Momentum Deferred

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Momentum Deferred

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Contents 1 Introduction 2 Synopsis 2.1 Prologue 2.2 ACT I 2.3 ACT II 2.4 ACT III 2.5 ACT IV 2.6 ACT V 2.7 ACT VI 3 Quotes 4 Trivia 4.1 General 4.2 Continuity Errors 4.3 Recurring Themes 4.4 Previously 4.5 Cultural References 4.6 Music 4.7 Episode References 4.8 Glyphs 5 Unanswered Questions 5.1 Olivia 5.2 William Bell 5.3 Nina Sharp 5.4 Other

Introduction

Momentum Deferred
Season	2
Episode	4
Air Date	October 8, 2009
Written by	Zack Stentz Ashley Miller
Directed by	Joe Chappelle
Starring	Main Characters
Guest Cast	Roger R. Cross as Smith Sebastian Roché as Hybrid Leader Theresa Russell as Rebecca Kibner Leonard Nimoy as William Bell Ryan McDonald as Brandon Aaron Craven as Kurt Larsen Anna Van Hooft as Nina's Assistant James Michalopoulos as Security Guard Andy Nez as Truck Driver Amitai Marmorstein as Store Clerk
Previous Episode	Fracture
Next Episode	Dream Logic
Transcript
Additional Images

Momentum Deferred is the fourth episode of the second season of FRINGE. It first aired on October 8, 2009. Recuperating from her dramatic return following her meeting with William Bell, Olivia consumes a powerful concoction prescribed by Walter, to stimulate her memory. The team investigates a series of robbery cases that are tied to the shape changing visitor. As memories start to return, one of Walter's previous human experiments returns to the lab.

Synopsis

Prologue

Medford, MA. The night crew at Elias Cryonics is busy loading frozen human skulls into a secure van for transportation. Two security guards help the truck driver and the warehouse clerk, Kurt Larsen, load a dozen, or so, of the skulls, and make the liquid nitrogen connections needed to keep them at sub-freezing temperatures. Once loaded, a guard enters a combination on a keypad to secure the rear door of the panel van. Seconds later, a car pulls into the secure loading area and comes to a stop. The four employees notice the vehicle and the two security guards approcah the car, giving orders to the trespasser to leave. Alone, the driver exits the car, asking for directions. Catching the security detail off-guard, he drops his green pear, and pulls two pistols tucked in the back of his trousers... opening fire and hitting both of the security men. The truck driver panics in his effort to get help and is found, and shot, by the trespasser. Larsen and the trespasser are working together. Larsen tells him no one else is in the warehouse, and that he wants to know when the trespasser finds the skull they are looking for. The trespasser takes the keys from the dead drivers pocket and gets in the panel van to drive it away. Larsen heads for the security keypad on the rear door of the truck, and is shot by one of the guards laying in the driveway. The trespasser drives away with the truck full of frozen skulls, abandoning his injured cohort. Larsen goes down from the gunshot wound from the guard, but quickly gets up and heads for the guard. In a dying effort, the guard empties his weapon into the almost superhuman Kurt Larsen... finally dropping him for good. A pool of silvery liquid drains from Larsen.

ACT I

  In Walter's Lab, Astrid is hard at work chopping-up, and blending, flatworms for consumption by Olivia. Walter, wanting to help Olivia with her memory loss, believes a worm experiment he engaged in with William Bell demonstrated that this particular species passed their memories to other worms through ingestion. Peter doesn't think Olivia consuming worms will stimulate her memory. While Peter and Walter debate, Olivia fearlessly swigs down a large glass of the worm puree, and is severely offended by the flavor. Walter offers that he had intended to mix strawberries into the concoction.

  Back at the crime scene outside of Elias Cryonics, Broyles briefs the science team, as they arrive, that the facility manager arrived at six-thirty and called the local police when he found the dead bodies. Peter adds that this is the third cryogenic facilities robbery in a week, having the same modus operadi as Chicago and New York. Broyles contrasts the first two as breaking

and entering, while this crime also involves murder. Frozen heads were the target of all three crimes, bringing Peter to ask the question -- what the hell for? Broyles adds more details: ten shell casings from a nine millimeter were recovered, and that single perpetrator drove up and killed four men, two of whom were armed. Walter is eager to start inspecting the corpse that is 'bleeding silver', and proceeds with Peter. Over the body of Kurt Larsen (shape changer), Walter collects a sample and observes that the silvery blood has the consistency of mercury. Olivia continues alone with Broyles and asks for the files on the first two crimes. Broyles says he will make some calls and tell local agents that Fringe Division will be taking over there cases. Peter joins Olivia as Broyles walks off. Looking at Peter, she suddenly sees flashes of a man and hears speaking in reverse, then flashes an image of William Bell, a ringing Bell, the World Trade Center Towers and a mirror image of a handwritten note. Peter sense some of her disorientation and asks if she okay. Olivia says she is, and wants to know what Walter found. Peter tells her Walter's idea about mercury and hands her the sample vial. Walter continues over the corpse and is joined privately by Charlie (shape changer). After greeting one another, Walter notes that Charlie looks pale. In obvious discomfort, Charlie dismisses the observation, claiming he did not get much sleep the previous night. Walter suggest he may be able to help him with that, and makes a medicinal recommendation. Peter joins the two men as Walter removes an intact conversion device from Kurt Larsen's pocket.
  In a wooded area, behind chain-link fences and gates, the shape changer that stole the frozen skulls from Elias Cryonics is shaving the hair from those skulls. Not finding what he is looking, he has been casually discarding the unsatisfactory skulls in a dusty ditch. Charlie (shape changer) approaches the makeshift barber shop and is told he looks like hell. Charlie comments that the Elias robbery was sloppy, having killed four, including one of their own... and that the FBI understands what one of their own is. Charlie's associate continues his shaving activities, telling Charlie that he has been Charlie's body too long, he is dying and that he needs to get back home and get fitted with a new conversion device. Charlie tells him he won't be extracted until his mission is done. The last skull is shaved and they have not found what they were looking for in this shipment. The also discuss another cryogenic facility in North Carolina. Charlie says he thinks Olivia may know where the skull is they are looking for is hidden, based on her visit with Bell. Charlie's associate suggests he do whatever it takes to make her remember.

ACT II

  Olivia and Broyles sit in a restaurant discussing why Shape Shifter Soldiers would be interested in stealing frozen heads. They conclude that they are likely looking for a specific head but they don't know where it is located. To complicate matters the cryogenic facilities are not willing to share their client lists with the FBI. Olivia asks about the Shape Changing Device found a few weeks before. Broyles indicates that this device is broken and that Massive Dynamic was asked to examine it. Olivia suggests to have Peter examine the newly found device which appears not to be damaged. Broyles then offers Olivia a protective detail, reminding her that last time a device like this showed up, someone tried to kill her (A New Day In The Old Town). Olivia responds that it has been six weeks since these events and she is not worried because if a shape shifting assassin had wanted her dead, she would be by now.

  In the lab, Walter and Astrid examine the body of the deceased Shape Shifter. Walter indicates that this is not a human, but instead a highly advanced mechno-organic hybrid. While talking, Walter suddenly realizes something and asks Astrid to call Agent Dunham right away. In the mean time Peter is analyzing the Shape Shifting Devices with Olivia and finds out that it is streaming lots of data. She receives a text message from Astrid telling her that Walter wants to talk to her.

  Back in the lab, Walter explains to Peter and Olivia that the blood of the Shape Shifter is 47% mercury but that a blood analysis of the first Shape Changer revealed a normal blood composition. Walter concludes that the first body was not a Shape Shifter and that the real Shape Shifter is likely still alive and could be disguised as anyone. Walter then suggests a way to find the Shape Shifter. Experiments conducted several years ago on Rebecca Kibner made her able to identify Shape Shifters from the other Universe.

  Olivia phones the Shape Changer (as Charlie) and tells him that Walter may have found a way to identify the Shape Shifter and that she has a thought about the shape shifting device. She asks if he could call Broyles to know if there is something new about the crime scene. The Shape Changer (as Charlie), in a pharmacy at this time, buys a large quantity of mercury thermometers, gets into his car, breaks the thermometers and drinks all the mercury.

ACT III

At the Massive Dynamic building in New York City, Olivia brings the Shape Changing Device to Nina Sharp and explains that Peter believes that the device may store a pattern of the last victim. Nina confirms that their scientists have the same theory and that they also believe that it may be possible to extract an image of the victim. Furthermore, they believe that each device is tuned to a particular user and therefore the Shape Changer who tried to kill Olivia is likely trapped in his current body. They are trying to reveal his identity. Nina and Olivia go to the Massive Dynamic lab and meet Brandon, the scientist that will be working on both devices, trying to extract an image from the broken one. He promises them that he will have results in three hours. He further offers to allow Olivia to connect in real time to the image being rendered from her phone or computer. Peter and Walter go meet Rebecca Kibner at her house. Ouside her door, Walter appears really nervous, checking his clothes and his hair. Peter begins to suspect that Rebecca was perhaps more than an experimental subject for him. When Rebecca answers the door she is surprised and appears very pleased to see Walter. She hugs him and practically ignores Peter. They sit in the dining room and Rebecca explains that after the experiments, which included LSD, she realized after a couple of years that she was able to identify people that did not belong: the Shape Changers. She tells Walter that he gave her a great gift and opened her mind for a time. She says that she tried before, ten years ago, to contact him without success. As Walter starts to respond Peter jumps in and says that his father was travelling at the time. He asks Rebecca if she could help them as they think that the Shape Changers are back. She responds that her abilities are gone for the most part but Walter offers to do the experiment again, treating her with hallucinogens, a proposal that she seems particularly pleased with.

In Walter labs Peter installs electrodes on Kibner's head while Walter starts some music on the record player. Olivia arrives and meets with Rebecca. She then asks Astrid to connect to Massive Dynamic secure ftp from the computer. Walter prepares a syringe with the psychadelic and Peter injects her. In the mean time, Olivia and Astrid confirm that the computer connection is working: the image is about 20% reconstructed. Olivia links her cell phone to the image.

Walter asks Astrid to prepare syringes of Phenothiazine antipsychotic and vials of Valium. Under the effect of the drug, Rebecca is guided by Walter's voice: he is walking her through Johnston Gate into Harvard Yard, past the statue of John Harvard, University Hall, memorial Church ahead...

Walter signals Peter to ring a bell. As he does, Olivia collapses on the floor of the lab. In her mind she is immediately transported to the World Trade Center office, finally recalling a previous meeting with William Bell. Bell tells her that it is so nice to see her again after all these years.

ACT IV

In William Bell's office, Bell apologizes for the method he used to bring Olivia to his universe - citing it as crude. He justifies the action by stating that there are people who were trying to prevent their meeting. Bell shares that he envisioned a different kind of reunion. Olivia retorts that she had been trying to meet with Bell for over a year. Bell suggests she call him Willam, like she did when she was a girl. Bell tries to be cordial, but Olivia doesn't want the tea he offers... she wants answers! Olivia experiences a rumbling flash and looks down to see that she is holding a cup of tea. Bell is slightly amused and comments that she is still disoriented from the 'time slips'... like he had when he first travelled to the alternate universe. He elaborates that she is 'out of sync with this side', adding that she is lucky... most people without her natural talent are torn apart after crossing dimensions. Olivia has another rumbling time slip and reorients herself - she is still standing in front of Bell, but he is deeply inhaling gas from a face mask. Bell comments that he doesn't know how much Walter told her, or how much Walter remembers, and Olivia shares that Walter revealed what they did to her and other children when they conducted drug trials. As Walter defends that they weren't trying to hurt her, or anyone, Olivia retorts that she has met some of the others in the drug trial - and to say that they are permanently damaged - would be an understatement. Bell concedes that in any search for knowledge, there are unintended consequences (victims), but not her, she is just coming into her ability. Olivia experiences another rumbling time slip and turns to find Bell across the room next to the window. Bell continues his briefing... he has seen history repeat itself enough times to know a war is coming - as he and Walter predicted years earlier. Both knew they had to prepare a guardian, someone to watch the gate between his side and hers. Bell then shares that he can't go back to her side yet, maybe not ever and that he can count on his hand the number of people who have done it safely. He then warns that affairs on his side are more insidious... organic-machine hybrids that can change shape and do things humans can't, referred to as the first wave, are being utilized, and they are already in Olivia's dimension. Olivia says that she grasps the situation just fine, but that she doesn't trust Bell -- Massive Dynamic has been involved with some of the most horrific things she has seen. Olivia wants the truth. Bell tells her the truth will come out and that she doesn't have to trust him... she needs to look past her anger, he is her ally. Olivia suffers another rumbling time slip and hears echoing voices. Bell is in another part of his office when she recovers. He continues with his tale of the coming war, perhaps the last and worst storm of all... the shape-shifting hybrids onher side are looking for someone specific to open the door between universes, and if they do, there will be no stopping them - she must find him first. Of all the children that he and Walter prepared, Olivia was the strongest. Suddenly, Olivia begins experiencing time slips closer and closer to one another. In between flashes, Bell draws a symbol on a piece of paper... tells her the symbol is hidden on the leader the shape-shifters seek... that's how she will know him... show the symbol to Nina Sharp... she can help you... time is running out for their current visit. William Bell rings a ship's Bell and says her name...

← Back in Walter's Lab, Peter repeats Olivia's name, trying to revive her. Walter begins to treat Olivia medically and tasks Astrid to prepare a syringe of nitroglycerine. Walter thinks too many of Olivia's memories are returning too quickly. Olivia is still having visions of William Bell... he is telling her to stand, that it will be less painful. In her vision, Bell tells her to remember --einai kalytero...anthropo apo toy...patera toy--... she needs to tell Peter that phrase, he will know what it means. On the floor of the lab, Olivia is not coming around. Walter sends Peter after a vial of adrenaline to shock Olivia's heart. In Olivia's fleeting vision of Bell, he tells her he pulled her out of a moving car... an act that must be paid back in full. Peter has the adrenaline prepared and Walter directs him to insert it between her ribs and into her heart. Apologizing as he does so, Peter stabs the needle into her chest. Olivia immediately envisions herself flying out of William Bells' office window, through the window of her wrecked SUV... then on the floor of the lab - she bolts awake, gasping and groaning from the pain. She immediately blurts out that she needs to see Nina Sharp.

ACT V

  In her car, Olivia is racing toward Massive Dynamic. On her cell phone, she contacts Nina Sharp as Nina walks down a hallway. Olivia tells Nina that they need to talk. Nina, with her assistant in-tow carrying a piece of luggage, tells Olivia she is on her way to Hong Kong. Olivia tells Nina that she has a message from William Bell. Nina tells her assistant to cancel the plane.

↓ Walking across campus, Peter and Walter escort Rebecca Kibner to her car. Rebecca says she wishes she could have been more help, but Peter thinks she did great. Peter asks if she is well enough to drive and Walter answers for her - the injections he gave her counteracted the hallucinogenics in her system. Seemingly smitten with his old friend, Walter asks Peter if he can drive home with Rebecca. Peter allows it, but loses his money clip to Walter when Walter's plan to return from Rebecca's includes a trip on the bus. Rebecca is delighted to have Walter accompany her. As Peter shakes hands with Rebecca before she gets in her car, she holds on to his hand and studies his face... she seems to see something in him. When Peter questions the extra attention, Rebecca dismisses it... probably just the drugs.

  In Walter's Lab, Astrid is joined by Charlie (shape changer). She tells him that the Bishops are out and that Olivia went to see Nina in New York. Charlie says he'll talk to Olivia when she returns. As Charlie starts to depart, he sees the file transfer feed from Massive Dynamic on one of the computer monitors. Astrid fills in the details for him... they are rebuilding the image from the broken conversion device. His device.

  In Nina's office at Massive Dynamic, Olivia asks if Nina is familiar with the symbol Bell gave to her. Nina says she is not. Olivia says Bell thought she would be, and that the symbol would be hidden somewhere on the body of the hybrids' leader. Nina deducts that the symbol might be on his head, assuming that was what the cryogenic hijackings were about. Olivia tells Nina of Bells' warning about opening a door between two worlds and the coming storm. Nina recognizes Bell's reference to "the storm" - it was a phrase Bell used when he realized the existence of the other side, and the inevitable collision of the two. No two objects can occupy the same space at the same time... and only one world would remain if they did collide. Nina demonstrates the concept by smashing two snowglobes together, one is destroyed, the other remains intact. Olivia flashes again to her meeting with Bell and sees the notes he wrote for her, the symbol and Laston-Hennings Cryonics. Olivia's cell phone rings and she reads the text message from Charlie - NINA IS THE SHAPE-SHIFTER -- DON'T TRUST HER. GET OUT NOW. Pensive, Olivia excuses herself from the meeting. As Olivia leaves, Nina offers that Massive Dynamic is at her service.

  On the streets outside of Massive Dynamic, as the Observer looks on, Charlie greets Olivia and tells her he has a car around the corner and a S.W.A.T. team inbound. Moving away from the entrance of the building and into a side alley, Olivia confesses she almost told Nina everything. Interested in what was said, the Shape Changer (as Charlie) learns that the skull the hybrids are looking for is at Laston-Hennings Cryonics. Olivia's answers another text message that says the image being rendered at the lab is complete. She receives the image - Agent Charlie Francis. The two stare intensely at each other.

ACT VI

 In the alley near Massivie Dynamic, Olivia is being brutalized by Charlie (shape changer). After being thrown high on a wall, punched and kicked repeatedly, Olivia lays on the ground hacking, as Charlie places a call on his cell phone. He reveals Laston-Hennings Cryonics is the location of the hybrids' target. Olivia is not through with him and delivers a sweeping kick to his legs. Caught unaware, Charlie drops, but is quickly up and on her throat, even with her pistol pointed at him. Struggling for breath and life, Olivia is nearly out of it when a passerby distracts Charlie. Charlie pulls his pistol and shoots the passerby, giving Olivia the chance to quickly recover her dropped weapon. She shoots him several times, to no avail. She shoots more rounds into his torso with no result. As Charlie prepares to level his weapon on Olivia, she puts a final round through his forehead, permanently ending her fight with this shange changing soldier.

 At Rebecca Kibner's house, Walter escorts her from the car to the front door and is invited in. He declines to enter because his bus will arrive shortly. Both seem a little exasperated after the days activities. Walter is apologetic for the experiments he conducted on Rebecca in her youth. Rebecca doesn't agree... she kisses him gently on the lips, saying she has wanted to do that for a long time, and tells him that his experiments made her special. Walter reveals that he has always thought she was special... then dismiss himself to make sure he catches his bus.

 Sitting quietly in a park, Broyles consoles Olivia on her life-or-death defense against Charlie (shape changer), reminding her that it wasn't Charlie. Olivia wants answers... who are these people and why are they doing what they are doing? Broyles informs her that Laston-Hennings was robbed just fifteen minutes before the law enforcement detail arrived and that all of the cryo-capsules were taken. Both assume that the hybrids found the skull they were looking for. Olivia is dismayed that she failed Bell's important task.

← In a makeshift laboratory somewhere, the skull thief continues opening cryo-capsules and shaving the hair on them to detect the symbol of the hybrid leader. The symbol is found and the skull is attached to a mechano-organic body. The skull thief watches, eating a piece of fruit, as the actuators in the exposed neck activate... then, the eyes on the face of the freshly attached cranium open wide.

Quotes

• "In any search for knowledge, there are always unintended consequences, victims you might say. But not you. I can see that... just by looking at you. In fact, you're just coming into your ability. I've seen history repeat itself enough times to know a war is coming, just as we predicted, Walter and I, years ago, and we knew that we had to prepare a guardian, someone to watch the gate." - (William Bell to Olivia, suggesting her role in the grand scheme to defend her universe)
• "I pulled you out of a moving car. Momentum can be deferred, but it must always be paid back, in full... as I once said to Walter, physics is a bitch." - (William Bell to Olivia in regards to her return to her universe)

Trivia

General

• Vincent Van Gogh's famous final self-portrait is prominently replicated among the many graffiti images in the alley where Olivia defends herself. (seen here),
• Elias. The cryonics storage and research company uses the middle name of the famous animator Walt Disney, {Walter Elias Disney) playing on the debunked Urban Legend that Disney had his body cryonically stored for reanimation at a later time.
• Kibner & Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Rebecca Kibner and reference to the sci-fi cult classic movie(s) highlighted this episode. Leonard Nimoy played Doctor Kibner in the 1978 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
• SLUSHO, the fictional beverage of choice in many Bad Robot productions, serves as Charlie's receptacle when he breaks thermometers for the mercury he must consume.

Continuity Errors

• The first syringe Walter prepares for Rebecca is seen close up and only about a fourth filled, but as the shot cuts wide, the syringe appears to be nearly half filled.

Recurring Themes

• Alternate Universes. As Rebecca says goodbye to Peter, she shakes his hand and stares at him, noticing a small, yellow globe of light (like the ones from the glyphs) playing across his face. The look on her face is the same look she displays when she is identifying individuals from the alternate universe, in her drug-induced visions... suggesting Peter is from the alternate universe.

Previously

As Diane Burgess exits her cab in Fracture - the symbol drawn by William Bell, for Olivia in Momentum Deferred, is visible on a stone fence post.

Cultural References

• Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The concept of people from an alternate universe coming to our universe, and taking on the forms of those we know, mimics the theme of aliens coming to earth and taking over bodies in the popular sci-fi story - Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

Music

• I've Seen All Good People by Yes

Episode References

• The events immediately preceding Olivia's return to her universe are revealed - directly, and visually, connecting the timeline of this episode with that in A New Day In The Old Town.

Glyphs

M

E

M

O

R

Y

Unanswered Questions

Theories about these unanswered questions should be placed and read at Momentum Deferred/Theories

Unanswered questions
Do not answer the questions here. Keep the questions open-ended and neutral: do not suggest an answer. More details...

Olivia

• Why were we shown Olivia being transported to the alternate reality from an elevator, when Bell implied she was taken from her SUV?
  • Did Olivia return to a different universe than the one she left?
  • Did Olivia experience a time-shift that left her with only the 'elevator' memories?
  • Assuming Bell pulled Olivia from her moving car, did Nina know Bell intended to initiate the meeting with Olivia that way?
• Why was Olivia's return trip to her universe through Bell's office window?

William Bell

• Why can Bell not return to his original universe?
• Why does Bell need an oxygen tank?
• How did Bell know that the leader's head was hidden at Laston Hennings Cryonics?
  • How did he know what symbol would be on his body?
• Why did Bell ring the bell on his desk just prior to Olivia's departure?
  • Why was the bell the key for Olivia's memory to return?
  • Why does Walter use a bell in his experiment with Rebecca?

Nina Sharp

• Why did Nina Sharp claim she did not recognize the symbol Bell gave to Olivia?
• If Nina was cooperating fully with Olivia, why did Olivia believe Charlie's text message about Nina?
  • Why didn't Olivia check the imaging program on her phone before leaving Nina's office?

Other

• Who is the hybrid leader seen at the end of the episode?
  • What does the mysterious symbol on his head represent?
  • Why is he the key to opening the gate between the universes?

Episodes

Season 2: • A New Day In The Old Town • Night Of Desirable Objects • Fracture • Momentum Deferred • Dream Logic • Earthling • Of Human Action • August • Snakehead • Grey Matters • Unearthed • Johari Window • What Lies Below • The Bishop Revival • Jacksonville • Peter Season 1: • Pilot • The Same Old Story • The Ghost Network • The Arrival • Power Hungry • The Cure • In Which We Meet Mr. Jones • The Equation • The Dreamscape • Safe • Bound • The No-Brainer • The Transformation • Ability • Inner Child • Unleashed • Bad Dreams • Midnight • The Road Not Taken • There's More Than One of Everything

Transcripts

Season 2: • A New Day In The Old Town • Night Of Desirable Objects • Fracture • Momentum Deferred • Dream Logic • Earthling • Of Human Action • August • Snakehead • Grey Matters • Unearthed • Johari Window • What Lies Below • The Bishop Revival • Jacksonville • Peter Season 1: • Pilot • The Same Old Story • The Ghost Network • The Arrival • Power Hungry • The Cure • In Which We Meet Mr. Jones • The Equation • The Dreamscape • Safe • Bound • The No-Brainer • The Transformation • Ability • Inner Child • Unleashed • Bad Dreams • Midnight • The Road Not Taken • There's More Than One of Everything