“The No-Brainer” is episode twelve of season one of Fringe.
Springfield, Massachusetts, and a teenager is at his computer when a popup box with ‘What’s that noise? Click Me’ on it appears. A series of images appears on the screen and he seems fascinated by it, not paying attention to his mother when she speaks to him. She thinks nothing of it. A hand reaches out of the screen and grabs his head.
At the lab, Walter is talking about Darwin and Peter is opening a letter addressed to Walter. Which Astrid notices. She’s then phoned by Olivia, who tells her that a body is coming in. Walter says this is the part of the day who looks forward to the most, when you know something bizarre is out there but don’t know what it is. Peter throws the letter away; when he and Walter head out to get the body, Astrid retrieves it.
Charlie and Olivia interview the boy, Greg’s, parents and get the name of a friend, Luke Dempsey. Walter is drilling a hole in Greg’s skull and has him turned over as Olivia arrives. Walter explains that Greg’s brain matter was completely liquified – Walter suggests possibly a super syphilis and recommends always using protection – and Peter is draining the remainder of the brain into a beaker. Olivia wants Astrid to take a look at the hard disk drive from Greg’s computer. Astrid says there’s something wrong with it; the platters must be fried. Astrid minored in computers and will see if she can get something.
Oliver finds Luke Dempsey working at a body shop. Luke says that his father and Greg’s used to work together; Luke and Greg remained friends. He doesn’t seem to know anything.
On the way out, Peter calls; there’s another body. Broyles is at the site; the dead man is the general manager of a car dealership. He’s lying in a puddle of liquid brain. Walter says he looks to have died the same way.
At the lab, Astrid says the car salesman’s hard drive fried the same way. Both computers downloaded a huge file, 677 MB, just before they crashed. The phone rings. The lab’s phone. Peter answers and claims it’s a wrong number. Peter is going to take the HDDs to someone he thinks can help. After he leaves, Astrid tells Olivia she thinks she knows who was on the phone, and shows Olivia the letter.
Peter meets someone, Akim, who doesn’t seem entirely thrilled to see him. But Peter has a gold coin that, by the sounds of it, Akim lost to him in a wager, and he’s willing to give it back. Akim takes Peter into a back room and Peter says both computers downloaded the same program. He wants to know what it is and where it came from.
Harris, who arrived in the previous episode, “Bound”, collars Olivia at the Federal Building and quizzes her on the case. He says it’s clearly a CDC problem. Olivia has already spoken to the CDC; they haven’t a clue. And has Harris heard of a flu that causes your brains to come out of your ears? He hasn’t, but he claims this is another way of justifying the allocation of FBI resources to a rogue division and Harris is here to rein it in. Olivia has 12 hours; after which, he’s going to shut her down and put the case in what he believes are more capable hands.
Akim is telling Peter that the file was assembled from all over the internet. And it’s being downloaded right now. He gives Peter the address. Peter recognises it and calls Olivia. The file is being downloaded right now at her apartment. Where Olivia’s niece, Ella, is opening up the laptop.
Rachel is busy in the kitchen and can’t hear her phone. Both Olivia and Peter are heading there. Olivia doesn’t know any neighbours to call and has already called Boston PD. The popup appears and Ella calls for her mother, who says she will come in a minute. Ella clicks the popup anyway. The images appear and the hand is reaching out when Olivia bursts in the door. She briefly sees the images, then the laptop goes back to normal. Ella takes a minute to come around; she seems hypnotised.
Peter raises a valid point; why are the people being killed? Olivia might have been targeted herself, but what’s the connection between the others? Harris is doing his best to obstruct and derail everything. He definitely has a grudge against Olivia and wants to make her look bad, but it’s unclear as to whether he truly believes she’s no good at her job too.