Oct 24, 2022

101 - “Pilot” transcript

Episode Transcripts | Fringe - 101 Pilot | Posted by Scully

Courtesy of : Fringepedia

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PROLOGUE
Flight 627 - A Contagious Event

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(Glatterflug Airlines Flight 627 is enroute from Hamburg, Germany to Boston, Massachusetts)

ANNOUNCEMENT: … ist eingeschaltet. Befestigen sie bitte ihre sicherheits-gürtel.

ANNOUNCEMENT: The Captain has turned on the fasten seat-belts sign. Please make sure your seatbelts are securely fastened.

GERMAN WOMAN: Ich möchte sehen wie der film weitergeht. (I would like to see the film continue)

MAN FROM DENVER: I don’t speak German. I’m from Denver.

GERMAN WOMAN: Dies ist mein erster flug. (this is my first flight)

MAN FROM DENVER: I’m from Denver.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Wir durchfliegen jetzt starke turbulenzen. Nehmen sie bitte ihre plätze ein. (we are flying through strong turbulence. please return to your seats)

INDIAN MAN: Hey, friend. It’s just an electrical storm.

MORGAN STEIG: I understand.

INDIAN MAN: Here. Gum?

MORGAN STEIG: No, thank you.

FLIGHT ATTENDANT: Mein herr, sie müssen sich hinsetzen! (sir, you must sit down) Beruhigen sie sich! (calm down!) Beruhigen sie sich! (calm down!) Entschuldigen sie bitte! Gehen sie zu ihrem sitz zurück! [please, go back to your seat!]

FLIGHT ATTENDANT: (on phone) Kapitän! Wir haben eine notsituation! (Captain, we have a difficult situation!)

PILOT: … gibt eine not-… (… if necessary…) Sprechen sie mit mir! (talk to me) Was zum teufel passiert! (what the hell is going on?) Beruhigen … (…calm down…) Warum antworten sie mir nicht! (why don’t you answer me?) Reden sie mit mir! (talk to me)


ACT I
Turnpike Motel - A Romantic Interlude

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OLIVIA: Oh my god!

JOHN: What?

OLIVIA: This bed is loud.

JOHN: You think?

OLIVIA: We can’t keep doing this. Sneaking around.

JOHN: Department is not a massive fan of office romance. The policy seminar was endless, wasn’t it? Kept finding myself staring at you, I decided to move my chair to stop.

OLIVIA: Well, I think Charlie knows.

JOHN: No, he doesn’t know.

OLIVIA: Well, I think he does.

JOHN: If he knew, we would be transferred. The idea somebody making a call whether not you and I get to live in the same city is unacceptable to me. Anyway that’s just a preamble to a kicker, which is that - I love you.

OLIVIA: (answers her cell phone) Olivia Dunham. Yes, sir. Of course, sir. Yes, sir. I-I… I’m on my way. (to John): Incident at Logan. International flight. Charlie is on his way.

JOHN: (answers his cell phone) Agent Scott.
Logan Airport Tarmac

OLIVIA: Olivia Dunham, FBI.

CHARLIE: We’ve got a flight out of Hamburg, 147 passengers. Tower has lost contact three hours in. They thought it might have been electrical interference. They enter in our airspace radio silent. Navy then scrambles two F-18 for escort. They reported stains on the windows, no signs of life aboard the jet. White House approved the CDC’s request for the jet not to be opened until they arrive.

OLIVIA: No signs of life? Who was flying the plane?

CHARLIE: Logan is one of the first airports with the PEARL autopilot system. Plane landed itself right on time, unlike every flight I’ve ever taken.

JOHN (on phone): … well, let me assure you, we’d be happy to treat you as family too. (to all) Good old NTSB, they all like to think they’re cops.

CHARLIE: Agent Scott.

JOHN: Agent Francis. Agent Dunham.

CHARLIE: Whatever the hell McNeary shot through that window, it made him throw up in front of his whole unit.

(security checkpoint to the tarmac)

MAN IN CAR: Excuse me. So what’s going on here? Some sort of an accident?

GUARD: The tarmac is closed. Nothing you need to worry about, sir.

MAN IN CAR: All right.

GUARD: Move on.

MAN IN CAR: I’ll do that. Thank you.

(standing next to Flight 627)

BROYLES: Although this is a joint task force, you are all reporting to the Department of Homeland Security. I’m Special-Agent-in-Charge Broyles. DC has sent me here to make sure we get results. Standard Level 4 HAZMAT suits are required to go in. Members from each agency of the starting line as follows: CIA, Faranough. FBI, Charlie Francis and John Scott. Everyone else stand by. OK people, let’s move.

OLIVIA: Sir. Olivia Dunham. FBI’s interagency liaison.

BROYLES: Liaison on an interagency task force, got to love that. Kinnda like powdered sugar on a glazed doughnut.

OLIVIA: Excuse me, if I’m gonna do my job effectively, I’d like my information first hand, that’s not redundancy, that’s accountability.

BROYLES: I know exactly who you are. You want in, Liaison? Suit-up.

AGENT: What kind of terrorism is this?

OLIVIA: Who says it’s terrorism?
Federal Building - The Situation Room

NEWS ANCHOR: (voiceover from broadcast)… sources tell us, that the plane was deliberately set ablaze by the CDC.

AGENT #1: I’ve got 15E. Seat 41A. John Rosenblum, Honolulu Hawaii. Car salesman… criminal history checks negative.

AGENT #2: …intelligence check’s negative.

OLIVIA: Have we reviewed video from Hamburg Airport? We need to see if any passengers were showing signs of illness.

AGENT DAWSON: …ground crew who fueled the airplane. We need names.

BROYLES: On it’s way Agent Dawson. And what the hell is taking so long with that black box?

AGENT #4: Report says maintenance replaced oxygen tank an hour before take-off.

OLIVIA: Please tell me that terminal’s shut down.

BROYLES: It’s been down since 4:00 local time. You got any more questions?

OLIVIA: Who’s point from CDC on the bone tissue and air sample?

BROYLES: Agent Paley. You want his home number?

OLIVIA: No, but I’d like the whole report, and not just this fax, claiming that there’s no matches…

BACKGROUND: …to any known pathogens or airborne viruses.

BROYLES: (to Olivia) We’re on that too, Liaison. We don’t think what happened on that plane was a result of the in-flight movie.

CHARLIE: (to all) Back Bay PD got a call at 3:00, from a guard on duty from a storage facility. He saw two, and I quote, ’suspicious middle-eastern men’ handing a white guy a briefcase.

BROYLES: (to Olivia) Liaison, take it. Go find out.

OLIVIA: Take what? That? You’re telling me that’s my assignment?

BROYLES: Yeah, Honey, would you mind?

NEWS ANCHOR: (voiceover from broadcast) “… CDC’s control. The decision was made to burn the plane only after …”
U-Case Storage - Chelsea, MA

OLIVIA: Petty bastard. He’s pissed because his best friend sexually assaulted three marine privates. And I’m the bad guy, cause I put him away.

JOHN: Broyles is an idiot. You’re smarter, stronger. You’re much better looking. He’s jealous.

OLIVIA: What? You said you loved me. In the motel.

JOHN: Yeah.

OLIVIA: That was a big deal.

JOHN: Yeah, well you didn’t say anything back, so I just let it go.

OLIVIA: I’ve been sorta bad at this,for a long time. Until you. I wanted to say, I love you too.

JOHN: Let’s go check the trash together…Empty. Acetylene, propane?

OLIVIA: No, ammonia.

OLIVIA: What are you doing?

JOHN: What are you doing? I’m a federal agent.

JOHN: We need to get a chem-transport team out here now.

OLIVIA: I’m on it. (pause) No signal.

JOHN: Freeze FBI! FBI freeze! I have a gun! I will shoot!

OLIVIA: John?

JOHN: We have a runner in the back. We need him alive.

OLIVIA: I’m on my way.

JOHN: Hands in the air!

OLIVIA: No!
Hospital

(Olivia in a dreamy state. Reyes voiceovers much of her recovery sequences and her initial visit to see John)

DR. REYES: You were very lucky today, Agent Dunham. Your wounds could have easily been much more severe. Agent Scott, wasn’t as fortunate. While he survived the initial blast, Agent Scott was exposed to some synthetic chemical compounds. Work that was done in the lab you found. He’s not contagious, but until we understand more it’s better not to introduce any additional contaminates. We haven’t been able to identify the substance that is affecting him. The CDC has sent in specialists, but they’ve never seen anything like what’s happening here. We’ve put agent Scott in a drug induced coma. His body temperature has been lowered significantly to try and slow the progress. I’m sorry Agent Dunham.

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ACT II
Federal Building - Boston
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OLIVIA: It’s me. Liaison. I found a connection between the Hamburg flight and what’s happened to Agent Scott. His name is Walter Bishop. He’s a scientific researcher from Cambridge, born in ‘46. Harvard educated post-grad at Oxford and MIT. Look at the experiments he was doing in the seventies. I believe doctor Bishop might have information’s that might tell…us what happened aboard that plane and save Agent Scott’s life.

BROYLES: It says the guy has been at St. Claire’s for 17 Years.

OLIVIA: I saw that. An assistant was killed in his lab. Rumors about Dr. Bishop using humans as guinea pigs. He was charged with manslaughter, but was deemed mentally unfit to stand trial.

BROYLES: Why are you so sure Bishop’s worth our time?

OLIVIA: Why are you so sure he’s not?

BROYLES: Listen, Dunham. You and I got off on a wrong foot.

OLIVIA: If my past job performance as US Marine Special Investigator offends you…

BROYLES: Well, Yeahh. It does. A man who serves his country for 30 Years has a few drinks and small lapse of judgment…

OLIVIA: A small lapse in judgment that will haunt three young women for the rest of their lives.

BROYLES: But that’s not tonight’s business, is it? Look, DC has tasked me to make sure that our reaction to Flight 627 is beyond reproach. Now, it says here, in 1991, the glorious State of Massachusetts forbade Dr. Bishop from having any visitors, with the exception of immediate family. So, from where I sit, barging into mental institution, waving the Patriot Act, which is what you need, and demanding face-time with some old lab rat, who you think might be behind some of the most terrifying terror that I can possibly imagine …

OLIVIA: I’m coming to you with a solid lead and your personal resentment…

BROYLES: Then you’re wasting your breath and my time. Do you understand “immediate family?” You want to question Dr. Bishop, you go find his next of kin and have him escort you in. Talk to Bishop, uncover something substantial and I will have your back. Until then, I am not so convinced. Now, can you handle that?

OLIVIA: He does have a son.

BROYLES: Is his son a local too?

OLIVIA: Not exactly.
Bagdad, Iraq - Meeting Peter

(helicopter flyover of the city while voiceover from the Federal Building continues)

BROYLES: (in voiceover) So this guy’s Walter Bishop’s son?

OLIVIA: (in voiceover) His name is Peter Bishop. He’s a high-school drop-out, IQ at 190, just 50 points north of genius. Misfit, nomad. Hasn’t kept a job longer than two months. He’s been a wild land fireman, cargo pilot and briefly a college chemistry professor. He falsified a degree from MIT. He even managed to get a few papers published before he was found out. Sounds like a massive pain in the ass.

(taxicab ride to a well-appointed hotel. meeting with two local businessmen in a private room)

PETER: My resume is hardly traditional, but around these parts traditional increasingly means irrelevant. Hundred billion dollar sunk in infrastructure and you can barely keep the lights on. You need someone to oversee construction on 600 miles of pipeline to carry crude between your fields in Kirkuk and the port of Ceyhan. A job well out of the ‘Green Zone’, I might add. Well, I’m still alive to do so. You need someone who has a handle on the laws of hydro-dynamic resistance, the heat exchange and oil mixture flows. You’ll also need someone who can work with mixed integer programs cause you’re gonna have to resize the pipes as you start working across uneven terrain. That is, if you want to keep down the construction costs. (Peter pauses when the two men begin to converse separately in their native language) Truth is, I need this job as much as you need me to do it. (when the businessmen continue their separate chat) …I also speak Farsi. And 600,000 all-in… sounds fair.

(in the lobby of the hotel)

OLIVIA: Peter Bishop? Olivia Dunham. I’m with the FBI.

PETER: OK.

OLIVIA: You’ve heard of flight 627?

PETER: The Hamburg flight, of course.

OLIVIA: You may be able to help us with that.

PETER: No, I think you’ve got the wrong guy.

OLIVIA: Your father is Walter Bishop.

PETER: The last time somebody asked me that it was an accusation.

OLIVIA: Well, he’s the man we’re looking to speak with, but due to his current status, you’re the only one who can provide us access.

PETER: And what possible help could that man be to you? And what is it exactly that you’re expecting me to do? Hop on a plane with you back to Massachusetts? I just got here honey.

OLIVIA: I can have you on a return flight here in four days, but first…

PETER: Let me save you the time. I’d rather stay here in Iraq. That’s how much I want to see my father.

OLIVIA: I’m going to beg you as one human being to another. Your father may be able to save someone who is dying. Someone I care about very much.

PETER: Sweetheart, we all care about someone who is dying. I can’t help you, I’m sorry.

OLIVIA: I know why you’re here. I have your file.

PETER: What file?

OLIVIA: The one the FBI would say doesn’t exist. And it has everything. Where you’ve been, what you’re running from. And what you need while you’re here. So, either you come with me, or I let certain people know your whereabouts.

PETER: When do we leave?
Return Flight to the United States

(together alone in the cabin of a small jet)

OLIVIA (on cell phone): Did the doctor say anything else? Yeah. Thanks, Charlie.

PETER: Let me ask you something. My father, not my favorite. He is without a doubt the most self-absorbed, twisted, abusive, brilliant, myopic son-of-a-bitch on the planet. So he was a chemist. That much I already know. He worked out of a basement lab in Harvard, doing research for a toothpaste company. I also know that there was an accident at the lab one night, when my father was arrested. Beginning the first truly peaceful period in our home, but here is the thing Olivia, my gut tells me, that your friend’s life, the one hanging in the balance, is not going to be saved by a tube of toothpaste.

OLIVIA: He worked out of Harvard, but not on toothpaste. He was a part of a classified US Army experimental program called Calvin Genetics. They gave him the resources to do whatever work he wanted. Which was primarily in an area called “fringe science.”

PETER: When you say “fringe science,” you mean pseudo-science.

OLIVIA: I suppose. Things like mind control, teleportation, astral projection. Invisibility, genetic mutation, re-animation, fertility…

PETER: Whoa, excuse me for a second. Re-animation, really? So you’re telling me… what? My father was Dr. Frankenstein?
St. Claire’s Hospital - Meeting Walter

(Peter and Olivia arrive at St. Claire’s, walk through security doors and past holding cells)

PETER: You know what? Why don’t you go on ahead? (turns back while she proceeds with her escort)

(Walter sits facing a wall in a large cell)

GUARD: Dr. Bishop, special day. You have a visitor.

OLIVIA: Hello.

WALTER: I knew someone would have come. Eventually.

(Walter and Olivia sit in a large dining hall. two escorts lingering nearby)

OLIVIA: Dr. Bishop? Dr. Bishop?

WALTER: This was … when did this happen?

OLIVIA: The incident on the plane happened four days ago. Agent Scott was injured the next day.

WALTER: Aderm already indurated. Translucent. Muscular tissue.

OLIVIA: On Scott? You mean can you see through his skin? Yes.

WALTER: Oh, that’s not good. To see through the skin. It’s tricky, it’s advanced…. like that.

OLIVIA: What’s happening to him? Can it be reversed? What is it?

WALTER: They have this horrible pudding here. Butterscotch pudding on Mondays. It’s dreadful.

OLIVIA: It’s Thursday.

WALTER: Oh. That’s fantastic news! It can be reversed. What happened to your colleague. Years ago I worked with lab animals and… some of them were afflicted, but were saved.

OLIVIA: So, do you remember what to do?

WALTER: This place, their choice of therapies has …

OLIVIA: Dr. Bishop?

WALTER: You came here today with my son. I’m not allowed visitors you see, except immediate family. Unless the order has been lifted. And it’s a simple ‘if-then’ formula. If you are here, then so is he. I would so much, so very much like to see him. So much.

(Olivia finds Peter waiting down the hallway)

OLIVIA: He asked for you.

PETER: Thanks, sweetheart. I really appreciate that.

OLIVIA: Hey, I didn’t tell him you were here. Call me sweetheart one more time, I’d really like that.

(Peter gains his resolve and joins Walter in the dining hall)

PETER: Hello, Walter.

WALTER: I thought you’d be fatter.

PETER: You thought I’d be fatter? Excellent, first words. Perfect.

WALTER: No, as a boy. You were round.

PETER: Yes, I was. Until the summer before high-school, not that I’d expect you to remember that.

WALTER: May I see something?

PETER: What are you doing? Take your hands off of me!

WALTER: Pupils are good. They’re good.

WALTER (to Olivia): How advanced is your colleague’s condition? Would you… something… I’m unable to deduce without a first-hand examination. I must see Mr. Scott myself, which I am unable to do. Under the present law. Unless, signed out by a legal guardian, who must be once again a relative.

PETER: What are you asking me to…? No! Guardian? No. Forget it.

OLIVIA: He’ll do it.

PETER: No, I will not.

OLIVIA: One phone call. That’s all it takes. You want me to make it? Cause I’ve got my phone in my pocket. Now it’s out of my pocket.

PETER: You wanted my father. Now you’ve got my father. Which falls into the category, be careful what you wish for, Sweetheart.

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ACT III
Departing St. Claire’s Hospital
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(Peter signs out Walter and waits quietly with Olivia while Walter shaves and changes into street clothes.)

(driving away from the asylum)

RADIO REPORTER: (voiceover) Every effort is being made to understand what happened on Flight 627.

OLIVIA: Dr. Bishop, I was curious. Did anyone else ever have access to your work?

WALTER: Well, the assistants have bits and pieces… God, I suppose. I suppose the only one who really knew what I was doing was Belly.

OLIVIA: Who?

WALTER: Belly. William Bell, he and I shared a lab.

OLIVIA: William Bell?

PETER: You shared a lab with the founder of Massive Dynamics?

WALTER: I’m sorry. I don’t know what that is. Massive Dynamics.

(to Walter) Ah, nothing really. Just a tiny little company.

PETER: (to both) That’s perfect. One guy becomes one of the wealthiest man on planet, the other guy becomes an institutionalized psychopath.

WALTER: Oh!

OLIVIA: What? What happened?

WALTER: I just pissed myself.

PETER: Excellent.

WALTER: Just a squirt.

(Olivia drives past a billboard advertising Massive Dynamic.)
Hospital Hallway

CHARLIE: Just got the message, how’s John?

OLIVIA: Worse. CDC says that Hamburg flight was caused by synthetic compounds, which is like saying rain is caused by wet compounds. They’ve run some tests on John, but haven’t come back with anything.

CHARLIE: What about Bishop?

OLIVIA: Left or right? Insane, and irritating. And also my only hope. Listen. I need to question William Bell. Could you set that up for me?

CHARLIE: William Bell? Massive Dynamic’s William Bell?

OLIVIA: He and Bishop used to shared a lab.

CHARLIE: You kidding?
Hospital Room

(Astrid, Olivia, Peter and Walter enter sterilized area. John is lying on an examining table. Walter stares at a skylight.)

OLIVIA: Dr. Bishop?

WALTER: Send Ginger ale. I need Ginger ale. Haven’t had some long time. I miss it.

OLIVIA: Can you please get some Ginger ale for the doctor, Agent Farnsworth?

(Walter picks up scalpels and approaches John’s body.)

PETER: (to Walter) Whoa! Stop right now! Stop!

PETER: (to Olivia) Does this not concern you?

OLIVIA: Let him go.

WALTER: Petri dish. Quick, please. But, I need to take this to my lab right away.

OLIVIA: Your what?

WALTER: Kresge Building basement, Harvard. We should leave, I have my sample.

OLIVIA: Your lab was shut down after you left.

WALTER: I’m sorry?

PETER: Wake up. It’s gone.

WALTER: No. No, no, no. No, no, no, no, no.

PETER: Walter, there is no lab.

WALTER: It’s a perfect working… Damn you!

(Walter smashes equipment.)

PETER: We need to get him back immediately.
Broyles’ Office

BROYLES: Liaison. When did you get back?

OLIVIA: I need your help. I want you to know I’ve successfully had Dr. Walter Bishop released from St. Claire’s and he requires the use of his old laboratory.

BROYLES: I’m sorry. What?

OLIVIA: Kresge Building, Harvard, basement.

BROYLES: It would be nice, to think that your tenacity in this case is a byproduct of a remarkable and robust professionalism. But I can’t help but wonder, if it wasn’t something going on between you and Agent Scott.

OLIVIA: Get the lab for Bishop.
Harvard Lab - Walter’s Return

(Someone turns on the lights at the Lab. Walter, Olivia, Peter and Astrid enter the room.)

WALTER: (to himself): So much. So much happened here.

WALTER: (To the others) And so much is about to.
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ACT IV
Harvard Lab - Setting Up
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OLIVIA: Dr. Bishop, I’ve ordered a standard forensics’ work package. Is there anything else you need?

WALTER: Optical coherence tomograph for flesh study. Two thousand pounds of silicon. At least five anonymous blood samples from volunteer donors, micro-organism detector. NASA grade, of course. There’s still NASA, yes?

OLIVIA: Yes.

WALTER: Oh, she’s still here. This tank was the best. And a two-Year-old bussaurus.

ASTRID: A what?

PETER: A cow. He wants a cow.

Purebred, not a crossbred, this is important. Mature weight 850 pounds, total fat average 2.37.

OLIVIA: Is he joking?

PETER: Genetically, humans and cows are separated by only a couple lines of DNA. So, what’s an ethical test subject?

OLIVIA: Where’d you learn that? MIT?

PETER: No actually, I picked that up reading books. You should try it sometime. It’s fun.

OLIVIA: (to Astrid) Get him the cow.

WALTER: Fantastic, thank you. Only thing better than a cow is a human. Unless you need milk. Then you really need a cow.

(Activity including Walter examining laboratory slides; Olivia reviewing photos of Flight victims; an unidentified, and unrelated, class in session; and the arrival of the cow.)
Harvard Lab - Peter’s Background

PETER: Coffee?

OLIVIA: Thanks.

PETER: Tell me. What else did that file say? About yours truly. How bad was it?

OLIVIA: I’m not at liberty to discuss it.

PETER: Why don’t you go ahead and liberate yourself because I’m here now, so I kinda feel like I deserve the truth, don’t you?

(Olivia looks at Peter without speaking.)

PETER: There was no file.

OLIVIA: I needed you back here.

PETER: So that was what? You were bluffing?

OLIVIA: I was desperate.

PETER: Yeahh, I’m usually pretty good at reading people. That’s sorta what I do.

OLIVIA: Yeahh, well I could see you were in trouble. Anyone could see that.

PETER: So I could have stayed. I could have stayed in Iraq.

OLIVIA: You know, a car bomb went of this morning in Kirkuk. You just might owe me a “Thank you”.

PETER: Yeahh, well, I owe a lot.

OLIVIA: Yeah, I figured. Mafia.

PETER: A guy named Big Eddie. I swear to you I’m not making that up.

OLIVIA: You owe money to a guy nick-named Big Eddie?

PETER: No, I owe money to a guy named Big Eddie. He had it legally changed. And the thing is, I’m not even a gambler. I mean I never was. It’s just … A couple of years ago I went a bit crazy.

OLIVIA: I thought you were a genius, you must have had a system.

PETER: Of course there was a system. The House was cheating. But you try telling them that.
Harvard Lab - Diagnosis

WALTER: (in background) Seventy-two, during Vietnam, DOD’s BioChem Division had us working on a protocontagion for a possible use against Vietcong. It’s possible that whatever affected that plane may have been derived from that work.

OLIVIA: What about John?

WALTER: What’s affecting him is merely a chemical reaction to the raw laboratory ingredients. Not the finished contagent, which means we can synthesize a counter-agent.

OLIVIA: So you can help him?

PETER: Don’t do that. Don’t give her false hope.

WALTER: It’s not false. It’s not false; It’s real. I could help, yes, if I had a precise inventory of what was in that storage facility when it detonated.

OLIVIA: We don’t have it. It all went up, everything. And the suspect who might have those answers got away and John was the only one who saw his face. So how long does he have left?

WALTER: Current rate of crystallization, cellular degradation,…

OLIVIA: How long?

WALTER: Twenty-four hours. His brain will no longer be able to oxygenate itself. I’m so sorry. That I can’t offer you a less dangerous solution.

OLIVIA: What do you mean?

WALTER: Didn’t I mention it?

PETER: Whatever you think you said, you didn’t say.

WALTER: Synaptic transfer system, shared dream state.

OLIVIA: What do you mean ’shared dream state’?

WALTER: Human brain generates a quantifiable electric field. I hypothesized in 1976 that it is possible to synchronize the fields of two distinct minds to allow the sharing of information across the unconscious state, like a string between two tin cans.

PETER: You know what’s great about that is that it’s completely insane.

OLIVIA: You’re saying I can talk to John in coma? And he can tell me what the suspect looks like?

WALTER: It’s not an exact science.

PETER: It’s not even science.

OLIVIA: Have you done this before?

WALTER: I have used this technique to extract information from a corpse once. You can do that if they haven’t been dead for longer than six hours.

PETER: Right, because after six hours - that’s when they are really dead.

OLIVIA: You could access his memories?

WALTER: Assuming there’s no brain damage. Of course you’d have to have an electromagnetic probe placed in the base of your skull, whilE immersed without clothing in the old tank. And you’d be heavily drugged.

OLIVIA: What sort of drugs?

WALTER: Mix of Ketamine, neurontin, lysergic acid diethylamide.

PETER: That last one is LSD, by the way. Acid.

WALTER: It would take at least a few hours, I’d need your help to synthesize it, if it’s not too much trouble.

PETER: Yeah, sure, no problem. That sounds like fun.

PETER: (to Olivia) The man who was just released from a mental institution, he wants to give you a drug overdose and stick a metal rod into your head and put you naked into a rusty tank of water.

WALTER: No, I don’t want to. No, I’d rather not, I’m just saying I can.

PETER: Okay, Olivia, excuse me for a second. You’re obviously under severe duress and you haven’t slept since Iraq and the man you care about might die, but I’m telling you, that man will kill you!

WALTER: You don’t understand the procedure.

OLIVIA: John would do it for me…Set it up. I’ll get DHS’s authorization to bring John here.

PETER: This is unbelievable. This is insane; he is insane and you’re insane for following him.

WALTER: Excellent. Let’s make some LSD.
Harvard Lab - John Scott Arrives

OLIVIA: (to ambulance attendants) Put him over here.

ASTRID: (to Olivia) Salt will make you float.

OLIVIA: Charlie. Did you get me in to see William Bell?

CHARLIE: Massive Dynamics isn’t exactly being forthcoming or courteous. And apparently William Bell is out of the country for the next two weeks.

OLIVIA: What’s this?

CHARLIE: A sweet little memo from their General Council.

OLIVIA: So Bell doesn’t want to talk?

CHARLIE: Or he’s just being the head of a 50 billion dollar corporation.

OLIVIA: Screw this! I want to drive a tank through William Bell’s office and find out what he knows.

CHARLIE: I know you do, but I’m here to tell you the bad news. It’s going to be another 48 hours till we get a court order.

WALTER: (to Olivia) You should probably strip to your underwear.

WALTER: (to Charlie) Hello.

CHARLIE: What the hell was that?

OLIVIA: Charlie, we don’t have 24 hours. I need you to get to Bell. If Walter fails, Bell could be the only one to save us.

CHARLIE: Olivia, what’s happening here? You’ve cleared all this with Broyles?

OLIVIA: Somewhat.

CHARLIE: Somewhat doesn’t sound good.

CHARLIE: Is that a cow?

OLIVIA: Yeah, that’s Jean. Listen Charlie, I -I need you to promise me you’ll do whatever you can.

CHARLIE: Of course. You know that… Hey. Be careful.

(Charlie looks at John’s transparent body.)

CHARLIE: (to himself) My god.
Harvard Lab - Preparation

(Olivia, with the help of Walter, Peter and Astrid, prepares)

WALTER: Now, where was I? Could you tilt your head forward, please?

PETER: I still think that this is deeply irresponsible and believe me, I would know.

WALTER: This is an anaesthetic. If you feel normal it’s working.

PETER: Yeah, because bootleg and smack in a basement is just a picture of normalcy.

(Walter inserts probe at base of Olivia’s neck.)

PETER: I’ve got you. I hope your guy is worth it.

(Walter injects Olivia)

WALTER: And this will rip open your consciousness.

(Olivia enters tank.)

WALTER: Listen, in case you don’t come back, I just wanted to say before we do this…how much I appreciate what you’ve done. There is so many things you lose in a place like that. You lose being trusted. Strange how important that is when it’s gone.
fringe

ACT V
Harvard Lab - Synaptic Transfer

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WALTER: If you want to watch, you can come closer. You work here?

ASTRID: Yeah, I’m Astrid Farnsworth, assistant to Agent Dunham.

WALTER: Who?

(Astrid points at the tank containing Olivia.)

WALTER: Oh, yes. I’m Walter…

PETER: Bishop. Walter Bishop.

WALTER: Yes, thank you.

PETER: Don’t mention it.

WALTER: These are her brain rhythms. More important than most people know regarding cerebral regional interaction. Critical.

(Walter walks to another computer display.)

And these are his. As the drugs take effect, the probes will synchronize the electrical signals from both. That what the brain is, an electrical router. Should be able to be interpreted by the other.

PETER: Simple really, like making toffee.

WALTER: And when the rhythms are in-sync, they should be in the same place. So to speak.

PETER: So what do we do now?

WALTER: Now we wait.

(Time passes. Peter paces. A spark occurs in Olivia’s consciousness.)

PETER: What was that?

WALTER: Should be any minute now.
Harvard Lab - Olivia’s Dream

(In Olivia’s dream, she is in a junk yard. Her and John’s words are italicized.)

OLIVIA: Hello? I think I’m here. I’m here!

WALTER: Look, look, look! Almost in-sync.

(In Olivia’s dream, she is in a graveyard, then a child’s room.)

OLIVIA: John? I know this. That’s my uncle’s kayak. Why is it here? John? Is that you?

JOHN: Olivia?

OLIVIA: John?

PETER: What’s happening?

WALTER: She’s fine.

PETER: She’s alright?

WALTER: She’s fine.

PETER: You’re sure?

WALTER: Look. They’re together.

JOHN: I was just thinking about you.

(Olivia and John embrace while standing on a finished floor in a desert. They kiss. The encephalogram shows a spike.)

PETER: What was that?

(Walter smiles.)

WALTER: Nothing.

OLIVIA: John, you were hurt.

JOHN: I don’t remember.

OLIVIA: Think. The storage units.

JOHN: I feel cold.

OLIVIA: I need you to remember.

JOHN: Remember what?

OLIVIA: What you saw. I need you to show me his face.

JOHN: Why?

OLIVIA: So I can save you. Please try. Try and remember. Yes. This is right.

JOHN: “We’ve got a runner in the back. We need him alive.”

OLIVIA: I can’t see his face.

(Olivia sees the face. Walter and Peter pull her out of the tank.)
Harvard Lab - Out of the Tank

WALTER: You’re late!

OLIVIA: (gasping) I saw him. I saw John get hurt. I was there. I was there, I swear.
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ACT VI
Situation Room - Federal Building

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(Olivia is working in a facial recognition program.)

CHARLIE: What do you mean you saw him? Where?

OLIVIA: I told you not to ask me that.

(Olivia makes selections in the program.)

OLIVIA: This is him. This is the suspect we are looking for. He looks like this.

AGENT #3: Send me the image, I’ll put it through the database.

CHARLIE: Have you slept? You look like crap.

AGENT #3: No primary matches for criminal record.

OLIVIA: Cross check all state driver’s license files and send this image to all local hospitals.

AGENT #4: Agent Dunham, take a look at this.

OLIVIA: Oh my God. This is him.

(he shows her a photo of Morgan Steig to Olivia.)

AGENT #4: He was a passenger on Flight 627.

OLIVIA: I don’t understand.

CHARLIE: Wait. He couldn’t been in the storage place.

OLIVIA: Charlie, I saw him there.

AGENT #3: Hold on guys. Morgan Steig was passenger number 108. His emergency contact, Richard Steig.

(Woman shows a photo of Richard Steig to Olivia.)

OLIVIA: You’re telling me he has a twin?

AGENT #3: Yeah. No home address. Only history of employment.

CHARLIE: What?

(Olivia shows report to Charlie.)

OLIVIA: Richard Steig’s last employer.
Massive Dynamic Corporate Offices

OLIVIA: I was hoping to speak with William Bell.

NINA: I’m Nina Sharp, Executive Director. I only have a few minutes.

OLIVIA: Our primary suspect is a former employee of yours, Richard Steig, who may have used research from your company to develop a self-eradicating airborne toxin. We don’t know why or for whom, but it appears he was willing to sacrifice his own brother. Whatever killed those people on that plane got onboard through his insulin pen. So, do you want to talk to me?

NINA: (to her assistant) Danielle, please assemble everything we have on Richard Steig for Agent Dunham here.

NINA: (to Olivia) I remember Richard Steig. He worked in our Weapons System Research lab. He was caught three months ago trying to leave the premises with classified information. He was terminated immediately. We referred his name to the Justice Department. We have done our do diligence, Agent Dunham. And, if you choose to drag our company and Dr. Bell’s name into this matter, you will be hearing from our attorneys.

OLIVIA: How long have you worked for Dr. Bell?

NINA: Sixteen years. I owe Massive Dynamics my life and that is not an exaggeration. I was a runner most of my life. In the ‘97 Boston Marathon, I felt strangely tired. One day at the office Dr. Bell noticed my discomfort and insisted I go for a CAT Scan. Cancer. Spread so severely I had to have my arm amputated that week. (removes a skin-like cover exposing her bionic arm) That first scanner that found my cancer was built by this company. The robotic assist tools that were used at my surgery, the drugs I took afterwards, were developed and manufactured by Massive Dynamics. And my replacement limb was designed by Bell himself.

(Nina’s Assistant returns and hands a file to Nina, who passes it to Olivia)

NINA: Everything we have on Richard Steig. Do you believe that Steig may be part of the “Pattern”?

OLIVIA: I’m sorry, part of the… Part of the “Pattern?”

NINA: I assumed you had clearance.

OLIVIA: I’m cleared to know whatever you’re cleared to know, miss Sharp.

NINA: Apparently not.

But suffice to say that we reached the point where science and technology have advanced at such an exponential rate for so long, it may be way beyond our ability to regulate and control them. You should know what you’re getting into, Agent Dunham. I would say this to my own daughter: “Be careful and good luck.”
Harvard Lab - “Sponge Bob Square Pants”

WALTER: And this is a show for children?

ASTRID: Yeah, it’s huge.

WALTER: Surprisingly profound for a narrative about a sponge.

(Peter’s cell phone rings)

PETER: Crazy House.
Olivia’s Car

OLIVIA: I just landed at Logan, I’m on my way to you. I think we located our suspect.

PETER: Hold on a second, you found the guy? You found the guy from your dream?

OLIVIA: I’m picking you both up. I need your father there to question, get whatever information he needs so he can make a cure for John and I need you there too, in case your father is…

PETER: Say no more, we’ll meet you out front.
fringe

ACT VII
Arresting Richard Steig
fringe
UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: Stake out is on, you’re outside.

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: Stand by.

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: Confirm your position.

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: Two minutes out.

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: …perimeter two miles back.

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: “Everybody where are you at?

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: Coming out.

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: (to female evacuee) This way, ma’am.

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: “Stand aside!

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: FBI!

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICERS: Clear! Clear! Clear!

(Walter and Peter are sitting in a car.)

WALTER: I’d like to check your blood pressure.

PETER: Why don’t you check your own blood pressure? Mine is fine, thanks.

WALTER: Your skin tone suggest you might be suffering from arterial hypertension.

PETER: Don’t tell me what I’m suffering from. And there are no visible signs of hypertension.

WALTER: When this is over, please don’t send me back. I don’t want to go back.

PETER: Look, Walter.

WALTER: This experience… It woke me up again and you can’t put me back to sleep.

PETER: It was hardly my idea. Any of it.

WALTER: Whatever punishment you think I deserve, I swear I have already endured it. Seventeen years. Please, son.

(Peter sees Steig exiting building.)

PETER: Hey! Hey!

WALTER: What?

PETER: Hey! He’s in the alley!

WALTER: Can I get out of the car?

PETER: Stay right there Walter.

(Olivia, Peter and others chase Steig through an alley, a park, a building and another alley before Peter tackles Steig.)

OLIVIA: I’ve got some questions for you.
FBI Interrogation Area

OLIVIA:

RICHARD STEIG: I have nothing to say.

(Olivia leaves the interrogation room. Peter, who has been watching on a monitor, enters the room.)

PETER: The compound the Infected Agent Scott…, it’s water soluble, right? We might not know what it is, but we know what it does. That means that, if I wanted to, I could extract the contaminated fluids from his body. That would allow me to slip to you any time I wanted to. In your food, a cup of coffee, in the toilet, nobody would ever know how it happened. (Pause.) The only problem is, that woman who was just in here, that’s her friend who’s dying. The only problem is, I don’t have that kind of time.

(Steig lunges. Peter grabs his arm and smashes a heavy coffee mug into Steig’s hand. Steig screams in pain. Olivia bursts into the room.)

PETER: Tell me the chemicals! Now!

OLIVIA: No, you can’t. You can’t do that!

PETER: (To Olivia.) You can’t; I can.

PETER: (To Steig.) I’m gonna count to one…. One!

(Peter grabs his arm and smashes a heavy coffee mug into Steig’s hand a second time. Steig screams again.)
Harvard Lab - How to cure John

WALTER: It was a magnesium based ethylene glycol.

PETER: I understand that, but you’re not listening.

WALTER: Magnesium ethylene glycol with organophosphate trigger.

PETER: Look, Walter, just stop for a second. His blood won’t be able to absorb it before the side effects kill him.

WALTER: And you’re saying what? We synthesize a calcium gluconate lanthanum base?

PETER: Yes, exactly.

WALTER: We can’t, we’d need more of his blood. We have none.

OLIVIA: That’s not true. All agents are required to set up a backup blood supply in case we’re wounded.

WALTER: Cowardless transfusion. That’s brilliant. We can create the antidote and then just dissolve it in stored blood.

PETER: If we transfuse him intravenously, his body won’t be overwhelmed.

WALTER: A-plus, Boy. Well done. Let’s begin.

(Walter and Peter begin preparing the antidots. John’s frozen blood arrives.)
Broyles, Olivia and the Pattern.

(Broyles and Olivia are on a floor above the Lab. As they talk, Olivia sits and Broyles joins her.)

BROYLES: So, I got the lab.

OLIVIA: Yeah, I know you did. Thanks.

BROYLES: How’s it going downstairs?

OLIVIA: Bishop says it’ll be a while, but that it’s looking “auspicious.” That was his word… What?

BROYLES: You’ve done some solid work here. Locating Bishop. Getting him out, finding a way to get him to work with you. We’re impressed.

OLIVIA: Who’s we?

BROYLES: What happened on that plane might be part of something more dangerous than simple terrorism.

OLIVIA: Simple terrorism?

BROYLES: In the past nine months, there’d been three dozen authenticated incidents like the Hamburg flight. Most of what I’m about to show you has not been made public. John Thompson, normal kid. Went missing back in ‘98. Reappeared last month half way around the world, hadn’t aged a day. In the past few months, 46 other children who went missing that same year turn up. Same story. Local fishermen off the coast of Sri Lanka. Reports a low flying plane emitting a high pitched frequency that blows out all their windows. An hour later, same spot, an 8.7 subsurface earthquake creates a tsunami that kills 38,000 people.

OLIVIA: So why are you telling me this?

BROYLES: This man. A patient in Lisbon who woke up after years in a coma. Began writing, just numbers. They turn out to be exact real time coordinates of our Carrier Battle Groups in the Pacific. Intel that’s classified above Top Secret.

OLIVIA: So how is that even possible?

BROYLES: Come work for me and I’ll get you the clearance…

OLIVIA: Stop!

BROYLES: Dunham, there is more you need to hear.

OLIVIA: You must not have heard me, I said stop.

BROYLES: They’re calling these events “The Pattern.” As if someone out there is experimenting, only the whole world is their lab. You’ve seen it now. You know.

OLIVIA: I don’t want to know. I have a job.

BROYLES: This is a more important job. Anything, anybody you need you can have.

OLIVIA: I like the job I’ve got. And the man I do it with, which you seem have deduced on your own.

BROYLES: Look around. You see all these people going about their lives? No idea what’s happening around them and what they’re in the middle of?

OLIVIA: I just want to go back to before.

BROYLES: Dunham, I don’t think you can.
Harvard Lab - John Awakes

(Walter and Peter mix the chemical compound required to save John’s life. The frozen blood arrives. Peter injects the compound into the IV system.)

WALTER: He’s up. He’s awake.

PETER: Olivia, he’s awake. He’s conscious!

OLIVIA: John? John? Can you hear me, baby? Baby?

JOHN: I had a dream about you.
Hospital - Nurses Station

OLIVIA: Hi. Change of clothes for Agent Scott.

DR. REYES: His vitals are surprisingly strong.

OLIVIA: So, how long does he have to stay?

DR. REYES: Until the melanoma sites in his skin are regenerated, but that shouldn’t be more than a week. He owes you his life.

OLIVIA: We owe each other. What room is Steig in?

(Olivia enter Steig’s hospital room.)

RICHARD STEIG: I told you everything I know, didn’t I? And I gave you the names of all the synthetics I used in the compound.

OLIVIA: Don’t worry. Our immunity agreement holds. But there’s still a whole lot more we have to talk about, like why you killed your own brother. And who you’re selling your work to?

RICHARD STEIG: Who said I was selling it? I was threatened by a guy from your office. You think I’m lying? I swear to God, I can prove it.

OLIVIA: Where’s the recording?

RICHARD STEIG: I buried it.
Near Steig’s Apartment

(Olivia digs a package containing a small cassette tape out of the ground, enters her car and listens to the tape.)

JOHN: (on tape) (Indistinguishable)

RICHARD STEIG: (on tape) …the airplane was a demonstration.

JOHN: (on tape) You’ve drawn unwarranted attention to something we can’t afford to be connected with. I’ll make this simple. You’re not selling to anyone else. You do that, we will come after you. I will come after you.

RICHARD STEIG: (on tape) You’re threatening me? After seeing what I’m willing to do to my own brother?

JOHN: (on tape) Let me assure you we’d be happy to treat you as family too.

(Olivia has brief flashback and remembers John saying those words on his cell phone as he arrived at the Logan tarmac to invistigate Flight 627.)
Hospital - John’s Room

(John sits up in bed and removes his monitoring leads. After dressing he walks to a restricted hall in the hospital.)

JOHN: Special Agent Scott.

UNIDENTIFIED GUARD: Yes. Sir. Go in.

(John finds Steig and smothers him)
fringe

ACT VIII
What John Did

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OLIVIA: (on cell phone driving fast) Charlie, I need two agents posted outside agent Scott’s room. Check on Steig.

CHARLIE: I’m on it.

OLIVIA: I’m five minutes away.

(Charlie walks in and finds Steig dead in bed)

CHARLIE: We need this place locked down!

(Arriving at the hospital entrance, Olivia spies Johns’ vehicle accelerating out of a side lot.)

OLIVIA: This is Dunham, Agent I.D. 5-2-7-7-6. in pursuit of blue S.U.V., heading south on Fenway. Need immediate assist.

(A car chase ensues. John crashes and is dying a bloody death.)

JOHN: Ask yourself, why… why Broyles sent you… to the storage facility. Why you?

OLIVIA: I don’t understand. Who are you working for? John, tell me. Tell me more. John.

(John dies… Olivia copes… cries… driving with Charlie afterwards)

CHARLIE: I knew him just as long as you did. I’m sorry. Job isn’t what it was ten years ago. We’re supposed to protect the world, where one breath of the wrong air can incinerate you from the inside out. I mean, how do we protect people, when corporations have higher security clearances than we do? When we’re not fully briefed on half the things that we’re investigating. You know, when the truth, the truth is - we’re obsolete.

OLIVIA: Take me back to the lab.
Outside the Lab

OLIVIA: Can I talk to you please?

PETER: Yeah. (to Walter) I’ll be back in a second.

OLIVIA: I’m sure you’re anxious to get as far away from here as possible. To Iraq or Afghanistan, or some other out of reach places. But I’m here to tell you that your father needs to stay, which means that you need to… too.

PETER: Are you okay?

OLIVIA: I don’t know. I know you have countless reasons as to why this is a non-starter for you. But your father is a good man. He’s not the monster you think he is and you’re good with him despite what you think. And you’re the only one who speaks Walter. We take him back to St. Claire’s it’s all over.

PETER: Where’s John?

OLIVIA: I can talk to the Agency and get them to clear your gambling debt.

PETER: I can take care of my own debts, okay? What just happened? Where’s John?

OLIVIA: I’m not gonna use false threats with you anymore. I don’t need to. The threats are real.

PETER: After you left my father sat down, started talking to me and he was remarkably lucid. He told me about the work that he and William Bell have done in their experiments and that incident. What happened on that plane is just the beginning. Which makes every part of me feel like I gotta get the hell out of Boston.

WALTER: (interjects) Are we leaving?
A Massive Dynamic Facility

(John Scott’s body is prone on a gurney)

NINA: How long has he been dead?

ATTENDANT: Five hours.

NINA: Question him.

(the attendant pushes the gurney into a room behind a secure door.)

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One Response to “101 - “Pilot” transcript”

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