Fringe, S4 Ep5 – Novation

Meanwhile, “Nadine” is in the passenger seat of Truss’s car, still holding her gun on him as they drive along. She tells him there are people who he doesn’t know, who think highly of his work and would pay him to continue it. He objects to the gun and asks what they could want with him — the work never went anywhere. “Nadine” unbuttons a few buttons on her shirt to show him her translucent skin, and tells him it’s because she was a terminal cancer patient who was treated using cellular replication. Truss is amazed that it worked. She says the cancer went into remission — a miracle — but she’s still dying because the treatment didn’t quite take. Her cells aren’t stable. Truss in not unaffected by this load of hooey. He says he’ll help her, and she doesn’t need the gun.

We watch as someone takes apart a device attached to a wall. It’s Peter. Hee. It’s great to see Peter the mechanical genius back in this episode. Before we see what he’s up to, we go to Olivia and Broyles entering the Federal Building bullpen. Olivia brings Broyles up to speed on Truss’s work and they and Lincoln speculate that the shape-shifter could be hoping Truss will fix it, because it hasn’t been able to shift completely. Broyles brings up the tech they pulled from the other shape-shifters in the train yard, but Lincoln reminds them that the FBI’s tech department still doesn’t even know what the devices are. At this point we see that what Peter did was tap into the intercom system in the building, because he’s listening in to this conversation. “They’re memory disks. I’ve seen them before,” Peter says, and his voice comes out through the phone on the desk next to Broyles, Olivia, and Lincoln. Love him!

I mean, seriously, how charming am I?

The three FBI agents quickly enter Peter’s cell, where he’s sitting on his table looking confident, smirky, and — I must add — very sexy. “What do you know about shape-shifters?” Broyles demands. “Quite a lot, actually,” Peter says smoothly. He’s a little less smooth when he realizes that they’re talking about the new human hybrid version, which he obviously hasn’t seen before. But Lincoln asks what he knows about these memory disks, and Peter turns the con-man charm back on: he knows they contain cognitive functions, biochemical functions, and mission objectives. He knows this because he’s decoded them before. (Which is a nice reference, since we didn’t actually get to see what Peter learned from the disks he, er, retrieved last season, due to the whole Bellivia plotline.)

Lincoln wants to know if Peter might be able to decrypt them again, and Broyles is annoyed that Lincoln’s trying to take control of this session. But Lincoln rightly points out that they don’t have a lot to lose. Peter agrees, and now Olivia jumps in to ask what he wants: “You’re obviously not doing this out of the goodness of your heart, so what is it that you want?” Peter, easily: “I just want to talk to Walter again.” Olivia reminds him of how well that didn’t go last time, and Peter admits he made a mistake talking to Walter like he was the man he knew. He shouldn’t have, because Walter’s different, just like Olivia is. The point is, though, Peter needs Walter’s help and they need Peter’s. They’re all still way disconcerted by him, but Lincoln says, “Anyone have a better idea?” Aw, you’re cute, Lincoln, and you’re right, but you’re no Peter.

Back in the lab, Walter opens an old-style lunchbox with old film reels and treasured knick-knacks in it. His son’s name is scrawled over the top lid in untidy handwriting. Reverently, he takes out a shell and holds it to his ear. He smiles, lips trembling, then puts it back and takes out a coin much like the one we’ve seen before. He does that over-the-knuckles trick, smiling all the while, and then looks like he’s going to cry.

Yeah, doomed.