Shady character brings 'Fringe' and 'X-Files' closer

The following article was originally posted on Walter'sLab.com by Sam McPherson. You can read the original article there.

For the introduction of something as huge as extraterrestrial life in a series that has simply never hinted at the concept, Fringe's twenty-sixth episode "Earthling" was fairly subtle. The revelation of the shadow-creatures origins (outer space) wasn't overplayed. If anything, it was slightly underplayed. The inclusion of extraterrestrial activity would be monumental for Walter Bishop's fringe science, but instead the comatose cosmonaut's penumbral parasite was simply shipped back out into space by the CIA, no questions asked.

Am I the only one who thinks that alien life will recur?

In the season opener, "A New Day in the Old Town," one of the shapeshifter soldier's victims just happened to be watching an episode of The X-Files before his death, and the camera happened to catch a glimpse of Mulder and Scully looking up at the sky. Then, we thought it was just a homage to an inspiration. But was it a subtle clue?

While this episode being a one-off "what-the-hell" episode is possible, I just can't see a show with so many 'patterns' just letting this one slip away. That's why I'm thinking we haven't seen the last of aliens — remember, this shadowy character was present in several of the promotional photos for the season, making it unlikely that these shadows will just fade away.

Perhaps even Mulder and Scully will get called in to help Olivia, Walter, and Peter solve the cases. That would be a crossover to see. Of course, it'll probably never happen, but it's at least worth a little hope. After all, now that we know there's life in space (at least within the show's reality), then the impossibilities really are endless. As endless as the universe.