1x07: In Which We Meet Mr. Jones

[wendelah1]

Just as the title says, this is the episode where we meet the Big Bad Wolf, one David Robert Jones. We're also introduced to ZFT, a cabal of mad scientists who enjoy experimenting on humanity and bragging about it, too! We find out that Olivia speaks fluent German, and has an old boyfriend who thinks about her but never calls. We also discover to our horror that our resident mad scientist Walter Bishop used to experiment on Peter when he was a child.


Writer: J.J. Abrams, Jeff Pinkner
Director: Brad Anderson
Originally aired: 11 Nov 2008

Synopsis: When a nightmare-inducing bio-engineered parasitic life-form is found literally squeezing the life out of Broyle's old friend Agent Loeb, the Fringe team is quickly assembled to save his life.

Most Memorable Quote:
Peter Bishop: "I’ve never had a conversation with a dead guy before. Forgive me if I don’t know the rules."

Links:
Transcript
A.V. Club Recap
Polite Dissent
Sarah Stegall
And last but not least, Scientists Say Fringe Parasites are Far From Realistic: Hollywood Fact vs. Fiction.

Tell me something I don't already know...

Fanfiction:
Nope, but I found a great one for "The Arrival": Help Wanted by Rheanna.
Leave your recs, including self-recs, in the comments and I'll edit them in. Or write us a post-ep for this episode!

Comments

[corwinofamber]

I love this episode for the Walter-Peter interactions, and Olivia showing her fire, and the introduction of Jones. However, the plot at the center of the episode is so convoluted that it makes no sense to me at all. I always wonder why they didn't just ask Smith "Where the Gentleman lives" before he committed suicide by cop, and then send a lackey to Germany to tell Jones the answer.

[seekingferret]

I think you missed the point, if my read of the episode is right. Jones isn't lying when he says "What if someone wanted information from the both of us? You see? Perhaps they’ve orchestrated all of this." The answer isn't for Jones, it's for Loeb.

Remember, at the start of the episode Loeb was going to Germany to meet with Jones, but he couldn't get access. Jones needed to communicate some information to Loeb, but the Germans wouldn't let him in. So Loeb and his wife orchestrated this convoluted plan to force Broyles to be desperate enough to get access to Jones. And Jones used Smith as his agent to deliver the message to Loeb.

[corwinofamber]

Ok...that starts to approach making sense, but it stills seems there were an unnecessary step or two there :)

[seekingferret]

Yeah, when I was trying to explain it to you I realized there are parts of this explanation I'm lacking... I don't know exactly what relationship Smith has to Jones, but for my theory to work there has to be a reason why Smith will tell Jones "Little Hill" but he won't tell Loeb, and I don't have a good one other than Loeb trying to protect his FBI cover. Perhaps there's a terrorist cell structure to ZFT and Smith only knows Jones and not Loeb. Perhaps Loeb knows that if he captures Smith on his own with the FBI backup, he won't be able to do the unobserved interrogation he'll need to get the information- he needs Broyles/Olivia/Walter to be the one to ask the question so nobody is asking why Loeb needs to know "Little Hill".

[wendelah1]

However, the plot at the center of the episode is so convoluted that it makes no sense to me at all.

I concur. I had a terrible time following the plot of this, and nailing the plot is what I'm supposed to be good at.