“6:02 AM EST” is episode twenty of season three of Fringe.
On the other side, AltBrandon is being filled in on progress with the machine when Walternate arrives. AltBrandon dismisses everyone else and gives Walternate some blood, from the sample taken from Fauxlivia’s baby in “Bloodline”. Fauxlivia’s genes have been removed, so they only have half of Peter’s genetic profile, but it should hopefully be enough to activate the machine. AltBrandon is proud to be part of the attempt to save their universe. Walternate is remembering Oppenheimer and how he felt; saving their world means destroying the other.
Back home and a man is watching some sheep acting strange. He calls another man, Joe, and tells him he needs to get there. Joe sets off and ends up drivi9ng through a swarm of locusts. When he arrives, he calls it in for help as a wind picks up. Then they see something that gives off a bright light.
At the bowling alley, Sam notices a bowling ball tapping its neighbour by itself. He heads into the backroom and unlocks a cupboard, taking out a box containing a Newton’s cradle. The balls start moving by themselves.
Olivia gets out of bed at Peter’s, but heads quickly back after she finds Walter wandering around naked. Peter says it’s Tuesday; Walter always cooks naked on Tuesdays. Olivia says sunrise is her favourite time of day; the world is full of promise. And both their phones go off.
The three arrive at the site of the incident and Broyles tells them that the ranch foreman, a farmhand and an entire herd of sheep have vanished. There’s a scar across the countryside. It happened at about 6:05 AM. Not unusual weather or weapons testing. Broyles wants Olivia to speak to the neighbour.
Walter wants Peter to help with a rock that has quartz crystals; he wants to test for an electrical charge. Peter says that quartz only does that under extreme pressure, such as a major gravitational event. And the quartz shows the signs of that. Walter says that a vortex appeared above the field and consumed everything. The world is breaking down around them. Peter asks why now and what would trigger a vortex. Good question.
Nina Sharp is where the machine is stored. It activated itself, at about 6:02. She calls Broyles and tells him what’s going on. Broyles tells the other three; Walter thinks the machine caused the vortex. If this is the end of the world, this is just the beginning.
At the lab, Peter and Olivia are trying to work out how the machine activated itself without Peter. Walter has an explanation. The machine has a magnetic field identical to that of the typewriter Fauxlivia used to communicate with the other side. Walternate has turned the machine on. Astrid reports three more incidents; one Olivia recognises as the Blight from the other side. Walter says the events will increase exponentially and there’s no way to stop them. Walternate has won.
On the other side, Fauxlivia is with her baby and a nurse when she gets paged about a Fringe event on Liberty Island. In the van with AltLee, he says it’s a Class 10. However, AltLee gets a call from Walternate; they are to stand down. Even though the energy surges are still happening. Fauxlivia thinks she knows who to ask for more.
AltBrandon and Walternate are looking at data when Fauxlivia turns up. Fauxlivia questions Walternate about the Class 10. He tells her that there’s no danger and confirms that he has activated the weapon, a part of which he asked Fauxlivia to steal from the other universe. He tells Fauxlivia to be concerned with the people from their universe, not the other. And yes, he knows his son is over there.
Walter is reluctant to try dismantling the machine now it’s active. Olivia spoke to Nina and has confirmed there was an EM spike before the event. Nina is now looking for the three signs of anomalies used to track them on the other side. Olivia is going to head to Massive Dynamic.
Peter thinks there’s only one way of doing anything with the machine, and that’s for him to get inside it, despite the potential dangers. None of them know that Fauxlivia has given birth and that the blood of her and Peter’s son’s blood is being used.