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Martha Salas
Professor Alvarado
SOC 001
29 June 2014
Fringe Season 4: Episode 19: Letters of Transit
They came from the future. At first they only watched.
Arriving at key moments in human history. We called them
observers. But in 2015 they stopped watching and seized
control. Citizen uprisings proved bloody and futile. Those
who survived became known as Natives... Fringe Division
was allowed to continue at reduced capacity, but only to
police natives or so they thought.(Abrams)
The titles at the beginning of the episode reminds the audience of how the Observers (displaying
what the Observers have restricted imagination, freedom, etc.) have come to control society on
Earth and how there are some who still exist that wish to overthrow their rule. Although this
episode of Fringe does not present the series foremost protagonist Olivia Dunham and the rest
of her Fringe team {who do appear until later in the episode), it does provide a very explicit view
of how much the Observers have taken over their world. The so called Observers have repressed
the human race, they think themselves so superior over, in almost every self-expressive way,
creating a bland and industrial world. Olivias original government Fringe team is trapped in
amber while trying to defeat the observers in the past. The present (the year 2036) in this
episodes existence is the future the Fringe team were trying to avoid and so Agent Etta and
Simon (part of the presently Observer controlled Fringe division) are trying to free them from
their amber prisons. The first to be freed is Dr. Walter Bishop whom they, the present Fringe
team, must help regain his memory to help in the fight against the Observers. The team finds the

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missing pieces of Walters brain and place them back into place. When they find themselves
being chased after by the Observers where they found his brain pieces, Walter activates an anti-
matter bomb in their path, making them disappear along with the building they were in. Walter
leads them to where the rest of the team are trapped and release Astrid and Peter Bishop from the
Amber confinement (but also leaving Simon who was trapped in the amber in efforts of freeing
Peter). They just make it out in time to escape the clutches of those working for the Observers
and are a step closer in the defeat of the dreaded Observers (Abrams).
Through this episode of Fringe from season 4 it is clearly seen that the Conflict Paradigm
is present in their society. That meaning a society in which there is inequalities among its
citizens social, economic, and political lives, while there also being a need for a certain group to
rise against the oppressive individuals and bring about change. The Observers took total control
over all people inhabiting the Earth in 2015, during what was known as the purge. During
which they killed those who were part of resistance groups and tormented others to show that
they were above the humans. The Observers believed that they were better and more powerful in
every aspect of their being in comparison to the humans. There is that conflict between those
who control and the people who are seen as less. Observers not only are the rulers of the Earth
but also become part of the society and considered more than the humans. The humans are held
under a tight leash and monitored very closely under the Observers strict government who
become suspicious at any move against them. Tired of the Observers repression and control of
the humans, Etta wishes to bring back the original Fringe team comprised of her mother (Agent
Olivia Dunham), father (Peter Bishop), grandfather (Dr. Walter Bishop), and lab assistant
(Astrid) who are stuck in amber, in efforts of defeating the Observers. Walter Bishop had been
building a device that would help in the defeat of the Observers and so it is very important that
he be retrieved in order to start the uprising. The first act of the resistance is made by Dr. Bishop
,setting off the anti-matter bomb, stopping the Observers chasing them in the old Massive

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Dynamic building and vanishing them, along with the building, from that dimension.
Comte, Marx and Durkheim would each view this episode of Fringe differently from one
another. In Comtes view he would probably not approve of the Observers reign over the whole
of human society (as they prohibit a positive outcome for the society they chose to rule over), but
would be in the support of the Fringe teams efforts against their tyrannical government. He
would support their cause because of his established basic laws of society detailing that like in
nature change is inevitable and positive for the societal order. Marx would probably see the logic
in the form of society that the Observers created, gaining control over the humans due to their
belief that they had better control over the resources they possessed (they believed that they were
beyond human emotion and had advanced far beyond the past human races physical desires and
mental capacities). The Observers are the authority that Marx believes should exist in society and
the Fringe team leads the resistance that he would also agree needs to exist in order to bring
about social change (Witt 14). Lastly, Durkheims view of this Fringe episodes society would be
of great disappointment due to the inequalities that exist among its citizens and would also bring
anomie to attention. This describes a societys loss of control and where its citizens behavior
becomes skewed due to the division in labor (Witt 13). This is true of the society that the
Observers created for the humans. Many of the human citizens lashed out in resistance to the
Observers control, falling in depression and loneliness that the bleak and gray almost robotic
world forced them into. In Durkheims Functionalist views it would seem that the humans and
Observers work together, like the human led Fringe division working to maintain order in the
society, but the efforts were totally controlled to work in favor for the Observers part of society.
In the nineteenth episode during the fourth season of the program Fringe the Conflict
Paradigm is clearly exhibited. The inequalities that exist in the episodes present society between
the humans and Observers make it an excellent example of the social conflict theory. The
Observers have taken absolute control around the whole worlds societies and keep a watchful

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eye on the humans. Resistance arises when Etta, the daughter of original Fringe agents Olivia
Dunham and Peter Bishop, decides to continue the fight against the Observers rule, knock them
out of power and bring about the needed change in their society.




















Work Cited
Abrams, J.J., Alex Kurtzman, and Roberto Orci. "Letters of

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Transit." Fringe. Fox. 20 Apr. 2012. Television.
"Letters of Transit." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 27 June 2014.
Witt, Jon. SOC 2013. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education,
2012. Print.