White Tulip isn't just an amazing time travel episode, it's arguably one of the best of Fringe's 5 season run. What starts off as a simple 'Mystery of the Week' story about a train carriage full of dead passengers soon turns into something much more. In fact, the events of the episode are so crucial to Walter Bishop's story that they even get a reference in the show's finale. Walter is a tragic figure in White Tulip, consumed so heavily by the guilt of his actions that he can barely look his son Peter in the eye. Throughout the episode he is toying with giving Peter a letter, explaining how he tore a hole in the universe and stole him from a parallel world when his own Peter died at the tender age of 7. Walters loss is paralleled by the episodes villain, Alistair Peck an equally brilliant scientist who is trying to travel back ten months in time to save his fiancée from dying in a car accident. Oh, and hes played by Robocop (we thought that was worth mentioning). The two eventually come face to face and debate light-hearted subjects such as theology and the consequences of time travel. Walter opens up to Alistair about the guilt he feels for what he did to Peter. He thinks that God has been punishing him since that day and has asked for a specific sign of forgiveness from him - a white tulip. He clings desperately to this idea, thinking that if God can forgive him, then maybe Peter can as well. Alistair eventually manages to go far back enough in time to see his fiancée again. He has just enough time to tell her he loves her before a car crashes into them, killing them both. So, as far as the present day timeline is concerned nothing in this episode actually happened. There were no corpses on the train and Walter never met Alistair. The episode ends where it began with Walter writing a confession letter to Peter. A letter then arrives for him: a white tulip that Alistair arranged to be posted to Walter 10 months after his death. It's the final twist at the end that really makes the episode. Time travel episodes are almost always very clever, but there are few that can pack the emotional punch that White Tulip flawlessly delivers. Do you agree with our list? If not, what are your favourite time travel TV episodes? Let us know in the comments!
