Walter Bishop sits behind a small folding table at St. Claire’s mental institution. His beard is as frayed at his mind and his eyes are hollow and piercing. Walter is both a genius and a snack-craving fool. I’m often unsure of what Walter knows, but, additionally, I’m unsure what Walter knows he knows. Walter is responsible for a functional sensory deprivation tank, a medicinally-enhanced cohort, and a mean tub of too-thick taffy. Walter is the reason the known universe is caving in on itself and potentially it’s only savior. His justification for all of the trouble he get himself and humanity into? To save himself from a life without his son.
This is where we find Olivia Dunham. She needs Walter Bishop, and Peter – Walter’s only son – is the sole guardian able to sign him out of the institution. Peter went on to live a vagrant-mercenary life off the grid, and preferred living anonymous and independent. It is only by releasing Walter from St. Claire’s that Olivia can use him to solve a series of cases that only a man of Walter’s intellect and imagination can achieve.
Walter has been institutionalized at St. Claire’s for 17 years, a prime growth period in Peter’s life. Walter is not to be left alone, and Peter believes he is not to be trusted. Peter believes Walter ended up at St. Claire’s for selfish reasons, too enveloped by his experiments to raise a family, and one of these experiments pushed a test subject too far.
Although Walter is often found mumbling to himself about which type of ice cream he would prefer, we never suspect for a moment he’s completely lost his sanity. Upon leaving the mental institution, his rights to luxuries such as driving have been severed and it becomes Peter’s discretion whether or not Walter’s rights are re-established.
And while Walter is Fringe’s leading father, he cannot exist a day on his own without the care of his son. This is ultimately Walter’s Achilles’ heel. Walter exists in a world he has the power of saving, but without Peter, he can barely live in it. This is what makes Walter such an incredible father. He repeatedly sacrifices his own well-being on faith in his mind, in order to save Peter from otherwise fatal situations.
But Peter is not the only character Walter acts as a father figure for. Olivia’s father is not mentioned, and her mother only briefly. Walter is honest with Olivia about the way she encounters her obstacles. He gives her vague guidance and just enough of a lead to go on, however unintentionally. If anything, Walter is so passionate about anything he sets his mind to, he can only think of the best possible solution even to the disbelief of all Olivia and the other Fringe investigators. In the first few episodes of the series, Olivia needs Walter’s help to save the man she loves. She subjects herself to the most radical of experiments under Walter’s guidance, knowing that if she does not take Walter seriously she will not succeed. Olivia is skeptical about Walter’s experimental methods, but she learns to trust him when all of his plans become fruitful. When Olivia takes her initial plunge into the sensory deprivation chamber, she is acting on a childlike faith in Walter, beginning her journey towards self-actualization fostered in the subsequent seasons.
Without giving too many spoilers away, Walter is the reason that the universe as we know it is becoming increasingly unstable. This instability is a direct result of his love for Peter. He is willing to sacrifice the lives of the entire human race so his son can keep on living. Since Walter is my favorite character, I want to leave much of his identity up to the viewer him or herself. Walter’s persona is complex and while being a father is significant, so much more has yet to be uncovered.
Alan Beyersdorf is a staff writer at Girls in Capes and holds degrees in creative writing and psychology from the University of Toledo. His first chapbook, Degrees of Distance, was completed in 2012. Alan’s post Hopelessly Super-Male was Freshly Pressed January 27, 2013.
