Cordial Deconstruction

(A Blue Episode)

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

Blog Fodder For Scott

The weren’t exactly psychic nosebleeds, but I’m sure Scott will mention them.

I Have No Sarcastic Heading For This One, But The Numbers Are Off…

Walter said about Oppenheiner,

“And how do you think he slept, after his little invention had killed hundreds of thousands in a fraction of a second?’

The little boy bomb dropped on Hiroshima killed about 66,000 as a direct result of the blast, and the fat man bomb killed about 39,000 in Nagasaki as a direct result of its blast.  Also, although the actual nuclear detonation took fractions of a second,  it took one second for the little boy fireball to grow to its maximum height of 280m, and although it traveled faster than the speed of sound, the blast wave also took longer than a fraction of a second to propagate.

Any Chance Fauxlivia Will Change Her Mind?

“I’ve been noticing a lot of things since we’ve been back.”

You don’t think there could be any subtle foreshadowing there that Fauxlivia will eventually decide she likes our world better, do you?

They Got Me

I’ll admit it, they got me with the raspberry jam on the tie.

From My Notes I

“Does Bell leave Massive Dynamic to Walter???”

Good Job at Not Arousing Suspicion Fauxlivia

Peter should already be suspicious of her out of character behavior, recent events be damned.  Maybe Fauxlivia’s not any brighter than our Olivia.  Maybe Peter’s not that bright, either.

Good Cover, But I Still Question…

They did a good job of explaining how Fauxlivia is going to be able to maintain her cover, but I still don’t see how those closest to Olivia aren’t going to catch her slipping up on something she should know sooner or later.

From My Notes II

“Must have read her lips to get her name- DEAF???  Deaf=Immune to device???”

I’m Not A Neurologist, but…

That whole deal about harmonic music reducing neural activity, and that being why we think more clearly when we listen to that type of music didn’t quite ring true to me.  Don’t we need neural activity to think?  Even if that were so, Walter’s “neural activity” was flat lining while the music was playing, but he was also talking at the same time.  I’m interested to see Polite Scott’s take on this.  (I’m being very reserved in my questioning here because i don’t know and don’t feel like taking the time to do the research right now.)

Size Does Matter

That silencer (more properly called a suppressor) was too small to be effective.  You need room for the muzzle gasses to expand and slow down.  Suppressors are basically mufflers for guns, and little mufflers don’t work very well.  Also, if she wasn’t using subsonic ammo, there would still be a load crack (mini sonic boom) from the bullet traveling faster than the speed of sound.

Perhaps The Dumbest Thing I Have Ever Seen On Fringe

Shooting a gun that close to a person’s ears is almost guaranteed to produce at least some permanent hearing loss and probably a lot more pain then Peter exhibited.  130dB is about the threshold of pain, and typical service handgun comes in at about 160dB at the muzzle.

Did She Use Blanks?

Nobody seemed particularly concerned about ricochet potential in an area with lots of hard surfaces like the subway station, did they?

Is There a Reason To Think It Would Be Booby-Trapped?

Just cut all the wires, Peter.  The device is a weapon component, and likely was not designed to prevent disabling.  Nuclear weapons, for example, are not designed to prevent them form being disabled.  In fact, they are designed to be rendered relatively inert when tampered with.

You Better Sign For That

Sure, Peter, you can take the ultrasonic death component for the ultimate weapon of mass destruction back to your father’s unsecured lab to tinker with on your own.  Why bother with security or safety measures?  It’s not like the lab has ever been broken into before by armed criminals, other than that one time, of course.

Bearer Shares

Massive Dynamic must be the only company in the world that issues stock in bearer shares such that whoever posses the physical documents is the owner of the company.  No wonder Bell kept them in a safety deposit box.