The Recordist
| "The Recordist" | |
|---|---|
| Fringe episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 5 Episode 3 |
| Directed by | Jeff T. Thomas |
| Written by | Graham Roland |
| Production code | 3X7503 |
| Original air date | October 12, 2012 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
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"The Recordist" is the third episode of the fifth and final season of the American Fox science fiction/drama television series Fringe, and the show's 90th episode overall. The episode aired in the United States on October 12, 2012.
It was written by Graham Roland, while being directed by Jeff T. Thomas.
Walter (John Noble) and Astrid (Jasika Nicole) use the makeshift laser to recover another tape from the ambered part of the lab. The contents point to a location in northwest Pennsylvania, though the instructions for what to do there are garbled. While Astrid stays behind to try to improve the tape's playback, Walter, Peter (Joshua Jackson), Olivia (Anna Torv), and Etta (Georgina Haig) travel to the designated location. There, they find a small camp of human outcasts, all displaying splotches of bark-like material over their bodies. They are introduced to Edwin (Paul McGillion), the camp's leader, who explains that their condition is due to some unknown agent within the area. Those in the group consider themselves to be recorders of history ever since the takeover by the Observers in order to prevent history from being rewritten by the Observers. They maintain a large number of data cubes containing whatever knowledge they can recover, including much about Fringe division. Edwin is unable to find information about Walter's previous visit to the site, but Astrid is able to fix the playback enough to know that Walter must find a mine in the area, which Edwin identifies as an abandoned gold mine.
In the mine, they find a shaft to a lower level; hanging from a rope is a corpse showing extreme signs of the bark infection, which Walter believes is due to something in the mine and evacuates everyone. In examining the body, Walter determines that the condition is caused by the Observers' modification of the Earth's atmosphere, the effects being diluted due to the remote location; the atmosphere in the mine accelerated the process, calcifying the body. Edwin discovers that, sometime in the past, the Observers took away a man, identified only as "Donald," who had retrieved red-colored rocks from the mine with the intention of delivering them to a "scientist from Boston." Astrid later confirms that the rocks are a unique and necessary energy source for Walter's plan. Walter begins to prepare a protective suit to keep the effects of rapid calcification from affecting whoever wears it, allowing them to recover more rock samples. While working on the suit, Peter and Olivia discuss the events shortly after the Observers' arrival, with Olivia revealing that seeing all the "missing persons" posters while they were looking for Etta had made her realize that her work with Fringe division in fighting the Observers was more important than getting Etta back.
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