Fringe | Season Two | Episode Seven

Episode 7 : “Of Human Action”

• Charles Bissell, “Subtle Duck”
• Samantha James, “Angel Love” | Download from Amazon UK

The episode opens up with police on a high-speed pursuit, ending on the top of a parking garage where Tyler Carson and two men – Hickey and Dobbins- are sitting in a parked car. The police surround the car – guns drawn-when suddenly Officer Williams begins to walk backwards… all the way off the edge of the building!!! Officer Gibson begins to turn the gun towards her fellow officers as face broadcasts fear and confusion. She shoots her two fellow officers before turning the gun on herself!

The Fringe team arrives on the scene-Broyles reports that the kidnappers didn’t have a gun and that all three bullets were from Officer Gibson’s gun. Tyler Carson was reported missing 36 hours ago, and his father works at Massive Dynamic. Walter believes the officers could have been victims of hypnosis.

At Massive Dynamic, the team meets with Tyler’s father, Dr. Carson, and he reveals that he did not know his son was missing until the kidnappers contacted the police. Nina believes that the kidnappers are trying to extort secrets from Massive Dynamic.

Tyler and the two men arrive at a convenience store. Hickey demands that the clerk hand over all his cash. A customer interferes to stop, but he suddenly takes a pot of boiling hot coffee and pours it on his face before ramming his face through a glass door. The clerk pulls a gun on the men and orders them to leave. His face begins to contort and he sets the gun down on the counter. He grabs a key and sticks it into the wall socket… electrocuting himself!!

Back at the lab, Walter examines Officer Gibson’s brain and comes to the conclusion that she was a victim of mind control. She has hematomas on her brain matter indicating actual trauma and conflicting neural impulses… a conflict of the mind and body. She was a victim of mind control not hypnosis! He believes the mind control operates through the cochlea, as hearing is the most affective path of the senses.

Tyler phones Massive Dynamic begging his father to listen to his kidnappers’ demands. The kidnappers tell Dr. Carson to meet them at Industrial Park with two million dollars in unmarked bills. Olivia believes the money is a distraction and that they are really seeking to set a trap to gain secrets.

Walter uses white noise generating headphones to cancel out the kidnappers mind control abilities for the task force assembled to capture the kidnappers and save Tyler. The task team waits to the side as an agent hands a briefcase with money over to the kidnappers. The team suddenly emerges and begins to chase the kidnappers. Olivia finds one of the kidnappers holding a gun to his chin and pleading for help. He tells Olivia that he is the one who is being kidnapped! Tyler has been controlling their minds!! Peter finds Tyler alone with the briefcase but his headphones don’t work!! He is forced to drive Tyler away.

Olivia confronts Nina when she discovers Tyler has taken Peter hostage. Nina reveals that Dr. Carson was working with the pharmaceutical division to develop a hands free navigation system where electrodes were placed in the pilot’s helmet to pick up thought patterns and the pilots were to be given drugs to amplify brain waves. Dr. Carson remembers that he had taken some home to test. Tyler was also taking medications for ADD, which Walter warns that combined with his hormones would cause Tyler’s mind control capabilities to be even greater.

Tyler pops a pill as Peter drives, while Peter warns Tyler that since he took him hostage they know he is the one behind it. Peter tells Tyler that he hasn’t planned this out causing Tyler to become angry and finally reveals the reason behind his plan. He recently found out that his father had been lying to him his entire life about his mom. He was told his mom died in a car crash but he discovered she is still alive. He plans to use the ransom money to fly him and his mom away to Costa Rica.

At the lab, Walter develops a device with a modified electromagnetic pulse that will interfere with brain waves and stop his mind control abilities. It will wipe Tyler’s brain of all thoughts and cause him to become disoriented for a short period of time.

Peter and Tyler arrive at Tyler’s mom’s house. She is shocked by Tyler’s arrival, but invites him inside. Tyler begins to tell her that it is okay that she left and knows that it was his dad’s fault, but now they can be together. His mom is at a loss for words and tries to tell him that she can’t run away with him. His mom’s husband comes inside the house, and Tyler immediately blames him for her not wanting to leave. He begins to take control of Peter forcing him to pick up a gun and point it at his mom’s husband. Broyles busts in the knick of time and shoots Tyler with his taser. Tyler, however, is still in control and Peter turns the gun towards Broyles and fires! Broyles collapses as he is hit in the arm. Peter and Tyler run out the front door.

Olivia and Walter follow Tyler and Peter in their car. Walter uses a device he developed to cancel out Tyler’s mind control ability. Peter looks and sees that Tyler is in a trance. He suddenly veers the station wagon into a lamppost.

Tyler is given a sedative to stay unconscious until the drugs can wear off. When he awakes, the power of the drug has worn off. Tyler avoids jail time since he was under the influence of the drug.

Nina types a message to William Bell to update him on the status of the Penross-Carson experiment. She informs him that one of the Tylers displayed a dramatic ability for mind control, but there were unintended consequences when Tyler located one of his surrogate members. In light of this, she is ending the experiment.

We see Dr. Carson flipping through a file with boys who all look exactly like Tyler but with different scientists as guardians. Dr. Carson rolls Tyler into a room with 12 other identically looking Tyler’s lying sound asleep!