Broyles rallies the agents for a full-blown investigation into Massive Dynamic, looking for evidence that corroborates what the late Dr. Boone said about William Bell: that he's the wallet behind ZFT. Walter finally reveals to Peter that the ZFT manifesto was typed on his typewriter (by Belly), but insists that William Bell, for all his faults, would never have wanted biological attacks on people. Walter says there's a chapter on ethics missing from the manifesto, and he means to find it. Agent Sanford Harass is back to live up to his last name (as I choose to spell it, anyway) but ordering Broyles to drop the investigation as it is solely based on the testimony of a dead former terrorist. Broyles is all "nuts to that" but not to Harass's face.
Meanwhile, the Fringe team's work continues, as they investigate what seems to be a case of spontaneous human combustion. Olivia's having a weird hallucinations, though; she sees two charred corpses on the street when there's only one; she imagines talking to Broyles in his completely rearranged office. She thinks she's losing her mind, but still tells Harass to stuff it (to his face) when he orders her to submit to a psych exam. And the hallucinations lead to a breakthrough: the dead woman was one of a pair of twins. Olivia tracks the other twin to an apartment that shows signs of the same pyrokinetic ability her sister had, activated under stress -- looks like she was kidnapped. Peter just happens to have been working on a project for his father, to build a device to record his father's old albums, and it apparently is capable of reading the sound vibrations in the melted apartment window glass to recreate the audio of what happened during the abduction, right down to the dialogue, and the pitch-perfect tones of a phone being dialed. Olivia calls the same number and gets Sanford Harass. Dun de dun!
The agents track Harass to a warehouse where the firestarter is being held and tests run; they're trying to figure out how to "activate" her, and Harass keeps making phone calls to a mysterious "him." Olivia winds up trapped with the firestarter and calms her down enough so she can direct the fire elsewhere -- like, say, right at Sanford Harass, who goes up in a satisfying ball of flame. The pyrokinetic twins were two of the same drug tests that Olivia was a part of, and she demands answers from Walter, who tearfully tells her he can't remember anything.
Also, Nina Sharp visits Broyles, to tell him the Observer's been spotted a lot in the past twenty-four hours, and Broyles knows what that means. Later, perhaps at her apartment, Nina is greeted by masked thugs who shoot her (but it sounds like the report of a dart rather than a bullet). And at the lab, after Walter finds the ethics chapter he was looking for, he's visited by the Observer, who tells him that it's time to go. Walter dutifully gets his jacket.
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Gut-churning photos (of people with extra skin grown over their orifices, and people whose spines are getting a little air) accompany Broyles' no-nonsense intonation as he briefs a room full of FBI agents on the plan to take down William Bell and ZFT. Which is really all about connecting Bell to ZFT, because all they have right now is the deathbed confession of a man who turned his wife into a syphilis-ridden she-beast (not to sound like Agent Harass a little later). The agents have before them packets containing the ZFT manifesto, and some Earl Grey tea for caffeine jolts for long work nights ahead. "What we do know is that these bizarre acts seem to be increasing in frequency, and that their targets are unpredictable, and therefore unprotectable," says Broyles.
While Broyles continues the briefing, we see a frantic woman running from an apartment building in New York City, failing to catch a taxi, because there are only eight million of them in the Big Apple, and then rushing to catch a bus (which has an ad for Massive Dynamic on the side, naturally). She asks the driver if the bus goes past Lennox Hill Hospital, and he says it does, and asks if she feels all right. "Fine. Let's just go, please," she says.
Back in Boston, Broyles is telling the assembled agents that they have a single goal: "to provide actionable evidence establishing a link between William Bell and ZFT." He introduces Olivia and Charlie (who stand up theatrically and turn to face the agents) and says they'll be assigning teams (at which point Charlie yells out "first captain first pick!") and coordinating the investigation.
Back on the bus, the frantic woman is panting, clutching at her collar. She looks hot, especially when she leans her head against the window and it immediately steams up. Looking scared, she looks at the seat in front of her, and the folded up newspaper there starts to smoulder and smoke. Aw, come on! The crossword's not even done! She yells for the driver to stop the bus, and he tells her to sit down, but she freaks out badly enough that he stops and she runs off. I don't wish to add to her troubles, but I'm pretty sure she forgot to ask for a transfer.
She spins around, gasping, asking for help. She can't breathe. Her face goes beet red, and then suddenly there are flames in front of her ... no, I'm sorry, there are flames on her. I think maybe the special effects budget is almost depleted (or perhaps is being saved up for the final episode of the season). She's on fire. Not like Bruce Springsteen, but literally on fire. And then she explodes. So it was over quick, which isn't too bad in a sense.
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