Season 3, Episode 5:
Amber 31422
Olivia is still trapped in the alternate universe, under Walternate's conditioning to believe she is this Olivia Dunham of the alternate univese. She willingly participates in Walternate's tests in a sensory-deprivation tank located on Liberty Island to stimulate her Cortexiphan abilities. One test is successful, as she temporarily finds herself in a gift shop on Liberty Island in the prime universe. Meanwhile, hallucinations of Peter continue to bother Olivia.
The Fringe team is alerted to an incident at a quarantine site, where the amber encasing the site has been cut into and a body has been removed. They identify the missing body as Joshua Rose, a bank robber. Joshua had previously caught Fringe Division's attention as he used a molecular destabilization device to break into banks, triggering quarantine-level events. Colonel Broyles is privately cautioned by Walternate that those trapped in amber are still alive, a fact he does not want to be made public. Broyles relays this to his team, ordering them to find Rose and bring him in as quickly as possible.
At Joshua's apartment, they discover he has a twin brother Matthew and equipment used for a negative matter ring. Their investigation is cut short as they are forced to evacuate from a rigged bomb which destroys the apartment. Lee and Francis were unable to hear the bomb, but Olivia could, possibly indicating that she retains the enhanced hearing demonstrated in "Night of Desirable Objects." They travel to Matthew's suburban home, meeting him, his wife, and their children. Matthew professes to have no knowledge of the location of his brother. Olivia is suspicious of Matthew's behavior, and is shown to be correct as Matthew is revealed to have been the one trapped in the amber, having tried to come warn his brother about the quarantine. Joshua, having posed as Matthew since, was the one that freed him and spoke to Fringe. The brothers switch places again when Olivia requests a more detailed identity check from Matthew, which he passes successfully.
Believing Joshua will attempt another break-in but will avoid putting innocents in danger, Olivia has Fringe Division statistician Astrid identify three remotely located banks and decides to investigate them. Olivia finds the bank that Joshua has targeted and discovers his device in a subway tunnel, but he knocks her out before she can investigate further. As he energizes the molecular destabilizer, Fringe Division detects the event and converges on the bank. Matthew eventually finds Joshua, again trying to warn him off, but quickly realizes Joshua has purposely entered the bank to be trapped in the amber. Joshua believes this to be the only way to force the Fringe team to end their investigation. Matthew escapes the quarantine while Fringe agents Charlie and Lincoln rescue Olivia in time before the amber sets in. Olivia returns to Matthew the next day and confirms the case is closed, but not before collecting a skin sample that, should she ever need it, conclusively proves that it was Matthew in the amber before.
As the episode ends, Olivia's hallucination of Peter points out to her that there is a way to tell if she is from the prime universe: by confirming her memories of her niece Ella, who did not survive birth in the alternate universe. During Olivia's final test in the tank, she is again able to cross over to the gift shop in the prime universe. She is able to recall Ella's phone number and calls her to wish her a happy birthday, but is brought back to the alternate universe shortly after Ella answers. As she is removed from the tank, she lies, telling Walternate the test did not work.
Tropes:
- Allohistorical Allusion:
- Nixon Parkway in NYC
- October 17, 1989, was the day of the San Francisco earthquake in our world, and the first use of Amber in the Alternate Universe.
- Always Identical Twins
- And I Must Scream: Matthew Rose spent four years in Amber, his mind endlessly repeating his last thoughts about what would happen to his family without him. Walternate reveals to Broyles that people trapped in Amber are still alive, which means that they are all likely experiencing something similar.
- Artistic License – Medicine
- Elavil is an antidepressant, and the only one of the medications given to Olivia which could be called a psychotropic. 2000 mg could easily be a lethal dose.
- Neurontin is an antiepileptic medication, and 5000 mg is a very large dose.
- Synthetic dopamine is used to increase blood pressure and 130 mg is likely to be lethal dose.
- The Atoner: Joshua, both to redeem himself for his crimes and prevent Fringe Division from taking his brother, breaks into a bank for the purpose of getting trapped in Amber.
- Different World, Different Movies: "The stuff that dreams are made of" is attributed to Cary Grant instead of Humphrey Bogart who said this in The Maltese Falcon.
- Human Popsicle: LampshadedAgent Francis: Ah. So who's the popsicle?
- Magical Defibrillator: Shocked a flat line.
- Shout-Out: Lincoln Lee is compared to Mr. Wizard suggesting the Edutainment Show is alive and well in the Alternate Universe.
- Meaningful Echo:Secretary Bishop: Only those who risk going too far find out how far they can go.Recalls a quote Walter attributes to Bell in "The Box".Walter: "Only those that risk going too far can possibly know how far they can go." That's what Belly used to say.
- Twin Switch
