Of Human Action
Encyclopedia
"Of Human Action" is the seventh episode of the second season of the science fiction/crime series Fringe
, and the 27th episode overall. The episode followed a case involving the apparent kidnapping of the son of a scientist working for biotechnology corporation Massive Dynamic, leading the Fringe team to deal with the repercussions of mind control
.
The episode was written by the staff-writing team of Glen Whitman
and Robert Chiappetta
, and was directed by executive producer Joe Chappelle
. It first aired in the United States on November 12, 2009 to an estimated 5.89 million viewers. It received generally positive reviews, as multiple critics praised the story despite its characterization as a "standalone" episode.
) in the backseat. Police officers surround the car and draw their weapons, demanding that the men exit the car. They do, and Tyler stays in his seat. Without explanation, one of the officers goes to the parking ramp and jumps to his death. Another officer shoots her two remaining co-workers, then herself. The kidnappers' crime spree continues on the road. One of them, Hickey (John Tench), demands that a convenience store clerk hand over all his cash. Another customer tries to intervene, but then takes a pot of hot coffee, pours the coffee to his face, and beats himself with the pot. The cashier electrocutes himself.
Examining the policewoman who shot herself, Walter
(John Noble
) concludes that she was the victim of mind control
rather than hypnosis
. Theorizing that the mind control works on an auditory basis, he develops a method of combating the effects through the use of white noise
. The tactical team led by Olivia
(Anna Torv
) traces the kidnappers—both of them car salesmen with no serious criminal record—to a warehouse. One of them drives the car through a large door, but is burnt in the explosion when the car flips. Olivia gets the drop on the surviving kidnapper, who points a gun at his own chin and begs for her help. Peter
(Joshua Jackson
), wearing headphones that broadcast Walter's white noise, follows the ransom payment. It leads him to Tyler, who says, "You can take off those stupid headphones. They won't work."
Peter is now forced into helping Tyler, who has mind control powers due to his father James (Andrew Airlie
) working on thought-controlled weapons systems for Massive Dynamic. Peter tries to get into Tyler's head by sharing his own stories of his father not believing in him, but Tyler rejects the attempts to bond, as he only needs a driver. Their destination is the home of Tyler's mother, whom Tyler had been told was dead. When the two of them meet, Tyler wants her to run off so that they can be together again. She refuses, and Tyler becomes enraged at her husband when he returns home.
Tyler tries to force Peter to shoot the husband, but changes the target to Agent Broyles (Lance Reddick
) when he arrives at the house with Olivia. Peter is forced to shoot Broyles, but manages to pull the gun off-center so that the agent is only hit in the shoulder. After Peter crashes the car that both he and Tyler are in, Tyler is brought unconscious into custody. Nina Sharp (Blair Brown
) writes a message to the absent William Bell updating him on the status of the "Carson-Penrose" experiments (Claus Penrose is a scientist seen caring for a genetically engineered killer in the much earlier episode "The Same Old Story
"). Tyler is one of many identical boys placed with foster families, and James was his assigned guardian, not his father.
and Robert Chiappetta
, and was directed by executive producer Joe Chappelle
. It was shot in Vancouver in September 2009; the crew wrapped up production during the middle of the month, and then immediately moved onto the following episode, "August
".
To simulate the police officer falling in the opening scene, the special effects department had the stunt double fall 52 feet onto an 18x24 feet airbag, which they referred to as "old-fashioned" because they used the airbag rather than wires. Trevor Jones, the stuntman doing the scene, commented during shooting that his fall had a small margin of error, because of the small airbag and cement
walls surrounding the area, "if you land off center maybe three or four feet, then you're going to get pitched in that direction". To aid Jones, a large X was placed on the airbag. A scene later in the episode involves a car fleeing through a garage door, only to hit a concrete wall, flip over, and burst into flames. To create the scene, the crew used two externally-identical cars; one was drivable, and the other was a shell of car, and was hooked to a cable rig. After taking a week to get everything set up, the crew used a nitrogen cannon to launch the second, undrivable car through the garage door via wires.
The episode featured a guest performance by Cameron Monaghan
as the mind controller Tyler Carson. The actor tweeted
after the episode's broadcast, "Fringe was cool. What person in the world doesn't wish they had mind-controll powers!" "Of Human Action" also had guest appearances by Andrew Airlie
, Peter Graham-Gaudreau, John Tench, Vincent Gale, Jacqueline Ann Steuart, and Doron Bell Jr.
.
. In honor of The Simpsons
20th anniversary, several shows in Fox's lineup contained references to the show. In "Of Human Action", Tyler uses a Homer Simpson
Pez
dispenser to store his mind-control drugs, and the town he and Peter journey to is Springfield, the same name of the town in The Simpsons; when Springfield appears in the sky, no state is shown, just like the ambiguity concerning the home state of The Simpsons.
low ratings have been attributed to the unexpected end to the 2009 World Series
. Despite the ratings improvement, "Of Human Action" led Fringe to finish in fourth place for its timeslot.
's Josh Wigler, writing "As a stand-alone episode with some interesting character insight, this week's Fringe was a success. It might also be a mythological success, too, should the big reveal at the end—the fact that Massive Dynamic has inundated multiple children with telepathic abilities—pan out in future episodes." Andrew Hanson of the Los Angeles Times
enjoyed being able to see more of Massive Dynamic, and praised Astrid's increased presence in the plot. Airlock Alpha
writer Tiffany Vogt called it a "gripping story with much emotional resonance," especially with the father-son parallels between Peter and Tyler.
The A. V. Club's Noel Murray had a more mixed reaction, giving the episode a rating of C+ and criticizing lead guest actor Cameron Monaghan, "In this role, he was a drag, playing 'rebellious teen' in a stock, wooden way, with no extra layers. Also, nobody—not even Joshua Jackson, whom I've come to appreciate more as an actor over the run of this show—could make the 'My mind is being controlled!' scenes look anything other than goofy." Murray also said, "Yet for all my griping, I was quite taken with the theme of this episode, and the motifs that writers Robert Chiappetta and Glen Whitman and director Joe Chappelle used to support it. From the tinfoil Peter Pan hats that Walter and Astrid wear to Tyler popping the medication that grants him his powers out of a Pez dispenser, there's a lot in 'Of Human Action' about childish things." Ramsey Isler from IGN
graded the episode 8.0/10, explaining that despite it being a "standalone" episode, it was "a high-intensity, action-filled tale that kept the adrenaline flowing. Fringe is usually more of a cerebral show, but there's nothing wrong with appealing to our love of action every now and then". Also positive was Chanel Reeder of Newsarama
, who believed Fringe "totally deliver[ed] in its most recent episode. The twists are back, along with the dramatic high intensity moments that the show is known for." Reeder praised the plot twist of Tyler being the mind controller, and was pleased to the increased presence of Massive Dynamic.
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...
, and the 27th episode overall. The episode followed a case involving the apparent kidnapping of the son of a scientist working for biotechnology corporation Massive Dynamic, leading the Fringe team to deal with the repercussions of mind control
Mind control
Mind control refers to a process in which a group or individual "systematically uses unethically manipulative methods to persuade others to conform to the wishes of the manipulator, often to the detriment of the person being manipulated"...
.
The episode was written by the staff-writing team of Glen Whitman
Glen Whitman
Glen Whitman is an American television writer who, along with his writing partner Robert Chiappetta, serves as executive story editor on the FOX science-fiction series Fringe and has contributed several scripts to the series. Whitman has been a Science Adviser to the series since the first season.-...
and Robert Chiappetta
Robert Chiappetta
Robert Chiappetta is an American television writer who, along with his writing partner Glen Whitman, serves as executive story editor on the FOX science-fiction series Fringe and has contributed many scripts to the show as well.- Fringe episodes :...
, and was directed by executive producer Joe Chappelle
Joe Chappelle
Joe Chappelle is an American film and television director and producer. Chappelle was a Co-executive producer and regular Director for the HBO crime drama The Wire...
. It first aired in the United States on November 12, 2009 to an estimated 5.89 million viewers. It received generally positive reviews, as multiple critics praised the story despite its characterization as a "standalone" episode.
Plot
In Queens, New York, police chase a sedan driven through a parking garage by two men keeping a teenage boy named Tyler Carson (Cameron MonaghanCameron Monaghan
Cameron Riley Monaghan is an American actor. He first appeared as Winthrop Paroo in the 2003 TV movie, The Music Man and appeared opposite Adam Sandler in the 2006 movie Click as Kevin O'Doyle. He made a few guest appearances on Malcolm in the Middle as Dewey's classmate Chad...
) in the backseat. Police officers surround the car and draw their weapons, demanding that the men exit the car. They do, and Tyler stays in his seat. Without explanation, one of the officers goes to the parking ramp and jumps to his death. Another officer shoots her two remaining co-workers, then herself. The kidnappers' crime spree continues on the road. One of them, Hickey (John Tench), demands that a convenience store clerk hand over all his cash. Another customer tries to intervene, but then takes a pot of hot coffee, pours the coffee to his face, and beats himself with the pot. The cashier electrocutes himself.
Examining the policewoman who shot herself, 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...
) concludes that she was the victim of mind control
Mind control
Mind control refers to a process in which a group or individual "systematically uses unethically manipulative methods to persuade others to conform to the wishes of the manipulator, often to the detriment of the person being manipulated"...
rather than hypnosis
Hypnosis
Hypnosis is "a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination."It is a mental state or imaginative role-enactment . It is usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction, which is commonly composed of a long series of preliminary...
. Theorizing that the mind control works on an auditory basis, he develops a method of combating the effects through the use of white noise
White noise
White noise is a random signal with a flat power spectral density. In other words, the signal contains equal power within a fixed bandwidth at any center frequency...
. The tactical team led by 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....
(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:...
) traces the kidnappers—both of them car salesmen with no serious criminal record—to a warehouse. One of them drives the car through a large door, but is burnt in the explosion when the car flips. Olivia gets the drop on the surviving kidnapper, who points a gun at his own chin and begs for her help. 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...
), wearing headphones that broadcast Walter's white noise, follows the ransom payment. It leads him to Tyler, who says, "You can take off those stupid headphones. They won't work."
Peter is now forced into helping Tyler, who has mind control powers due to his father James (Andrew Airlie
Andrew Airlie
Andrew Airlie is a Scottish-born Canadian actor.He has starred in television series including Breaker High and his TV credits include guest starring in popular television shows such as Monk, Smallville, Stargate SG-1 and The X-Files. He had television regular roles as Mr...
) working on thought-controlled weapons systems for Massive Dynamic. Peter tries to get into Tyler's head by sharing his own stories of his father not believing in him, but Tyler rejects the attempts to bond, as he only needs a driver. Their destination is the home of Tyler's mother, whom Tyler had been told was dead. When the two of them meet, Tyler wants her to run off so that they can be together again. She refuses, and Tyler becomes enraged at her husband when he returns home.
Tyler tries to force Peter to shoot the husband, but changes the target to Agent Broyles (Lance Reddick
Lance Reddick
Lance Reddick is an American theater, film and TV actor and musician born in Baltimore, Maryland. He starred in The Wire as Cedric Daniels, appeared in Oz as Detective Johnny Basil and appeared in the fourth and fifth seasons of Lost. He now has a prominent role in Fringe...
) when he arrives at the house with Olivia. Peter is forced to shoot Broyles, but manages to pull the gun off-center so that the agent is only hit in the shoulder. After Peter crashes the car that both he and Tyler are in, Tyler is brought unconscious into custody. Nina Sharp (Blair Brown
Blair Brown
Bonnie Blair Brown is an American theater, film, and television actress. She has had a number of high profile roles, including a Tony Award-winning turn in the play Copenhagen on Broadway, as well as a run as the title character in the television comedy-drama The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd,...
) writes a message to the absent William Bell updating him on the status of the "Carson-Penrose" experiments (Claus Penrose is a scientist seen caring for a genetically engineered killer in the much earlier episode "The Same Old Story
The Same Old Story
Josh Jackson of Paste Magazine disliked the "deus ex machina" aspects that "neatly solved the puzzles of the first two episodes", and also criticized perceived "plot contrivances" like how the serial murderer immediately began aging once interrupted from killing his last victim...
"). Tyler is one of many identical boys placed with foster families, and James was his assigned guardian, not his father.
Production
"Of Human Action" was written by frequent writing partners Glen WhitmanGlen Whitman
Glen Whitman is an American television writer who, along with his writing partner Robert Chiappetta, serves as executive story editor on the FOX science-fiction series Fringe and has contributed several scripts to the series. Whitman has been a Science Adviser to the series since the first season.-...
and Robert Chiappetta
Robert Chiappetta
Robert Chiappetta is an American television writer who, along with his writing partner Glen Whitman, serves as executive story editor on the FOX science-fiction series Fringe and has contributed many scripts to the show as well.- Fringe episodes :...
, and was directed by executive producer Joe Chappelle
Joe Chappelle
Joe Chappelle is an American film and television director and producer. Chappelle was a Co-executive producer and regular Director for the HBO crime drama The Wire...
. It was shot in Vancouver in September 2009; the crew wrapped up production during the middle of the month, and then immediately moved onto the following episode, "August
August (Fringe)
"August" is the eighth episode of the American science fiction drama television series Fringes second season. The episode was written by executive producers J. H. Wyman and Jeff Pinkner, and directed by Dennis Smith...
".
To simulate the police officer falling in the opening scene, the special effects department had the stunt double fall 52 feet onto an 18x24 feet airbag, which they referred to as "old-fashioned" because they used the airbag rather than wires. Trevor Jones, the stuntman doing the scene, commented during shooting that his fall had a small margin of error, because of the small airbag and cement
Cement
In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed...
walls surrounding the area, "if you land off center maybe three or four feet, then you're going to get pitched in that direction". To aid Jones, a large X was placed on the airbag. A scene later in the episode involves a car fleeing through a garage door, only to hit a concrete wall, flip over, and burst into flames. To create the scene, the crew used two externally-identical cars; one was drivable, and the other was a shell of car, and was hooked to a cable rig. After taking a week to get everything set up, the crew used a nitrogen cannon to launch the second, undrivable car through the garage door via wires.
The episode featured a guest performance by Cameron Monaghan
Cameron Monaghan
Cameron Riley Monaghan is an American actor. He first appeared as Winthrop Paroo in the 2003 TV movie, The Music Man and appeared opposite Adam Sandler in the 2006 movie Click as Kevin O'Doyle. He made a few guest appearances on Malcolm in the Middle as Dewey's classmate Chad...
as the mind controller Tyler Carson. The actor tweeted
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
after the episode's broadcast, "Fringe was cool. What person in the world doesn't wish they had mind-controll powers!" "Of Human Action" also had guest appearances by Andrew Airlie
Andrew Airlie
Andrew Airlie is a Scottish-born Canadian actor.He has starred in television series including Breaker High and his TV credits include guest starring in popular television shows such as Monk, Smallville, Stargate SG-1 and The X-Files. He had television regular roles as Mr...
, Peter Graham-Gaudreau, John Tench, Vincent Gale, Jacqueline Ann Steuart, and Doron Bell Jr.
Doron Bell Jr.
Doron Bell Jr. is a Canadian actor. He is known primarily for voice work, perhaps best known for his role as Odie in the fantasy television series Class of the Titans.-Selected filmography:...
.
Music and cultural references
"Of Human Action" featured two songs, "Subtle Duck" by Charles Bissell and "Angel Love" by Samantha JamesSamantha James
Samantha James is an American dance musician from Los Angeles. She released her debut album, Rise, in 2007 on Om Records, which features production work by Sebastian Arocha Morton . The title track from the album was released as a single and has reached #1 on the US Billboard Dance charts...
. In honor of The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
20th anniversary, several shows in Fox's lineup contained references to the show. In "Of Human Action", Tyler uses a Homer Simpson
Homer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
Pez
PEZ
Pez is the brand name of an Austrian confectionery and the mechanical pocket dispensers for the same...
dispenser to store his mind-control drugs, and the town he and Peter journey to is Springfield, the same name of the town in The Simpsons; when Springfield appears in the sky, no state is shown, just like the ambiguity concerning the home state of The Simpsons.
Ratings
On its initial November 12, 2009 broadcast in the United States, "Of Human Action" was watched by an estimated 5.89 million viewers, and earned a 2.2 ratings share among adults 18–49, tying the season average. This was a 29 percent increase from the previous episode's 1.7 rating, though that episode'sEarthling (Fringe)
"Earthling" is the sixth episode of the American science fiction drama television series Fringes second season. The episode followed the Fringe team's investigation into random people mysteriously disintegrating into ash, a case which Agent Broyles had become deeply obsessed with in the past.It was...
low ratings have been attributed to the unexpected end to the 2009 World Series
2009 World Series
The 2009 World Series was the 105th edition of Major League Baseball's championship series. The best-of-seven playoff was contested between the Philadelphia Phillies, champions of the National League and defending World Series champions, and the New York Yankees, champions of the American League...
. Despite the ratings improvement, "Of Human Action" led Fringe to finish in fourth place for its timeslot.
Reviews
"Of Human Action" got a very positive reaction from MTVMTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
's Josh Wigler, writing "As a stand-alone episode with some interesting character insight, this week's Fringe was a success. It might also be a mythological success, too, should the big reveal at the end—the fact that Massive Dynamic has inundated multiple children with telepathic abilities—pan out in future episodes." Andrew Hanson of 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....
enjoyed being able to see more of Massive Dynamic, and praised Astrid's increased presence in the plot. Airlock Alpha
Airlock Alpha
Airlock Alpha, formerly SyFy Portal, is an entertainment news website focusing on science-fiction, fantasy and comic book television series and films.-History:...
writer Tiffany Vogt called it a "gripping story with much emotional resonance," especially with the father-son parallels between Peter and Tyler.
The A. V. Club's Noel Murray had a more mixed reaction, giving the episode a rating of C+ and criticizing lead guest actor Cameron Monaghan, "In this role, he was a drag, playing 'rebellious teen' in a stock, wooden way, with no extra layers. Also, nobody—not even Joshua Jackson, whom I've come to appreciate more as an actor over the run of this show—could make the 'My mind is being controlled!' scenes look anything other than goofy." Murray also said, "Yet for all my griping, I was quite taken with the theme of this episode, and the motifs that writers Robert Chiappetta and Glen Whitman and director Joe Chappelle used to support it. From the tinfoil Peter Pan hats that Walter and Astrid wear to Tyler popping the medication that grants him his powers out of a Pez dispenser, there's a lot in 'Of Human Action' about childish things." Ramsey Isler from 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...
graded the episode 8.0/10, explaining that despite it being a "standalone" episode, it was "a high-intensity, action-filled tale that kept the adrenaline flowing. Fringe is usually more of a cerebral show, but there's nothing wrong with appealing to our love of action every now and then". Also positive was Chanel Reeder of Newsarama
Newsarama
Newsarama is an American website that publishes news, interviews and essays about the American comic book industry.-History:Newsarama began in Summer 1995 as a series of Internet forum postings on the Prodigy comic-book message boards by fan Mike Doran. In these short messages. Doran shared...
, who believed Fringe "totally deliver[ed] in its most recent episode. The twists are back, along with the dramatic high intensity moments that the show is known for." Reeder praised the plot twist of Tyler being the mind controller, and was pleased to the increased presence of Massive Dynamic.
External links
- "Of Human Action" 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...