Fringe s01e05 Episode Script

Power Hungry

NARRATOR: Previously on Fringe: BRO YLES: They're calling these the Pattern, as if someone's experimenting only the whole world is their lab.
- Anybody you need, you can have.
OLIVIA: His name's Walter Bishop.
- My father.
- He worked out of Harvard.
He was part of a classified U.
S.
Army experimental program in an area called fringe science.
You're saying I can talk to John in a coma? You could access his memories.
FLORA: Joseph.
Joe.
You're gonna be late.
Oh, look at yourself.
Tuck in your shirt.
Put a comb through your hair, for God's sake.
Dara's son, he always takes care of his appearance.
[WOMAN SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY O VER PA.]
RON: Meager.
- It's "Meegar.
" Late again and making personal calls? - No, no, I'm - Who's this? - Nobody.
- She your girlfriend? JOSEPH: She came with the phone.
- You stalking this girl? No.
[ZAPS.]
- Are you kidding me? - Oh, come on.
Unbelievable.
Two in one week.
Your sweep's leaving, Meager.
Get on it, or get another gig.
[MUSIC PLAYING O VER HEADPHONES.]
Hi.
How are you today? And we're still on for the regional managers' meeting tomorrow at 4? Great.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Okay, great.
No problem.
Okay, thank you.
Bye-bye.
Oh, I'm so sor I did not mean to interrupt.
No problem.
Don't you usually have a little tablet thingy with you? Yeah.
I usually do.
Is there something else, or? - I used to be a Webelo.
- I don't The Webelos, Cub Scouts? Your Brownie patch.
Oh, yeah.
No, I actually found that online.
It's kitschy, right? I was gonna put it on one of my jackets.
Oh, that's Oh, that's Yeah, that's cool.
Hey, Bethany.
We still on for drinks tonight? Of course.
But you better not keep me out too late this time.
We'll see.
BETHANY: No, no, no.
Please, don't do this to me.
Come on.
No.
What happened? Damn it.
Oh, my God.
Do not crash on me.
This is not happening.
[ELEVATOR DINGS.]
Hold it.
Hold it.
Please, hold the elevator.
I gotta find an IT guy.
This is a disaster.
Oh, you dropped your [CRASHING.]
- Are you okay? - Get away from me.
[SCREAMING.]
[JOSEPH GRO ANS.]
[COUGHS.]
Oh, no.
Bethany? Bethany? [CAR ENGINES START AND ALARMS WAILING.]
Stop it.
Stop it.
Stop doing that! OLIVIA: Because you knew about John and you didn't say anything, I trust you.
At least, enough for me to not think you're gonna think I'm crazy.
No, of course not.
I saw him last night.
You saw John? OLIVIA: In my kitchen.
Hello, Liv.
OLIVIA: I grabbed my gun but he was gone.
I know he wasn't there, obviously.
I just Let me see.
You fall in love with your partner who betrays you and your country.
He dies in your arms, shows up in your kitchen.
And you wonder if that's grounds to recuse yourself? - Okay, we can start with that.
- I say no.
You exposed him.
Bare minimum, that makes you indispensable.
You want my advice? Next time John shows up for a nightcap give him one.
- I'm being serious.
So am I.
You think that a few weeks pass and everything you went through just goes away? Don't fight it.
Don't beat yourself up.
You know, you're good at that.
That's a character flaw.
It'll get easier.
- She say what it was about? PETER: Olivia? - No, she'll tell us when she gets here.
- How are you? - Never been better.
- You look quite the opposite.
Maybe that's because I had trouble sleeping last night.
Oh, I had trouble sleeping myself.
I was thinking about that man.
The one who tortured you.
Something about him.
So familiar.
Peter, when I was in St.
Claire's We don't have to talk.
It's not important.
But it is important.
You cannot imagine what it's like for a man like me to not have access to parts of his mind.
You're doing fine, Walter.
- Dr.
Bishop.
Peter.
- Ahem.
Visiting hours.
Put on your best straitjacket.
At approximately 10:17 this morning, a massive power surge struck a downtown high-rise in Worcester, Massachusetts.
As a result, an elevator on the 26th floor plummeted straight to the basement.
- Eight passengers died.
- Did the cable snap? That's what's strange.
The elevator didn't fall.
It drove itself into the ground.
- That's not possible.
BRO YLES: Nine months ago a maglev train in Tokyo plowed through a crowded station.
Publicly, reported as human error.
In reality caused by a power surge of unknown origin.
Intelligence chatter speculated it might be a demonstration of a new weapon technology.
OLIVIA: It's possible this morning's event was another demonstration.
To override the elevator's circuitry would require a discharge of immense power and precision.
I've made arrangements for you at the building.
We need to know what happened, how it happened, and who's behind it.
SIMMONS: Peter Simmons, the building's engineer.
Olivia Dunham, FBI.
This is my team.
Peter Bishop and Dr.
Walter Bishop.
So you've been briefed on what's happened? Elevator powered itself into the floor.
Never saw anything like it.
- Shouldn't the brakes have come on? - They did.
The safeties clamped into the rails, but for some reason, the motor kept going.
Nearly melted the shoes, which is technically Impossible? Yeah, we've seen a lot of that lately.
- You know your elevators.
- MIT dropout.
- Is there any security-camera footage? - Nope, all the cameras fritzed.
Hey, can you people move out of there? FBI coming through.
So how could an elevator drive itself? It's almost like another generator came online, jacked into the system and overloaded it with double or triple the voltage.
WALTER: Exit-wound burns.
Subconjunctival hemorrhages.
This woman displays all the symptoms of a classic - Thermoelectric trauma.
- What are you two saying? He's saying all these people were electrocuted.
Electrocuted? May I? It's lovely.
Twenty-four-karat gold.
Traces of nickel, possibly cobalt.
- How are you doing that? WALTER: This entire space is charged with electromagnetic energy, far beyond that which occurs in nature.
And there's still residual magnetic energy from whatever electrocuted these people.
I need to examine the victims' belongings and one of the bodies as well.
- You may know how this happened? - No, not yet.
But I can tell you, every one of the passengers in this elevator dead by the time they hit the ground.
WALTER: I have worked on a project where I've seen this before.
The government had asked me if it was possible to make the human being trackable by pigeons.
Like homing pigeons? What possible use could that serve? Well, I'm sure it had something to do with the commies.
It always did back then.
Regardless, our theory was that human beings are merely highly complex electrical systems.
Battery, please, Olivia.
And the heart, the brain driven by electrical impulses.
Because everyone has a unique electromagnetic signature which is like a fingerprint we theorized that properly altered pigeons should be able to hone in to that signature.
- Like they know to fly south for winter? - Precisely.
But the human field was too weak so we tried to augment it, make it strong enough for the birds to detect.
- Did it work? - Oh, yes.
But the side effects negated our plans.
There was one test subject, every time she hiccupped, the lights would dim.
So you're saying these people could control electronic devices? No, not deliberately.
But I did surmise that it could be possible.
- Oh.
- Did you just make that come back to life? No.
Not in this particular instance.
- But it does confirm my theory.
OLIVIA: What theory? - Didn't I say? - No.
Someone has pursued this idea.
They have amplified a person's electromagnetic field.
In fact, it is the residual energy from that person that is making this heart pump.
And further, it is that person who is responsible for the deaths in the elevator.
So you don't think it was a weapon that electrocuted those people? No.
It was a human being.
MAN [ON TV.]
:accident occurred just after 10 a.
m.
Here at the Herndon Building - in downtown Worcester.
- Hey, Ron wanted to see you.
- names haven't yet been released, dropped 26 stories to their deaths when the building's elevator system failed catastrophically.
What's wrong with you? You look sick.
Excuse me, Mr.
Boynton.
- Where have you been? - Excuse me? Do you remember last week? What I said to you? The words I used? How sympathetic I was? What did I say? That you were watching my performance.
I said to stay on the damn grid and stick to the schedule, because the system depends on people like you being, at the very least, reliable.
I've had a really hard day.
Guess what? Your day's fantastic compared to mine.
No, it's not.
- What's on your uniform? - What? - What is that? - I don't know.
I'm not sure.
I'll tell you what, I'll make it easy.
It's not your uniform anymore.
- Go to the locker room.
- Wait.
- Take it off and leave it there.
- No, please.
- I take care of my mother.
- And I take care of my family.
One of the ways I do that is to employ smart, reliable, capable people.
- You are none of those things.
- Please.
You're fired.
Go.
- Mr.
Boynton - Get out.
I don't wanna see you in this building anymore.
Get the hell out of here! [SCREAMING.]
Oh, no.
MAN: Get him out of there.
[CHATTERING & ALARM WAILING.]
BRO YLES: Here.
Thanks.
- I thought you left hours ago.
- I could say the same about you.
What are you reading? New Distortion in Human Subjects.
And what's all this for? I was trying to wrap my head around an idea Walter had.
He believes that it may be a person who is responsible for the Herndon incident.
Not a person wielding some kind of device.
A person who has developed the ability to affect or maybe even control electrical devices.
I suppose the good doctor has a theory how that's possible? He thinks this person was altered in some way.
Extensive procedures, chemical therapy.
What? In the course of investigating other Pattern cases we've come across a handful of clinics.
Off-the-grid operations that solicited clients by making the same kind of claims you see advertised on TV at 3 a.
m.
Only they weren't actually providing weight loss or hair growth.
What were they really doing? Have you ever heard of a man named Jacob Fischer? - No.
- A doctor of biotechnology wanted in four states and three countries for illegal human experimentation.
Surgical alterations, radical hormone therapy using average citizens as unwitting guinea pigs.
One subject was pumped full of stimulants.
Kept awake for a solid year.
Fed on a steady visual diet of horrific images.
I only bring it up because if Dr.
Bishop is right and there is a person with these extraordinary capabilities it might very well be that someone made him this way.
I'd like to read the files on Dr.
Fischer.
I'll have them transferred to your terminal.
But it's not easy stuff to look at.
[CLATTERING.]
Hello? [ELEVATOR DINGS.]
Hey, Liv.
It's okay.
It's okay.
It's just me.
I know this doesn't make any sense to you.
Even if it did, you don't have any reason to trust me, but I'm asking you to.
We don't have much time.
- I'm here to help.
- You tried to kill me.
No.
Liv I loved you.
You know that.
You know I loved you.
I did.
Always.
I can prove it to you.
But not here.
It's just not the way it works.
You're on the right track.
I'm here to tell you that.
You're looking for a person, but Jacob Fischer is after him also.
You need to get to him first, before Fischer can use him.
Use him for what? Use him for what? How do you know that? I will prove it, Liv that I love you.
Always.
But not just yet.
You're just gonna have to wait.
OLIVIA: There were weight sensors in the elevator.
So just before impact the car weighed 1440 pounds.
The combined weight of the victims: Leaving a discrepancy of a hundred and 65 pounds.
Meaning someone walked out of there alive.
Okay.
So somebody got lucky.
So what? Walter's theoretical test subject, I think, is real.
- And this could be him.
- The problem with that scenario is that it doesn't make sense.
If he was in the elevator car he should've been electrocuted like everyone else.
- That's if the impact didn't kill him first.
- Not necessarily.
If this person is both the source and the conductor of a large amount of electrical current, then it could induce a form of electrodynamic levitation.
That's the technology behind maglev trains.
They essentially float on an electromagnetic cushion.
So he floated? Like my necklace in the elevator? No, but it is possible that he could have levitated long enough to escape the brunt of the impact.
That still doesn't make sense.
If you can sabotage machines, you wouldn't sabotage one you're in.
PETER: Unless it was unintentional.
An accident.
Maybe whoever we're looking for isn't in control of their abilities.
They don't even know what they're doing.
We shouldn't look for big events.
We should look for small ones.
Unintentional ones.
[ZAPS.]
Oh, come on.
Damn it.
Just a small discharge negligible compared to the voltage coursing through that elevator.
I say, we need to find this person, and soon before he finds out exactly what he's capable of.
Wool socks.
OLIVIA: Charlie, thanks for waking up the team.
Look, we got reports of anomalies clustered around parts of Worcester and the Herndon building.
Parking-garage gates, automatic doors, a few CCTVs.
We need more.
Enough to discern a pattern.
You know, saying somebody is doing all this, you do know that's crazy, right? If it weren't, we wouldn't be looking for him.
- Joseph.
- Mom.
What time is it? - Where the hell have you been? - Mom I think I made a big mistake.
- You? Surprise.
Please, just listen to me.
Please.
A few months ago, I was reading this magazine, and there was this ad in the back about tapping into your hidden potential and I figured it couldn't hurt, so I went down to this office.
- They did some tests.
- Did you give them money? - What the hell's the matter with you? - They put me under some hypnosis I don't know, and they said they were gonna realign the electrical impulses of my brain.
- Make it mimic a more confident person.
- Oh! No, but they did something to me.
They changed me.
I can't remember.
Now all these things have been happening.
I don't know what to do.
I don't know what to do.
- What if I'm dying? - Stop it! Get ahold of your Damn it, Mom! For once, please, please, help me.
[FLORA GRUNTS AND GASPS.]
- Pills.
- Oh, my God.
No, no, no.
Please.
FLORA: Pills.
Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello? Joseph Meegar? You don't have to be scared, Joseph.
We want to help you.
- We're here to adjust your medication.
- You did this to me.
What did you Ahh! Looking for anything unusual.
Systems going off-line random power surges.
- Hey, I've got another incident.
- Hold on.
- Bicoastal Parcel.
Guy lost his hand in a conveyor malfunction.
- Bicoastal Parcel? RODRIGUEZ: Yeah.
I gotta call you back.
What? Herndon Building security sign-in sheet.
"Bicoastal Parcel.
" "Joseph Meegar.
" She was found dead.
Pacemaker malfunction.
Olivia thinks they may have found our guy.
Now we just have to find him.
Time of death was around 1:15 a.
m.
So God knows where he could be by now.
Ask her what's visible in the event perimeter electronic, specifically.
Walter wants to know what's in the apartment.
What kind of gadgets? - Specifically, electronics.
- Um - Okay, there's a answering machine.
- An answering machine.
- Telephone.
Boom box.
- Telephone.
Boom box.
- Fan.
- Fan.
Boom box.
That's a device for playing music, cassette tapes, yes? Yes, but now's not really the time - Anything else? - Television.
- A television.
- Lamps.
A lamp.
Walter.
Walter.
Pay attention.
We're doing this for you.
Tell Olivia to come home.
I know how to find him.
So, what is this? [MUSIC PLAYING.]
This is the sort of work I was born for.
You were hoping for something more specific? Everyone has a unique magnetic fingerprint.
I said that, yes? But it's limited, barely traceable except in people like Mr - What was his name? - Meegar.
Meegar.
But since Mr.
Meegar has been enhanced he'll give off a stronger signal than your average Joe.
What's that got to do with the cassette tape? Cassette tape is as simple as it gets.
Once exposed to a magnetic field it remains permanently magnetized.
Given the strength of Mr.
Meegar's electromagnetic signature plus his proximity to the tape I have little doubt that that cassette has been imprinted with Meegar's electrical signature.
It's kind of like when a film camera double exposes a picture.
Let me just take out the music and see what we have left.
[CHUCKLES.]
Look, look, look.
There it is.
That's him.
That's Mr ALL: Meegar.
Yes.
Now to find Meegar.
- How? - Birds.
- Wait, you mean that pigeon thing? - Mm-hm.
OLIVIA: You believe we can find him using pigeons? I think it's possible.
As I've said, I can program carrier pigeons to track a strong electromagnetic field.
We have his signature.
- Now all we need are birds.
- I wish you told me earlier because then I could have been working on it.
- So how many? - Not many.
Two dozen.
Two dozen? Great.
[DOOR OPENS.]
- Wait, where am I? - Tell Fischer he woke up.
What is this place? What are you doing? What are you? No, no, no.
Wait, wait.
No, no.
Please, please, please.
PETER: You ready? WALTER: Yes, ideal.
You're not gonna accidentally fry one of those pigeons? Stranger things have happened.
- It's his motto.
- As I said pigeons contain traces of magnetite in their beaks like hundreds of tiny compass needles.
The tesla coils will create an artificial electromagnetic field which I have already matched with Mr.
Whatever's unique signature and we'll now imprint onto the pigeon.
So we set all of these birds free, and they? Fly to Joseph Meegar.
Me too.
I'll believe it when I see it.
Step back.
Work to be done.
- GPS chips ready? ASTRID: Yep.
So we're putting GPS chips on carrier pigeons to find a man who can control electricity? I have you to thank for that, don't I? Yeah.
That's me.
JOHN: Liv.
No.
- You listened.
- You're not real.
- The last time we spoke, you listened.
- You stay the hell away from me.
Liv.
I didn't betray you.
You know that.
In your heart.
You know I wasn't the one.
Hey.
I think this bird thing might actually work.
You okay? Yeah.
PETER: Hey, Charlie.
OLIVIA: Oh, thanks.
- Did I miss anything? - I think the show's about to start.
I know we've only been together for a short time but I think I'm going to miss them.
Such majestic creatures.
They're rats with wings.
You'll get over it.
All right.
GPS is active.
Excellent.
Then we're ready.
Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines.
CHARLIE: Start it up, Adam.
WALTER: Come on, come on.
[WHISTLES.]
[LAUGHS.]
Are you sure this is gonna work? Of course not.
PETER: Seriously, if this works You're gonna have some more faith in your father? No.
- So, what do we do now? - We gotta tie the GPS to the mainframe.
Ingenious.
And we're in.
And there are the birds.
- I don't see them.
- Yeah, we lost the birds.
They're going northwest towards Mill Street.
PETER: We're approaching Mill now.
- Make a left.
Take a left.
I see them.
PETER: All right, we got them.
I see them.
Aren't you glad you got the car washed? [SCREAMS.]
- What is that? - It is unfair.
And I appreciate that.
The position you find yourself in now must be so surreal for you.
Oh, my God, what did you do to me? My head hurts so much.
Those had to be subdermal.
They can be removed later.
What am I doing here? No, no, no.
You don't realize what you are.
I'm scared.
- Okay? - You wanted to be confident.
That's why you came to us.
No, I don't want to be confident.
I don't need to be confident.
- But you are now.
- I just want my life back! I just want to go back to how it was, please.
Look what science has made you, Joseph.
- You are special.
- No.
- Make a right on Tempest.
- Take your next right.
All right, I think they've stopped.
- There.
- All right, I got them.
I see them.
Okay, we're heading there now.
Then our work is done.
Good luck.
Hey.
You stay here.
Whatever you say, boss.
- I'm not gonna ask.
- Good.
- What is it? - Visitors, front entrance.
Take him out through the back.
Wait at the depot.
You'll be contacted.
- What about you? - He's the priority.
No movement.
Stand back.
Where are you taking me? Get in.
Get in the car.
AGENT: Get those hands up.
I said get your hands in the air.
Joseph Meegar.
Where is he? I'm sorry, who? Take upstairs.
We'll go around.
[GRO ANS.]
Freeze! Stop! Joseph! [HORN BLOWS.]
[MACHINES POWERING UP.]
Stop! They're gonna keep him heavily sedated a while.
Don't want him pulling his whole electro-man thing.
Mr.
Meegar? Miss, no one will tell me where I'm going.
To the hospital.
They're going to perform some exams.
Check to see that your head's okay.
Then I'm gonna have some questions for you.
I wanna go home.
I didn't wanna hurt anybody.
- We're going to help you.
- That's what they said.
Please.
I wanna go home.
I'm afraid we can't let you do that.
That one can go out the back, thank you, my dear.
What's my name? Starts with A, yes? - Astrid.
- Yeah.
I knew it.
Ah, Olivia.
Peter told me to tell you, if I saw you that he was returning the pigeons.
- Walter.
What's? It's milk.
From Gene.
- Do you want some? OLIVIA: I'll pass.
- Are you certain? - Mm-hm.
The color in your face, you're looking a little pallid.
Are you feeling well? Fine.
I'm a little tired, that's all.
Well, I don't yet know you well enough to ask this but you haven't seemed yourself lately.
I haven't been sleeping very well.
I've been Nothing.
I'll see you tomorrow.
Have you been seeing him? Your friend, John Scott.
I'm not surprised.
There is a reason.
I've been having hallucinations.
No.
Not hallucinations.
Walter? - What's happening? - I can't be sure.
The brain is a mystery.
But I believe when you were in the tank John Scott Part of his consciousness crossed over into yours.
And it's still there.
His memories experiences, thoughts.
You understand me, yes? These aren't memories.
He appears.
Right in front of me.
He talks to me.
Yes, he would.
Like a waking dream.
Because he doesn't belong there.
There's only room for one voice in your head, not two.
This is your brain's way of working it out.
Your mind is expelling him.
Exorcising his thoughts.
He'll go away.
Is that what you're saying? I don't know.
Do you really want him to? [GUNSHOT.]
BRO YLES: Our team is still cataloging all the files you found in the cellar.
Apparently, John Scott was conducting his own investigations.
Do the files give any indication of who he might have been working for? Not that we can see.
But it appears many of the cases were Pattern-related.
He knew about the Pattern? He also knew about our friend Dr.
Fischer.
In fact, he knew quite a bit more than we did.
Including seven other potential Josephs that Fischer was subjecting to treatments.
Fortunately, none of them had activated yet.
We were able to locate all seven.
Medical services is examining them now.
But they appear to be fine, thanks to you.
Fischer's still refusing to cooperate, but six weeks in solitary - might change his mind.
- I hope you're right about that.
And there was also something else.
John Scott's personal effects.
It would seem some of them were intended for you.
JOHN: I will prove it, Liv.
That I love you.
Always.

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