Season 2, Episode 2:
Night of Desirable Objects
In Lansdale, Pennsylvania, a highway construction worker hears an odd noise in a cornfield, and is pulled down into an underground tunnel by a mysterious, unidentified creature. Using a lighter for sight, he sees the remains of other creatures, and is then eaten by the creature. Meanwhile, Walter investigates Olivia's car crash from the previous episode. He believes she traveled to an alternate universe that is similar to theirs, but she still cannot remember with whom she met with, or why.Having recovered somewhat from the events of the previous episode, Olivia is released from the hospital, and is watched by the shapeshifter who has killed Charlie Francis and adopted his appearance. Peter learns of mysterious disappearances taking place in Lansdale, and the Fringe team arrives to investigate. Walter finds a blue paralytic substance at the scene, which he suspects is from mutated DNA. The investigation leads to a local resident, Andre Hughes, who tells them he lost his wife and baby in childbirth. Olivia begins to develop super-hearing as a result of crossing to the alternate universe, and hears someone else in Hughes' house despite his claims that he's the only one there. She ventures upstairs to investigate; after failing to find anything, she accidentally fires her weapon, narrowly missing Peter. They bring Hughes in for questioning, and he refuses to give them a blood sample for their investigation.
Nina Sharp talks with Olivia, and recommends she see a friend, Sam Weiss "who helped put [her] back together" after she was diagnosed with cancer. Agent Amy Jessup believes Hughes may have killed his wife and son. When they exhume their bodies, they find the baby's casket is empty. Hughes commits suicide however before they can question him further.
Walter discovers that Hughes' wife had a form of lupus, and was incapable of having children. Hughes genetically altered the baby to enable his survival, and after birth, it developed into a "superbaby" and began feeding on people. Olivia and Peter travel back to Hughes' house, and are attacked by the creature when investigating the basement and its nearby tunnels. The creature attempts to escape by digging out but is killed by a police car parked above ground upon collapsing into the tunnel, thereby crushing the creature.
Olivia meets with Sam Weiss, who works at a bowling alley. He tells her to expect headaches as one consequence of crossing universes. The shapeshifter Charlie communicates with someone from the alternate universe, who tells him to help make Olivia remember her experience crossing over.
Tropes
- Calling Your Bathroom Breaks: Walter matter-of-factly states that he'll need to urinate in 23 minutes. This, however, is for a practical reason: He has been handling what turned out to be a paralytic agent with his bare hands, and he's going to need some assistance...
- Driven to Suicide: Mr. Hughes, being consumed by guilt. He is actually very creative about it: taking the metal cover of the interrogation room lamp,
bending and twisting it with his teeth into a hangman noose and then hanging himself. - Title Drop: "Night of Desirable Objects" is a form of fish bait, specifically one Peter bought to go fishing with his father when he was 11.
