So a few months ago when we heard that FOX was forcing all of its shows to work some type of music performance into all of their series that aired this week, we were more than a little worried. Remember the week of awkward Simpsons references? Well Fringe took this challenge and made it into something truly wonderful. Instead of trying to slip this in to their mythology heavy plot, they built an entire episode around it. For us, it was a complete and utter success. Then again, the combination of Fringe, detective film noir, musical numbers, and pretty costumes is basically guaranteed our love from the get go – so maybe we’re biased. We also loved the 1940’s styling mixed with modern technology.
First let’s get reality out of the way. Walter made himself a special marijuana hybrid he has named Brown Betty. Combine Brown Betty with al label maker and you get a remarkably organized lab. You also get me and Courtney desperately wanting a label maker for no logical reason. Olivia shows up at the lab with Ella, whom Olivia is babysitting. There’s a lead on Peter’s whereabouts and Olivia asks Astrid to keep an eye on Ella. Olivia heads off and Walter entertains Ella (or Stella as he called her, much to our delight) with a story heavily influenced by Brown Betty and his mother’s love of detective stories and musicals. After the story has ended Olivia returns to say that she had no luck finding Peter. Astrid takes Walter home and September observes him, calling in to an unknown college to say that the boy has not yet returned and he thinks Walter may have forgotten his warning.
Walter’s story was altogether fabulous. Here’s a semi-quick summary. Detective Olivia Dunham had her heart broken by the loss of her love (John Scott). Rachel comes into her office and asks her to find her missing boyfriend, Peter Bishop. While Rachel is explaining her case her mouth opens to sing but it is Walter’s voice we hear, singing “Head Over Heels”. And this is why we love Fringe. Moving along, Olivia visits Lieutenant Broyles at a piano bar, where he plays and sings “Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys” beautifully. She asks him for a favor while subtly reminding him that she saw him plan evidence to get his promotion 6 years ago. Sly. Sidenote: I’m pretty sure that in this story Olivia and Broyles had a torrid affair in the past. Just saying. She shows Broyles a incomplete logo that was found in Bishop’s apartment. Broyles completes the logo and sends her off to Massive Dynamic.
Olivia meets with Nina Sharp who warns her that Peter Bishop is a dangerous con man and is probably up to no good. Olivia calls Rachel who picks up the phone in a middle of a struggle and yells for help. When Olivia gets to Rachel’s apartment she finds Rachel dead with her heart surgically removed from her chest. When Broyles arrives on the scene he tells her that Rachel wasn’t really Peter’s girlfriend but a hired actress. When Olivia leaves she snatches Rachel’s date book and finds a check made out to her from a Dr. Walter Bishop. She calls the operator and gets his address. She visits Walter in the lab, where we find Twister-dotted Gene, bright cheery gadgets, and corpses. Walter (who is in a wheel chair in this story) is the inventor of all things wonderful, like rainbows, hugs, flannel pajamas, and bubblegum. He’s latest project is singing corpses, who break into a verse of “The Candy Man.”
“Why not bring a little life to the death, I say?” ~ Walter
Walter tells Olivia that Peter (whom he is not related no, the last name is just a coincidence) was once his trusted lab assistant. He had paid Rachel to hire Olivia to track down Peter who had stolen Walter’s glass heart. Walter opens up a steel door on his chest to reveal the he is running on batteries for now but that he’ll die without the glass heart.
Olivia is going to help Walter, of course, but first she needs to rehire her assistant. Walter calls this character Esther Ficklesworth, purposefully butchering Astrid’s name to her annoyance. We’ll just call her Astrid to avoid confusion. Astrid is interviewing for a job at a heath care facility. She begins singing “I Hope I Get It” but is interrupted by her cell phone. Olivia says she needs her help on the case. Astrid is resistant, considering she was just fired and is owed 6 months of back pay. She changes her mind when she hears Olivia being attacked over the phone.
In the parking lot September (Michael Cerveris) attacks Olvia, telling her not to stick her heart out where it doesn’t belong. He cuts her chest with a unique weapon. Later, Astrid helps clean Olivia’s wound and they discover it is healing very quickly on its own. Olivia sketches the weapon and takes it to the patent office where Brandon, our favorite Massive Dynamic employee in the real storyline, tells us that the patent belongs to a big tech company out of Manhattan and says he wished he could work somewhere like that. The company, of course, is Massive Dynamic.
A pissed Olivia goes back to MD to confront Nina sharp. Nina tells her that the prototype was stolen by a group of men known as The Watchers, whom Olivia was attacked by. Olivia remains suspicious and busts one of Nina’s taillights so that it will be easier to follow her home (nice China Town move). At Nina’s home Olivia listens in to her communicating with William Bell (or at least with his CGI Avatar).
She tells him that Peter has the glass heart and she will get it for him so they can open the portal between the two worlds and be together. Olivia is knocked unconscious from behind.
She awake sin a boathouse where Nina Sharp says she warned Olivia to stay away from this. She and the Observer seal Olivia in a wooden crate and send her off to sea. The crate fills with water and Olivia appears to be doomed until Peter appears in boat and frees her (a nice call back to Peter pulling Olivia from the tank in season 1). He takes her back to his hideout and lets her shower and change into a pair of his pajamas. He asks her if she likes jazz, and she says not particularly – but she does like dancing. Peter doesn’t like dancing but says he would dance with her because he thinks she would be good at it. He explains to her that Walter was lying. All of the wonderful things Walter has created was actually stolen from the dreams of children and replaced with nightmares. Hold up – what child is dreaming about singing corpses as a good thing? Moving along, he tells her that the glass heart is his – that he was born with it. He opens up a door in his chest to show her. He originally gave it to Walter but took it back when he discovered the truth.
Peter’s hideout is attacked by The Watchers, who steel the glass heart from Peter’s chest. He instructs Olivia to put batteries in the hearts place but to be careful not touch any of the nerve endings He said it was like Operation (which real-life Walter sucks at, according to Ella). She is able to connect the batteries but he has fallen unconscious. She tenderly and softly sings “For Once In My Life.” I’m so glad that they had her do this mournfully and gently, and not in a full out production number. Also, Anna Torv was super Australian-y when she sang. It warned our hearts and apparently it did Peter’s too, because he regained consciousness. She tells him that she knows who has his heart.
They arrive at Walter’s lab and find him with the heart. Walter pleads with Peter and says that he can change – he can still do so much good in the world. Peter takes the heart and leaves with Olivia. Walter, alone, sadly sings “The Candy Man.”
This ending just won’t due, according to Ella. She tells him how it really ends. She says that Peter splits the heart in two and gives one half to Walter. Olivia and Peter dance and Walter puts half of the heart in his chest.
And they lived happily ever after.
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