The writers ' strike ended long before Fringe started . The writers was settled on February 10 , 2008 . 08 W r itersGuildofAmericastrike Fringe ' s pilot aired on September 9 , 2008 . We got 13 episodes episodes which wrap up all of the story and character arcs . That ' s hardly a show ' s over , sorry guys . We got an ending , and in my opinion it was a great one . It appears most people agree , since on IMDB the final season has the highest average user rating per episode 5 refttepssn 5 and the series finale is tied for the highest rated episode in the series , sitting at a rating of 9 . 4 . ttepep 13 <| sep |> I thought you were asking why masks in general , but yeah I was wondering the same about the new masks . Maybe they just got these new masks that completely cover the face . I wonder if they ' ve been using it on tour lately .