Jacksonville
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| Talk | Jacksonville | Theories |
|
Introduction
| Jacksonville | |
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| Season | 2 |
| Episode | 15 |
| Air Date | February 4, 2010 |
| Written by | Zack Stentz Ashley Miller |
| Directed by | Charles Beeson |
| Starring | Main Characters |
| Guest Cast | Jim True-Frost as Ted Pratchet Sarah Edmondson as Pauline Hess Ryan McDonald as Brandon Ada Breker as Young Olivia Garnet Harding as Paramedic #1 Ellen Ewusie as Paramedic #2 Casey Manderson as Tech #1 Veronika Hadrava as Tech #2 Chris Logan as Hotel Manager |
| Previous Episode | The Bishop Revival |
| Next Episode | Ῥeter |
| Transcript | |
| Additional Images | |
Jacksonville is the fifteenth episode of the second season of FRINGE. It first aired on February 4, 2010. A violent tremor shakes an office building leaving only one survivor. Walter surmises that what shook the building was not geologic. With another catastrophe imminent, the team searches for an answer in Jacksonville in an effort to save hundreds of people from certain death.
Synopsis
Prologue
"Manhatan", New York. A man is walking around what appears to be an office building, seeming to be awfully protective about the drink he's carrying through it. A woman, making conversation, questions whether or not the coffee he's holding is real. 
The man admits that it is, and that his cousin in Hawaii "has a secret stash". Just then, a slight tremor shakes the entire building. The man claims that this quake makes it the sixth since yesterday. Then, as the woman is leaving, an even bigger tremor starts up. The man anxiously looks around until eventually the ceiling caves in. The quake stops and the man appears to be unharmed. Until, that is, he sees the giant pole that's gone completely through his left shoulder. In a panic, the man throws up his hands, to reveal that he not only has four arms, but four legs as well. He screams at the sight of them...
ACT I
Peter is on the phone with Olivia, and she claims that they (Peter, Walter, and She) are going to New York City. Peter, slightly annoyed at having to go, eventually agrees, and goes to inform Walter. While on the way there, Walter talks about the possibilities of what might have caused an earthquake in Manhattan. Broyles notifies Olivia that nobody saw what happened, and that they have so far found no survivors. Olivia notes to Walter that the building they're investigating appears to look "rearranged". While scouting through the building, the team finds that everyone in the building has been grotesquely disfigured. Once more, Walter shares his ideas about what could've happened at this building, with the rest of the team. Just then, someone yells that they've found a survivor, and the team leaps into action. 
The man, Ted Pratchet (previously seen in the Prologue) starts yelling about wanting to hear his wife's voice before he dies. While Broyles goes to try and track down the man's wife, Olivia begins to question him, asking what happened, and the man explains about the tremors. Meanwhile, Walter is looking around the room from anything to help explain this, until he comes across what appear to be some type of blueprints for a "New Pentagon". Broyles returns and tells Olivia that Ted never had a wife. Walter rushes over to the man, asking him what year it is, and who's the President. Ted responses that it's 2010, and Obama is President. Finally, Walter inquires about which buildings terrorists attacked on September 11th, to which Ted replies that both the Pentagon and The White House were hit. Seconds later, Ted dies. Olivia then notices something moving on his chest, and Walter unbuttons his shirt to reveal a second face embedded into the man's torso, which appears to die moments later. Walter explains that his theories were wrong, and that the team is actually in two buildings, not one... the second of which, came from the parallel universe.
ACT II
Walter walks over to Olivia, who's outside staring up at the building, and tells her that he's arranged to have Mr. Pratchet's bodies to be brought back to the lab. Walter thinks that an autopsy might explain how this happened. Olivia claims that she already knows how this happened. She recaps that this, two universes colliding, is what William Bell warned her about, and that he told her how Newton would try to open a doorway from one universe to the other.
Back at the lab, about to perform the autopsy, Astrid looks horrified at the body Walter's brought back. Feeling slightly sympathetic, Walter tells her to look over the objects they've brought back from the building, instead. He instructs her to look at everything, and try to find things that "look like they don't belong". She then finds a silver dollar, with Richard Nixon engraved on it. Astrid inquires on how Walter will tell the two Teds apart once he separates them, to which he replies that the Ted Pratchet from the Other Side was married, and thus has a wedding ring. Astrid points out the tragedy that Ted's wife from the Other Side will never know what happened to him. Astrid then finds a toy of a double-decker car. Suddenly, Walter stops. He claims that he knows exactly what Newton did... and what will happen next...
Olivia and Peter are with Broyles, and Olivia points out a photo of Newton, disguised with his men, as a construction crew at the building, just two hours before the incident. Olivia explains to Broyles that she would like to bring a squad with her back to New York City to investigate further. Peter's phone rings, and Walter yells that both Olivia and he need to back to the lab immediately.
They arrive at the lab and Walter shows them an article in a newspaper that was from almost 25 years ago, with a picture of a car seeming fused around one of the statues at Harvard. Walter further explains that it was an experiment that William Bell and he conducted, in order to move objects from one universe to another. They sent a car from this universe over to the alternate one, and so one from there came back here. Walter explains that since things amongst the universes must be balanced, a building from our universe will be ripped away and brought over there, in just under 35 hours. Olivia asks how they can identify which building will be ripped away, and Walter says that "someone" was once able to detect things that had a "glimmer", which would tell them which building would be taken. And that that "someone" was Olivia.
ACT III
Olivia asks Walter when she was able to see things from the other universe, to which he replies that 26 years ago, during the Cortexiphan Trials in Jacksonville she was the first out of a group of 30 children to exhibit the power to identify objects from the other side. Walter then surmises that the reason Olivia must have lost her power, was because she "wanted" to lose it after seeing the consequences of its use. As Walter tells her that he may be able to give her powers back, Peter jumps in to try and dissuade Olivia. However, she ignores him and impulsively agrees to let Walter experiment on her once more, and Walter demands that they go back down to Jacksonville - to the lab he first used during the trials.
Olivia then goes to Broyles to ask for permission to go down to Jacksonville, in hopes of being able to identify which building from Manhattan will be taken to the parallel universe. Broyles agrees, and asks what he could do to help. Olivia explains that he should work with Massive Dynamic to track any earthquakes, as it may help them narrow down when the building will be taken.
Olivia, Peter and Walter arrive in Jacksonville at an old, abandoned Daycare Center - where Walter and William first performed the Cortexiphan Trials. Walter opens the lock to the entrance (using the combination "5-20-10", and commenting on how he can't remember the significance of it anymore), and they enter the building. Walter takes them to one of the rooms, and asks Olivia if she sees anything, as 16 items in the room are from The Other Side. After a little while of looking, she says that she doesn't see anything, and Walter runs off, in preparation of attempting to get Olivia's power back. Peter and Walter enter another room, and Walter flips through a box of files until he stumbles upon his an old pair of his glasses. Looking joyous, he immediately puts them on.
Peter walks up to Olivia, who is sitting on the swings outside, and Olivia comments that she has a "freakishly good memory", but nothing about these Cortexiphan Trials seems at all familiar to her. Walter walks out and tells Olivia that he's ready to begin. With Olivia hooked up to a bunch of wires, he has Peter hook up the IV to her left arm. Walter explains that in order for the drug to work, she'll has to pass some sort of obstacle in order to reach the necessary heightening of emotions. Olivia closes her eyes as the drugs start to take effect, but when she opens them again, she's in a forest. Eventually she sees someone in the distance running, and makes her way in order to find them. The forest becomes dark, and Olivia starts to become nervous. She then finds a little girl who was running around the forest, and walks up to her. As Olivia starts to chase the girl once more, Peter and Walter notice that the drugs are indeed starting to work. Olivia grabs the girl and attempts to protect her from some unknown force she senses in the forest. Olivia asks the little girl who she is, to which she replies: "Olive". Olivia glances away for a second, and the girl disappears. She turns around to see Olive staring at her, something clearly wrong with her eyes, and Olivia screams. She awakes back in the Daycare Center, and Walter confirms that the drug worked. Olivia looks at him with hatred, wondering why he would've done this to children. Walter has no response, but merely mentions that they have to get to work.
ACT IV
Olivia wanders around the room looking to see if she can distinguish any of the 16 items that are from the other universe, but to no avail. Walter now seems to be out of ideas, and backs out of the room.
Elsewhere, Nina Sharp is walking along and hears a pack of dogs howling; making her think that another seismic event is now taking place. She calls Broyles, who in turn, calls Olivia to notify her that "it's started". Olivia walks down one of the hallways in the daycare, only to find Walter watching an old videotape of Olivia when she first used her power. Olivia questions what exactly happened the first time she used her power, and Walter tells her that she actually started a fire with her mind. Olivia snaps at Walter about how he and William Bell abused her and the 29 other children that took part in the Cortexiphan Trials. Walter tries to defend his work, by explaining that they were only trying to prepare them. Olivia makes a comment about how she was only a defenseless child, which gives Walter an idea. He purposes that Olivia’s power can only work when she’s in a heightened state of fear, which she is now incapable of truly becoming, because of everything she’s been through. Olivia wonders down the hallway and ultimately finds the room that she started the fire in, 26 years ago. Eventually, Peter walks in, asking if she’s alright, which she replies no. She then tells Peter that she’s not afraid of anything - not anymore.
ACT V
Nina Sharp hangs up the phone, and alerts Broyles that there were four tremors in the last two hours. Olivia, Peter, and Walter all walk into the office, and Olivia apologizes about not having their plan work. Broyles dismisses it, saying it's not her fault, and tells the team how they're attempting to narrow down the possibilities on which building will be ripped away to the parallel universe. Peter offers to help, and Nina escorts him down to the Geologic Division of the Massive Dynamic building.
At the Geologic Division lab, Brandon explains to Peter and Walter exactly how they're trying to narrow the search. However, Walter explains that it's useless, as you can't "impose order on random, meaningless data". Peter then points out that Walter said the only thing the building that would be taken away would have in common with the building that was sent here, is that they would have the exact same mass. Walter, Brandon, and Peter leap into action in order to try and calculate which building would have the perfect mass. Olivia walks in and asks if they've figured anything out, to which Peter explains their plan to her.
A little while later, as everyone is hard at working calculating the mass of nearly every building in New York, Walter's watch starts to beep. He fearfully tells the team that their 35 hours are up, and the building could be ripped away to the alternate universe any second now. With 147 buildings still left to compute the mass of, Broyles suggests that they might not be able to save the building and thus, the civilians inside.
Olivia finds Peter in one of the labs, frantically typing on one of the computers. Upset that she couldn't get her power to work, Peter attempts to console her. Just as they are about to kiss, Olivia realizes that she's scared, and runs off. She finds one of the windows, and scans the city to see if she can find the building. Amazingly, her power finally activates, and she sees one of the buildings in the distance glimmering.
ACT VI
Olivia speeds away in her car, in hopes of finding the building. While attempting to explain to Peter where exactly she saw it, she locates it farther along on Washington Street, the Brayson Place Hotel. Broyles immediately gets on the phone with the hotel and demands that they evacuate the building, while Olivia arrives on the scene and frantically warns everyone to run. As the last of the people exit, the hotel starts being pulled away to the alternate universe. Olivia and another man are nearly pulled away with it, but Olivia manages to grab onto something and saves both of their lives. After the tremors stop, Olivia walks up to where the building once stood, only too see a large crater.
Later, Olivia and Broyles are watching a television in an office, as a reporter explains that what happened was an "unscheduled, controlled demolition" and Olivia comments that "conspiracy nuts are going to have a field day". Broyles tells her that it's amazing just how much the general public will buy. As Olivia goes to exit, Broyles asks what triggered her ability to start working. She explains that it was just time.
Peter is on the phone with Astrid, asking her to come over and play Monopoly with Walter, as he is going to go out and have drinks with Olivia. A little while later, Olivia knocks on the door, and Peter lets her in. As the two of them are standing at the door, Olivia notices that Peter, himself, is "glimmering". As Peter exits to go grab his coat, Walter notices the expression on Olivia's face and asks her to "Please don't tell Peter".
Quotes
"You're not that frightened child anymore. I thought all we needed was a heightened emotional response from you, but I was wrong. We needed a specific one. Fear. And you're not capable of that anymore." - Walter (to Olivia, on how to activate her ability)
"Nothing. Now what? Shall we find some more kids to scare?" - Olivia (to Walter, angry at his past ethical shortfall)
Trivia
General
- The Observer passes in front of a large fire truck just as Broyles and the science team are arriving in front of the damaged building with the deformed occupants.
- When Peter states that Jacksonville is 1,000 miles away, Walter corrects him, exclaiming "it's 1,016 to be exact". As the crow flies, the distance from Walter's Lab at Cambridge to Jacksonville, Florida is almost precisely 1,016 miles.
- The house of cards that Olivia encounters in the abandoned daycare facility has a prominently displayed Queen of Hearts - the same card that appears in the FOX promotion - H1DDEN ELEM3NTS.
- When opening the combination lock in Jacksonville, Walter notes that he cannot recall the significance of the combination numbers that he always uses: 5-20-10. This may coincide with a Season 2 Finale episode on 5/20/2010. (Thursday, May 20th)
- The spelling of the 3-D Location Signature - Manhatan - suggests the opening scene is set in the alternate universe.
- When Olivia notices "Olive D." written alongside the giraffe decoration that measured the heights of the daycare children, you can also see the names "Nick L." (Nick Lane), "Susan" (Susan Pratt), and "Nancy L." (Nancy Lewis).
Recurring Themes
- Glyphs. At the abandoned daycare facility in Jacksonville, glyphs (in the form of wall decorations) adorn the entrance. They include frogs, flowers, seahorses, butterflies, and a handprint. Inside the facility, an apple is visible on the desk inside the classroom with 16 objects from the alternate universe. In that same room, a large butterfly mobile hangs from the ceiling.
- Blue Light. Blue lights flash while Olivia was in her dream state running through the forest.
Music
• The Firebird Suite by Igor Stravinsky 
Episode References
- Walter views the same tape of young Olive that he viewed in Bad Dreams.
Glyphs
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Unanswered Questions
| Theories about these unanswered questions should be placed and read at Jacksonville/Theories |
| Unanswered questions |
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Jacksonville Daycare
- Why was so much Cortexiphan at the abandoned Jacksonville daycare facility, decades after the fact?
- Is the drug Cortexiphan?
- What were the sixteen items that Walter initially expected Olivia to recognize?
- Why did Walter take particular delight in recovering his old reading glasses?
- Does this relate to the older gentleman who dropped his reading glasses as he was evacuating the Brayson Place Hotel?
- Olivia checks her childhood measurement on the wall (38.5 inches). Is one of the other measurements - (Nick - 41 inches) - Nick Lane from Bad Dreams? Are Susan and Nancy the same women from The Road Not Taken?
The Blight
- Is coffee a rare commodity in the alternate universe because of The Blight?
- In the alternate universe, is Hawaii unaffected (or less unaffected) by The Blight?
Parallel Universes
- If the universes have to exchange "equal mass"...
- Did the evacuation at the Brayson Place Hotel effectively change the mass of the building?
- Why does it take so long for the mass from the two universes to balance?
- Did Thomas Jerome Newton initiate the exchange between the universes?
- If not, is he responsible for selecting the target before the exchange is initiated?
- If so, how much of the process did he get from Walter's brain fragments? How much did he have to improvise? Was the example shown in this episode an "imperfect" transfer (did Newton expect the "balance of mass" effect)?
- What exactly was the process? Though Walter explains that he knows what Newton did, he does not go into detail of the process.
- Were the two buildings featured in this episode as "transferable" (the hotel & the architecture firm) specific targets?
- Does the fact that the architecture firm was working on new Pentagon plans have any bearing on being a potential "target?"
- Is the calendar shifted in the parallel universe? Did the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks happen on a different 9/11 (citing the fact that they are still working on new Pentagon plans, and Obama just moved into a new White House at the end of season 1)?
Olivia
- Why is Olivia strained to remember her childhood at the abandoned Jacksonville daycare facility?
- What is young Olivia afraid of, in the forest, during grown Olivia's dream/vision?
- Whose voice is calling out to grown Olivia in the forest, during her dream/vision?
- Why was young Olivia's eyes a different color than adult Olivia's, and what was the semblance of young Olivia's eyes before adult Olivia awoke?
- Is Olivia's ability activated by fear, as Walter suggests, or is it another emotion? (Noting that both times in the episode where she saw the "glimmer", were times she was thinking romantically about Peter).
- When Olivia became afraid that she could not prevent the loss of a building full of people, why didn't Peter "glimmer" then?
- When Olivia stopped by the Bishop's house to go out for drinks, why did Peter "glimmer" - when she was not afraid?
- Is the activation of Olivia's ability permanent, or just temporary?
| Episodes
| Season 2: • A New Day In The Old Town • Night Of Desirable Objects • Fracture • Momentum Deferred • Dream Logic • Earthling • Of Human Action • August • Snakehead • Grey Matters • Unearthed • Johari Window • What Lies Below • The Bishop Revival • Jacksonville • Ῥeter Season 1: • Pilot • The Same Old Story • The Ghost Network • The Arrival • Power Hungry • The Cure • In Which We Meet Mr. Jones • The Equation • The Dreamscape • Safe • Bound • The No-Brainer • The Transformation • Ability • Inner Child • Unleashed • Bad Dreams • Midnight • The Road Not Taken • There's More Than One of Everything |
