Fringe (2008–2013): Season 1, Episode 17 - Bad Dreams - full transcript

(WOMAN SINGING "NELLIE THE ELEPHANT")

Evening, little lady.

(SINGING "NELLIE THE ELEPHANT")

(SINGING "NELLIE THE ELEPHANT")

(BEEPING)

(TRAIN APPROACHING)

Baby, we're gonna run.

Damn it.

Mommy didn't say that.

It'll fly away, baby.

(LAUGHING)



(SINGING "NELLIE THE ELEPHANT")

It's our lucky day, baby.

Here it comes.

Oh!

(GASPING)

MAN (ON TV):
We have a low-pressure center backed up...

with a cold front coming across the east.

And then here in the west
we've got a high-pressure ridge...

...coming in with a warm front descending
across the western front of the country.

I always hated you could do that.

I always hated that you could date
two guys at the same time.

Really, Liv? What time did you wake up?
Are you okay?

- Aunt Liv, I'm getting vaccinations.
- "Vaccinations."

Come on, baby, go get dressed.



ELLA: They put something dead inside you.
Dead.

- Into your blood. Gruesome.
- Ella Jae, please go get dressed.

ELLA: Yes.
- "Gruesome."

- Gruesome?
- That's a good word.

WOMAN: A suicide on the New York subway...
- "A jabberwocks."

...got rush hour off to a slow start.

Risa Pears, a school teacher and mother
of an 18-month-old daughter...

...flung herself in front of a train
while returning home from the circus.

Fringe
s1e17 Bad Dreams

OLIVIA: I want permission to go to New York
to investigate a case.

- What is it?
- A suicide on the subway.

I read about it in the paper this morning.
How exactly is this a case?

I believe that the woman
may have been murdered.

There may have been
extraordinary circumstances.

What kind of extraordinary
circumstances?

I'm listening.

That's all I'm comfortable saying
at the moment, sir.

Dunham, are you all right?

For the last few weeks
you've seemed distracted, on edge.

I haven't been sleeping very well.

I wouldn't be asking
if this wasn't important.

Dunham, you are a crucial part of this
operation, you're very valuable to me.

Thank you.

Twenty-four hours. Then I want you
back on the job, head clear.

Thank you.

(CHURCH BELL RINGING)

PETER:
Olivia, it was a nightmare.

OLIVIA:
It felt like I was really there.

- No, you were asleep in your bed.
- Wait a minute.

(SCANNER CRACKLING)

Have you experienced any nausea,
Agent Dunham?

Rashes? Hair loss?
Even a strand or two on the pillow?

- No.
- Any pain urinating or blood?

I don't think you're helping.

- Is that a...?
- Yeah, a Geiger counter.

Not a rad.

I thought you might have teleported
to New York in your sleep and killed her.

Wouldn't that have been wondrous?

But even the most controlled
matter-to-energy transmutation...

...leaves behind
some background radiation.

- Ergo, you were not actually there.
- Great, I'm glad we got that cleared up.

- Astro...
- Astrid.

...projection.

Spirit walk, as it were.

Oh, no, no, no. You wouldn't have had
sufficient corporeal form...

- ...to interact with the young woman.
- Here we go.

Like listening to a broken record,
but the lyrics keep changing.

- She had a bad dream.
- You know, I could smell the platform.

I saw her baby staring at me.
I saw her face before I saw the news.

- How is that possible?
- Opium?

It wasn't just a dream.

It wasn't.

- New York it is.
- New York.

I love New York.

We could catch a show.

Pippin.

(SINGING) Cats fit on the windowsill
Children fit in the snow

Walter, you're staying here.
I'll make it up to you.

Why do I feel
I don't fit in anywhere I go?

That is the Jackson 5, right?

Hm?

Absolutely.

OLIVIA: She said to meet her at the clock.
- There she is.

- You the two?
- Dunham, Bishop, FBI.

You know, you shouldn't eat those.

You're about 30 years too late on that.

Can you show us where
this actually happened?

Yup, let's go.

DETECTIVE: Are we safe?
PETER: Sorry?

FBI comes into my house, first thing
I need to ask is, "Are we safe?"

I'm not sure we're ever really safe.

PETER: We're as safe as houses.
What can you tell us about this suicide?

DETECTIVE:
Just like it said in the papers:

Risa Pears, 28, decided to take a header
in front of the 7 train.

So, what makes you think
that it was a suicide?

Security cameras got it all.

OLIVIA: I'd like to take a look
at that tape myself.

All right, we'll set you up, agent.
What exactly are we looking for here?

Humor me.

There's gonna be a balloon
floating on the ceiling, a red one.

Her husband was away on business
in Seattle, he just flew back in.

He's giving a statement
down at the station.

Come on, this doesn't fit the profile.

Married, a baby.
You don't take your kid to the circus...

...and then give them a front-row seat
to watch you kill yourself.

And then there's that.

OLIVIA:
Yeah.

This doesn't make any sense.

She'd been waiting to go to the circus.

I mean, she's from here.

We met in Chicago.

And she kept saying that she wanted
to take Lucy to the circus. Okay?

She used to sing you the song
about elephants.

We were happy.

She wouldn't kill herself.
You gotta believe me.

She would never kill herself.

Agent, the surveillance you wanted
is ready.

OLIVIA:
Thank you.

She wouldn't do it. She just wouldn't.

OLIVIA:
Thank you.

This is the digital backup.
The primary drive is in evidence.

Can you slow this down?

Just start at the top.

Can I get a copy of this?

OLIVIA:
See, it doesn't make any sense.

I remember things from the crime scene,
I remember pushing her.

You know dreams aren't always literal.

Perhaps you killed this young woman
in some less direct way.

No, no, no.
We just watched her kill herself.

Perhaps you compelled her to jump
using your mind.

You have any reason to want her dead?
Romantic rival, perhaps?

- What?
- I didn't even know her.

- Why did you kill her?
- I don't know.

Stop. Both of you, stop.
Nobody killed anybody.

WALTER:
I'm surprised at you, Peter.

Agent Dunham is your friend,
you trust her.

She says she killed that girl. Are you
so presumptuous to believe her...

...only when she says
what you want to hear?

Your mother was a bit like that.
Consider this question.

- What is mankind's oldest dream?
- World peace?

Hardly. It's a social construct imposed
by an awareness or our own mortality.

Should've gone with
"Great taste, less filling."

What is the greatest desire of the weak
and subjugated?

Of the man whose fire is stolen
by an opponent...

...whose only advantage
is the luck of superior size?

- We're stealing fire?
- I think we're cavemen in this story.

Whose woman is wrenched away
by brutality and force?

Sexist cavemen, at that.

Simple, to kill with thought.

To wish someone dead.

To murder with the mind.

Come on, that's ridiculous.

You're right, I'm sure.

Unless, of course, it happens again.

- I'm sure she wants to see us...
- It's just sometimes...

- It's better. I know. I know.
- I can't relax.

MAN: I agree.
- Yes.

- I'm glad you feel the same way.
- I do. Of course, of course.

Thank you very much. Yeah, that's true.

This looks good, huh?

- Why would you do that?
- What? Honey.

WOMAN: Do you think it's okay
to flirt with her like that?

MAN: Honey. Honey, please.
- What is it? I'm not young enough?

- Hon, is something wrong?
- I'm not sexy enough?

- Why are you doing this to me?
- Relax. What is the matter with you?

- You bastard! You cheating bastard!
- Just calm down.

WOMAN:
I can see the way you're looking at her!

MAN: There's nothing wrong here.
Would you stop...?

(PEOPLE SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY)

(GROANS)

(GASPING)

Charlie, Charlie, it's me.
There's been a murder.

OLIVIA:
I tried to kill him.

Witness statements say
she stabbed her husband.

OLIVIA: Yeah, I was there.
- No, you were 300 miles away.

Somehow I am killing these people
in my dreams.

OLIVIA:
Hello, Agent Olivia Dunham.

- This is Peter Bishop.
- Hi.

- So, what can you tell us, doctor?
- The damage was quite severe.

Upper and lower intestines
both shredded.

She essentially gutted him.

He's gonna die. That's why
they gave her permission to be here.

OLIVIA:
So your name is Mouse?

Nickname from college.

I'm quiet, I guess.

Maybe just tell us what you remember.

We were at dinner.

Tuesdays we go out.

We decided Italian.

I don't know what happened.

I just...

It doesn't make any sense.

Billy's devoted to me.

Suddenly, I knew he was gonna leave me.

I was convinced of it.

And I got so scared.

I got so angry.

How could I do this?

Well, maybe you didn't mean to hurt him.

I mean, maybe somebody made you do it.

- Compelled you.
- Agent Dunham.

Did it feel like there was someone else
in your head making you stab him?

I tried to kill my husband, right?
How is this happening?

- Agent Dunham.
- Oh, God.

- I need to talk to you right now.
- It wasn't you.

Olivia, what exactly
do you think you're doing?

I made her do it, Peter.

You're running on no sleep.
And if I'm right, caffeine pills.

I faked my way through grad school,
remember?

You need to calm down.

You're not thinking straight
and you're not making any sense.

Peter...

...what is happening to me?

Hey.

- We're closed.
- FBI.

Great. Fun times.

What can you tell me
about what happened?

I got nothing new for you, FBI.

OLIVIA:
Humor me.

MAN: Middle of dinner,
bitch gets up and stabs her husband.

PETER: Bitch? Really?
We got a problem here?

- Problem? Yeah,
we got a problem.

People rush out in the middle of dinner,
no one pays.

Today I'm out all lunch hour.

Oh, yeah,
also, I'm on the cover of the Post.

OLIVIA:
Who was sitting here?

This isn't the Palm,
we don't keep a seating chart.

- Who was it? Was I there?
MAN: Whoa! Whoa!

- Was it me?
PETER: Agent Dunham.

Just some guy.
He comes in every now and then.

Blond hair, he's got a scar on his face.

- I know who that is.
- What the hell is wrong with you?

Think you can do whatever you want?
Are you crazy? I'm gonna sue you guys.

Olivia, stop. What's going on?

The man that he described,
I've seen him before.

What? Where?

That's a curious word. So it's got
nothing to do with going under water?

No. UNSUB stands for
unidentified subject.

Actually, it should more logically mean
going above water.

And still, no.

I certainly hope we find him.

- Who we looking for?
- I think it's after this.

WALTER:
Remarkable. This is entirely new.

- What?
- You're talking about the coffee?

Mm. Yes, what is it?

- Cinnamon?
- Yes.

Well, it's quite good.
Delightful, really.

There.

ASTRID: Blond hair, a scar.
- And he was at both crime scenes.

So he's our link.

WALTER:
Interesting.

No, not the coffee.
Although, I was wondering if we...

Walter, please.

You say he was at the table
where you dreamt you were sitting...

...and on the platform...

- ...where you dreamt you were standing.
- Yes.

And in your dreams you got many of
the actual details correct, is that right?

- Yes.
- But you did not see him in your dreams.

OLIVIA:
No, I didn't.

Well, perhaps that's because
you were him.

As I said,
dreams are not always literal.

What if you weren't dreaming
about yourself...

...you were dreaming about him?

Mr. UNSUB.

So he's the one that's been doing
these things to these people, not me?

Well, that's a possible explanation.

But why would I be dreaming of him?
I mean, who is he?

Government armed forces database
is online.

AGENT 1:
Interpol and public health systems online.

We can match a partial
from the restaurant...

...to one off the guardrail
at the subway station.

Running facial-recognition software.

Agents.

- What precisely is going on here?
- Sir...

An UNSUB may be killing people
with his thoughts...

...while Olivia is watching
in her dreams.

Oh, and by the way,
I don't think this machine works.

- Agent Dunham...
AGENT 2: We've got a hit.

Suspect's name is Nick Lane, former
address is St. Jude's Mental Hospital.

Well, I'm not going there.

(BEEPING)

BROYLES: I have a lawsuit from
a restaurant manager in New York.

I have unauthorized allocation
of agency time and resources.

I have access to government databases
for personal use. What's going on?

Someone's been coming
into my dreams...

...and he's either been
making me kill people...

...or he's been killing people
and making me watch.

You know how this sounds?

These things...
These things that we see every day...

...these things that we investigate...

...they're happening to me.

Dunham, you understand what kind
of scrutiny we're under? You're under?

- If Harris weren't in Washington...
- I know.

You can't unofficially investigate a case
when you're the subject.

I am sorry.

Dunham, why didn't you come to me?

I should have.

But I didn't wanna sound crazy.

So maybe...

Maybe it's better if I take some time off.
Just a few days to work this out.

Maybe just, like, a short leave.

I need to do this.

Agent Francis,
we have a status change.

I'm opening a new case.
Subject's name is Nick Lane.

Agent Dunham is on point.

Please give her
whatever assistance she needs.

Thank you.

Dunham...

...take care of yourself.

I will.

PETER: Until this year,
I'd never been to a mental hospital.

OLIVIA:
Learn to like new things.

PETER:
Maybe I never gave it enough thought.

What Walter went through.

I only ever saw it
from my own perspective.

His being crazy
was something that he did to us.

To my mother and me.

It wasn't something
that happened to him.

Well, you were young.

I'm not young anymore.

It must be a terrible thing
to not be able to trust your own mind.

Yeah.

Hey.

Are you two the federal agents?

Yes. Agent Olivia Dunham.
This is Peter Bishop.

Dr. Miller. Come with me.

I remember Nick very well.

He was already a residential patient
when I arrived here...

...which was about
five years ago now.

He had a very comprehensive
insurance policy, quite old.

I've never seen one like it.

PETER: What kind?
MILLER: Military.

About four months ago
an attorney arrived here...

...with papers saying Nick had inherited
a large sum of money.

They met twice more
and after that Nick checked himself out.

He was here voluntarily, after all.

Nick was an interesting person.
He had a kind of brightness to him.

- Intelligent?
MILLER: Yes, quite, but not what I mean.

He had an emotional brightness.

If he was happy,
he would light up a room.

Sad, he was like a black hole that would
suck you right down with him.

Hyper-emotive is the clinical term.

Put simply,
his affect was highly infectious.

- Was he dangerous?
- No.

No, if anything, his ideation
tended toward self-contempt...

...toward the suicidal...

...although he did suffer
from some psychosis...

...when his delusions were florid.

What sort of delusions?

Typical paranoid fare.

Nick was convinced
he'd been recruited as a child...

...for a series
of top-secret experiments.

That he was being prepared
to serve as a soldier...

...in the coming war
against denizens of a parallel universe.

"There is a war coming."

Not a war of hatred and anger.
A battle for survival.

Many warriors of the inevitable
confrontation are among us now.

"Before they can be considered soldiers,
they must be regarded as recruits."

It's all right here. He might as well
have the ZFT memorized.

But this is a manifesto
from a terrorist cell in Germany.

It translates to destruction
by the advancement of technology.

- It's their mission statement.
- Yeah, that's my point.

You said Nick Lane's
been in the nut farm for years, right?

The records go back to the mid-'90s.
He's been quoting the ZFT for that long.

So when did they recruit him?

- How old is he?
- What?

Nick Lane. What year was he born?

PETER:
1979.

- Where?
- Jacksonville, Florida.

Aren't you from Jacksonville?

- We need to talk to your father.
- What do you think you know?

We need to talk to him now.

Where's the fire?

Always loved that expression,
which is curious...

...since my lab assistant was killed
in a fire.

What can you tell me
about Cortexiphan?

Oh, that takes me back.

I remember Belly
whipping up a peyote mash...

Walter.

Cortexiphan was
a highly experimental drug.

William theorized that it might enhance
certain abilities in predisposed children.

Let me guess.
You experimented on people.

Oh, no, no. Not me. William.

We had quite a disagreement about it.

- What abilities?
WALTER: It worked on perception.

Carlos Castaneda, Aldous Huxley,
Werner Heisenberg all focused...

...on one single elementary truth:

Perception is the key
to transformation.

Reality is both subjective and malleable.

If you can dream a better world,
you can make a better world.

Or, perhaps, travel between them.

What did you just say?

So if Nick Lane was treated
with Cortexiphan...

...he could change reality
with his thoughts?

He could make somebody do something
just by thinking it?

Not his thoughts. How you feel
determines your view of the world.

You're saying
that Cortexiphan worked on feelings?

That's reductive, but, essentially, yes.

What if Nick Lane wasn't
affecting people with his thoughts?

What if he was affecting them
with his emotions?

The psychiatrists said
that he was suicidal, right?

They said
that his moods were contagious.

What if he was on the platform because
he was considering killing himself?

- Oh, my.
- Look at the restaurant.

All happy couples.
It triggers his fear of abandonment...

...and that woman caught his mood.

Let's say that Nick's emotions
are contagious. They're like a virus.

Maybe he's even doing this unwittingly.
It still doesn't explain...

...how it is that you are seeing him
in your dreams.

If William had followed
the usual procedures...

You see, often,
when we experimented on children...

Could we just stop right there
and analyze that sentence for a second?

We would put them in pairs,
like the buddy system in summer camp.

Listen to him. He's comparing
human experimentation to summer camp.

This pairing kept them from
becoming frightened or feeling isolated.

Sometimes an intense bond could form.

A bond which could be greatly amplified...

...by a drug like Cortexiphan.

All right, stop it, both of you.
You're creeping me out.

Olivia was never treated with Cortexiphan.

WALTER:
Is that true, Agent Dunham?

I might have been.

What?

Well, that's good news.

How is that good news, Walter?

This Nick Lane fellow of yours...

It means I may know how to find him.

(HIP-HOP MUSIC BLARING)

OLIVIA:
He's sexually excited.

His excitement
has infected the dancer.

She's excited too.

They're leaving the club together.

BOUNCER: What, are you nuts, Ginger?
You're in the middle of your shift!

What's going on?

I'm hypnotically stimulating REM state...

...to enhance a psychic connection
to Nick Lane.

I'm tuning her antenna, as it were.

Olivia can feel what Nick Lane is feeling.

She can see what he's seeing.

(GRUNTS)

- What's happening? Is he hurting her?
- Oh.

- Oh.
- What?

(GRUNTS)

- Oh.
- What?

(MOANING)

Oh, I see.

OLIVIA:
He's feeling guilt.

Shame.

He feels dirty.

He hates himself.

He wishes he was dead.

The dancer...

He's infecting her.

She's catching it.
His emotions are jumping to her.

How much he hates himself.

The girl...

He's infecting her.

She's dead. I killed her.

No, you didn't. You must stay under.

Agent Dunham, you must try to
stay under. She must try to stay under.

What is going on?
Did he just kill someone?

- Did he kill that dancer?
- These are dreams.

This boy is, essentially,
a reverse empath.

His feelings are killing people.

Put simply, Agent Dunham's mind...

...is recognizing the effects
of his emotions on his victims...

...and translating them into images
that her dreaming mind can recognize.

" Put simply."

Peter.

Help her.

Help her calm down. Go ahead, son.

Agent Dunham, where are you?

Where are you? What can you see?

What can you see?

(POLICE SIREN WAILING)

WALTER:
Agent Dunham?

Where are you?

I know where he lives.

(ALARM CLOCK BUZZING)

CHARLIE:
Clear.

Clear.

Come over here.

I think you should take a look at this.

The Torre Attack.

Someone's been a busy bee.

PETER: Look at the dates on these papers.
This guy has been collecting for years.

I've always wanted
a two-headed goat.

What newspaper is this?
Can I get a subscription?

PETER: Walter.
OLIVIA: Why now?

He was given Cortexiphan
over 20 years ago, right?

Why is this just happening now?

A lawyer shows up
with a magical inheritance...

...and Nick Lane
becomes an emotional atom bomb.

Seems a little too coincidental
to be coincidence, in my book.

So, what are you saying?
You think he was activated?

WALTER:
"What was written will come to pass."

What?

It's written on the wall over here.

Got a call
from a security guard downtown.

Made a positive ID
of Nick Lane entering a building.

He's not alone.

Nick Lane may be turning
into a walking epidemic.

As his emotions become more intense,
he may become more contagious.

Great. Why can't more angry
ever translate into less dangerous?

What are we supposed to do
if we find him?

If we get close to him,
aren't we gonna be infected too?

Yes, but perhaps Agent Dunham
would not.

- Why?
- You were also treated with Cortexiphan.

It might afford you some degree
of immunity from his abilities.

Why do I get the feeling
you're not telling us everything?

Because I don't know everything.

(SIREN WAILS)

- Officer, we're with the FBI.
- You don't wanna go up there.

We already sent a guy up.
Now he's on the ledge too.

We don't know what's going on.

- It's okay, officer.
PETER: Olivia.

I'm gonna be okay.

Nick?

Nick Lane?

Olive. You heard me.

You heard me. You came.

You were always the strong one.

Whenever I got scared,
you could make me feel better.

Do you remember, Olive?

I'm sorry. No, I don't.

It's okay.

I think they meant for us to forget.
I just couldn't.

I did what they told us. I waited, Olive.

The soldier to come
is both natural and unnatural.

I waited to be called up. Stay fit,
stay focused, stay ready.

I wore the blacks and grays.
I blended in.

But the call never came.

It never came.

And then that man with the glasses,
he showed up at the hospital.

He spoke all the old words.

He said, "They're coming."

He needed warriors.

He said,
"What was written will come to pass."

He said he knew how to wake me up.

I shouldn't have listened to him.

Sometimes what we wake up,
it can't be put back to sleep.

Nick, you don't have to do this.

I wanna stop hurting people.

Take it.

Take it.

Shoot me.

Please, Olive.

I can't fight this much longer.

- Listen to me. Come down...
- Ah!

Thirty-eight miles...

(CROWD SCREAMING)

I do hope Agent Dunham
meant to do that.

Shoot me, or I will jump...

...and they will all jump with me.

Shoot me, Olive.

I have to die,
or I will keep hurting people.

Please.

We weren't made for this.

Don't make me take them all with me.

Please.

I'm sorry.

Olive.

You'll wish you had.

You'll wish you'd killed me.

BROYLES: Nick Lane's parents died
several years ago. Car accident.

His lawyer's identity appears falsified.

We've repeated our request
to Massive Dynamic...

...regarding the Cortexiphan protocols,
but according to Nina Sharp...

...the names of the participants
were deleted from the records.

And you still have no memory of the
trials? Of being treated with the drug?

- No.
- But he does?

- Yes.
- Why do you think that is?

OLIVIA:
I don't know.

You saved his life.

He's being kept in a drug-induced coma.

- For how long?
- Indefinitely.

He said, "Sometimes what we wake up
can't be put back to sleep."

I wonder if he was right.

Are you all right, Dunham?

Yes.

Hey.

Aunt Liv, the stuff that they put in me
isn't dead anymore.

It came back alive.

Can that really happen?

It's just bad dreams, baby girl.

It's just bad dreams.

Come on.

Oh! You're getting so big.

I'm gonna put you back to bed.

(KNOCKING ON DOOR)

I'm breaking a thousand regulations
by doing this.

- Here's Nick Lane's file.
- I know.

I appreciate it, Charlie. Thank you.

Okay.

BELL (ON TAPE):
Is the incident contained?

WOMAN (ON TAPE):
Yes, Dr. Bell.

BELL: How bad?
WOMAN: Bad.

BELL: Casualties?
WOMAN: Not sure yet. Can't locate Brenner.

BELL: Is she okay?
WOMAN: She's fine.

BELL: Hell, do we know what triggered it?
WALTER: Obviously, she was upset, William.

It's okay, it's all right now.

Nobody's angry with you.
You didn't do anything bad.

It's all right, Olive.
Everything's going to be okay.