Fringe: In Which We Meet Mr. Jones

A three week hiatus, and we’re back to all the things we love about Fringe: warehouses, fake science, and bad medical practices.  Missed it all, didn’t you?  But we also have some almost-sex and a cool, new mysterious character, so what’s another warehouse when Fringe finally gets a few things right?

FBI agents cross a body of water in Weymouth, Massachusetts, and storm the shore where a bunch of warehouses sit.  If there’s one thing I’ve learned from this show, it’s that Massachusetts is known for its warehouses.  A white truck pulls around and the FBI engages, opening the back to reveal giant white panda teddies.  The stuffed animal kind, not the Victoria’s Secret kind.  A short while later, Broyles receives a debriefing from Agent Mitchell Loeb in his office, which includes things like “tipped off” and suspect “Joe Smith with the science background.”  Suddenly, Loeb clutches his side and collapses.

At the hospital, the doctors have to cut Loeb open to pump the heart manually.  As the heart is revealed, it starts to beat again on its own and we see a slimy, gray something with “teeth” enveloping and beating along with the heart.  It totally looks like Little Shop of Horrors.  Except tiny.

Broyles debriefs Olivia and the Bishops.  Broyles is hoping that Doc’s past will be useful in helping Agent Loeb, a good friend.  Doc performs a cursory examination, but won’t try to remove it unless Loeb is brought to his lab.  Naturally.  Of course.  Why not?

At the Harvard Lab, Doc prattles on that Audrey II may actually be a parasite, and he can only truly examine it once it’s removed.  Olivia steps out to meet with Mrs. Loeb, who rightfully questions why her husband is being treated in Harvard’s basement, and also gives Olivia a sheet of numbers that Loeb brought back from a trip to Frankfurt.

Doc attempts to remove the parasite, which spitefully latches on harder and squeezes the heart, hurting Loeb.  Peter saves him, while Doc nicks a piece of the organism for DNA testing.  He finds an organized, repeated pattern in the DNA.  Exposition thinks it might be a code.  Why?  Because she studied cryptology even before she joined the FBI.  Was that before or after she conveniently studied linguistics?  You gotta love Exposition!  She narrows it down to a three letter sequence, and Olivia guesses “ZFT”, which leads her …

To a consultation with Broyles, who goes on about a guy, Jones, in Frankfurt that Loeb was investigating, so this could be a case of retribution.  Jones was arrested for carrying state secrets.  Broyles avoids Olivia’s questions about “ZFT,” so Olivia sits down and makes him explain.  I’m sure it’s cute that she’s stubborn, but I wonder how that looks on her yearly reviews.  So: There are terrorist cells around the world that specialize in Fringe Science-esque attacks.  ZFT is one of those cells.  Jones might be able to tell them how to remove the parasite, but Broyles firmly states that German authorities won’t give the U.S. access to him.  Then there’s one of those weird, forced moments that don’t mean anything, when Olivia says she thinks she can get in, and Broyles is all, “Uh, no you can’t, so spare me,” and Olivia’s all, “You don’t know me.  You think you know me?  Because you don’t know.“  And she heads to Frankfurt anyway.

In the lab, Loeb is dehydrated, and the reason may be because the root has spread from Loeb’s chest, to his arm, up through the IV.  Guess who’s dying!

In Frankfurt, Olivia is met awkwardly but happily by a Handsome gentleman who used to be military, but is now German Government (or something) with contacts in the prison.  At Wissenschaft Prison (rough translation: “science prison”), the warden won’t let them through, but Olivia and Handsome speak some untranslated German, and he agrees to pass a note to Jones.

The lab.  Doc’s non-sequiturs freak out Broyles, who tries to enlist Peter to help Doc focus.  Peter reminds us Doc’s been in an institution for 17 years (enough already, writers!) and wouldn’t it be nice if Peter wasn’t always stuck babysitting and had a real dad for a change?  Broyles backs off and receives a phone call from the clearance-challenged Agent Francis, who has deciphered Loeb’s page of numbers from Frankfurt.  And I’m sorry, but I’m genuinely confused.  There’s a mole, and the person would have needed high-level security clearance, and there’s a local connection in the form of one Joseph Smith (aha!) and whatever?  As Peter eavesdrops, Broyles calls in a SWAT team to meet him at Smith’s address and takes off under radio silence.

Frankfurt.  The warden returns with news that Jones has agreed to meet, but they must wait until morning per the prison’s rules (huh?) and she will have only fourteen minutes.  I’m sure the number fourteen is significant in JJ’s World of Mystery.  He passes a reply written to Olivia, where Jones stipulates that prior to their meeting, he first wants to speak with his colleague, one Joseph Smith (aha!).  Olivia calls Peter because she can’t reach Broyles, and Peter tells her that Broyles is en route to Smith now.  Olivia urges him to go after Broyles because they need Smith alive.

So Peter races his station wagon to the scene and is denied access to Broyles and house because SWAT is already inside.  Peter watches as Smith jumps out of an upstairs window, ignores the cries of “Police!”, hops a fence, pulls a gun, and then is shot dead.  Whoops.  Doc calls Peter, but as long as Smith’s body is still attached to his head, Doc can work with that.  Time for some more Fringe Science!  Peter brings Smith’s body to Harvard.

Olivia says farewell to Handsome at the airport, but their will she/won’t she-stay-the-night dilemma is interrupted by a call from Peter who tells her to keep her appointment with Jones.  There may be no need to reveal that Smith is dead.

The lab.  Fringe science experiment set up.  Doc’s ramblings aren’t worth recapping, except when he reveals that he used to hook up Peter to a car battery and experiment on him.  Whoops again.  The idea here is to hook up Dead Smith to Peter, and shoot some electrical currents through them both so that Peter can verbalize the dead man’s “thoughts.”  Or something.

Handsome’s pad.  Olivia and Handsome rehash the past, and Olivia gets her groooooove on.

Until Peter calls and interrupts.  Buzzkill!  He repeats his earlier message that Doc thinks Dead Smith will talk, then she bids Handsome a good night and returns to her hotel.

Back at the prison.  The warden escorts Olivia to Jones, while at Harvard, Doc shoots up Peter with electrical currents of pain in order to make Smith “talk.”  Naturally, there are a few problems.

Olivia meets Jones, and they bicker about why he bargained for an answer to a question instead of his freedom.  He baits her by suggesting that she’s been manipulated into this moment with him, so that “someone” can get information out of her, and that his people are more loyal than hers.  Meanwhile, Doc can’t pull the answer to Jones’ question (“Where does the Gentleman live?”) from Peter.  Broyles enters (huh?) with Mrs. Loeb (huh??), and Mr. Loeb has a seizure.  Or something.  So she stays by his side as Doc tries again, and Peter finally “sees” and deciphers the answer: Little Hill.

Olivia delivers the answer to Jones just as the guards are throwing her out, and he provides the combination of drugs to inject into the parasite and kill it.

On the ride back to the airport, Handsome offers to use his “other means” to do some research on Jones for Olivia.  He wants her to say yes so he has an excuse to call her again (Say yes, girl!).  At the hospital, Agent Loeb recovers, and Broyles asks him who he thinks the mole might be, but Loeb has no idea.  Uh, it’s clearly Loeb.  Mrs. Loeb enters, and Broyles steps out and runs into Olivia.  He huffs and puffs about her never being satisfied with mostly happy endings, and then compliments her for doing a good job.  Which is why those stupid arguments they have are such a waste, because they always get over it by the end of the episode.

Finally left alone, Agent and Mrs. Loeb share a moment.  He asks her if their plan worked, and she tells him they have the answer: Little Hill.  So now we know why she rushed into the “operating” room with Broyles, but give me a break.  I wish this were a more surprising ending, but I’ll take it.  What’s nice is the show’s return finally to building the mythology of the larger story, which is the only reason most of us are watching anyway.  Because, come on, talking to dead people by way of electrical currents?  Really?

Next week: Time jumping, ghosts, and Doc in an institution (for 17 years!).

Season 1, Episode 7: In Which We Meet Mr. Jones (originally aired November 11, 2008)

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