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Tonight’s pattern is: Apple, Butterfly, Apple, Apple, Flower.
 

So I was reading a piece and JJ said that we haven’t met William Bell yet, so maybe him being Nina Sharp isn’t going to happen. But wouldn’t that have been fun? Oh well. This week’s episode seemed rushed to me, but with a faux sense of urgency. I heard the looming music and saw crazy things but I still didn’t feel connected to this Loeb character or the reasons for saving him. I needed more on this guy. Like when Scott’s life was hanging in the balance at least we cared because we knew his intimate relationship with Olivia was important to the main character. On the other hand, the plot had talking to dead people and a metallic looking parasite. And thank goodness Walter got his mad scientist on again. 

For weeks we have been wondering about the pattern, and this week Boyles spills the beans, I mean sheds some light on what he knows about the pattern. They are individually funded cells (like terrorists) that work in about 83 countries around the world. They most likely arrange these attacks to show the world and the other cells that their experiment worked. Maybe to someone giving them an assignment? It’s like they get an assignment to carry out and if it succeeds it becomes a pattern related incident. This explanation becomes an extremely important part of the plot. I knew they wouldn’t just throw it in there randomly! I had my suspicions on what was going on but there was one element that I didn’t see coming, stay tuned…

“In Which We Meet Mr. Jones” opens on a tactical team in a shipping yard where they raid a truck. They only find stuffed pandas. This is where we meet Loeb, Boyles colleague and friend. As a result of the botched raid, Loeb comes to Boyles to figure out what happened, but while in his office he suffers some type of heart attack. At the hospital the doctors find the weirdest looking parasite. I thought it looked like a metallic Venus fly trap. I immediately went “yuck” in my mind to the exposed heart with a crazy creature on it. Of course Walter knew what it was: a parasite. But it looks metallic! How did it get there? Why Loeb? Back at the FBI Boyles gets a call from Charlie saying that there must be another mole (besides Scott) in the agency because of the tip off of the truck (with the pandas). Another mole? What would the FBI be without some type of connection to this pattern? I wanted to shout that I pretty much figured it out already, but they wouldn’t be able to hear me. Right?

Eerily similar to the first episode, once Loeb is with Walter, it is only a matter of time before the parasite kills him. So, Olivia flies into action to save Loeb. Walter works on a way to find out what the parasite is. Their big break comes when Olivia goes to Budapest to research someone named Jones who did research on this type of biological weapon. Yes, a biological parasite, like the thing in Loeb. It still gives me shivers. He is in prison now and agrees to speak with Olivia but only if he talks to Joseph Smith and can ask him one question. One question? And low and behold, Joseph Smith is the person that Boyles is going after as a possible mole in the agency. Too bad Boyles gets there first and gets shot in the head. Now what? Wait, Walter has an idea! OOOhhh goody! How is Jones going to talk to a dead Smith?

Walter takes a deceased Joseph Smith back to his lab and proceeds to put him literally on ice. He then attaches his head to some electrodes and goes on a diatribe about how the brain just needs electricity. If they can get his brain active they can ask him questions but they need someone to intercept the answers. Walter nominates Peter. But, that is when Peter realizes his dad used to do these types of experiments on him. Ouch! Now that’s daddy issues. How he got him to agree to do it is beyond me. Maybe national security and saving the day really do make you do crazy things. Again, Peter is strapped to a chair and basically tortured. Poor Peter: babysitter, guinea pig, and drifter. Can someone get Josh Jackson a drink? But when Olivia calls and asks, “where does the gentleman live?” Peter and Walter do figure out the answer, “Little Hill.” What does that mean? Why is that important? And what does it have to do with this case and the pattern? With the answer Jones gives Olivia the anecdote to save Loeb.

I’m relatively skeptical of hospital scenes in this show; they always mean something odd is going on. And boy was I right. Loeb is recovering in the hospital. The team saved the day. Why does this feel familiar? Because it is almost the same plot as the John Scott case and like the John Scott case, guess who the bad guy is? Yep. Loeb. Again. It turns out the last scene is between Loeb and HIS WIFE talking about how what they did was a success. I knew he was the mole, but is wife was in on it? Whoa! And they have the answer to the question, the one that was in the dead guy’s head, Little Hill. What do they want with this answer and what is it code for? Is someone in danger or is it just a code word for a victory? The next assignment? Is this a game? It kinda seems like one or the other, doesn’t it?

There was one scene I found particularly funny. I think JJ is teasing his viewers. With the invention of the internet, people are always talking about the mounting questions on Fringe or Lost and the lack of answers. Boyles got a good one in there about how every case will bring more questions with even less answers and Olivia’s dissatisfaction is what makes her a good agent. Interesting. Maybe that is what makes us good viewers. If we had all the answers would we want more? I don’t think so! So, maybe not having all the answers right now will make it more rewarding in the end. 

Despite the similarity to the pilot and the fact I knew Loeb was the mole from the time they brought up another mole, the episode was fun. We got to see Walter be the mad scientist he is and Olivia actually get kissed! Lucas is very cute, but I don’t think she is in the right place right now. I mean, she is still SEEING John! I think they need to get past that before anything can happen there. Finally, we got some small answers to what the pattern is. It makes sense that they operate like terrorists but why do they experiment, especially on themselves? I don’t see how anything scientific is worth losing a life over, especially something as crazy as we have seen on this show. I don’t think anything will surprise me at this point. Now, maybe next week they will give me more on the Observer, Nina and who the frak William Bell is? Please? One last thing. If you missed the observer, here is where he was. I know I didn’t know where he was until the magic of the internet enlightened me.

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