"They're not worms, they're Arachnids!"
Suddenly, Fringe Division is located in a huge complex with all kinds of high-tech gadgets and huge computer screens. Out walks Charlie Francis! Who is Bald in this Ep. Enter Lincoln Lee: The head of Fringe Division, Red Universe. And speaking of "Red" - So is Olivia's Hair. The first thing that entered my mind was the phrase "WTF/H!"
This iteration of Fringe Division is being sent to investigate a "Class 4 Event" - And they come to an Opera House. There is a dead guy on the ground, with all kinds of Pustules all over his body. In fact it is "Neil" (Omar Metwally) from the episode "Olivia, In the Lab, With Revolver." Huh? What's he doing there? And why is he dead? The camera pans back and reveals 1) Olivia 2) Walter 3) Nick Lane and 4) Some poor unspecified forlorn (but cute) girl. As the camera pans up and out of the dome of the Opera house, it reveals a New York City Skyline very unlike the NYC we know-In the "Blue Universe."
This is our first FULL view of "The Other Side" and I'm glad that the time was taken to think it out and develop it. It is slightly different then the version Olivia had "seen" in S1 in the Episode "The Road Not Taken."
But where is Peter in all of this? Back in the Blue 'Verse, Olivia is drinking herself into a Stupor, but an Observer walks by and drops a piece of paper on the barstool: With a Picture of Peter and a Machine, and weird Rays coming from his eyes.
Walter is rummaging through all kinds of papers, but he can't find what he's looking for, we don't know what he's looking for until he calls Olivia and she tells him about the drawing: THIS is what Walter was looking for, this is what September had warned him about many years ago.
A video from Washington State shows Walternate and Peter returning to the Red 'Verse. Walter is ruined, Olivia is devastated. But this new information brought by The Observer sparks them into Action: There must be a way for them to go to the other side and GET PETER.
In fact, there is: Olivia can do it. But in order to take more people, she has to have "more power" meaning she needs to be with more of the "activated" Cortexiphan Kids. In fact, Massive Dynamic has Nick Lane "on ice" in the "Monkey House" - Along with Neil and a girl named Sally Clark (Pascale Hutton) who has the same powers as "Susan Pratt/Nancy Lewis" from "The Road Not Taken" (Played in that episode by Jennifer Ferrin): It seems to me, that this girl was supposed to be Nancy Lewis or Susan Pratt (Whichever one of those twins survived the "activation" process which Sanford Harris began before he was vaporised by the remaining girl): But for all intents and purposes, this girl has the exact same powers of Pyrotelekinesis.
Olivia and Walter with the help of these Kids, cross over. But Crossing Over causes a Rift in the Opera House, which Red Fringe Division responds to. Fringe Division Leader Lincoln Lee has to decide if he is going to activate an Amber Containment Unit: The "Looker" (Who is Astrid!) Calculates up to 10,000 casualties including Fringe Division. Seconds Away from the activation, Astrid announces, "No Containment Necessary."
As this is the first time we get to meet "Fauxlivia" - Anna Torv plays the role much like "our" Olivia, but we see, she is a lot different from Olivia, she likes to make Jokes, especially about how much money the other members of her team owe her. In fact this is exploited later in Season 3.
This is Peter's first view of her as well, and at first she seems very similar to Olivia. But he has other things on his mind: Walternate had given him a project to work on: a bunch of Blueprints and a strange device which is allegedly a "power source."
Fauxlivia (who has not been named that yet by Walter) brings Peter to a High Rise in the City where he starts working on the machine. At first he can't make heads or tails out of the blueprints or the "power source" until he touches a piece of it, and it comes alive in his hand. It is then and there, he determines that this thing responds to his DNA and *only* his DNA. Even then, he must have suspected, "Agenda."
But the "Blue Team" tries to meet up with William Belly in a park, and it all goes south from there: But some odd things happen - Lincoln Lee recognizes Nick Lane, but Lane has been shot and dies in Sally Clark's arms. Never p*** off a woman who has Pyrotelekinetic Powers, cos Sally directs all of her attention on Lincoln Lee and fries him up like a piece of Bacon on a Blue Plate Special! But Lee survives, and they stick him in a Nanite Regeneration Chamber (Or they say they will put him in one). Walter and Olivia are separated but get away. Walter finds his way to a hospital and collapses from a gunshot wound, and Olivia goes to Fauxlivia's House and sees Fauxlivia messing around with her Boyfriend "Frank"-At this point, Spock, Er, Belly shows up and basically says "Time is of the Essence."
End Part 1.
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