Previously on fringe
Olivia dunham FBI.
They're calling these events a pattern
As if someone out there is experimenting
Only the whole world is their lab.
Anybody you need you can have.
His name's walter bishop.
My father. He worked out of harvard.
He was part of a classified u.s. Army experimental program
In an area called fringe science.
You're telling me
My father was dr. Frankenstein.
So much happened here
And so much isbout to.
Are those notes you're writing ben?
I thought we talked about this.
You know about taking a break from the music
So you'd have time for other things.
Maybe something new.
Dad don't get mad at me
But the windshield wipers can you slow them down?
Slow them down?
The tempo.
It's messing me up.
Sorry bean i can't.
I need to be able to see.
Stop,I need help.
What is it?
Don't know. Let's see.
You okay?
Oh i'm fine.
I can't say the same for my car.
It kind of shuddered and then stopped.
And my phone's dead.
Oh hold on.
Be right back.
Thank you.
It's not a night you wanna get stuck out here.
Yeah i need a tow.
I'm on route 12
About two miles north of fair oak.
Yeah massachusetts plate
3-3-2-e-w-d.
All right thanks.
Ah they're busy. It's gonna be a while.
Then I definitely am not gonna make it
To this business meeting which would normally be a blessing
But this one's really important.
Listen i-i know hardly a thing about cars.
But why don't you let me take a look?
No no you've done enough. No.That's alright.
Transmission's dry.
Some kind of electrical short.
Hey easy.
Didn't mean to scare you.
It's okay. I didn't hear you.
Yeah listen sorry it took so long.
Man you okay?
Where's her car?
Ben.
Ben?
Ben!
The boy's name is ben stockton.
According to his father they were driving home
From a school function last night
When he saw a woman having car trouble.
The father claims that while he was looking
At the woman's car something happened.
He said it was like time jumped.
And his son the woman and her car were suddenly gone.
So he just blacked out.
In the statement he gave police
He insisted he never lost consciousness.
So any other witnesses to back up the dad's story?
No but this is not the first time this has happened.
These are from the files of three other missing person cases
Dating back ten years.
In each one witnesses describe seeing the same woman.
We've tried running facial recognition software.
Nothing.
So what happened to the other victims?
The first was found wandering the shoulder of i-91
Near northampton.
The second in the supermarket
Curled up in the freezer bin.
Meaning what? They were let go?
Apparently.
But not before whatever'd been done to them
Drove them insane.
Two weeks after she was found
One of the victims actually tried to lobotomize herself
Using a butter knife.
And all of them completely incapable of recalling
What happened during the abduction.
Even under hypnosis.
So they're all academics.
A probability theorist
Structural engineer...
If we're looking at a serial abduction
Then a ten-year-old kid really doesn't fit the bill.
No but other than that
The details surrounding his disappearance
Are identical to the others.
Interacting with the woman in the sketch
Then experiencing an interval of lost time.
Peculiar flashing lights.
Green green green red.
Like christmas lights.
How did you know that dr. Bishop?
I don't know.
But that's what happened isn't it?
Yes.
Think you might be able
To jog your mind walter?
Could be kind of helpful.
Christmas lights.
That's all i can recall. Sorry.
I know what it sounds like.
Like i'm crazy. I'm not.
I talked to her.
I touched her car.
Police grilled my brother for hours.
They treated him like a suspect.
I know what i saw. She was real.
Why doesn't anyone believe him?
You're wasting time.
We need to find ben.
Yeah i believe you.
In fact we think that the same woman
May be involved in a number of other abductions.
This has happened before.
Why would anyone want to take my son?
I don't know.
Honestly he doesn't really fit the profile
Of the other victims.
For one they were all adults.
And another they were all academics.
Experts in various fields.
What?
Ben is kind of an expert himself.
What do you mean?
Nine months ago my wife was walking ben to school.
Some idiot late for a dentist appointment ran a red light.
And they were hit in the crosswalk.
Abby was killed.
The doctors told me they didn't know
If ben was gonna make it either.
He was in a coma for six days.
And when he woke up--
It's easier if i just show you.
This is the day i took him home from the hospital.
He hadn't spoken said even a word
Since i told him his mother died.
And we got home
And he just sat down at the piano
And started to play.
He's very talented.
Before this
He had never taken a single lesson.
His doctors told me there had been other cases.
People with severe brain traumas
Waking up with the ability to do things
They'd never done before.
Two weeks later he was composing his own music.
One piece in particular.
Stopped being interested in everything else.
You said the other people that had been taken
Were accomplished at something.
Do you think
That that's why they took ben?
I don't know.
Thank you so much for your time.
Uh agent dunham...
After abby died
My brother...
He barely held it together.
Without ben i don't think he'll make it.
I'll do everything i can.
Thank you.
How are you feeling ben?
I wanna go home.
I just wanna see my dad.
Well i have something better for you.
There's someone else here
Who would very much like to see you.
I don't care!
I wanna see my dad!
Well your mother will be very disappointed to hear that.
My mom's dead.
Are you sure about that?
Hey,Walter
Don't you think it's a little early in the season
For the yuletide cheer?
I'm reciting christmas carols
In an attempt to jar loose
Some details from my subconscious
To remember where i heard mention
Of the green and red lights.
But sadly it hasn't yet worked.
So you thought it would be more useful
To work on your christmas tree decorations?
Though i-i cannot recall where i heard of the lights
It did give me an idea a theory
As to how the boy was taken.
I was hired to design a technology
An intricate pattern of flashing lights
Intended to create a suggestible state of hypnosis.
Theoretically the test subjects
Will do what ever commanded.
Bark like a dog,dance a jig,wash the car.
U.S.Government had you working on mind control?
Not the government.
It was an advertising agency.
They hoped to broadcast the flashing lights during commercials
So that the viewers would have no choice
But to buy their products.
Unfortunately it merely caused nausea.
Which was unfortunate because apparently
People don't like to shop
When they feel like they're going to throw up.
Miss!
Where is the remote?
Oh hey walter walter.
Walter dial it down a notch all right?
Now i posit that the flashing lights
Witnessed by the father induced a hypnagogic trance
During which stage the child was abducted.
I thought you said the experiments were failures.
Oh yes.
But i focused solely on the timing and intensity
Of the flashes not the colors.
The green and red.
Now i suggest that those wavelengths
Are the key to success.
Come.
Let me demonstrate. Come.
What do you want me to do?
Just stare at the lights.
Sorry walter.
Better luck next time.
Anyone ready for lunch?
What's up chachi?
Did you do this to me?
You did.
Dunham.
It's me.
Based on the description by the father
I i.d.'d your kidnapper.
Name's joanne ostler.
She was a molecular biologist studying at m.i.t.
She would have been thirty this march.
What do you mean,would have been?
Uh according to dmv department of records
Joanne ostler died ten years ago.
Are you sure it's the same woman?
Looks identical to the woman from your sketch.
And she doesn't have a twin because i checked.
So what happened to her?
Apparently her car went off the bridge in november of '98
Eight months before any of the abductions.
How is that even possible?
Here's the thing.
The car was recovered but her body was never found.
So then it's possible that she survived.
Either that or broyles has you chasing a ghost.
What the hell's he doing?
He thinks it'll help him remember where he's heard
About the red and green lights.
Okay. We've got good news.
We think we understand how it was that ben was abducted.
Those red and green flashing lights
They put the father into a hypnagogic state.
And we think we may have i.d.'d the woman responsible.
I have it!
Christmas. Christmas.
Leading to christmas carols
One of which is jingle bells
Which leads naturally to dashing through the snow
Which of course inevitably leads one to dash.
To dash?
Dashiell kim
The man who mentioned the lights to me.
I'm sure of it.
Where is he walter?
Can we talk to him?
I guess that would depend on whether he has succeeded
In killing himself or not.
What are you talking about walter?
Who is this guy?
A fellow inmate of mine at st. Claire's asylum.
I think
We may have i.d.'d another abductee.
Dashiell kim. Headed up astrophysics at umass.
Went missing in may 2006.
Turned up a week later at his home outside clarksburg
Where he had a psychotic break.
Bludgeoned his wife to death with a tire iron.
He was committed to st. Claire's hospital.
He was there at the same time
As dr. Bishop?
Walter bishop claims he remembers kim
Telling him a story about a woman
Who put him to sleep with a christmas tree
And then took him away.
Green and red lights.
And he fits the profile.
Expert in a scientific field.
But i need you to get an interview request
Pushed through legal so we can arrange a visitation.
Any specific things that kim might remember
About the abduction
Like where he was taken maybe.
That might take some time.
How come?
Says here dashiell kim is a 1027.
Yeah what's that?
1027: criminally insane
With knowledge of state secrets.
Apparently kim had a sideline
Consulting the defense contracts for jpl.
You can't get in to talk to him
Without official clearance.
And how long will that take?
If we go through channels six weeks minimum.
I've got a contact at justice.
I'll tell him it's urgent.
I don't know how a guy that could do this to his own wife
Is gonna help you find a missing kid.
You've never looked at it in that order have you?
No.
Hi bean.
Mom?
He did this to his own wife?
32 years of marriage.
By all accounts they seemed happy.
Until dashiell showed up after he was abducted
And beat her to death.
Did i hear mention of my old friend dashiell?
Of course.
I'd recognize his handiwork anywhere.
You mean he killed others?
Well he tried--a patient at the institution Jasper
But actually i was referring to the equation.
Dashiell was obsessed with it.
Obsessed in what way?
He couldn't complete it.
I tried to help him solve it once
And he came at me with a plastic spork.
What are you thinking?
You know ben's father said that ben became obsessed
With this one piece of music.
And he couldn't complete it either.
I've been listening to it. It's very beautiful.
He's light years
Ahead of where even you were at that age.
Walter take a look at this.
See this function?
It appears here here here--
It just keeps on repeating over and over.
Yes yes it's a recurring expression.
Or it's a rhythm.
Well yes i suppose.
Are you suggesting--
Can you convert that into standard musical notation?
Oh-oh-oh i can try.
What's going on?
Music is a mathematical language.
Chords have numerical values
And their notes
1/4s 1/8s 1/16s
They're all just fraction variables.
Okay i took the oboe for six months
And then quit.
Almost there peter.
That's nine bars.
Okay listen to this.
Sound familiar?
That's ben's song.
Yes.
Ben's piece is the musical equivalent
Of dashiell's mathematical formula.
So how is that possible?
They'd never even met each other.
It's not so surprising actually.
Curious minds often converge on the same idea.
Newton and leibniz independently
Without knowing each other
Invented calculus.
The relevant question is what is it?
What is what?
What is it that both ben and dashiell are trying to solve?
How is this possible?
Are we in heaven?
No honey we're not in heaven.
But i don't understand.
I saw you get hurt.
I don't understand either.
But i do know that i'm here.
And i've missed you so much ben.
For me to stay you have to do what this woman says.
You have to finish the song bean.
You need to finish it.
It's important ben.
Okay.
I love you mom.
I love you too bean.
Dr. Sumner. Hello.
Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me.
I understand you're interested in talking
To one of my patients.
Although i-i can't imagine what help dashiell kim
Could be to the fbi.
We're investigating a missing persons case--
A kidnapping.
And we believe that before coming here
Mr. Kim may have been the victim of an abduction himself.
Possibly by the same person that we're looking for.
I suppose you came by this information
Through a former patient of mine.
dr. Walter bishop?
You're the agent who took him three months ago,
aren't you?
Yes.
And you should know dr. Bishop is doing quite well.
He's been assisting us since he checked out.
He has no business being out among the rest of us.
Well, I appreciate your concern
But i'm not here to talk about dr. Bishop.
I respect your discretion.
Provided you respect mine.
The mental health of my patients
Is my primary concern.
And subjecting them to open-ended interrogations
By fbi agents is hardly prudent therapy.
I appreciate your position.
And i'd like to help.
But i can't subject dashiell to new faces right now.
Dr. Sumner I'm here because a child's life
May be in danger.
There may be a way we can work this out.
I'm listening.
You've assured me
That walter bishop is doing fine.
If that's the case
I'll allow walter bishop
To talk to mr. Kim
And ask your questions.
It might do dashiell good to see a familiar face.
Olivia, there is nothing to discuss.
But it's the only way
We can make contact with dashiell kim.
Absolutely not.
Peter--
You want to send my already mentally unstable father
Back to the institution that made him that way.
We don't have a choice.
We need to speak to dashiell
And without sumner's permission, we need a subpoena
Which is going to take time.
Even if he speaks to dashiell
What makes you think he's gonna remember a word
That he says?
The man can't even remember what he had for lunch.
I have noticed
That you have a habit of referring to me
As if i'm not in the room.
Does anyone care what i think?
Yes, walter.
What do you want to do?
I'd rather not go.
Walter--
Olivia, he said "no."
That is incorrect.
I said, "i'd rather not go."
But i will.
Every moment that passes
Is another moment that little boy's life
Is in danger.
Isn't that correct, agent dunham?
Then we should go.
Well, are you ready?
When you get out, we'll be right here.
Good luck, walter.
Come with me.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I can't help you.
Dr. Bishop, how you been?
You know I'm not really back.
Yeah, well, it's nice to see you anyway.
You have ten minutes, walter.
Dashiell.
It's me, walter.
Walter bishop.
Walter?
You look different.
It's the beard.
And you look different too somehow.
That smile.
Have they altered your medication?
Wouldn't surprise me.
These medieval quacks are more proficient
At phrenology than psychopharmacology.
I miss your jokes, walter.
And I miss your stories.
The one about the woman who took you away
With the green and red lights.
Dashiell, look at me.
This is important.
The woman, where exactly did she take you?
I'm sorry.
I don't know what you're referring to.
You must be mistaking me for someone else.
Now, if you'll excuse me
I want to sit here and finish
My butterscotch pudding in peace.
You were always trying
To solve it, huh?
Yes.
I don't do math anymore, walter.
Mathematical formulations are not conducive
To my mental stability.
That's fine, but if you recognize the equation
Do you not remember the woman
With the red and green lights where she--
I don't do math anymore!
You used to tell me the story all the time.
-No! -You used to drive me crazy.
I don't do math anymore. I don't care about math.
Dr. Bishop.
No, I need to know where she took you, damn it.
That's enough! It's time to go.
-Where is she? -I've got him.
Please, dashiell, it's only--
What do you mean you sedated him?
Walter is legally in my custody.
You have no right to keep him here.
Not only do I have every right to hold him
I have a responsibility to hold him.
He accosted mr. Kim.
If i release him and something else happens--
I can assure you that's not going to happen.
He's under our supervision.
Perhaps that's what compounded the problem.
Meaning what?
I had some time to talk to dr. Bishop
After he calmed down about his work assisting you
And it is clear that exposing him
To the pressures of criminal investigations
While indulging
His fantastical pseudo-scientific notions
Has exacerbated the worst features of his mental illness.
-Really? -Really.
'Cause after some of the things I've seen
In the last three months
Walter strikes me as being one of the sanest people i know.
Is that so?
I'm gonna make this really simple
Dr. Sumner.
Walter bishop is assisting us
In a criminal investigation
Which you are currently obstructing.
So either you release him into our custody
Or i will get a court order.
You go get your court order then.
Welcome back walter.
Where are we on that tip from rochester?
Local agents are heading to the convenience store
Where they saw the boy.
They're hoping video surveillance can confirm
It really was ben stockton.
Okay well have we set up checkpoints?
No they're working on it. So far nothing.
I have the general counsel's office on the phone.
It's about dr. Bishop.
This is agent dunham.
No i wanted you to work around the protocol.
Please i need your help. I need to get bishop out.
Okay 7:00 a.m.
Thank you. What was that?
Okay we have to wait till morning
For the court order to have walter released.
But then he's out.
I promise. And i'm sorry.
And obviously you were right.
No this was walter's choice.
Okay.
So if you want to go down to reception
Someone can arrange a ride
And then at least one of us can get some sleep.
The woman who abducted ben
Joanne ostler--
Up until now everybody thought she was dead right?
Yeah.
Well she's been walking around
For the last ten years.
She must have been using somebody's name.
We didn't get any hits on an alias search.
What'd you base the search on?
On the anagrams.
Like combinations of different family names.
It's what most people use
If they want to change their identity.
Thanks i know that i've done this once or twice myself.
Why doesn't that surprise me?
The best lie the one that's easiest to remember
With consistency is the one that's based on the truth.
Whenever i would do this
I would base it on my own last name.
Bishop. So peter king.
Peter knight.
Well that's a great idea
If your last name is as simple as bishop.
What do you do when it's ostler?
Is there a computer around here i could use?
This is a serial abductor so she's smart.
She's probably switched cars since then.
I want a record of every stolen car
From the last 36 hours.
Hey where does this print?
Thanks.
Every gas station from middletown to rochester.
And pull all the credit card receipts.
"ostler"--middle english for "innkeeper."
Hold on.
Middle english.
The point is "innkeeper" got me to hotels
So i cross-indexed last names
That match hotels with her first name.
Joanne ritz.
No photo just a p.o. Box in clarksburg.
P.o. Box.
Criminals don't really like
People like you knowing where they live.
Can you expand the grid search
For ben stockton to clarksburg?
What is it ben? What's wrong?
I--
I just-- i don't see it.
It's okay bean.
You're doing great honey.
I can't.
I don't know how it ends.
Mom.
No.
Please i don't want to go away.
Well that's up to ben isn't it?
Mom.
Stop!
What are you doing to her?!
If you lose her again
You'll only have yourself to blame.
Mom!
I'm sorry i upset you last night.
Go away.
There's a little boy out there.
He's in trouble.
We're his only hope.
I don't want to talk about math walter.
Okay okay.
I don't need to talk about the equation.
I need to know about the woman.
Where she took you.
You're wrong.
There was no woman.
Dashiell.
If you don't the boy...
He'll end up like us.
Walter please.
I can't!
Yes you can.
It was so beautiful.
She promised me things.
What i wanted most of all.
But when i couldn't solve the equation
She took it away.
Everything she promised.
It was all a lie.
None of it was real.
She hurt me.
She put me in a dungeon.
She filled my mind
With images of the people i loved...
And then tortured them ripping them apart
All the while
Trying to suck the answers she wanted
Out of my head.
But i couldn't--
I couldn't give her what she wanted.
Where were you dashiell?
I told you a dungeon.
No no no.
Not some fantasy you nitwit.
Where were you really?
Dungeon! A dungeon in a red castle!
You listen. You answer me.
Don't you understand?
No listen.
This is the only way we find him.
None of it happened.
It was just a dream.
Just a bad dream.
You're making a terrible mistake.
Despite whatever strings you've managed to pull
Your father is not mentally fit
To be released from this hospital.
Thanks for the advice.
My personal assessment is that he's safer with me
Than he is with you.
He may not be the picture of sanity
But yesterday when i saw him come through that door
I saw him change.
He was afraid.
So what are you saying?
Are you saying that i somehow
Managed to intentionally harm him?
Office of homeland security.
How'd you pull this off?
Meaning?
Meaning that since you were here last
I learned a little bit about you.
Enrolling at m.i.t.
Based on fraudulent credentials
Starting businesses and failing
And then running away from the consequences.
Do you have a point?
You are not a fit guardian for walter
And i'm going to petition the state
To have him removed from your custody.
Excuse me?
Whether you're willing to recognize it or not
Walter is a danger--
Both to himself and to others.
Then i guess the apple
Doesn't fall far from the tree.
'Cause you may think you know what he's capable of
But you have no idea what i'm capable of.
Are you threatening me?
I'd like to see my father now.
Walter?
Are you okay?
I'd like to go now.
Of course we're gonna go right now.
I've--i've failed.
It was all for nothing.
Dashiell went on and on
Like an incoherent loon
About being taken to dungeons
And red castles.
Son.
Is that what it's like to talk to me?
Walter.
Let's go home.
Excuse me ma'am.
I'm special agent francis with the f.b.i.
I was wondering if you'd seen this boy.
His name's ben stockton. He's ten years old.
No i'm sorry. What happened to him?
This is dunham.
Hey it's me.
I want you to know he's out.
Oh good!
How's he doing?
Yeah he's okay
But i hope you got a lead there
Because this was a total bust.
I'm sorry.
So he wasn't able to connect with dashiell?
No he's taking it pretty hard.
He's beatin' himself up pretty good.
Did he get anything?
He just said the guy was babbling on
Talking about red castles and dungeons.
He did what he could.
I--i'm just glad he's okay.
Yeah me too.
Okay if any red castles appear
I'll let you know.
Sure.
It's not a drawbridge but it's close.
This place looks like
It hasn't been used for a while.
It's francis.
Need you to pull up
A property search on an address for me.
Charlie. Yeah.
I think i found something.
Watch yourself.
Oh thank god.
You're going to be okay.
Stop!
Put your hands in the air!
You okay?
She was just there.
Nice to be home right?
This place is filthy.
Did you have a party while i was gone?
No dad i didn't have a party.
I don't want you
To take this the wrong way
But i need space.
Sorry to spring this on you so suddenly
But these quarters are very cramped.
I think i am ready for my own room.
That's--that's not a problem.
I can talk to olivia tomorrow
About getting you some on-campus housing.
That would be very beneficial.
You know what you did
By going back into that place
Was very very brave walter.
Thank you son.
Got it.
Now let's see if it really does what you said it would.
Where's the equation?
Seems crazy
That some numbers
Can make a machine like this work.
Look around your house
Your office your kitchen--
Numbers make everything work.
Here we go.
It worked.
That's incredible.
It worked.
Ben are you hungry?
'Cause there's a vending machine in the hall
And i've got a roll of quarters.
No i'm okay. Thanks.
Sure? Mm-hmm.
Ben?
Dad?
Ben?
Dad!
Release forms.
As soon as he signs they're free to go.
Yeah oh--we should maybe just uh
Let them have a minute.
I really need to call peter and walter.
After what walter went through
He'll be happy to know that ben's all right."
Good work.