Fringe Episode 503
“The Recordist”
Written By: Graham Roland
Directed By: Jeff T. Thomas
Original Airdate: 12 October 2012
In This Episode...
Astrid digs the first tape out of the amber - which is actually tape three. No one is really surprised that Walter would hide them out of order. The tape is a little warped, but they get coordinates that send them out to rural Pennsylvania. In the middle of nowhere, they are “captured” by tree people - humans who live in the forest and have a creeping bark-like fungus on their skin. Walter, Olivia, Peter, and Etta are brought to the tree people’s encampment, where the “leader,” Edwin, recognizes Walter.
This encampment is where the history lives. When the invasion started, Edwin and a clan of followers headed into the forest to live off the grid and record every major event since - all on super high-tech glowy cubes. Fringe Division has become a modern legend. Astrid, back at the lab, finally gets more info off the tape, and calls to tell them to look for a mine. There is a goldmine nearby, and at the bottom of a pit in the mine the group drags up a corpse, covered in the bark fungus - like, head-to-toe. Walter determines that the source of the infection is coming from within the mine - specifically, the pit in the center. Edwin remembers that a few weeks after invasion, a man came and took a bunch of reddish rocks from the mine, saying he was supposed to meet a scientist.
So Walter - or someone - needs to go into that pit and drag up about 40lbs. of quartz from the mine. To do that, he needs to build a special suit - and to do that, he needs copper. Complicating things further, Etta gets a message from an inside source - the Observers are tracking them. Edwin begrudgingly organizes a meet with a nearby camp, who will trade copper for solar energy blueprints. Fringe team heads to the spot Edwin marked on the map, but finds no camp. Frustrated, they return to Edwin’s camp. Edwin isn’t there, but an old man has a message for Walter. The other camp had no copper, so Edwin went into the pit himself and loaded up a bucket with quartz. The old man hauled it up, and Edwin remained in the pit, super-dead. Fringe heads out - but the military stops them. At least, the military thinks they stop them. A mountain man found their van abandoned in the woods. Peter, Olivia, Walter, and Etta have instead found an ancient wood-paneled station wagon - their second chance at a real family.
Dig It or Bury It?
A treasure hunt? What are we, a bunch of drunk frat boys? It wasn’t terrible, it was just a little uneventful. Apparently the quartz is to be used as part of an energy device, and this specific quartz is the only thing powerful enough. So are they going to rebuild the “doomsday” device that opened up the other universe? That has to be the key to driving out the Observers.
Walter Babble
Astrid calls Walter telling him that they are there for material in a mine. He thinks she says “mime” and makes some terrible Marcel Marceau jokes. “Mine! Mine!” she should at him. “M-I-N-E.” So Walter asks Edwin, “Do you have a mine M-I-N-E here?”
Prophecies?
Broyles is back! But is he the Broyles we know and love?