Fringe recap S1E10 (12/02/08)

Robbery in progress at a Philadelphia bank. Now, I don’t know much about bank robbing, but these guys are using some strange equipment. A-ha! The robbers are using the same technology that allowed an apple to be pulled through a safe wall, only on a larger scale: they put on facemasks and walk through the vault wall. That’s supercool. They quickly get what they came for –apparently the wall-phasing capability has a short time frame. In fact, the last robber doesn’t make it out in time and the wall solidifies around him. It doesn’t kill him, though – so the head robber (a/k/a Agent Loeb, the guy with the parasite around his heart, a/k/a the guy who pulled the apple out of the safe and then shot the evil scientist lady) shoots him in the head, as dead men tell no tales. The remaining thieves pack up their gear and hightail it out of there.

Olivia and the Bishop boys soon arrive to check it out. “This is fascinating,” breathes Walter. This is the third bank heist in which the only thing that was taken was a single oversized safe deposit box. Olivia knows the man in the wall from her Marine days (his name is Raoul). Walter thinks this is interesting but he’s more interested in bringing the body – or at least pieces of it – back to his Harvard lab.

At their hideout, the thieves debrief themselves. One of them thinks killing Raoul was uncalled for. They have one more box to collect, however, and Loeb tells them to stop whining and saddle up.

German prison: Mr. Jones gets a visit from his lawyer to talk about his sentencing next week. Jones asks if there is any news. Yes, the Philly job was successful. Jones is pleased and writes up a list of items he’d like Lawyer to collect for him: Dramamine, suntan lotion, etc. Guess he’s planning a trip.

Peter and Walter are shopping in a big box hardware store. Peter thinks his dad is disapproving of his heretofore-nomadic existence. Walter thinks that might be possible. Peter goes on to be kind of snooty to his dad until a perky employee asks if she can help them find something. Walter wants an electric saw with an easily replaceable blade. When she asks what they’ll be cutting, he tells her human flesh and bone. At her horrified expression, Peter tells her: “It’s really not that dire.” Walter: “Oh, actually, potentially it’s far worse.” She points them in the right direction and runs away. “No need to call the police,” Peter calls after her.

Olivia pays a condolence call to Raoul’s new widow, Susan. Actually, he moved out of the house two years ago and they hadn’t talked much recently. Susan says Raoul had been dark and depressed since returning from the war. Olivia reminisces about serving in the Marines with Raoul, and coming to dinner at their house. Susan starts to wig out: she’s never met Olivia and Olivia has never been to their house before. It seems that Olivia is accessing John Scott’s memories: it was he who served with Raoul in the Marines and came to dinner. Now Olivia starts to wig.

Walter and Peter start to carve parts of Raoul out of the wall, limb by limb. Olivia comes to check in. Walter thinks that if they examine Raoul on the cellular level, they can figure out the whole walking through walls things. Both Bishops notice that Olivia is a little wired and she confesses to the John’s memories trick. Walter says he’s got to look into that. But first, she says, we had to figure out what the thieves’ next step is.

At the hideaway, the thieves have managed to open their latest acquisition. Loeb won’t let anyone else look inside the safe deposit box but when he takes a peek, he seems quite pleased.

Massive Dynamic: John Scott’s body is still in a holding container. They’ve been making progress, says a lab tech, but they’ve run into a problem in reconstructing his memories such that they could irreversibly damage them if they push too hard. Don’t care, says Nina Sharp, push ahead.

Harvard lab: Walter sticks an action figure into a beaker full of rice grains. It seems solid, holding him up, says Walter, until you vibrate it. He sets the beaker to vibrating and the action figure sinks down into it. Okay, that was a cool demonstration. Of course, says Walter, it’s a lot more complicated to walk through walls, but you get the picture. He notes that whatever was done to Raoul, it rendered him fairly radioactive too. Olivia stops by, having had no luck tracing the renters of the safe deposit boxes. No matter, now she wants to figure out how Raoul, a good guy, got mixed up in all this. Fortuitously, one of his old buddies works in a bar in Cambridge. “Did you say bar? In Cambridge?” Peter volunteers to be her wingman.

Cambridge bar: Olivia tells Peter to play along. She orders a double shot of whiskey and her brother, “Rick,” will have the same. She pounds the drink and orders another, saying that she recognizes the bartender … from Raoul and Susan’s wedding! Bartender: No way! Olivia: Have you seen them lately? He hasn’t, but he knows that Raoul had spent some time at a VA hospital. Olivia calls Broyles to see if he can find out what VA hospital. She hangs up her phone and is ready to go, but Peter’s like, what’s your rush – is two your limit? Olivia stares at him, almost smiling: “Is that a dare?”

The robbers collect their gear and head out to their next job in Providence. One of the guys tries to light a cigarette but his hand is shaking too badly.

Olivia and Peter drink beers and do card tricks. Olivia can count cards. Also, she’s got an uncanny memory for numbers, like the numbers of the safety deposit boxes that she rattles off. Wait, says Peter, I know those numbers. They race to the Bishops’ hotel room and Peter wakes his dad up, asking him about the numbers he recites to fall asleep each night. It’s the Fibonacci Sequence, the first three numbers of which are the same numbers of the safe deposit boxes. What a kooky coincidence, says Walter … except not. Those safe deposit boxes are Walter’s.

He tries to remember if he has any other boxes anywhere, which is complicated by the fact that he has no idea what he may have put in those boxes. He was under a lot of stress at the time, feeling like he was being followed all the time. Okay, says Olivia, we’re going into the FBI. At the office, Broyles finds Olivia and tells her that Raoul was at the VA in Washington, D.C. She wonders if another patient might have recruited him.

Massive Dynamic: they have discovered that Olivia may have some of John Scott’s memories – the same ones they’re looking for.

VA hospital: Olivia tries to get some information about Raoul’s fellow patients but the doctor won’t tell her anything. But a helpful orderly tells her that Raoul played chess with four other patients all the time and even writes down their names for her. Back at the FBI, they start to track down the other members of the VA hospital chess club, one of whom just bought a plane ticket to Providence.

The robbers are on the move. Back at the lab, Peter tricks his father into remembering what Providence bank his safe deposit box is at. In no time at all, Olivia and her federal agents are at the bank. (Wait a minute. How does she get around so quickly? First she’s at the D.C. hospital, then she’s at FBI HQ with Charlie – which is in Boston – and now she’s in Rhode Island. That is improbable at best.)

More realistically, the feds are too late getting to the bank and the robbers have gotten at the box. But they’re still in the alley loading their van when Olivia and Charlie find them. The van takes off, leaving one of the robbers behind. He runs for it but Olivia shoots him in the leg and takes him down.

Back at the hideaway, the troops are restless, upset at losing another guy, refusing to take orders until they understand what’s going on. Loeb shows them some piece of equipment that they don’t recognize, then makes a phone call: “He’s coming tonight.” Cut to Mr. Jones in the German prison, looking over the stuff that his lawyer has brought him. He’s pleased, but needs one more thing: Olivia Dunham.

Olivia pulls into the FBI garage; a man in the shadows reports in, “target in sight.” She goes upstairs to interrogate the robber she caught. Peter is observing and notices that the guy’s hands are shaking uncontrollably. Peter has an idea. He goes in, carrying two cups of water. He says all he wants is to see the guy’s hands … the guy has radiation poisoning. Peter outlines the further symptoms that the guy can expect – all of them awful – and the guy cracks. He doesn’t know anything: his boss has everything they need but he doesn’t know what for. He only overheard a phone call mentioning Westford. Olivia checks a map: there’s an airfield out in Westford called “Little Hill.” They connect the dots and mobilize the troops.

At the lab: Walter and Peter work on their relationship. I’m bored. Blah blah blah – Walter invented a time/space transporter machine. Walter thinks the machine is what he hid in the safe deposit boxes because, in theory, this machine could retrieve anyone from anywhere. Like a prisoner from a German prison maybe?

The robbers set up the transporter machine as the FBI races ever closer. In Germany, the Jones snaps his lawyer’s neck and puts on his fancy suit. En route to the airfield, several black SUVs intercept Olivia. When she makes a run for it, they hit her with a taser: target acquired. The robbers fire up the transporter. In Germany, Jones stands ready. There’s a bright light and WHOOSH, Jones is transported to Massachusetts. Olivia lies unconscious in the back of a black SUV.

Broyles calls Nina Sharp: I know you’ve captured Olivia and I want her back. How does he already know about this? Nina’s like, I totally don’t know what you’re talking about. Meanwhile, Loeb congratulates Jones on his successful trip. Jones inquires after Olivia and says that he’d rather not keep her waiting.

And now we’re Fringeless until January!