Though not as well known, I've always liked Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat. A bunch of character's abandon ship and board a lifeboat. Problem is, one of those character's is the saboteur who sunk the boat in the first place. Who do you trust?
In "Welcome to Westfield", Fringe ups the ante. What if you can't trust others (because they seem to be going crazy), and what if you might be going crazy too? That's the problem our fringers find themselves in. They are in a confined space like Lifeboat. (Some people call this an "ark movie/story".) Somehow the town of Westfield won't let Peter, Walter, and Olivia leave. They are perpetually stuck in this town. If they drive out of the town, they enter right back in. It's like the only place that exists is the town of Westfield. This gag has been used before. For something pretty similar, look no further than Groundhog Day. With a story that can't change location, character interaction wins the day.
Because Peter, Walter, and Olivia are the only characters that make it into the neverending town, unsurprisingly, we get a lot of how Peter has affected both Walter and Olivia since he magically appeared in their universe. Both Walter and Olivia seem to be turning into what Walter and Olivia were like in the old universe when Peter popped into their lives which begs the question, "Are they only different here because they had never met Peter?" It's kind of silly to think so. Because Peter never existed (until now), unlike in the previous universe, there has to be a lot that would have been different for the current Walter and Olivia. Fringe really isn't interested in dealing with that though. I've come to realize that a lot of the gibberish and pseudoscience is there just to continually change how the characters in Fringe interact with each other. As I said previously, it's a way to ask the question a million ways, "Is it nature or nurture?" In this episode, it's nurture. As I watch more and more Fringe, I see "We are the way we are because of the world we live in."
The question I'm asking right now is, "Do you we really want Peter to get back to his old universe?" I think it would be interesting to see him adapt to the new one. Will he accept that this Olivia is different but will change into a similar Olivia the longer she's around him? I don't know. At this point, I'll accept pretty much anything Fringe throws at me. Fringe is a "just go with it" TV show. Either you can accept that there's a bunch of holes in the logic and it's a little kitschy, or you can't.
In "Westfield", the two universes are overlapping. People are overlapping. That's why they're going crazy. Both minds from two universe dopplegangers are assimilating into one. It's not happening to everyone (like Olivia, Peter, and Walter) because their dopplegangers aren't in Westfield in the other universe. Which takes back up a paragraph. This Olivia is becoming more and more like Ourlivia. Yes, something devious is afoot thanks to Nina and Mr. Jones, but it's happening naturally too. You can see it in Walter. He's on a collision course with the previous Walter we know and love. As George might say, "Worlds are colliding! A George divided against itself cannot stand!"
*The more I write about Fringe, the more I realize it makes no sense unless you have actually watched Fringe.
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