“A Better Human Being” is episode thirteen of season four of Fringe.
At the end of the previous episode, “Welcome to Westfield”, Olivia kissed Peter when he arrived at her house, and acted like his Olivia. Now, Olivia says that she knows who she is, even though she was acting like the other Olivia, and perhaps this is a residual effect from Westfield. After Peter has gone, Olivia is hit by memories from her other self.
At Deerfield Mental Hospital in New York, a patient enters the dining area. In Douglaston, New York, three men break into a house. The patient is recounting what they are doing as they are doing it. A nurse finds him and tells him the voices aren’t real. He’s taken away and is sedated, but before that happens, he recounts a man’s murder.
Olivia and Lincoln arrive at Deerfield; it seems to nurse saw the murder on the news and realised the patient was recounting it as it happened. Astrid finds Walter, who is talking to a patient. Olivia is having memories of another place.
They speak to the patient, Sean Keenan. He doesn’t recognise the dead man. The voices come and go but are always in his head; he hears eight or nine people, but not always. Last night he heard three. One was cut during the murder and remained at the subway station to clean up in the bathroom before getting on the train. The voices only speak to each other. Walter asks Sean if he’s willing to go off his meds.
Walter thinks Sean isn’t schizophrenic but is hearing the real thoughts of other people. The nurse wants to explain to the pharmacist that Sean has agreed to go off his meds. Olivia goes with; the memories she’s having are getting Walter from St. Claire’s.
The night, she heads to see Peter. She remembers the place from the other timeline. She’s remembering everything.
In Walter’s lab, Oliva recounts what happened at St. Claire’s, which Peter remembers from his timeline. Olivia does remember going without Peter, but it’s hazy. The memories of the other Olivia’s life are clearer than her own. Walter suggests it might be empathy with Peter. Then has a thought, but loses it. He wants to test Olivia’s hair.
Lincoln arrives; they found blood in the bathroom where Sean said. DNA has no hits. Walter has seen something in the DNA report before. In Sean’s; they both have the same incredibly rare spur. It means they are half-brothers. Perhaps the other two are as well. Olivia and Lincoln head to talk to Sean’s mother. When they leave, Walter tells Peter he thinks Peter is projecting his memories onto Olivia, even without meaning to.
Sean’s mother says he has no siblings. But it turns out Sean’s father isn’t his biological father; they used IVF. A Dr Owen Frank, who a friend recommended. A reporter called her a few days ago, doing a piece on IVF. She can only remember his first name, but it turns out it is the murdered man. She never spoke but dug up the file.
Sean and the killers are related; it seems that Dr Frank was doing experiments with his IVF treatments. And they’ve had a strange side-effect. Olivia is getting increasingly into the other Olivia’s life; the question is how.