Fringe Observiews 4.04 Subject 9 ~ Fringe Television - Fan Site for the FOX TV Series Fringe

Fringe Observiews 4.04 Subject 9

      Email Post       10/18/2011 03:39:00 PM      



Welcome to the Observiews for Season 4 of Fringe. I call them Observiews because they are more visual observations than deep thinking reviews.

All screen caps are taken from fringefiles.com.

All observations are mine and therefore could be totally off the wall and/or wrong. I have not read or looked at any recaps or reviews.

3.10 The Firefly
PETER: “Oh, no, I’m still asleep upstairs in my bed. You are just talking to an astral projection of me.”

This picture is from last week (4.03 Alone In The World) just before Walter is trying to lobotomize himself. The book on the right is called: Astral Projection and other psychic phenomenon.
That was the clue to this week’s episode.

Glyphs spelled: RESET
As I’ve watched the episode, I noticed things from the old time line coming back. I’ll get back to that.

Observer can be seen here.


There are butterflies on the wall. She also has new bedding and the apartment is decorated different.

Olivia gets visited by an energy force which we now know is Peter in astral projection form.

The picture on the ground shows Ella and Rachel.
Thanks to Dennis who rotated it for me. I hope we get to see them again.

Meanwhile back at the lab
Walter is trying to capture the image of Peter with 28 cameras. Still lots of amber action going on here.

OLIVIA: “Walter, do you think that I’m causing this… like when I was a child and I set fire to the room?
Was it this one, 1.17 Bad Dreams?
Or this one, 3.15 Subject 13 ?
How or when did she find out she was part of the trials and that she has the ability to set things on fire?


Looks like Dr. Sumner is still up to putting Walter back into St. Claire’s and not just temporarily either.
And Olivia has the task of making that decision as Walter found this letter in her jacket.
Don’t want to be in her shoes.


Anyway, because the energy force touched Olivia in her apartment and it collected all metal,
Walter sends the girls there to get an atmospheric sample.

He is still not leaving the lab and while he watches on the screen he eats a pop tart,
strawberry would be my guess.
2.20 Northwest Passage: “Death, strawberry flavored death.” This is one of my favorite lines from Walter.

Bell’s presence is still felt
for there is one on the floor

When I saw Olivia like this, I really thought she was going to start a fire.
I guess better luck next time.


WALTER: “You were always the strongest. The others recognized that. You were always their favorite.”
Bell said to her in 2.04 Momentum Deferred: “You were always the strongest.”
Rachel also said it in 1.11 Bound. I’m still wondering why she used that same phrase.
and Nick Lane said it in 1.17 Bad Dreams.
And speaking of Nick Lane; Olivia had a psychic link with him which Walter suggests in the current episode as well.


Then we finally get some Nina Sharp.
“…We create technology. How it is used is not our concern. We just own the patents.”

In 1.01 The Pilot, she says this:
“… We reached the point where science and technology have advanced at such an exponential rate for so long, it may be way beyond our ability to regulate and control them.”

She also says that the Cortexiphan files were sealed for 20 years, not sure if they all still exist. We know in the old time line those files apparently never existed.

Apparently the relationship between Nina and Walter is not so pleasant in this time line. Wonder what happened.
WALTER: “…Her voice goes right into my inner ear and rattles around like razor blades…”
It also looks like he is conducting.

 And then we have Olivia and Nina:
“So you told me about the Fringe Event, but I think you left something out. It's happening to you, isn't it? Now, come on. I haven't seen this much fear in your face since Bobby Hastings asked you to the prom. So what can I do to help you, dear?”

I thought back to 1.17 Bad Dreams where she confesses to Broyles:
These things that we see every day, these things that we investigatethey’re happening to me.”

Their relationship is so much different now than in the old time line. As far as we know Olivia didn’t meet Nina until she walked into her office in 1.01 The Pilot. But in this time line it seems Nina has known Olivia at least since she was 17 or 18. Or did she know her even earlier? It also seems that Olivia trusts her quite a bit more compared to before.
OLIVIA: “ I've always been a little foggy as to your motives…you kept information from me since I met you.” (2.16 Olivia. In The Lab. With The Revolver.)


I really liked how Olivia explained the trials:
“Walter and William Bell thought that children had untapped extrasensory capabilities -- capabilities that are socialized out of us when we grow up. They wanted to tap into those abilities -- things like telekinesis, pyrokinesis, even the ability to cross over to another universe without a bridge.” ASTRID: “And so they... experimented on kids.” OLIVIA: “Yeah.” ASTRID: “So what happened to the program?” OLIVIA: “I left. I ran away. Walter said he and Bell shut it down a few years after that.”

So, Olivia, did you still run into the tulip field?
And with Peter not being there (ignore the person on the left) you had no reason to go back. Who did you go to? Where did you go to?

I know I have way too many questions.

I also thought it interesting that Walter turned the monitor off during the girls' conversation.

So then Walter actually wants to leave the lab to help Olivia.
He says: “You could be killed. I know the patient. I know his capabilities. You do not. You need me. Without me, you can do nothing. Claire, will you please man the cameras in my absence?”
ASTRID: "Really, Claire? That doesn't even start with an "A."”
That reminded me of 1.05 Power Hungry.
ASTRID: “What’s my name?” WALTER: “Starts with “a”, yes?”

Then I caught this: A Violet Sedan Chair poster right next to Olivia.

 It was actually in the last episode as well and I saw it, right between the two,
just couldn't figure out if it meant something.

So Walter has left the lab and is walking the streets of New York.
And just as Walter is still walking in patterns, there are a few different ones on the sidewalk there.

I guess we’re not in Kansas anymore – or New York where they’re supposed to be.
There is a Canadian flag back there.

I know this is kind of blurry but believe me when I say the license plate on the police car reads: 4738.
I've said before  that numbers are important. 47 always shows up. It’s a remnant from “Lost”.  This is actually the first “47” this season. When I saw the number the first time (3.14 6B)
I was just playing around with it.
4 +7= 11, 3+8= 11, 8-3= 5, 7-4= 3, 5+3= 8 which is Olivia’s number. 8 also stands for infinity.
11+11=22 which is the most powerful number.
http://www.decoz.com/Masternumbers.htm
The 22 is also known as the master builder. It is potentially the most successful of all numbers and it can turn the most ambitious dreams into reality.
I’ll get back to more numbers later.

So now we’re in Cameron’s apartment, which has no metal objects. The décor is blue and green.

And it looks like Walter is flirting

Later the hotel room is full of amber
and apparently a veritable petri dish. It also has chocolate stains on the desk and strawberry juice on the floor. Walter also talks about Bell again.
Olivia leaves, trying to get some sleep, she gets spooked in the hallway, enters her room but the lights don’t work. As she’s trying to call the front desk, she hears banging coming from Walter’s room and she goes back to room 202.
Ok so here I’m gonna go on a side track for a bit.
Room 202; 20+2=22. Besides the reference from earlier the number 22 showed up before as well.
2.05 Dream Logic on the cab
and 3.15 Subject 13, blue cubes to the right of her.
Another one is in 2.14 Jacksonville. Here we not only have 22 but also 8.
Later when Olivia goes to Cameron’s apartment you can see the building number: 1210.
12+10=22. And we have an 8 as well (right bottom corner of the glass, to the left of Olivia).
Just to name a few others, 2.06 Earthling
 2.17 White Tulip as Walter is holding the molds in the form of an 8.
3.20 6:02 AM EST
Sam's apartment number is 35. 3+5=8
And in 3.14 6B she knocks 8 times at Peter's door when she comes over for a drink.

When I mentioned the glyphs spelling RESET I was wondering if this is the beginning of the RESET from the reset. Things from the old time line sneaking back in? Totally my speculation and I could be so wrong.


The interaction between Olivia and Walter was just so amazing, like a father with his daughter.
Anna and John did an outstanding job. This whole scene has so much great dialog.
OLIVIA: “It's curious, don't you think? The things that we see, that we investigate, and you don't bat an eye, and some harmless germs make you shake in your boots.”

(I referenced a passage from 1.17 Bad Dreams earlier where Olivia says part of the same dialog to Broyles.)

WALTER: “I suppose it is. Elizabeth, my wife, used to say I was a man of contradictions. She liked that about me. I liked everything about her. She committed suicide. Did you know that? After our Peter died. I'm glad she never knew me like this... afraid of things I can't even see.”
Olivia didn't know.
Because it was Peter who told her in 2.18 The Man From The Other Side.


So then here comes my favorite part I think.
A root beer float and OLIVIA DRINKS IT TOO, lol.
Last time we've seen Walter having one was in 1.04 The Arrival.
This is another great conversation between them. Walter tells Olivia that he’s seen the letter. WALTER: "Does he pose a significant threat to himself or others?" OLIVIA: “Hmm?” WALTER: “The letter in your jacket from Saint Claire's. I wasn't snooping. I - I saw the emblem. Well, perhaps I was snooping a bit.” OLIVIA: “I'm sorry. You weren't supposed to see that.” WALTER: “It's alright. I've known for three years that this day would come sooner or later, that I was a burden to Fringe Division and to you.” OLIVIA: “Walter –“ WALTER: “No need to sugarcoat it. I've never had any illusions about the nature of this relationship -- of our relationship. I merely work for you. We're not family. If I should cease to be useful, if my behaviors are outweighing my value, well...” OLIVIA: “That's why you left the lab, isn't it, Walter... to prove that you're capable?” WALTER: “I suppose tonight hasn't been my strongest showing.”
OLIVIA: “I need you to understand that... whatever decision I make, I'm only trying to do what's best.”
WALTER: “What's best for whom, Agent Dunham?”

When Walter was talking about them not being a family that broke my heart.
It reminded me of Peter in 2.16 Olivia. In The Lab. With The Revolver:
“You know, this past year, this is the longest I've ever stayed in one place. So this thing that we have, you, me, Walter, this... this... uh, little family unit that we've got going... I don't want to do anything to jeopardize that.”

So then astral Peter shows up again.
We also have some green and red action going on.
Olivia is able to get Walter out of the building while she almost gets hit by a car.

The EMT has tried to offer soup to Walter but he wasn’t interested. What? Walter not interested in food? That’s a first. No matter how weird the situation Walter always had food on his mind.

WALTER: “This is because of what I did to all of you. This is because of me.
It's an indisputable fact. If I hadn't experimented with Cortexiphan, then none of this would be happening. Thirty-seven innocent children and I just turned you into numbers, numbers in my head. I didn't follow up on a single child -- not even you.” OLIVIA: “Hey, Walter, you said before that the doses were so low, none of the children's abilities lasted any longer than twenty-four hours after treatment.” WALTER: “That's true. We couldn't have accounted for this. But if -- if Cameron is manifesting astral projection, then it must be inadvertent, which means that he may not even be aware of the damage he's creating.” OLIVIA: “Oh, no. This is purposeful. I can feel it.”
1.13 The Transformation: “Call it my gut.”
Her intuition is coming back. Later when she stopped Cameron from destroying astral Peter, she says: “I just had a feeling that -- that... that he didn't want to hurt me, that he wanted my help.”

Subject 9:
Cameron James which is actually his father’s name. His father signed him up for the trials because he wanted to get his hands on the trust fund.  CAMERON: “Hell of a guy. I don’t know what kind of a father does that.”
Well, Cameron, Olivia knows too. Her step father wasn't the best either.

Of course Cameron wasn’t too fond of Walter either right then. WALTER: “I’m sorry. I never meant to harm you.”
WALTER: “We were trying to help. We meant no harm.” 1.19 The Road Not Taken

William Bell said something similar to Olivia in 2.04 Momentum Deferred: “We weren't trying to hurt anyone.”


So then astral Peter is about to “attack” again. It’s after Olivia yet she sort of pushes the others back.
The protector in her is coming out as well.

They discover that Cameron can stop it.
This reminded me of 3.19 LSD where cartoon child Olivia stops the horde from coming after them.

Walter is holding his shaking hands.
We've seen this in 1.01 The Pilot
and in 3.14 6B. This Walter (S4) seems to be very much like the Walter from S1.

There is a picture of a bridge hanging behind Walter
that looks a lot like the bridge from 2.18 The Man From The Other Side
And when they are at the power grid plant there is one as well.
I've said it before that bridges are a theme as well in the series and will show up every so often. Bridges are used to cross, to bridge a gap, to connect things, to make a way over an obstacle and it is a way for two universes to interact with each other (at least in the Fringe world).

So back to Cameron; He says to Walter: “You're not at all like I remember you. What happened to you?”
In 2.21 Over There Part 1 Nick said pretty much the same thing: “Man, that's not the same guy I remember.”

So Walter comes up with a way to stop that astral projection. Olivia asks how they can do that and Walter says: “We can’t. Only he [Cameron] can.”
Sounds familiar?
PETER: “Then how the hell are we going to find it, Walter?”
WALTER: “We can't, Peter! But you can, Agent Dunham.”

So they go to the power plant and of course Peter shows up again.
This time Olivia recognized the image of the man in it. She stops Cameron from destroying it and
Peter  disappears only to emerge at Reiden Lake.
In 3.15 Subject 13, Olivia was reading “A Winter’s Tale” by Mark Helprin where Peter Lake, the main character thought he lived at the bottom of the lake. So did young Peter as well in the same episode, trying to go home there as he is willing to drown himself to get there.

I love this dialog as well:
“OLIVIA: Walter... do you think we destroyed it? Do you think it's gone?” WALTER: “I can't be sure, Olivia. What you did may have compromised Cameron's ability. He may have just displaced it. You acted against all reasonable agreements and expectations. You behaved irrationally with regard to only your intuition and instincts.” OLIVIA: “I guess I did.” WALTER: “When I do that, people say I'm crazy. I suppose I've learned that crazy is a lot more complicated than people think.”

Then Olivia gets the phone call that a naked man showed up at Reiden Lake.
She doesn't know where that is. I guess 1.20 There Is More Than One Of Everything didn’t happen.
But Walter still had a house there though in this time line.

As they are at the hospital Walter finds the letter and sees that it’s signed.
He was quite relieved to find out how Olivia decided. So am I!

So then of course Olivia is being taking to Peter’s room.
Yay! Peter is back! He is glad to see her.
But of course Olivia doesn't recognize him.

Can’t wait to find out how that unfolds and how he wins all of them back.

Other observations in no particular order:
Oops, I forgot to do a recap and I think I didn’t talk much about the case because of all the details.

I was watching 3.13 Immortality this past week. Brandonate experimented with the synthesized cortexiphan and Subject 9 was the youngest and showed signs of telekinesis.

Olivia’s alarm clock said 6:00 am. It was 6:00 pm when her and Walter showed up at Cameron’s apartment for the first time.

Olivia is still living in the same apartment.

So William Bell did the cortexiphan experiments for the same reason as in the old time line?

Olivia is just breaking in to all kinds of stuff – the apartment and the power plant.

Cameron asked Olivia if she’s met any of the others and she said no. So she never met Nick Lane.
Funny, this episode reminded me a lot of 1.17 Bad Dreams. I guess it never happened, lol.

This was another great episode!
Keep watching live if you can.

Fringe Rocks!

13 Comments:

Dennis said...

How or when did she find out she was part of the trials and that she has the ability to set things on fire?

I got the impression that she remembers her time at the cortexiphan trials with Walter, unlike in the previous timeline. Something must have been done to the kids in the old timeline to get them to forget. It might have been William Bell, who later went back and "activated" some of the subjects.


And with Peter not being there (ignore the person on the left) you had no reason to go back. Who did you go to? Where did you go to?

I got the feeling that maybe Nina took Olivia in after she ran away. She would have a vested interest in keeping an eye on her, and might explain why Walter is hostile towards Nina (i.e. wouldn't give Olivia back.)

Meg said...

Didn't Violet Sedan Chair end up falling a part because Christopher Llyod's character lost his son? And his son's death was connected to Peter having crossed over to our universe when he was younger?

I guess with Peter dead they staid together longer.

Meg said...

Oh and 47 was a staple in Alias

max said...

I think its the 1st picture that Olivia was referring to dealing with her creating fire.
Remember that in this new timeline, unlike the old, Walter did not start the experiment a 2nd time.

Daniel said...

6B: 2nd letter of the alphabet
6 + 2 = 8

Daniel said...

Also

Subject 9 + Subject 13 = Subject 22

Elizabeth said...

OMG Cortexifan!!!! Brilliant Review! I finally finished Winter's Tale, and I thought the same thing when I saw Peter coming out of the water! The book's ending was very disappointing for me...I hope Fringe continues to amaze every week! One of the best episodes I've seen!

ericpick said...

Did anyone else notice that when Walter was commenting on Nina he said "Tell her to go-" and then it was cut off. I thought this was hilarious because it is pretty obvious what he actually said.

cortexifan said...

@ Dennis
your first point makes sense. Your second too but I feel like there is something missing. We know Olivia killed her step dad. I'm assuming her mother is dead in this time line as well. Was she still the same age when the trials happened? How old was Olivia when she met Nina?
So many questions and hopefully some more answers later.

@Daniel
good catch with the numbers. Would have never thought of it.

@Meg
I guess VSC never broke up. The poster (cover of an album, maybe?) looks different than from what we know of.

@Elizabeth
Thank you. Much appreciated. I have to agree on the ending of the book. I do want to read it again just so I can pick out Fringe references.

g33k said...

I thought Cameron's response to Olivia when she asked him if she could do anything for him was quite interesting. He replied "Make him[Walter] forget about me." And then they look at each other with this kind of inside joke look. So I think Olivia used to be able to make people forget things (wouldn't that be great if you were a kid!) and puts Nick Lane's comments in 'Bad Dreams' about how they wanted them to all forget, but he remembered, as a really cool nugget of info. After all the cortexitots are immune to each other's abilities right?
This has been a theory of mine for awhile, that it was Olivia that made them all forget, I SO loved hearing that line from Cameron!

ObservetteMARCH said...

@Cortexifan,
Wow. What can I say. Your observiews and reviews always blow me away. You really do this show justice and deserve so much credit for your brilliant work.I love love love reading your take on the episodes and you really take the time to deliver gold every time. You're so thorough with all of the details you notice and analyze and your information is always correct and you get all of the facts right. I can tell that you put in a lot of effort to properly research every one of your observiews and reviews. To a huge fan like me, it simply makes my day and I get so much joy out of reading something that is so spot on.
I read reviews from probably every Fringe reviewer and website there is and yours are always my favorite. Great work every single time.

p.s. I am not saying the the other reviewers are bad, so if you are one of them and reading this comment please do not take offense because that is not my intention. I love every single one of you who takes the time to write about the greatest hour of television. Cortexifan just happens to be my personal favorite because the reviews and observations are very thorough, so insightful and always go that one step further into the overall mythology of Fringe.

Brilliant work Cortexifan! I can really tell that you love writing about Fringe.

Zort70 said...

Loved this epsiode, not lots of complicated plot and special effects, but a great character driven piece with lots of information, even if it was hidden in plain sight.

Thanks for the summary, I'd missed a couple of points there.

I really do wonder how the old and the new are going to merge. With Peter back is he going to try and persuade everyone that the other series of events happened or just go along with what is happening now ?

It looks like things are going to be very interesting over the next few weeks :-)

Lincoln said...

I enjoyed reading this, cortexifan. Excellent work!

Post a Comment

Formatting Key:
- <b>bold</b> = bold
- <i >italic</i> = italic
- <a href="http://fringetelevision.com/">link</a> = link

Anonymous posting has been turned off.

 

Viral & Official FOX Websites



FTV Members

Meta

Powered by Blogger
Designed by Spot