- Walter flashes back to 1985 while explaining Peter's otherworldly origins to Olivia. Also, Peter's mother is introduced, and details of the neighboring world reaffirm that there is more than one of everything.
- Walter visits Olivia. Having a cup of tea together, Walter starts explaining to her how Peter is not really from our world. In the '80s Walter, who was a different man back then, built a device through which he could see the other Universe so, practically, a window to the other Universe. After Peter's death he wanted to do more than just observe; he felt it was his job as a father to do so. Because of September, Walternate couldn't figure out the right compound for the cure to save Peter's life so Walter decided to cross the worlds in order to save the other Peter. This, however, created a wormwhole into the alternate Universe that has had devastating consequences.—Andy Ward
- Dr. Bishop visits Olivia and has a cold reception from her. Walter asks for something to drink and tells the story of Peter. In the 80's, Dr. Bishop designed and built a portal to the alternate universe. When his son Peter dies, he crosses the portal despite the protest of Dr. Carla Warren and Nina Sharp to save the life of the other Peter. He brings the boy to heal him, but his wife Liz does not allow him to return the boy to his mother.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- U.S. Army Research HQ, 1985
A younger Walter Bishop (John Noble) gives a sales pitch to three army men, showing them a cell phone of today and telling them more is possible - it's from an alternate advanced universe. He copied it.
He takes them to a rooftop, describing a window to the other world as his lovely flaxen-haired colleague, Dr. Warren sets it up. They peer through and see the Empire State Building as a docking station for Zeppelins.
(Rolls credits...1985 style with bubble font and synth music.)
Back in Boston, Olivia (Anna Torv) answers her door late at night to see Walter on her doorstep. She's been ignoring him. He wants to explain the whole Peter's-from-another-world thing. First, a stiff drink.
Olivia hasn't told Broyles yet, but might.
Walter unwraps the package he brought with him - the window to the other world.
He tells her Peter's illness was genetic and without hope. He took him there, where they're more technologically advanced. He thought Peter's father there would be motivated to help his sick Peter find a cure. He was.
Back in Walter's lab in 1985... He watches his counterpart through the window -- Walter has named him "Walternate" - as he mixes what they hope is a cure. No luck.
Walter's wife Elizabeth calls. She wants him to come home.
At home, she thinks Peter is worse. He promises her he won't give up.
He checks on young Peter, who's practicing flipping a coin on his knuckles. He wants his dad to have it, if he dies. Walter promises him he'll be OK.
Then he hugs his son and realizes Peter has gone limp. Walter's too late.
The Bishops bury their son. Nina Sharp (Blair Brown) is at the graveside service.
After, she makes apologies for William Bell's absence; he's at meetings in Berlin.
At home, the Bishops struggle with their grief, hoping they gave Peter a good life.
In the middle of the night, Walter wakes his wife up. He takes her down the hallway to Peter's room where he's set up the window in front of his bed. He shows her the other Peter.
He tells her somewhere Peter will grow up happy, and they need to move on.
Back in his lab Walter watches Walternate work. He realizes Walternate is a step ahead of him. He turns the window to see August, one of many Observers, at the lab door and watches as the chemical reaction changes to show it works. Walter cheers for his counterpart, but then realizes Walternate missed the reaction because his back was turned.
Walter smashes the window.
In the other world, a Zeppelin flies over a movie theater showing "Back to the Future," starring Eric Stoltz. Two Observers comes out and are joined by August. He confesses he accidentally interacted with Walternate as he was working on the cure. They tell him he'll have to fix things and will get the chance.
Back in our world, Walter works on replicating the cure he saw. Dr. Warren comes in and he tells her he's making a compound to save the other Peter -- which is why he has to go over there.
He's looking for a location near their lake house for him to cross over. Dr. Warren tells him he can't cross over, it would shatter the constants of nature.
She says some things are not ours to tamper with, some things are God's.
He picks Reiden Lake and sends Dr. Warren on her way.
Warren goes to see Nina Sharp, warning her what Walter is up to.
Walter arrives at the lake, cure in hand.
He hauls a large object on a sled to the middle of the lake. He sets up suitcases and hoses and a generator and two large metal sheets facing each other. He checks again to see he has the vial then looks up to see Dr. Warren and Nina Sharp approaching him. They tell him to stop.
Nina says if William were there, he'd stop him. Walter says William would encourage him and has. William never had a way to convince Walter to try crossing over before, now he does.
Nina tries again to talk him out of it, but Walter turns the machine on and dives through the window. Nina lays out behind him, trying to grab him, but he makes it through. The window closes on Nina's hand, leaving it shimmering and fluxing between worlds (and explaining how she ends up with that fancy prosthesis).
On the other side, Walter is crushed to find he smashed the vial traveling across.
Alternate Peter practices his coin flipping trick, which his alternate mother helps him with. He tells her he wants her to have it, if he dies. It's the same conversation other Peter had with his dad.
Except he doesn't die at the end.
Walter walks in and sits down on Peter's bed. Elizabeth comes in and Walter tells her he thinks he's found a cure, but he has to take Peter to Cambridge.
He tells Elizabeth to stay behind. She relents.
As Walter leaves with Peter, he promises to bring him back.
Walter takes Peter to the middle of the frozen lake. They walk in the snow until all of a sudden Peter says "You're not my father, are you?"
"Of course I am, who else would I be?" Walter says.
He opens the window to the other world and takes Peter's hand. They walk through - just in time for the ice to crack beneath them upon their return.
The portal falls through the ice and Walter tries to break through as he struggles to hold on to Peter. Peter starts drifting away when someone dives into the frigid water. Walter floats unconscious.
The next thing he knows, he's shivering and riding shotgun with August, whom he recognizes from Walternate's lab. Peter is in the back seat. The Observer tells Walter that Peter doesn't have long, he has to fix him. "The boy is important, he has to live," says the Observer as he gets out of the car and disappears.
Walter races to his lab. Cut to Peter lying on a gurney in Walter's lab. Dr. Warren tells him Nina will be OK; William Bell has some thoughts on what to do about her hand. He promises Warren he'll return Peter. She leaves and Elizabeth comes in.
She sees the other Peter and hugs him like a mother who's gotten her dead son back. Walter tells her he's not theirs, he has to take him back. She doesn't look inclined to go along with that.
Back in the present, Walter tells Olivia that was the moment when he realized that he could never take Peter back. "I couldn't lose him again," Walter said.
That was the first crack between the worlds, and it was his fault.
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