“Of Human Action” is episode seven of season two of Fringe.
Two police cars arrive at the top of a parking garage in Queens, where two men and a teenage boy are waiting in a car. The cops call it in that the hostage appears to be unharmed. The men get out of the car and one tells the cops they have no idea what they are dealing with. One of the cops starts backing away and drops his gun. And backs right over the edge. Another officer shoots the other two cops before turning her gun on herself.
Broyles is telling Olivia, Peter and Walter they should have the kidnappers’ names within the hour and ballistics confirms the female officer fired all three shots. The kidnappers didn’t even have guns. The boy, Tyler Carson, 15, disappeared 36 hours ago. Walter is bored. He already thinks this was done by mesmerism or hypnotism. Peter says that such can’t make people do things they wouldn’t normally do. He asks about Tyler’s father. Dr Carson. He works for the aerospace division of Massive Dynamic.
Peter, Olivia and Walter head there. Carson is with Nina Sharp; he didn’t even know Tyler was missing until he got a call from the kidnappers. Nina has already checked; the kidnappers have no involvement with the company. They’re used car salesmen. Olivia suggests they want to extort secrets and Nina agrees. Carson says that Tyler’s mother died when he was a boy. Walter leaves the room and Peter follows; Walter asks if Peter knows he and William Bell shared a lab. Yes, he’s mentioned it. Walter says Bell introduced him to Peter’s mother. They’d talked about forming a company together, but he guesses Bell couldn’t wait.
Tyler tells his kidnappers that he’s hungry. They pull over and go into a shop. One demands all the money from the register but another man objects. And he pours boiling coffee over his head before smashing the flask on it and crashing through a freezer door. The cashier has pulled a gun, but he puts it down and sticks a key into an electric socket. Through all this, Tyler doesn’t look like a hostage.
At the scene, Olivia tells Peter there are no other witnesses; both men are in intensive care. Peter says it’s as if the kidnappers don’t have a plan. A second CCTV feed shows Tyler standing by the door. Peter wonders why he isn’t running; it’s too soon for Stockholm Syndrome. And why not just take the cash instead of causing all the carnage. Broyles calls; he spoke to the kidnappers’ boss. They were model employees, went out for lunch and never came back. Peter suggests they might be spies.
In the lab, Astrid and Walter are talking as Walter cuts into the policewoman’s head. It turns out she’s never wondered what human brains might taste like. Unlike Walter. Walter is looking to see if there’s any damage to the brain. He shows it to Olivia and Peter when they come, saying Peter was right; this isn’t hypnosis. It’s mind control. There’s actual trauma to the brain. Astrid says this will make it difficult to get near the kidnappers; Olivia wants a way of blocking it.
A call is made to Dr Carson at Massive Dynamics from the kidnappers; they want $2 million and give a location for the meeting. Both Olivia and Broyles think this is odd. St the lab, Walter finds a stuffed bear of Peter’s. It generates white noise, and will block the mind control.
Olivia is briefing the team that will wait for the meet; Walter wonders if the FBI will ever give him a gun. Very unlikely. He starts explaining to the team how the white noise generator works; Peter takes over with an explanation that is more to the point.
At the drop site, a car arrives and one of the kidnappers approaches Carson on foot. He grabs the briefcase and runs. The other salesman drives their car out of the building and crashes it. Olivia runs after the second man and Peter sees and follows. Olivia finds the man holding a gun to his head, pulling the trigger and begging for help. Peter suddenly takes off his headphones as Tyler, who is standing there with the money, says they won’t help. And tells Peter to take him to Peter’s car.
The others end up realising the Tyler is the one behind everything. He’s an angry teenager with the power to control people. Not a great combination.