Cut to... the grocery store! It's Peter's Birthday!!! What better way to celebrate than to go shopping for custard cake!? [if he only knew how important it is that he's having a birthday, coz u know... he's actually supposed to be dead--in THIS world. he's actually Peter from the alternate universe, stolen/kidnapped by his own father, but Shhh!] Just as Peter gets impatient with Walter, who can't seem to make up his mind about his grocery list, his cell phone goes off. The look on his face means bad news... Back at the scene of the crime... The female FBI agent in charge is clueless as to what's going on. Peter and Walter arrive and she's asking what it is they do. Apparently, she's not high up in the FBI food chain, herego-- no clearance for her on the top secret Fringe stuff. Agent Jessup tries to rush some answers out of Peter. But he's not having it, he wants Broyles or Agent Francis, someone he knows. Meanwhile, Walter has been let loose so he wanders over to Olivia's car and starts examining things. [coz that's what he does!] All of a sudden the car radio turns on, the car starts moving, & Walter looks freaked out [coz you know... he knows when bad shit is about to happen]. Then, out of NOWHERE, Olivia's body gets thrown out from the windshield of her car and out onto the street. Ouch!
Back from commercial and things are looking pretty grim for Olivia as Peter and Walter look on with grave concern. Meanwhile, Agent Broyles is telling Amy (Agent Jessup) that he's already written her report for the accident today. Needless to say, it is without all the weird stuff. He tells her to sign it and reluctantly, she does. A doctor comes out and tells Peter he's sorry, but most people who suffer this type of head trauma almost never wake up. Walter is in denial and starts muttering about the relativity between life and death and wanders towards Olivia's examination room. Peter walks after him. Later, Peter finds his way to a bar to drink away his sorrows. Broyles shows up and asks if he can join him. They sit and talk and it looks like the Man (aka The Government / Higher Ups) is calling in Broyles to review their whole Fringe operation. They claim the Fringe Division hasn't come up with squat and are basically ready to shut them down. Peter's all whatev, its not like we did anything anyway, we were just the "clean up crew." And, now its too late for Olivia. Broyles thinks it over, raises his glass, and toasts to what a great agent Olivia was. Back at the hospital, Peter's on his way to formally say goodbye when he runs into Rachel. Olivia had a living will that states she'd never want to live off life support. They'll be turning it off in the morning. Rachel tells Peter, Olivia really liked him. [Not sure how if that was meant platonicly / brotherly/ romantically.?] Peter walks into Olivia's room and stares at her for a moment. [oh how i wish he'd stare at me one day...sigh.] He finally says goodbye and is about to kiss her [i think he was just going for her forehead] but then!!! Her eyes open, she spits out some Greek words, and reacts as if she's just now experiencing the accident.
The doctor takes Olivia's vitals but she's more concerned about what happened to her-- which for the most part, she can't remember. She asks for Peter and tells him she's scared because she knows that she went somewhere and that she's supposed to do something. If she doesn't, it could affect everyone. Peter tries to calm her down, but she then asks for her gun. She feels that someone is out to get her, someone did this to her, someone who wanted to prevent her from meeting someone in the first place. This seems to be very confusing, I'm sure. [Which I feel is a testament to Anna Torv's acting credentials. You really believe the girl's shock, confusion, and paranoia.] The next morning, Peter finds that Agent Broyles is in D.C. and all previous accesses have been revoked. He starts to get physical with security until Agent Jessup shows up. She agrees to show him the file on the accident because she wants to know what the hell Fringe Division is. Turns out the skid marks from yesterday don't add up. The other driver wasn't slowing down, but actually speeding up. Meaning he was waiting to hit Olivia's vehicle. By using a surveillance camera from a nearby parking lot, they've IDed the man as George Reed and are on their way to his home. [Gotta love technology!] They arrive but Mr. Reed's already dead. Judging from his body lividity? [is that even a word?], Agent Jesop somehow decides there's no way it could have been him driving the car yesterday. Peter calls in his father to find out answers. Walter wants to take the body back to his lab and Agent Jessup approves. Peter asks her why is she helping them if the Fringe Division is now being shut down and she knows this. She says, she's just following the case. Riiggght...
Meanwhile, our Shapeshifter's been visiting some sad store with one lone crippled worker. He asks for something apparently not available, but insists on it, before the worker realizes "oh you're one of them." He hands Shapeshifter a key to the back room and says something about how he's not gonna wait for "them" forever. It's been 6 years since the last time someone of their kind paid him a visit. The Shapeshifter walks into a simple room with a desk, typewriter, and plenty of blank white paper. He puts one in and starts typing that he's accomplished his mission in terminating the target and that no meeting was ever held. He also states he wants to go back to wherever the hell he came from. He then turns to the right of the typewriter where there's a special mirror standing and the typewriter starts typing... on its own! Much to Shapeshifter's disappointment, his target was not eliminated and the meeting did occur. He requests his next orders and guess what? It's basically to finish the job-- interrogate Olivia and then, kill her.
Peter introduces Amy to the Fringe headquarters while Walter is multi-tasking his autopsy of Mr. Reed's body and cooking Peter's custard cake. Sweet! Astrid has a new haircut [and she's totally sweet in real life, yes! I met her at the Con!] and the pet cow moos. Yep.. all seems normal in the Fringe world, minus Olivia's presence... She's now being visited by Agent Francis who calls her out on her BS about being "fine." He tells her a story about getting shot in the chest, witnessing his partner on the job die, and how he had a gun under his pillow for a long time after that. She may be able to fool everyone else, but not him. Olivia finally admits, she can barely load her gun after this whole ordeal, much of which she still can't remember. Back at the lab, Walter [eating a red vine while inspecting a dead body. hee!] shows everyone 3 markings/stab wounds on the soft palette of Mr. Reeds mouth. Peter asks what they are and what Walter means by he's "witnessed the unthinkable." Walter says he's remembered something and out comes the old VHS! Amy sees old pictures of Peter as a child in the lab and Peter explains that Walter's all of a sudden wanted to go down memory lane. He even checks to see if Peter is still breathing when he's asleep. This is all a bit creepy, but what Peter doesn't know is Walter's just checking to see if his alternate world body is still intact. They all watch a video in which a girl is hooked up to brainwires [and is probably all drugged up] and she's talking about 3 nails into the mouth, a soldier from an alternate universe, and shapeshifting to live among us. [I'd be peeing in my pants right about now.] Peter tells Astrid to log on to the database and find any other corpses that match the description of 3 stabwounds in the mouth.
In Washington, Broyles is losing a battle with the federal government. Bottom line: without any proof that they've done any good or are preventing any bad, the Fringe division is to be shut down. They can't expect the same expensive funding for something that seems inefficient and unnecessary. Damn this recession. Outside the building, Nina Sharp is waiting. She tells him not even the all powerful corporation of Massive Dynamic can save Fringe from being shut down although it's very important this be avoided. She kisses Agent Broyles (whaaaaaa?!?!) and tells him to do what he always does: save the day.
Peter and Agent Jessup visit a body that matches Mr. Reed's description. It was found near the accident. Yes, it's poor schmuck's body. Thus, the Shapeshifter leaves the bodies he changes into, behind. Amy tells Peter that her father was a soldier and compares it to what the girl said in the video. Soldiers are all about one thing: life or death. Peter translates this as they always stay on mission... which means whatever, whoever this person/thing is, it's still after Olivia. Cut to... some poor nurse on a coffee break. She turns around and there's our Shapeshifter. You already know she's gonna be dead. See. Caffeine really is bad for you. The nurse/Shapeshifter is now in Olivia's room. And she's asking her a bunch of questions. Olivia is trying really hard to remember and she thinks its as if she went somewhere, met with someone, and then came back to the accident. The Shapeshifter asks her who did she meet with, but Olivia can't remember. Done with his interrogation, the Shapeshifter jumps on top of Olivia and starts to strangle her.
Peter and Amy finally arrive at the hospital and meet up with Charlie who says that the whole hospital is on lockdown. The only people allowed into Olivia's room are nurses. Uh... HELLO!! Shapeshifters don't discriminate! Come on FBI!!! In Olivia's room, she's struggling to grab her gun from underneath her pillow but the Shapeshifter is too strong and tells her, "don't fight it, it's over." Finally, Gunshot! Agent Jessup's shot the Shapeshifter in the back. It jumps out the window as Amy relays to Charlie the new shapeshifter's description and that it's heading for the hospital basement. Peter asks Olivia if she's ok. She just responds, "Go get that bitch." ::smile:: I love Olivia.
Down below... Charlie, Amy, and Peter have split up. [which is a BAD idea if you're dealing with a Shapeshifter people!] We discover that the Shapeshifter is nearest to Agent Francis. And it is about to attack him when we cut to Peter hearing a gunshot. He runs in that direction and into Amy and together they arrive on the scene to see Charlie has shot the Shapeshifter and there's the little shapeshifting contraption next to the body. [This is Sooo NOT GOOD. It means CHARLIE is dead!! I just know it! ::sobs::] Peter gets down and checks to see if there's markings on the Shapeshifter's mouth. Oh Peter... Check CHARLIE!!!! The next day, Peter visits Olivia and brings her flowers. Olivia asks who the "bitch" was. Peter tells her that Walter thinks it was a shape-changing soldier from another world-- a world he also thinks Olivia visited. Olivia tells Peter that the Shapeshifter thought she knew where something was hidden. Peter tells her that no matter what happens, Walter will figure it out. He then sits next to her and tells her about her little Greek outburst right after coming into consciousness. It appears that what she said means, "Be a better man than your father." And it's something Peter's mom used to say to him as a child after Walter left. That's awkward. Later, Peter gives Broyles the contraption thing and tells him to tell the bosses that they can't shut down Fringe division. Here's the proof they want.
Final Scenes: Amy is typing in all of the Fringe cases into her laptop and labeling them using her Bible?! Olivia finally finds a way to calm her nerves so she can load her gun properly. And in a dark lab room, Astrid, Walter, and the cow surprise Peter & wish him a happy birthday. Lastly, Agent Francis returns to the hospital basement, reveals a dead Agent Francis body! in a dumpster, and throws it into the blazing furnace. [So. Not. Fair.]
AFTERTHOUGHTS/PREDICTIONS
- Pooor Agent Francis! I always liked Charlie and to go thru that whole ordeal of the eggs in his body... only to be killed! and OFF CAMERA!?! Ugh... Damn these other-worldly soldiers!!
- Lots of hints and references to the discovery from last season that Peter is not really from our world. Which means, that TRUTH is gonna come out. And when it does... Oooh Wee.... That is gonna suck.
- Nina Sharpe and Broyles kiss!? Whaaa?!! So they've had a past! So they go waaaay back. How long has this liaison been going on? What does it mean for their individual loyalties? Hmmm...
- The "Something Hidden" that Olivia is supposed to know about or find... Here's a wild idea. What if it's Peter? Something tells me that the Walter from the other world is probably upset that his son is missing or was kidnapped by the Walter from our world. Maybe he's the evil bad that wants our world destroyed because of it?? Time will tell.....
