We all have voices in our heads but Olivia takes it to a whole new level in this week’s episode of Fringe. On top of her trippy head drama, she has to deal with a biological weapon that turns people into giant porcupines. Yup. Not kidding.
It all starts with a guy on a plane. His nose starts bleeding profusely and he tells the flight attendants that they need to find all the sedatives they can and give them to him five minutes ago. Of course, the snooty flight attendants think he’s just having a panic attack or something so the only action they take is to call the captain and tell him there’s a disturbance. Great. Big help. The guy locks himself in the bathroom but before you know it, spikes are shooting out of his back and he’s turned into a giant monster. Can I just say, ew. Seriously, the guy’s teeth fall out and he’s all bloody and nasty. Again, ew. Naturally, the monster gets out of the bathroom and the plane crashes. Everyone on board, including the now monster guy, is killed.
The Bishop boys and Olivia arrive to see the giant monster and Walter confirms very quickly that it is indeed a man who has transformed somehow. Now all they have to do is find out which of the 150 people on the plane this monster is. Good thing Olivia does have the voices in her head (come on, I’m only talking about John’s memories) because a scene flashes when she sees the flight’s roster. She sees a man, Marshall, and another guy talking about selling something, some kind of weapon. When Francis brings Olivia the background info on Marshall, who was a banker, she sees a profile of one of his clients. The same guy who was talking about selling some sort of weapon with Marshall and John.
Olivia tells Francis to pull the guy in for questioning and when he asks why, she actually tells him that she has some of John’s memories in her head. Surprise. Charlie Francis is the most loyal man ever to be on TV. If I needed some one to be my confidant or something, he would be my pick. But back to the story. The guy, Hicks, says he doesn’t know anything, until they show him a picture of Marshall. And why not, this guy’s nose starts bleeding. Walter and Peter, who are watching the interrogation, know that’s how Marshall’s transformation started, so they bust in and give the guy a sedative. But first, Olivia makes him give her a name. And this name is Conrad. I know, really informative, right?
Olivia decides since she knows John and these guys were working together, maybe she can get more info from John. She goes in the tank but this time, he not only sees her in a memory, he talks to her. He tells her that he was actually an NSA operative deep undercover and that Hicks and Marshall were, too. She doesn’t believe him but he doesn’t change his story. He tells her trust Hicks, who Walter placed in a coma to slow his transformation. But do we trust John? Hmmm. I guess there’s only one way to find out.
When Olivia comes out of the tank, Broyles calls and tells her they have intelligence that Conrad is making a sale in Chicago. They don’t know when or where but Hicks knows so Olivia and Peter (ever so cute) show up ready to work. With Hicks walking her through the answers (they have super-cool small earpieces), Olivia speaks with Conrad’s underling. Although she says all the right things, the guy still doesn’t trust her. He goes ahead with the sale anyways, which includes an antidote, but he also says that Conrad wants to meet her and Peter. She’s at this point supposed to say Christmas so Francis and the other FBI guys can come swooping in but once she hears Conrad’s name, she puts that all on hold.
Just then, back at the lab, the antidote Walter concocted stops working and Hicks starts transforming again. So much for Olivia’s answer machine. When the guy asks her another question, she doesn’t know the answer. Naturally, this guy doesn’t have the authority to kill her but when Conrad arrives and says she’s lying, out flies the safe word, Christmas. Conrad is arrested and the drug is safe. I hope. You never really know with Massive Dynamic and Broyles. Just this week, they showed Olivia that John was still being incubated. He’s not alive but they wanted to find out what info the disc in his hand held. Turns out those little discs are actually information storage devices but they go blank after the person dies so they weren’t able to get anything off of Marshall, the first agent who was killed, or John’s. Blast those geniuses who make things like that.
Anyways, speaking of John. Now that Olivia believes he was telling the truth, she asks Walter to let her go back in the tank to see him. According to Walter, her mind is finally ridding itself of John Scott’s memory and if she goes back in, she’ll see him for a few minutes but then he’ll be gone forever. Thank the TV gods. She goes in and they share some sweet but ultimately nauseating tenderness. He gives her the ring she found and tells her he loves her. She says the same and then, poof, he’s gone. Hopefully, never to return again.
Now that all that Scott drama is over, maybe we can get some other answers. I must say, if he is actually gone now, kudos to Fringe for actually answering something. John Scott was an NSA agent and wasn’t bad after all. If only I could really believe he’ll never pop up again. If I say please? Maybe?
