Fringe TV Show - Over There, Part 1 - Fringe Recaps, Fringe Reviews, Fringe Episodes | TWoP

By Daniel

Well, we can tell from the jump that something's not right: the on-screen identifier tells us we're at "Fringe Headquarters," and it's in New York City. Stranger still, we're not told this via 30-foot letters suspended in the air above the city.

No, we're in an impressive command center featuring people in military fatigues with one guy tracking an "anomalous energy signature" and then he confirms that it's a breach. That brings Charlie stomping in, and his head is shaved, and he's playfully grousing about how he was hoping they'd have a slow day, what with it being Saturday and all, but it's "no rest for the wicked." And now here comes alternate-universe Olivia, who has long red hair that hangs down past her shoulders, plus bangs, and she says Charlie's not "wicked," he just pretends "really, really well." Then the camera whips over to some other guy wandering in, and the quick camera work is really giving me a headache, not to mention this annoying all-characters-stride-in-at-different-times-from-different-directions-so-we-have-time-to-process-them-all contrivance, and this new guy asks if they're "playing his song." Like, does anyone in the alternative-universe Fringe division take their jobs seriously instead of making wisecracks? Then someone tells him it's a "Class 1 event" and he says he can see that, and then they just stand there looking at the screen until Alt-Broyles strolls in, looking even more bad-ass, which I have to admit I didn't think was even possible, wearing a tight black T-shirt and black pants and telling them that naptime's over and it's time to get to work. I guess even in the alternate universe, it's not possible for Broyles to not be awesome. Over here, we'll just have to go with this, which I really really, really wish I'd known about before the song-and-dance episode. Better late than never, I suppose. "On a swingset of dreams, on a jungle gym of schemes"? (Track 7: "Our Journey.") Pardon me, Lt. Daniels, but that's bullshit.

So the Fringe team is on their way to the "Class 1 event," and Charlie gives himself some sort of injection, and Alt-Olivia has some sort of special powers of exposition in this universe, and she asks him how the big the worms would get if he didn't dose himself, and Charlie corrects her that they aren't worms but arachnids, and then he doesn't get to finish because Sgt. Buzzkill Lee, or whoever this guy is, is checking out the sit-rep on some fancy electronic card that makes the iPad look like an abacus. He says some stuff about "molecular dissolution" and says it's not a tear but a "full-fledged hole," and thank God the alternate universe has never conceived of saying "that's what she said." Alt-Charlie just hopes there aren't bugs, and Alt-Olivia figures there probably are bugs. "Bugs like you," she says. Wow, Alt-Olivia's way more flirty and sassy than original-recipe Olivia. Still, I'm declaring allegiance here and now to original-recipe Olivia and her stonily professional iceberg demeanor.

By Daniel

They arrive on-site in a black van identifying Fringe Division as being part of the Department of Defense and go racing across a sidewalk jammed with people who are all "Oh shit! Fringe Division!" Oh, and don't worry, McNuggets lovers: the alternate universe has McDonald's.

The Fringe team and several footsoldiers enter a beautiful old theater with the music stands and other trappings of an orchestra set up on stage. "Site's secure, boss," Charlie tells Lee, who strides up on the stage and waves some sort of wand that sprays a mist or something in the air. In front of him, the air is shimmery and distorted, and there are red tendrils, looking like tinted light reflected in water. He taps the clip on his ear, which appears to be Alt-Bluetooth and tells "chief" (a.k.a. Alt-Broyles) that it's bad: "We've got Stage 3 degradation," he says. Broyles is watching the action through several feeds displayed on his fancy tabletop monitor. He asks if there are any data indicating the event is contained. Lee keeps looking. Oh no! The red tendrils are all shifty! That is probably not good in this universe! He says they're in potential quarantine mode here. Broyles is all "damn!" and tells him to send up a "looker."

Outside, behind the scene roped off with red police tape, Alt-Olivia interviews a witness (after asking for his "Show Me," which is I guess what they call ID over there). This guy is worried about a quarantine, but Olivia tells him there's nothing to worry about, and asks him for whatever details he can giver her about what he saw.

Inside, on the stage, Lee is holding a silver dollar, and he decides to look at both sides carefully so that we can see one side has the Liberty Bell and the moon, and the other has Richard Nixon (last seen in "Jacksonville"). He kisses it (lucky silver dollar?) and puts it in a small jar of water, where it floats on the surface. He radios Broyles: "We're getting decreased gravity measurements here, Colonel." Broyles, who's wearing a wedding ring -- well, perhaps it's more accurate to say he's wearing a ring that would signify a wedding in our universe -- doesn't look happy.

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By Daniel

And then in strolls Astrid, similarly outfitted in black with a military-style beret, who sits down robotically and responds to Broyles' greeting with "Broyles. Philip. Colonel." He asks her for a risk assessment: "I need to know if this thing's spreading." She slides her hands over her half of the tabletop while Broyles tells Lee that they "don't need another Boston." Lee's all, "duh." He's got a cylinder that he pops open, revealing a flashing red top. "Quarantine device unlocked," says the electronic voice.

Meanwhile, Alt-Robo-Astrid says a quarantine would result in 10,000 casualties, while Lee places the device on the floor. It tells us there's one minute to quarantine. Broyles asks Astrid for a recommendation, and she says some techno-babble about gravitational whatsit, so he more urgently says, "Recommendation," and she says, "Calculating," and apparently she's been programmed to express annoyance.

On the stage, Alt-Olivia strolls over and sees the quarantine device. "Really? God, and I didn't even update my will," she says, squatting. "Frank would just spend it all, anyway," says Lee, and Olivia smiles. Back at HQ, a still-ticked Broyles is still asking Astrid for a recommendation. Her eyes dart over all the scrolling data, and finally she says, "Event is terminating. No quarantine is recommended." Broyles relays the news to Lee, who closes up the device with 14 seconds left. "We gotta stop doing this," he says.

Then Charlie calls them up to one of the upper levels of the theater. "I wish it was bugs," he says, as he shows them a dead guy lying on the ground, face covered in huge tumors. "Those look like carcinomas, but there's no way anyone could live long enough to develop tumors that severe," says Lee. He asks if the witnesses gave them anything. The usual, says Olivia: "They heard a tearing sound, they saw a blue flash through the window. I gave them chips so they could get radiation scans." Olivia pulls out the guy's wallet, finds a driver's license and hands it over to Lee. You needed to pause it to read it, but it's a Pennsylvania licence belonging to one James Heath. "That's not a Show Me," says Lee, puzzled. But wait, there's more! Olivia runs some sort of scanner over a $20 bill, and then hands the money over to Lee, who looks at it. "Who the hell is Jackson?" he says.

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By Daniel

And then there's Original Olivia, peeking over the rows of seats, at least until Broyles hisses at her. They're hiding a short ways away, along with a woman and man. So when Charlie said, "Site's clear, boss," when Lee arrived, what exactly did that mean? All that technology and government authority behind the alternate-universe Fringe Division and they missed one whole dead guy lying on the floor and FOUR OTHER PEOPLE ducking down? They haven't mastered the concept of looking BEHIND things? They don't see OLIVIA'S HEAD STICKING UP? The four of them skulk away, Olivia looking particularly distraught at all the weirdness, and then the camera pans upward, through the skylight, to the zeppelin hovering overhead, and then out over the Manhattan skyline, prominently featuring the Twin Towers still in place, some building that looks like a cruise missile that I'm relatively certain doesn't belong there. I'm guessing there are other features out of place, but I hate those What's Wrong With This Picture? puzzles, so we're just going to head into the opening credits.

Which are red! And feature different technologies and phenomena! Hypnosis! Pyrokinesis! Hive mind! ESP! Neuroscience! Clairaudience! Cryonics! First people! Astral projection! Mutation! Protoscience! Genetic engineering! Have I ever said how much I love the theme music? It's true. I even bought the soundtrack, lord help me.

We're at Harvard University, 36 hours earlier. Our own universe. Walter's watching security footage labeled "Northwest Passage Motel Surveillance Tape," which shows Walternate strolling out into the hallway, followed by Peter. "I can take you back where you belong, son. They have our coordinates. But if you go with me, you won't be able to come back here." The Northwest Passage motel specifically? Or this universe in general? Peter thinks about it a moment, then says "Let's go," and they're gone. Apparently, judging from the episode synopsis that was on the Fox website for "Northwest Passage," that was a scene that was supposed to have closed out the last episode.

You are never going to believe this, but Olivia's drinking. She's even in a bar, which is great, because that means she can get other people to pour her drinks for her. Well, bottoms up, Olivia!

It looks like something's occurred to Walter, because he sits up and then starts searching through his files.

And at the bar, an Observer strolls by and drops a piece of paper on the seat to Olivia, but she's presumably too drunk to notice. She only sees it after the Observer passes through her line of vision on his way out the door. She picks it up, while Walter back in the lab is still frantically searching through his papers, at least until he gives up and calls Olivia. She answers her cellphone, staring at the piece of paper. Walter agitatedly tells him there's something he's supposed to remember, but he can't, but he thinks it's about Peter. "I think something is going to happen to him. Something, something terrible." And Olivia looks at the piece of paper which features some sort of schematic for a huge device that looks like it requires a person plugged into it, as opposed to four D batteries. The device sits on five legs (perhaps six, if there's one directly behind the one in center front), and it's set amongst the ruins of city buildings. Below that, on top of lines of text (various combinations of the letters ATCG), is a picture of man's head, a man who looks a lot like Peter except for the fact that it looks like his eyes are exploding.

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By Daniel

After the commercial break, we're not at the Bishops' place, and Walter's looking at the drawing, which Olivia has brought with her. "Oh my. I think this is what I'm supposed to remember," he says. You forgot that? Your son's eyes exploding? I know your memory is bad, but damn. Olivia says she thinks it was left for her by one of the Observers, and Walter says when he brought Peter from the other side, one came to visit him some years later. "He told me that I had to agree to never let Peter return to the other side." Olivia asks why, and Walter's all, "Duh! This!" and points to the drawing, but Olivia doesn't really know what this is, and Walter says it's exactly what it appears to be: "I think my son... is going to be responsible for the end of the world." Oh, sure. Everyone thinks his kid is just so special. "My kid got into Harvard." "My kid's responsible for the coming apocalypse." Walter can post all about this on Facebook and risk having his friends hide him on their newsfeeds.

Olivia figures it's probably a good idea to bring Peter back, instead of having him responsible for destroying the world, and Walter points out that Peter went over by his own free will, which I hate to tell Walter does not trump "destroy the universe" in this argument. Besides, as Olivia points out, Peter didn't know his eyes were going to explode. She wants to at least try to get him back but Walter whines that there's no way of even contacting him, and a frustrated Olivia slams her hands down and is all, "Walter! How?"

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By Daniel

And think we know, Broyles, with Olivia and Walter and a team of FBI agents in tow, is striding purposefully down the halls of Massive Dynamic, not even bothering to pay attention to the security team halfheartedly attempting to stop him. "Don't even think about it!" snarls Broyles, and the security guy is all, "Man, what a dick! Well, I did all I could do..."

And then Broyles bursts in to Nina's office and accuses the company of manufacturing weapons for the other side, and he demands they turn over every piece of data even remotely related to the other universe, and I kind of wonder what the red-shirt FBI agents make of this kind of dialogue. I mean, at one point wasn't Olivia herself not even classified to know about a lot of this stuff?" Nina's all, "How dare you! Are you out of your mind?" And I don't think Broyles has any Nina Sharp booty calls coming in his immediate future. Olivia gets them both to shut up by telling Nina that Peter is in danger. She shows her the schematic and says, "Walter says that this technology has a very specific and recognizable design." Walter, who appears to be getting his groove back, says, "I daresay Nina would agree." Nina's all "dear God" as she looks at the drawing and asks what side it's from. Walter asks if it matters. Wouldn't it? [Have they even specified which world will be destroyed? Are they just playing it safe? - Zach] Nina says it's Bell's technology, but they didn't build it. Broyles looks like he doesn't believe her, but Olivia doesn't appear to care. She says "Peter's been taken," which isn't exactly true, but she pleads with Nina to help them cross over.

So it's up to geeky Brandon, who shows off a little intra-universal coffee mug disappearing act. He explains that going "over there" is a bit of a misnomer, since the two universes overlap. Which I think the team knows, but "The Two Universes are Overlapping" is a much less catchy episode title. "To get to the other side, our universe needs to pass through you, literally, like... like water passing through a cheesecloth." Walter's studying Brandon intently. This is Walter's racket, Brandon! Don't you fuck this up for Walter Bishop! Brandon explains that the cells need to separate on an atomic level. "The problem is, when they come back together, they don't come back together with the same cohesion." Shielding himself with his hand, he taps the reconstituted coffee cup with a pen and it vaporizes in a blinding flash of light, like, THANKS FOR THE WARNING, BRANDON. He says Bell managed to cross back and forth, but they don't know how. "But I suspect that whatever methodology, he crossed so many times that he's become like this coffee cup: molecularly unstable." And also proclaiming its user as the World's Best Grandpa? "As many atoms in each of us, there are stars in the sky," says Walter, who asks Nina if that's why Bell never came back -- because he was scared the same thing happened to him. Nina says she doesn't know: "I've sent him communications, but if he got them, he hasn't been able to communicate to me." Maybe he just doesn't dig you anymore. Olivia says there has to be a way, though, and asks Walter about how he crossed over when he got Peter. "The last time I opened a door, it set in motion the ripples that weakened the very fabric of our reality. To do so again could instantly shatter both worlds. And likely would," he says. Well, except for Newton and the shapeshifting buddies who keep coming over.

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By Daniel

Nina asks Brandon to give them the room for a moment, and then she tells Olivia that she has the ability to cross over safely. Olivia protests that she can't, not on her own; Bell's pulled her over, or she's flashed over for a few seconds, but that's it. "Not on your own, but if there were two or three of you, a larger power supply, as it were," says Walter, warming up to it. "I'm not following," says Broyles, because Peter isn't around to put everything in layman's terms. Walter babbles on about the collective psychic energy and how he and Belly always agreed that the primal part of the brain is responsible for paranormal activities like pyrokinesis, thought control, etc. "And that we all had these abilities, until there was a moment in history when something was done to us, and... and it was shut down. I suspect aliens," says Walter. But that's a whole 'nother episode. Anyway, it's a moot point, right? Because all the other Cortexiphan children they've found have "failed or worse," says Walter, and Olivia's the only one left.

Broyles and Nina exchange glances. "Actually, she's not," says Broyles.

Over to the Massive Dynamic Experimental Campus, now, where Broyles tells Olivia that there are still over a dozen Cortexiphan subjects unaccounted for. "Prudence dictated we determine what we might be dealing with in the future." "So you woke all three of them up?" says Olivia, and they look into a room that has a foosball table and three people in matching sweatsuits seated at three different tables being studied by three scientists or researchers or whatever the hell. One of the sweat-suited ones appears to be levitating a ball of fire between her hands. Must be Sally. "Actually, five. We've tracked down some others," says Broyles.

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By Daniel

As they look, Broyles fills us in on a few old friends: "About six weeks ago, Massive Dynamic proposed a series of experiments to help them gain control of and repurpose their abilities. These three have been quite successful. James Heath can now cure disease, not cause it (great news for that bunny he's stroking). Sally Clark is becoming a fully functional pyrokinetic. And your friend Nick Lane's empathic transfers can now be controlled." So they go in, with Olivia not bothering to say that she doesn't like like Nick Lane.

Nick Lane perks up when he sees her. "Olive!" he says, smiling. And then everyone in the room turns and starts laughing. And you think you've missed a joke, until you see, behind Olivia, Broyles giggling like a fool. And it's weird. Like walk-in-on-your-parents-having-sex weird, but perhaps more traumatizing. [Is he that giddy about seeing Olivia? - Z] Sally gives him a pointed "Nick." And he gets serious, and then so does everyone else. "Welcome to the monkey house," Nick tells her.

And then Olivia and the rest of the X-Men are getting off the elevator into a room that looks like a new headquarters. "Who authorized it?" asks Olivia. Broyles tells her, "Senate Intelligence, thanks to Peter. It was part of a list of demands he gave me right before I went to secure our funding. "This is very Mission: Impossible," says James Health, appreciatively, before he sees Walter, who was already there. "I know you. You're the man that experimented on us," he says. Walter nods, and Heath says he could kill Walter where he stands. "Each of you could," says Walter sadly, before talking about how what he did was inexcusable and barbaric. I'm trying to pay attention, but I'm noticing that Sally Clark is quite a... well, I suppose "hottie" is the best possible word. Anyway, Walter says that they had noble goals: "We believed that our world needed guardians, protectors, that you children would be those protectors." Blah blah blah, one day the two universes would be in jeopardy, today is that day for which you were created, blah blah blah. "What I could never have imagined is that I would be asking you to help me save my son," he says, and then he apologizes, and then says seeing as how it looks like none of them is gonna kill him, he's going to go and have a bit of a cry.

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By Daniel

He wanders off, and Nick Lane marvels that it's not the same guy he remembers. "He's exactly the same," sneers Heath, unmoved.

Broyles tells them that Dr. Bishop has identified a likely spot for a crossover in Brooklyn: "You go at 0800 tomorrow morning. You might want to get some rest." So Heath is all, "Hey, FBI guy," so I guess he is the Wolverine of the team. "We're about to go save the world, right? Two worlds, even. Can't we have a night off?" Broyles thinks about it, and then says to the other FBI agents: "Whatever they want."

And lest you think Heath is just a bitter asshole, he chooses to spend his last night at the hospital, healing strangers. We watch some woman regain her color and energy right before our eyes. "Who are you?" she asks. Instead of answering, Heath says, "I was never lucky, you know? Sometimes people need some good luck. Tonight I guess that's me." He turns to the staff behind him. "Who else do we have?" he asks. I have a question: does this make him tired? It doesn't appear so, and if it did I suppose it would be foolish of him to be up all night doing this before venturing into the alternate universe. So: shouldn't he just do this? Heal people all the time? I mean, this might be hindsight, but I think we can guess that Heath is the tumour-ridden dead man from the opening scene, so maybe this amazing power of his shouldn't have been risked.

Speaking of lucky, what did Nick Lane and Sally Clark decide to do? Each other, apparently. Nick is sticking a chocolate-covered strawberry in Sally's mouth while the two of them lie in bed together. Nick asks her what she wants to feel this time... what he's feeling or what she's feeling? "Both," she says, and they start doing it.

Walter's doing laundry, which is awfully grown-up of him. He's doing Peter's laundry, from the bag Peter ran off to Washington with. He presses his face into Peter's clothes and starts to weep. "Please, God," he says. Stubborn grass stains?

Elsewhere, Olivia is hovering over Ella while her niece wakes up. "What time is it?" she asks, confused to see Aunt Liv there. Olivia says it's early, but she has to go on a trip and she wanted to give Ella something before she left. She gives her a crucifix on a gold chain and explains that Ella's grandmother gave it to Olivia before she died: "She told me that it would keep me safe. So now I'm giving it to you." She puts it around Ella's neck and Ella smiles at her and gives her a kiss and thanks her. "You're welcome, baby girl," says Olivia, partly looking like she's about to cry.

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By Daniel

And then she's cocking her gun and getting ready, and Rachel strolls in in a bathrobe and says, "You're up early. I didn't even hear you come in last night." Wait, are they still living with Olivia? That can't be right! Olivia says she's been working a case, and Rachel asks if she'll be home for dinner, and Olivia says she hopes so but will call and let her know. Careful about those alternate-universe roaming charges! Olivia hugs her sister and squeezes her tight enough that Rachel asks if she's OK. Olivia says she is, and they should do this more often. OK, so she's visiting them. Got it.

After Olivia leaves, Ella comes strolling out, wearing her new crucifix. "Look what Aunt Liv gave me," she says. Ella looks at it, recognizes it, frowns. You know, Olivia like JUST left. She's probably still on the step. If there's anything you need to ask her, she's still RIGHT THERE.

At the old theater, Broyles is going over the flaws in the plan with Olivia, apart from the huge glaring one that it's totally insane. Specifically, even if they make it to the other side, she still has no idea how they're going to find Peter. Olivia says Nina Sharp is sending a message to William Bell asking him to meet at the Grayshot Bridge in Central Park, but Broyles has even more problems with that: Nina's got no confirmation that Bell even gets her messages, and Bell could have made the weapon for the other side. Olivia says she trusts him.

Anyway, Walter pops his head in from the room to say they're ready to go, and Broyles tries one last time with Olivia: "You can't tell me you think this is a good idea." Olivia agrees that it's not a good idea, and asks Broyles if he's got a better one. Well, that shut him up pretty good!

Walter excitedly walks through the auditorium of the theatre, noting that it was lovely, but now faded and broken: "Just like me." Thank you, Debbie Downer. Olivia asks Walter how this works, and he explains that all they have to do is stand in a circle on the stage here, so it's a good thing these Cortexiphan X-Men have all been rehabilitated, since every other crossover has required major planning and equipment.

Walter says he's going to stand in the circle and lead them across, and then Broyles argues that Walter can't go, but Walter insists, because Peter is his son, after all. Which isn't true, though! So the kidnapper gets to go on the mission to take back the son who was just retrieved from the ACTUAL dad?

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By Daniel

Anyway, part of Walter's problem is that he can't ask the others to do something that he's not willing do himself. Broyles accepts this, and then Walter turns back to the Kortexiphan Kids and says if any of them have changed their minds, he understands. Nick says that they've been talking it over: "Maybe you did damage us. But on the other hand, maybe you made us special. Fate is a tricky thing." Translation: thanks to you, I now have superpowers and am having sex with this total fox (who also has superpowers).

So off they go, with Walter in the middle of them, telling them to ignore everything but the sound of his voice, and to spread their arms out towards each other, which they do. He tells them to think back to when they were just young boys and girls. When they were being experimented upon in Jacksonville? Is that a good idea? The camera spins around the circle, and if you watch closely, you can see the background go from an abandoned theatre shrouded in dropcloths (with Broyles standing, watching the proceedings) to a sparkly, shiny jewel of an auditorium - and then Heath collapses on the stage. Everyone rushes to help, as we see his face bubble up with tumours. Olivia asks Walter what they can do, but Heath is looking up through the skylight, where we can see a zeppelin passing overhead. "Look... we made it," he says. Either that, or the Kaiser's got some 'splainin' to do!

So they're on the other side, and while Olivia tries to look after Heath and get him up so they can hide, Sally says she doesn't feel so well. The sound of sirens in the distance spur everyone to get a move on.

Outside, the Fringe assault team is arriving, with Lee announcing that he wants science and risk reports in three minutes. Our plucky band of heroes hide behind a row of seats -- Walter urges Nick to make them leave. Nick says he's trying, but it's not working. "What's wrong with us?" he says. Walter doesn't know. And Sally is scared!

Olivia watches as the unaware-of-personal-surroundings alt-Fringe team examines the corpse of James Heath and look at the confusing Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill. Alt-Olivia asks Alt-Charlie if he's got a "Junior," which he hands over. Lee asks him if he's going to a strip club later, and Alt-Charlie awesomely says someone has to visit Lee's sister.

So Olivia compares the two bills, and the alt-universe's "Junior" is so named because Martin Luther King, Jr., is on it. "The paper's real. The detail is amazing. Why would someone go to this kind of trouble?" asks Alt-Olivia.

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By Daniel

Over in Col. Broyles' office, the scanned image of the Jackson bill shows up on his awesome tabletop computer as a "flagged item," and so he tells Olivia that whatever it is she scanned just raised a red flag over at the Department of Defense, and the Secretary wants to see them.

And it turns out the Department of Defense is on Liberty Island in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty, which in this universe is bronze. At first I thought there was some cool artistic lettering across the base of the statue, but it turns out that's just the shadows from the giant floating letters that let us know where we are.

So the three alt-Musketeers stroll into the building, with alt-Olivia asking the others if they've ever met the Secretary. Alt-Charlie says he shook his hand once when he graduated from the academy, while Lee says his dad knew the secretary. "That explains so much," says alt-Olivia. Yeah, not so much to us. But I assume it will. And Alt-Charlie is shooting up again, with Lee saying it's a good idea as you don't want to "leak worms all over the guy." "They're not worms," says Alt-Charlie, not for the first time.

So the team gets in to see the Secretary, who tells Lee that he's sorry about Lee's father, who was a good man and a fine jurist. Lee thanks him, and introduces Olivia and Charlie. Walternate's not much for the small talk, so he gets right down to telling them that he may have some insight as to who the casualty of the fringe event in Brooklyn was, and where he was from.

"What I'm about to tell you is classified. But I think it's time you knew what you were dealing with," says Walternate, and then asks Alt-Olivia what she can tell him about the Fringe Division. Alt-Olivia is all jokey and smiley as she says, "OK, I'll play," like, do you see anyone else laughing here? I mean there's irreverent, and then there's annoying. Anyway, she says Fringe Division is a special adjunct branch of the Department of Defense. "Its primary focus are natural and environmental disasters that began in 1985 with the zero event at Reiden Lake." Needing a little more exposition, Walternate asks what the natural disasters are. "They're holes in the fabric of the universe, sir," she says, and he gives her an A-plus, which for all we know indicates a pay-raise in the alternate universe.

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By Daniel

Walternate asks how she knows all this. Alt-Olivia: "I know it because I read it in the ZFT in 1995 when you wrote and published it," sounding like she's wondering if that's supposed to be a trick question. Walternate goes and fetches his own paperback copy of ZFT from the bookshelf. It's a very Dianetics-looking book. "ZFT. The natural decay of our world. What would you say if I told you that the ZFT is a lie? Or a half-truth, anyway?" The Fringe Division members try to contain their shock at the idea that a government might withhold information from its citizens, as Walter tells them the holes are man-made, and they don't simply lead to nothing. "There is something on the other side," says Walternate. Alt-Olivia doesn't get it, but Lee does: "Another one." Walter: "Another universe. A parallel Earth just like this, but slightly different. And it was their attempt to penetrate our world which created the pattern of destruction that we struggle with daily." "Pattern," hey?

Speaking of slightly different, to the right of the Fringe team, hanging on the wall is a huge map of the United States, albeit one that is different from our universe's: to my non-American eyes, I pick up the following things: Texas has been divided into North Texas and South Texas, the Dakotas are one big state, and something's been eating away at the coastline of California.

So both the $20 bill and the man came from the other side, and Walternate figures he didn't come alone. He says he's not a "lover of war" -- and really, what politician would ever admit to being a "lover of war"? -- but he thinks the invaders are anything but peaceful. "They must be found, and they must be found quickly," he says, and Lee promises that they'll get the dirty rats.

Meanwhile, the original Fringers are hanging out by a bus stop advertising a new season of The West Wing, with a poster featuring actors who could very well represent Sarah Palin, John McCain and Barack Obama. Yeesh. I think you'd want to stick with the original cast. Anyway, Sally is "burning up" -- her words.

The bus arrives, and Olivia's the first to get on, only to see a sign demanding that all passengers scan their "Show Me" ID. Olivia makes a show of looking for it and then realizing she forgot it, and then she gets off the bus and tells everyone that they're going to have to walk. "Central Park is 59th Street. That's three miles from here," protests Nick, which is all the more reason -- as Olivia points out -- to get going.

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By Daniel

Elsewhere, in a room filled with medical equipment -- including a vitals monitor that flashes the alert "Temporal Acclimation Completed" -- Peter wakes up. He makes his way out into the kitchen of a huge house that seems to be mainly windows. His mom is chopping food, and she stops as he approaches. They somewhat shyly say "hi" to each other, and Elizabeth asks how he's feeling. He's OK. "You've been asleep for three days. Your fath--" she catches herself, "--Walter said you might feel a bit dizzy. Maybe you'd like to sit down." Peter says again that he's OK. Jeez, get off my back, ma! She says he must be starving, and she's made some eggs and bacon, but now she thinks to ask if he still likes bacon. "I love bacon," says Peter, and let me just say that nothing anyone has ever said on this show has made me tear up as much as Joshua Jackson's emotional line reading of "I love bacon." There should be an episode entitled "I Love Bacon." I would give it a salty, crunchy A-plus. And then Peter and his mom hug and she tells him that she's missed him so much, and Peter tears up too, probably wondering when he's going to get the damn bacon she's promised.

Elsewhere the Fringers are stumbling along the streets, Sally getting worse by the minute. Walter thinks the "human circuit" must have been flawed, and asks if any of them engaged in "extreme use" of their abilities last night, more than normal. Nick says no, which I suppose means that he and Sally have hot empath sex every night. "Perhaps poor Mr. Heath," says Walter. [Yeah, maybe that should have been a precondition of their night off. Don't heal a hospital full of people, because you will KILL US ALL. - Z] Anyway, he hopes William Bell can help Sally, who is now looking at the parabolic towers on the skyline: "The Grand Hotel," she says. "They never built it." (Meaning here they did.). I'd never heard about this before now, but here's some more info on something that might have been the case in our world but is not so here. Kind of interesting, though, that that's what she notices, not the still-standing Twin Towers.

And now Peter's having breakfast on the shore with his mother, who is pouring coffee, which she explains is very hard to come by, and is rationed: "But Walter's very well connected." And Peter is still talking about bacon, like CAN YOU BLAME HIM BACON IS AWESOME, and he says that he never had bacon growing up, because his mother was a vegetarian, so until today, he always thought he imagined having it as a kid. Then he feels bad at what seems to be her discomfort on hearing upon his other mother, and he says he's sure she doesn't want to hear about that. "No, on the contrary, I want to hear all about your childhood," she says, and asks if he's still close with her, and if she took good care of him. The answer to the second question is "very good care," and the answer to the first question is "no" because she committed suicide ten years ago. "My mother from the other side, she was wonderful, but she wasn't strong. In fact, she was very, very sad. Which I suppose is because of me," he says. Elizabeth comforts Peter -- and it must be kind of strange hearing about the suicide of your alternate self -- by saying that we have to take responsibility for our own decisions, good and bad. Anyway, Walternate's going to be so happy to see him, says Elizabeth, and Peter mentions that there was something Walternate wanted him to do. Holy shit, he only just got back from the alternate universe and Walter's got him doing chores? Elizabeth hands Peter a binder and says Walternate, who's staying in the city tonight, asked her to give it to Peter.

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By Daniel

And there's more exciting lost-in-New-York action with our original Fringers, who pass by a toy store window with Cabbage Patch dolls, which Sally declares to be her favorite and asks if she can get one. "I don't think so, baby. We got to go," says Nick, and Sally weakly says that she likes it here, so she's going to stay. Yeah, we don't really think getting you a return ticket is going to be necessary, Sally.

Elsewhere, Peter looks at the documents Walternate left for him, which seem to be more in-depth illustrations f the doomsday device like the one the Observer left for Olivia, although I'm guessing that these documents don't feature a picture of Peter with exploding eyes.

And now the Fringers have finally made it to the Grayshot Bridge, but there's no sign of William Bell. Nick takes Sally to a nearby fountain, because he thinks that might help (provided she doesn't boil all the water out of it). Olivia thinks maybe Bell didn't get the message, but it turns out that someone got the message, because the sound of sirens precedes the arrival of cop cars and the Fringe Division. Olivia and Walter duck off down a side path -- "Bell has betrayed us!" yells Walter -- but Nick and Sally are trapped in the middle of the bridge. Lee's the first to arrive and he orders them to not move, but Sally, collapsed on the ground, raises her hand and a fireball starts to form. Lee shoots, but Nick has jumped in front of her and takes the bullet. Mystifyingly, the show did not run this in slow motion with Nick yelling, "Noooo!"

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By Daniel

Meanwhile, Walter and Olivia are being fired upon and get separated, with Olivia managing to drop a Fringe soldier. Back on the bridge, Lee cautiously approaches Sally and Nick, whom he recognizes (presumably he knows the Alt-Nick Lane, who maybe has Icewoman for a girlfriend). Sally doesn't looks so good -- her eyes seem full of blood -- but Nick's the one with the bullet hole in his chest, and he says he thinks he's staying here. "You stay. We'll stay together," she says. Lee approaches, saying he doesn't want to hurt them. Sounds like he means it, too, but a furious Sally gives him a "Screw you!" and goes supernova, setting Lee alight and appearing to instantly turn herself and Nick into charcoal.

And there's Alt-Olivia, who sees Walter running through the woods. "Hey!" she says, lifting her gun, and then she just FIRES. Holy shit! Little trigger-happy? Does she always indiscriminately fire on people who are for all she knows merely running away from the scene of a GUN BATTLE IN CENTRAL PARK? It's not like she got a good look at Walter, because she would have thought he was the Secretary of Defense (albeit looking a little more disheveled). She doesn't appear to have hit him (at least not right now), probably because her bangs cover her eyes so she can't aim very well, and then her radio says that there's a man down and they need a med team to Grayshot Bridge. So she goes back to the bridge, where Lee is still alive, despite appearing to have suffered ninth-degree burns over 150 percent of his body. He looks like a barbecued chicken. "Where's the ambulance?" she asks the medic. "Where's the barf bucket?" says I.

After a commercial break, night has fallen, and we check in with Walter, who's slowly walking down the street, talking himself through his bullet wound. "Dizzy... must be the onset of hemorrhagic shock," he says. He lifts open his jacket and we see his sweater is soaked in blood. "But I'm still walking, so the bullet couldn't have hit my spinal column. I'll be perfectly fine." Well, when life hands you bullets, make bulletade! And then he collapses in the parking lot of a hospital, and a couple of EMTs rush to help him.

Peter's still going over the documents his real dad left for him, and Elizabeth comes by to ask if he really understands them. "Maybe. I'm not sure yet," says Peter, and then Elizabeth says good night, and Peter goes back to work looking at the documents, which I imagine don't contain the instructions "Insert Peter here."

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By Daniel

And Olivia walks down the street, and it turns out this universe not only has working phone booths, but technologically advanced phone booths with touch screens. The unfamiliar technology proves no match for Olivia's grim determination, though. And then there's Alt-Olivia coming into her apartment, and being greeted by a shirtless man named Frank. I can't exactly fault the shirtlessness. He was probably doing some laundry on his abs, and besides, if I had a torso like that I'd probably use any excuse to walk around shirtless as often as possible. "Daniel, as your supervisor, I must inform you that you're stretching the limits of what Casual Friday can be." Also, this way we can see that he's got a little two-tone tattoo between his shoulder blades, some kind of symbol. He asks after Lee, and Alt-Olivia says he's got third-degree burns over 90 percent of his body: "He's gonna need three months in a nanite regeneration chamber, but he'll live." She says she's sorry that this happened on Frank's last night, and he says he's going for a week, not until "the end of time." What an odd thing to say!

Frank, who is drinking wine, tells Alt-Olivia that this might be a good day to start drinking, and she grimaces and says she would if she could only stand the taste, like, WHAT KIND OF CRAZY UNIVERSE FEATURES AN ALCOHOL-HATING OLIVIA, and Frank asks what happened. "Just a... small anomaly that set off a fuel cell. It was just bad luck of the draw is all." She doesn't want to talk about work anymore, and she puts her arms up so he can take her shirt off. "I know what you need," says Frank, obliging. Yeah, you do? You're picking up on her subtle body language here, Frank? Adding to the list of ways to tell the Olivias apart, we've got hair, jokes, drinking and now white bra (Alt-Olivia) vs. black bra (Olivia). Here's hoping that's plot-relevant!

Then he says he's going to give her a backrub, and instead of being disappointed, she calls him a god, and he goes to get the oil. And as he straddles her while she lies on her front, we see that she has a tattoo similar if not identical to Frank's, in the same location. And it's sexy massage time, and then we shift to a point of view out on the street. The curtains are drawn, but Olivia, standing on the sidewalk, can still see slightly more than a silhouette as Frank massages her alternate self, and then her alternate self sits up so the Saturday Night Silhouette Sex Show can begin in earnest.

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By Daniel

Olivia's startled by the appearance of William Bell, who tells her it's good to see her again. He tells her that he suspected she would come here, and Olivia asks where he was at the park. "I received Nina's message, but when I got to the park, it was too late. There was nothing I could do," he says. Because you might blow up if someone taps you with a pen? He says he knows Olivia has good reason not to trust him, but she's going to have to, because Walter is in trouble: "And I'm quite confident we don't have much time."

Why is that? It probably has something to do with the room Walternate strolls into at the Department of Defense, a room that has the exploding-eyeballs-picture-of-Peter mounted -- and the doomsday machine already built. He lifts open some console and takes out a piece of equipment that goes with the Wave Sink No. 3, as the diagram seems to indicate it's called, and leaves the room with it. Figures. Typical civil servant, even in the alternate universe, thinks he can just take office supplies home.

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Daniel is a writer in Newfoundland with a wife and a daughter. If he were a Cortexiphan kid, his power would be something lame, like "really good at picking wines to go with different supper dishes." Follow him on Twitter or email him at danieljdaniel[at]gmail.com.

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