It seems a lot of critics are harping on the fact that they feel Fringe's storytelling has become a bit expeditious, in an attempt to attract new viewers to a show that has never truly succeeded in ratings, despite it's overt greatness. The other pressing complaint is that they don't feel enough of a sense of urgency in relation to how Season 3 left off. I'll tell you why none of this matters and how 'Fringe' still manages to be "re-invent" itself while still remaining true to its roots.
Look, when you have something as drastically game-changing as a character ceasing to exist, you're going to have to be very careful with the way you explain such an event and the resulting consequences. I haven't had any problem with the pacing of the show in the early stages of Season 4. If you've been with 'Fringe' since Day 1, you know that it wasn't always heavily serialized. So don't go panicking when they go back to the "case of the week" formula, as they have.
It's very likely that, with the threat of cancellation hanging over the head of the writers all of last season like a Sword of Damocles, they wanted to expedite the core story a little bit in order to satisfy their fans. Luckily, the show was renewed. They are letting this story unfold at a slow, but sure, pace, and that's just fine by me.
I believe that these episodes have given the cast a chance to truly shine in some fine character scenes. John Noble continues to amaze, which is a feat in itself, seeing as how we've seen for 3 seasons how brilliant he is. The young boy, Aaron, was clearly our link to Peter for this particular episode. The scenes between he and Walter are effective and moving. There are also a few amusing scenes between Lincoln and Olivia. The neural network fungus (humorously nicknamed "Gus" by Walter) feeding on the emotions controlled by the Limbic System in order to perpetuate its own propagation was very compelling.
The final minutes of the episode are powerful. We see that Walter is so hopelessly afraid of these "hallucinations" of Peter, to the point that he attempts to lobotomize himself. He confides in Olivia, who assures him that she too has been seeing this mysterious man. Walter deduces that this man must then, in fact, be real. The boy did, indeed, grow to be a man...
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