Fringe, Season 3/Episode 17 - Stowaway

 

Fingerprints at the scene of an apparent suicide lead the Fringe team to a seemingly immortal woman.

WATCH VIDEO  HERE!!!

Episode Cast and Crew

Stars
Anna Torv Olivia Dunham
Lance Reddick Phillip Broyles
Jasika Nicole Astrid Farnsworth
John Noble Dr. Walter Bishop
Joshua Jackson Peter Bishop

Guest Cast
Paula Malcomson Dana Gray
Patti Allan Landlady
Nicholas Carella Jim
Catherine Lough Haggquist Lucy
David Leach Friend Two
Brandon Nadon Friend One
Jean Paul Najm Uniform
Jason Poulsen Brian
Kerry Sandomirsky Nun
Howard Siegel Conductor
Michael R. Smith FBI Tech Carl
John Stewart (I) Male Passenger
James Tyce ND Agent
Lee Vincent FBI Tech

Writers
Danielle Dispaltro Teleplay
Akiva Goldsman Story
Jeff Pinkner Story
J.H. Wyman Story

Recurring Roles
Seth Gabel Lincoln Lee

Creators
J.J. Abrams Creator
Alex Kurtzman Creator
Roberto Orci Creator

Directors
Charles Beeson Director

Executive Producers
J.J. Abrams Executive Producer
Jeff Pinkner Executive Producer
J.H. Wyman Executive Producer
Joe Chappelle Executive Producer
Bryan Burk Executive Producer

Co-Executive Producers
Monica Owusa-Breen Co-Executive Producer


Trivia
Alternate Earth general differences:
- The TV series Sesame Street doesn't exist, given that Peter doesn't recognize a common phrase from it. Trivia: The Observer is across the street, holding an umbrella, as Walter, Bell, and Peter examine the car that Dana and Jim fell on. Trivia: The glyph code for this episode is ERODE.
Notes
Injoke: The name "Dana Gray" is derived from Amanda Graystone, the recurring character that actress Paula Malcomson plays on Caprica. Malcomson also plays Dana Gray here.

 Music: Take Five (The Dave Brubeck Quartet), Give a Little Bit (Supertramp) Blair Brown is credited but doesn't appear. 

International Airdates:
Canada: March 18, 2011 on Citytv
UK: March 31, 2011 on Sky1/Sky1 HD


Quotes

Bell/Olivia: I understand that this could take some time for you to get used to. Imagine how I feel. I never realized that a bra was so binding. (sniggers) Bell/Olivia: Has anyone ever told you, dear, that you have lovely hands?
Astrid: Thank you. Jim: There is hope in raindrops. Isn't that what you said? What does that even mean?
Dana: It means... that every drop of rain holds a promise of regrowth. Each has a purpose, even if they don't know it. I think we can feel that way, that we don't have a purpose. But we do. Walter: Look at this. Me and Belly collecting human tissues and fluids specimens, just like when we were kids.
Peter: Glad you guys are enjoying yourselves. Agent Lee: Second set, those fingerprints were identified as Dana Gray's. Which... is insane, because she's dead.
Bell/Olivia: Well, you know, stranger things have happened.
Agent Lee: Umm, no they haven't.
Peter: Don't listen to him. Her. Sorry. Go on. Agent Lee: I know this sounds insane, but I don't think this woman can die.
Walter: Isn't this our lucky day. Agent Lee: Umm, what is this place, exactly?
Peter: Uh, this is the place where the mysteries of the universe get answered. And congratulations, whatever your security clearance was, it just got upgraded about seven levels deeper. Walter: Even if we were able to transfer your consciousness safely inside Gene, there are other matters to consider.
Bell/Olivia: We would communicate through my brainwaves. You would hook me up to an EEG machine and decipher my thoughts.
Walter: Well, that may work. Still... I'd have to milk you.
Bell/Olivia: We could assign Astrid. (they both snigger) Walter: Three trains all passing through Norwood...
Bell/Olivia: Each traveling at it's own constant velocity...
Walter: Not accounting for station stops...
Peter: (on the phone) What are they saying in the background?
Astrid: I have no idea. They're doing that thing again where they don't finish sentences. Agent Lee: So what changed? After all that time trying, why was she able to die now?
Peter: Welcome to the Fringe Division. Every answer you get just leads you to more questions.
Agent Lee: That may be. It's a lot more exciting than Hartford. Feel free to give me a call if you ever find yourself needing some help.
Peter: Be careful what you wish for. Bell/Olivia: As a scientist, I like to believe that nothing just happens. That every event has some meaning, some sort of message. You just have to be able to listen closely enough to hear it. 

Full Recap

Bell in Olivia's body is brought to the Harvard lab, and she explains to Peter and the others that Olivia's consciousness is at a state of rest but perfectly safe. He explains that when Olivia visited his office on the Other Side, he put soul magnets in her tea and she unwittingly drank them. Walter confirms that Olivia has two brainwave patterns, one like Bell's and another that is barely active. Bell says that she needs a more suitable home to move to, and that Olivia's brain can hold his consciousness for several weeks before something can happen to her. Broyles asks how long it will take for Walter and Bell to find a housing, and Bell says it won't take longer than 48 hours. Peter isn't happy, but Bell says that he'll die for good if he's forced to leave. Walter agrees with his friend, insisting they need Bell to decipher the Machine. Broyles gives Bell the 48 hours, and says that if Bell isn't out by then, he'll have Walter forcibly remove Bell's consciousness. Bell gives his word and asks Peter to get him his re-entry files from Massive Dynamic.

In Roxbury, Massachusetts, a woman goes out onto the roof and finds a man, Jim, waiting for her. He says that she doesn't have much time, and notes that she once said there is hope in raindrops. The woman, Dana Gray, explains that each raindrop has a purpose and holds the promise of regrowth. Jim then gets up, runs to the edge of the roof, and asks if she believes what she says about purpose. He says that she knew how he felt, and also wanted to kill herself, and asks what reason she found to stick around. Dana walks over to him and tries to pull him back, but he falls on the edge. Jim says that he doesn't believe in hop and they're all going to die, and Dana then throws herself off the edge with Jim. They both land on a car below. After a few seconds, Dana gets up and walks away... as the people across the street stare in shock.

Peter returns with the files that Bell requested from his old office. As Bell gives a list of specifications for the body he needs, he notices a sketch of the Machine and Peter. He warns that Walter may not be able to stop Peter's fate no matter what, and says that Peter choosing not to accept his fate may just set off the china of events that leads to the very things he fears. Broyles sends a video of the incident in Roxbury, and they watch the video and see Dana walk away. They don't know how she could have survived the fall, but Bell sees the video and suggests that it may be a result of the degradation between universes. He wants to investigate while he waits for the computer to sift all of the information, and notes that he's the only one with experience in dimensional breakdown.

In Hartford, Connecticut, FBI Special Agent Lincoln Lee gets a printout of Dana's fingerprints.

Bell, Walter, and Peter examine the car, and they take DNA samples to identify Dana. Walter is clearly happy to be working with his old partner. Agent Lee arrives and confirms that Dana died 18 months ago in a home invasion robbery, along with her husband and two children. The police tracked down the killer and were forced to shoot him when he resisted, but Dana's body disappeared from the morgue. Lee became involved when he got a report of a double-suicide at a dormitory, and one set of fingerprints were Dana's. Since then, Dana's fingerprints have turned up at three other double-suicides, and the second body has disappeared each time by the time the EMTs arrive.

Later, Lee comes to the Harvard lab and finds Walter's cow, Gene. Bell invited him to come, and Walter shows Lee the DNA. They've checked the molecules of Dana's body and discovered that they're held together by an unusually strong magnetic bond. Walter suggests that she's taking the energy of her victims at the moment of their death. Lee finds the entire thing hard to believe, and Bell suggests that Dana may have found a way to extend her own life. Peter checks the files and learns that each victim tried to kill himself before, and Bell and Walter figure that she's only taking the lives of people who want to die. Peter leaves with Lee to check out suicide hotlines.

Dana goes to the graves of her husband and children and leaves flowers. As she walks away, she gets a hotline call from Brian, a man who wants to kill himself. She says that she understands and asks to meet him in person. Brian suspects a trap, but she assures him that she won't notify the police.

Peter and Lee finds the suicide hotline where Dana works, using the name Joan. Her employer, Lucy, takes them to Dana's desk, and explains that Dana has saved at least 37 lives in the last few months. As she goes to get Dana's address, Lee and Peter wonder why Dana is so committed to saving people's lives.

Dana goes to Brian's apartment, and he aims a gun at her. He tells her that he wanted her to come, and asks her if she thinks raindrops have a purpose like he said, and if the raindrops will help the people on the train. Brian tells Dana that she has to save the people on the train, and he left a duffel bag with a bomb on a train. As Dana calls 911, Brian says that he's Azrael and hopes that angels will carry his damned soul to Heaven, and shoots himself. She hesitates, and then hangs up.

At the lab, Walter and Bell are smoking marijuana and contemplating the information that Bell is compiling for a new body. Bell looks at Gene the cow and gets an idea.

Peter and Lee go over the books that Dana had at her address, and they see one book about the afterlife. They figure that she's looking for a way to die herself.

Walter and Bell discuss how to transfer Bell's genius into Gene. Peter and Lee tell Bell and Walter their theory, and the scientists admit that being struck by lightning twice could have caused her invulnerability. They get a call from Brian's apartment that Dana was spotted and go there. They talk to the landlady and Lee confirms that Dana was there. The ME determines that Brian killed himself, and Peter and Lee figures that she's trying to die by "hitching a ride" with the people she's killing. They wonder what changed this time.

Dana goes to a church and has a nun find a story on the journey of the soul to the afterlife. It deals with the ascension of Azrael, a sinner whose soul was condemned to Purgatory. God ignored the angel's request to free Azrael, so the angels lifted him out of Purgatory, saying that the combined innocence of their souls outweighed Azrael's sins. God agreed and welcomed Azrael into Heaven. As the nun leaves, Dana contemplates the address of the train station.

At Brian's apartment, Broyle finds a hidden cellar door. Downstairs they find Brian's "collection" of animal skeletons. An agent finds an invoice for 20 pounds of plastic explosives and they realize that Brian was making a bomb.

At the station, Dana boards the train and sits in the seat where the bomb is hidden. She confirms that the bomb is there and then places it on her lap. A man sits down in the seat next to her and asks where she's going, and Dana says she's going to see her family.

At Brian's apartment, the team realizes that Brian set the bomb with detonator, but there's no trace of it in the apartment. Lee realizes what's going on and theorizes that Brian told Dana where bomb is, and she's going to use it to try and die, by being present with a larger group of people when they die. Peter finds Brian's phone and figures they can use it to trace Dana's cellphone and track the GPS.

As Dana sits on the train, her phone rings. She checks it but doesn't answer it when it shows an unknown ID. Peter suggests that they change the outgoing ID, and then dials again. This time when Dana gets the call, it shows her husband Henry's name. When she answers, Peter asks her not to hang up, and says that he knows she's trying to reunite with her family. He offers to find a way for her to die, and she asks if he can promise they can reunite her with her family. When Peter asks if her plan will reunite her with them, Dana says it's the best chance she has. Peter says that he understands, but Dana says that they'll find out if she's right soon enough. She hangs up and the FBI agents are unable to complete the trace in time. Broyles has the technician analyze the background noise and feed it to Astrid, and Bell and Harvard work out the train schedules to determine which train that Dana is on.

The passenger next to Dana asks her to keep an eye on his stuff while he goes to the bathroom. The train comes to a halt as the FBI arrives. Broyles orders the conductor to clear the train and they start searching for the bomb. Dana's neighboring passenger recognizes her, but by the time they get to her seat, she's gone. The FBI agents begin evacuating the train and use dogs to search for the bomb.

Dana walks away from the train, carrying the bomb, and goes to an empty field. Sobbing, she cries out that she doesn't understand, and then puts down the bomb and starts to walk away.

Peter and Lee are helping with the evacuation when the bomb goes off in the nearby field. They find Dana nearby and confirm that she's dead. As they leave, Lee wonders why Dana was able to die, and Peter says that's the nature of work with the Fringe division. Lee says it's more exciting than his typical work and offers to help anytime.

Peter returns home and finds Walter asleep on the couch. Bell is staying there at Walter's invitation, and offers Peter a cup of tea. Peter accepts, and Bell theorizes that the energy from the bomb may have reset the electromagnetic charge in her body, allowing her to die. However, Bell suggests that the theory is wrong, and a better theory is that Dana couldn't die because she needed to be there because it was her destiny to save all of the people on the train. Bell suggests that it's no coincidence that they met Dana just as he returned from the grave, and that it's some kind of message. Church bells ring outside, and Bell suggests that's no coincidence either. Olivia reverts back to consciousness momentarily, but then Bell takes over when the bells stop ringing. He warns that things may be more complicated than he first thought.