TUA Spoilers Season 4 and also spoilers for Fringe Season 5 I guess
(I don't normally tag spoilers for stuff that aired a while ago but while I'm here might as well...)
This feels like someone watched the series finale of Fringe and thought 'Okay I like it but I also like the season 3 finale where Peter ceased to exist and no one remembered him. Also, I like that bit where Walter sacrifices himself but less so that he then sends the white tulip drawing back so we know he's okay and it's open to interpretation whether he ever gets to see Peter again. I think they should have all sacrificed themselves but instead of travelling to the future they they all cease to ever have existed and Etta is playing I'm the park alone.'
Like, watch this scene and imagine it without Peter and Olivia and tell me that's not the TUA ending (also for anyone confused as to why Fringe ended with such an ordinary scene, we see the same scene earlier in the season except the big bads show up to take over the timeline just as Peter calls out to Etta)
To be clear, not saying TUA copied Fringe or anything like that, they are two shows that feature time travel and multiple timelines/universes, there's naturally going to be some crossover in stuff just due to similar subject matter. And Fringe was by no means a perfect show, the story became beyond convoluted and hard to track the longer it went on, but the similarities in those final scenes and how satisfying it is with Fringe and how maddening it is in TUA say so much.
Also, while we're on Fringe, when Peter ceases to exist his erasure is imperfect and there are echoes of him in the timeline. The two people who loved him most, Walter and Olivia, have visions of him and their love for him leads to him existing in the timeline once again. Which is not exclusive to Fringe, love conquers all is a pretty common trope in sci fi/fantasy. And like, Claire and Lila and Diego's children still existing makes no sense, but if they're going to, why not have their love bring the Umbrella's back, this time, marigold and durango free so they don't fuck up the timeline? Like it's sloppy as fuck but so was most of this season.
