Season 1, Episode 20:
There's More Than One of Everything
While Nina Sharp recovers from the gunshot sustained in the previous episode, the Fringe team's investigation reveals that the man in white bandages is David Robert Jones. Olivia and Broyles discuss locating William Bell for questioning, as they believe he behind all the fringe events that have been occurring all season.Meanwhile, Walter is at a cemetary, where he solemnly stares at an unknown gravestone. Olivia, Peter, and Astrid Farnsworth begin searching for Walter. Nina tells Olivia that an energy cell was stolen from her mechanical arm by Jones, and that he was formerly a Massive Dynamic employee who had looked up to Bell as a "father figure" until they had a falling out. When Olivia demands to speak to Bell, Nina explains that she does not know where he is, as Bell has been communicating these past few months "strictly electronically". Nina believes Jones is trying to confront Bell, and promises Olivia that if she stops Jones, Nina will arrange a meeting between her and Bell.
On a busy New York City street, Jones and his team use the energy cell to open a doorway into an alternate universe and bring a truck through, but are apparently unsuccessful, as Jones complains he used the "wrong coordinates". Having previously observed Walter at the graveyard, the Observer arrives with Walter at the Bishops' lake house, and gives Walter a coin, telling him to remember what he has to find. Walter goes on alone into the house, while Olivia and Charlie interview witnesses who saw Jones extract the truck from the doorway. They discover that the truck's VIN numbers do not exist, which implies the truck was never made. A further interview with Nina reveals to the Fringe team that the truck is from another universe, and that Jones is using the stolen energy cell to travel to that universe.
Peter finds Walter and goes to meet his father alone, believing Walter is upset from the events of the past several days. Now at the lake house, Peter and Walter search for and retrieve a device that can seal shut the doorway into the other universe. Walter explains to Peter that he once lost something very dear to him and that he had to go and bring it back from another reality; the device was created to prevent something from following him.
After Jones makes another unsuccessful attempt to open a doorway at a soccer field in Providence, Olivia searches through old case files related to science and unexplained phenomena, and discovers a geographic connection between the soccer field, the city street, and several of their past Fringe cases. Olivia and Walter come to the same conclusion, that Jones is going to use a site at Reiden Lake to reopen the doorway, the epicenter of these Fringe events. Olivia, Peter, and Walter intercept Jones while he is opening another window. Peter triggers Walter's device, killing Jones by sealing the doorway while he is halfway through it.
Walter again goes alone to visit the cemetary; he tearfully observes a gravestone marked "Peter Bishop 1978-1985." Nina Sharp later calls Olivia and implies to her that she can meet William Bell in Manhattan. On the way to the hotel she almost gets into a car crash. note After no one shows up at the hotel restaurant, Olivia leaves, assuming she's been stood up. However, when in an elevator, Olivia is teleported to another location and is directed to an office. After reading a newspaper headline indicating that President Obama was preparing to move into the "new" White House, she is greeted by William Bell and inquires where she is. The final shot pans out the window revealing that they are standing inside the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
Tropes
- Facial Horror: From what little we see form Jones' face under the bandages, it's like Ebola and Skin Cancer married and Jones' face is where the honeymoon is going. One of his eyes has gone blind too.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: How Peter puts an end to Jones.
- Immune to Bullets: The "fringe benefits" of Walter's teleportation device, according to Jones.
- Portal Cut: What Jones' experiments end up doing to a truck and a football player. And, karmically and ironically, it's how he bites it.
- Title Drop: From the Observer, explaining where the coin he found came from.
- Wham Episode: Peter died when he was 7! William Bell is alive, in another world, and is Leonard Nimoy! And the alternate universe still has the Twin Towers, but lost the White House! And John F. Kennedy's still alive! (Or maybe Robert Kennedy)
- Wham Shot: The tombstone Walter visits, "Peter Bishop: 1978-1985". The final shot panning out of the window of Bell's office to reveal it's in the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
