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Tonight’s pattern: Butterfly, Flower, Flower, Hand, Flower, Leaf

What do rapidly regenerating scar tissue, a walkie-talkie and an old typewriter have in common? That’s right! Fringe! It is a case of see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil malady that coincides with Mr. Jones “Star Treking” himself out of prison.  I absolutely loved this episode! I got to spend quality time with the still mysterious Mr. J, while learning a little more about Walter’s past and it is a big O.M.G! Yes, I know, I just reverted to high school text language, but it’s that good. I reserve my O.M.G.‘s for really big revelations and I think Walter as the possible author of a cultist bible/manuscript is huge. Don’t you?  Huge. Big! Plus, does Olivia have more brain power? Is that why she is on this team? Does Broyles and Sharp know this already? Curious! More after the jump…

Fringe will return in 60 seconds.

  The episode opens on a prior set of scenes from “In Which We Meet Mr. Jones,” where he takes what his lawyer gave him and teleports out of the prison. This we already know, but the news has now trickled down to Olivia and her team. Walter admits to inventing a teleportation device and says it could have been his device that facilitated this miraculous Houdini act. But, he then goes into the fact that if it was used the person would have to spend weeks in a barometric tank to regain equilibrium. Cut to an abandoned warehouse with a tank and BINGO! There is Mr. Jones crawling out of a tank. I knew after what Walter said that we would see him coming out of a tank. It is like he and Walter share a brain!

It seems to be a pleasant day in Boston until a $2 bill causes a local newspaper vendor to literally seal up. His eyes. His nose. His mouth. All covered in skin. Weird. What do you want to bet now that Mr. Jones is back in the states; he is the culprit behind this attack? What is the reason for him doing that to an innocent man? This is what Walter calls the see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil malady. Weird. Olivia and her team are investigating. It seems she really believes that Mr. Jones is behind this attack now that he is free. And what a good turn of events, they have Loeb in custody at a military base, maybe he will know! But all Loeb says is that Mr. Jones is just a part of an army. An army of what? Whom? He isn’t the mastermind? Does that mean he isn’t William Bell? NO! He also says that what is written will come to pass and no one can stop it. Huh? CULT ALERT! CULT ALERT! Are these guys following some crazy loon who thinks the world is going to end? Wow! I figured they were following something or someone but not some radical movement.

At the hospital they start to put two and two together and come back to something from an earlier episode: ZFT, the initials of Jones’ group. It seems ZFT self-published a manuscript a long time ago but it got destroyed. Olivia, now knowing that Peter has random and bizarrely connected connections asks him to get the document so they can read it. And low and behold, they go to a used book store where the guy working says he can get the manuscript called “Zerstorung durch Fortschritte der Technologie” or loosely translated “destruction by advancement of technology.”  Doesn’t that sound like a cult bible? Whoa! When they do finally get the book, it really isn’t a book. It was never published and never even proofed but it talks about the apocalypse in the same breath as technology. It goes into how science will destroy the world as we know it. Our technological ambitions will do us in. The apocalypse is scientific warfare. Yuck. I don’t want to be around for that.

So back at the FBI, they find that Jones’ now dead lawyer, Cole, has a warehouse in Austin that had no power until two weeks ago when Jones escaped from prison. That must be where he is right? Wrong, he is in the lobby of the FBI building looking for Olivia! He will only speak to her! What makes her so special? Why is she so important? I have a theory, can you believe it? He is her biological father! Both blue-eyed and blond haired… hm. What do you think of that? It could be right? Plus he came with a key in his pocket that was taken to forensics. That has to be something for Olivia right? What is this? Jones is also coughing. He doesn’t look too good does he? A reaction to transporting out of prison? What is happening to him? Unfortunately, Harris is baaaccckkk and wheeling his intrusive ax. Really, this guy just needs to pack it up! He won’t let Olivia in to see him because he wants more evidence Jones was behind today’s attack. Instead he makes her go to Austin with Charlie to check out the warehouse. Once they are at the warehouse, Olivia and team find a tank and evidence that Jones was there at one time, but no one is there now. Too bad there is a $2 bill in a drawer and one of the swat team touches it and begins to close up, his skin is growing exponentially around his open eyes, nose and mouth.  Olivia tries to save him by putting in a trachea but it closes up too.  AT least they have the evidence that Jones was behind the attack on the vendor!

Before the team gets back, Harris goes in to talk to Mr. Jones. This guy is a modern day MacGyver, isn’t he? He knows all the tricks! He asks for a standard walkie-talkie, metallic ball point pen, watch, and eye glass repair kit when Olivia returns to talk to him. What does he need all that for? Ok, so they give him this stuff? I wouldn’t! Once Olivia returns with the evidence, she goes in to interview him… and she takes in the stuff he requested. What a bad move because Mr. Jones makes a device that turns off the room’s communication system, so he can talk to Olivia alone. Wow, he really IS a MacGyver. Jones admits he was behind the attack on the street vendor, but said this is just a stage setter for something bigger. He wants her first to pass a test before he can tell her what is going to happen next. A test? Why? So she must take the key that is in forensics and go to an amusement park to get the contents of a box. Olivia is a little annoyed at this point and really wants to know about the attack. To ignite a fire under her, he tells her there is a bomb that will go off if she doesn’t pass the test. Wow… Would he really blow up people to make a point? He says Olivia must be the one to disable it. What type of game is this? Why does SHE have to disable it? What is his end game?

  Back at the lab, Walter has figures out that Jones used a substance that causes scar tissue hyperactivity and makes it grow exponentially. Or what I like to call faceless syndrome. It really is! I mean these people have no face! He explains he is working on an anecdote just in case there are any more victims. Unknown to Peter and the others, Walter is reading the manuscript as well and he says it is like a call to arms but for whom, he doesn’t know. This is when Walter has a nifty voice over as Olivia finds the box of toys at the amusement park. He reads that we think we understand reality but we don’t. There are two warring parallel realities. They start out separate but continue to merge until only one can win out. Only one will survive. Us or them. SCARY! I don’t necessary believe this, but this is kind of like Donnie Darko where it juxtaposes Donnie living and the chaos it causes versus dying. Two parallel worlds, one where he lived and one where he died. Love. It. Turns out it would be better for him to die so he can save many around him. Is this the same type of thing? Who is Donnie in this scenario? Just a thought.

Another thought: You know when Walter thinks you are crazy, you must be right? Everyone thinks Jones is crazy after they open the box he left for Olivia. It is a bunch of children’s games. He explains that the first test (of 10) is a box with a bunch of lights in it, the catch? You have to turn them off but cannot touch the box. The “recruit” must shut down the lights by looking at them. Intensely. What? She can’t believe she fell for Jones’ mind games and thinks he was just trying to get her out of the way. But why? Jones swears that Olivia actually has been treated with Cortexiphan and therefore this game is possible. Is this guy crazy? That is why she was kidnapped! And given a spinal tap! Jones did that to her! What is Cortexiphan? To my surprise (not), it was manufactured by Massive Dynamic and given to test subjects at an early age to un-limit the use of their brains. It was eventually abandoned because it didn’t work. The only place this test was administered according to Nina Sharp was at Ohio State University in 1981. Olivia was in Jacksonville, so she couldn’t have been dosed. Right? Just when you think you figure out Mr. Jones, you don’t. Why would he tell her she was dosed but wasn’t? How does he know this about her? Why does he draw her picture? As I said, I think it is her biodad. I also think Walter ran the trial with Bell, but we will see. But how was she in Ohio when she knows she lived in Florida? Hm.

So Olivia thinks that this test is just a mind game and they are going to trick Jones. They rig the box so that the lights go out as Olivia stares at them. Satisfied (or maybe not) with the “test results,” Jones gives the bomb’s location to Olivia and off she goes with Peter. After Walter examines him, Jones is being taken out of the lab on a stretcher and he tells Walter that is an honor to meet him. Without his work, all of this wouldn’t be possible. WHAT? Could it be that he did all this to meet Walter? Why would he do that? If he hasn’t met him before, then he can’t be William Bell can he? GRR! I wanted Mr. Jones to be Bell. That puts holes in that theory. There are a lot of people out there that believe Walter is William Bell, but what sense would that make? I mean in some ways it makes sense, because we have never seen him and he used to work with Walter. But, how could Walter start a company from the loony bin?

So, Olivia gets to the bomb site to find that the game that Jones tested her with was the only way to diffuse the bomb. That is right; Olivia must ACTUALLY turn out the lights with her mind or die. OOPPS… I bet she would have figured out how to actually pass the test now. Olivia calls Jones and tells him she tricked him and he said he knew that. He says that she is a rare commodity and he has FAITH in her. Why is he trying to recruit her for his cause? Why is she so special? Everyone but Olivia leaves the building and she stares at the panel until miraculously she makes all the lights go out. What I want to know is if she went there and stayed would Jones turn off the lights remotely or did she actually do this herself? Makes you wonder. Maybe she is special. Peter actually didn’t leave and sees her do this and he believes she did it with her mind. Olivia on the other hand thinks it was all a game. Who do you believe? I’m not certain myself, but both have valid arguments. I guess time will tell…

With the bomb diffused and destruction averted, Olivia knows Jones is in the hospital, so she wants to go and talk to him. I believe to find answers, but he’s gone. It turns out that the machine doesn’t kill you and Walter knew it. It does something remarkable but we don’t know what because Jones is gone and there is a large hole in the wall of his room. What does the machine do to you? What do you turn into? But before he left, he had time to write: “You Passed” on the wall. End scene.

Fringe will return in 90 seconds.

The next two paragraphs are the most important part of the show and I love when they leave the best for last! So, Olivia is at home when she gets a call from Nina Sharp personally. Nina explains that she found the trial of Cortexiphan was tested in a second location. UH OH. It turns out there was a location in Jacksonville at a military base where it was studied! She was dosed wasn’t she?? What does that mean? What other “abilities” does she have? The episode was called “ability!”

Finally, the last scene is so jaw dropping that I played it four times to make sure I didn’t miss anything. DVRs are a wonder! Walter is reading the manuscript and notices the typed Y. His face goes long and he pulls out a type writer from his past and begins to type on it. Guess what? The Y on the manuscript matches the Y of his typewriter. O…M…G… is Walter the author of “destruction by advancement of technology?” Is that why all of his inventions and studies are a part of these people’s attacks? Do these people know that Walter was the author? Does Jones? Is he really the author or did he help write it with Bell? Why doesn’t he remember writing this? Is he the LEADER of the ZFT? So. Good.

I can’t believe how much we learned tonight. Olivia is special. Mr. Jones is just a part of the army. Walter is the potential mastermind behind the ZFT and wrote a manuscript used as a cultist bible! Wow! Wow! I can’t stop thinking about those last two scenes. Does Olivia really have abilities? How did Jones figure out she had them? How is she connected to Walter? Is Jones her biological father? What does Olivia’s family have to do with this? Her step-father that sends her notes? Will Walter go rogue and become the leader for ZFT? Remember his past and come clean? I don’t know if I can wait a couple of weeks to find out! All I have to say is “game changing”. Thank you, JJ!

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