to me are... the lack of attention Olivia received by Jones at the end of season 1 (after all the context on which these two characters went through) and the fact that the shapeshifters didn´t act until they tried to stop Olivia form meeting Bell.

So the real question here is....Did a conection between Walternate and Jones ever exist?

Jones=Leader of ZFT
Walternate= Author of ZFT Manuscript

I believe that´s really the only plothole I haven´t filled up yet

[xevious]

The Pattern was "resolved" by Olivia at the end of season as she discovered WHERE it was "created", WHO moved the strings behind it (Jones) and WHY he did it (to reach and kill Bell)
I don't think it's so much as "resolved" as it was "uncovered." The Pattern was described as a series of extraordinary occurrences, all seemingly related. And they were--most of them tie back to Walternate, in one respect or another. It was all about experimenting with techniques to attack/infiltrate our universe.

However, some of the occurrences seemed to emanate from a different source: a ZFT group on our side. Mitchel Loeb, John Scott, David Jones, and others all worked for this secretive organization. Their purpose? Well, it appeared that they were trying to develop offensive techniques to deal with The Pattern, albeit in a rogue fashion--outside of the FBI, so they'd be free of any FBI protocol/restrictions. Remember, he says "Do you not understand the rules? What we're up against? Who the two sides are? Tell me at least you know that!". William Bell was funding this, as a means of preparing for Walternate's attacks, "the Pattern".


So the real question here is....Did a connection between Walternate and Jones ever exist?

Jones=Leader of ZFT
Walternate= Author of ZFT Manuscript

I believe that´s really the only plothole I haven´t filled up yet
Good question.

Well, we have Walter proving that the ZFT manuscript was written by William Bell, because of the typewriter characteristics. Yet... we also have Walternate who officially published a ZFT manuscript. I believe that Bell actually collaborated with Walternate on this book. But Walternate later pulled a chapter out of it, the one that dealt with ethics. So, basically we have two versions, and two groups working off the same ZFT principles... And why was Jones going after Bell? Not at Walternate's behest, from what I can see. There doesn't appear to be a direct connection. I think he was pissed about being forced out of Massive Dynamic, and out to get revenge. That's my theory. :observer:

[Scully7]

I thought Bellie wrote the ZFT Manuscript and Walternate stole it and took out the chapter on ethics.
Walter did find the original copy in his record collection.
:confused0006:

[xevious]

I thought Bellie wrote the ZFT Manuscript and Walternate stole it and took out the chapter on ethics.
Walter did find the original copy in his record collection.
:confused0006:
Yes, Walter did find the original manuscript that had been typed by William Bell. There's no doubt Bell participated in the authoring of it. It could very well be that Bell had showed a copy to Walternate, who then stole it or made a copy (with the ethics chapter removed) and then had it published. Or, the ZFT manuscript could have been co-authored by both William and Walternate. Unfortunately, we don't have enough information at this point to know.

But consider this... Wouldn't it be a seriously dangerous thing for William to show the ZFT manuscript to Walternate? It would help confirm his fears about the threat of "the other side", and help give him incentive to attack us.

This is where I am starting to think that William Bell is more devious than we've been led to believe. If he basically convinced Walternate that there's a threat and then offered his services to help develop the technology to fight it... Remember, the other side appears to be more technically advanced than ours in some key respects. Using that with the added advantage of William Bell's genius intellect, they could create even more powerful technology. And then Bell recognized the potential to make some serious money off of it by trickling it back to our universe, into a small company he founded called Massive Dynamic.

[ag86]

Xevious, good job. Like others in this thread, I was confused about the end of Season 1, but it seems you've explained "The Pattern" and ZFT well. I hope that with Bell still around we can get some more confirmation of your theories.

[Scully7]

If Bellie did show it to Walternate maybe it was to help him understand the consequences of what he is doing.
But, I think it was written by Bellie to warn our side of what is happening, and will happen because of the other side doing its thing, and can happen if we travel down the same path.
:confused0006:

[Residents Fan]

Yes, Walter did find the original manuscript that had been typed by William Bell. There's no doubt Bell participated in the authoring of it. It could very well be that Bell had showed a copy to Walternate, who then stole it or made a copy (with the ethics chapter removed) and then had it published. Or, the ZFT manuscript could have been co-authored by both William and Walternate. Unfortunately, we don't have enough information at this point to know.



The typewriter Walter discovered to write the ZFT manuscript was fairly old,had a German-language title, and Robert Bishop was German . Maybe Grandfather Bishop wrote it, and William Bell took a copy to the parallel
universe, which Walternate copied.
EDIT: "Ability" says the German police seized a document with the "ZFT" title in an unrelated case, which was later
destroyed. According to Peter, "ZFT" was never published, but Markham gave Peter an English-language copy which
he got from some "guy who collects scientific ephemera".



But consider this... Wouldn't it be a seriously dangerous thing for William to show the ZFT manuscript to Walternate? It would help confirm his fears about the threat of "the other side", and help give him incentive to attack us.
Yes. As evidence, William helped designed the soldiers Walternate uses, and Nina described the drawing of the Vacuum which Walternate has as "William's technology". What if he was working with Walternate all along? What if he helped them capture "our" Olivia as well? What if Bell giving Walter Massive Dynamic is
also part of a plot to undermine "our" universe?



This is where I am starting to think that William Bell is more devious than we've been led to believe. If he basically convinced Walternate that there's a threat and then offered his services to help develop the technology to fight it... Remember, the other side appears to be more technically advanced than ours in some key respects. Using that with the added advantage of William Bell's genius intellect, they could create even more powerful technology. And then Bell recognized the potential to make some serious money off of it by trickling it back to our universe, into a small company he founded called Massive Dynamic.Here's a puzzle; when did Bell first go to the Alt-Universe? The last time
we say him in the Blueverse was in "Gray Matters" when he performed the
brain surgery on Walter (1990s). By "Over There", he's travelled so often he ends up disintegrating when he travelles again.

[CazzX]

Yes. As evidence, William helped designed the soldiers Walternate uses, and Nina described the drawing of the Vacuum which Walternate has as "William's technology". What if he was working with Walternate all along? What if he helped them capture "our" Olivia as well? What if Bell giving Walter Massive Dynamic is
also part of a plot to undermine "our" universe?

That's my opinion. To be honest...has William Bell ever helped us?
- He warned Olivia in Season 1. Why didn't Walternate mind him meeting Olivia unless this was part of their (Bell and Walternate) plan?
- He helped Walter and Peter to escape. What if he knew the Olivias were switched? Why didn't Fauxlivia kill him? He didn't seem surprised to see Fauxlivia.

What is "his" world?
He said:

Between this side and yours. I would like to say 'ours', because that's where I came from, but I'm afraid I would sound disingenuous. Two minutes later, he said:

A storm is coming, perhaps the last and worst storm of all. And when it is over, I fear there will be little left of our world. The shape-shifters on your side are looking for someone, someone to open the door between universes, and if they find him, there will be no stopping them, and that is why you must find him first.So the shape-shifter are on YOUR (=blue) side, but he fears there will be little left of OUR (=red?) world? From his point of view.

[xevious]

Some excellent content to chew on here. CazzX, thanks for pointing out those discrepancies with Bell. It's looking like Bell has a conflict within himself... on which side does he belong? If saying "our side" was disingenuous for him, is that because his relationship to both is "complicated"?

Bell is the most confusing character of this series. Remember, he sacrifices himself to help get Walter, Olivia, and Peter back to their universe. If he was totally aligned with the AU, why wouldn't he have just let the Fringe division capture them? That's because he isn't.

I think all of this points to Bell playing both sides. Why? Well, part of it was for profit and power. But perhaps most of it has been intellectual curiosity. Yet, this curiosity has gotten the better of him. He now sees incredible danger for BOTH sides.

But his statement about saying "our side" as disingenuous was just a lead-in. When he says "our side" later, I really believe it is our side. It fits together with the threat he mentions. Maybe Bell has some regret for what he has done... for without him, the predicament would probably not exist. I'm hopeful that Bell is more interested about healing the universes, whether to mend both as they are, or revert back to a single universe.

[MeanGene]

After watching "The Last Sam Weiss" and then re-watching season one, I think we will get many of the answers to the pattern in season 4.

During season one, there were a lot of questions left unanswered in relation to the pattern.

Pilot: John Scott, as he is dying in Olivia's arms, says to her "Ask yourself why you were chosen."

Also, it seems the pattern has based all of their experiments upon Walter's past experiments, however all of his notes have been locked up in his lab for the past 17 years, so how did they get this information?

Loeb also mentions that the pattern had a plan, which the Fringe division ended up foiling.

Additionally, we never learned how a guy that worked with Robert Bishop in Nazi Germany lived to be that old yet looks like he hadn't aged one day.

All this to say, when the time travel concept was introduced, I think this will be the key to unlocking the what, why and how of the pattern. I'm not sure how yet, but i think those will be addressed in season 4.

My guess would be something to do with sending missions or information back in time in order to avoid the current apocalyptic decay. I just hope it doesn't turn into the terminator.

[ag86]

I agree with you, the Pattern and ZFT and Bell are somehow a Third party trying to fight against FATE. Bell, while he was in Olivia, told Peter that sometimes you just have to accept your fate. Perhaps Bell, in his old age, realized that you can't fight Destiny?

[OliverFA]

The producers always say that each season expands the story line in a new way. I think that coming back to the pattern would be a good way to bring interest to season 4. Something like "You really thougt that the pattern was just a crazy man trying to croos to the other universe to kill Bell? In fact it was, it is, a lot more".