Olivia. In the Lab. With the Revolver

Fringe Olivia. In the Lab. With the Revolver
Season 2, Episode 16

Air date	April 8, 2010
Written by	Matthew Pitts
Directed by	Brad Anderson
← previous "Peter"	next → "White Tulip"
Cast \| Transcript

"Olivia. In the Lab. With the Revolver" is the sixteenth episode of the second season of Fringe.

Synopsis[]

When a perfectly healthy woman is found dead from a disease she never had, the Fringe team investigates the origin of this inexplicably fatal condition before it claims more innocent victims. Meanwhile, Olivia struggles to keep Walter’s secret from Peter, and her loyalty to Peter is tested as time goes on.

Plot[]

In Providence, Rhode Island, lawyer Miranda Green takes a lunch meeting with sickly young man James Heath. While he claims to have been with her in preschool, she doesn’t remember him. She does believe that her firm can help him against those who made him sick. Before leaving he touches her arm and thanks her. Driving back to her office, Miranda spontaneously develops tumors all over her body and dies in her car.

Olivia Dunham has a sleepless night owing to her recent discovery that Peter Bishop was abducted from the Alternate Universe when he was a child by a grief-stricken Walter Bishop. She goes to the bowling alley managed by Sam Weiss where he tells her she’s one of the best people he’s known, and if she's keeping a secret he's sure she has a good reason.

In the case, Walter theorizes that the killer has cancer and is exchanging energy with his victims; he gets better while the victim gets cancer (and dies). Olivia discovers that there are other victims of attacks similar to Miranda Green’s, and they were all part of the Cortexiphan trials in Jacksonville, Florida. Walter believes that only Cortexiphan children would be affected by the killer's touch.

Olivia visits Nina Sharp at Massive Dynamic headquarters and demands a full list of the subjects, one of which she knows herself to be. Nina claims not to have any such list. Olivia reveals that she knows the truth about Peter and tells Nina that she is going to tell him the truth, but Nina guesses that Olivia is not going to do that, and is looking for a reason not to tell him.

Heath's next potential victim is Nick Lane but he can only find Lane's aunt, who tells him that another classmate, Olivia, was looking for Nick months ago. Heath confronts Olivia in the hall of her apartment building. When he sees her badge, he attacks her. She fends him off with a candlestick and knocks him to the floor. He sees the case files of the pictures of the children he has killed, including his sister. He breaks down and tells her the story of how he was sick with cancer, and a man visited him in the hospital claiming he could help him fight the disease. But instead of getting better, he got worse and contagious. He accidentally killed his sister when she held his hand while visiting him in the hospital, and while trying to track down the man who visited him in the hospital he found another classmate and accidentally killed him too. He realized that he was temporarily getting better with each Cortexiphan subject he killed.

Broyles has Heath taken to Massive Dynamic where he is put into a medically-induced coma. He and Nina agree that they need to find the rest of the Cortexiphan children.

At the end of the episode, Olivia tells Walter that she has decided not to tell Peter about his origins. But Walter says that he has made the opposite decision and that the truth must be known.

Notable Quotes[]

Olivia: You thinking what I'm thinking?
Peter: Well, I'm thinking that cancer isn't contagious.
Olivia: Well, it wouldn't be the strangest thing we've seen. But it would be close.

Peter: How come you didn't call Broyles?
Olivia: I've got you on speed dial.
Peter: Really? I'm number one on Olivia Dunham's speed dial?
Olivia: Well, no, but I didn't think that Rachel or Mr Iyer from the Indian takeout would be much use.

Walter: The red wire goes in the red hole, the blue...
Peter: Yes, thank you, Walter. I was able to find that out all by myself.

Notes[]

When Miranda is at the intersection, just prior to the reaction that causes her skin to change. The Observer walks in front of her vehicle.
Miranda Green (played by Diane Kruger) mentions the name Gorlami when trying to remember a name. Gorlami is a fake name used by Brad Pitt's character in Inglourious Basterds, in which Diane Kruger also appeared (furthermore, the episode is directed by "Brad" Anderson, and written by Matthew "Pitts").
Diane Kruger was in a relationship with Joshua Jackson at the time this episode was made. She requested that her part be as a "gooey monster", where her "eyes are popped out" of her head.
The clue for this episode was in "Peter" when two Observers are seen exiting a movie theater where a poster for the movie Clue is visible. The board game Clue appears in this episode, and the episode title references the game.
This is the second appearance of INtREPUS Pharmeceuticals since The Cure

Goofs[]

Olivia and Sam play the game of Clue. A standard game of Clue requires a minimum of three players (although it is possible to play with only 2 players).
When Olivia shows her notepad to Peter, there is something written in the left margin. In close-up, there is nothing in the left margin.
Peter comments offhand that "cancer isn't contagious", but not only are contagious cancers well known in dogs and Tasmanian devils, but cases have been documented in humans (not to mention that some cancers are of viral origins).

Easter Eggs[]

05 candlestick-1 — Candlestick in Olivia's apartment

04 pistol — Pistol in Olivia's apartment

03 dagger-full — Dagger on Lloyd's mantle

Miranda Green shares her surname with a character from the Clue board game (Mr. Green)
All 6 weapons from the original Clue board game appear in this episode.
- The "lead Pipe" and Wrench are shown in the Bowling Alley while Sam Weiss is making repairs.
- The Rope is on a foreground table during the lab scene following the scene with Neil in the grocery store.
- The Dagger is on Lloyd Becker's mantle to the left of his military portrait.
- The Gun appears when Olivia tries to defend herself from Neil's attack in her apartment.
- The Candlestick is used by Olivia to knock Neil down during the attack in her apartment.