Fringe (2008–2013): Season 2, Episode 2 - Night of Desirable Objects - full transcript

(CHATTERING)

MAN (OVER RADIO): Lines are
open now, so now's your chance.

In other news, still no information...

...on the disappearance
of six Lansdale residents.

- Forgot my gear.
- Hurry. Don't wanna miss kickoff.

- -Anyone suspicious,
please contact Sheriff Golightly's office.

All calls are anonymous.

That's it for me. Joe Clark is up next
to keep you company on the way home.

(RICKY NELSON'S "POOR LITTLE FOOL"
PLAYS OVER RADIO)

(CROW CAWING)

I used to play around with hearts



CO-WORKER:
Let's go, Raymond. What's the holdup?

RAYMOND:
Just a second.

When I met that little girl

(CORN RUSTLING)

I knew that I would fall

Poor little fool

Oh, yeah

I was a fool

- Uh-huh
- Uh-huh

Poor little fool

I was a fool
Oh, yeah

She played around and teased me

With her carefree, devil eyes

She'd hold me close and kiss me



But her heart was full of lies

Poor little fool

Oh, yeah

(RAILROAD CROSSING BELL RINGING)

- Uh-huh
- Uh-huh

Poor little fool

I was a fool
Oh, yeah

She told me how she cared for me

(GROWLING)

(WHISTLE BLOWING)

CO-WORKER:
Raymond!

Raymond.

Fringe
s2e02 Night Of Desirable Objects

NURSE: There you go.
- Thank you.

- You take care, Agent Dunham.
- I will.

- Let me get that.
- Peter, I'm fine.

I know you are.

What?

Well...

Just looking for the hidden ninja sword.

(SCOFFS)

Well, that one
wasn't covered by insurance.

Thank you.

- Did you check the drawers?
- No.

Anything I have forgotten, they can keep.

I don't wanna spend another minute here.

I'm no good at sitting around.

You're also no good
at letting people help you.

Well, I'll let you carry my suitcase.

(SIREN BEEPING)

(RAYMOND PANTING)

(GASPING AND GRUNTING)

(GROWLING)

(FOOTSTEPS AND GROWLING)

(GASPING)

(RAYMOND SCREAMING)

PETER:
Did you get me everything on my list?

BROYLES:
FBI signed off on everything...

...including new housing
for you and your father.

But the C-130 transport plane
is proving a bit tough to requisition.

We're not gonna need it for this one.

Pennsylvania?

I was trolling the FBI databases
looking for cases similar to Olivia's.

Sudden disappearances. This town has
had six missing people in two months.

Four of which, eyewitnesses
say just disappeared into thin air.

I thought it was worth checking out.

- How is she?
- Olivia?

She'll be fine.

Do it.

And keep a close eye on Dunham.

ASTRID:
All right, Walter, the cameras are ready.

WALTER:
Here we go.

- Agent Dunham, you're just in time.
- Just in time for what?

ASTRID:
We're re-creating your car accident.

WALTER:
Okay, Astrid, ready.

Three, two, one.

(SIREN WAILING)

(CAMERA CLICKING)

(FROG CROAKING)

WALTER:
The photographs, quickly.

ASTRID:
I know, Walter.

Your accident, I'm testing a theory.

Oh.

Thank you.

No matter what I try,
I can't make the frog disappear.

- We've been at this for five hours.
- Science is patience.

It's also slimy.

From all the evidence...

...you were missing from your car
for at least an hour...

...before you came crashing back
through the windshield.

You simply disappeared.

He thinks you traveled
to another universe.

You see, Agent Dunham...

...we assume that our universe
is the only universe.

That's not true.

There is an infinite number
of universes...

...and in each of them,
there is a version of us.

You, me, Agent Farnsworth.

Each one slightly different.

Changed over time
based on the accumulation of our choices.

So in this reality...

OLIVIA:
Walter.

We've had this conversation before,
haven't we?

I know that I went somewhere.

I think I met with someone.

But the rest is like a dream
that I just can't quite remember.

Perhaps you will. In time.

When they said you were dead...

When I saw you lying there...

I don't know what I would have done.

Walter.

But you're here now
and apart from the obvious...

- ...you appear to be fine.
- I appear to be?

You know, traveling to an alternate reality
has its consequences.

No. No, you'll be fine.

(DOOR OPENS)

PETER:
Hey.

You feel up to going for a drive?

Hello. Hello.

Hello, I'm Walter Bishop.

Hello.

OLIVIA:
Sheriff Golightly?

Special Agent Olivia Dunham.

This is Peter and Walter Bishop.

- Don't remember calling the FBI.
- Your offices filed...

...six missing persons reports.

(SIGHS)

Seven now.

PETER:
Seven?

All under the same circumstances?

SHERIFF:
Same as the others. Just disappear.

- Be damned if I know what to make of it.
- We're all victims of our own gene pool.

Someone must have peed in yours.

I'm sorry, you'll have to excuse
my father.

WALTER: Excuse me.
OLIVIA: Sheriff...

...these two men are both
special investigators with the FBI.

When the men and women
who've come from three counties...

...have finished collecting evidence,
then you can see it.

SHERIFF:
Let me see what you got.

WALTER:
May I?

- Wonderful.
- Have you run across this before?

Absolutely not.

The air here is quite auspicious.

Makes the hair stand up
on the back of your neck.

- The air?
- This.

A fresh mystery.
Pregnant with possibilities.

Who knows where it may lead?

I'll bet you he knows.

(CROWS CAWING)

SHERIFF:
Here are the investigation files.

Everything we have so far from the first
disappearance, but not a hell of a lot.

Possible-suspect interviews.

Case leads, dead-ends
from the disappearances.

Okay, thank you.

SHERIFF:
Agent Dunham.

The FBI has very specific laws that
govern what their jurisdiction involves.

None of these disappearances
occurred on a military base...

- ...none happened across state lines.
- You've already given us evidence.

There's information in the files.

- I can get a special procedural order...
- Why are you so interested in this case?

(FLY BUZZING)

(CLATTERING AND SCRATCHING)

- Excuse me?
- Why are you so interested in this case?

OLIVIA:
I, um...

- I'm sorry, I...
- Night of Desirable Objects?

I have one just like this.

SHERIFF: Yeah?
PETER: Ha, ha.

You know yourself
a bit about night fishing?

I've used hair jigs and pork rind.
Rubber jigs for largemouth.

- You ever tried using Spinnerbaits?
SHERIFF: Oh, yeah.

You can use pork rind with those.

PETER: Can you really?
SHERIFF: Yeah. I like the topwater...

(PHONE BEEPS)

CHARLIE: Agent Francis.
- Hey, it's me.

- Hey.
- Look, I'm sending you a victim sheet...

...from a multiple-missing-persons case
in Pennsylvania.

Can you run the names...

...and notify me
if any red flags come up?

Sure. I just have to run an errand.

Okay. Thanks, Charlie. Bye.

STORE OWNER:
I'll be with you in just a minute.

CHARLIE:
I need the back room.

Now.

(CASH REGISTER RINGS)

(CHARLIE PANTING)

PETER:
Well, this is wildly helpful.

According to the sheriff,
the second man to disappear?

His mom makes a mean apple pie.

In case you're wondering,
Andre Hughes is partial to flannel.

He likes to wear flannel shirts,
except, of course, in the summer.

I'm gonna go get a soda.
You want something?

OLIVIA:
No, thank you.

Hm.

- How's it going, Walter?
- I plan to urinate in 23 minutes.

- Good to know.
- I told you because...

...I'm going to need help
unzipping my fly.

I can't feel my hand.

It seems this substance
from Pennsylvania is a paralytic.

Whoever took those people paralyzed
them first, so they couldn't fight back.

Interesting theory.

Very devious.

Do you think we can trace it?
Where it's from?

The base solution contains human DNA.

Male, I think.

Of course, it's a mutation.

Perhaps a whole new stage
of human evolution.

Wouldn't that be fantastic?

If we've stumbled upon a mutant?

No. Fantastic's not the first word
that pops to mind.

We're all mutants.

What's more remarkable
is how many of us appear to be normal.

- Find anything?
- Hey, you remember Andre Hughes?

Yeah. Hughes.
He was the flannel guy, right?

Yeah, well,
he's a neighbor of the Shanes.

He was at their house when the sheriff
went to follow up on their son.

He was also at the Thomason's just after
Jennifer Thomason disappeared.

Sheriff Golightly arrived
as Hughes was leaving.

- What are you thinking?
- I'm thinking you drive.

(WHISTLE BLOWS)

(FOOTSTEPS)

HUGHES:
No. No.

No.

Oh, hell.

(KNOCKING)

MAN:
Oh, hell.

- Who are you?
- Mr. Hughes?

Olivia Dunham. This is Peter Bishop.

We're wanting to ask you
a few questions.

FBI? Oh.

OLIVIA:
Uh...

I assume you've heard about the people
that have recently gone missing.

Yup.

I know about it.

I'd love to help if I can.

Please.

After you.

Either of you have any experience
with water wells?

No.

This time of year, I spend
most of my time maintaining them.

Digging them out.

I wouldn't wish it on either of you.

It's like to drive me crazy.

(MAN PANTING)

This is my fifth well in two months.

(ECHOING)
I can't seem to find that sweet spot.

I'm just gonna go in the other room
and wash this dirt off.

Make yourself comfortable.

Excuse me.

Is there someone else in this house?

No.

(MAN PANTING)

There's someone else in this house.

Did you hear that?

Keep him busy.

(MAN GASPING)

(MAN GASPING)

(LOW GROWLING)

Come out of there.

(FLOORBOARD CREAKS)

(PETER YELLS)

Oh, Peter. Oh, my God.

Peter, oh, my God.

I'm so sorry.
I thought I heard something.

I thought I heard someone.

HUGHES:
You fired a gun in my house...

...and now you're bringing me
down here.

I don't understand.

You don't think I had anything to do
with these missing people, do you?

OLIVIA:
at the moment, Mr. Hughes...

...we're just trying to gather information.

So I understand that you're a doctor.

Yes.

But you retired.

- Nearly 20 years ago.
- That's right.

Anything?

- Not yet.
OLIVIA: What've you done since?

We scoured the house.

No evidence linking him
to the disappearances.

Just a bunch of old lab equipment.

Had it packed up, sent to Harvard.
Walter's taking a look at it now.

According to our records,
in the wake of the disappearances...

...you visited
with some of the victims' relatives.

With Martin Shane's mother...

...and Jennifer Thomason's husband.

- Yes.
- Were they former patients?

- No.
- Just friends?

I hardly knew either of them.

But I thought I could help them.

I...

I thought I could comfort them.

I lost my wife and my son 17 years ago.

She died giving birth to him.

He was mine.

For five minutes, I had a son.

I could never hurt these people.

OLIVIA:
Mr. Hughes, we'd like to...

...take a sample of your blood.

We'd like to compare it
to some evidence that we found...

...at the scene of the last disappearance.

Do we have your permission to do that?

Am I under arrest?

Not presently.

Then, no.

No.

You don't have my permission.

I'll get a warrant to take his blood.

Have Olivia hold him for 24 hours.

It says in her report,
Dunham's gun went off.

Yeah. Misfire.

OLIVIA:
Mr. Hughes.

HUGHES:
I lost my wife and my son...

BROYLES:
I'll send Agent Jessup...

...to the Hughes' house.

DOCTOR:
Dizziness?

OLIVIA:
No.

- How's your short-term memory?
- What's your name?

Good. You seem to be doing well.
You can go ahead and get dressed.

Hello, Agent Dunham.

I haven't had a chance to visit
since your accident.

But Agent Broyles
has been keeping me apprised.

I was concerned.

Well, thanks. I'm doing okay.

I'm glad to hear that.

Though, sometimes the physical injury
is the easiest to get over.

I remember when I was first diagnosed
with cancer.

Beside the fear, my most overwhelming
sensation was one of betrayal.

The realization that my own body
was fundamentally foreign to me.

That it was a threat.

You've been through
quite an ordeal, Olivia.

One of many lately.

To overlook it would be a mistake.

What's this?

Sam Weiss. The man who helped
put me back together.

You know, the FBI has psychologists.

- If I thought that I needed...
- Oh, he's not a psychologist.

When you're ready,
I believe he can help you.

(CHATTERING)

PETER:
Okay, thanks.

That was Olivia. Agent Jessup told her...

...Hughes may have killed his wife
and child 17 years ago.

Finally some good news.

I assume we can dig them up.

I haven't had any bodies to examine.

Seven missing persons, no bodies.

All right, I'll get an exhumation order.

PETER:
Put his wife's coffin down here.

(HUGHES GASPING AND GRUNTING)

PETER:
Hughes is hiding something.

We're gonna find out what it is.

(GASPING AND GRUNTING)

PETER:
Okay, let's open it up.

PETER:
Let's open the baby boy's.

OLIVIA:
Oh, my God.

PETER:
There's no body.

Looks like something dug its way in.

Or dug its way out.

OLIVIA:
I think we have some questions...

...for Mr. Hughes.

WALTER:
That's curious.

PETER:
What? What's curious?

Mrs. Hughes has scarring to the joints,
butterfly lesions to the face.

Systemic lupus erythematosus.
A very advanced case.

- Lupus?
- Which means what?

Well, notably, she was incapable
of producing offspring.

ASTRID:
Except she did. She had a baby boy.

PETER:
Yeah.

A baby boy? That's impossible.

Lupus results
in an overactive immune system.

Her own body would have destroyed
the fetus long before...

Yes, and yet, despite that, she was
somehow able to give birth to a son.

Who from all appearances,
then burrowed his way out of his casket.

The grave of a boy...

...who is not in his grave.

(CROWS CAWING)

OLIVIA:
How the hell did this happen?

Why wasn't anyone watching?

BROYLES:
We're looking into it right now.

OLIVIA: We need to have Andre Hughes'
body taken back to Walter Bishop's lab...

- ...as soon as possible.
- Already on its way.

MAN (IN DISTANCE):
Hey, Jim, it's Alex. Yeah, I know I'm late.

Yeah, I'm leaving right now, all right?
I understand. I'll take care of it.

I'll call him right now.

(PHONE BEEPING)

Agent Dunham?

(FLY BUZZING)

(MAN PANTING)

Agent Dunham?

Peter, I've got it.

Mrs. Hughes' womb. You were right,
she did give birth.

I'm glad we got that settled.

The afterbirth is still inside.
Look at the tissue composition.

Walter, according to this,
Hughes' baby wasn't entirely human.

It explains his research.

Reproductive biology
and gene replacement.

I hypothesize that he may have used
some scorpion DNA.

I mean,
it's an incredibly resilient creature.

And also possibly something
that lives underground, a mole rat.

Scorpions paralyze their prey
with toxin. Could explain the liquid.

- What'd I miss?
- Hughes' baby. He altered it.

Inside the womb so it could survive
the lupus.

- Okay, that is sick.
WALTER: That is brilliant.

He's created a super baby.

One capable of surviving
in the most inhospitable environment.

Oh, Agent Dunham,
we've had a breakthrough.

I heard. Hughes' son.
I think I might know where he is.

When we were at the Hughes' house,
I heard a noise, like something breathing.

I thought that I had imagined it,
but I didn't.

So if Hughes' son is alive...

...I think he is somewhere in that house.

- Or near that house.
- Or under it.

(SCRATCHING)

(SCREAMS)

OLIVIA:
Hello?

Sheriff Golightly?

Peter.

Hey.

I think it's a canine tooth.

(PETER GRUNTING)

PETER:
Oh. Ugh.

Confirmed. Dog.

Ugh.

Gonna grab a shovel.

Uh!

Peter?

Yeah?

Aah! Aah! Peter!
Aah!

- Olivia!
- Oh, no!

(GROWLING)

Olivia.

(OLIVIA SCREAMING)

(PETER SCREAMING)

OLIVIA:
God!

(GROWLING)

(OLIVIA GRUNTING)

OLIVIA:
Peter!

(GRUNTING)

(SCRATCHING)

(RUMBLING)

Ahh!

(CHATTERING)

He must have realized
that it was his son...

...because we found traps
set in all of these holes...

...that he'd dug all over his property.

Could you imagine
living with a burden like that?

When all you wanted was a son?

Charlie, what if I don't
want to remember?

- You mean, your accident?
- All of it.

Where I went. Who I met with.
What he told me.

I mean, what if there's a part of my brain
that's trying to protect me?

I'm just not sure you have
much of a choice here, Olivia.

If Walter was correct
about you going to that other universe...

...then whatever secrets you learned
might be worth remembering.

"Another universe."

I never thought that I would ever
hear you utter those words...

...with a straight face.

You've come a long way, Charlie Francis.

Well, you know, whatever it is,
we'll deal with it together.

I'll help you remember.

I know you will.

WALTER:
Are you going fishing, son?

Yes. But not alone.

Oh, no? Who with?

Well, once upon a time,
there was a young man...

...probably around 10 or 11...

...who got it in his head
that he wanted to take his father fishing.

So he saved up all the money
from his paper route...

...and bought a very special lure.

WALTER:
Oh...

It's called
"the night of desirable objects."

Sadly, his father was never really
all that available to him.

So, what started out
as a would-be bonding experience...

...ended up with a young man
fishing alone in a boat.

And this young man gave this to you?

(CHUCKLING)

Yes, Walter.

Can I come with you and your friend?

You know what, Walter?
I think that would make the trip.

Good.

Good.

(WATER GURGLING)

WOMAN 1: ... she said you guys
can have a sleepover this weekend.

MAN 1:
You always do that.

WOMAN 2:
I don't always do it. I just did.

MAN 1: Every single time,
it's the same thing over and over...

MAN 2:
I can't find the remote.

MAN 3:
Check under the cushion, man.

(FLY LOUDLY BUZZING)

WOMAN 2:
I'M on the phone.

MAN 4:
Hey, what's up, man?

MAN 5:
Let's go. Move it.

(BABY CRYING,
THEN SIRENS AND HORNS BLOWING)

(CHILD SHRIEKING)

(FAUCET QUIETLY DRIPPING)

(TRAFFIC'S "DEAR MR. FANTASY"
PLAYS ON JUKEBOX)

(BOWLING BALL STRIKES PINS)

Something to make us all happy

Do anything, take us out of this gloom

Sing a song, play guitar, make it snappy

You are the one who can make us all laugh

If you wanna bowl,
we close in 15 minutes.

No.

I'm looking for Sam Weiss.

- Is he here?
- Sam? No.

Well, do you know
where I could find him?

Atlanta, Georgia. He met a girl.
Moved away.

(CLEARS THROAT)

Oh.

Thank you.

That's it?

Excuse me?

You're giving up?

I tell you he met a girl and moved away
and you're just gonna give up?

You're Sam.

Nina Sharp said you'd be coming by.

Have the headaches started yet?

No.

They will.

What are you? A size eight?