Recap – Fringe 2.17 – White Tulip

Peter calls the house again and leaves same message for Walter, who is still writing the same letter. Peter and Olivia have the same conversation about Walter’s stranger-than-normal behaviour. Broyles arrives again. They talk to the kid again, who still can’t ID Peck but this time reports that Peck said, “I’m sorry you have to go through this again.” While checking out the train car, Olivia notices the dead lights and Peter notices the dead electronics again. Only this time, Peter almost finds the letter because he steps on it when he examines a victim. I wonder if Peck is leaving it behind as a clue for Walter. That seems like a reasonable theory. This is “Fringe” after all. But Peter doesn’t notice the envelope, an FBI guy does. He waves it around and Walter reclaims it. Again.

Peter calls Olivia and Broyles to say that all bodies were indeed drained of all energy. The Fibbies have identified a fingerprint on the train’s hand rail and it belongs to Dr. Alistair Peck of NASA. They go into his building. This time, there are no boards, no papers, no medical supplies or clues of any kind. All the rooms have been stripped down to their basic furnishings. Walter looks around. They find Peck’s MIT diploma.

Olivia gets a case of deja vu. Peter tells her that deja vu means you are right in ling with where you are supposed to be, that you are on track with own your destiny. Peter then laughs and says he never gets it himself. He must not be on track with his own destiny. Oh, what a shot to the heart for the friend who’s keeping a very important secret.

Peter finds a photo album where they find a picture of a woman and Peck. On the back is written “Me and Alistair.” Olivia is not pleased with this less than helpful identifier. “Okay, then who are you?” Walter spies through the blinds. Does he see Peck watching from across the street again? We don’t find out. “Shall we go home? I’m tired of waiting?” Sure, Walter, we can go. He whispers to Olivia that he wants her to drive him. He can’t be around Peter just now. He’s going to tell him, he wrote a letter and everything, but he’s waiting for something important before he gives Peter the letter.

Peter finds prototypes for casting something. What? They have no idea. We cut to Peck in machine shop, doing something with a similar cast. We also see that it’s not just his arms; Peck has wires running all through skin. Insert Robocop joke here.

MIT. Dr. Carol Bryce tells Team Fringe that Peck’s focus/obsession was molecular acceleration. Peter translates. He was obsessed with time travel. Bryce identifies the woman as his fiancee Arlette. She says she was Peck’s only friend (but she doesn’t know Annette’s last name. That’s pretty sad.) She tells them that Peck left her 3 articles he wanted to publish. She says they can take them but it is mostly gobbledy-gook. Olivia smiles. It just so happens that she knows someone fluent in gobbledy-gook. Two someones, actually. Three or more, really, if she includes some of Nina Sharp’s employees, but Nina isn’t in this episode so maybe we shouldn’t count her.

After examining the papers, Walter says that it’s possible that Peck is able to travel through time. He does a folding paper/bending time visual demonstration which I can’t duplicate here. Anyway, when the times (past and present) touch, it takes a tremendous amount of energy to keep them together, thus absorbing the energy of everything in the vicinity. Cell phones, iPods, people. Walter says that they may have already caught Peck several times but they’d have no way to know, or to hold him. Also in the papers is a reference to the Arlette Principle. It is named after Peck’s fiancee. “What if Peck is going back to save her?” Olivia asks. Walter says that grief can drive people to extraordinary means. But considering energy drawn, Walter estimates that Peck only managed a 12 hour jump. That doesn’t sound good. For a 10 month jump, how many casualties would there be? Walter can’t say for sure, it would depend on when/where he landed.

Back at Walter’s lab, Astrid’s been working her computer magic. She’s managed to track a cell phone. Not Peck’s, it’s been inactive. But poor dead Arlette’s phone is on and is using a cell tower on Albany Street. What near Albany Street? “MIT,” says Peter. Once on site, Walter asks Olivia to give him a chance to talk to Peck. Going back in time to save a loved one is something they have in common. She agrees to let him try.

In Peck’s lab, the time jumper is inserting another disc under his skin in his chest. It’s is a truly disgusting shot with gross-out special make up. Good job. Walter enters the lab and introduces himself but Peck knows who he is. Walter tells Peck that he knows Peck could disappear in time whenever he wants but to please hear him out. Peck agrees to listen.

“I know your next jump is to 18th of May,” Walter says. Arlette’s death day. When Peck moves, Walter tells him not to stand by the window; the FBI has snipers. Broyles is not amused when he hears that warning over Walter’s wire. Walter warns Peck that a jump that far back will kill a lot of people. Peck says it won’t; a jump into the past clears the dead. Which is true because no-one will have died on the train because that train car won’t even exist yet. Besides, Peck is planning to land in an empty field where a hot air balloon was set up. He’ll only kill plant life. “Do you know why you haven’t gone back to the 18th yet? Because you can’t. You can’t go back any further than train, “Walter says. And he’s right. Peck is afraid to try to jump back farther because he might miss.

Walter pulls the plug on his wire. He promises to help Peck with the calculation if Peck promises not to jump. (Now I’m getting a really wicked case of deja vu. If you remember where I’ve seen this scene before, please let me know – it’s driving me nuts!) Walter tells Peck that he did the equivalent of what Peck is planning to do, and while he saved his loved one it was never the same *because he knew it wasn’t right*. The Fibbies are rushing the building now since Walter is out of contact. Walter quickly tells Peck that he doesn’t believe in God but he believes his actions betrayed God and everything that has happened since is God punishing him. He’s been seeking redemption but doesn’t think he’ll ever get it. Somehow, in his mind, Walter has decided that if God truly forgives him, he’ll send Walter a white tulip. And if God forgives him, Peter might too when he finds out what Walter has done. Peck is not convinced. “If you are a man of science, that is the only faith we need.” But he seems to believe that Walter believes it. Walter insists there will be repercussions. “You will never be able to hold her again with looking at her like I look at my son.” ‘You’re asking me to just leave her there,’Peck says, to be sure. Walter nods. The FBI guys burst through the door. Walter tries to stop them. Peck jumps back in time.

Back in the lab, Astrid says that when they first searched for Peck, he didn’t have a cell phone. WAIT — I’ll bet that they find that his former fiancee’s phone is active and the closest tower is on Albany Street. Hurray, two points for Featherlite! Team Fringe arrives on site and Walter watches the entry team prepare to breach the building. Walter doesn’t offer to talk to Peck this time. Just as well. This time Peck’s barricaded the door. He sits down at a desk and quickly writes something we can’t see. He puts it into an envelope which he addresses to Carol Bryer, MIT.’A sniper spies Peck through the window, but Peck sees the laser site on his forehead reflected in the mirror. He ducks.

He flickers in and out and ends up on the train. No, he doesn’t. Walter did give him the goods because he ended up in the field with the hot air balloon. A huge circle of dead plant life surrounds the balloon but there are no bodies on the ground. Peck races towards his fiancee, dodging people in the street. He’s moving pretty well considering he has more implanted accessories than Marcus Wright. His fiancee is just about to pull out when he opens the door and slips into the passenger seat, breathless. They smile at each other. He made it. In more than one sense of the word.

And then the whole car is totalled when it is T-boned by another vehicle.

Well, for a happily ever after ending and a bunch of time travel, that sucks.

At some time later, between the car accident and the time of the train crash that won’t be, Professor Carol Bryer finds Peck’s envelope in her file cabinet. She opens it to find another envelope and a post it. Please mail to Walter Bishop on March 18th, 2010. A colleague comes into her office and tells her to open it. Will she open it? Will she mail it as per the dead man’s last request? Ooooh, tension.

Walter sits at his desk, finishing his letter to Peter. (Again. For the third time. At least.) He seals the envelope and decides not to put it in his pocket. He throws it into the fire and watches it burn. So what the heck was the dealio of it turning up on the floor in the train repeatedly? No connection at all to the story, just an indication that Walter needs velcro closures on his pockets? Come on, now, that was a bit of a rip-off.

Peter comes home with a gift; he’s fixed Walter’s turntable. But this does not cheer Walter up as Peter as hoped. Peter asks his father if there is something Walter wants to talk to him about. Walter says that something has been weighing on his mind but that he’s fine.

The mail arrives. Walter sorts through it and finds *the letter*. He opens it to find a strip of white paper with a tulip drawn on it. He stares at the white tulip, stunned, thrilled. Then he looks upstairs after Peter.

***

Overall, I thought it was a very good episode, but it looks like Peter finds out next week, which will be an AWESOME episode.