Fringe (2008–2013): Season 2, Episode 10 - Grey Matters - full transcript

Olivia and Peter look into some patients of mental institutions that regain their mental state after having gone through a brain intervention performed by a shape-shifter named Newton. This is directly related to Walter and his brain.

NARRATOR:
Previously on Fringe:

A storm is coming,

and when it is over, I fear there
will be little left of our world.

They've been looking for someone...

...someone to open the door
between universes.

Laston-Hennings Cryonics was hit.
Took everything.

- The cryo-capsules are gone.
- They found who they were looking for.

BELL:
Remember this symbol.

It's on their leader,
that's how you'll know.

And if they find him,
there will be no stopping them.

And that is why you must find him first.



MAN 1:
A girl in a red dress.

Flowers in her hair.

MAN 2:
Hm. What kind of flowers?

I'm not sure.

MAN 2:
Think, Mr. Slater. It will come.

Heather had the flowers in her hair.

The flowers in her hair are heather.

Oh, I think so, yes.

Container.

Now, hold very still.

I assure you, there will be no pain.

Let's close him up.

Hold on.

Yeah.



We've got activity.

(MACHINE BUZZING)

Code Gray, Corridor B.

We have two minutes, maybe three.

My sincere apologies.
I'd rather not leave you in such a state.

(BEEPING)

Mr. Slater?

Help me.

Fringe
s2e10 Grey Matters

Special Agent Olivia Dunham
with the FBI.

These men are consultants.
Peter Bishop and Dr. Walter Bishop.

We're here to investigate the break-in.

- And you're Dr. Bishop?
- Yes.

And I'm perfectly sane.

Joseph Slater has been a patient here
for the last 14 years.

When he was admitted, he was
diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

His file said he suffered
delusions and false memories.

Severe emotional swings.

Every classical symptom
of the condition. He exhibited each.

- Until last night.
DOCTOR: That's right.

Within an hour after discovering
what had been done...

...the change in his behavior
was remarkable.

So basically, two guys broke in,
cut a big hole in his head...

...and did what, drove him sane?

As unlikely as it sounds, yes.

And just as strange, we can't find
evidence that they did anything to him.

Mr. Slater's brain is structurally intact.

We ran blood tests, tox screens.
Nothing came back unusual.

We'll need to see his medical reports.

- And also his personal history.
DOCTOR: Of course.

(MAN GROANS)

Doctor, I'd like to see the patient.

That's where we're going, Walter.
To see Mr. Slater.

Peter, we're going to see a sane man.

I'd like to see him when he was a patient.

No, no, no. The girl in the red dress.

Chrysanthemums in her hair.

Her mother grows them
in a box on the windowsill.

DOCTOR (ON TV):
And where does this little girl live?

Across the street.

No, Joseph, she doesn't.

JOSEPH:
She... She moved.

DOCTOR:
She was never there.

What did you do with her?

What did you do?
What did you do with her?

You give her back.
Give her back. Bring her back.

Bring her back. Bring her back.

- You can't describe either of the men?
- To be honest, I barely remember them.

My first clear memory of last night
was turning from my window.

Miss Holbrook was there,
one of the nurses. She was scared.

They raced me to the medical ward.

But what struck me
was that I felt unburdened.

Like my mind had had a spring cleaning.

- Like I was suddenly...
- Free.

Yes.

And I seem to remember
them being pleasant. Polite even.

- But beyond that, nothing. I'm sorry.
- That's okay.

- Anything else?
- No, not right now. Thank you.

Okay, in that case,
Mr. Slater, your wife is here.

They tell me that she came to visit me
twice a week.

I think I remember being horrible to her.

I think it'll be fine. She's right outside.

Yeah. Thank you.

WALTER:
He's a lucky man.

Seventeen years I was in St. Claire's,
never a single visitor.

Walter.

Oh, I wasn't trying
to make you feel guilty, son.

It was just an observation.

Walter, have you had any theories
on how this man is suddenly sane?

No, not yet. But I'm eager to.

The remedy for insanity.

As you can imagine,
I've thought long and hard about it.

There they are.

Huh. You see that lock?

Can you zoom in right there?

That's elliptic curve crypto.
It's the top of the line.

These guys took it down
like a bicycle lock.

Whoever these guys are,
they're either very smart...

...very rich, or very well-connected.

Can you play that bit back?

- What?
- Freeze it there, when he turns around.

I know that face.

Can I use this?

And some privacy, if you don't mind.

- You know him.
- Mm-hm.

PETER: Where do you know him from?
- From Laston-Hennings Cryonics.

Are you referring to the theft
of the frozen heads?

Yeah. William Bell told me
the people from over there...

...that tried to kill me, that killed
Charlie, they were looking for someone.

WALTER:
They were looking for their leader.

OLIVIA: Well, I've been combing through
Laston-Hennings' files...

...to figure out of all the heads they
took, which was the one that they wanted.

I've been looking at these faces
for the last two months.

Are you really trying to tell us
that he is one of the heads they stole?

Fine, let's say for a second
that you're right.

Frozen heads don't get up
and walk into places.

The dead don't rise out of their graves
and perform midnight brain surgery.

No, I know they don't.

But this one did.

Thomas Jerome Newton.

Wow.

Newton.

So, what do we know about him so far?

Besides his name, nothing.

Thomas Jerome Newton was the name
on record at Laston-Hennings Cryonics...

...but it was an alias. It led nowhere.

Bell told me the man with that marking...

...would try to open a corridor
from our universe to the other side.

I managed to infer that the results
would be less than desirable.

Exactly how much less desirable?

Global destruction.

Biblical proportions.

What's that have to do with sneaking
into a hospital to perform brain surgery?

Leaving out the part
where they cured him.

As opening moves go, that one's strange.

Where's Dr. Bishop on this?

He's trying to figure out
how they cured Slater.

If he can, maybe we can
anticipate Newton's next move.

There's no maybe.

I don't know what Newton's up to,
but I know what I have to do.

I have to stop him.

Mr. Slater's referring doctor
was a psychiatrist called Simon Paris.

See if you could locate Dr. Paris,
please, dear.

I have some questions
about Mr. Slater's medical history...

...before his admission to Hennington.

Sure. Why? What are you looking for?

I'm not sure.

Something that would induce
the delusional thinking.

Something.

Something or someone.

You mean you think that someone
made him crazy? On purpose?

It's a theory.

The truth is there is no cure
for madness.

It's a fantasy.

The road back from madness
is a struggle.

Only the luckiest of people find their way
more or less back to the world you live in.

And from what we saw of Mr. Slater...

...well, my only supposition
is that he wasn't mad to begin with.

No Simon Paris in the AMA database.
He's not on the membership roster.

- Does that mean he died?
- It shouldn't.

Even if he had,
there should still be a record.

Huh. Um...

...Paris' Rx number will be on Mr. Slater's
initial prescription when he was admitted.

Check the pharmacy records.

Why would someone do that, Walter?
Make someone crazy?

WALTER: Any number of reasons. Make them
insusceptible to interrogation, for one.

ASTRID:
Huh. According to this, 14 years ago...

...Dr. Paris set up an indefinite
prescription of medications for Mr. Slater.

No termination date.

Oh, this is interesting.

In the same week, he wrote the same
prescription for two other patients.

- In the same week?
- at two other hospitals.

I'll call Olivia.

And when I woke up, I felt like I had
been out drinking the night before...

...only the night lasted 14 years.

It says here you suffered from a severe
form of obsessive-compulsive disorder?

Yeah. Arithmomania, they call it.

You were obsessed with numbers.

Just one, actually. Twenty-eight.

I'd see it everywhere, hear it everywhere.

I could never get it out of my head:
28, 28.

Then, uh, last Tuesday morning
I woke up and it was gone, just like that.

Like suddenly I was free.

And your doctors have no explanation?

Between you and me, I think
that's why they're keeping me here.

One of them's hoping
to get a paper out of it.

So, what does this
have to do with the FBI?

We're not sure. Maybe nothing.

But do you mind if we look at your head?

- My head?
OLIVIA: It should only take a minute.

Is there somewhere
that you could sit down?

Excuse me.

DEBORAH:
What are you looking for?

It's here.

Fresh scar, but there are no sutures.

Looks more like the burn
from a surgical laser.

I don't understand. What kind of scar?

What are you saying happened to me?

Mrs. Crampton, did you have
visitors during your stay?

My husband, my son.

What about the doctor
who referred you? Dr. Paris.

No, never.

I only saw him a couple times,
before he sent me here.

But it was Dr. Paris
who diagnosed the arithmomania, right?

Oh, no.

He saw me
for mild depression. Postpartum.

Told me I needed to rest a few weeks
and sent me here.

The arithmomania just started one day.

- How we doing?
- It should work...

...but we took too long getting to Slater.
The first specimen's dying.

The nutrient bath won't keep it alive
more than five hours.

Six if we're lucky.

Then we better get moving.

PETER:
A third patient, Stuart Gordon.

Just like Mrs. Crampton.

Fourteen years ago,
Dr. Paris refers him...

...to a mental hospital with
the psychiatric equivalent of a cough...

...which then develops
into schizophrenia.

Two days ago,
he miraculously recovers.

Mr. Gordon thought he was
the actor Sydney Greenstreet.

Walked around quoting Casablanca.

That's funny.

What?

Well, he looks a lot more like Peter Lorre.

That's a joke.

All my life I've been able
to understand what drives people.

Their emotions.
Like greed, or envy, or revenge.

But Newton,
these people we're up against...

How can I fight what I can't understand?

Olivia, I know you think
you're alone in this.

Maybe because of what Bell told you,
maybe that's just your personality.

But this isn't just your fight.

That was Olivia.

Stuart Gordon is just like the others.

Two days ago he woke up perfectly sane.

He's got a fresh scar
on the back of his head.

I must have missed something.

When did Mr. Slater
have an organ transplant?

I'm sorry?

One of the drugs Dr. Paris prescribed
is sirolimus. It's an anti-rejection drug.

It's only given to transplant patients.

It's absolutely useless
for a paranoid schizophrenic.

Suggests that not only
has Dr. Paris vanished...

...he's a quack.

Unless he's a genius.

What?

Organ transplants.

The human brain.

Well, half of one.

But it's useless. Dead.

Because when you remove brain tissue
from a living body...

...you can keep it alive
in a nutrient suspension...

...but eventually it will die.

It's a problem I've tried to solve
without success.

Keeping a human brain alive?

Very tricky.

You see, it's not enough
to simply give it blood and oxygen...

...you have to give it
electrical stimulation as well.

But Dr. Paris found a solution.

He stored the brain tissue
inside of another brain.

I'm sorry, I don't follow.
What brain tissue?

Our mental patients.

Mr. Slater, Mrs. Crampton
and Mr. Condom.

- Gordon.
- These are a few years old...

...but you see the slight
discoloration here?

PETER:
Mm-hm.

WALTER:
Normally that would be machine error...

...but this is not a machine error.

This is foreign tissue.

That's why they were all
on anti-rejection drugs.

- So the surgeries Newton performed...
- Was removing transplanted brain tissue.

And my hypothesis
explains the patients' madness.

Putting the tissue of one person
into the brain of another...

...it's like putting a motorcycle engine
into a car.

- It's simply incompatible.
- Right.

The host mind would have no way
to process the new information.

Thus the mental distress.
The false memories, delusions.

But as soon as you remove
the foreign tissue, then they're fine.

Correct.

(PHONE RINGS)

- Agent Farnsworth.
WEST (OVER PHONE): Hi, this is Dr. West.

You asked me to see if we had
any information on Dr. Paris? We didn't.

- Oh. All right, thank you for checking.
- I'M not finished.

We also checked
with our affiliated facilities.

- Oh?
- Well, that just leaves more questions.

Why cut out someone's brain
and store it inside other people?

And whose brain is it?

That's a good question,
and I have no idea.

Peter, can I, uh, speak to you a moment?

Walter, you never had visitors
in your time at St. Claire's, right?

That's right.

According to their records, Dr. Paris
visited you on six separate occasions.

Mind if I take a look at your head?

Mm. Okay.

PETER:
It's there.

It's different, it's older,
but there's definitely a scar.

I can see from your chart that you've
been though this procedure before.

Several times, in fact.

This is not a good idea, Peter.

These MRI machines have magnets
that rip the metal out of the patients...

...and I have that tracking chip
implanted in my neck.

The GPS locator.

- I...
- Have absolutely nothing to worry about.

Because it's made out of silicone.

You know as well as I do
that it won't be affected by the machine.

Maybe some Valium would help.

Oh, I don't do Valium nearly enough.
It's a good idea.

I'll have 50 milligrams, please.

Well, that's quite a high dosage.

I have quite a high tolerance.

All right.

Thank you.

You're going to be fine.

It's a routine procedure.

And the Valium will take care
of any claustrophobia.

I'm not worried
about claustrophobia, Peter.

What do you think that man did to me?

I don't know, Walter.

But we're gonna find out, okay?

- You okay?
- Yeah.

Yeah, Walter wanted to stick around
and wait for the results...

...but there's Walter on drugs,
and then there's Walter on drugs.

I had Astrid take him home.

Did you see the look on his face
when we were talking to Mr. Slater?

What do you think that's like for him?

Wishing that he could turn back
the clock to before he went crazy.

He's just sane enough
to realize how much he's lost.

I don't mean to sound callous...

...but from what I know of your father...

...going crazy made him a better person.

It certainly made him a better father.

(SIGHS)

I should have visited him in St. Claire's.

I think you're making up for that now.

I've reviewed the scans
of your father's brain.

- And?
- You should take a look.

WEST:
I've never seen anything like it.

Three scars, all on the same side
in the left temporal lobe.

These incisions go all the way
down into the gray matter.

- I'm not following.
- He didn't have tissue implanted.

- He had it removed.
- Yes. From the hippocampus.

And there would be
no medical reason for it.

So, what does it do? The hippocampus?

It controls our inhibitions,
helps store long-term memory...

...contributes to our spatial awareness.

You have the scans of the other patients?

Sure.

- What are you thinking?
- Hold on a sec.

This is the piece they put in Slater.

Look.

It's a perfect fit.

WALTER:
I took too much Valium.

Confusion, dizziness, nausea.

I think I must have
miscalculated the doses.

Maybe we should take you
to a hospital, Walter.

I don't want to go to a hospital.

I need Violet Sedan Chair.

- Walter, you're not making any sense.
- No, dear.

Violet Sedan Chair. It's a band.

Their debut album...

...it always helps me
come down from a Valium high.

It's in the lab. We should go get it.

Walter.

No, you do the driving.

I might puke in your car.

Why don't you stay here and rest,
and let me get it?

- Okay.
- That might be the best.

I'll be back.

OLIVIA:
It must be Paris.

He must have removed pieces
of Walter's brain. But why?

And why preserve them?

Memory.

The hippocampus. Memory storage.

Bell told you Newton wants
a door to the other side.

We already know Walter has done that.
He just can't remember how.

That is why he can't remember.

He literally had the memories removed.

No way.

- So then how does Newton read them? PETER:
In theory, he shouldn't be able to...

...but he should be a frozen head.

In the department of "how to make
impossible things possible"...

...what would he need to do?
He would need to...

...implant the memories
into a brain that could interpret them.

Walter.

(PHONE RINGING)

- Hello?
PETER: Astrid, where are you and Walter?

ASTRID:
I'M going to the lab.

He's at your house.
He sent me to get him an album.

- How long ago?
- Five minutes ago.

You gotta get back there.
Walter is in danger.

I'm on my way.

(KNOCKING ON DOOR)

Calm down, Agent Farnsworth.

You don't have to wake
the whole neighborhood.

Hello, Dr. Bishop.

Peter. He was already gone
when I got here.

I'm sorry, Peter.
I shouldn't have left him.

It's not your fault. You didn't know.

I got an idea.

Last week when Walter got lost,
he did what you'd expect.

He implanted a chip into his neck so
that if he ever got lost, I could find him.

(BEEPING)

He can't be far. Let's go.

Hold still, please.

This won't hurt a bit.

I'm sorry, do we know each other?

Oh, we will.

This is a mild sedative.

Something to calm your nerves.

I've already had 50 milligrams of Valium.

Then this should be very enjoyable.

(RECEIVER BEEPING
THEN PHONE RINGS)

OLIVIA: Dunham.
BROYLES: What's your 20?

Two blocks south
of the Boyleston T-Stop.

Boston PD is sending an entry unit.
I'M sending them to your location.

Keep going. Keep going
and take the next left you see.

The human brain is a fascinating organ,
but it's not static.

Remove or damage a section...

...it reroutes the connections
and grows in new pathways.

Now, figuring out where the old
connections once were can be very tricky.

Take the next left.

(RECEIVER BEEPING RAPIDLY)

Here. Down here.

AGENT:
Go. Go, go. Move, move!

Walter?

AGENT:
Clear.

They found the chip.

I'm going to show you
a series of photos.

When you see an image, I want you to
tell me the first thing that comes to mind.

There are no right or wrong answers,
but please tell me the truth.

If you don't, I'll know.

You're using associations
to map my brain function...

...locate my neural pathways.

Are you trying to fix me?

I'm afraid not.

Tell me what you think
when you see this.

My first semester of Organic Chem.

My lab partner and I used to sit
up at the back sniffing benzene fumes.

(CHUCKLES)

Peter.

Peter.

Peter.

I'm sorry, I know this is difficult.

It's not working.

He's not making the connections.

- Should I recalibrate the machine?
NEWTON: No, no.

We need to find something
more powerful to stimulate his memory.

Human memory is sensory-based.
Vision alone is not the strongest trigger.

Sound and smell actually work better.

We need the proper context.

Okay, Walter said brain tissue can't
survive for long outside a human body.

They've gotta be close.

Raised the alert
at every hospital, facility...

...and clinic in the Boston area.
We're even calling veterinarians.

Assuming they need a hospital
to complete the procedure.

With their technology, we can't know.

It's a start. And if we're wrong,
we'll have to get creative.

The girl in the red dress.

How did I miss this?

The girl in the red dress, 2828,
Sydney Greenstreet.

Dr. Paris' patients...
They all had obsessions.

Slater was ranting
about the girl across the street...

...the one that we thought never existed.
She did exist.

She lived across the street from me
as a kid.

Her name was Sydney.
She lived at 2828 Green Street.

So those were Walter's memories.

Memory is all about context,
all about association.

Every time Walter asked for
a piece of food or music or art...

...he was trying to re-create
a moment to help remember.

- Which suggests what?
- I don't know. I don't know.

But if they're trying to get him
to remember how he built a door...

...maybe they're gonna take him
to the place that he did it.

- Raiden Lake. The lake house.
PETER: No, no.

That's where he opened the door,
but it's not where he had the thought.

WALTER:
This place looks familiar.

The last time I was here
was a different season.

The leaves were falling.

Yes, this place exists in both worlds.

You see, but on my side,
the trees died long ago.

And the same thing killed the grass.

They call it the Blight.

- That's terrible.
- It is, isn't it?

MAN: Smith is on lookout,
and I've taken care of the Rubels.

- They're secured.
- Good.

Now, Dr. Bishop,
I can see which areas of your brain...

...can make sense of the data
that's stored in these slivers of flesh.

In a perfect world,
I would simply put it back.

I would never subject you
to a process so crude.

But this is the only way we can
reconnect these pieces of your brain.

(GASPS)

MAN: The connection is complete.
- Now, Dr. Bishop...

...you do know where you are, don't you?

Of course I do.

This is my home.

- It's working.
- Where's my wife? Where's my son?

(CHUCKLES)

- You drugged me.
- Yes.

And now I have a question for you.

You once built a door.

A door that let you walk between worlds.

Tell me how you did it.

How are things on your side?

Worse, I'm told.

I know why you built it, the door.

I know what you'd lost.

Now, are you going to pretend
that you're willing to lose him again?

Now, tell me about the door.

- We got company.
- They're here.

That's okay. We're done.

We've got what we need.

My apologies, Dr. Bishop.

(SIGHS)

Walter!

Walter. Walter. Can you hear me?

Walter. Walter. Can you hear me?

Walter.

Hello, son.

Could you help me...? Ha, ha.

It's okay. I'm, uh... I'm with the FBI.

They just left. Out the back.

Freeze, FBI!

Come out of there.

Step down slowly.

Keep your hands where I can see them.

You so much as twitch...

...and you won't have
a head left to re-freeze.

Are they mine?

Yep.

My brain tissue, Peter...

...it's dying.

Whatever was in there...

...memories I'll never get back...

It's all right. You don't need them.

(CHUCKLES)

Hello, son.

Hello, son.

(GAGS)

Walter?

Walter.

- Hey. Walter, look at me. Walter.
- Ugh.

There's something you should know.
It's about Walter Bishop.

He's going to die
unless you do exactly what I say.

I injected him with a neurotoxin,
and unless he gets the antidote...

...in four minutes, it will kill him.

Call it my fail-safe to ensure my escape.

You're bluffing.

- It's me.
- They've done something.

I don't know what it is,
but I think maybe he's been poisoned.

- His pulse is racing.
- What did you do?

Ask him if he sees a medical kit
I left behind.

Olivia, you gotta get back here. Please.
Please, I need your help.

Okay, Peter, listen.
Do you see a medical kit?

- There's one on the table. Why?
- There are three vials in the kit.

Injected in the correct order,
they neutralize the toxin.

- Tell me.
- Oh, no, no, no. Not yet.

You have about two minutes
until Dr. Bishop dies.

At a flat run, I estimate about
40 seconds until you get back to him.

Now, hand me your phone...

...and when I hear you from Peter's phone,
I'll tell you what to do.

You're crazy if you think
I'm letting you go.

Olivia, please, I need your help.
I think he's dying.

Oh, God. Walter. Walter!

NEWTON:
The choice is yours.

You can have me...

...or Walter Bishop.

NEWTON:
One minute, 45 seconds.

Come on, Olivia.

PETER (OVER PHONE):
Olivia, please. Help.

Make your choice.

Me, or Walter Bishop.

Go to hell.

Give me your phone.

Okay, you son of a bitch.

NEWTON: Do you have the medical kit?
- Got it.

Okay, tell me how to do this.

Blue, yellow, red.

Okay. Blue, yellow, red.

NEWTON:
And, Olivia?

Now I know how weak you are.

(GASPS)

Peter...

...I have a terrible headache.

And a sudden craving for chicken wings.

OLIVIA:
He was right. I made an emotional choice.

I chose my friend over my responsibility.

And we have no idea if Walter
gave Newton the plans for the door.

Walter doesn't remember.

And the brain tissue
that Newton extracted is dead.

- And Dr. Paris?
- Nothing. He's vanished.

So all we have is more questions.

I mean, who is Paris?
How did Newton know...

...about Walter's memories,
and why did they let Walter live?

I suspect that's the way
this is going to be.

The more answers, the more questions.

- We didn't get any answers.
- Sure we did.

We've given our enemy
a name and a face. That's something.

And you saved Dr. Bishop's life.
That's something too.

Because despite what you think...

...you made a rational choice,
not an emotional one.

If you'd captured Newton, or killed him,
that wouldn't have been the end of this.

But there's only one Walter Bishop.

And we'll be needing him
before this is over.

And don't be so hard on yourself.

We're gonna be needing you too.

They just wanna make sure
everything's okay.

I know.

I should have visited you, Walter.

While you were in St. Claire's.

Oh, that's okay, Peter.

If you had, I probably
wouldn't have remembered anyway.

I'll be right outside if you need me.

He's ready, Dr. Paris.

PARIS: His system is completely clean?
No sedatives? No anti-depressants?

- The electrodes are in place.
PARIS: Good.

Hello, Walter.

Are you comfortable?

Comfortable?

I'm frightened, Belly.

I wish there was another way...

...but what you've accomplished...
It's just too dangerous.

But what if we ever have to go back?

Don't worry.

Your memory, I'll put it in a place
that only I can find.

Now, listen to me, Walter.

You designed a door to the other side.

I want you to think about that door.

(SAW BUZZING)