1x17: Bad Dreams

[kerithwyn]

Niiiiiick.

Man, for a character who shows up in all of three(!) episodes, this guy has a huge impact on the mythology of the show. And on fanfic imagination.

(Less restrained exclamations to follow in comments.)




Writer: Akiva Goldsman
Director: Akiva Goldsman
Originally aired: April 21, 2009

Synopsis:
Olivia witnesses a suicide in New York while asleep and dreaming in Boston. When a second deadly vision happens, Broyles puts his trust in Olivia and deploys the team to investigate further. As details emerge, Olivia uncovers new information regarding the ZFT manuscript, the experimental drug Cortexiphan, and that the case may be tied to her own past.

Most Memorable Quote:
NICK LANE: Olive. You heard me. You heard me - you came. You were always the strong one. Whenever I got scared, you could make me feel better. Do you remember, Olive?
OLIVIA: I’m sorry, no, I don't.
NICK LANE: That’s okay. I think they meant for us to forget. I just couldn't. I did what they told us. I waited, Olive. The soldier to come is both natural and unnatural. I waited to be called up. You stay fit; stay focused, and stay ready. I wore the blacks and grays. I blended in. But the call never came. It never came. Then, that man with the glasses, he showed up at the hospital. He spoke all the old words. He said they're coming. He needed warriors. He said... "what was written will come to pass." He said he knew how to wake me up. I shouldn't have listened to him. Sometimes what we wake up, it can't be put back to sleep.

Links:
Episode transcript
Seriable rewatch
Polite Dissent, medical/science reviews.

Fanfiction:
I wasn't reading Fringe fic at the time, but judging by the dates on the Nick Lane tag on AO3, his appearance really did wake something up. For AU fic written on the heels of this episode, see:
Choke Chain series by Chichuri
Ways and Means series by Elfin

For more:
Nick Lane tag on AO3

Comments

[elfin]

Three episodes? How is that possible?

[kerithwyn]

I know! Bad Dreams, Over There part 1 (s2), Worlds Apart (s4)*. (I might have watched these three eps an unhealthy number of times.) And really, a very small amount of screentime overall.

But of course, what he represents is far too large to be contained in a few short appearances. You knew that right off. :) If you're inclined, talk about how Ways and Means ate your head?

* ETA: NO I LIED. We see tiny!Nick in Subject 13 (s3). Which means he's only missing from s5 and that's yet another strike against it. :p

[wendelah1]

I second the request for you to talk about "Ways and Means." Or this episode. Or anything at all...

[wikiaddicted723]

I THIRD THAT! Please, make this comments section richer with your Thoughts and Opinions on one very beautiful Nick Lane.

Also, NIIIIIIIIICCCCKKKKKK.

(goes back to writing Nick).

[kerithwyn]

NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK.

*grabby hands*

This is easily my most-watched s1 episode by a far margin. I even forget that Nick doesn't actually appear until the very end, because his presence is so pervasive.

Creepy, creepy opening. It doesn't escape my notice that Nick is responsible for a couple of deaths throughout the episode. I choose to think they're not on purpose--he was passing by in a foul mood and the bystanders caught it. He's not innocent, but I'd classify it as negligent homicide.

OLIVIA: I always hated that you could date two guys at the same time.
-- I used that line against her in fic. :D

It's super-impressive that Olivia jumps right into investigating her dream(s), no hesitation whatsoever, even when she thinks she's to blame. And no wonder she's been distracted, after turning off a light box with her mind....

Amused/horrified that Walter expects Olivia to be able to teleport. "Wouldn't that have been wondrous." What he's remembering at this point is deliberately unclear. He's really too gleeful about Olivia's supposed homicidal streak.

...can't watch this episode without mentioning the Boston-NY tesseract. Whiplash!

I really liked the police detective Olivia and Peter met with. Always wanted to see her again.

Completely shallowly, Olivia looks amazing this whole episode. Maybe because her hair's down, but wow, she is stunning.

Peter reaches out, and Olivia lets him comfort her. Hugely significant on both their parts, and one of the reasons I once told a potential viewer that Fringe had one of the most naturally evolving romances I'd seen on tv. (Yes, I said that. Before s4, of course.)

OLIVIA: These things -- these things that we see every day, these things that we investigate -- they're happening to me.
-- and you can't go back to before. I love that Broyles backs her all the way, agency protocols be damned.

PETER: Maybe I never gave it enough thought-- what Walter went through. I only every saw it from my own perspective. His being crazy was something he did to us. To my mother and me. It wasn't something that happened to him.
OLIVIA: Well, you were young.
PETER: Well, I’m not young anymore. Must be a terrible thing to not be able to trust your own mind.
-- aw, Peter. Of course, he would know. If he could remember.

DOCTOR MILLER: Yes, quite, but not what I mean. He had an emotional brightness. If he was happy, he would light up a room. Sad, he was like a black hole that would suck you right down with him. Hyper-emotive is the clinical term. Put simply, his affect was highly infectious.
--Such a simple, powerful idea. Better than telepathy. Emotions don't lie.

WALTER: If William had followed the usual procedures... you see, often when we experimented on children--
PETER: Okay, can we just stop right there and analyze that sentence for a second?
WALTER: ...we would put them in pairs. Like the buddy system in summer camp.
PETER: Listen to him! He’s comparing human experimentation to summer camp!
WALTER: This pairing kept them from becoming frightened or feeling isolated. Sometimes an intense bond could form... a bond... which could be greatly amplified by a drug like Cortexiphan.
-- and that, right there, is the source of so much possibility.

Yow. The way Walter reaches out to Olivia (hand to face, same as Peter), the way she backs away--this whole scene is just so powerful. Hugely revelatory.

Stripper orgasm scene! (Astrid gets it first.) I recall rolling my eyes at this the first time around: some pseudo-lesbian hijinks for sweeps. But it's a useful scene in many regards. I wrote fic.

WALTER: You were also treated with Cortexiphan. It might afford you some degree of immunity from Nick's abilities.
--Pretty big "might" there, Walter. It's hardly a given, considering James Heath's ability specifically targeted other subjects.

God, Nick's face when he sees her. He loves her so much. *watches for the umpteenth time, rapt*

And that coda, with tiny!Olivia's pyrokinetic flash and Leonard Nimoy's dead-giveaway voice.

...all that was just about the episode itself, not its wider implications. I need to come back when I'm not on deadline and express some NICK LANE FLAILY FEELS.

[wikiaddicted723]

This is easily my most-watched s1 episode by a far margin.

Yes, mine too. it is easily within my top five episodes, not to say it is my favourite (I mostly don't say it because doing so would be too final, and there are so many great moments on this show...). I think it's also the fact that it is the first episode that affects Olivia directly, and only her. She had her moment of supreme weirdness back in Ability, but Bad Dreams is about her and her past in a much more intrinsic way. Also because the villain here is not a villain, just someone in pain that remembered her fondly and called for her help - granted, he could have picked up a phone to do so, and avoid a little bit of blood but then we wouldn't have had this wonderful episode. Nick is, easily, what Olivia could become if her "powers" run out of control.

I'm kind of exploring that last sentence in my writing right now, and so I have watched this episode ad nauseum the past couple of weeks. It never fails to entertain. Also kudos to Akiva Goldsman's writing and directing - I would go as far as to say that this is the episode that determined the character traits that we would later come to know our characters for: Walter's guilt, Olivia's fear of vulnerability, Peter's compassion, Astrid's intuition and resourcefulness, not to mention patience.

OLIVIA: I always hated that you could date two guys at the same time.
-- I used that line against her in fic. :D

*snorts* Uh...me too. Just...in a more traditional way.

one of the reasons I once told a potential viewer that Fringe had one of the most naturally evolving romances I'd seen on tv. (Yes, I said that. Before s4, of course.)

Ah, season 4. More on it later.

I agree with you, for the most part. I still find it refreshing that for the first 3 seasons the writing department let their relationship change in an organic way-not too rushed, and not seven-fucking-seasons too late. Their friendship was more closely explored than their romance per se, and that's just not something that you see on television every day. They were always people who communicated shit to each other (EVENTUALLY. Looking at you season 5 *growls*), and talked to sort through their issues in a mature, adult way.

On the topic of season 4, while I am a Peter and Olivia advocate (like it's not obvious ;) I do wish they had explored the ramifications of Olivia remembering, or not remembering as the case may be. Rationally, I get that they didn't have the time because EVERYONE thought this would be the last season, but I wonder if it wouldn't have gone better if they let them reunite at a slower pace, in a more organic way. Because even if Olivia remembers and trusts those memories, there are still other parts of her life that should take precedence, and that she should take time to sort out before deciding "yes, this it, I'm doing this thing." She has a nephew she doesn't know, a life she lived with Nina Sharp as her mother in every respect, and possibly many more little changes that make her position in this timeline different than in the other one, and all that is just the tip of the iceberg. They both went though experiences of their own that changed them, and I think they were not given enough time to get closure on them, on their own, before the writing shoved them back together.
Peter, in a smaller measure, also suffered from this: we never really see the fallout of him witnessing all those years in the grey timeline, we never see him acknowledge those lost moments, or deal with the trauma of remembering he lost Olivia to his biological father.
As a part of this "consequences" movement, I would have wished to see Lincoln handled with more care, instead of being a throwaway piece to make people angst about Peter and Olivia not getting together, or Peter having to watch Olivia get it on with someone else. And while I'm relatively at peace with how things turned out for him, because I do think he is much more compatible with Altliv than with our Olivia (they're just too similar), I think the writing could have still reached this conclusion in a more satisfying way, starting with but not limited to not KILLING RED!LINCOLN AND MAKING IT SEEM LIKE OUR LINCOLN WAS A SECONDHAND REPLACEMENT.

Basically, what I'm saying is that they should have had at least one more season to go back to the proper order of things, and more adequately deal with everything they wanted to do, instead of rushing to the finish with a two parter that would have fit much better if we had had all of that character development to give it gravity, instead of having to resort to shooting Olivia for shock value (which, in my defense, was also a pretty neat parallel to Walternate shooting Olivia in the grey timeline, but again, no consequences explored whatsoever).

/end unintelligible rant.

God, Nick's face when he sees her. He loves her so much. *watches for the umpteenth time, rapt*

God, yes. In the most pure form of love possible, like he's still the seven year old that trusts her to take care of his favourite toy.

I maintain that, while I don't like the concept of soul mates, because it is ridiculous that you can't love more than one person in your lifetime, I do agree with the fact that Nick would be Olivia's soulmate - which is independent of Olivia ending up with Peter or not, because soul mates do not, by definition, need to be romantically involved.

And that coda, with tiny!Olivia's pyrokinetic flash and Leonard Nimoy's dead-giveaway voice.

Ugh.... so much unwritten fic, so little time.

[kerithwyn]

Saaaaaaaaaara I don't have time for this okay fine my deadline is fubar anyway.

so.

I can definitely state this one's in my top five eps, too.

A pin in your s4 rant because I truly don't have time/emotional energy but basically yes, agreed on that, that, and also that.

And while I'm relatively at peace with how things turned out for [Lincoln], because I do think he is much more compatible with Altliv than with our Olivia (they're just too similar), I think the writing could have still reached this conclusion in a more satisfying way, starting with but not limited to not KILLING RED!LINCOLN AND MAKING IT SEEM LIKE OUR LINCOLN WAS A SECONDHAND REPLACEMENT.

This sentence is the shape of my soul. But you knew that.

ANYWAY

NICK LANE FLAILY FEELS

I maintain that, while I don't like the concept of soul mates, because it is ridiculous that you can't love more than one person in your lifetime, I do agree with the fact that Nick would be Olivia's soulmate - which is independent of Olivia ending up with Peter or not, because soul mates do not, by definition, need to be romantically involved.

100%. I want to play with every permutation of this: romantic, platonic, every state in between. They're bound together in a way Peter and Olivia could never be (and shouldn't be! neither healthy nor recommended!). The idea of Nick Lane hits me on a deep level. I won't say the show fell down on this, because that's not the story it was telling, and perhaps rightly so.

But Nick is such a rich source for All The AUs, from the ones where he and Olivia grew up together as terrifying little ZFT soldiers/rebels, or as terrifyingly competent Starfleet officers/jaeger pilots, to the ones where they meet again as adults and rediscover their bond...and deal with how it affects every other relationship in their lives, if it supplants or supplements them. Whether romantic or fraternal, their connection is always invasively, inescapably intimate.

I am incoherent with my love for this character, is what I'm sayin'. :) I mean, I love him so much I wrote 27k about his alternate! Who we barely saw! And just thinking about his episodes reminds me of all the stories I want to read, like the one where Nick and Sally survived the confrontation on the bridge in "Over There, Part 1" because Nick's latent world-jumping ability kicks in; or the one where Olivia actually goes and finds him and the other Cortexikids after s4; or all the much, much better versions of s5, whether he's kicking Observer ass or becomes a Fringe agent in a blessedly Observer-free reality.

I want All Nick, All the Time. Everyone should be writing him, please now and thank you. That's not too much to ask, surely?

...I HAVE TO WORK LATE NOW

[corwinofamber]

Bad Dreams! Yeah!

I've gotten four people to watch Fringe by starting them on this episode. It's quintessential Fringe, and I will say it's my favorite S1 episode.

Nick Lane - what a goldmine for fanfic writers :) Well, not in my fic, but some of my favorite writers have done well by him. I never felt I understood him enough to write him.

This episode was mostly perfect. The scary parts were uber scary without being disgusting. The scenes between Peter and Olivia show their growing trust and hint at more, without hitting you over the head with it.

Broyles must have had a career filled with strangeness if he can accept this case and support Olivia.

The people just dropping what they doing and following Nick at the end reminded me of disciples dropping what they were doing and following Jesus in the Bible. Was Jesus a reverse empath? Is Nick a dark Messiah?

WALTER: Astral...

ASTRID: Astrid!

WALTER: ...projection. A spirit walk, as it were. No, no, no, you wouldn't have had sufficient corporeal form to interact with the young woman.

That joke never gets old. And Astrid had good rapport with Peter in this episode. They're lab buddies, having to deal with Walter all the time.

WALTER: It worked on perception. Carlos Castaneda, Aldus Huxley, Werner Heisenberg, all focused on one single elementary truth. Perception is the key to transformation.
PETER: Reality is both subjective and malleable. If you can dream a better world, you can make a better world.
WALTER: Or perhaps travel between them.
PETER: What did you just say?

MAJOR CLUE here. And a hint that Peter really does have questions about all the stuff he suppressed from his childhood.

*Quotes from Fringepedia, because I'm too lazy to transcribe them.

All in all, one of the best episodes of the series.

[wendelah1]

He did inspire a disproportionate amount of fanfic given how brief his appearances were in the series. I confess, he didn't make much of an impression on me. I remember I had to go look him up to figure out who he was when you started writing about him.

The one story I was hoping to read never got written: an AU where Olivia asked Walter Bishop to figure out a way to cure him so Nick didn't have to stay in a medically induced coma (or end up a virtual prisoner of Massive Dynamic).

I do love this episode, too, mainly because I love how Olivia is willing to investigate the mysterious deaths, even if she turns out to be the murderer. "Let justice be done though the heavens fall." She doesn't hide from the truth, even if it's unpleasant, which is why surprising that she remembers so little about her childhood and that she would choose in season four to erase one set of her memories in favor of another set that belonged to an Olivia from a different timeline. I still don't get that.

[estella_c]

I agree that this is a good, evocative episode and that Nick is a strong character. But that's pretty much all I have to say. I guess I'm not so deeply invested.

Great things could have blossomed from all the suggestions in this ep. The Mighty X isn't the only series that let its fans down. It's hard to think of a non-cable show that hasn't. The structure of the series form is breaking and reforming and I think much of our disappointment lies in the bullying of the creators by the execs. Who are, like the rest of us, being bullied by the money men.

I find myself singing the mommy song at the beginning often.
Unfortunately, I can't get all the words.

Part of the show's strength (sorry, scattered thinking) is that in RL people *are* affected by the moods of others. And some people more than the average. I pick up feelings like litmus paper, an image I've often used although I'm uncertain--being an English major--what that is.