Back to Where You've Never Been

Fringe Back to Where You've Never Been
Season 4, Episode 8

Air date	January 13, 2012
Written by	David Fury & Graham Roland
Directed by	Jeannot Szwarc
← previous Wallflower	next → Enemy of My Enemy
Cast \| Transcript

"Back to Where You've Never Been" is the eighth episode of the fourth season of Fringe.

Synopsis[]

Peter tries to find his way home and the Fringe team continues to deal with the threat of shapeshifters.

Plot[]

Peter fails to gain the support of the prime universe's Walter in returning to his original timeline, so Peter schemes with Olivia and Lincoln to travel to the parallel universe so that Peter can ask Walternate for help. To avoid crossing over via the Machine Room, Lincoln retrieves Walter's original dimension-crossing device, which in this timeline has been acquired by Massive Dynamic. The plan is for Lincoln to pose as the parallel universe's Lincoln and bring Peter to Walternate. Peter does not learn until later that Olivia has told Lincoln to discover whether Walternate is behind the appearance of a new class of shapeshifters.

Olivia remains behind while Peter and Lincoln crossover at the Orpheum theater which Peter knows is a soft-spot from his original timeline. Though Lincoln temporarily succeeds as posing as his doppelganger, Lincoln and Peter's real identities are soon discovered by the parallel universe's version of Lincoln and Olivia, having been called off a case involving a shapeshifter by Walternate himself.

As Lincoln and Peter are being taken back to Fringe headquarters, their van's driver diverts from the convoy after receiving a call. Before Fauxlivia and Lincoln arrive, the driver shoots the other Fringe agent and appears to be preparing to shoot Peter and Lincoln when Peter shoots the driver. Lincoln distracts Fauxlivia and the other Lincoln allowing Peter to get away.

They lock up Lincoln in a closet at Fringe headquarters as Olivia tries to convince alternate-Lincoln that Walternate's actions are suspicious: Walternate had taken them off of a case involving these new shapeshifters, clearly a Fringe case. Olivia speculates that Walternate might be behind these new shapeshifters.

Peter travels to his mother, Elizabeth's, home and convinces her to take him to Walternate. There, Walternate reveals that he had already known about Peter, as he had been "spying" on the prime universe. Peter explains that the prime universe does not trust Walternate, believing him to be responsible for the new shapeshifters. Walternate calls in his lead scientist, Brandon, to vouch for him, but he surprises Peter by shocking Brandon unconscious with a special device, revealing Brandon to be a shapeshifter.

Walternate is aware that these new shapeshifters have started to infiltrate his government, and the only reliable method he has found to detect them is the taser-device, but that this will not be effective as it is fatal to humans. He requests for Peter to return to the prime universe to gain their trust on his behalf, as he believes that Peter, as a neutral party, is the only person he can truly trust. Only then will Walternate help him return to his timeline.

Fauxlivia and Lincoln discover the location from where a phone call to one of the drivers was made, and get Broyles' permission to investigate the source. After they depart, Broyles contacts David Robert Jones, and warns him of the arrival of Fauxlivia and Lincoln; Jones is shown to have several more shapeshifters ready for deployment.

In the prime universe, Olivia wakes up at the theater to find the Observer September sitting in one of the theater's front rows, shot in the chest. September warns her that he has seen all possible futures, and all of them include Olivia's death. The Observer disappears before she has a chance to help him or call for an ambulance.

Notable Quotes[]

Agent Lee: You and your pal murdered two Fringe agents. Every cop in the city is going to be looking for him.
Lincoln: Right. That's what happened. We came all this way to kill two Fringe agents. That's brilliant. No wonder you're a detective.

Walter: The water was still running in the sink. She must have come to her decision while she was washing the dishes.
Peter: What?
Walter: I knew almost immediately. Even before I found the body. The car's engine was still running. There was no note. There didn't need to be. We had just lost our only child. I should have mourned with her, even then. But instead, I let her grieve alone so that I could focus on finding a way to the alternate universe to save someone else's child. My actions caused the death of my wife. Unspeakable damage to two universes. I lost my career and my sanity. All because I tried to help another Peter. I may be the only man who could help you, but I'm also the only man who cannot help you.

Agent Lee: (as he is cuffed to a vertical pipe in a utility room) What the hell is this?
Lincoln: This is where we're holding you.
Agent Lee: It's a maintenance closet.
Lincoln: That's very astute. No wonder you're a detective.

Notes[]

The Observer gives Olivia a message while she waits at the opera house. He disappears before Olivia can get him to a hospital to treat the bloody wound in his chest.
Although credited, Blair Brown (Nina Sharp) does not appear in this episode.