A small town called Edina was found to be inhabitate by disfigured humans, whose faces look to be normal in the perception of the outsiders. The Fringe team later discovered that Walter Bishop once involved in the same research which aims to camouflage soldiers in the war. In this episode, Walter expressed himself of fear of getting lost and abducted, referencing back to what happened in the Grey Matters.

Title changed

This episode was originally known as “Edina City Limits, but two weeks before its airing, the title was changed into Johari Window.  The reason for the change is unknown, but presumably, Johari Window is more of a cryptic title and perhaps, could refer to Walter Bishop’s relationships, not only to others but to himself.  Johari Window is a cognitive tool used in psychology to identify traits or personalities that can be classified into 4 different “quadrants”.  The first one is the arena, on which, the personality is known to others and oneself.  Next is the blind spot, which the personality is not known to self but others know.  The blind spot could be possibly refer to the kid in the episode as he seems to not know that his face is different from “normal people”.  The third is the facade, the characteristic is not known by others but known by oneself.  Perhaps, the biggest reference to this is Walter’s abduction of Peter.  And the fourth is the unknown, the personality not known by self and not known by others.  This oddly could be the personality that Walter used to have when his brain pieces has not been taken out.  Clearly, we knew that there are two facades of Walter (the old and the new), having the heart for those victims of which the “new” Walter showed is a sign of a two distinct personalities.

And of course, Edina City Limits is very self-explanatory.  We know that once the mutated victims passed the line or the “limit” of Edina, their face will change into something we don’t want to look at.

Likes and Dislikes

To be honest, after watching the episode again, I found that the episode shown in Monday (which is the Unearthed) a better one compared to this episode.  Mainly, because I have a higher hopes for this since this is the “real deal” and it is not a leftover from the previous season.  Also, the episode is not what you expected from Fringe especially coming back from the hiatus.  There’s not much to pick out in this episode.  I cannot really find something big or significant that reference back from old episode or that could foreshadow good storyline in the coming episodes.  It is also one of those stand-alones that remain to be possibly forgotten and would never come back.

Nevertheless, this episode showed some good ones, particularly the transition of Walter Bishop story from being the terrified from stepping up again.  It’s rarely that we see in television the sense of reality.  The characterization of this season got to be the whole main point of the show.

Shoutouts

There are a handful of shoutouts to popculture in this episode, which to be honest, I know nothing about.  Thank goodness for google and wikipedia.

1. In the opening scene when the two mutated guys took the kid from the station, there is a note stuck in a wall, saying: “If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime!”  I think it is intentionally placed there because it was handwritten and I don’t really think a station would just randomly place such note.  So what does the note means?  I tried googling it and I found out that the quote is popularize by the series “Baretta”, which was shown in 70s.  Also, the saying could possibly point to the fact that Walter committed a crime of kidnapping Alter-Peter.

2. Another Wizard of Oz shoutout.  Walter likened himself to a coward lion and as such doesn’t want to leave the car.

3. When Walter saw the picture of disfigured kid, this reminded him of the boy who plays a banjo in the movie Deliverance.  Again, the film is popularized in ’70s.

Product Placement?

I don’t know if it is a product placement, but the audience once again saw the game Operations (the same game that Olivia played with Ella in No Brainer), and Devil Dogs (which was, again and again, a 1970s Drake product).  I don’t know if it still exists.

The Butterfly

I find it so great that the writers have thought of using butterfly to illustrate many things in the episode.  Just a reminder that the butterfly glyph can be seen in the episode Grey Matters, and possibly a next-episode-clue.

I think the first good thing is we were able to explore a side of Astrid, now, we know she hated moth but love butterfly.

Second, and more importantly, is how Walter’s character is just so much like a butterfly.  First, he started off as a scared lion, but really changed or morphed back into his old Walter.  I love the scene between Walter and Astrid by the Harkness library, that definitely prove that Walter is not Walter without his science work.  Also, alongside with the “Johari Window”, we saw how much Walter change from his old self to someone who felt what the victims felt.  The scene where he is begging Broyles not to report the incident is just brillant and wonderfully acted.

Some other thoughts:

1. I really wonder why the kid just love hanging at the Edina welcome sign?  Did he want to run away?  More importantly, does he even know his face is deformed?

2. Is Edward Cobbs alive?

3. The military base nearby… what is the connection of that?  Is there a test going on?  Is Project Elephant still on-going?

4.  The observer can be found among the town people when the sheriff is giving his speech about protecting the town, while the glyph spells out mutate, which is quite obvious what it meant.