Giant Freakin Robot

So far this season on Fringe we’ve been to multiple universes, seen a man spontaneously burst into existence, and visited a grim, dystopian future. That’s all in a week’s work for FOX’s embattled series, which was recently renewed for a fifth, but final, season.

As Fringe Division in both universes runs around after the path of destruction left by David Robert Jones (Jared Harris), season four has built towards what promises to be an apocalyptic conclusion. Jones is looking to collapse both worlds in order to jumpstart a big bang which would create a world where he is god. It’s up to Olivia (Anna Torv), Walter (John Noble), Peter (Joshua Jackson), and company, to save the day.

The two-part conclusion, “Brave New World,” begins Friday, May 4th, and FOX has released a trailer to remind you both what’s at stake, as well as Olivia’s impending doom that was foretold earlier in the season. The video itself is a bit of a tease. Watch…

After hyping you up it cuts off, leaving you with a check-back-later-if-you-dare message. But it does the job a trailer should do, making you want to watch the living hell out of this show without giving away too much. Events are hinted at—like either Olivia or Jones not making it through the finale alive—but this is Fringe we’re talking about, and part of what makes the show so great is its constant defiance of expectations.

I’ll be sad to see Fringe go. There aren’t nearly enough shows like this on the air these days—shows that are smart and daring but anchored by real, personable characters. On the bright side, it will get something most shows that are losing the ratings battle don’t get, the knowledge of the coming end, and a chance to wrap things up.