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| The Bullet That Saved The World
|
|
| Season:
| 5
| Episode:
| 4
|
| Air Date:
| 26 Oct 12
|
| Written by:
| Alison Schapker
|
| Directed by:
| David Straiton
|
| Starring:
| Main Characters
|
| Guest Cast:
| Georgina Haig as Henrietta Bishop
Michael Kopsa as Captain Windmark
Edward Foy as Holden
Michael Rogers as Mueller
Andrew Hedge as Observer Under Bridge
H. A. Hunter as Store Clerk
Kasey Kieler as Loyalist With Tracker
Peter Abrams as Security Tester
Steve Makaj as Loyalist Commander
Jaren Moore as Loyalist Guard #1
Nathan Dales as Loyalist Guard #2
Graham Myers as Loyalist Guard #3
Sean Baden as Lead Guard
Noah Beggs as Screaming Loyalist
Terrance Leigh as Screaming Loyalist #2
Alan Silverman as Windmark Aide
David Thompson as Citizen Observer
Charles Zuckermann as Check Observer
Phillip Mitchell as Checkpoint Loyalist
Austin Middleton as Vagrant Boy
Jordan Schartner as ND Observer
|
| Next:
| An Origin Story
|
| Previously:
| The Recordist
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| Transcript — Additional Images
|
- Introduction .pdf version
The Bullet That Saved The World is the fourth episode of the fifth season of FRINGE. It first aired on 26 October, 2012. Losing their anonymity in Walter's Lab, the science team is forced to make a bold grab for written technical plans left in a childhood hiding place that Walter remembers. Windmark and Broyles intervene and the team is driven-off with a devastating personal loss.
Synopsis
- Prologue
Late at night in a rundown section of Boston, the high-speed trains rattle the cold evening as the drum fires keep the locals warm. Peter is out and about on a special mission - scavenge some fuel by siphoning gas from the tanks of parked vehicles. With a small carry can in-hand, the goal is met and Peter starts to leave the blighted neighborhood. He passes the storefront of a small business that is still open and notices an old collectible in the window... the wind-up mechanical monkey clapping cymbals calls him inside on a second task for the night. Inside of Thrifty Mon vintage and collectibles, the proprietor behind the counter greets Peter - are you here to barter? Not really, just looking for now. An embroidered pillow and a child's electronic memory game catch his eye initially, but what Peter really is looking for is... before he can finish his thought, the Observer that was lingering nearby steps forward with the necklace that Peter was thinking about. Before the Observer gets too far into Peter's mental imagery and who the necklace is meant for, Peter randomizes his thinking. You want to read my mind? Let's visualize baseball not Henrietta. Starting to get a little flustered at the psychic intrusion and the potential for giving away the science team, Peter quickly pays for the necklace and egresses the thrift store, hoping to avoid any more attention. The Observer senses that Peter is deliberately confusing his thoughts and follows him out of the shop - why is Peter protecting a young blonde woman? Outside, two Loyalist Enforcers are harassing a local native just across the way. The Observer calls for them to detain Peter - something is not right. Before anyone can make a move, Peter clocks the Observer in the head with the can of fuel and sprints down the street to avoid capture. In a side alley, the two Loyalists find a sewer lid has been removed and assume Peter has escaped underground. Before Peter can quietly slink away, or open fire on his pursuers, a stun grenade is released and lands too close for comfort. In an all-out sprint to save his life and his freedom, Peter makes it just to the edge of the primary blast wave... sending him flying further down the dark steam tunnel. Aaahh!!!
Bleary-eyed and still groggy from the grenade concussion the night before,
Peter regains his senses in a vacant lot near the elevated train stanchions. A young vagrant boy is standing over him playing the harmonica and studying the situation. Where am I? The boy points to a storm
drain a few feet away - you came out of there, then wanders off with a harmonica tune. Peter's injury has left his shirt stained with blood.
← Secure from intrusion in his
campus lab,
Walter and Astrid retrieve another Ambered videotape from the back of another long tunnel they have lased through the clear solid mass. This tape appears to be less damaged than their previous extraction efforts and should result in better viewing of the secret plan Walter devised. Walter is frustrated with the length of time it is taking to retrieve each piece of the Ambered puzzle.
Astrid reminds him they
can't go much faster without causing too much heat damage, then gets to working preparing this tape for viewing. Peter staggers through the main doors to the lab with the bad news from the night before... an Observer read his thoughts faster than he could react to the incursion - and he saw Peter's mental image of
Henrietta in the process. Peter is disappointed that he couldn't do more: the Observers are good at what they do and it seems that they are always two steps ahead of the team. How do we beat them? His daughter offers her best sage advice... you beat them
one-by-one, starting with a labyrinth of pre-planned thoughts to keep the mind readers preoccupied. It is exhausting, but not impossible. Henrietta has taught others the technique, it just takes a long time to master - and she will teach everyone on the team. Peter shares the only positive outcome from his night on the wild streets of Boston. He lost the auto fuel he was planning on returning with, but he did find a replacement necklace for the one Walter used to upgrade the laser they are using. Henrietta appreciates her father's effort with a big hug -
no good deed goes unpunished.
Back in the Boston thrift shop where Peter eluded capture,
Captain Windmark plays the memory game that Peter was eyeing the night before, while
waiting for his consultant from Fringe Division.
Phillip Broyles, Chief of the minimalized and under-funded Fringe Division walks through the front door of the business for their meeting. The three-dimensional holographic security footage from Peter's purchase tells Windmark that Bishop was after a string of compound metals bound in links, like a chain. Why? Broyles explains the simplicity of the purchase - you wear it - around your neck. Windmark sees a greater issue, a challenge to his authority... and fugitives on the run who show little fear of that authority. Their confidence suggests that they are well-informed by, and may be receiving protection from, The Resistance. The fact that one of the Loyalist enforcers from Fringe Division failed a security test a few days earlier could mean that the rogue science team has been getting insider information about the actions taken to apprehend them. Broyles is hearing about the security hiccup for the first time and is a bit miffed that he is only finding this out now, well after the incident.
In
Walter's Lab, the second videotape in the Bishop Family
Save The World collection is ready for review. The old recording is in bad shape, but still better than some of the previous recoveries. On the tape, Walter is talking in abstract terms about phenomena,
reversibility and measurable effects. One statement holds true with previous recordings... the plan must be followed exactly. On-screen, Walter rolls a stack of large sheet paper and seals it in a protective cylinder. The recording catches Walter digressing to a boyhood memory about train trips to Manhattan he took with his mother. Before the sidebar story gets any farther, the videotape begins to disintegrate inside of the cassette player before Astrid can rescue it. The sentimental story on the video jogs Walter memory - he knows where the cylinder with the grand plan in it is located. The subway platform beneath
Newark-Penn Station. He hid things there when he was ten
and he is certain that is where the plans will be. Henrietta knows that it will be difficult to retrieve the plans because major access points to Manhattan, like Newark-Penn, have an Observer checkpoint manned with armed Loyalists. She calls-up a security checkpoint camera on her handheld computer to show her mother. Getting into Newark-Penn
(Entrada) will be tough. Attacking the heavily guarded bottleneck will be ineffective and even creating a diversion at the checkpoint so they can slip in may not work. They need much more than a diversion. Walter has an idea along those lines and needs to get to a rolling cabinet buried deep in the Amber. Astrid knows better - there is nothing in that cabinet that will help this
idea move forward. Walter corrects her - it isn't what is in the cabinet... it is what's under it. Prepare the laser!
Once they bore through the
Amber and roll away the cabinet. Walter torches through the sealed hatch in the floor of the lab. The stairs down to the subterranean storage area are poorly lit. Walter prepares for the trip down by inhaling
Mentholatum through his nose - the rot and decay below may be considerable. The quintet venture below and Walter powers-up the cavern with the master power switch. Not too bad.
Olivia is amazed at the collection Walter has amassed - specimens and equipment from all of the Fringe cases they have ever worked. If they need an
over-the-top diversion to gain access to Newark-Penn, they'll definitely find it here. Time to create a few
Fringe events of their own.
As the team settles in for some creative science in Walter's storage basement below the lab, Henrietta takes a gander around at all of the collected specimens and oddities - this is all Fringe casework? Walter confirms that he has documented and preserved all things Fringe to the best of his ability. Olivia has a side conversation with Astrid... you had no idea Walter was stockpiling all of this stuff down here? No! Astrid wouldn't have been able to sleep at night if she had known about this. Walter defends his hoarding - these are secrets, yes, but they are his secrets. And with his distrust of the government, all of these things were probably safer being stored here, than elsewhere. Henrietta gets everyone's attention when she casually handles an Ambering device... hair trigger - put it down softly. Peter is focused on the mission of how to get into Newark-Penn to get the hidden plans without having to generate something as complex as a trans-dimensional portal, like when they infiltrated the alternate universe. Walter sees his point. Maybe after they inventory the room and see what is still viable they can generate an effective, not too extravagant, method of getting past the security checkpoint in New Jersey. A no-notice Walter Bishop taste test confirms that the jelly-filled donut holes he left sitting out two decades earlier are still viable... yummm - spongy - tendrils.
In a small sterile room, Loyalist Technician 58693 Holden is interrogated about his recent failure during a routine recurring interview he was administered to verify his loyalty. Broyles watches on a monitor in a nearby office as one of Windmark's interrogators replays the failed security interview for Holden on a two-dimensional holographic display screen. In the prior interview, Holden answers questions about his induction into the organization three
years earlier in 2033. His parents are dead and weren't present at the ceremony. The weather that day? Sunny. The Observer across from Holden now knows better - it rained nearly all day and wasn't sunny. The interrogation turns ugly as Holden's mind is probed for clues and the cranial pressure of the intrusion forces blood from his nose. His thoughts betray him and he allows images of his past to be read. His paperwork is forged and he is with The Resistance. Peter Bishop is one of the fugitives he is protecting. Resistance leader Anil is involved. There is something else -
The Dove - what is the real name of
The Dove? Under extreme physical duress - Holden can only share that nobody knows the real name of
The Dove. The interrogator turns to the security camera, knowing that Broyles is watching, then leaves the interview to join him. Before his Observer colleague gets to the nearby room, Broyles removes his sidearm, checks the capacitor, releases the safety, and returns the weapon to it's holster - ready to draw and fire. The interrogator joins him and shares what he garnered. Holden is a low-level operative and his information is limited. Broyles reminds him that this is the third time they have heard
The Dove referenced. There is more... Peter Bishop and the other fugitives are in a lab in Sector-B, on the old Harvard campus - and - that Broyles knows these fugitives. Broyles admits as much. He did, a long time ago, but how does this interrogator know that. Simple. Windmark told him that tidbit. Did he not mention it? The interrogator leaves the cautious and tense Broyles in order to file his report. Broyles sighs in relief and releases his tight grip on his holster.
In Walter's basement storage room below his lab, the Bishop Boys have fashioned a couple of compressed air rifles to launch the
Fringe Event they
intend to inflict on the checkpoint outside of the Newark-Penn rail station. In a playful mood, Walter launches a surprise attack into the lighting over Astrid's head. The startling assault gives the Bishop Boys a good belly-laugh and leaves them chuckling. Astrid has her hands deeps in an isolation chamber full of what could be considered a
Weapon of Mass Destruction... her chuckle meter is registering about two-hundred percent below minimum acceptable levels. Walter is sure the compressed air cannons will work perfectly at the New Jersey checkpoint. In a quieter part of the lab, Henrietta and her mom sit and go over the plan to infiltrate the train station to get to the abandoned subway platform below it. The live camera feed of the checkpoint on Henrietta's handheld computer shows that the checkpoint is heavily guarded. Olivia notices the bullet that her daughter keeps on the necklace she always has around her neck. 'Etta retrieved it from their old house in Cambridge after the area had been looted. It was well-hidden and she figured that it must have been important - she has been wearing it for the past decade. Olivia recalls that Henrietta's dad called it,
The Bullet That Saved The World (Brave New World, Part 2). Things go from quiet
mother-daughter bonding time to
near panic when Henrietta gets a text message passing
the latest insider information - the lab they are in has been compromised.
On the other end of the text message, Broyles puts away his cellphone and heads to the elevator to leave the building. The Observer that joins him in the elevator senses nothing askew. Olivia delivers the bad news to the others... they have to go - now! Henrietta verifies that the insider information she received is valid. It came from someone she genuinely trusts. Walter is irate - they can't abandon his lab. Without the tapes and the plan... they won't win the battle against the occupying forces. Peter doesn't help his father's tirade - they'll never be able to set foot in the lab again once they see the science team has been there. Olivia has an option... re-Amber the lab. As a Loyalist assault squad works their way closer to the lab, cutting locks as needed, Windmark and Broyles watch remotely from the office. Tactical Squad 16 breaches the lab with weapons leveled and ready to engage... but nothing - it's just an Ambered lab.
In the dusty and deteriorating corridors of the Kresge Building, the Loyalist response squad sent to apprehend the wanted fugitives continues a final sweep through the facility, without any luck. Walter's Lab was unoccupied and appears unused. Once the fascists are cleared to leave by Headquarters, Astrid crawls out of the HVAC air return duct that she was hiding in, and returns to the lab with the laser she kept with her, so she could get back through the
Amber.
In his office, Windmark is baffled that the lab is empty. The reading during the cerebral scan of Holden was a deception. Broyles is curious how that is possible. Windmark calls up a 3-D hologram of Henrietta Bishop and comes to the conclusion that she has been deceiving his cerebral readings... more so - others may be capable of doing so as well. Agent Broyles has no comment. →
At the secure access checkpoint into Newark-Penn Station, Walter drives the Vista Cruiser station wagon to the inspection gate, stops, rolls down his window and asks for directions. With his best 'disoriented senior citizen' routine, Walter claims he is trying to get to Kennebunkport, 300 miles behind him to the Northeast. The Loyalist Guard asks to see Walter's travel papers and gets Walter's best - crazy me, I've been driving in circles - schtick. The Observer overseeing the checkpoint joins the conversation... he will handle Walter's situation - with an electrical zap to the chest. Your papers - NOW. The zap seems to please Walter more than dissuade him. My papers? Sure. Walter turns to the empty passenger seat, as if
satisfying the demand for paperwork, then turns back to the open driver's window wearing a gas mask over his face. The aerosol can in his hand ends this conversation as he sprays the faces of the two men detaining him. Instantaneously, all of the skin on their faces grows-over their mouth, nostrils and eyes
(Ability), assuring immediate death-by-suffocation. The two casualties of war fall to the ground, one with Walter's cheesecake photo on his scanner, as Peter, Olivia and Henrietta join the incursion. The Bishop Girls hop in the car and will meet the Bishop Boys around back when they have retrieved what they came for from Walter's childhood secret storage spot. Walter and Peter proceed on foot toward the main boarding terminal carrying a couple of gym bags. Inside, an out-of-the-way service stairwell gets the two down to the old, abandoned subway terminal below the high-speed rail station. With their flashlights, Walter finds the ventilation grate from his youth. A quick pry and the metallic grid releases. Peter reaches down, finds a wire and hauls out the long cylindrical tube attached to it. They have the plans, but are intercepted by a Loyalist and an Observer. Peter dispatches the two men as he and father race upstairs with their masks to evade capture. Topside, Olivia and Henrietta wait nervously as sirens and patrols draw near. Its time to don their masks for the pending firefight. With the compresssed air cannons fashioned in the lab, Olivia and Henrietta fire multiple rounds of the deadly dermis generating gas at the Loyalist guards converging and firing on their position. Peter and Walter rush from the building with the plans they came for - landing directly in the middle of the heavy combat surrounding the station wagon. Peter and Henrietta drop their fair share of Loyalists with their pistols, while the other Loyalists fall from the deadly gas fired by Olivia. Packed into the car for the escape, Olivia backs into a dying Loyalist before speeding ahead to safety... as he suffocates, the enemy of Native humanity manages to attach something to the car.
In his office, Phillip Broyles finishes typing, folds his laptop computer and returns it to its carrying case. He takes out an old, folded photograph and studies the smiling faces of his favorite young agent and her boyfriend consultant to The Bureau - Olivia and Peter... the very definition of loyal, admired and respected colleagues.
Clear of their pursuers, the renegade fugitives that created their own
Fringe event at the Newark-Penn terminal, rally under a highway overpass to study the plans that were so important to recover in their daring attack. With the
plans spread out on the hood of the car, the foursome try to figure out what it is they have. Walter recognizes the complex equations on the large architectural paper as physics.
What kind of physics it is - he has no idea. It is well beyond his grasp of understanding. Olivia recognizes the writing as Walter's, so, even if his mind was wiped somewhat by Windmark, he must have understood it at some point before that. Perhaps, but if someone dictated it to him, then he might not. Peter suggests that Walter's Observer friend,
September, might have fed him the equations. Walter doesn't know, he can't remember if that was the case. Henrietta is curious - will Walter be able to figure out what the equations mean? Walter doesn't see that happening anytime soon. This level of science is like a foreign language to him... at least one of the foreign languages he does not speak. Sorry. Olivia votes for migrating back to the lab, for now. Henrietta needs them to hold up for a few minutes. Somebody they know wants to see them. In less than a minute, a dark sedan pulls under the overpass to join the festivities. Broyles steps from the vehicle, and everyone's face lights-up, Olivia most of all. A warm embrace follows, making the moment even sweeter for the two Feds. Henrietta beams at the gift she arranged for her mother. The Bishops Boys beam at the pleasure of Phillip's handshake. Broyles let's a rare, genuine smile loose from ear-to-ear... he needed Henrietta to keep his name from them for security purposes - in case they were cerebrally scanned by an Observer. Broyles is still reluctant to meet with them now, but couldn't resist. He has known Henrietta for five years. He came across her at a crime scene and intuitively knew who she was. Once she knew his relationship with them, he transferred Henrietta to come work for him. He intended to look after her, but Henrietta essentially wound up doing more for him... recruiting him to the Resistance cause and teaching him how to block Observers from reading his thoughts. That mental discipline training alone took nearly a year.
On
the abandoned subway platform beneath the Newark-Penn rail station, Loyalist Guards study the aftermath of the brazen assault and prepare to brief Captain Windmark on their findings. The airborne toxin used in the attack hyperactivates tissue scarring protein - to deadly effect. Windmark is appalled at the barbarity of the tactic. He picks up one of the flashlights carried by the Bishops and shines it into the ventilation duct that was pried open. What was their purpose? The best guess is that they were after something in the duct. A junior Loyalist interrupts with a finding from the battle zone outside. One of the men that died from the toxin had a tracking device. The device is audibly beeping - we should be able to find the fugitives.
Apart from the sentimental reunion, Broyles has come
bearing gifts. The trunk of his car is full of rechargeable pistols, pulse rifles, motion sensors, etc.... He even has the latest in area weapons - fourth generation anti-matter grenades with delayed fuses and a kill radius of one hundred meters. Just be
sure aren't around once you've armed - they can't be deactivated. Anil at Resistance HQ owes Broyles big time for this. Broyles is just happy to get the band back together... maybe he can swing a deal and work a reassignment out of New York City and return to the Boston sector. Broyles closes the trunk of the sedan and realizes the band isn't getting back together today - an Observer has just appeared twenty yards away. Thinking quickly, Broyles gives the Observer cause to pause... he has apprehended the fugitives. In the half-second of time he bought with the tactical deception, Broyles draws his pistol, shoots and kills the interloper. How were they discovered? Olivia glances at the station wagon and can see that a tracking device was attached under the rear bumper, probably by the guy the clipped when they were escaping. They have to split-up - now! - Broyles can't be found in the vicinity. Henrietta grabs the cylinder of equations and plans Walter has been carrying and gives them to Broyles - protect this at all cost. Another Observer steps across dimensions and begins firing, Peter is sent flying by a near miss blast wave and survives when Henrietta returns fire, dropping the latest Baldie. Broyles gets in his car and clears the area before he is connected to the event. The Bishops don't have time to get the tracker off of the station wagon and then get safely out of the neighborhood, so they flee on foot into the surrounding industrial area. Just as the fugitives, and their protector, vacate the premises, Windmark and an associate materialize in the center of the meeting spot. Windmark is in long range scan mode and points in the direction the Bishops fled.
Not far from their vehicle, the team hurries into an abandoned warehouse looking for defendable safety. The place is too large and they need to move further in.
Loyalists converge on the position and enter with Windmark on point. Still in sensory tracking mode, Windmark knows where in the complex his quarry is heading. More troops arrive and the all exits are covered. A few Observers materialize inside the building, close to the team, but are quickly gunned down. Loyalists troops rush in and suffer the same fate. During the gunplay Walter and Henrietta are separated from the other two, while seeking cover. She sends Walter ahead while cover his six - killing more assault forces in the process. Peter and Olivia cover her while she chases after Walter, dropping a few troops on the way. Walter has found relative safety, but Peter and Olivia need to skidaddle across the roof to rejoin with him. Henrietta gets separated from Walter and is
ambushed by Windmark. Walter is found hiding in a storage bin by Olivia and Peter, but Henrietta isn't doing so well at the hands of Captain Windmark. After knocking her down, Windmark picks her up by the throat. His only real interest is her necklace - why is it so important? Without saying a word, Henrietta answers his quest by opening her mind and sharing her memories of childhood with him. She and her father play in the park. Windmark has his answers - Love. His jaws drops when he understands the concept. Weak and fading,
Henrietta tries to slip a boot-knife into Windmark's gullet. The Observer defends against the attack and disarms the Fringe agent he once was satisfied with - she never know when to give up. Pinned against the wall, Henrietta has nowhere to flee when Windmark steps back, puts his pistol to her chest and fires point-blank. Olivia hears the shot from the other side of factory and immediately knows that her daughter is in grave peril. Satisified with his action, Windmark turns and walks from the building. Collapsed to a sitting position on the floor, Henrietta Bishop's touches her bloody wound and grasps her necklace remembrance of her mother. Her parents rush to find her alone and struggling for her life. They want to get her out of the area as soon as possible so they can start treating her, but Henrietta knows better - she will slow them down too much and they will be captured, or killed as a result. Heroically, Henrietta makes the decision easier for them to leave her behind... she has activated one of the anti-matter grenades she nabbed from Broyles car and they only have a little while before the industrial area they are in is mostly erased. They all love her so much, leaving her behind is the toughest choice ever. Loyalist patrols continue to sweep the area when Windmark realizes the lesson he just learned from Henrietta's vision. Love - the remaining fugitives will attempt to return for her. With a few troops and fellow Observers, Henrietta's resting spot is revisited. She is still there, but they did take her necklace keepsake, leaving only a BOMB! With just seconds left on the anti-matter grenade, Windmark steps through his own personal portal to safety... in time to see a nearby factory building dissolve into nothingness. It's unclear if any of the other Baldies, or their associates made it clear of the blast zone. A short-distance away, Henrietta's family watches the same event in silent despair. Walter starts to usher everyone from the area - let's keep moving. Peter needs a few more seconds with eyes on target... the fresh resolve in his face suggests this isn't over yet.
Quotes
| • "Why put oneself at risk in this quadrant for something so unexceptional? These fugitives are confident enough to walk freely. I think they receive information. The Resistance is protecting them." - Captain Windmark (to Broyles, ironic in the fact that Broyles is the Resistance that is protecting the science team and that Windmark is unable to read Broyles thoughts to that effect)
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| • "Before we begin, first and foremost, you must accept the reversibility of all phenomena... particles have their speeds reversed, then the changes - - found a measurable effect. Let me be crystal clear - - understanding of these scientific concepts, we will not be fighting in the same field. These are the plans that we must follow to the letter - - imperative that these plans be retrieved." - Walter (viewed by the science team on the second video tape message from two decades prior... revealing, in patches, the extreme science he was imbued with to defeat the invaders from 2609 AD)
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Trivia
- General
• Jazz Me Blues by Les Paul 
|
1) Do not answer the questions here.
2) Keep the questions open-ended and neutral: do not suggest an answer.
|
- What tomb is Walter suggesting they forget about during his rant just before the Lab is raided?
- The Blast
- Was Henrietta taken through a trans-dimensional portal by the Observer that examined her in the warehouse, seconds before the anti-matter baton erased the building?
- If so, is she an intelligence liability for the Resistance now that she is in Observer custody?
- Was the anti-matter baton quickly carried, or sent through a trans-dimensional portal, to a nearby building to protect the Loyalist assault team and their prisoner, Henrietta?
- How did Olivia and the Bishops get several hundred yards away from the anti-matter baton blast with under thirty seconds left on the detonation timer?
