This week’s Fringe had a lot of promise in the first five minutes. Walter had never seen anything like what they were investigating, Peter actually made a contribution, and this experiment seemed to fit more in the pattern. If only the rest of the 55 minutes lived up to the first five.
A friend and colleague of Agent Broyles has a heart attack. Sort of. When they open him up to try to save him, they find a parasite, which looks like a jellyfish with teeth, wrapped around his heart. This parasite is slowing swallowing his entire heart and soon the guy will be dead. Of course, Broyles makes this the first priority of basically everyone, including Dunham and the Bishop boys.
When they arrive, Walter has never seen anything like it but does figure out it’s a kind of organism. With some help from Dunham, who gets a piece of paper from the guy’s wife, they figure out that there is some sort of DNA code so it was an organically grown parasite, not an outside one placed in him. The biggest plus for this episode: Astrid was the one to break the code and Peter was the one to figure out how to loosen the parasite’s grip on the guy’s heart.
The code proved most helpful because the DNA code turned out to be ZFA. ZFA was the topic of a case that Agent Scott was working. Luckily, Dunham had seen the file when she found his secret room and was able to ask Broyles about it because otherwise he wouldn’t have said a thing about it. Seriously. He recruited her and then he expects her to just work and never ask any questions. How is she supposed to solve anything if he won’t help her at all? Sorry, got a little off track. They discover that a guy named Mr. Jones has done many of these pattern experiments and he may know about ZFA. Only problem is he’s in a German prison and the German’s won’t cooperate with the Americans.
Good thing one of Dunham’s many admirers works over in Germany and has connections everywhere. He gets Dunham in to the prison but Jones won’t talk to her unless he can speak to his partner, Joseph Smith, who is back in the U.S. Meanwhile, Broyles is after Mr. Smith because his friend, the guy with the parasite, tipped him off that Mr. Smith was behind this whole thing. When Broyles finally gets an address for Smith, he and the entire FBI go after him. But Dunham needs him alive. What to do? She sends Peter to Smith’s house to try and stop Smith from being killed. Of course, he’s too late and the guy is fleeing so he’s shot, dead center in the head. Works in their favor, then, that Jones is in prison in Germany because he will never know that Smith is dead.
Remember the whole Dunham talking to Scott after he was killed thing. This time it’s Peter trying to talk to Smith. It’s a tad more difficult, though, given that he might have brain damage from being shot in the head. But they try it anyway and as Dunham is in a cell with Jones, it actually works. When Jones asks, “Where does the gentleman live?” Peter is able to see a bunch of lines and then, magically, spell out Little Hill. And when I say lines, I mean this…IIIIII IIII. Yup, he decodes Little Hill from the brain damaged man’s mind. Amazing, right? But back to the show. Dunham tells Jones the answer and he tells her the solution to saving the guy with the parasite. Walter injects a serum and the thing dies almost immediately. At least that little victory is won. Of course, now there a hundred more questions.
First, it was discovered during this case that a senior level FBI agent is a mole. That’s the person who injected the DNA into the guy in the first place. (We as viewers know that it is the guy and his wife who are the moles). Second, how exactly does the ZFA case fit in with the pattern? Third, why did this guy, his wife, and Jones all know what Little Hill meant? What does it mean? Is it somehow connected to Massive Dynamic or are they the good guys now? Also, we found out that Walter used to do experiments on Peter. He would attach electrodes to Peter’s head and hook him up to a car battery. Nice Dad. I guess we don’t have to wonder why they don’t have such a great relationship.
We do have to wonder about everything else. Is this how Losties feel every episode. If so, I am so sorry. I know the clues are supposed to fit together but the storylines are so vague and not connected. For example, is Dunham’s dad ever going to come back? Are the lovingly, almost too long, looks between her and Peter supposed to make us feel anything? And most importantly, is she going to be like Joey Potter (Katie Holmes’ character on Dawson’s Creek) and every single guy who meets her fall in love with her? Maybe we’ll find out all the answers but I’m guessing not for another seven years or so. Guess until then we just have to enjoy the suspense the show brings because right now, that’s about the only good thing.
