FRINGE: “The Consultant” Recap

The sadness of last weeks episode ending continues this week as we pick at the funeral of Alt-Lincoln. Alt-Astrid and Nerdy Lincoln watch the proceed from the car, Fauxlivia and a guilty looking are part of the funeral. Fauxlivia promises Lincoln’s parents she will do all she can to find the person responsible.

As soon as the funeral is over, she starts the hunt with Evil Nina (Meana). Olivia offers her a reduced sentence in exchange for information on who Jones has on his payroll in DoD. Meana is smug, she won’t take the deal, she believes she won’t be there long. Meana tells Fauxlivia that as bad as she thinks things are now, they are about to get worse.

Back in the original universe, a businessman is in a meeting, and he’s being rather hostile with some employees. The employees get a reprieve, however, when suddenly the angry boss is thrust up to the ceiling, then crashes back to the table. He looks like he just suffered a horrible, disfiguring, and quite fatal accident. Let this be a lesson to cranky bosses out there.

Astrid escorts Walter to the scene of the boardroom fatality. When they encounter Peter and Olivia, Walter is positively gleeful as he questions Peter why he wasn’t home when Walter called him late at night. Subtle, Walter. Inside the boardroom, they find not only the angry boss but also another man who died in the same manner, they note that the fall shouldn’t have caused the injuries suffered. Peter notices that some of their injuries appear similar to seatbelt marks across the bodies. A phone call informs Olivia that there is another victim elsewhere, and he was a pilot. Walter says the injuries are consistent with a plane crash, but they are all befuddled as to how all could have died in a plane crash if they weren’t in a plane. Walter has an idea.

In the alternate universe, Alt-Astrid informs Alt-Broyles of a plane crash in their universe, just as the other side suggested. Two men and a pilot are dead. Fauxlivia is also in Alt-Broyles office, with a list of everyone who could have known about the prisoner transport. She is sure there is a traitor among them and she is determined to find out who it is. Alt-Broyles pacifies her by saying he’ll see if he can cut through the red tape, but to keep her busy he assigns her to pick up members of the Fringe division from the other side at the bridge and escort them. Walter is pretty excited about his trip to the other side, he feels like a big boy. He assures Olivia he will be fine without her, and thanks her for trusting him. She hands him over to Fauxlivia and Lincoln and asks Lincoln to take care of him. When they get outside, Walter sees a sign that updates the status of hotspots where the universe’s injuries are worse, and appears to feel a wave of guilt. They discuss the case, and Walter tells his escorts he doesn’t know what could cause residents of one universe to die due to accidents in the other. It’s nothing like the things he and Bell had researched and theorized. Fauxlivia wonders if one person could have caused it, Nina told her it was going to get worse and an hour later it did.

Walter examines one of the bodies using a tuner. Yes, a musical tuner. Apparently each universe has it’s own key. He brought a severed hand from one of the bodies in the board room to use in his tests. Each universe vibrates in it’s own key, and the severed hand is the wrong key…..it’s vibrating at the same frequency as the members of the alternate universe. Somehow the doppelganger’s were linked across the universes, but Walter isn’t sure how. The alt universe doesn’t have black box recorders in their airplanes, but satellites record the communications. They go back to Fringe division and listen to the recording from the plane crash, but it doesn’t illuminate anything. Walter believes whatever merged the two universes destabilized the aircraft. If it was intentional, Fauxlivia wonders what they are trying to prove. Walter has no answers yet.

Jones meets with someone, and has a cup of tea. Just because he’s a madman doesn’t mean he can’t be civilized. The man gives him an envelope, and tells him their experiment went better than expected. When he asks Jones if he has a preference for the next one, Jones tells him to surprise him.

In Glen Cove, NY, alternate universe, Alt-Broyles is welcomed home by his wife. She tells him about their son’s day, and says they’ve been entertaining Broyles’ friend, which alarms him. When he goes to see who it is, he finds his son Christopher sitting and chatting with Jones. He takes Jones aside and is angry that he showed up at his home. Jones had something to bring him, it’s drugs for Christopher. A few months ago Christopher was in constant pain, his eyesight was gone, and he almost died. It was a parent’s worst nightmare. Broyles has been helping Jones because Jones is providing help for Broyles’ son. Jones says he knows Broyles must be upset over Lincoln’s death. Broyles knows that some day he must account for his actions, but Jones points out that love makes us vulnerable. Jones leaves, with a promise/threat that he will be calling on him shortly.

In Springfield, Mass, original universe. Jones’ accomplice takes a taxi to a location, and when the next fare gets in the cab the case he was carrying is still in the cab. In the other universe, the same woman is shopping. Suddenly something happens to the taxi, the driver loses control. In the alternate universe, the woman is thrown through the air and lands on the floor of the store, water pouring out of her mouth. She drowned when the taxi plunged into water in her universe, the alternate her drowned in the middle of a store.

Astrid and Alt-Astrid meet again, and Alt-Astrid is delighted to receive a gift of coffee. Who wouldn‘t react that way to coffee? Fauxlivia contacts Alt-Astrid from the store where the woman drowned, she has details on the victims identity. When they compare details with Olivia in the original universe, they determine the woman suffered the exact same injuries in both universes. Peter is searching the taxi for a device that could have triggered the accident. Walter says it could be rather large, or rather small. Actually, he has no idea. Peter finds a case inside the taxi, and when he opens it he finds a device that contains the mineral that Jones hoards. They now know for certain that he’s behind this.

In a meeting with Alt-Broyles, Walter still has no idea what Jones plan is. Alt-Broyles suggests a good night’s sleep might help. Walter is having problems with that, the Alt-Universe doesn’t have memory foam. Barbarians. Fauxlivia offers to let Walter sleep at her place. She has a spare room. Walter, in return, offers to refrain from sleeping naked. Everyone is happy. After Fauxlivia and Lincoln leave, Walter apologizes to Broyles for being snippy with him. He feels guilt because if he hadn’t created these conditions, Jones wouldn’t be able to do the things he’s doing. Broyles can understand why Walter went to such lengths all those years ago. He asks Walter if he would have made the same choice if he had it all to do over again. Walter says a few months ago the answer would be no, but now that he has gotten to know the adult Peter he doesn’t know if he would do anything differently.

Alt-Astrid tells Fauxlivia that she ran searches on all 108 people on her list and found nothing to implicate any of them. Fauxlivia is disappointed, she’s no closer to catching the mole. Meanwhile, Alt-Broyles meets with Jones. Jones hands him something, but won’t tell Broyles what it’s for. All Broyles needs to know is what to do with it, take it to Liberty Island and affix it to the machine. Broyles objects, the machine is healing their worlds. Jones knows, and doesn’t care. He gives Broyles one day to get it done. Broyles goes home to his son, and hears about his son’s exciting day full of new friends, experiences, and feeling included. Broyles gives Chris his injection of the drug he got from Jones. He’s glad Chris had a good day, and gives him a kiss goodnight. He stands there and watches as his son goes to sleep.

Walter can’t sleep, and is looking quite fetching in Fauxlivia’s robe. He is on his way to her restroom in the middle of the night, when he finds a slightly tipsy Fauxlivia on the living room floor, looking at evidence in Lincoln’s murder. He asks what she’s looking for, and she tells him that someone had to have told Jones their location the night Lincoln was shot. Walter makes Fauxlivia some eggs while they talk. She’s sure she’s missing something, but there‘s nothing linking any likely suspects to the crime. Walter tells her no evidence is evidence by itself. Fauxlivia says if it’s someone altering evidence, it has to be someone high up the chain. Walter suggests Broyles, but Olivia thinks that’s out of the question. Walter’s comments get to her, though, and she gives Alt-Broyles a closer look. She goes to see Meana and turns off the security cameras while she works her. She tells Meana that they have Broyles in custody and he won’t be able to help her any more. Meana tells Fauxlivia that he’s just a pawn, so it doesn’t matter. Jones will come for her. Fauxlivia tells her that maybe she’s just another pawn too, then leaves.

Fauxlivia tells Lincoln about her conversation with Meana, and they discuss how reliable the information might be. Meana could have been lying, she does that a lot when her lips move. They are interrupted by Alt-Astrid, informing them Colonel Broyles hasn’t been seen all day and his tracker has been disabled. Fauxlivia and Lincoln look concerned over this turn of events. Broyles is then seen getting out of his car and heading towards Liberty Island.

Broyles gets through security, and goes to the bridge. When he uses his Show Me, it alerts Fringe Division as to his whereabouts, so Fauxlivia and Lincoln are quickly on his trail. They rush through security without stopping for clearance, and finally catch up to him on the bridge. They are too late, though, he has already turned himself in to the other Broyles. Alt-Broyles tells Fauxlivia he’s sorry. Later, as Alt-Broyles is escorted to his cell, Meana sees him placed in the cell next to hers.

Walter says his goodbyes to Fauxlivia, and she hugs him. Things have really turned around for these two over the course of the season. Walter tells her not to judge Alt-Broyles. No one knows how far they will go to save the ones they love. Once he’s gone, Fauxlivia asks Lincoln why he didn’t go back with him. Lincoln says he swore to find the people responsible for her partner’s death, and his. He’s staying.

Back at Harvard lab, Walter calls Peter and Olivia in to give them an update. He thinks he knows what Jones is up to. The deaths were tests, so that Jones could get readings. He wanted to find a common denominator, a frequency to link both universes. Had Alt-Broyles put that device in the machine, it would have made it possible for Jones to do much worse…such as collapsing both universes. They knew Jones was dangerous, but Peter and Olivia are beginning to see that it may be even worse than they thought.

Fringe airs Fridays at 9/8c on Fox.