The Cure

The Cure



Season 1, Episode 06
Aired: October 21st, 2008
Written By: Felicia D. Henderson, Brad Caleb Kane
Directed By: Bill Eagles

Recaps: Fandom Wiki | Fringepedia | AV Club
Resources: IMDb | Wikipedia | Transcript
Listen: The Fringe Podcast | TFP Rewatch
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SYNOPSIS

When a young woman explodes inside a diner, the team works to determine the cause. They learn of a second woman who has been turned into a human weapon by an unscrupulous drug company executive and rush to save her before she can be shipped to "the client". Agent Dunham discloses critical information about her childhood to Peter Bishop.

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

THE GLYPHS

This episode's glyphs spell:

C-E-L-L-S

The victims in this episode suffered from Bellini's Lymphocemia, a fictional disease that affects the blood and blood cells.

Glyph symbol CGlyph symbol EGlyph symbol LGlyph symbol LGlyph symbol S
Glyph symbol C
Glyph symbol E
Glyph symbol L
Glyph symbol L
Glyph symbol S


THE OBSERVER

The Observer passes behind David Esterbrook and Olivia at the party.

Observer

EPISODE CLUES

Previous Episode Clue

In 'Power Hungry' there is a coffee mug with an INtREPUS logo on it next to the news report playing at BiCoastal Parcel Service. INtREPUS gets investigated in 'The Cure'.

Previous episode clue
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Next Episode Clue

Walter puts a thermometer with the letters ZFT printed on it into the head of one of the victims in Holly's Diner in 'The Cure'. ZFT is the organization responsible for the parasite in 'In Which We Meet Mr. Jones'.

Next episode clue

ITEMS OF INTEREST

  • Walter called Astrid 'Asterisk.'

JJ ABRAMS EASTER EGGS

  • David Esterbrook's assistant was named after Elizabeth Sarnoff, who wrote 19 episodes for Lost.
  • INtREPUS stock plummeted to $23 a share (Lost).

FRINGE DIVISION CASE FILE

Fringe Division case file
Fringe Division case file: The Cure

WALTER'S FOOD

Walter asked for onion soup, experimented on (and then ate a little of) Mr. Papaya, asked Peter to bring him some cotton candy (blue, not pink), and was eating papaya in his lab notes.
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Walter's Food: Onion soup
Onion soup
Walter's Food: Mr. Papaya
Mr. Papaya

NAMES FOR ASTRID

Walter called Astrid 'Asterisk'.

WALTER'S LAB NOTES

- Project 1051 - Exploration 1 -

Autumn has arrived, and the whole city is in a funk because the Red Sox failed to make the Series. Astonishing. Whence this strange expectation? During my 17 years in captivity, did we enter some alternate reality in which the Sox are a viable team?

It was always this time of year that the orderlies would propose a ballgame, staff versus inmates. The orderlies insisted upon their three strikes per out, three outs per half-inning, seven or nine innings per game. The inmates played along, knowing that the line of scrimmage ran from home through the mound to third, that wickets could trip unwary outfielders, and that every strike guaranteed another frame. The game ended when the score was Q to 12.

The orderlies never could crack the secret of Dashiell's quantum knuckleball. The batters were unable to determine its position and momentum at once! Unable to bear it, they recommended shock therapy for the poor fellow. In confidence, Dash confessed to me that it was a cheat: after all, the direction of the ball's hop was determined after the batter had chosen where to swing! True, there may exist parallel timelines in which every swing connected -- in which they made line drives and smacked home runs and even drove the balls' cork nuclei from their leathery skins -- but we do not live in them.

Speaking of nuclei, those in the young woman's bloodstream are shedding electrons and antineutrinos as we speak. Soon she will perform her Darryl Revok routine. Stains on the carpet and stains on the scenery, unless we can forge an antidote, a bonding agent, a Zephyrus for the Hyacinth. Wait! Hyacinth! That's it!

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Walter's lab notes

NOTABLE QUOTES

Peter:
"What if these people aren't just experiments? What if somebody's preparing for something?"

CONNECTION CHART

A visualization of all the ways this episode connects to other episodes. Scroll down to see the actual connections.
Connection chart: The Cure

EPISODE CONNECTIONS

S1E01 - Pilot

  • In "The Cure" David Esterbrook has an aleph pin on his jacket that can also be seen on the canoe from Olivia's dreamscape in "Pilot". (Image 1, 2)
Connection: Canoe
Image 1
S1E01 - Pilot
Canoe
Connection: Aleph pin
Image 2
S1E06 - The Cure
Aleph pin
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S2E15 - Peter

  • Nina told Peter that she knew him as a child in "The Cure". In "Peter" she is intimately involved with (and opposed to) Walter's attempt to kidnap Peter.
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S4E02 - One Night in October

  • Olivia (about her stepfather in "The Cure"):
    "He kept a gun in the drawer near his bed. When he opened the door, I pulled the trigger. Then I pulled it again. And I can still see his face, almost daring me to finish. But I couldn't. So... they took him to the hospital and said that he couldn't be saved, but he didn't die. He recovered. Then one night, he just slipped away. We never saw him again."

    This happened differently in the timeline without Peter.

    Fauxlivia (to Olivia in "One Night in October"):
    "So what happened to him?"
    Olivia:
    "My stepfather? I killed him."
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S4E05 - Novation

  • Olivia had a horse-riding ribbon in Nina's old photograph in "Novation". Nina rode horses herself in "The Cure" so it stands to reason that Olivia would have done so as well in the timeline where she was raised by Nina. (Image 1, 2)
Connection: Nina with a horse
Image 1
S1E06 - The Cure
Nina with a horse
Connection: Olivia's horse-riding ribbon picture
Image 2
S4E05 - Novation
Olivia's horse-riding ribbon picture
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S5E13 - An Enemy of Fate

  • The radioactive isotope compound from "The Cure" that caused heads to explode was used as a weapon against the Observers in "An Enemy of Fate". (Image 1, 2)
Connection: Exploded head
Image 1
S1E06 - The Cure
Exploded head
Connection: Exploded head
Image 2
S5E13 - An Enemy of Fate
Exploded head
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