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Fringe
The Man from the Other Side
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| Season 2, Episode 18 | |
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| Air date | April 22, 2010 |
| Written by | Josh Singer Ethan Gross |
| Directed by | Jeffrey Hunt |
| ← previous "White Tulip" |
next → "Brown Betty" |
| Cast | Transcript | |
"The Man from the Other Side" is the eighteenth episode of the second season of Fringe.
Synopsis[]
When two teenagers on a date turn up “dead” at an abandoned warehouse with the three puncture wounds to the soft palate – a trademark of the shapeshifters – the Fringe team investigates the evidence as well as the motives of mastermind Newton. Upon discovering a shape-shifting embryo, Walter returns to the lab to conduct further analysis, and Olivia and Peter head to Massive Dynamic for answers. Meanwhile, Peter reveals a family secret to Olivia as Walter struggles to recall what Newton knows about “building a door.”
Plot[]
Two teenagers are on a date in a car when they hear a noise from an abandoned warehouse. Dave enters the warehouse and comes across something growing. A monster attacks and kills him, then steals his identity, revealing it to be a Shape-shifter. It then goes outside to the car where Jill Redmond is waiting. Another Shape-shifter emerges from the warehouse, and the 'Dave' Shapeshifter kills her.
Walter tries to tell Peter the truth about his origins but is interrupted by a call from Olivia about the teenagers' deaths. At the scene, Walter finds signs of the three-prong device in each victim's mouth, confirming the presence of Shape-shifters. They also find a strange organic orb. Walter autopsies it and discovers it contains a dead, partially developed Shape-shifter.
The two surviving Shape-shifters meet with Thomas Jerome Newton, who has the female kill a bank manager named Ben McCalister and place a strange device in the vault. Meanwhile, Olivia Dunham visits Massive Dynamic to find out the origins of a strange signal being sent to the Shapeshifters. For three seconds, it runs in perfect sync with a similar signal, leading Walter to believe that Newton may use the synchronization of the universes to bring something across.
Over the next day, Newton's Shape-shifters plant two more devices, one in a hospital morgue and another on a power pole. Walter states that the devices will be used to form an equilateral triangle, in the center of which the crossover will take place. Discovering that the morgue and the bank are two of the three points of the triangle, they determine two possible options for the third point, with two possible options for the center crossover point. One of these crossover points is a bridge over a river, which Olivia and Walter know will be the choice since Walter told her when he crossed over (in Peter) he chose a frozen lake because the water would help with the vibrations. Walter also develops a program that should shut down Newtown's vibrations to create a doorway, warning everyone that the vibrations caused would tear a man apart.
The team goes to the bridge and kill the Shape-shifters. Walter sets up his program on the bridge but it does not work. Broyles arrives with more FBI agents, and Peter Bishop stays to fix it and tells everyone else to leave, including Walter. Peter sees a man emerging from the doorway. The vibrations destroy an FBI agent that stayed with Peter, but Peter is able to fix the program. The shockwaves knock Peter against the car, and the man escapes with Newton.
Peter awakes in the hospital and asks to talk to Walter alone. He tells Walter that the vibrations killed the FBI agent but did not affect the man from the other side because he was from the alternate universe. He says that the vibrations did not affect him either, so he must be too. Walter tries to explain but Peter accuses him of stealing him as a child, and that his mother must have found out and that is why she killed herself. He tells Walter to leave.
As the episode ends, Newton is treating the unknown man, who he refers to as "Mr Secretary", for the issues caused by crossing over. Olivia tells Walter that Peter has checked himself out of the hospital and has disappeared.
Notable Quotes[]
Olivia: You remember what you told Newton?
Walter: No, but as they say in Finland...
Walter, Peter, and Astrid: ...there's more than one way to roast a reindeer.
Walter: Every living thing dies. As a scientist, that's one of the hardest things to accept, that--that we try to understand the mechanisms of life, but inevitably, we can't defeat death, no matter how much we - we may want to.
Walter: A well-ordered house is--is the sign of a well-ordered mind.
Peter: Yeah, but staying up all night to find the perfect place for your laundry hamper is the sign of something else, in my books.
Olivia: Walter, have you seen anything like this before?
Walter: I think I may have. It's awfully familiar. Ah, yes. It reminds me of a beanbag chair I once owned... 1974.
Peter: I want you to get some rest dad.
Walter: Dad... you just called me dad.
Peter: I guess I did.
Peter: I am not from here, am I? You didn't just open a hole to the other side...you went through and you brought me back. That's why I was able to survive Newton's device. That's why I can't remember my childhood.
Walter: Son...
Peter: I am not your son!
Notes[]
A deleted scene from Lost showing up on Fringe.
- A deleted scene from another Bad Robot Production show - Lost - is briefly shown when the team is watching the broadcast with the disturbance from the alternative universe. The full deleted scene can be seen here.
- The Observer is found to the right of Thomas Jerome Newton's face when he walks into the bank. He is standing at the counter.
- Peter Bishop refers to Walter Bishop as "Dad" in this episode.
- The license plate on Olivia Dunham's SUV reads 1R2D21, and the licence plate on Broyles' SUV reads 1C3PO1.
- This episode marks the 1st appearance of present Walternate, although mostly concealed – first, by the blur from the transdimensional crosover and, then, by life support apparatus. His past self had previously appeared in a 1985 flashback, in Peter.
- Although credited, Blair Brown (Nina Sharp) does not appear in this episode.
Goofs[]
- When the first teenager is found dead, no one acknowledges the broken glass on the car. That would be the first indication to inspect inside the warehouse. The reason they take a look is that they find a joint without lipstick in the car; since the girl was wearing lipstick, she wasn't alone.
- Peter mentions a Star Trek convention at the Worcester Centrum. This venue's name was changed to the DCU (Digital Federal Credit Union) Center several years ago.
- When awakening the third underdeveloped Shapeshifter with a large amount of current, the power in the building tripped off, even though the equipment was being powered by car batteries.
- When Newton hangs up the payphone after dialing 9-1-1, you can hear the change dropping inside the phone, even though 9-1-1 calls are free of charge.
Music[]
- "Tom Sawyer" by Rush.
Cypher[]
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