Johari Window

Following an unexplained attack involving disfigured humans, the Fringe team visits Edina City, a small town in upstate New York, to uncover leads surrounding the bizarre case. When it's determined that these disfigured people have managed to hide for a while and theylll do just about anything to keep it that way, the investigation takes an unexpected turn.

Synopsis provided by the Fandom Wiki, Fringepedia, and Wikipedia.

This episode's glyphs spell:

M-U-T-A-T-E

Humans and other creatures living within the limits of Edina had genetic mutations that were hidden to an observer's eyes by a form of electromagnetic camouflage.

The Observer can be seen when Sheriff Velchik is briefing the townspeople of Edina.

Previous Episode Clue

Colorful butterfly drawings hung up at Dunwich Mental Hospital in 'Grey Matters' foreshadow Walter's discovery of Edina's permutation secret in 'Johari Window' when he captured a butterfly for Astrid that later seemed to change its appearance.

Walter called Astrid 'Asterix'.
A Johari Window is a cognitive psychological tool used to help people better understand their relationships with themselves and others, helping you, and those around you, better see who you really are.
This episode was originally titled "Edina City Limits".

The Edina census showed that 47 people had been born there since 1990. 47

47: J.J. Abrams projects tend to feature the number 47 in some way.

U.S. Department of Justice
Federal Bureau of Investigation

121 105th Street • Washington, DC 20735
Phone: (202) 555-2100 • Fax: (202) 555-2101
E-mail: washington.fbi@fbi.com

FRINGE DIVISION CASE FILE #211-11410

FRINGE EVENT: Human metamorphosis

CLASSIFIED CASE CONNECTION(S): Late '70s army experimentation with electromagnetic pulses

AGENTS ASSIGNED: Dunham, Frug

SUPERVISING AGENT: Broyles

FILE ARCHIVED BY: James Sayers

WITNESSES/CONTACTS: Teddy Falls, Rose Falls, Joseph Falls

LOCATION: Edina, NY; Jonestown, NY

VICTIM(S): Troopers Pekarsky, Madison, and Casey, federal marshal [redacted], Sheriff Paul Velchik (suspect; deceased)

CASE REPORT SUMMARY:

*Highly classified closed case* Senior Trooper John Pekarsky and two other troopers on duty were found dead in their office after Trooper Pekarsky uploaded a report to the state police database. Trooper Pekarsky's report said he had come upon a kid on the side of the road who looked completely normal until "I saw him change in front of me. Suddenly he was hideous." They put him in their holding cell, and then the troopers were killed with 12-gauge shotgun blasts.
The area has more than thirty or forty reports of disfigured creatures dating back thirty years. Fringe agents investigated the area and immediately noticed a humming sound, emitted by big turbine generators at the local military base. In the late '70s, Dr. Edward Cobb conducted a series of classified experiments called "Project Elephant" at the base. The army thought if they could generate a massive electromagnetic pulse, they could effectively scramble the optic nerve and, at the right frequency, make soldiers invisible to the naked eye. However, prolonged exposure to the pulse created an incurable genetic disorder on residents of the whole area. Dr. Cobb couldn't live with himself afterward, and he couldn't leave them all victims. He resigned his commission in 1979 and worked tirelessly on a machine creating the hum via an antenna to allow outsiders to see the deformed people as if they were normal.

Walter found his old box of Devil Dogs.

24:28 Devil Dogs

Setups & payoffs 2

Spoiler: S2E15
Spoiler: S4E12

Setups & payoffs (2 later episodes)

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Walter (in "Johari Window"):
"Remarkable, how Rose was willing to expose her secret to right a wrong. So very brave of her."
Walter was struggling with whether or not to tell Peter about his true origins from "Peter".

Peter (in "Welcome to Westfield"):
"You think the Army's involved in this?"
Olivia:
"I mean, something of this magnitude... a whole town? Perhaps it was a military experiment gone wrong, like that case we caught in Edina."
Walter:
"Where's Edina?"
Olivia:
"Uh, upstate New York. Remember, the whole town's population was disfigured from the military experiment?"
Walter:
"We never had such a case."
Peter:
"I investigated a case in Edina with my Walter, and my Olivia."
As Olivia started remembering things from the original timeline in "Welcome to Westfield" she mentioned the case in Edina from "Johari Window".

SYNOPSIS

THE GLYPHS

M-U-T-A-T-E

THE OBSERVER

EPISODE CLUES

Previous Episode Clue

Next Episode Clue

ITEMS OF INTEREST

VIDEOS

JJ ABRAMS EASTER EGGS

FRINGE DIVISION CASE FILE

WALTER'S FOOD

EPISODE CONNECTIONS

S2E15 - Peter

S4E12 - Welcome to Westfield