FRINGE: “Brave New World: Part 1” Recap

At a busy station in Boston, commuters are doing what most commuters do, buying coffee and scurrying along their way. These commuters are a little different, however, they spontaneously combust. Luckily for a few of them, someone realizes that if they stand very still it won’t happen to them. It sucks for the others though.

Peter and Olivia are in bed, relaxing and perusing real estate ads. Olivia surprises Peter by suggesting they should include a nursery in their new home must-haves. They kiss, but of course the phone rings, case interruptus.

Walter and Astrid are already on the scene, with Walter chomping at the bit to get started. One of the would be victims, still unable to safely move, pleads with him to help. Walter pauses long enough to do a little Sprint product placement, then gets on with his investigation. Broyles briefs Peter and Olivia, who have just arrived, while Walter still pokes and prods victims. He meets another of the would be victims, Jessica, who asks him if she’s going to die. He can’t answer that. She agrees to let Walter use her for tests to try and learn the cause of the reactions. She is transported, carefully, to the Harvard lab. They also discover something planted under the escalator that is distributing nanites…the movement of the victims activate them.

After returning to the lab, Olivia keeps Jessica busy with conversation while Walter and Peter work on a solution. She helps Jessica make a phone call. Jessica has a young daughter, and she needs to have her ex to pick her up from school. Jessica’s plight seems to have an effect on Olivia, thinking of the dire situation she is in, and with a child at home. When Jessica’s temperature starts rising, Walter urges Olivia to keep her calm. When it seems Olivia’s efforts are failing, and Jessica is about to combust, Olivia somehow kinetically cools her down….all the equipment in the lab also stops, then comes back on. Olivia has no idea how she did that, but it worked. Jessica is fine, and Walter completes a solution for the problem. He gives Jessica an injection, and she is fine afterwards. Olivia gets her a ride home, telling her to call if she has anymore symptoms. She has no sooner gotten Jessica in the car, than Broyles calls her with information about the person responsible. A security camera caught the culprit planting the device under the escalator, it‘s David Robert Jones.

Walter is studying the nanites more closely, and he’s certain it’s the exact design Bell created. He thinks Bell must still be alive, but no one believes him. They think Jones probably just stole Bell’s pattern when he was at Massive Dynamic. They couldn’t be more wrong….Jones is visiting with Bell right at that moment. During a chess discussion, Bell tells him a Bishop must be sacrificed to win a game sometimes, Jones knows just what he is to do.

In trying to convince Nina that Bell is alive, Walter and she discuss his death. Walter says he was supposed to have died New Years, seven years ago, but Nina says it was Christmas. It finally comes out that Bell’s car crash wasn’t an accident, he had lymphoma and wanted to go out on his own terms. Nina can’t believe Bell would try to destroy a universe, he was a good man. Walter has somewhere he has to go and wants Peter to meet him there, St. Claire’s. They visit the new administrator and ask about records of visitors, Walter is still sure of his dates, that Bell visited him days after he supposedly died. The log book doesn’t show what they want, but Walter sniffs and tastes the pages, as only Walter would. He wants to take the log with him, and since it has already been digitized, the administrator consents.

While preparing dinner at home, Olivia accidentally cuts herself. Peter helps her, then realizes something is deeply bothering her. She admits that Jessica’s near miss got to her. One encounter with them and her child almost becomes an orphan. They do this every day, what are their chances for having a normal life? Peter tells her they will figure it out together and they share a kiss. Surprisingly, no phones ringing during this one. He promises her that after all they’ve been through, he won’t lose her again. Their attention is suddenly pulled away from their moment by a bright light shining through the window. Elsewhere, Broyles is in on the top floor of a parking garage when he sees it too, then sees it burn through a building.

Peter and Olivia are on their way to the scene, and talking to Walter about the latest turn of events. Walter says it’s the sun, and Jones must be doing something to reflect the light, then focusing it with something like a giant magnifying glass. When Astrid prints a geographical report he wanted, Walter realizes there is an oil reservoir underground nearby, and if the beam hits it there will be a big boom. They need to have Boston evacuated. Astrid also finds the radio frequencies Walter has her searching for, two frequencies that are not owned by the government. Walter appears to now understand what’s happening and laments what a brilliant bastard Bell is, then rushes to work.

Walter calls Peter and Olivia with directions to where he thinks Jones is commanding satellites from. If they interrupt his signals, they stop the deflected rays. Walter’s plans for that log book are also coming to fruition. His EZ Bake oven experiment is done…a lemon cake. It has pig brain in it, as well as the log book page Walter sniffed and licked. He also sprinkled a little cortexiphan in the pig brain, it has regenerative properties. The end result is that a lot of fingerprints are recreated on the log book page. There is also a brown mark. Walter sniffs it again, and tastes it…it’s almond oil. Bell was obsessed with Chilean almonds, he even had an importer that sold them to him wholesale. Walter grabs his sweater, he has to get to the importers that Bell bought his almonds from. Astrid does her best to stop him, but eventually gives up and goes with him.

Olivia and Peter find two antenna’s that they believe are being used to control the satellites. They are on separate buildings, so each of them goes after one. As they enter the buildings, Jones is watching them from his car. Peter and Olivia have to turn the dials down on both devices at the same time, and they are successful in doing so and stopping the rays. The light disappears. However, Peter is then hit from behind by Jones. Jones is beating Peter badly with a tire iron, as Olivia witnesses it from another rooftop. She tries to aim her weapon but can’t get a clear shot. Security confronts Olivia forces her to drop her weapon, they won’t let her show her ID. With no weapon, she turns to her cortexiphan skills, and she makes Peter’s arms and fists move involuntarily to fight back at Jones. With Olivia pulling the strings, Peter knocks him into the antenna. Just before Jones dies, he says that he got it wrong. It was he who was the sacrifice, the bishop that Bell had spoken of.

At Boston Harbor, Walter and Astrid arrive at the importers warehouse. They go inside the building, and ask a man they find there about the importer. He says they went out of business years ago. He gets a radio call and says he has to go. Astrid noticed he had a gun. She thinks they should leave, but Walter hears an animal noise and goes to see what it was. Astrid chases behind, ever trying to keep Walter out of trouble. The man they had spoken to finds them snooping around, and he has other men with him. He tells them to go tell “him” they have visitors. Astrid kicks him, grabs Walter and runs, but they do not get far. The man shoots Astrid, and she falls. As Walter cradles her, Bell approaches and says hello to his old friend.

Fringe airs Fridays at 9/8c on Fox.