Astrid’s tests show a genetic disorder, which confuses Walter. The gene mutation would make them deformed but it wouldn’t make them transform. Then he starts singing the Edina song again. Astrid makes him repeat it. “Hard Artichokes Rarely Keep, Norwegian Elephants Seldom Sleep”. It’s a mnemonic device. Does the word “Harkness” mean anything to Walter? Yes! It means we’re taking a field trip to the Harvard Law Library.
Walter stops in the middle of the stacks and unscrews a vent. He pulls out a dusty box of Devil Dog cakes and is quite upset that they have gone to waste. Astrid promises to get him new ones. (Wow, I would have thought that they were like Twinkies. Those things are made of preservatives and should last till the second Armageddon.) Behind the desserts is a file filled with pictures of deformed men. Project Elephant. Apparently Walter was a part of the project.
Meanwhile, Olivia discovers that all the “F” files are gone from the county record office. That’s not the only screwy thing. Peter thinks something is wrong with the census records as well.
Sheriff Velchik walks out of the police station and is met by a mob of people. He tries to convince them that the feds don’t have anything. Rose tells him that they have a picture of Teddy. They never had a picture before. He promises he will make it all go away.
Astrid is behind the wheel as Walter recounts what he can remember about Project Elephant, which was run by a scientist named Cobb. Walter now remembers Cobb and his family. In the early 70s, the army became obsessed with camouflage. They discovered that a massive electromagnetic pulse could fry a person’s optic nerve, thus making soldiers invisible to the naked eye. It was only later that they discovered that the pulse caused genetic disorders. Astrid doesn’t understand how that would affect their ability to transform. Walter tells her to stop the car as they approach the Edina City Limits sign.
He gets out of the car, taking the moth in the jar with him. Astrid follows at a distance. “What do you see?” Walter asks. “The moth.” “Come closer.” Astrid does. Once she gets over the city limits, the moth transforms back into the butterfly that Walter originally captured. They aren’t transforming; the magnetic field is simply changing their perceptions of what they see.
Walter calls Peter to tell him the news. So long as Team Fringe stays in the range of the pulse, the mutations will appear normal. The pulse is the source of the Edina hum. Peter thanks him for the information and tells Walter that he and Astrid are to go back to the lab immediately. Walter relays Peter’s message to Astrid — “We are to head into town and find the source of the electromagnetic pulse.
Rose tells him that he can’t kill innocent people. Why not, it worked last time, Velchik says. He tells her to go home and let him do his job.
Astrid asks Walter what they are looking for. A satellite? Walter smirks. No dear, those are for televisions. After all, what else would you do in town like Edina? (As someone who knows from small towns — so much word!) It would be some kind of generator hooked up to a transmitter. Like that antenna, Astrid tries again. Well done, Asterisk.
Walter knocks on the door and recognizes the house as the Cobbs. Teddy answers the door. Walter tells him that he knew Teddy’s mom Rose when she was a little girl and his grandfather. They ask to come in. Walter spies a picture of Rose as a toddler and asks if Teddy has a more recent picture. Teddy tells him they don’t have a camera. Walter is not entirely discrete in his aside to Astrid where he notes that cameras don’t have optic nerves, or that Sheriff Foss is too young to be part of the original experiment, so it must have been his father. Teddy gets nervous and asks them to leave. Walter asks to use the bathroom — he’ll go and then they’ll go. In the meantime, Astrid tells Teddy that she loves “Operation”, the game he has on the table.
Peter is still stuck on the census numbers. He finally figures out what is bothering him. Unless someone dies, the population doesn’t go down. Doesn’t anyone move away, asks Olivia. No. They ask the sheriff in anyone might have photographs of Joe Falls. The sheriff says maybe and asks them to meet him at a property just outside of town.
They arrive at the location. A cop car pulls up but Peter spots the shotgun sticking out of the passenger window. Down! They start taking fire.
As Peter and Olivia dodge bullets as they race to cover in the barn, Walter explores the basement. Astrid looks up and sees Teddy’s true face. Back in the barn, Olivia takes down a deputy but Sheriff Velchik orders them to drop their weapons. He’s about to shoot them when Rose shoots him.
Rose says her father couldn’t live with himself once he discovered the side effects of the experiment. Her father resigned in 1971 in order to work on a cure. He perfected the machine and gave the afflicted a choice: live in the world as monsters or in Edina as regular people. They chose to be normal. Walter tells Rose that he remembered her as a little girl. He assumes that her father stayed in town for her. Olivia is horrified that he experimented on his own family. No, Rose corrects, she and her mother lived in Edina but the army never told him they were expanding the scope of the tests. Walter tries to comfort Rose with the truth; her father truly believed that invisibility would save lives. Rose accepts the comfort; he wanted to give people good lives, and he succeeded.
Walter goes onto the porch and sees Astrid comforting a still deformed Teddy. Broyles arrives. Walter immediately starts pressing for Broyles to remain silent about Edina’s secret. Broyles reminds Walter that three state troopers were killed. Walter counters with the fact that the guilty parties are dead. Broyles asks if Walter found the device that causes the transformation. Walter insists that if the world (and army) finds out that the citizens of Edina will be studied and examined and humiliated as less-than-humans. He’s distraught. Broyles almost smiles and tells Walter that he’s not listening. If Walter didn’t find the device, there is nothing to report. Walter gets it, and thanks Broyles.
Teddy stands by the Edina City Limits sign and watches the Team Fringe convoy leave. Walter tells Peter that he finds it remarkable that Rose was willing to expose her secret to right a wrong. Peter tells his father that he thinks Walter was just as brave when he stood up to Broyles. Walter tells Peter that is glad — very glad indeed — that Peter chooses to see Walter the way he does.
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