Bad Dreams (Fringe)
Encyclopedia
"Bad Dreams" is the 17th episode of the first season of the American science fiction
drama
television series
Fringe
. It was written and directed by Academy Award-winning screenwriter
Akiva Goldsman
, his first writing credit for a television show. In the episode, Olivia
dreams she is causing people to either kill others or themselves, which leads her to meet Nick Lane, a man from her past that leads Olivia to discover their shared history as test subjects in a series of childhood drug trials.
The episode first aired on April 21, 2009 in the United States on Fox
to more than 9.89 million viewers. It received generally positive reviews, with many critics praising the beginning dream sequence, the climax atop the building, and the final scene with Walter and the old footage of Olivia. Critics also enjoyed the further revelations about Olivia's background; the subject would later have an entire episode
devoted to it in the third season.
(Anna Torv
) dreams that she pushes a woman in front of a subway train at Grand Central Terminal
, but assumes it was just in her head. In the morning however, the news reports that the woman killed herself with the train. Walter
(John Noble
) puts forth various theories, such as astroprojection, while Peter
(Joshua Jackson
) thinks it was still just a dream. Olivia is unconvinced, and goes with the Fringe team to investigate. An NYPD officer (April Grace
) escorts them to the crime scene, and Peter sees a red balloon floating and begins to believe her, as Olivia had described the balloon to him previously.
Olivia worries it will happen again, and though she attempts to ward off sleep, she next dreams that she helps a woman murder her husband at a restaurant. They interview the wife, who tells them she became so convinced her husband was going to leave her that she became angry and stabbed him. The team posits that while no one is actually causing the incidents, they are happening as Olivia has seen them. At the restaurant, the owner tells them a blond man with a scar named Nick Lane (David Call
) was sitting in the same place as Olivia was in her dream, and was also seen in the video surveillance from the first crime scene. Walter posits that because she never sees him in her dreams, it was Lane, not Olivia, causing the people's deaths. Olivia and Peter interview doctors at St. Jude's Mental Hospital, who tell them Lane was staying there voluntarily but left after a mysterious man came to visit him. The doctor described him as hyperemotive, in which those near him adopt the same emotions he is experiencing. Olivia and Peter soon learn that as a child, Lane was treated with the nootropic drug Cortexiphan in drug trials, and believes himself to be a recruit in the upcoming war between the two universes.
Walter tells Olivia that she may have been in the same drug trials as Lane, and that the bond they share stems from Walter and William Bell (Leonard Nimoy
) pairing up the children into "buddy systems". To locate where Lane is, Walter uses this bond and puts Olivia under the effect of drugs so she experiences Lane's emotions. She sees Lane sleep with a stripper, who then is influenced to kill herself in a mirror of Lane's depressed thoughts; afterwards, Olivia discovers where he lives. While they explore his apartment, a suicidal Lane walks down a sidewalk and unwittingly influences others to mirror his emotions, so that they follow him to the top of a building. Because of her past in the trials, Walter believes Olivia won't be influenced by these suicidal thoughts, and she goes to encounter Lane alone. While Olivia does not remember him, he remembers her, having nicknamed her "Olive." Olivia non-fatally wounds him so he does not commit suicide with the others, and he is placed in a medically induced coma to contain his emotions.
The episode ends with Walter watching a video of Olivia as a child, apparently taken during the time she was being administered the drug. Walter's voice is heard on the tape, as is William Bell's. Both are trying to calm Olivia down and there appears to be damage to the equipment in the room.
. Goldsman was "attracted" to the series because he believed that at the time, Fringes "mythology was already really starting to hum". "Bad Dreams" was his first writing credit for a television episode, and he wrote several hours of material before co-executive producer Jeff Pinkner
helped him condense it. Every episode since "Bad Dreams", Goldsman has been credited as a Consulting producer. It marked the first episode with previous Fringe director Brad Anderson now also credited as a producer.
The opening scene in the subway was initially going to be on top of a building so that the episode would begin and end the same, but co-creator J.J. Abrams thought it would be better to start it underground and "move up throughout the episode". The episode began the setup of Olivia's backstory by revealing the Cortexiphan drug trials, which would be an ongoing plot point in continuing episodes. All the shots were chosen carefully to put the viewer in Olivia's troubled frame of mind, and consequently the episode had many tight shots that were meant to give a "sense of unease". The producers felt that shooting on the lab set was the "hardest set to shoot at on the planet" because it contained several levels that inhibited the crew's ability to move cameras around. As Goldsman had an aversion to shooting in hospitals, they used a church for the mental hospital scenes. When Olivia, Peter, and Walter are en route to the climax at the building, the shots of them in the SUV were just shots of them driving back and forth on the 59th Street Bridge
. The climatic scene where Olivia encounters Nick and the group of people at the top of the building was shot at 902 Broadway in Manhattan
. Though the actors appeared to be on the edge of a very tall building, there was in fact a hidden roof extending out that they would have fallen on instead. The visual and special effects departments worked in conjunction to simulate the woman jumping off the building. While the actress simply jumped onto a tarp several feet below her, the crew rigged the car with pneumatic rams, air cannons, and cables to implode under the "weight" of her body, and then CGI
was used to make the woman appear to fall on the car.
Actress Anna Torv
called the episode's hotel scene her favorite of the show so far, explaining "I loved shooting that because it was the first time that Olivia really inched her way into that dynamic of Peter and Walter. She’s been kind of on the outside, and wrangling them constantly, but this gave me a glimpse into realizing everything is a little bit entwined. I can’t say anything more because I’ll get into trouble or something."
The final scene of the episode ended with a tape of a young Olivia in a fire-damaged room, leading to rumors her character was a fire starter
. Torv however discounted this soon after, explaining "I think it's more than that... I think what they got given or what they got taught is much bigger than just starting fire". Jeff Pinkner agreed and elaborated further, "We saw the consequence. We saw that she started a fire at the end of the last episode, but I think it's a mistake to assume that that's her power. I think the truth is, it's probably a consequence of her ability". This particular scene, as well as the episode's reference to experiments Walter performed on children, comprise the main plot of the season three episode "Subject 13
".
, and thought the climax was "extraordinarily well-shot and performed". IGN
's Ramsey Isler rated the episode 9.2/10, writing that it "is a classic example of a story you have to be patient with. This was an episode with a compelling, shocking start that kept us hooked well enough to deal with some slow points in the rest of the first half-hour. But we were rewarded for our patience with one heck of a climax and epilogue. This was well-executed TV". Andrew Hanson from the Los Angeles Times
thought that while the first half wasn't very exciting, the second half had "plenty to keep up interest" as more was revealed about Olivia and Walter's backgrounds. Rhee Dee of Pinkraygun.com liked the scenes depicting Olivia and Broyles' relationship, as well as the revelations behind the experimentation on a young Olivia, and thought the Fox promos made the episode look much lamer than it actually was. io9
's Annalee Newitz loved the "great, creepy" opening scene, the arc concerning Walter's past experimentation on children, and the "well-played, funny and strange" scene when "Olivia" goes to the strip club. Though a bit disappointed with the "conspiracy" story, Sfscope.coms Sarah Stegall nevertheless called the episode "well-crafted," enjoyed the Peter-Olivia moments, praised Torv's performance, and said Akiva Goldsman "gave us an episode built like a slow fuse: tightly wound, coiling out of sight, and finishing big.
submitted the episode for consideration in the Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series category at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards
, but did not receive a nomination.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
television series
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
Fringe
Fringe (TV series)
Fringe is an American science fiction television series created by J. J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. The series follows a Federal Bureau of Investigation "Fringe Division" team based in Boston, Massachusetts under the supervision of Homeland Security...
. It was written and directed by Academy Award-winning screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
Akiva Goldsman
Akiva Goldsman
Akiva J. Goldsman from Walker Valley, New York is an American screenwriter and film producer. He received an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the 2001 film, A Beautiful Mind, which also won the Oscar for Best Picture....
, his first writing credit for a television show. In the episode, Olivia
Olivia Dunham
FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series Fringe . Olivia first appeared in the pilot episode on September 9, 2008. She is portrayed by actress Anna Torv....
dreams she is causing people to either kill others or themselves, which leads her to meet Nick Lane, a man from her past that leads Olivia to discover their shared history as test subjects in a series of childhood drug trials.
The episode first aired on April 21, 2009 in the United States on Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
to more than 9.89 million viewers. It received generally positive reviews, with many critics praising the beginning dream sequence, the climax atop the building, and the final scene with Walter and the old footage of Olivia. Critics also enjoyed the further revelations about Olivia's background; the subject would later have an entire episode
Subject 13
"Subject 13" is the 15th episode of the third season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe, and the 58th episode overall. Inspired by fan reaction to the show's previous flashback episode, "Peter", "Subject 13" occurs 25 years before the show's current timeline, in 1985 a...
devoted to it in the third season.
Plot
OliviaOlivia Dunham
FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series Fringe . Olivia first appeared in the pilot episode on September 9, 2008. She is portrayed by actress Anna Torv....
(Anna Torv
Anna Torv
Anna Torv is an Australian actress known for her role as FBI agent Olivia Dunham on the Fox television series Fringe.-Early life:...
) dreams that she pushes a woman in front of a subway train at Grand Central Terminal
Grand Central Terminal
Grand Central Terminal —often incorrectly called Grand Central Station, or shortened to simply Grand Central—is a terminal station at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States...
, but assumes it was just in her head. In the morning however, the news reports that the woman killed herself with the train. Walter
Walter Bishop (Fringe)
Walter Bishop, Ph.D. is a fictional character on the Fox television series Fringe. He is portrayed by John Noble. Noble also plays Walter's counterpart in the show's parallel universe, who is referred to in the show as Walternate.-Arc:...
(John Noble
John Noble
John Noble is an Australian film and television actor, and theater director of more than 80 plays. He was born in Port Pirie, South Australia, Australia and is currently starring as scientist Walter Bishop in the J. J. Abrams television series Fringe.He made occasional appearances on the...
) puts forth various theories, such as astroprojection, while Peter
Peter Bishop
Peter Bishop is a fictional character on the Fox television series Fringe. He is portrayed by Joshua Jackson.-Fictional character biography:...
(Joshua Jackson
Joshua Jackson
Joshua Carter Jackson is a Canadian American actor. He has appeared in primetime television and in over 32 film roles. He is best known for playing Charlie Conway in The Mighty Ducks film series, Pacey Witter in the television series Dawson's Creek and Peter Bishop in the television series...
) thinks it was still just a dream. Olivia is unconvinced, and goes with the Fringe team to investigate. An NYPD officer (April Grace
April Grace
April Grace is an SAG Award-nominated American actress.In the early 1990s, Grace landed a recurring role as the transporter chief on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Interspersing acclaimed and award-winning stage work in Los Angeles with her film and TV roles, the actress slowly rose from bit parts...
) escorts them to the crime scene, and Peter sees a red balloon floating and begins to believe her, as Olivia had described the balloon to him previously.
Olivia worries it will happen again, and though she attempts to ward off sleep, she next dreams that she helps a woman murder her husband at a restaurant. They interview the wife, who tells them she became so convinced her husband was going to leave her that she became angry and stabbed him. The team posits that while no one is actually causing the incidents, they are happening as Olivia has seen them. At the restaurant, the owner tells them a blond man with a scar named Nick Lane (David Call
David Call
David Steven Call , is an American film and television actor- Personal life :He is a graduate student of NYU Tisch School of the Arts and the Atlantic Theater Company Acting School.- Acting career :...
) was sitting in the same place as Olivia was in her dream, and was also seen in the video surveillance from the first crime scene. Walter posits that because she never sees him in her dreams, it was Lane, not Olivia, causing the people's deaths. Olivia and Peter interview doctors at St. Jude's Mental Hospital, who tell them Lane was staying there voluntarily but left after a mysterious man came to visit him. The doctor described him as hyperemotive, in which those near him adopt the same emotions he is experiencing. Olivia and Peter soon learn that as a child, Lane was treated with the nootropic drug Cortexiphan in drug trials, and believes himself to be a recruit in the upcoming war between the two universes.
Walter tells Olivia that she may have been in the same drug trials as Lane, and that the bond they share stems from Walter and William Bell (Leonard Nimoy
Leonard Nimoy
Leonard Simon Nimoy is an American actor, film director, poet, musician and photographer. Nimoy's most famous role is that of Spock in the original Star Trek series , multiple films, television and video game sequels....
) pairing up the children into "buddy systems". To locate where Lane is, Walter uses this bond and puts Olivia under the effect of drugs so she experiences Lane's emotions. She sees Lane sleep with a stripper, who then is influenced to kill herself in a mirror of Lane's depressed thoughts; afterwards, Olivia discovers where he lives. While they explore his apartment, a suicidal Lane walks down a sidewalk and unwittingly influences others to mirror his emotions, so that they follow him to the top of a building. Because of her past in the trials, Walter believes Olivia won't be influenced by these suicidal thoughts, and she goes to encounter Lane alone. While Olivia does not remember him, he remembers her, having nicknamed her "Olive." Olivia non-fatally wounds him so he does not commit suicide with the others, and he is placed in a medically induced coma to contain his emotions.
The episode ends with Walter watching a video of Olivia as a child, apparently taken during the time she was being administered the drug. Walter's voice is heard on the tape, as is William Bell's. Both are trying to calm Olivia down and there appears to be damage to the equipment in the room.
Production
The episode was written and directed by Academy Award-winning screenwriter Akiva GoldsmanAkiva Goldsman
Akiva J. Goldsman from Walker Valley, New York is an American screenwriter and film producer. He received an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the 2001 film, A Beautiful Mind, which also won the Oscar for Best Picture....
. Goldsman was "attracted" to the series because he believed that at the time, Fringes "mythology was already really starting to hum". "Bad Dreams" was his first writing credit for a television episode, and he wrote several hours of material before co-executive producer Jeff Pinkner
Jeff Pinkner
Jeff Pinkner is an American television writer and producer. He graduated from Pikesville High School in Baltimore Maryland in 1983. He is known for his work on Alias where he served as executive producer. In 2006 and 2007, he worked as an executive producer and writer for the mystery series Lost...
helped him condense it. Every episode since "Bad Dreams", Goldsman has been credited as a Consulting producer. It marked the first episode with previous Fringe director Brad Anderson now also credited as a producer.
Queensboro Bridge
The Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, also known as the 59th Street Bridge – because its Manhattan end is located between 59th and 60th Streets – or simply the Queensboro Bridge, is a cantilever bridge over the East River in New York City that was completed in 1909...
. The climatic scene where Olivia encounters Nick and the group of people at the top of the building was shot at 902 Broadway in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. Though the actors appeared to be on the edge of a very tall building, there was in fact a hidden roof extending out that they would have fallen on instead. The visual and special effects departments worked in conjunction to simulate the woman jumping off the building. While the actress simply jumped onto a tarp several feet below her, the crew rigged the car with pneumatic rams, air cannons, and cables to implode under the "weight" of her body, and then CGI
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
was used to make the woman appear to fall on the car.
Actress Anna Torv
Anna Torv
Anna Torv is an Australian actress known for her role as FBI agent Olivia Dunham on the Fox television series Fringe.-Early life:...
called the episode's hotel scene her favorite of the show so far, explaining "I loved shooting that because it was the first time that Olivia really inched her way into that dynamic of Peter and Walter. She’s been kind of on the outside, and wrangling them constantly, but this gave me a glimpse into realizing everything is a little bit entwined. I can’t say anything more because I’ll get into trouble or something."
The final scene of the episode ended with a tape of a young Olivia in a fire-damaged room, leading to rumors her character was a fire starter
Pyrokinesis
Pyrokinesis, derived from the Greek words and , was the name coined by horror novelist Stephen King for the ability to create or to control fire with the mind that he gave to the protagonist Charlie McGee in Firestarter...
. Torv however discounted this soon after, explaining "I think it's more than that... I think what they got given or what they got taught is much bigger than just starting fire". Jeff Pinkner agreed and elaborated further, "We saw the consequence. We saw that she started a fire at the end of the last episode, but I think it's a mistake to assume that that's her power. I think the truth is, it's probably a consequence of her ability". This particular scene, as well as the episode's reference to experiments Walter performed on children, comprise the main plot of the season three episode "Subject 13
Subject 13
"Subject 13" is the 15th episode of the third season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe, and the 58th episode overall. Inspired by fan reaction to the show's previous flashback episode, "Peter", "Subject 13" occurs 25 years before the show's current timeline, in 1985 a...
".
Ratings
The episode was watched by more than 9.89 million viewers in the United States, with a 5.9/9 rating among all households.Reviews
Noel Murray from A.V. Club graded the episode with an A-; he praised the "fine job" of director/writer Akiva GoldsmanAkiva Goldsman
Akiva J. Goldsman from Walker Valley, New York is an American screenwriter and film producer. He received an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the 2001 film, A Beautiful Mind, which also won the Oscar for Best Picture....
, and thought the climax was "extraordinarily well-shot and performed". IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
's Ramsey Isler rated the episode 9.2/10, writing that it "is a classic example of a story you have to be patient with. This was an episode with a compelling, shocking start that kept us hooked well enough to deal with some slow points in the rest of the first half-hour. But we were rewarded for our patience with one heck of a climax and epilogue. This was well-executed TV". Andrew Hanson from the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
thought that while the first half wasn't very exciting, the second half had "plenty to keep up interest" as more was revealed about Olivia and Walter's backgrounds. Rhee Dee of Pinkraygun.com liked the scenes depicting Olivia and Broyles' relationship, as well as the revelations behind the experimentation on a young Olivia, and thought the Fox promos made the episode look much lamer than it actually was. io9
Io9
io9 is a blog launched in 2008 by Gawker Media. The blog focuses on the subjects of science fiction, futurism, and advancements in the fields of science and technology....
's Annalee Newitz loved the "great, creepy" opening scene, the arc concerning Walter's past experimentation on children, and the "well-played, funny and strange" scene when "Olivia" goes to the strip club. Though a bit disappointed with the "conspiracy" story, Sfscope.coms Sarah Stegall nevertheless called the episode "well-crafted," enjoyed the Peter-Olivia moments, praised Torv's performance, and said Akiva Goldsman "gave us an episode built like a slow fuse: tightly wound, coiling out of sight, and finishing big.
Awards and nominations
Director-writer Akiva GoldsmanAkiva Goldsman
Akiva J. Goldsman from Walker Valley, New York is an American screenwriter and film producer. He received an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the 2001 film, A Beautiful Mind, which also won the Oscar for Best Picture....
submitted the episode for consideration in the Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series category at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards
61st Primetime Emmy Awards
The 61st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards took place on September 20, 2009. CBS broadcast the Primetime event and E! the Creative Arts event; both take place at Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California. The nominations for the Awards were announced on July 16....
, but did not receive a nomination.
External links
- "Bad Dreams" at FoxFox Broadcasting CompanyFox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...