This episode's glyphs spell: R-O-G-U-E
The original FOX press release for this episode stated that Michael Kelly, who played the villain, was playing a character named Rogue. Eventually a theory developed among fans about the character's true involvement in the story. See the FAQs page for more details if you've seen the entire show or are comfortable reading heavy spoilers.
FRINGE DIVISION CASE FILE #104-93008
FRINGE EVENT: Solid metallic iridium cylinder caused explosion and first Observer interaction
CLASSIFIED CASE CONNECTION(S): June 22, 1987 beacon appearance at Quantico, DOD "Project Thor"
AGENTS ASSIGNED: Dunham, Francis
SUPERVISING AGENT: Broyles
FILE ARCHIVED BY: Raquel Segura, Shawn Jones
WITNESSES/CONTACTS: Colonel Henry Jacobson, John Mosley (deceased)
LOCATION: Williamsburg, Brooklyn; Roseville, VA
VICTIM(S): 3 dead, 24 injured, Peter Bishop, Agent Astrid Farnsworth
CASE REPORT SUMMARY:
A solid iridium cylinder emanating subsonic vibrations at 2 and 4 megahertz rose up from belowground and created a massive explosion in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The cylinder was immediately transported to Chelsea, Massachusetts, by agents from NSA and CDC to examine it. Agent Dunham traveled to Roseville, VA, to speak with Colonel Henry Jacobson about a similar cylinder that appeared in Quantico in 1987. Forty-eight hours after it appeared, it burrowed back into the ground and disappeared. In NY, consultant Dr. Walter Bishop then broke the protocol rules of his consultancy when he drugged Agent Farnsworth, took the cylinder off premises, and hid it per the suggestion of his "friend the Observer" to keep it safe. Walter refused to share the location with any agents. Peter Bishop was kidnapped by wanted murderer John Mosley, whom Bishop said had tried to forcibly obtain the cylinder location via an electroshock machine. Agent Dunham found Bishop and shot Mosley as he tried to flee. Peter Bishop was adamant that he communicated with an Observer.
- Project 643 - Exploration 3 -
Only a mild sedative, should knock her out for only a short while. The girl won't understand, nor the others. Not a preferred course of action, but necessary. I have to meet with my friend, and the clouds are gathering, I can hear them already. I know what's to be done: find a new hiding place, before the chase begins. Round and round the mulberry bush, the monkey chased the weasel! It has returned to plague me again. Fallen like a ton of feathers, right into the banana patch. Wrestling with my insides, trying to extract something. Like the bearded man, when he told me he needed another pearl. Thank you sir, may I have another? I told my friend he should get a toupee, or at least a better hat, and he said it's a fair wind that bloweth no man any ill. The walls, the walls, push back the walls! The boy knows but doesn't know that he knows. He brought me whole flies when I asked for only the wings. And the sarsaparilla was not from Sioux City. But he'll be okay as long as we stay, when there's more songs to play and few things to say. We'll need to ask the Fisher King for answers. Chapter next, turn the page, feed the germs to a macrophage. Is that where it goes, a scrapyard or a graveyard? No matter, just keep it from Scotland Yard. A tisket a tasket, dare I even ask yet? I left something behind, in a mattress or something like it. Phi, chi, psi, omega, that's how it starts. An equation that will take me back, back, back to where I once belonged. Kenneth, what's the frequency? Once at 2 MHz, again at 4, and once in a blue moon.
WALTER: "I was unable to control my limbs in that icy water. It wouldn't respond. I was incapable of saving you, or myself. We were dead, Peter, you and I. Until someone grabbed me. And we were going up. We were saved, both of us, by a man that I had never met. A man that shouldn't have been there at all. He pulled us to the shore. I remembered that he was bald, that he had no eyebrows. And as he set us down in the snow, I recalled his stare, standing there in his suit soaking wet, seemingly indifferent to the cold. It was as if he knew my thoughts before I did. As if he were inside my head. Without speaking, he made it clear that he would need me one day. A return favor, so to speak. And this is it. Today, what happened with the capsule, I'm not sure how I know about the vibrations, the composition. But then when I tested it myself, heard the vibrations, felt them, it was as if an envelope had been opened and I could finally read my instructions. Instantly, I knew that I had to protect the capsule for him. Who they are, what they want - as a man of science, I share your frustration in not having these answers. But what I know is that you are sitting here now... my son... alive."