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Fringe
The Box
Season 3, Episode 2
The box
Air date September 30, 2010
Written by Josh Singer
Graham Roland
Directed by Jeffrey Hunt
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Cast | Transcript

"The Box" is the second episode of the third season of Fringe.

Synopsis[]

The Fringe Team investigates a case where people are discovered in a trance-like state that ultimately leads to their death. The unlikely suspect: a mysterious box. Peter and Walter collaborate to study its properties and alternate Olivia turns up the heat on an unsuspecting Peter. Key information about the future is revealed when Walter and Nina meet at Massive Dynamic for the reading of William Bell's will.

Plot[]

Three men are holding a family hostage while they dig up something in the basement. The item they find is a box. One of them opens the box, causing two of the thieves to go into a trance - their eyes turn white and their noses start bleeding. The third thief (the cousin of one of the thieves) is unaffected.

Fauxlivia is speaking with Thomas Jerome Newton about Olivia Dunham and pop-culture so that she can learn more about this world. She is called to the crime scene to investigate the deaths. Joe, the third thief, has escaped with the box. Fauxlivia confronts Newton about this, as his men were supposed to leave the box there so Peter Bishop would find it. But Newton only hired two thieves, not three.

Walter Bishop goes to hear William Bell's will be read. Nina Sharp receives his bell, while Walter does not reveal what he got. After the reading, Peter is called by Phillip Broyles, who says that Olivia is not answering her phone and that he thought she was at the one of the two thieves apartment. Fauxlivia is, in fact, searching it, and is surprised by Peter. Joe spots Fauxlivia outside the apartment talking to Newton on the phone.

That night, Joe takes the box to Fauxlivia where it is revealed he is deaf and that is the reason the box didn't kill him. She hands it to Newton before killing Joe. While she is trying to hide his body, Peter arrives. She is able to hide the corpse in time and further distracts him by engaging in sexual activity with him.

Newton gives the box to a homeless man (Eric the Midget) to look after at a Subway station before leaving. Out of temptation, he opens it and kills everyone at the station.

The Fringe team is called to the station (interrupting Peter and Fauxlivia before they can have sex) and discover that the homeless man took the box into one of the subway tunnels. Walter comes up with a plan to disarm the box; because it uses ultrasonic sound waves to mess with the inner ear, normal ways of cancelling noise will not work. Fauxlivia deafens Peter with gunshots so that he can enter the tunnel and disarm the box. While in the tunnel, Peter discovers the homeless man, whose head promptly explodes. He is able to disarm the device just as a train arrives, with Fauxlivia saving him.

The box contains part of Walternate's doomsday device, which Peter begins to work on. Fauxlivia informs her superiors at the typewriter shop, who tell her to start working on Walter. Walter visits Astrid Farnsworth and shows her what Bell left him: stock certificates that make him the sole shareholder of Massive Dynamic.

Notable Quotes[]

Astrid: So we're looking for some kind of deadly music box?
Peter: No, it's ultrasonic, so you wouldn't be able to hear it. The frequency's too high.
Walter: Silent but deadly. Speaking of which, might like to take a step away.
Peter: Delightful, Walter.

Walter: Kent Street. I frequented a massage parlour just around the corner. I used to get off right here.
Peter: I sure hope you're talking about the station, Walter.

Astrid: (as Walter removes Mitch's brain from his skull) That sound creeps me out.
Walter: Really? I always found it oddly comforting. Oh, that's very good, dear. Have you ever worked behind a deli counter?
Astrid: Walter, your tie. I, uh... I think you have a little bit of brain on it.

Notes[]

  • The Observer can be seen on the far right of the screen, his back to the camera, as Newton leaves the train station.
  • This is the first episode Olivia Dunham from the prime universe does not appear in.
  • This episode is the first to be rated AV15+ in Australia. That is the highest television rating available in the country. It was awarded due to the "strong violence" of the episode.
  • Bono does not exist (or at least is not famous) in Fauxlivia's universe.
  • When Peter and Walter Bishop visit Massive Dynamics they pass a room containing what looks to be a Star Trek transporter.
  • The time in the subway reads 6:02
  • The Kent St. MBTA station in Boston, where the box is recovered, is actually above ground, not underground as portrayed in the episode. The "Kent Street" signs in the underground station are done in the New York City subway style, black with white Helvetica font and a white line, though there is no Kent St. station in New York.

Goofs[]

  • Walter removes a frying pan from on top of a Bunsen burner. In the very next shot, it is back above the burner.
  • Astrid says "Do you think a bug could have killed all five victims" to Walter. There are a total of six victims, four residents in the house and the two intruders.

Music[]

  • "Crazy" by Patsy Cline
  • "Miami Vice Theme" by Jan Hammer
  • The Marriage Of Figaro, K. 492: Act I Scene 8: Aria: Non piu andrai, farfallone amoroso by Mozart

Cypher[]

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