The Boy Must Live
Season 5, Episode 11

The Boy Must Live

Aired January 11th, 2013 · Written by Graham Roland · Directed by Paul Holahan

SYNOPSIS

In this episode, Walter finds more clues during sensory deprivation, helping the team locate September in his modest quarters. Meanwhile, Captain Windmark reports to his Commander with a request for a variance in their grand scheme: a requirement to eradicate the rogue Fringe Division science team.

Synopsis provided by the Fandom Wiki, Fringepedia, and Wikipedia.

THE GLYPHS

This episode's glyphs spell:

G-R-A-C-E

Glyph symbol G Glyph symbol R Glyph symbol A Glyph symbol C Glyph symbol E
Glyph symbol G
Glyph symbol R
Glyph symbol A
Glyph symbol C
Glyph symbol E


THE OBSERVER

Observers are featured in this episode.

Observer 26:31

EPISODE CLUES

Previous Episode Clue

A billboard in 'Anomaly XB-6783746' says "Smriti Isolation Tanks", foreshadowing Walter's use of the iconic sensory deprivation tank in 'The Boy Must Live'. The word "Smriti" is Sanskrit for "that which is remembered," and Walter went into the tank to help him extract a memory buried in his subconscious.

Previous episode clue 27:01

Next Episode Clue

ITEMS OF INTEREST

  • Item of interest: The Commander 20:08
    Windmark visited his boss, The Commander, in 2609.
  • September chose the name Donald from Donald O'Connor, one of the stars of Singin' in the Rain, the first movie he watched with Walter.
  • An Observer involuntarily taps his foot to music, which he does not understand.
  • Walter has to sacrifice himself for the plan to work, a choice he made himself.
  • Michael stepped off the monorail, allowing himself to get caught by the Loyalists and be taken to the Observers.

VIDEOS

Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Interviews

GLYPH SIGHTINGS

  • Butterflies can be seen on a box in September's apartment.
Glyph Sighting: Butterfly 15:41 Butterfly

WALTER'S FOOD

Walter ate a grape Red Vine.
Walter's Food: Grape Red Vine 05:09 Grape Red Vine

NOTABLE QUOTES

September:
"Before the invasion I was apprehended for my continued interference in the timeline, and my interaction with all of you. As punishment they removed my device. Now I'm no longer able to move through time or do the things that I was able to do. They experimented on me. They called it 'biological reversion.' Now I'm no different from you. Truthfully, it wasn't much of a punishment; I've always held this era in the highest regard."
Walter:
"What is he?"
September:
"He was born hundreds of years from now. Like all of our kind, he was created in a lab using the genetic material of a designated donor. It was a process that began generations earlier with a discovery on February 20, 2167, by a scientist in Oslo, Norway who was trying to find ways to increase human intelligence. He realized that if he could rewire the portion of the human brain that induces jealousy he could increase cognitive function. Sacrificing emotion for intelligence. This discovery was the catalyst for the creation of the beings that you called Observers. His work carried on, and more and more emotions were seen as roadblocks to higher intelligence. Things like anger, greed, aggression. They were abandoned in the pursuit of intellect. Eventually humanity became so intelligent and efficient they lost perspective of the value of these emotions, not only the negative ones but the positive as well. And soon empathy, compassion, and love became messy distractions, and they, too, were machined out. Without romantic love they developed new reproductive technologies. Early in the boy's maturation the scientists in charge of reproduction realized that his brain had developed differently from the other offspring. To them, he was an anomaly. A defect. I had observed in your time how fathers care for their sons and protected them. It stirred something in me that I could not ignore. I took the boy away and hid him in the past where he would be safe."
Walter:
"He's your son?"
September:
"(Nods 'yes')"
The Commander:
"We chose this time in history for a reason: a 99.9999% probability that we will succeed."
Captain Windmark:
"The boy had a 0.0001% chance of surviving, yet he did."
The Commander:
"Is there something wrong with you?"
Captain Windmark:
"I am experiencing something that I do not understand. The idea of ending their existence consumes me."
Peter:
"So how does he fit into the plan?"
September:
"They were right about him, he's an anomaly. He's not less than them, he's more. At first, I thought his abilities were just empathic, but they developed into something greater. I now know that his intellect functions on a level that neither you nor we are capable of understanding. But what's more important: he has the emotions, the compassion, the empathy."
Walter:
"A hybrid."
September:
"Yes. That moment that I told you about, when scientists first decided to sacrifice human emotion to increase intelligence, that was the turning point in human evolution."
Olivia:
"20th of February, 2167."
September:
"If we can send the boy into the future, to that moment, he can demonstrate to those scientists a different kind of intelligence, an enlightenment that goes beyond knowledge or cognition to something greater. And when they see what he is, when they study him, they will realize all that he is: living proof that they don't have to sacrifice emotion for intelligence. And they will never go down that path."
Peter:
"And the Observers will never exist. They will never invade."
Walter:
"That was the plan we were working on before I ambered us."
September:
"I always knew the boy was important but when I realized why, what he was supposed to do, my device had been removed. I'd lost the ability to move through time. So I came to you. That was the plan. We were going to send the boy forward into time."

EPISODE CONNECTIONS

S1E01 — 2 connections (callback) S1E02 — 1 connection (callback) S1E04 — 2 connections (callback) S1E08 — 1 connection (callback) S1E15 — 2 connections (callback) S2E17 — 1 connection (callback) S2E18 — 1 connection (callback) S3E10 — 1 connection (callback) S3E20 — 1 connection (callback) S4E14 — 1 connection (callback) S5E06 — 1 connection (callback) S5E09 — 1 connection (callback) S5E13 — 2 connections (setup) ◀ EARLIER · CALLBACKS SETUPS · LATER ▶
Callbacks (12 earlier episodes)

S1E01 - Pilot

  • Walter entered the sensory deprivation tank in "The Boy Must Live" just as Olivia did in "Pilot".
  • In "The Boy Must Live" Walter has memories of the first words he said to Peter in "Pilot", "I thought you'd be fatter."

S1E02 - The Same Old Story

  • In "The Boy Must Live" we learn that Observers are grown in a lab very quickly, on the order of minutes/hours, similar to the rapid aging in "The Same Old Story".

S1E04 - The Arrival

  • Connection: Spicy sandwich S1E04 02:12
    September loads his food with heat (pepper, jalapenos, hot sauce) in "The Arrival" because his emotions are dulled, as he explained in "The Boy Must Live".
  • In "The Boy Must Live", September lived next to the East River in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Northwest Brooklyn in 2036. Near the East River in Williamsburg is where the first Beacon bored to the surface in "The Arrival", the first Observer-centric episode.

S1E08 - The Equation

  • Connection: Green-green-green-red S5E11 29:55
    September's security system flashed the 'green-green-green-red' pattern from "The Equation" before exploding in "The Boy Must Live".

S1E15 - Inner Child

  • In "The Boy Must Live" September said he took the boy from the future and hid him in the past, where he was found in "Inner Child".
  • September has an interest in the Child at the end of "Inner Child". This is because the Child was made from September's genetic code, essentially making him September's son, as revealed in "The Boy Must Live".

S2E17 - White Tulip

  • September took Walter's white tulip note from "White Tulip" in the original timeline and kept it. Walter took it and did something with it in "The Boy Must Live".

S2E18 - The Man from the Other Side

  • Walter (in "The Boy Must Live"):
    "And I remember the night I was up late, making a peanut butter sandwich, and you slipped and called me 'Dad'."

    In "The Boy Must Live" Walter told Peter that he remembered the first time Peter called him "Dad" in "The Man from the Other Side".

S3E10 - The Firefly

  • September (in "The Firefly"):
    "It must be very difficult."
    Peter:
    "What?"
    September:
    "Being a father."

    In "The Boy Must Live" the Observer revealed that Michael was his son and that his observations of Walter and Peter affected his feelings about his own son.

S3E20 - 6:02 AM EST

  • Walter (in "The Boy Must Live"):
    "I can't explain it, but when the boy touched me, he showed me more than just images. It was freeing, Peter. All at once, I understood that everything I've ever known - or thought I knew, as a great man - could fit into a thimble. And that's not all he gave me. I remember things, things I haven't experienced. I think, from the other timeline, before you were erased, before the timeline was reset. I remember when you came to me at Saint Claire's. My first words: 'I thought you'd be fatter'. And I remember the night I was up late, making a peanut butter sandwich, and you slipped and called me 'Dad'. The feeling of joy that gave me... and the terror, before you stepped into the Machine."

    In "The Boy Must Live" Walter told Peter about memories he regained from the original timeline, including memories of Peter stepping into The Machine from "6:02 AM EST".

S4E14 - The End of All Things

  • December (in "The End of All Things"):
    "September has continually intervened on behalf of this boy despite all warnings. He has been given every chance."
    March:
    "How shall we proceed?"
    December:
    "We wait. He will surface again. And when he does, he will have to face the consequences."

    In "The Boy Must Live" September revealed that he was experimented on by other Observers and was biologically reverted to a purely human state as punishment for his interventions.

S5E06 - Through the Looking-Glass and What Walter Found There

  • Connection: Room 413 S5E06 11:45
    September (about Michael in "The Boy Must Live"):
    "They were right about him, he's an anomaly. He's not less than them, he's more. At first, I thought his abilities were just empathic, but they developed into something greater. I now know that his intellect functions on a level that neither you nor we are capable of understanding. But what's more important: he has the emotions, the compassion, the empathy."

    September told the team how Michael was a naturally more advanced human. In "Through the Looking-Glass and What Walter Found There" Michael had been hidden in a pocket universe accessible from room 413 of an apartment building. Episode S4E13 of Fringe is entitled "A Better Human Being."

S5E09 - Black Blotter

  • Connection: Black umbrella S5E11 15:14
    The password to retrieve Michael in "Black Blotter", "Black Umbrella", came from the poster for Singin' in the Rain, from which September chose his new name (Donald O'Connor) in "The Boy Must Live".
Setups & payoffs (1 later episode)

Spoilers for future episodes below

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S5E13 - An Enemy of Fate