Season 3, Episode 1:
Olivia
Still trapped in the alternate universe, Olivia Dunham is forced to sit through counselling sessions in which a therapist tries to convince her that she's really "Fauxlivia", the Olivia Dunham from the alternate universe. Walternate and his chief scientist, Brandon Fayette, have been performing experiments to plant Fauxlivia's memories inside Olivia's mind and have them take over, which would effectively transform Olivia into Fauxlivia, but they haven't been working. During one experiment, Olivia manages to escape from her cell in the DOD headquarters on Liberty Island: she dives into the water and swims to New York. Once she's there, she take a cab driver named Henry as a hostage, forcing him to drive her to the theatre in Brooklyn. Unfortunately, she arrives just in time to see the quarantine protocol go into effect, and the theatre is encased in amber.
Fringe Division is mobilised to bring Olivia in, under the impression that she's Fauxlivia and suffering from a mental breakdown. Meanwhile, despite the situation, Henry begins to sympathise with Olivia when she talks about going home to Peter, and he realises that she's honestly fighting for her life — especially when Fringe agents corner the cab at a gas station while they're refuelling. In the midst of the getaway, Olivia shoots the cap on a gas canister while hanging out the window of a moving vehicle, a shot that only Fauxlivia (a former Olympic marksman) could make: monitoring the situation, Walternate and Brandon realise that the false memories are taking hold.
Olivia directs Henry to take her to a safehouse, but when she arrives, it turns out to be her mother Marilyn's house. At first Olivia remains convinced of her story and that Marilyn died in the prime universe, but Marilyn points out that if she wasn't Fauxlivia, she wouldn't have known where the house was at all. The brainwashing takes hold and Olivia believes that she really is Fauxlivia and simply suffering a mental breakdown. When Charlie "Scarlie" Francis and Lincoln Lee arrive, they take Olivia back to the DOD headquarters, ready to complete her "recovery" and return to work at Fringe Division. Colonel Broyles questions the wisdom of putting someone from the alternate universe on his team, but Walternate assures him that Olivia is now exactly like Fauxlivia, and therefore will comply with experiments designed to figure out how Olivia can safely cross between universes.
In the prime universe, Peter finishes giving a statement of the events that occurred on the other side to Senator Van Horn, who has oversight over Fringe Division. He doesn't answer Van Horn's question, but when Peter exits the capitol building and meets with "Olivia", it's clear that the pair have been a couple since returning (much to Walter's delight): nobody suspect that she's really Fauxlivia.
Tropes:
- Allohistorical Allusion:
- Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s iconic speech - "I had a dream..." has morphed in the parallel universe to - "We had a dream..." on the plaque at the "Martin Luther King - Eldrige Cleaver
Memorial Park". Leaving us to speculate on the role of the Black Panther Party in the Alternate Universe.
- Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s iconic speech - "I had a dream..." has morphed in the parallel universe to - "We had a dream..." on the plaque at the "Martin Luther King - Eldrige Cleaver
- Artistic License – Medicine:
- Memory B cells are white blood cells that have previously been exposed to an antigen (like a virus) and therefore have a better affinity to the antigen and will reproduce quicker in response to the antigen. It it the principle behind vaccination, and has to do with the immune system. These cells have nothing to do with memory.
- Memory B cells are not going to pass the blood brain barrier because of an increase in adrenaline. There are few lymphocytes in the brain, but the numbers can increase if the cells recognize a specific antigen or inflammation causes break down of the blood brain barrier.
- Backseat Changing Room: Olivia escapes the facility where she's being held and swims to New York, where she takes a cab driver named Henry hostage and forces him to get her clothes. She then changes out of her Embarrassing Hospital Gown in his backseat, to his discomfort.
- Character Title: Like the previous episode "Peter" from season 2.
- Different World, Different Movies: The hit musical "Dogs" instead of "Cats".
- Embarrassing Hospital Gown: Played for drama, as Olivia is only dressed in a skimpy hospital gown when she escapes the government facility she was being experimented on, and due to a High-Dive Escape in the water, she's drenched while wearing it too. Her first priority is to get herself some real clothes so she won't stand so much, leading her to sneak into Henry's taxi at demanding he get her clothes at gunpoint. She doesn't exactly care about changing out of them in the backseat of Henry's taxi, though he's clearly not comfortable with it.
- The Guards Must Be Crazy: Punching in the entry code right in front of Olivia when they take her for her treatment.
- High-Dive Escape: Olivia's escape from Liberty Island.
- Idiot Savant: Alternate Astrid can perform high-level mathematics in her head but is otherwise the Emotionless Girl. Jasika Nicole based her performance on her autistic sister.
- Playing Sick: Olivia's reaction after the injection.
- Richard Nixon, the Used Car Salesman: President John F. Kennedy as U.N. Ambassador.
- Secret War:SECRETARY BISHOP: You and I know something that many lives and many more dollars have been spent to keep secret that we are at war... at war with another universe populated by creatures who have damaged the very fabric of reality.
- Shout-Out:
- Henry Higgins, the name of the taxi driver, is also the Professor in My Fair Lady and Pygmalion.
- Henry Higgins refers to Olivia's ability to recall his Show Me information as a Jedi Mind Trick, suggesting Star Wars must be popular in the Alternate Universe.
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