Walter, Peter, and Astrid are trying to get William Bell in to another body. When the experiment fails, Olivia reaches out to Peter for help then collapses. As they get her to the hospital they are just about to shock her when she awakes and speaks in Bell’s voice “Doctor, I’ve been jolted once today. If do it again you will kill me and the young woman I’m living inside of.”
Bell tells Broils that he was testing on rats and they only lasted 2 weeks before the host consciousness is lost. They then find out that Bell cannot simply “leave” as he once promised because his consciousness is the only thing keeping her alive and she only has one more day to live.
The plan is to dump Bell’s mind in to a computer by entering Olivia’s mind. Peter is concerned and reminds him that the last time they did this to her they used a probe and massive amounts of LSD. Walter thinks it’s a brilliant idea and tells Peter that he needs to be “the guide”. Olivia and Peter take the LSD and he starts to trip just as Broils walks in and has some fun with him. I’m not spoiling that one!
As Peter is put under with Walter and Olivia, he’s brought into a matrix-like environment to be greeted by Walter on top of a city bus asking for help getting down as the bus drives away! WEEEEE!
In the lab, Broils suddenly becomes fascinated by Walter’s red vines (candy) and Astrid asks “Did you help clean up the sugar cubes?” OH MY GOSH! What a site to see Broils having a psychedelic episode! The scene with him and Astrid is simply amazing! I’m sure it will go down in TV history.
While inside Olivia they find a lot of people dressed in clothes similar to Olivia and Walter explains that cortexiphan subjects like to blend in – making it hard to find her. It turns out she finds them from the top of the World Trade Center via a reflective morse code. Suddenly Walter spots Olivia’s step dad in the crowd and the entire crowd stops and attacks. They barely get away and make it to the WTC where they’re met by Nina Sharp who shows them the way. As she opens the elevator with an access code, Peter gets suspicious as he notices her prosthetic arm and saves Walter from falling down the elevator shaft (no car). Just as Nina struggles to push Walter, she ends up falling down the shaft. (I knew she was no good in any reality.)
Walter questions why everyone is trying to kill them as they head up to Bell’s private office where Olivia is supposed to be. Walter says “we need to be ready for anything”. When they open the door, they’re greeted by Bell drawn as a cartoon (with Nimoy’s voice). When Walter says “Belly, why are you a cartoon?” He responds “I’d ask you the same question!” and you see Peter and Walter animated as if they just stepped out of a Marvel comic book. BRILLIANT!
The three of them figure out that Olivia is hiding from her fears from the dark side of her mind because she’s confused that William is there. Peter figures she’s gone some place she considers safe. Peter says she’s headed to Jacksonville, but Bell and Walter say it’s the last place. That’s why Peter is so sure. Just then they are attacked by zombies. Walter and Bell make their way to the zeppelin as Peter fights off the zombies on the roof top. As the zep pulls away and the rope ladder goes over the edge, Peter makes a daring leap and grabs the ladder.
Onboard the zeppelin, someone cuts the fuel line and Peter goes to check when he’s attacked by a man with a gun. The gunman grabs a parachute, shoots a hole in the ship and gets sucked out… along with Walter. As he falls to the ground. Just before he hits the ground he wakes up in the lab and is disappointed.
As Walter and Astrid try to get the computer ready to receive Bell’s consciousness, he breaks a critical component and has to cannibalize his phonograph.
Back in cartoon land Bell and Peter argue about how to get the daycare center when Peter says “She’s not at the daycare center.” Olivia once told Peter she lived on a military base so they head there only to find hundreds of identical houses. Well, almost identical. They look for a house with a red door that her dad painted. When they get to the house, Peter hesitates. When he enters the house he finds her and neither of them are “cartoon again”. He says that it’s OK for her to come back, but then realizes he’s not talking to Olivia. A little girl comes up and says she had to be sure it was him because she’s been tricked too many times. Not soon after they are chased from the house by more people and Peter is hit by a jeep and is forced to wake up in a panic. Now it’s up to Bell to get her out. He takes young Olivia by the hand as they continue to be chased through the cartoon military base. Bell falls and he tells Olivia to go. She turns on the crowd and forces them to stop and says “I’m not afraid of you.” then suddenly grows up.
Bell realizes that all along, Olivia has been her own worst fear, but has finally fought back. Then he tells her that in order for her to survive, he needs to leave. As he does so, he delivers a cryptic message to Olivia “Tell Walter, I knew the dog wouldn’t hunt.” She awakes back in the lab and Bell’s consciousness is captured in the computer… sort of. The data transfer is incomplete. William Bell is gone. Walter hears the message and realizes it was Bell’s way of saying “This isn’t going to work and doesn’t like goodbyes.”
Astrid tries to comfort him, but he says he’d rather be alone for a while. Very sad!
At the end of the show Peter comes over to visit Olivia and is greeted with open arms and a warm smile. She thanks him for coming to get her and he says “It’s not as dangerous as crossing in to another universe, but what are you going to do?” When asked what comes next, she says “I don’t know, but I’m not afraid to move forward.” Peter then spots a sketch Olivia made of the man from the zeppelin and asks “Who is this? I saw him in your mind?” She responds, “I don’t know, but I think he’s the man who’s going to kill me.” WHAT THE F***?! Damn you Fringe producers for a final punch like that! (That’s my way of saying NICE JOB!)
A full 10 points on this again! I absolutely LOVE the acting. Between Olivia impersonating Bell, Broils tripping (he frakkin smiled!), I never laughed so hard at this show. The writing is top notch and I’m thrilled that it’s coming back for another season. It might be a long summer, but I can wait.
