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This week’s pattern was: Smoke, Frog, Leaf, Apple, Apple

“The Equation” + “In Which We Meet Mr. Jones” = Answers in “Safe.”

What do you get when you solve a musical equation, show you can pull off an assignment and dance with the devil (Okay, to be fair that is Mr. Jones)? That’s right, you get answers! Talk about payoff. Events are coming together and making much more sense. Wow, all of that “pattern” stuff was to get a machine to free Mr. Jones, or might I say, William Bell?  I have a sneaking suspicion that is who he is, don’t you? Plus, Walter made a time machine for a dying young Peter! Loeb is essential to the operation! Olivia is kidnapped! What fun! So let’s dive in.

  The episode starts with our friend, Loeb, who was saved in an earlier episode by Olivia and team, taking the device activated in “The Equation” and using it to steal from banks. That device defies the laws of physics and moves the air in solid matter so you can literally walk through walls. I wasn’t surprised to see Loeb in command, but wondered if it was more than money they were stealing. It seems they have been doing this for quite some time at different banks around the Northeast. What are they after? Unfortunately, Raoul Luga gets stuck in the wall as the “grid” expires and the team is stuck leaving him behind. That is when Olivia, Peter and Walter are dispatched to check out the event. What were these guys after and why?

On looking at Luga, Olivia thinks she knows the victim and goes to talk to his wife. The wife is puzzled by Olivia, since Olivia remembers a time they met, when it was actually John Scott’s memory. Uh, oh, Olivia is confusing her memories with John Scott’s? That’s crazy, right? Back at the lab, Olivia desperately wants to go back in the tank to get John Scott’s memories out of her head. So Walter agrees, but advises that she only listen to his voice, so she doesn’t get lost from reality. While in the tank, she is taken to John’s memory of his first date with Olivia.  Olivia immediately begins grilling John once he is alone but he can’t hear her. Or can he? What? How is that possible? How is it that he looked at her? Is it because John’s brain is still alive at Massive Dynamic?  Curious. But then, once her brain cuts to another of John’s memories, we find out he knew Young, from the last episode that was murdered by the butterflies, another man and Luga. John kills the undisclosed man, which alarms Olivia and she is brought back to reality. I guess John really was a killer. Wow!

From there, the team figures out that Luga was in a VA hospital and had a “chess club” of four people that are probably the other participants in the robberies. Once they know the identities of the other participants, they get close but don’t know how to find out where the robbers will strike next. Peter figures out that the numbers that Walter repeats when he goes to sleep are from the Fibonacci Mathematical Sequence and in a strange coincidence those are the numbers Olivia remembers as the stolen safety deposit boxes from the banks. The next one in the sequence is the next target! But what does that have to do with the order of the robberies and what is in the boxes?

It doesn’t take long for Walter to remember that when Peter was young, Peter had a weird form of bird flu. Beside himself, the crazy scientist he is concocted an idea to go back in time and get a doctor from the 30’s that was the only one able to cure the disease. Yes, that’s right kids, Walter made a time machine. Unfortunately, he didn’t have to test it because Peter got miraculously better. Walter hid the machine in safety deposit boxes, so it doesn’t take him long to remember the next box is in Providence and what bank. I would like to throw a theory out there about the time machine and an ailing Peter. I think that someone made him sick to push Walter to do something great. Once he did whoever gave Peter the disease cured him, but the machine was lost because Walter hid it… until now. Who would do that? Bell? Seems like it to me. But, how would they know where to find it? Do you think Bell knew of the machine but couldn’t get to it until he had “the equation?” Oh wow, my head hurts. What do you think?

Back to the plot, Olivia goes to Providence and the bank and finds the robbers fleeing the scene, but not until she captures and interrogates one of the members. He unfortunately doesn’t have any information because Loeb didn’t ever tell any of them what the devices would be used for, but it was apparent by the end of the episode. He does know though that they are taking whatever it is to a field in Germany. Enter Mr. Jones, or dare I say, William Bell? That’s right, I have a sneaking suspicion that the allusive Bell is Mr. Jones. He was the guy stuck in the prison in Germany in “In Which We Meet Mr. Jones.” Throughout the episode state-side scenes are juxtaposed with Mr. Jones and his lawyer. I thought they had something to do with each other, and I was right. Mr. Jones uses his lawyer to communicate with his “people.” In “In Which We Meet Mr. Jones,” Loeb’s wife acquires the code, “Little Hill.” Little Hill is the code the lawyer gives Mr. Jones! It becomes the place where this time machine device (more like a transporter) will be set up. This Mr. Jones (William Bell?) must be important to put together such an elaborate plot! Could it be “the pattern” incidents were a diversion for these other events to blend in? Could it be that Loeb proved himself by infecting himself the parasite, so Jones/Bell would find him trustworthy to carry out his plans? What about driving people crazy with an equation that once finished would ultimately open the walls to vaults that contained a device that could ultimately free him? Wow! Going through that just to get out of prison!

With all the pieces of the device, Loeb and his crew go to Germany and set up in Little Hill. Olivia and Charlie aren’t far behind, but Olivia gets kidnapped by some men in a dark SUV. The device, that I will call The Transporter, is activated and low and behold Jones is “beamed” to the field. Wow, that reminds me of Star Trek and “Beam me up, Scotty.” Peculiar this story line comes out now as JJ Abrams is working on the newest installment of the Star Trek movies. I wonder where he got this idea… Ha! In the end, Jones is free and has Olivia, but what does he want with her? Looks like the team will have to find out next episode!

There was still a lot that went on the episode that I didn’t get to above. One was that Peter met up with an old flame, who warned him that he would be found if she could find him. Her boyfriend has an encounter with Peter later and goes and alerts another man that Peter is back. That doesn’t bode well for Peter, now does it? Also, the observer is hard to find in this episode, but he is seen on the security screen at the Philadelphia Mutual Savings Bank. Thank you, www.fringetelevision.com for that nugget of information and the picture. They also have some interesting information and a whole community if you love this show as much as I do.

This episode really had me on my toes. Sometimes when we have so many questions and no answers, it is hard to stick with a show. But isn’t the pay off worth it? I found this episode deeply rewarding! I mean, I got a time machine, Star Trek shout outs and some nifty walking through walls all in one! Now, just to find out whom Mr. Jones is and what lies in store for our heroine next. Enjoy.

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