The Bishop Revival
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| Talk | The Bishop Revival | Theories |
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| The Bishop Revival | |||
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| Season: | 2 | Episode: | 14 |
| Air Date: | 28 Jan 2010 | ||
| Written by: | Robert Chiappetta Glen Whitman | ||
| Directed by: | Adam Davidson | ||
| Starring: | Main Characters | ||
| Guest Cast: | Craig Robert Young as Alfred Hoffman Clark Middleton as Edward Markham Craig Anderson as George | ||
| Next: | Jacksonville | ||
| Previously: | What Lies Below | ||
| Transcript — Additional Images | |||
- Introduction
- The Bishop Revival is the fourteenth episode of the second season of FRINGE. It first aired on January 28, 2010. A group of guests at a wedding suffocate from the inside out and the team investigates how the toxin was delivered and targeted. The wedding ceremony may be another testing ground for weaponized fringe science. Walter believes the formula may link to a branch in the Bishop family tree. The threat of more deadly attacks and family ties to the case mobilizes the entire Division.
Synopsis
In Brookline, Massachusetts, family and friends gather at a private estate to observe the wedding of Shelley Milton to David Staller. All in attendance are
ACT I
Brookline MA. The science team arrives on the wedding grounds and Olivia is greeted by Detective Burt Manning in the parking area. He tells her the Medical Examiner is inside with fourteen dead bodies, but nothing has been started yet - they were waiting for her arrival. Arriving in their station wagon, the Bishops are running late... Walter is driving and sharing his fondness for weddings with Peter. Peter is more focused on his father's lack of driving proficiency, and avoiding a collision. Walter finds the entrance to the estate, then finds the curb and trash containers with the front bumper. Unaffected by the drive, Walter rambles on about his wedding with Elizabeth... how lovely she was... how happy he was. Walter wants Peter to have his purple tuxedo for his wedding one day - his wedding to Olivia. The two find Olivia and Manning then move inside the house to start investigating.
Walter starts inspecting the corpses and finds petechial hemorrhaging, swelling of the vitreous humor, and blue skin. The Staller's appear to have died of asphyxiation, even though their airways are not obstructed and there is no fluid in their lungs. Olivia learns that the victims are from the groom's side of the wedding. Peter surmises they had an allergic reaction to something they ate or drank and went into anaphylactic shock. Walter agrees that is possible, but they would all have to have been exposed at the same time. Olivia notices a tattoo on Eva Staller's arm, she was a Holocaust survivor. Walter doesn't have enough information yet to determine if the death of the Staller family was a deliberate attack, or not. He is certain that fourteen people suffocated in a room full of air.
Peter and Olivia
ACT II
In his lab,
Still at the home where the wedding was supposed to occur, Olivia sits and interviews Eliza, Eva Staller's daughter-in-law. Olivia is curious to know if someone who wasn't invited to the wedding had been in attendance. Eliza isn't familiar with everyone from the bride's side of the family, but she does remember that Eva was very upset with one man she, herself, had
Peter and Olivia return to the lab with the candle and wait while Walter tests it in a spectrometer. Olivia has Astrid run the video of the pre-wedding activities to identify the man Eliza Staller pointed-out. Astrid can't generate a high quality image of Hoffman but forwards what she has to the Joint Law Enforcement Database to see if they can get a hit. The spectrometer starts generating information about the candle. The toxin appears to be Hydrogen Cyanide that is dispersed into the air from the heat of candle. Walter can't determine why only certain individuals were affected, but starts to remember that Nazis were scientific pioneers that attempted to advance braches of science like chemical warfare. Some of their scientific objectives included developing a weapon that could isolate specific targets within a crowd. Olivia reminds Walter that Eva Staller was a Holocaust survivor. Walter doesn't know if that is relevant, associating the Nazis with what happened at the wedding. The attack may have just been an experiment with a test group, the victims, and a control group, the survivors. Walter believes that if this is a deliberate experiment, the scientist behind it will attempt to recreate his results with another test group.
It is late afternoon
ACT III
Broyles escorts the science team past the paramedics, ambulances and firemen to the cafeteria crime scene. Jordan sits on a gurney receiving treatment. Nine victims suffocated just like the wedding party, only they weren't physically
Across the street from the cafeteria, Hoffman emerges from a group of gawkers and asks a police officer maintaining the crime scene barricade if the man leaving the area is named Bischoff. The officer corrects Hoffman's pronunciation - the man is Doctor Bishop. Hoffman tells the officer he doesn't need anything from him, it's just that he was trying to place Walter... who looks just like his father.
Back in Walter's lab, Olivia
Walter hurries to his office and retrieves a heavy storage container from under a desk. Walter explains to Peter and Olivia that his father, Robert, was a scientific pioneer at the University of Berlin. Peter thinks that his grandfather arrived from Europe in 1933. Walter admits he lied about when his father came West... it was 1943. Peter assumes the worst and Walter confirms it - Robert Bishop was a Nazi. Walter qualifies the statement and adds that his father had worked as a spy for the Allies, sabotaging German research and smuggling scientific information to the Americans. Walter starts to search through his storage boxes. He is certain that he has seen the toxin before, in one of his father's books. Years ago when his father developed the toxin, it was a theoretical design because DNA was theoretical. Walter begins looking for the German novels that his father used to smuggle his scientific notes to the West. Peter has him stop his search... he sold all of those books ten years ago because he needed money. Walter grows angry - his father knew how dangerous those scientific notes were - and now they are killing people because he couldn't protect them.
In the dark shadows, inside of the Bishop's home, Alfred Hoffman helps himself to an apple... and Walter's sweater.
ACT IV
Approaching Markham's Book Store, Peter confesses on the phone to Broyles that the toxin is another skeleton from his family closet, only this time it is Walter's father. Peter admits that he unknowingly released the formula when he sold the novels containing the formula. Olivia tells Broyles, she thinks that they can find the killer, if they can trace the books. Inside the bookstore, Edward Markham climbs a ladder to grab a book from a shelf behind the counter. He wants to know why Peter thinks he might know where the books are now, ten years after the fact. Peter knows Markham well - Markham is a fastidious packrat who keeps a handwritten log of every book he's ever sold. Markham attempts some of his aggressive charm with Olivia, but she keeps him in his place, the books may be associated with the recent killing spree. Markham understands the gravity of the request and sets off to check his records. While Markham is away, Olivia asks Peter if the reason he sold his father's books was solely for the money. Peter admits that he wasn't very fond of Walter at the time... the books were some of Walter's favorite possessions - he's not proud of his act of spite. Markham returns with the news that Eric Franko, a real weirdo from Kendall Square, bought the books last year.
← In
Peter and Olivia approach Franko's home, knock and check the lock. Olivia shines her flashlight inside and guesses Franko isn't home. Peter suggest they poke around inside... then picks the lock to the door. Olivia enters with her pistol drawn and finds a studio full of what appears to WWII Axis Power paraphernalia and imagery. Franko wanders in from a separate entrance and Olivia orders him to get down on the ground. With his hands over his head, Eric Franko begs not to be shot. Later, after some interrogation, Franko explains he is an artist, not a fascist. The art in his studio is about the banal nature of evil - that tyrants are just regular schmucks. Peter wants to know where the books are that Markham sold to him. Franko crosses the room and tells them they are looking at one of the books. What they are looking at is a modern collage with pieces of the book and scientific notes cut and ripped into pieces to form the image of a fascist dictator. The work has not been displayed publicly because the art scene doesn't "fully recognize" his "particular contributions", or in other words, nobody likes his garbage. Peter says he needs what is left of the books, and will pay for them. Franko offers to sell him the collage too, then thinks better of the situation and says he'll 'donate' the collage.
Back in the lab, Walter studies the collage made of his father's notes. Robert liked art, but he would not have liked this. Peter apologizes again, but Walter won't accept the apology. The art images with Bischoff's scientific notes means that Hoffman got the toxin formula somewhere else. Astrid let's everyone know that there is no matching DNA from the killer. That's news to Olivia because she didn't even know they had his DNA. Astrid fills her in... Walter was able to extract DNA from the partial fingerprints on the tea cup. Walter thinks he messed-up the DNA test because telomere degradation suggested that the man was over a hundred years old - not a realistic possibility. While Walter languishes, Peter comes up with a new concept... can the toxin be coded to attack a combination of genetic
With his test to target families and to target eye color behind him, Alfred Hoffman enters a back alley in the warehouse district to test the aluminum can he filled with toxin. A homeless gentleman living in the alley leaves his tent and asks Hoffman what he is doing. Candidly, Hoffman tells him exactly what he is doing. He's conducting a test to monitor the dispersion rate of an experiment. He invites the man to watch. Hoffman lights the cannister he has placed on the ground and a large white plume of smoke immediately fills the surrounding area. The alley dweller lies dead - his dog barks in dismay.
ACT V
In his lab, Walter prepares to test a toxin of his own. His toxin is designed to be effective against only the white rats in the mischief of rats he has assembled. He defends his test when Peter challenges him... he can't figure out how to stop the toxin unless he replicates it first. Olivia joins them and relays that Astrid couldn't find any chromium trioxide purchases within the past six months. An EPA contact suggested searching for sodium chromate purchases. Walter concurs - it is a sister compound that can be treated to get the same results. Olivia has three addresses for sodium chromate buys. Walter recognizes two as pharmaceutical companies. The third, Hoffman Biological, is a residential address on Eastham Road in Newton. Olivia calls the boss and gives him the news.
Hoffman sits in his basement laboratory, listening to classical music and preparing a fraudulent identification badge. On Eastham Road, official vehicles arrive and a tactical raiding team enters Hoffman's house with protective breathing masks donned. Hoffman hears the footsteps of the assault team in the rooms above him, finishes packing a carton of toxic candles, then prepares a diversion using a beaker on the stove before sneaking out of the basement. Olivia inspects a utility room on the first floor of the house and
Hoffman stands in line at the security checkpoint inside the Boston Center For Performing Arts . He is waiting to join the ranks of the wait staff for an upcoming event.
← Olivia joins Walter
Hoffman has reached the front of the line at the Performing Arts Center and displays his identification badge. The security screener tells Hoffman the contents of the carton he brought with him has to be inspected. Hoffman hands over the box and stands quietly while another security technician searches him with a magnetic wand. The carton passes inspection after one of the cans inside is opened, inspected and sniffed. Hoffman repacks the carton and moves past the security checkpoint into the World Tolerance Initiative's 2010 conference.
ACT VI
Broyles takes a situation report over the phone as Olivia and Peter quickly drive to the conference. Peter tells Broyles the target group could be anyone from the broad genetic spectrum represented at the conference. Broyles plans to call the security boss at the conference and have the building evacuated. He warns them they will have to follow protocol during the evacuation because of the many foreign dignitaries in attendance, causing the evacuation to take longer.
Walter returns to the basement in Hoffman's house while investigators collect various things from around the lab. Walter, the only one wearing a protective mask, retrieves his stolen sweater, then lifts his mask to see if the air is free of the toxin that attacked him. He is not harmed by the air. He looks around the room and notices a fogging device on a shelf. He hesitates, thinks a dark thought, then takes
As the introductory speech of the 2010 conference is being delivered, Alfred Hoffman moves from serving station to serving station wearing a wait staff uniform. He is placing the metal canisters he brought with him in the holders intended to warm the food trays. →
←
Olivia and Peter arrive and enter the facility hosting the conference. She tells the agents that have assembled there to look for Hoffman, who might be anywhere - or a mechanism that might be able to deliver the toxin attack. After a few seconds inside, she radios Peter that there is a candle on every table. Peter tells her that the candles have been burning for awhile... with no victims, Hoffman must be planning to use a more potent delivery method.
Astrid follows Walter through a guarded door at the building and tells Walter he is going in the wrong direction. Walter knows where he is going - higher ground. He heads upstairs carrying Hoffman's large Nazi shoulder bag and Astrid follows. Amid the conference attendees, secure radio chatter reports that nothing has been detected yet. The conference's first speaker continues
Later, after Broyles joins the science team at the conference, Walter defends his actions. He only used the killer's DNA against the killer. If he is to face criminal charges from Broyles - so be it - he does not regret his action. Broyles studies Walter's face, thinks, then sighs - saying goodnight and leaving. Walter looks to Olivia for a sympathetic ear. Hoffman corrupted his father's work. Family is very important to Walter, and there is nothing he won't do to protect his family.
At their home,
Quotes
Trivia
- General
- The Observer walks past the window of the diner just before the attack there.
- The molecular signature in the toxin visually represents a seahorse, and is similar to the shows promotional Glyph-N
- As Walter heads to his office to find his father's scientific notes, an Apple Glyph seems to have been worn into the backrest of an office chair.
- Right before Alfred Hoffman grabs an apple to eat from his refrigerator the camera shows a Rubik's cube on top of a book with three Greens and one Red on it's side.
- Recurring Themes
- Designer DNA. The molecular map of the toxin had a recognizable signature in it. The parasites in Mitchell Loeb (In Which We Meet Mr. Jones) had a genetic signature of its' designer as well - the repetitive code of ZFT.
Previously
 | The courier (What Lies Below) carries a backpack that bears the logo of the "World Tolerance Initiative", foreshadowing Hoffman's planned attack against their 2010 Boston conference in The Bishop Revival. |
Music
• Brahms - Piano Quartet No. 1, Op.25 in G Major: III. Andante Con Moto-Animato by Arthur Rubinstein and Guarneri Quartet 
• Brahms - Piano Quartet No. 1, Op.25 in G Minor: II. Intermezzo: Allegro M Non Troppo-Trio: Animato by Arthur Rubinstein and Guarneri Quartet
Glyphs
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| — Plot Relevant Questions — | Address theories about questions on The Bishop Revival/Theories Ask minor questions on the Talk Page |
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1) Do not answer the questions here. |
- Did Nana Staller recognize Hoffman because of experimentation performed at her WWII concentration camp?
- Were the Staller's a random target of Hoffman, or was he targeting someone specifically?
- Have Hoffman and Walter crossed paths before?
- Did Walter kill Hoffman to cover up something from their past?
- If Peter and Walter have similar genetics, why was Peter was not affected by the toxin Hoffman designed to attack Walter?
- Why does Hoffman appear not to age?
- Is Hoffman a by-product of the "eternal youth" experiments completed by Robert Bischoff?
- Did Hoffman and Robert Bischoff work together in the past?
- What caused Robert Bischoff's death after expatriating to the West in the 1940's?
- Was Hoffman involved with Robert Bischoff's death?
