Walter Bishop

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Talk	Walter Bishop	Theories


Profession:	Biochemist	Portrayed by: John Noble
Also Known As:	Wally (by Astrid)
Family:	Young Peter - son, Robert Bischoff - father, Elizabeth Bishop - wife, Henry - uncle
Connections:	Dashiell Kim, Carla Warren, Jessica Warren, Rebecca Kibner, The Observer
Status:	More open towards Peter
Remarks:	Angry at Peter that he is attempting to force his memories onto Olivia
Images of Walter Bishop Alternate Version

Walter Bishop is a scientific researcher from Cambridge, MA. He was Harvard educated, and did his postgraduate work at Oxford and MIT. He was formerly an endowed chair in Biochemistry at Harvard University, and a senior research consultant for Kelvin Genetics. Walter supplies the scientific genius and technological wizardry needed to explore The Pattern. Dr. Bishop has a recorded IQ of 196.

About

Doctor Bishop worked out of a laboratory in the basement of the Kresge Building at Harvard University. His cover story was that he did research for a toothpaste company. In reality, he worked as part of a classified U.S. Army experimental program called Kelvin Genetics, run under the supervision of DARPA. The agency gave him the resources to do whatever work he wanted, primarily in an area called Fringe Science; the subjects of which include (but are not limited to) mind control, teleportation, invisibility, astral projection (aka "out of body" experiences), genetic mutation and reanimation. His groundbreaking work with lab partner William Bell was in fields ranging from quantum physics to genetic engineering.

In 1991, Dr. Bishop was institutionalized at St. Claire's Hospital after an assistant was killed in his laboratory. He was charged with manslaughter, but was deemed mentally unfit to stand trial. He was still there seventeen years later, when he was released to the custody of his son, Peter, following the mysterious deaths on Glatterflug Flight 627.

Jeff Pinkner describes Walter as follows:

Walter is perhaps one of the most brilliant scientists known but in the name of science, and on behalf of the government back in the 70’s and the Vietnam/Cold War era, he has perhaps left a lot of harm in his wake. He has potentially damaged a lot of people and developed a lot of technologies that others may have exploited in the past. As a consequence, there either was or wasn’t a series of events that caused him to lose his mind and break down. He was found criminally guilty and put into an institution where they have done all kinds of advanced therapies to him, which have further damaged his mind. Despite all that, he’s the only person we can rely on to help us solve all these cases.

The Walter Parable:

A King of Cups. In Walter's Lab Notes

from Power Hungry, above his typed notes sits the tarot card - King of Cups. The card describes a man of business, law or divinity, kind and considerate, and willing to take responsibility. He is interested in the arts and sciences and enjoys quiet power. Someone you would likely display paternal feelings toward. Symbols on the card suggest calm in the midst of turbulence, spirit and creativity and the balance of the unconscious with the conscious. The King of Cups does not repress his emotions and unconscious impulses, but accepts and deals with them. Traits - you may not understand him, but you can trust him. He has achieved something in life. Sociable, loving, sensuous. Intelligence combined with strong intuition. Enjoys comforts of life. Love of arts. Responsible and generous. In a positive environment (Tarot reading), the King of Cups can be; secretive, yet professional; empathetic and good in an emerging dynamic; able to bring ideas to fruition and imaginative; act as a concerned protector; moody, sophisticated, quiet and deep; romantic, poetic and a guardian of hidden mysteries. In a negative environment; powerful, but likely to double deal; display a crafty, violent nature; barbaric, insecure and immature; manipulative and will toy with others emotions. In his lab notes, the face of the King has been scratched off.

After his release from St. Claire's, Walter occasionally displayed traits consistent with mild autism, including social awkwardness and mildly obsessive behavior. Later, it was revealed (Grey Matters) that Walter had pieces of his hippocampus removed and implanted in other people's brain several years earlier to remove his memories of how to construct a portal to the alternate universe, and to ensure that the extracted brain tissue was kept alive should there be a need to retrieve this memory at a later date. It is further revealed in a flashback that William Bell, as Doctor Paris, was involved in this procedure. When temporarily connected back to his brain pieces through some type of elctrical device operated by Thomas Newton and members of his team, Walter appears to recover lost memories and also becomes less hesitant and more sure of himself in his speech.

Relationships

In The Cure, Nina told Walter Bishop's son, Peter, that she knew him when he was a small boy, that she and Walter were once quite close, and that she and Peter spent time together at the equestrian center where they are now sitting.

Trivia

Known dining preferences: Cheese Steak, Ginger Ale, Root Beer Floats, Papaya, Frankenberry Cereal, Blueberry Pancakes, Raspberry-Lemon Cookies, Apple Fritters, Strawberry and Tuttie-Fruitie Milkshakes, Coffee Cake w/ Cinnamon Sugar, Custard, Coffee Yogurt, Kentucky Grilled Chicken, Pudding Pops.
Had trouble sleeping without someone singing "Row, row, row your boat" after spending time with another St. Claire's patient named Carlos (The Same Old Story).
Often prescribes and administers his own medication, varying cocktails of psychedelic drugs and a personally developed hybrid of cannibis.
The Kresge Building, where his lab occupies a portion of the basement, is the home of the Harvard School of Public Health.

Season 4 Quotes

"I don't think there's anything sadder than when two people are meant to be together and something intervenes." - (sadly to Olivia and Lee, after finding Nadine Park's engagement ring) (Neither Here Nor There)
"She bought my ignorance with baked goods while she carried out her plan to steal pieces of the machine with the -- it was that damn Portuguese sweet bread!" - (to Lee, telling him about Bolivia's deception) (One Night In October)
"I see. Well, I certainly know what it feels like to have nowhere to go. No family. This is the only home I know." - (to Aaron Sneddon, on their mutual loss of family) (Alone In The World)
"I believe the apparition may be out of phase with our reality. And for that reason, he is not visible from all directions. Instead, he's visible only from one specific angle, which is why I can see him and no one else can. So. Multiple cameras taking pictures from multiple angles." - (to Olivia and Astrid, on capturing an image of Peter) (Subject 9)
"No, no. Let me show you how. You take the straw out of the glass, thusly. Then stab the ice cream...push the straw down to the root beer at the bottom, and then you suck up the ice cream and the soda simultaneously to deliver the perfect blend of sugary goodness, like so!" - (to Olivia, on the perfect way to drink a root beer float) (Subject 9)
"I tried to help a boy, a version of my son, twenty-five years ago. But that boy was never my son... and neither are you." - (to Peter, being disturbed that he is alive) (Novation)
"I heard the idea! I know what a Faraday Cage is! A buffoon would." - (to Astrid, angry that Peter is assisting with the case) (And Those We've Left Behind)
"Tell Agent Broyles that... science has no price tag!" - (to Astrid, on the $818 bill he raked up buying his new octopus and the tank) (Wallflower)
"My actions caused the death of my wife... unspeakable damage to two universes. I lost my career... and my sanity... All because I tried to help another Peter. I may be the only man that can help you, but I’m also the only man that cannot help you." - (reflective, to Peter when asked to help with the Wave Sink Device) (Back To Where You've Never Been)
"That's the thing about scientific inquiry -- not every experiment is a success. But I hold high hopes for the parmesan ice cream." - (to Astrid, on molecular gastronomy) (Enemy Of My Enemy)
"Hello, Olivia. We're discussing cis-acting meiotic double-strand break hot spots." - (to Olivia, on helping Peter get back to his timeline) (Forced Perspective)
"Stage One. That has a survival rate of ninety-five percent. And that's without introducing even one frog rectally to slow cell division!" - (to Astrid, on Chet Williams having Stage One melanoma) (Making Angels)
"Will Olivia Dunham and Peter Bishop please report to the Biology Lab at once? Olivia and Peter to the Biology Lab. Thank you!" - (over the high school loudspeaker system, calling Peter and Olivia) (Welcome To Westfield)
"This is not Cortexiphan. It's potassium iodide with food coloring. Red #4. The Cortexiphan has been replaced." - (accusingly to Nina, after sampling a vial of Cortexiphan in a Massive Dynamic vault) (A Better Human Being)
"I suppose I have no reason to doubt myself." - (to himself, after Peter tells him that in his timeline, his Walter told him the Observers are human) (The End Of All Things)
"I told you what the right thing, ethically, was to do...leaving Olivia...But I don't know that I would have had the strength to do it myself...It's a...particularly obtuse way to admit that you're a better man than I am." - (to Peter, pathos after telling him to leave Olivia) (A Short Story About Love)
"I like porcupines. Shows that God has a sense of humor." - (to the team, insight on the porcupine after examining the evolutionary 'porcupine' that is Bowman) (Nothing As It Seems)
"Well, technically, it's Seasonal Affective Disorder. Bovines aren't meant to spend extended periods inside. They need lots of Vitamin D. Sunshine." - (to Lincoln, rationalizing his decision to take Gene out for Grazing Day) (Everything In Its Right Place)
"If you'd asked me that question a few months ago, the answer would have been no. But now that I have met my adult son, got to know him, I don't know that I'd do anything differently." - (to Colonel Broyles, on his actions leading up to the meeting of his adult son) (The Consultant)
"They weren't all bad, you know. One of them even tried to help us. He was called September. What happened to him was... well, unexpected. He told me that, in the year 2609 A.D., they finally ruined the planet. They poisoned it -- the air, the water. And when it was fundamentally uninhabitable, then they traveled back through time, and took our planet from us." - (to Agents Simon and Etta, on the Observer insurgence) (Letters Of Transit)

Season 3 Quotes

"That's great. How about we start with dinner? I'm starving." - (to Peter, putting life in perspective after Peter's whine about how he finally finished his testimony and can now get on with his life) (Olivia)
"...this type of auditory phenomenon, taken to its ultrasonic extreme, can be fatal, and the way it affects the brain, it could well have induced some type of vegetative trance before death... ...silent but deadly. Speaking of which, you might like to take a step away. " - (to Peter and Astrid, solving the overall science case, while simulatneously creating a local bio-hazard) (The Box)
"Dear God. How can you be so limited? When William Bell created this company, he knew one thing to be true. Brain and the mind are capable of so much. Don't you see that the brain is consciousness, hmm? The mind is god! There are no limits, except for those that we impose on ourselves. Open your eyes. Open, open. Inspiration is everywhere. Do you know how lucky you are to play in this sandbox?" - (to his newly acquired scientists at Massive Dynamic, as they sit stunned by his eccentric rant) (Do Shapeshifters Dream Of Electric Sheep?)
"Why should we be so arrogant as to assume that we're the first Homo sapiens to walk the Earth. History is full of extinction events... climate change, meteorites, Atlantis." - (to Peter and Astrid, during lab work as they start to imagine the impossibilities) (6955 kHz)
"It's perfectly understandable, son. In the 'Seventies', I innocently wandered into the wrong home and it was three days before I realized my mistake. And unlike Olivia, the woman with whom I was sharing a bed didn't look like my wife at all." - (to Peter, consoling him on the embarassing deception levied by Bolivia) (Entrada)
"You know what I need after a day like today? ...strawberry milkshake ... with extra whipped cream." - (to Peter, seeking comfort in food following the failed reanimation case) (Marionette)
"I don't know how, but he's done some kind of... a chain reaction that started from the moment that we walked into that nursing home to meet Roscoe. Everything since has been the sequence culminating in this very moment, and if I save this woman and let you go, then I'm afraid the consequences... you're gonna die," - (to Peter, about The Observer and Walter's greatest fear) (The Firefly)
"Fauxlivia ruined U2 for all of us." - (to the science team, upset with the discover that the password to Bolivia's computer was a favorite song lyric) (Reciprocity)
"But why would want to kill a scientist? What did we ever do?" - (to Peter and Olivia, on seeing Warren Blake's dead body) (Concentrate And Ask Again)
"If the vortex had opened, I would be able to seal it. And then there would be new cracks and we would seal those cracks, and those cracks in our universe would beget larger cracks and... over there, decades of research and funding... the best solution Walternate could come up with was this. And it won't be enough. Once the universes start to unravel, there'll be no stopping it. I don't know how to stop it." - (to Nina, on using the Amber to seal vortexes on our side) (6B)
"Before you go... I want you to understand that this girl is very special to me, and if anything harmful should happen to her, anything to frighten her or make her uncomfortable in the least... I will not hesitate to inform social services... in which case, I have certain government friends who could ensure that you will be facing significant troubles for yourself. - (to Olivia's Stepdad, defending her) (Subject 13)
"It was Belly's intellect made the company great. All I've managed to do with its vast resources is to create a new flavor of cupcake frosting. Bacon-berry." - (to Kevin, about his running the company) (Os)
"Look at this. Me and Belly collecting human tissue and fluid specimens! Just like when we were kids!" - (to Peter, happy that his lab partner is back with him after dying) (Stowaway)
"Ohh... oh, that is brilliant, son! This may be a weird time to ask, but have you ever tripped?" - (to Peter, excitement when discovering that they shall have to use LSD to enter Olivia's mind) (Lysergic Acid Diethylamide)
"HOW DELIGHTFUL!" - (speech bubble after discovering he is animated in Olivia's mind) (Lysergic Acid Diethylamide)
"God, I know my crimes are unforgiveable. So punish me. Do what you want to me. But I beg you, spare our world." - (praying and weeping for our world to be saved from obliteration by the Wave Sink Device) (6:02 AM EST)
"Ho-ho! That’s it! Come and get me! Strike me down, you sprites, you elves, you glorious blue jets!" - (screaming in delight while flying a kite during an electrical storm) (The Last Sam Weiss)
"Our destiny was set the day we triggered the machine. I didn't understand until it was too late that our... two worlds were inextricably linked. Without one, the other simply cannot exist. When their world was destroyed, that was the day we sealed our fate. For all intent and purposes... that was the day we died." - (solemn acceptance of fate, while working on an Electrilight with Peter in 2026) (The Day We Died)
"It's a paradox. I can't change what happens because it's already happened. But you can make a different choice within what happened. I simply need to find a way to bring your consciousness forward to now so that you can witness what will happen if you make the same choice. Peter, for all I know, it could be happening already. Don't you see? We can fix everything. We can cheat the rules of time." - (to Peter, understanding that he created the Wave Sink Device and tried to change his bleak future) (The Day We Died)

Season 2 Quotes

"Life and death, these are relative terms. Contextually defined, dependent on cultural specifics... ...Agent Dunham is not dead. She's not dead. She's not dead." - (to Peter, about Olivia's deteriorating condition under 'conventional' medical care) (A New Day In The Old Town)
"Feel his anus. It's soaking wet. Expansion of the oral mucosa, the eyes, and the rectum to accommodate rapid fluid loss. If it's a virus, it obviously doesn't affect birds... or people, at least not quickly." - (to Peter and Amy, as he comments on the lividity of the shape-drained corpse of George Reed) (A New Day In The Old Town)
"When they said you were dead... when I saw you lying there... I don't know what I would have done." - (to Olivia, verklempt over her recent life-threatening medical condition) (Night Of Desirable Objects)
"You should go for a walk sometime - explore the neighborhood. The other day I turned the wrong way in the street, and discovered that Busby's... has the world's best apple fritters. You see, I have everything I need where we live now." - (to Astrid, ...dense to Peter's push for more private quarters) (Fracture)
"That's the way of things... the best days and the worst days - rarely are" - (to Rebecca Kibner, stoic in his farewell to her) (Momentum Deferred)
"Think of your most pleasant dream, multiply that feeling tenfold, all main-lining through your Cortex in a few seconds. It's really quite something." - (to Peter, on the addictive nature of the dream stealing science) (Dream Logic)
"I've been thinking too linearly. Deductive. Restrictive. I must expand my thinking... ...this is not a job for the purple blotter. The right tool for this job... is Tinker Toys" - (to Peter, on how to visually model the complex molecular structure of the shadow creature) (Earthling)
"...well, puberty, A.D.D. medication, and an untested brainwave enhancer. It's a mind control cocktail. Because of this man's inability to be a proper parent, his son has kidnapped mine!" - (to Nina, about Dr. Carson's project - parenting Tyler) (Of Human Action)
"Well, in that case, if you cannot persuade the others of your conviction, then you must do something to prove it. You must make her important. And of course whatever you do, you must be prepared to face the consequences." - (to August, about his conflict with the other Observers) (August)
"...it never ceases to amaze me the infinite variation that Mother Nature gives us. She truly has quite a disturbing sense of humor." - (to Astrid, on the mega-hookworm they are about to dissect) (Snakehead)
"The road back from madness is a struggle. Only the luckiest of people find their way, more or less, back to the world you live in." - (to Astrid, sharing the greater perspective of his knowledge and personal struggles) (Grey Matters)
"Don't judge him. He's my son. And despite his narrow-mindedness, I'm quite proud." - (to a comatose woman, after Peter admonishes him for talking to someone in a coma) (Unearthed)
"I'm glad you choose to see me the way you do. Very glad indeed." - (to Peter, suggesting a deeper conflict in their personal history) (Johari Window)
"They all died, young lady. Horrible and most likely painful deaths. You see, when you open new doors, there is a price to pay." - (giving an impromptu lecture about European explorers to a group of children at a science center) (What Lies Below)
"It was more than that. You see, family is very important to me. There's nothing I wouldn't do." - (to Olivia, explaining why he selectively killed Alfred Hoffman) (The Bishop Revival)
"Well, the one thing that Belly and I learned from our experience is that when objects from the other universe cross to our side, they have an energy. Someone once described it as a glimmer. I believe that in the moments before the event when the fabric of the two universes is rubbing together, that the building on this side will begin to take on that glimmer." - (explaining the one method of detection Olivia possesses) (Jacksonville)
"No, no, you wouldn't, because you don't understand him. Like everyone else, you're blinded by the charming manner, the air of intelligence, the whole damn show. All William Bell ever cared about was finding a way to increase the power and the wealth and the legend of William Bell." - (to 1985 Nina, as he prepares to cross to the parallel universe) (Peter)
"It seems you've forgotten my very first lesson, Doctor. When you open your mind to the impossible, sometimes you find the truth." - (to a mortician he lectured minutes before on keeping an open mind) (Olivia. In The Lab. With The Revolver.)
"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 that 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." - (to Alistair Peck, trying to convince him not to go back int time to save his fiancee) (White Tulip)
"It's not that. There's something you deserve to know. Peter... every living thing dies. As a scientist, that's one of the hardest things to accept, that -- that we try to understand the mechanisms of life, but inevitably, we can't defeat death, no matter how much we -- we may want to." - (preparing himself to tell the truth to Peter) (The Man From The Other Side)
"My mother loved Chandler and another writer called Dashiell Hammett. She loved detective stories. Oh! And musicals! She adored musicals! She often would dress me up to play parts in plays at school. I was roughed up quite a lot as a child." - (preparing Ella for the tall tale he is about to share) (Brown Betty)
"You know what? You know what you're putting into our bodies? Death! Delicious, strawberry-flavored death!" - (emotional meltdown in the grocery store following Peter decision to leave him) (Northwest Passage)
"Dizzy... must be the onset of hemorrhagic shock. But I'm still walking, so the bullet couldn't have hit my spinal column. I'll be perfectly fine." - (self-assessing the injury he received during the ambush at Grayshot Bridge) (Over There, Part 1)
"I've lost... seventeen years in a mental institution, William. Seventeen years! And even now, I'm -- I'm still incomplete. I forget things. Uh, names. Places. Connections that I used to be able to make so easily. They just -- they just dangle, just outside of my reach. I know what you did to me. I know that you cut out pieces of my brain." - (venting anguish on his once trusted colleague) (Over There, Part 2)

Season 1 Quotes

"I thought you'd be fatter." - (to Peter, after not having seen him in many years) (Pilot)
"It's one of the inherent pitfalls of being a scientist - trying to maintain that distinction... between God's domain and our own. Sometimes, I forget myself." - (train-of-thought to Olivia and Peter) (The Same Old Story)
"I think it's time for some intracranial penetration. This won't hurt… just feel a touch odd." - (to a former test subject, as he begins to drill through his skull) (The Ghost Network)
"Must you always be so small-minded? Damn it, don't be like her. Like your mother. Questioning my judgment." - (Viciously to Peter, after it was suggested that he did not genuinely recognize The Observer) (The Arrival)
"Oh, I had trouble sleeping myself. I was thinking about that man. The one who tortured you. Something about him. So familiar. Peter, when I was in St. Claire's..." - (reflecting to his son, after a difficult night in new quarters) (Power Hungry)
"Either that, or she had a proclivity for sexual bondage. Scientific observation, not a judgment. Some of my fondest memories..." - (to the science team after noting ligature marks during an autopsy) (The Cure)
"Excellent work, son. You may have found your true calling at last. Working with me." - (to Peter, after a sharp medical diagnosis to stop the heart parasite) In Which We Meet Mr. Jones
"There is little that makes me happier than taking drugs. Perhaps administering them, designing and carrying out experiments that bend the plane of what we consider reality. I'm rarely if ever opposed to such things except now. But I tell you, you'll damage yourself. Every time you go back in, the risk of permanent damage--seizures, aneurysms, memory loss, death... " - (to Olivia, attempting to discourage her demand to return to the synaptic transfer tank) (The Dreamscape)
"I was under a great deal of stress at the time. It - it was before the accident in the lab - before that poor lab assistant lost her life. I was... distrustful of everybody... ...I was convinced I was being followed. Someone was watching my every move." - (lamenting to Peter in their hotel room about hiding equipment in banks twenty-three years prior) (Safe)
"Whatever it was, it ripped through his esophagus on the way out. At least he died teaching, a righteous profession." - (to Olivia and Peter, about the science professor killed by a giant virus) (Bound)
"With all due respect, Darwin got it all wrong. I used to make the joke that Darwin's thinking was rather... unevolved. For a brilliant man, Darwin was occasionally a moron." - (to Peter, on the assertion that females are not as aggressive as males) (The No-Brainer)
"This is wonderful. Don't you agree? It's just like a good detective movie." - (to everyone in earshot, during his first visit to the observation room during an interrogation) (The Transformation)
"You understand, this man teleported through space. His molecules disintegrating and reintegrating. The very implications of it... We need a video camera - we should record this!" - (to Peter, in the lab as they treat David Robert Jones) (Ability)
"...given the environmental conditions... the lack of oxygen and light... and their impact on his biological development, he could be significantly older." - (to Broyles question, as the task force assesses the recovered boy) (Inner Child)
"You were right. What you said before about the consequences, I don't think of them, never have. Don't know if I can. That's not who I am." -(to Peter, apologizing for his involvement in transgenic research) (Unleashed)
"...we would put them in pairs. Like the buddy system in summer camp. This pairing kept them from becoming frightened or feeling isolated. Sometimes an intense bond could form... a bond... which could be greatly amplified by a drug like Cortexiphan." - (to Peter, indignant after learning of the use of young children in controversial experimentation) (Bad Dreams)
"Most of us experience life as a linear progression... ...but this is an illusion - because every day, life presents us with an array of choices... ...each choice leads to a new path. To go to work. To stay home. And each choice we take creates a new reality." - (to the science team, simplifying theories on the pliability of space-time and protracted deja vu) (The Road Not Taken)
"We were trying to prepare you. To make you capable. Able. Something terrible is coming." - (to Olivia, when confronted with the experimentation he conducted on young children) (The Road Not Taken)
"Of course there's a problem opening a hole to another reality. In theory, that would also allow things from there to pass over here, which could be dangerous." - (to Peter, explaining the pitfalls of the fringe science they face) (There's More Than One Of Everything)
"You may not remember this. When you were a boy, you were very sick, dying... ...and sometimes you got scared. And to calm yourself, to forget what you were going through, you took to collecting coins - this one, this was your favorite" - (to Peter, preparing to confront Jones at Reiden Lake) (There's More Than One Of Everything)

Walter Bishop

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