Fringe (2008–2013): Season 2, Episode 18 - White Tulip - full transcript

You nearly died
when you were a boy.

NARRATOR:
Previously on Fringe:

WALTER:
I became consumed with saving you.

I don't remember any of that.

- I can't let Peter die again.
- What did you mean by that?

I designed a device intended to cross
the time-space continuum...

...and retrieve my dying son.

- Walter, I gotta tell Peter the truth.
- Things have never been better.

I can't lose him again. I can't.

Give me time to prepare. Please.

(HORN BLOWING)



WOMAN (OVER PA):
Next, Boston Main Station.

Transfer to the orange line, silver line
and all commuter rails.

TEENAGER:
Any change?

Excuse me, ma'am,
do you have any spare change?

Thank you, God bless you.

Sir? Any spare change?

- No. No, I'm sorry.
- Anything you can manage...

Thank you. God bless you anyway, sir.

MAN (OVER PA): Now approaching
on track 18, the 331 express train...

WOMAN: Now approaching
Boston Main Station.

Spare change?

Oh, God. Oh, God.

No. No, please.
Let me out of here! Help!

Let me out of here!



Fringe
s2e18 White Tulip

(PHONE RINGS)

PETER (OVER MACHINE):
Leave a message.

PETER:
It's Peter, pick up.

Hey, Walter, it's Peter.

Your son, Peter.

Come on, Walter. Pick up the phone.
Walter, pick up the receiver...

...and hit the square black button
next to the red flashing light, remember?

Fine. When you get this,
get your kit together.

Just got off with Olivia, she said
there was an incident on a train.

I know how you love trains.
Thought it might cheer you up.

Be home to pick you up
in 15 minutes, all right?

PETER:
You notice anything weird?

Not yet, but give it 10 minutes.

I was actually talking about Walter.

WALTER:
Hello, I'm Dr. Walter Bishop.

He's been avoiding me.
He didn't even look at me...

...in the car ride over her.
He's stopped eating.

Got him a new box of Peek Freans,
he hasn't opened it.

- Did he say something?
- No.

All week, it feels like he's been
enveloped in this...

...sadness.

I haven't noticed anything.

Oh, my.

Sir. What are you doing?

- Checking their underwear.
- Their underwear?

Surely you're familiar
that with sudden death...

...victims often experience
a sudden bladder release of urine.

And sometimes, excrement.

- Get off this train.
- He's with me.

Thank you.

I don't know what happened
to these people, Agent Dunham.

My first guess
is collective heart failure.

These people died from a heart attack
at the same time?

Perhaps it was sympathetic, contagious.
Like yawning.

Come on, Walter,
you really believe that?

Walter, does your theory suggest why
all the lights would be out in this car?

No. There should be battery backup.

Unless it wasn't serviced properly.

Agent Dunham.

BROYLES: Crossed paths with a man
as he entered the car.

Six foot, brown hair,
wearing a trench coat.

And he's sure that he saw him
coming out of this train car?

The man didn't speak to him
or acknowledge him.

He just exited
down the stairs of the platform.

Did we pick him up on surveillance?

Waiting to get word if they pull him
on any footage.

PETER:
Agent Dunham.

Hey, Ryan.

Found this over there.

Oh, my God.

Excuse me, gentlemen, that's mine.

Thank you, thank you.

PETER: All the batteries are dead.
It's not just the lights.

This is her cell phone. They're all dead.
Cell phones, laptops, MP3 players.

- They're all completely drained.
- Any theories, Dr. Bishop?

Oh, no.

Except my initial theory of collective
heart failure is probably incorrect.

I'll need to take some of these bodies
back to the lab.

Six or seven should suffice.

We have an image
from the platform cameras.

Who is this guy?

And how did he kill everything
on this train?

WALTER: This is unusual. Dying
organisms struggle for their last breath.

These people appear as if their
switches have simply been turned off.

- Hey, how's it coming in here?
ASTRID: Hi, Peter.

Not very good.

Take samples of this man's lung,
brain, and skin.

- Something's not right here.
- Yep, I think it's my paycheck.

Whatever it is, I'm sure you're gonna
make sense out of it, Walter.

Walter, what's going on with you?

Is there something
you wanna talk about?

No. Everything's fine.

Astro, show me those previous
cellular samples.

That's extraordinary.

ASTRID:
ATP concentrations are unusually low.

The process should continue
for hours, even after death.

This man's mitochondria
ceased functioning...

...well before it should.

What do you say
I take samples of the rest?

- See if there's a trend.
- See if there's a trend.

PETER:
So, what are you saying, Walter?

Something was able to reach inside
people's mitochondria and...

Drain them, like the batteries in
the electrical devices on the train.

It wasn't just their hearts that stopped,
it was every cell in their bodies.

What do you think
could do something like that?

I have no idea.

BROYLES: Twenty years ago,
a person walking through Boston...

...showed up on an average
of 10 different surveillance cameras.

Now, it's hundreds.

- Bad for privacy but good for us.
- I asked them to output each source...

...to a different monitor.
Give us a sense of the route. Play it.

He exits the train station,
crossing Ferris Ave., continuing north.

This is from the bank on Howard Street.
Coming around the corner.

There, he enters a café.

He spent almost 45 minutes inside,
then left the establishment.

Guy kills a train full of people
and then stops for a meal?

BROYLES:
And the trail goes cold there.

He left the café, we couldn't
locate him on any cameras.

OLIVIA:
But we have a place to start.

Café Wilusa.

Yeah, he was here this morning.
He comes in all the time.

- Weird guy.
- Weird how?

Well, he always draws on stuff.
Like the napkins and the placemats.

- Well, what sort of stuff does he draw?
- Some kind of math, I think.

To be honest, my higher math ends
at calculating my tip. So...

- Does he ever pay with a credit card?
- Sometimes he does.

Here. This is him.

OLIVIA:
"Alistair Peck."

Thank you, this'll really help.

AGENT 1:
Clear.

AGENT 2:
Clear.

AGENT 3:
Clear.

Send the Bishops up please.

WALTER: These mathematical formulae
are extraordinarily complex.

Physicists use diagrams
like these to shorthand ideas...

...about how subatomic particles behave.
These are sublime.

This may explain his flourish
for numerical wallpapering.

Astrophysics.

He teaches at MIT.

WALTER:
If I comprehend this correctly...

...then this Alistair Peck has taken
Einstein's theory of relativity...

...and turned it on its ear.

I grasp portions of it...

...tachyons are depicted here,
but I fail to see their relevance.

However, it does confirm
that Dr. Peck...

...was dealing with tremendous energy
to do whatever it is he's doing.

PECK: What...? What are you doing
with my things?

AGENT (OVER RADIO):
Peck is here. He's downstairs.

He just walked in off the street.

Guess that explains
what all the surgical tools were for.

What did you do
to the people on that train?

Twelve innocent people.

Those people aren't dead, miss.

Not permanently.

- Of course they're dead.
PECK: But they soon won't be.

Although others soon will be,
I'm afraid.

Dr. Peck, I want you
to lie down on the ground now.

PECK: Don't take my computations.
They're meaningless to you.

It is well within my ability to make it
so that you are never in possession...

...of things I require.

- You've implanted a faraday mesh.
PETER: What are you talking about?

A shield to create a temporal pocket
around your body. Of course.

Of course, what? Why would he need
a temporal pocket?

- That's fantastic.
OLIVIA: Dr. Peck, what are you doing?

Dr. Peck.

- Walter, what's happening?
AGENT: Get down.

I said get down on the ground.

Spare change?

I'm sorry you have to
go through this again.

Oh, God.

Oh, God. Let me out of here!

PETER (ON MACHINE):
Leave a message.

Hey, Walter, it's Peter.

Your son, Peter.

All right, fine.
When you get this, get your kit together.

Just got off with Olivia, she said
there was an incident on a train.

I know how you love trains.
Thought it might cheer you up.

Coming home to pick you up
in 15 minutes, all right?

PETER:
You notice anything weird?

Not yet, but give it 10 minutes.

I was actually talking about Walter.

Excuse me, I'm Dr. Walter Bishop.
Is this the car?

AGENT:
Right over there.

Must be the car.

Oh, my.

(INAUDIBLE DIALOGUE)

Here's the initial report.

Think these people died
from a heart attack at the same time?

WALTER: Perhaps it was sympathetic,
contagious. Like yawning.

Walter, does your theory suggest why
all the lights would be out in this car?

No. There should be battery backup.
Unless it wasn't serviced properly.

I'll need to take some of these bodies
back to the lab.

Six or seven should suffice.

Agent Dunham.

He crossed paths with the suspect
as he entered the train car.

Says the man was in a raincoat.

Six foot, brown hair. Says he touched
the railing. We're dusting for prints.

Hi there. The man from the train,
did he say something to you?

- Yeah.
- What did he say?

"I'm sorry you have to
go through this again."

"Again"?

OLIVIA:
And what then?

He stepped off the stairs
and walked away.

PETER:
Agent Broyles, Agent Dunham.

All the batteries are dead. Cell phones,
laptops. They're completely drained.

Hey, Ryan.

- Look, found this on the floor over there.
- My God.

Oh, thank you. Thank you.
That's mine.

- He found it on the floor over there.
- Oh, oh.

Thank you.

- The mitochondria were depleted?
PETER: Yep, completely drained.

Victims didn't die of a group heart attack,
they were drained of biological energy.

- Just like their phone batteries.
- Pretty much. "How" is the question.

Walter is still working. I'll let you
know if he finds out anything.

- Okay.
- Dunham.

We managed to ID the print
we lifted off the train-car railing.

We got lucky.
It matched a set NASA has on file.

"Doctor Alistair Peck."
What did he do at NASA?

He was classified
as part of a think tank.

We don't know
much more than that yet.

Well, we know he lives here,
412 Inman Street.

AGENT 1:
Clear.

AGENT 2:
Clear.

Send the Bishops up please.

Mr. Peck may have done project work
for NASA...

...but he's employed locally.

Astrophysics, he teaches at MIT.

What?

Wow, I'm having déjà vu.

Yeah. I read that déjà vu
is fate's way of telling you...

...that you're exactly where
you're supposed to be.

That's why you feel like
you've been there before.

You are right in line
with your own destiny.

- Well, do you believe that?
- Ehh.

No. It's a bit mystical for my taste.

I never get them myself...

...maybe because I'm not on track
with my destiny.

- Huh. Look at this.
- What is it?

A photo album.

Okay, but who are you?

What's your name?

Well, one of them's bound to be back
sooner or later.

Hopefully sooner.

Shall we go home now?

I'm tired of waiting.

Olivia...

...might I come with you? In your car.

I can't drive home with him.

- I can't look at him.
- Walter. You can't keep doing this.

Peter knows that something's
upsetting you.

I've written him a letter.

Instead of me stammering
in fits and starts...

...a letter is more concise.

It explains everything
in just the right words.

Except that every time
I think I'm ready to tell him...

...I envision his reaction
when he reads it.

I run the scene in my mind
again and again...

...and every time,
the outcome is terrible.

But I will do it.

But first...

...there's something I'm waiting for,
Agent Dunham.

- Something important.
PETER: Hey, guys, check this out.

Templates. Forms.

OLIVIA:
What are they for?

What you'd use to cast machine parts.
These look handmade.

This one is dated several months ago.

This one, even earlier.

He refers to them as prototypes.

But prototypes for what?

BRYCE: Alistair Peck
was a professor here for six years.

His focus... Obsession
was particle acceleration.

Creating wormholes
without a particle collider.

You're saying Dr. Peck's
area of expertise was time travel?

He kept cranking out theories,
every one of them was over our heads.

- Must be frustrating for his superiors.
- Embarrassing is a better classification.

They wanted to fire Alistair but he saved
them the trouble and left a year ago.

Is this his wife?

Ah. The fiancée. Her name is Arlette.

- Do you remember her last name?
- I don't recall.

PETER: Do you know any other friends
he had? People he knew?

BRYCE: That's the sad thing. He was
kind to everyone, but he never socialized.

I think I was his only friend.

Well, anything that you can remember
about Mr. Peck...

...it could be important.

BRYCE: Alistair sent me these
about six months ago to proofread.

- He had hopes of seeing them published.
- Can we take them?

Only gathering dust here.

They are pretty dense.
Most would say it's gobbledygook.

Well, I happen to know someone
who is fluent in gobbledygook.

WALTER:
I'm finished.

Another 20 years, with the
assistance of some other great minds...

...I will have absorbed
this information.

Alistair Peck has conceived of
some extraordinary theories...

...and is possibly implementing them.

Meaning what?

He may well be able
to travel through time.

Conceivably.

Einstein himself theorized this.

Ten am, 11 am.

He said that if something
could propel an object...

...faster than the speed of light,
then time would appear to bend.

When those two folds connect...

...a tremendous amount of energy
is required to absorb the jump.

From any power source.
So the laptops, the phones.

- And anyone who was near him.
- Yes.

What you're saying
is Peck's moving through time...

- ...is what killed these people.
- That is my theory.

Yes, and Olivia, if it is right...

...then we may well have
apprehended this man already.

Possibly several times.

I found his fiancée.

The car in one of the pictures
is registered to an "Arlette Turling."

Her license information's
coming through.

Okay, that's her. Find out what you can.
She's our only connection to Peck.

WALTER:
The third volume is unfinished.

There's a handwritten segment
at the back...

...then the writing stops.

The unfinished chapter is entitled:
"Achieving the Arlette Principle."

- What did you just say?
- "Achieving the Arlette Principal."

OLIVIA: I think I know
why Peck is doing this.

Arlette Turling was killed
in a car accident 10 months ago.

On the 18th of May.

What if Alistair Peck is going back...

...to save her?

Grief can drive people
to extraordinary lengths.

Now, considering the amount
of energy...

...that was drawn when he landed
at the station this morning...

...using Peck's own theories...

...I estimate that we witnessed
just a 12-hour jump.

A 10-month jump,
the results would be devastating.

- Well, how many casualties?
- It would depend where he landed.

Hundreds.

ASTRID:
This is weird.

I did a search for Peck's cell phone
when we first ID'd him as a suspect.

He didn't have one.

But Arlette Turling's number
is still active.

Someone's paying the bill.

Now, in the past 24 hours,
the primary cell tower...

...that's been handling the signal from
Arlette's cell phone is a tower near...

...Albany Street.
WALTER: What's near Albany Street?

MIT.

What's he doing at MIT? The professor
said she hadn't seen him for a year.

Well, Walter has a lab here,
maybe Peck has a lab there.

According to the files...

...the lab registered to Peck when
he was professor here was Lab 107.

Are there any windows in that lab?
Get your men on the rooftops.

- Those guns really necessary?
- You okay?

- You want me to take you back home?
- No, Peter. No.

- Just stay there. Agent Broyles.
- Agent Dunham.

If we are correct, for Peck...

...this is about bringing a dead
loved one back to life...

...then Peck and I,
we have something in common.

- Let me speak to him.
- Walter.

Of course,
I know that killing him...

...is the only way to ensure
he won't jump...

...but if I could talk to him,
I think I can convince him to stop this.

Please.

Let's talk to Broyles.

Yes.

(TUBEWAY ARMY'S "ARE 'FRIENDS'
ELECTRIC" PLAYING OVER RADIO)

(GRUNTS)

(PLAYING OVER RADIO)
It's cold outside

And the paint's peeling off of my walls

There's a man outside

In a long coat, gray hat, smoking a...

(MUSIC STOP)

Wait. I'm not a threat.

I am an ambassador.

I know who you are.

You're Dr. Walter Bishop.
I've read you.

New Frontiers
in Genetic Hybridization.

And I know that if you wanted to...

...you could disappear from here
in a second.

Please trust me.

You and I both know there are
certain things we take for granted.

The laws of nature, for example...

...that are not necessarily binding.

There are places on this Earth...

...where two plus two
most definitely does not equal four.

You figured out how to bend time.

But you're only interested
in traveling to the past.

Your goal, your next jump,
is the 18th of May.

So you know.

The 18th of May. Yes.

Don't do that. Don't stand there.

(OVER RADIO) There are snipers outside.
Stay away from the window.

- I hope he knows what he's doing.
PECK: Why are you here?

What do you really want?

My calculations show
what you must already know.

An enormous amount of energy...

...will be drained
from wherever you arrive...

...and a large number of people
will be killed.

- But each jump back clears that slate.
- No.

If you are reunited with your fiancée,
and you pull her from that car...

...the victims of this last massive reset
will remain dead.

Listen...

...on the day of the crash, we argued.

Arlette wanted me
to go to some store...

...to register for wedding gifts.

And I hurt her feelings, then I left.

As I walked, I became drawn
to something on the horizon.

A large red ball.

It was a hot-air balloon,
moored on the city's outskirts...

...out in this field.

I spent the whole day in this field...

...looking at this balloon.

And I got my answer.

I had an epiphany of how to physically
apply my theories of time travel.

I was in that field
the moment her car was hit.

Eighteen May, 2:18 pm.

If I'd have simply done what she
asked me, if I'd have said:

"Sure, I'll go with you"...

...I know it wouldn't have happened.

I will jump back.

But I'll jump back
into that empty field, Walter.

And I will only drain the energy
from the plant life.

Energy will be dispersed,
no one will die...

...and I will pull Arlette from that car,
save her life.

I know why you haven't
gone back to May 18th yet.

Because you don't know how to.

You haven't been able to jump back
any further than the train.

(STATIC ON RADIO)

What happened?

Someone get that signal back online.

You approximated the time curvature
using a seventh-order polynomial.

But you made one small error.
For the distance you require...

...it should be at least nine.

I've read you too.

AGENT: We can't get it back online.
He turned the radio off.

Get a team up there now.

I'm telling you how to do this,
but I am telling you...

- ...you cannot do it.
- I must do it.

- You'll never live with the consequences.
- I told you no one will die.

That's not the consequences
I am talking about.

I, too, attempted the unimaginable,
and I succeeded.

I crossed into another universe...

...and took a son that wasn't mine.

And since then,
not a day has passed...

...without me feeling the burden
of that act.

I'm going to tell you something...

...that I have never told another soul.

Until I took my son
from the other side...

...I had never believed in God.

But it occurred to me...

...that my actions had betrayed him.

And everything that had happened
to me since was God punishing me.

So now I'm looking for a sign
of forgiveness.

I've asked God
for a sign of forgiveness.

A specific one, a white tulip.

Tulips don't bloom this time of year,
white or otherwise.

But he's God.

And if God can forgive me
for my acts...

...then maybe...

...it's in the realm of possibility...

...that my son possibly
may be able to forgive me too.

Walter, God is science.

God is polio and flu vaccines
and MRI machines and artificial hearts.

If you are a man of science,
then that's the only faith we need.

Allow me to serve
as a cautionary tale.

There will be repercussions.

If you pull Arlette from that car...

...you don't know how things will be
changed by your action, but they will.

It's not our place
to adjust the universe.

And you'll never be able to
look at her again without knowing that.

Just like every time I look at my son.

I have traveled through madness
to figure this out.

And you will too.

You're asking me
to just leave her there.

(BANGING)

No, no, no. No, stop, I'm all right.

Gentlemen, please. Gentlemen.
You see, we won't remember this.

Don't you see?
We won't remember anything...

OFFICER:
Officer in need of backup.

WOMAN (OVER RADIO):
Copy that, what's your 20?

I'm at 412 Inman Street.

This is weird. I did a search
for Peck's cell phone...

...when we first ID'd him
as a suspect.

He didn't have one.

But Arlette Turling's number
is still active.

Now, in the past 24 hours,
the primary cell tower...

...that's been handling the signal
is a tower near...

...Albany Street.

(CELL PHONE RINGS)

Dunham.

Alistair Peck is back at his residence.
Six dead.

Including two Boston PD officers.

We have to take him down
before he jumps again.

(SIRENS WAILING)

SNIPER: I have a shot.
- Take it.

(GUNSHOT)

(INAUDIBLE)
So you decided to come with me?

I love you.

I love you too...

I haven't seen you look at that letter
for a while. It's been almost a year.

Today's the day
I'm supposed to send it.

Open it.

Apparently, Alistair felt whatever it is,
he could put in your trust.

He wouldn't have sealed it
if he wanted me to see what's inside.

(DOOR OPENS)

Hey, Walter. Hey, I got you something.

Fixed your turntable.

I'd tell you to keep it out of the lab,
but you won't.

Thank you, Peter.

Thought maybe you'd like
some music to cheer you up.

Walter, I know that you've been
in a funk for the last couple of weeks.

- If there's something you wanna talk...
- No.

Something was weighing on me.

A decision.

I'm fine.

Okay.

I'm gonna go hit the hay.

(PAPER RUSTLES)