As usual, an episode synopsis can be found over at Scott’s Polite Dissent.

It’s Late, So Forgive Me If This isn’t Well Proof Read

I was out late seeing my friend’s band perform at a local bar/club.

Scott Will Have A Lot Of Material to Blog About

Two nose bleeds, some CPR, and mention of vasculitis & arterial fistula in the first seven minutes.  I’m sure he will mention the current thoughts on compression only resuscitation.

When in Doubt, Quarantine

Considering the air gaps I saw around the door, Walter and Astrid should have been isolated as a precaution.

Proper Safety Protocol Part I

There is no way that Walter would have been allowed to take samples back to his lab to work on.  This was an unknown, fast acting, highly deadly pathogen of unknown transmission method for which no vaccine or other treatment existed.  Bio Safety Level 4 biocontainment procedures would be required and no work would be performed outside a BSL-4 lab.

From Wikipedia:

“This level is required for work with dangerous and exotic agents that pose a high individual risk of aerosol-transmitted laboratory infections, agents which cause severe to fatal disease in humans for which vaccines or other treatments are not available, such as Bolivian and Argentine hemorrhagic fevers, Marburg virus, Ebola virus, Lassa fever, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, and other various hemorrhagic diseases. When dealing with biological hazards at this level the use of a Hazmat suit and a self-contained oxygen supply is mandatory. The entrance and exit of a Level Four biolab will contain multiple showers, a vacuum room, an ultraviolet light room, and other safety precautions designed to destroy all traces of the biohazard. Multiple airlocks are employed and are electronically secured to prevent both doors opening at the same time.”

Proper Safety Protocol Part II

It probably wasn’t such a good idea for Peter to wash the blood off his hands in the sink either.

Also from Wikipedia:

“All air and water service going to and coming from a biosafety level 4 lab will undergo similar decontamination procedures to eliminate the possibility of an accidental release.”

Not So Far Fetched

Walter describes a virus that behaves with intelligence to alter the behavior of its victims in order to facilitate its transmission to new hosts.  While intelligent viruses are the stuff of comic books, the concept of a pathogen or parasite modifying host behavior to facilitate transmission is not pure fiction.  In nature there are numerous examples of this type of phenomenon:  Hairworms and grasshoppers,  Toxoplsam gondii and mice, Cordyceps fungus and ants are all examples of parasites altering host behaviors to perpetuate their life cycles.

Level Six Eradication?

I couldn’t find anything on a level 6 eradication using google.  The closest I got was a reference to level 6 pandemics in a Wikipedia article on pandemics.

Pandemic Infection Simulator

The computer simulation of the virus outbreak reminded me of the uber-cool Zombie Infection Simulator.  On a side note, can the deepest depths of Africa and Greenland really be overrun by infection in two weeks as was shown in the simulation?

Has Walter Ever Heard of Aerosol Transmission of Fluids?

Walter takes off his helmet, remarking that it doesn’t matter because the virus isn’t airborne and is transmitted by bodily fluid such as blood and saliva.  OK, but early in the episode, he witnessed a victim die and expel a spray of blood colored droplets form their mouth in an aerosol like mist, so maybe short range airborne transmission is a transmission vector.  He and Astrid weren’t very careful handling the body either, there was a lot of potential for splash/splatter of fluids.

Quote of the Show

From Walter:  “I can’t let Peter die again.”  Not that there was any doubt left, but this confirms that this is not the real Harry Kim, I mean Peter Bishop.

Sulfur

Not all glycosides contain sulfur.  Ones that do are called thioglycosides.  Horseradish contains singirin, which is a sulfur containing glycoside.  None of the neuraminidase inhibitors listed on the Wikipedia page contain sulfur, but I suppose their could be a “sulfur based” one.

Fentanyl, Is that Such a Good Idea?

Fentanyl may have been the agent used by Russian authorities to subdue Chechen separatists that took over a crowded theater in 2002.  It didn’t work out too well in 2002, and many people were probably killed by the gas.  (Similar to tranq darts, which I’ve covered before, anything delivered in such an uncontrolled manner that is capable of acting that fast is going to have a big chance of being lethal)  Still, it’s better than just killing everyone in a “level 6 eradication”, I guess.

1-15-10 Note:  Scott’s synopsis & review over at Polite Dissent will be delayed for at least one day.

1-18-10 Note:  Scott’s review with synopsis is finally up.

Why Was This Referred to the Fringe Division?

So some state troopers are killed, and there was a disfigured child involved that the officers reported as being initially not appearing disfigured, and we scramble the FBI Fringe division?  Was it a slow day?  On the surface, that wouldn’t seem like a Fringe case to me.

FBI Fringe Division, Offering Discount, Express Autopsies Since 2008

When they arrive on scene, Broyles informed the team that they haven’t found a single print or shell casing.  Later Broyles reports back to Olivia on the autopsy results:

“We didn’t get anything from the autopsies.  Looks like the troopers were killed with 12 gauge shotgun blasts.”

I’m sure an autopsy report would contain more information than that:

-Were they shot with shot or slugs?

-If slugs, rifled or sabot?

-If not slugs and there were no shells left behind, how do you know they were 12 gauge and not 10 or 16; did they find 12 gauge wads at the scene?

-If shot, bird or buck, and what size of either?

-Was the shot plated?

-If plated, copper, nickel, or something else?

-Did they find any traces of buffer in the shot?

-Was there any powder residue on the bodies indicating if they were shot at point blank range?

I Am Not an Animal, I Am a Human Being!

Why does the Fringe team think it is OK to refer to these unfortunate people as creatures and beasts just because they are disfigured?

Expect the Unexpected

Poor Astrid hasn’t learned to brace herself before looking inside a body bag in Walter’s lab yet.  She’ll catch on sooner or later.

How do YOU Define “Abruptly”?

Quote from Walter:

“Butterfly has two stages of life.  It’s one of the few creatures with a demonstrated ability to abruptly change its body structure.”

Metamorphosis times vary by species and other factors, but my internet research shows it takes about 1-2 weeks for most species of caterpillars to emerge from their cocoons as butterflies like the Monarch.  I would hardly call that abrupt; it’s not like they’re werewolves or anything.

Oh My God, It’s Full of Stars

Quote from Walter:

“A friend of mine once wrote that sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”

That was written by science fiction author and originator of the communications satellite Arthur Clarke.

Nice Red Herring, By the Way

I kind of liked the red herring with the butterfly, with the writers trying to make us think the people were actually changing form; it’s boring when the protagonists figure the answer out on the first try.

Quote of the Show

After Peter tells Walter that he’s proud of him, Walter replies with a sad, remorseful expression on his face:

“I’m glad you see me the way you do, very glad indeed.”

It was a touching moment that showed Walter isn’t proud of many of the things he’s done in his life.

Finally Some Text to Generate Search Engine Hits for People Who Think this Was Fringe, Episode 12, Season 2 or Fringe Season 2, Episode 12

Since Monday’s episode was an episode left over from season 1, Johari Window was actually episode 11, and not episode 12 of season 2 of Fringe.

OK, for a synopsis of this episode, head over to Scott’s review at Polite Dissent.

It was a better episode than the previous one, but again there was nothing major to Deconstruct like an electron microscope record player that reads embedded sound waves off of a glass pane, so it’s another post of minor comments.

Comments:

Sheriff Golytely, are you serious with that name?  How did Scott miss that one?

I miss the “Fringe will return in xx seconds” messages, it took all the guesswork out of skipping commercials.

The giant periodic table on the wall tells us that room was a lab, because most labs have giant periodic tables on the wall, right?

It is nice to see a TV show or movie where scars and bruises actually persist from one episode to another.

Where did all the dirt go?  If you did a hole/tunnel as big as the ones the creature dug in this episode, you have to do something with all the dirt.  For example: there was a large hold dug through the bottom of the coffin through which the creature escaped, but there was no dirt in the coffin.  Dig a tunnel much bigger than a mole hole, and you won’t be able to just compress the dirt around the hole; you’ve got to excavate it and dispose of the dirt somewhere.

Watch the following films for examples of dirt disposal from tunneling:

The Great Escape

The McKenzie Break

Best line,  “We’re all victims of our own gene pool, someone must have peed in yours.”  -Walter Bishop to Sherriff Golytely

Which universe is the show set in where an FBI agent can negligently discharge her firearm in a civilian’s house and not at least face an automatic review process?

I need to write a post on my thoughts on parallel universes and how similar or different I think they could be to our own.  (Put simply, I think they’d either be identical or completely dissimilar, bearing no resemblance to ours to the level of different starts and galaxies forming or even totally different sets of physical laws and universal constants.

Momentum does not appear to be conserved between the universes.  That is to say, if Olivia’s body is imparted with momentum from a car crashing in to her vehicle in this universe,that momentum does not carry over when she is transported to the parallel universe (she didn’t fly into the parallel universe), but is contained in this universe, waiting for her return.  This creates some very interesting implications and conundrums for conservation of mass-energy between universes:  Momentum can not be exchanged between the universes, but mass-energy can…There’s an entire post there as well.