Of Human Action (12 Nov. 2009)

When a kidnapping rapidly escalates into a hostage situation in New York, local authorities close in on the suspects only to discover a mysterious force with mind-blowing consequences. As ... See full summary »

Director:

Joe Chappelle

Writers:

J.J. Abrams (creator), Alex Kurtzman (creator),

Stars:

Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, Lance Reddick

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Anna Torv	...	Olivia Dunham
Joshua Jackson	...	Peter Bishop
Lance Reddick	...	Phillip Broyles
Blair Brown	...	Nina Sharp
Jasika Nicole	...	Astrid Farnsworth
John Noble	...	Dr. Walter Bishop
Cameron Monaghan	...	Tyler Carson
Andrew Airlie	...	Dr. Carson
Vincent Gale	...	Dobbins
Doron Bell	...	Officer Gibson (as Doron Bell Jr.)
Ryan Booth	...	Officer Jenks
Philip Cabrita	...	Clerk (as Phil Cabrita)
Peter Graham-Gaudreau	...	Seth Davies (as Peter Graham-Graudeau)
Irene Karas	...	Officer Williams
Jacqueline Ann Steuart	...	Renee Davies (as Jacqueline Steuart)

Storyline

When a kidnapping rapidly escalates into a hostage situation in New York, local authorities close in on the suspects only to discover a mysterious force with mind-blowing consequences. As the investigation intensifies, the mystery and threat deepen to unimaginable proportions when the Fringe Division connects a link between the kidnapping and Massive Dynamic.

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Plot Keywords:

hostage | crépe | police officer knocked unconscious | car crash | friendly fire | 

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 November 2009 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bad Robot, Warner Bros. Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

44 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The football (soccer) top that young Tyler (Cameron Monaghan) is pictured wearing at 42m23s is a Glasgow Rangers top.

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Goofs

Walter explains that Peter's teddy bear emits a stream of audible white noise. White noise in audio terms is actually a particular signal with a fixed bandwidth which sounds to the ear like a high-pitched hiss. The teddy bear, however, emits a undefinable oscillating sound, predominantly in a lower frequency range.

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Quotes

Walter Bishop: Once you are given the order to put on the headphones, do not remove them under any circumstances. If you do, you may die a gruesome and horrible death. Thank you for your attention and have a nice day.

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Connections

References The Simpsons (1989)

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Soundtracks

"Fringe Main Title Theme"
(uncredited)
Written by J.J. Abrams

User Reviews

Fathers and Cloned Sons

In a "Diversion" Fringe Episode, we are given a diversion. What appears to be a Kidnapping involving a Massive Dynamic employee, is again not what it at first appears to be.

These five Fringe episodes depict our wait for the "Leader of the First Wave" to make his move - Dream Logic, Earthling, this one, August and Snakenead: These are all unrelated, Non-Pattern cases.

These are provided to give us background on Walter, Peter, The Observers, and Massive Dynamic.

An Attention-Deficit Disorder kid Tyler Carson (Cameron Monaghan) has been "kidnapped" by two used car salesmen. This is humorous enough, but when police catch up, they mysteriously kill each other off and one jumps from a high parking structure. Splat!

Walter correctly assumes "Mind Control" in this one - He was wrong about this in "Dream Logic" but he is correct this time.

I view these cases are "Fringe Practice" - They have nothing to do with "The Pattern" but they give Fringe Division good experience in dealing with strange events. Walter becomes Strangely Lucid when the threat shifts from the Tyler to Peter.

Because it was not the kid who had been kidnapped. It was the Kid all along. He has a Pez Dispenser full of drugs that were designed to allow pilots to interface with an airplane flight control.

But the kid, being ADHD, Testosterone-ridden, Angst Filled, with the addition of the Massive Dynamic drugs: As Walter says, "It's a Mind Control Cocktail."

Walter has to figure this one out on his own, he usually gets help from Peter, but Peter has been selected as a Taxi Driver for the kid, and has enough to worry about. Walter gets help from Olivia in a turnaround, they decide to "crash" the kid like an errant version of Windows Vista.

But the NSA thinks the kid wants to sell Massive Dynamic secrets to a foreign government: Therefore it becomes a race as to who can catch them before Peter becomes Collateral Damage. Fortunately, Fringe Division gets there first.

This is what happens when a Kid thinks he just a Kid and not a Massive Dynamic Experiment. Nina Sharp has found a way to report these goings on to William Belly on the other side, she has a quantum-entangled old Silicon Graphics "Dumb Terminal" which can send messages to the other side just like the typewriter at the secret place in Brooklyn. I used to have one of those, they are nothing but a keyboard attached to a Monochrome CRT that echos what you type. They used to make them in El Cajon, California, on Main Street. Maybe on the other side, the factory is still there. But on this side, that factory has been trashed long ago.

This is the irony of Massive Dynamic: They have access to the best state-of-the-art tech, but Nina uses an Anachronism to communicate with William.

At the very end, we get to see the scope of the "Tyler" experiment. Like everything else they do, it is "Massive."