By Daniel
OK, so Col. Broyles isn't evil, just a man who's doing what he's doing so David Robert Jones will continue to provide Broyles' formerly dying son with the medicine he needs to get picked first for “hitball” and so girls will like him.
But the non-evil, non-corrupted forces are closing in around him, with Fauxlivia working to find out who the presumed mole is. It's her way of dealing with Lincoln Bee's death (well, that and getting right sloshed).
Meanwhile, the weekly threat involves people in Earth-1 suffering the fate of their Earth-2 counterparts, no matter how improbable. A couple of suits and a pilot crash their plane on Earth-1, and their doppelgangers, who weren't even flying, suffer the same injuries. (Of course, longtime Abrams watchers knew someone was doomed when they saw a firm called “Artz Holdings,” given that we all know what happened to a guy named Arzt holding dynamite. That's not a reach, is it?)
Anyway, Walter, who makes a field trip to the other side -- he's really blossoming! -- figures out the pseudoscientific bullshit, as he always does, which this week has to do with each universe vibrating on a different frequency, and the Earth-1 victims are somehow being tuned to their Earth-2 counterparts. Or maybe it was vice-versa. It doesn't matter. At one crime scene, the agents find the device left behind, and the amphilicite it contains would seem to implicate Jones.
Walter stays at Fauxlivia's place, where she gets drunk (which probably helped her deal with seeing Walter wearing one of her robes. Better than seeing him naked, I suppose), and complains that there's no evidence implicating anyone as a mole. Then Walter makes her scrambled eggs to absorb the alcohol from her booze-soaked brain and when they decide that whoever's covering things up must be high up indeed, Walter suggests Col. Broyles. Fauxlivia scoffs, but then a visit to Meana and a bluff that they've arrested Broyles confirms it for her.
She and Lincoln race to stop Col. Broyles, whose latest task from David Robert Jones is to attach another retuning device to the control panel of the bridge, takes him to Liberty Island. They get there just in time to see the morally conflicted Col. Broyles turn himself in to Agent Broyles. He apparently just wanted to surrender in the most dramatically ambiguous way possible. What this means for Col. Broyles' son we don't learn.
Back home, though, Walter tells Olivia and Peter that he thinks he's figured out what David Robert Jones is up to: Had Broyles attached the doohickey to the bridge's control panel, it would have allowed Jones to collapse both universes. Sounds like we know how the first part of this year's season finale is going to end!
Daniel is a writer in Newfoundland with a wife and a daughter. Hands up, any parent who hasn't been tempted to install a double-universe-collapsing device to a trans-reality machine. Follow him on Twitter (@DanMacEachern) or email him at danieljdaniel@gmail.com.
It's Lincoln Bee's funeral and, as per television convention, it's raining. Of course, when you're shooting in Vancouver the odds of any exterior shot being filmed while it's raining are pretty good.
Lincoln Lee and the Farnsworthbot are sitting in a car, watching the mourners gather around the grave rather than joining the unfestivities themselves -- Farnsworthbot because she doesn't like funerals (she doesn't bring up the recent one for her father, but she doesn't have to) and Lincoln Lee I'm assuming because he knows it's not a good idea to be present while this universe buries their version of him.
At the grave, the parents look disconsolate, Fauxlivia looks hardened (yet with that sexy woman-in-uniform thing going on, especially with the white gloves on) and Col. Broyles looks away from too much direct eye contact. Bee's mom says children aren't supposed to die before their parents and Fauxlivia gives her word they'll do everything they can to bring those responsible to justice, then hugs her.
At Fringe Division, Manhattan, the incarcerated Meana Sharp looks at some sort of file about her on a tablet computer. She hands it back to Fauxlivia -- out of uniform, but her hair's down again so it's a tradeoff -- and says she's unclear on what's expected of her for this reduced sentence offer.
Fauxlivia explains that she thinks David Robert Jones has a mole in the Department of Defense and this is a one-time offer signed by the Secretary himself if she tells them who tipped off Jones about the prisoner transport that got Bee killed.
Meana stares her down and hands back the tablet. Fauxliva warns her that she's making a mistake, because she's going to find Jones and then everyone who worked for him will rot in a cell alongside her. Hey, I bet it sounds nice to get the gang back together! Meana tells her not to sweat it, because she's not going to be here very long. "It's your world you ought to be concerned about. Because as bad as you think things are now, things are going to get much worse." Ugh. There are more Kardashians out there?
Back over to Manhattan in its double-T glory, where some Wall Street douchebag at Aartz Holdings (which made me think of Arzt holding dynamite in Lost) is holding forth on how they're in the business of making money, and dressing down some dude named "Delman," because the suspenders-wearing boss (named Bauer) and another boss named Hamilton had to cancel their flight to Baltimore this morning. "Because you and your associates failed to finish the presentation." Nice going, Delman! Now nobody gets crab cakes!
Bauer blisters Delman on how the company has to forfeit on one of its largest accounts because he didn't do his job. Everyone else in the room is just glad he's not Delman and Bauer's about to fire the guy when he's suddenly lifted up to the ceiling, face first. No one in the room can do anything other than watch in horror as Bauer yells in anger and fear for someone to get him down, while his body blinks in and out of a couple slightly different positions, like bad television reception. Then he falls down to the boardroom table, his dead body a twisted mass of blood and limb. FRINGE!
After the opening credits, the NYPD is on scene when Fringe arrives. Walter is chewing out Astrid for her allegedly daredevil-esque driving (which she insists was at the speed limit). Walter completely calms down when he sees Peter and Olivia arrive and he has to point out to "Ascot" his son and his son's "girlfriend," like maybe Peter gave her his football jacket after fifth period yesterday. Olivia and Peter stroll up to the other two and a smirking Walter tells Peter that he tried calling his house last night, but Peter didn't answer and Peter says he was out -- like DON'T THEY HAVE CELLPHONES. After some insinuation that Peter was busy plowing Olivia to make up for lost time -- cut short, thankgodfully, by Astrid -- the team heads inside to check out the situation, which is that two men were killed in the building simultaneously; both were lifted several feet in the air and then driven back down by an unseen force, killing them on impact.
Walter's examining Bauer in the boardroom, while Astrid's examining the other corpse, which is... also in the boardroom? Off to the side? Did I just miss that in all the excitement of Suspender Man getting his bonus in violent death instead of currency this year? Walter notes that the bones in the lower half of Bauer's body are completely shattered, and Astrid notes it's the same with the other guy. She's wondering why this happened only to these two, out of the entire building.
Walter quotes the Bible: "The wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all unrighteous men," but Peter's not super-keen on Walter's working "wrath of God" hypothesis. Walter says one could argue that God kills us all. Sure, one could. I'm not aware of many scientists who do, but Walter is of course one of the exceptions.
At any rate, Bauer's spinal column is crushed, his hip bone pushed up through his torso -- injuries consistent with impact, notes Walter. Peter points out that there's no way there was enough velocity from the short height to do that and Walter agrees.
Olivia's interviewing Delman, who seems a little more freaked out by his near-termination than Bauer's death, but Bauer did come off kind of douchey. He's explaining what happened when Olivia's cellphone starts ringing and she excuses herself to go answer it, which is kind of rude.
Meanwhile, Walter's found some sort of laceration on Bauer's torso and Astrid, after he asks her to, finds similar abrasions on the other victim. They're stumped as to what could have caused it, until Peter comes up with "seatbelt." He points out the way the lacerations extend across the chest. "If these people weren't in an office building, you'd swear they were in a car crash together," he says.
Olivia strolls up to tell them that they've got a third victim; a man found dead in his apartment in Brooklyn, with injuries and time of death consistent with the men here. Oh, and he was a pilot. Walter's all "Eureka!' because a crushed spinal column and broken femurs are wounds consistent with a plane crash. Peter points out that being in a plane is rather crucial in order to suffer plane crash injuries, a problem that puzzles Walter for all of about three seconds before he sees his reflection in a television screen and says he has an idea.
Over to the other universe, where the Farnsworthbot strolls into Col. Broyles' office to tell that the other side was correct and there was in fact a plane crash, about ninety minutes ago, just after takeoff from an airfield in Teaneck. Two men and a pilot were killed.
That's just when Fauxlivia comes in and Col. Broyles says she's just the person he wanted to see, before dismissing Farnsworthbot with the orders to coordinate with the NTSB to take possession of the aircraft and the bodies.
Before Col. Broyles can lay some work on her, Fauxlivia announces, "I've narrowed it down to a hundred and eight names." But Broyles doesn't have any idea what she's talking about, so she explains it's the list of everyone who had operational clearance and would have known about the prisoner transport. "I want to initiate background checks and electronic surveillance," she says. Broyles glances at it, clearly thinking, "Let's see, 'Broyles, Broyles, Broyles...'" and then warns her that she's talking about investigating their own people, many of whom work for the Department of Defense and outrank both of them. Look, I know Col. Broyles is looking for a reason to put her off, but it seems silly of him to warn Fauxlivia that she's talking about investigating their own people. I mean, it's a mole. IT'S YOUR OWN PEOPLE. I suppose he's playing it like he's not yet convinced there is a mole? But Fauxlivia ticks off all the ways Jones has been a step ahead of them every time, arriving at the conclusion that someone tipped off Meana Sharp and got Lincoln Bee killed.
So he tries the "this kind of surveillance comes with a lot of red tape" but she stares at him resolutely and then he says he'll cut through it. She looks half-surprised.
In the meantime, he's got another assignment for her and tells her about the plane crash here that killed three people as well as their counterparts on the other side. She asks how that's even possible... like THAT'S WHAT THE INVESTIGATION IS ABOUT, Fauxlivia. He tells her to report to the Bridge to pick up members from the other Fringe Division, as they're going to be investigating this together.
She leaves and he picks up her "Moley moley moley mole" list and sighs.
We flash back from Earth-2 to Earth-1, seeing the change in both the Statue of Liberty (cosmetic) and the New York skyline (much, much more than cosmetic). Walter, hustling down the corridor in the Bridge facility to catch up with Olivia, announces that he always likes to empty his bladder before a long trip and she reminds him that they're just walking through a door. Heh. That reminds me of when I used to live in Lloydminster, which is a town that straddles the Alberta-Saskatchewan border. I lived on the Alberta side and worked on the Saskatchewan side and more than once I'd have a conversation with some information-gatherer or another who would be perplexed by the fact my home phone number area code was different from my work one, including one poor woman who couldn't shake the notion that I must have a very long commute, no matter how many times I told her that the border ran right through downtown.
Anyway, Walter goes through the security screening (he proudly announces himself as "Walter Bishop, consultant"), which is really just a sentry asking questions about pacemakers and various diseases, like smallpox and tuberculosis. The highlight is the question, "Are you on any medications?" to which Walter amiably replies, "Several. Mostly recreational." The sentry glances at Olivia, who tells him it's OK. The guard tells Walter that once he's over there, he's subject to the same laws and regulations as any naturalized citizen of the other side -- too bad! Since they're heroes and all, they should get SOME form of diplomatic immunity or something.
Olivia walks Walter into the scanning room, mainly so he doesn't freak out when the red photocopier-esque thing comes on as she's not actually accompanying him on the trip. She asks if he's sure he doesn't want her to come with him and he says he is: "Once Peter receives the bodies at the lab, he'll need your help to examine them. And when I've collected samples from the bodies on the other side, I'll return and we can compare the two." He also implies that she and Peter have a whole lot of banging to do, making her blush.
Touchingly, he thanks her for trusting him, because this is a really big step for him. The door opens and Walter is all, "Ah, my escort is here!" and then unfortunately feels the need to specify that he doesn't mean Lincoln and Fauxlivia are hookers. Lincoln awkwardly says hello to Olivia, in a couple-post-breakup "You're looking well" kind of way. Fauxlivia helps Walter carry his gear out, leaving Olivia and Lincoln to be uncomfortable with each other. Olivia asks how Fauxlivia's doing. "As well as can be expected, considering she just lost her partner," says Lincoln, adding the last part just in case Olivia didn't know why she was asking how Fauxlivia's doing. Lincoln says Fauxlivia wants to find the people responsible and Olivia says she hopes she does and that she's lucky to have Lincoln's help. She tells him to take care of Walter and they stiffly part ways.
Outside, on the pier to the ferry, Walter sees an electronic signboard listing various neighborhoods as "red" or "green." He asks what it is and Fauxlivia tells him it's a list of hotspots where the damage was the worst. Walter seems a little bummed at the reminder of the damage he caused and Fauxlivia's telling him that the Bridge is helping to heal the world doesn't appear to be much comfort. As the trio head up the pier, the guard calls after Fauxlivia to offer his condolences on Agent Bee. Fauxlivia curtly accepts them, clearly not in the mood to talk about it or Walter's glum explanation of how he wanted to bring her some sort of condolence casserole, but transporting perishables between universes is apparently forbidden. Really? Humans are perishables, you know.
Talk turns to Walter's theories of how a plane crash in one universe can kill people in the other: he doesn't have any yet. He talks about how he and Belly successfully transported matter from one side to the other and merged tiny portions of universes, but it never occurred to them that an event in one universe could cause a reaction in the other. Fauxlivia asks if someone might have caused this. "On purpose? Anything's possible, even Santa Claus," says Walter. Uh, in what sense is Santa Claus possible? I mean, isn't there someone every Christmas who trots out how fast and how heavy Santa's sleigh would have to be (not to mention the whole squeezing down the chimney thing) to point out that it defies any and all laws of physics?
Lee asks her if she thinks Jones has something to do with it and Fauxlivia tells him about Meana telling her that things were about to get a lot worse and then this happened. Walter says if Jones caused this, he's conceived of something Walter and Belly never did.
On to the testing! Walter hooks up a corpse to a row of tuning forks, because why wouldn't you? A low hum fills the air and Walter tells Lincoln and Fauxlivia that it's a perfect G. He shuts the machine off, then pulls from his satchel a plastic bag that contains a severed hand, startling the two agents. "I removed it from one of the victims on our side," he explains and Lincoln's all, "You couldn't bring over a casserole, but a severed hand is OK?" I'm sure the severed-hand prohibition is still working its way through the Bridge rules committee, Lincoln.
Walter hooks his machine up to the hand and it produces the same tone -- a G -- which he says is incorrect; it should be a C. "You see, each universe vibrates at its own specific frequencies [sic]. Everything from this universe would vibrate at a G, and everything from our universe at C," he says. Man, this is ridiculous even for this show, but Walter explains -- well, "explains" isn't really the right word, but what are you gonna do? -- that somehow the victims on our side were made to vibrate at the frequency of this universe. "So you're saying that the doppelgangers were somehow linked across universes?" asks Lincoln and Walter is all "Yes, it would seem so," but, um, DON'T WE ALREADY KNOW THAT? Fauxlivia asks how the bodies were retuned, because we are deep into some kind of Deepak Chopra-level bullshit here. Walter doesn't know, but he doesn't think it was the "retuning" that killed them -- rather it was the plane crash itself.
Lee asks Fauxlivia if they've recovered the black box yet and it turns out that this universe doesn't use cockpit recorders; instead, satellites record all flight communications.
And so we listen to the recording and from it we learn that the plane started coming apart and it happened very quickly. Walter says if his hypothesis is correct, then whatever merged the frequencies of the two universes destabilized the aircraft: "Whoever's responsible must have attached some sort of device to the craft." Fauxlivia's hung up on the why, though. It doesn't feel like an assassination. Is it a threat? What are they trying to prove?
Walter doesn't know, but we cut to David Robert Jones sitting on some sort of street bench drinking tea, when he's joined by a guy who apologizes for being late, but that's OK, because it gave the British guy more time to enjoy his matcha, which is one of the few things he's going to miss. Going on a trip? The operative hands an envelope over to Jones, who asks how the experiment with the plane went. "Better than expected," is the answer. The operative asks Jones if he has a preference for the one. "Surprise me," says Jones. Who says terrorism can't be whimsical?
After the commercial break, we're in Col. Broyles' stunning house in Glen Cove, New York, where his wife welcomes him home with a kiss and hug and asks how the service went. Uh oh. We're going to find out he's not actually evil, aren't we?
He says it was difficult, then asks about his son. His wife laughs and says he can't stop talking about some girl in his class. "If only I could get him to pay half as much attention to his homework as he does to those girls," she says. You want him to masturbate to his homework?
Anyway, Diane tells him Chris is in the living room, where they've been entertaining Col. Broyles' friend. Col. Broyles seems stunned to learn he has a friend, but when he goes into the living room he sees that it's David Robert Jones, who says -- in that hissing way of speaking that he has -- that he's been catching up with Christopher, who is a remarkable young man and it's a pleasure to finally meet him. Broyles stares at him, wide-eyed.
So he and Jones step into another room, where Col. Broyles reminds him that they have protocols about making contact and showing up at his home isn't one of them. Jones says he wanted to bring something to Broyles personally, given that it's a tad overdue and hands over a little leather zip-up case that contains four hardcore-looking syringes. Jones, with his gross red eye, says, "Christopher's responding extraordinarily well to treatment. It's hard to imagine that a few months ago, he was in constant pain, his eyesight was gone, that he was..." "...dying," finishes Col. Broyles. "Every parent's nightmare," says Jones, at once sympathy and a threat. He also brings up Lincoln Bee and Col. Broyles tells him he buried a good man today. "And I'm also well aware that Agent Bee isn't the first casualty of our... collaboration," says Col. Broyles. But still, it's his son, right? Jones says love makes us vulnerable, but it also makes us human. Col. Broyles, looking a little worried about what may come, would like to know if there's anything other than just aphorisms and Jones promises to call on him shortly.
Over in Springfield, Mass., (we've flashed back to Earth-1), David Jones's agent is riding in a cab, holding a metal briefcase. He pushes a few buttons on the top and it makes some kind of electronic noise and he sets it on the floor of the cab. "Right here's fine," he tells the cabbie, who pulls over and lets him out. He doesn't even have to close the door before a woman's jumping in the backseat and asking the cab driver to take her to Liberty Heights. She fails to notice the briefcase on the floor, this despite the bright-red ring on the top. I'm no terrorist, but maybe some electrical tape to cover that up?
We immediately flash universes back to here, where her counterpart is in a pet store. And then back again to the taxicab, where the red ring has changed to two blinking green rings. Lucky the passenger had terrible peripheral vision! At any rate, it's not long before the cab is shaking and rattling violently. In the other universe, the woman's at the cash register, about to pay, when she's thrown backward by some unseen force. She slides along the floor, into a bin of toys and collapses. Then she starts vomiting motor oil. Or maybe this stuff would come out of anyone whose cross-universe doppelganger was killed in a car crash, I don't know.
When we come back from commercial, Fringe is on the scene of the taxi crash -- apparently it went over a bridge. Peter notes that the cops say the cab went over the bridge at 6:37, the same time the victim died on the other side. Uh, what about the driver?
Anyway, at Liberty Island, Astrid's waiting in a room when the Farnsworthbot clomps in. Astrid's positively giddy at seeing Farnsworthbot again. The emotion is not reciprocated -- not outwardly, anyway -- until Astrid brings out a present: a can of coffee. Farnsworthbot is shocked, but calms down when Astrid assures her she got permission. "I never thought that I was going to taste this again," she says.
Then she's in contact with Fauxlivia, who's with Lincoln Lee and Walter in the pet shop and they conduct simultaneous crime scene investigations (once Walter's over his delight at finding out that they domesticate badgers in Earth-2), with the Earth-2 team relaying information to Farnsworthbot, who passes it on to Astrid, who tells the Earth-1 team. So let's get to work! In both cases, the victim's name is Nancy Elizabeth Guerring Purple Monkey Dishwasher, although you'd kinda think they'd already know that. Her left arm is broken in each universe.
Peter, meanwhile, is searching the taxicab's trunk and asks Walter (via Astrid and the Farnworthbot) what he's looking for, what the device might look like. Walter decides that it's probably rather large or it might be small. Astrid tells Peter she doesn't think Walter has any idea what it looks like. Fortunately, Peter has basic human eyesight and so spots the case in the back of the cab. He uses a pocketknife to pop it open -- Jones' team might want to consider springing for better cases for their nefarious devices -- and then spins it around on the trunk to show Olivia what's inside: a little rig powered by amphilicite. "Jones," says Olivia.
On Earth-2, the team is in Col. Broyles' office and he asks if there was a similar device found at the plane crash site. There wasn't, but it could have been destroyed, Fauxlivia tells him.
Still, the big question is why. Col. Broyles asks Walter if he's got any idea and Walter winds up snapping at him. He apologizes for it and Col. Broyles chalks it up to a long day and suggests he sleep on it. Walter agrees, but can't resist bitching about the pillow he was given last night: "Apparently this universe hasn't discovered memory foam," he says. This grouchiness and ingratitude for some reason prompt Fauxlivia to invite Walter to stay at her place. He accepts, and in exchange he will "refrain from sleeping naked," a revelation that neither Fauxlivia nor Lincoln looked prepared for.
Fauxlivia leaves to get her bag, and Lincoln leaves too, because, let's face, wouldn't you rather be with Fauxlivia rather than Walter complaining and talking about naked sleeping habits?
Once they've gone, Walter apologizes to Col. Broyles again for snapping at him and confesses that he's actually made at himself; what Jones is doing wouldn't be possible but for the damage Walter did to the universe. He turns to go, but Col. Broyles, who just may have something else on his mind, gets up and asks Walter, "If you had to do it all over again, would you make the same choice?" Asking for a friend! Walter says if he'd asked that question a few months ago, the answer would have been no. But getting to know Peter in the last little while, he's not sure if he would do anything differently. Yeah, I can see how getting to know Peter might make one not care that universes can be destroyed. Walter exits, leaving Col. Broyles to brood.
Out in the war room, the Farnsworthbot tells Fauxlivia that she ran all the names she gave to Col. Broyles, who apparently passed them on to her. She couldn't find anything to implicate anyone. Fauxlivia's bummed at the dead end. The specifying of how many number of names on the list led me to think that Fauxlivia gave Col. Broyles 109 names but by the time the list made it to Farnsworthbot it would only have 108 names, but that's not what happened.
Anyway, it's now night and Col. Broyles is meeting with Jones outdoors and let's all assume that proper protocols are being followed this time. Jones hands him a little device the size of a cigarette case, but declines to tell him what it is, just that he's to take it to Liberty Island and affix it to the Bridge's control panel. Col. Broyles reminds him that the machine is healing the world. Obviously Col. Broyles wouldn't bother saying anything so Pollyanna-ish to Jones, who clearly doesn't give a shit about people getting hurt; Col. Broyles is just being made to say that so Jones can respond with, "Need I remind you who I am healing?" Broyles stares at him, so I guess no, he need not. Broyles takes the device.
He adds that there's no hurry: "Any time before sundown tomorrow should be fine," he says, and leaves. "Sundown"? What is he, an old-time sheriff now?
After the commercial break, we see Broyles at home laughing and joshing with his son, who's excited about a couple of things from school: getting picked first to play "hitball," as well as some floozy named Stacey telling a guy named Danny that she likes Chris. "Can you believe that? Dad, no one's ever liked me!" All the while, Broyles is sticking one of Jones' massive syringes into some sort of stent in Chris's chest. Broyles is almost comically excited about everything; it's always nice to see him away from work and cracking a smile every once in a while. He kisses his son goodnight, and looks at him for a moment -- Chris seems to fall asleep almost instantly -- and stands in the dark, smile fading.
Over at Fauxlivia's place, Walter is making a midnight trip to the bathroom -- wearing one of Fauxlivia's silk robes, it appears -- when he notices a very drunk Fauxlivia in the living room. Looking like it's a mighty struggle to form coherent sentences and to not pass out, Fauxlivia asks why he can't sleep, if the bed's too hard. Walter says he was sleeping like a baby, but his bladder was not. I'll say this for Fauxlivia: she's a quiet drunk! I tend to turn up the Clash when I've had a few and pretend I'm Joe Strummer and then it's all, "Honey, shut that off" and "Daddy, I have kindergarten in the morning," the usual bullshit.
Walter looks at her sympathetically and says, "You're a lot like her, you know? The other Olivia. She has trouble sleeping when there's an open case." Fauxlivia explains that it's not the case, but the evidence from Lincoln's murder. She tells Walter that she's looking for a mole, which somehow morphs into an explanation about how she doesn't normally drink, but her ex, Frank, left this bottle here when he moved out. But of pretty much anyone on this show, Walter is the last person you'd have to apologize to when it comes to substance abuse.
Things get a little maudlin as Fauxlivia waves her hand over all of Lincoln Bee's remaining belongings from Fringe Division. She's supposed to give them to his parents, but she hasn't had the courage to do that until she has anything more on his case. Enter the booze, which she'd hoped would help, but it's only made her feel a little bit sick.
Walter's answer, as it is for everything, is food and he starts whipping up some scrambled eggs, which he calls "nature's sponge." Fauxlivia happily rests her head on his shoulder and moans about how she knows she's missing something. Walter advises her to sleep on it and let her agent brain process the evidence while she sleeps or whatever and she says there's no evidence at all, nothing linking any of the likely suspects to the crime.
For Walter, the fact that there is no evidence is a kind of evidence itself; someone is covering his tracks (or her, Walter!), Fauxlivia says if that's the case, it would have to be someone pretty high up. He also references Sherlock Holmes (the dog that did not bark) but Fauxlivia doesn't have a clue what he's talking about because they don't have Sherlock Holmes over here. Are we only hearing about the good stuff that Earth-2 doesn't have? Because it would be fine with me if they balanced it out every once in a while with something like, Jersey Shore? Never heard of it.
Anyway right off the top, Walter suggests Broyles. Fauxlivia's all "No way!" and Walter shrugs and says she knows him better than Walter does. "But in the case of a mole, no one should be above suspicion," he says. He continues rambling, something about still being upset about Nixon, but it looks like he's struck a chord with Fauxlivia.
So she visits Meana in her cell and fiddles with the control panel, shutting off the video camera keeping its electric eye on Meana. So Meana knows something's up, but Fauxlivia's not there to beat on her but to tell her that they found the mole: "We have Col. Broyles in custody. He told us everything, so he won't be able to set you free anymore." The two of them stare at each other for a moment and then Meana smirks and says, "You really have no idea," which might have been a relief to Fauxlivia, but then Meana continues, saying Philip is just another irrelevant pawn. "This changes nothing, Agent Dunham. I know Jones. And he will come for me," she says. Yeah, like he came for Canaan, right? Fauxlivia does her best to hide her disappointment at being right and manages to sign off with, "Unless you're just another pawn," before leaving.
It's hushed-conversation with Lincoln Lee time, who cautions that Fauxlivia may be lying. "Maybe she knew you were bluffing," he says. Just then, the Farnsworthbot strolls up to let them know that no one has seen Col. Broyles come in today and his subcutaneous tracker was disabled two hours ago. Ugh! I'd like a little more information on that! Surely it's the subcutaneousness that prevents it from being disabled? "Should we be worried?" asks the Farnsworthbot, who always looks worried.
Oh, there's Broyles! Don't worry! Oh wait, he's at the ferry to Liberty Island. He's sitting in his SUV, holding Jones' device. Well, at least we know he's OK.
After the commercial break, we watch a slightly nervous Col. Broyles make his way through security, giving his Show Me to the sentry and being slightly startled by the sentry's small talk. Of course, it doesn't help that the sentry for some reason looks up from his computer and makes a frowny face when he says "Sir..." and then pauses before saluting and saying "...you're good to go."
Over in Fringe HQ, Fauxlivia gets off the phone with Diane. We didn't hear the conversation, but it sounds like she has no idea where Col. Broyles is. Then Farnsworthbot announces that his Show Me was just swiped at Liberty Island. "The Bridge is there. The Secretary of Defense. He could be doing any number of things," says Fauxlivia and she and Lincoln leave to head him off at the pass or something. I mean, you guys could make a phone call. There ARE guards there.
Well, as it turns out, it's not like there's a lot. Broyles just has to get past one clear door with a palm scan and he's in. Not far behind are Lincoln Lee and Fauxlivia, who run past the one sentry who sputters, "Hey, you haven't been cleared!" Jesus, it's the ARMY. I mean, it's one thing when the little kid in Love Actually manages to get through security to tell his classmate he loves her without getting shot, but you'd think they'd run a tighter ship here.
Fortunately for Lincoln and Fauxlivia, Col. Broyles is taking some time to stare up at the Doomsday Device itself to contemplate the enormity of what he's doing. Also fortunately, that one sentry doesn't appear to even be CHASING them. To be fair, he's the only guard so maybe he can't leave his post. And despite the fact that the guard knows that two unauthorized visitors are on their way to the Bridge, there's no kind of lockdown protocol; Fauxlivia has her hand scanned and gets through the door no problem.
And that's where they see that Col. Broyles is meeting with Agent Broyles, who says, "Col. Broyles just turned himself in. He told us everything." Col. Broyles looks at a devastated Fauxlivia, swallows hard and says he's sorry. There's no response. I mean, betraying someone's trust is bad enough, but when the direct result of that betrayal -- whatever the motivation -- is the death of a friend and partner? Forgiveness is probably a long way off. Even Lincoln Lee is looking pissed, like, "Just when I was getting Lincoln Bee to teach me to be a badass, too!"
And now it's time for Walter to go home. Fauxlivia and Lincoln see him off. Fauxlivia hugs him and then Walter urges her not to judge Col. Broyles, because no one can be certain exactly what they're capable of, how far they'll go to save the ones they love. "I know this more than most," he says. Yeah well, I suppose if you're judging Col. Broyles, you gotta reassess your opinion of Walter too, right? Although I do find it amusing that it was after Walter told Col. Broyles that he'd do it again, that Col. Broyles decided enough was enough. You can argue that maybe Col. Broyles sees in Walter the possibility that eventually he'll be forgiven. Although I would REALLY like to know what this means for Christopher and his treatment. He tells her to keep an eye on the universe: "I've grown quite fond of it," he says. Yeah well, I'm sure Ike Turner was fond of Tina in his own way too, Walter.
Fauxlivia tells Lincoln that she's surprised he's not going back with Walter. Yeah, don't let the Bridge hit you in the ass on the way out, Lincoln! He explains that he said he'd help find the people who killed her partner as well as his and until they do that, he's not going anywhere. He adds that it might not feel like it right now, but it does get better.
Maybe not for Col. Broyles, being led to his cell. Right to Meana's! It's not the happy reunion you might imagine, although the guards do that thing where they're like, "Oh, you'd like to stop here and make meaningful eye contact with another prisoner? That's fine. We'll wait. Whenever you're ready." They eventually lead Broyles to his cell and he stands there, looking around.
Back on Earth-2, Walter's working away in his lab when Peter and Olivia rush in, apparently at the behest of Walter. He's got television-style news for them: the kind where you can't explain something over the phone but must insist on face-to-face contact. Anyway, he thinks he knows what Jones is doing. The incidents were a test; he was taking readings because he wanted to find a common denominator, a frequency that could link both universes. Peter's all, "Duh," so Walter says it's much worse. In fact, it's way much worser. Way more worser, the worsest! "Had Col. Broyles uploaded this device into the machine, it would make it possible for Jones to do something much worse," he says. "He could collapse both universes."
Big deal. One universe has Peter, the other doesn't have Batman. I say collapse 'em and let's start fresh on a third universe.
Daniel is a writer in Newfoundland with a wife and a daughter. He gets annoyed when a parent thinks their child is special enough to risk destroying a couple of universes. Follow him on Twitter (@DanMacEachern) or email him at danieljdaniel[at]gmail.com.
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