By Daniel
Short on action this week but long on backstory, as we're back in 1985 -- and we even get the fully awesome blip-bleep-bloopy 1985-esque theme music. The episode's great from the get-go, with Peter's mom running desperately across the ice of Reiden Lake after finding a note in her son's bedroom telling her that he's "going home." Turns out that young Peter was fully aware that he was in the wrong world -- the Dodgers aren't in Brooklyn! -- only his misunderstanding of how to get back home is that he needs to get down to the bottom of Reiden Lake, which is why he's tied a rope between himself and a cinderblock that he uses to break the ice of the lake. Fortunately, Mom is there to pull him out.
Walter is in the midst of his Jacksonville experiments, singling out Olivia's ability to cross over as the best way for Peter to get home. But her ability only manifests itself during moments of great stress, like when her stepdad beats her. We see the fire that Olivia caused -- and we also see her try to tell Walter, who already suspects, about the abuse but, heartbreakingly, she's crossed over to the alternate Earth, which is how Walternate finds out about Earth Prime.
Oh, and of course Olivia and Peter meet -- in Jacksonville and in a field of white tulips bioengineered by Walter -- because they have always been destined for each other, yadda yadda yadda. It's partly sweet, partly reminds you of the naked married eight-year-olds of that weird "Love Is…" comic strip.
Daniel is a writer in Newfoundland with a wife and a daughter. He thinks it's awesome that young Olivia was such a huge Led Zeppelin fan, unless he misunderstood her drawing. Follow him on Twitter (@DanMacEachern) or email him at danieljdaniel@gmail.com.