Warning: spoilers ahead for The Peripheral episode 7.
The impressive knowledge of Inspector Ainsley Lowbeer fills many gaps on the topic of 2032's stub timeline in The Peripheral, revealing when it was created, why it was created, and how greatly Flynne's world differs from history's original path. In Amazon Prime Video's The Peripheral, Earth experiences a chain of apocalyptic events known as the Jackpot around the year 2040, but by 2099, those who survived and rebuilt civilization have cracked the ability to influence the past through its technology. Whenever The Peripheral's future meddles with its past, a splinter timeline known as a "stub" is created, and Chloë Grace Moretz's Flynne Fisher hails from one such world.
The Peripheral has remained deliberately vague about the specifics of Flynne's stub. Prior to its penultimate installment, The Peripheral season 1 revealed only that the stub was opened by Dr. Cherise Nuland's Research Institute as a testing ground for experiments that would help prevent another Jackpot, but Lev Zubov hijacked the sandpit on behalf of the Klept mafia. Fortunately, Alexandra Billings' Inspector Lowbeer proves more candid, and she happily divulges more information about why and when the R.I. opened the stub, as well as how its influence has already altered Flynne's personal history.
When The Research Institute Opened The Peripheral's 2032 Stub Timeline
Even Inspector Lowbeer finds herself unable to pin down the 2032 stub's creation to an exact date, but she does confirm The Peripheral's alternate timeline began at least 10 years prior to Flynne's current era, meaning 2022. Lowbeer knows this because the haptic implants inside Flynne Fisher's brother, Burton, were created through the Research Institute's interference. Burton and his friends were already at war by 2028, but taking into consideration the development and training involved in haptic implants, the future's influence upon the past cannot reasonably start later than 2022.
In theory, the Research Institute may have been manipulating the past long beforehand, as any era with an internet connection is subject to fiddling from The Peripheral's future. Had the R.I. made any major swings earlier than 2022, however, the Met's "Aunties" could surely detect the divergence from their own established history, just as they do with Burton's haptics. This means the R.I. likely opened its stub circa 2022, and given how time in the stub runs parallel to time in The Peripheral's future, this would make sense. Earth civilization surely hasn't been restored long enough for the R.I. experiments to be significantly more than 10-years-old.
Why The Research Institute Opened The Peripheral's Stub Timeline
Through Cherise and Grace, The Peripheral has alluded toward all manner of experiments being conducted inside Flynne's stub, but many of them share the overarching goal of preventing another Jackpot. Perhaps the most significant test from the Research Institute's perspective is the haptic implant project Burton Fisher is unwittingly involved with. As confirmed by Grace in The Peripheral episode 5, the R.I.'s intention was not breeding super-soldiers, but ascertaining whether manipulation of the haptics could affect soldiers' behavior, making them compassionate and placid. The experiment was apparently a roaring success, and from the data gathered, the R.I. has developed an implant capable of suppressing violent, selfish urges.
Dr. Cherise Nuland believes these implants, when placed into the world's population and activated, will prevent another apocalyptic Jackpot event by quashing war, greed, and other flaws of human nature. Dubbed a "neural adjustment mechanism" by Cherise herself, The Peripheral episode 7 confirms plans for this implant were stolen by Aelita West and downloaded into Flynne's face during the series premiere. If Aelita takes them public, the R.I. will come under scrutiny for its scheme to alter the populations' minds. This fear of backlash explains why the R.I. has been developing its neural adjustment mechanism within the relative secrecy of Flynne's stub timeline.
What Happened To Flynne & The Others In The Peripheral's Original Future
The likes of Wilf Netherton and Lev Zubov have always attempted to avoid telling Flynne Fisher precisely what happens between 2032 and 2100, keeping details about Flynne's personal life and the wider world largely under wraps. Not only does the Met give Inspector Ainsley Lowbeer more data than Wilf has access to, the immaculately-coiffed officer is considerably more keen to share it, and she happily explains the nuances of the future Flynne has been denied. Predictably, the news contains as many lows as it does highs.
The Peripheral episode 6 showed a curious flashback of Burton's Marine unit fighting in the Texas outback, but offered little explanation as to why. Episode 7 officially reveals the "Texas War" was a conflict that occurred in both versions of The Peripheral's history, and is connected to an event called the "secession." Although the specifics go unsaid, The Peripheral heavily implies that the 2020s saw Texas gain, or attempt to gain, independence from the United States.
Burton Fisher died in the original conflict, meaning the Research Institute haptic implants were responsible for saving his life in the stub timeline. Whether that was due to their combat benefits or some degree of emotional change remains unclear. Conner Penske's fate was also very different, as Eli Goree's character not only survived the Texas War, he did so without sustaining life-altering injuries. In the original version of events, Conner resisted the urge to save the dog trapped in razor wire. Due to the R.I. manipulating the brain's emotion response through his haptics, however, Conner attempted to rescue the animal in the stub timeline, and fell into an enemy trap.
According to Inspector Ainsley Lowbeer, The Peripheral's original future involved Flynne getting married to Tommy Constantine, who had then become the Sheriff of Clanton County. Just as Wilf claimed previously, Flynne's fate becomes "spotty" after the Jackpot. This unusual ambiguity means an older version of Flynne could still be alive in The Peripheral's future timeline. If not, Flynne and Tommy's children and grandchildren certainly might. Although it is possible that the R.I.'s research somehow led to Tommy marrying Dee Dee instead of Flynne, a more likely scenario is Tommy and Dee Dee breaking up sometime after 2032, as The Peripheral has already sown seeds of tension between them.
The Jackpot Is Happening Faster In The Peripheral's Stub Timeline
News of Conner avoiding injury and Flynne getting married to Tommy is soured somewhat by Inspector Lowbeer's most groundbreaking revelation - the Jackpot is actually happening faster in The Peripheral stub timeline's chronology, and she suspects the Research Institute is doing this intentionally. Hastening the Jackpot runs counter to everything the R.I. has claimed to be doing in The Peripheral thus far. Even if the 2032 stub is the future's twisted Petri dish, Cherise still purports to be preventing another Jackpot, raising questions over why she would attempt to make the event happen faster in the stub.
One possibility is that by forcing the Jackpot to happen faster, the Research Institute can nail down exactly what triggers the apocalypse and when. A more sinister explanation is that Cherise no longer has any use for the stub timeline and wishes to avoid it falling into the hands of Lev Zubov and the Klept, so is plotting to have the splinter world destroyed as soon as possible by bringing the Jackpot forward. Whatever the reasoning may be, Lowbeer's bombshell sets up The Peripheral's big conflict - Flynne Fisher and her allies desperately trying to save their world from a cataclysm happening years earlier than scheduled.
The Peripheral continues Friday on Prime Video.