Of Human Action (S02E07)
Airdate: 12 November 2009
Written by: Robert Chiappetta & Glen Whitman Directed by: Joe Chappelle
Running Time: 44 minutes
Fringe never shied away from deploying last-minute plot twists to salvage an otherwise pedestrian instalment or inject some much-needed vitality into forgettable narrative detours. Indeed, the series built something of a reputation for such eleventh-hour revelations, often leaving viewers questioning whether the preceding forty minutes had merely served as prelude to a single shocking moment. Yet amongst this crowded field of narrative sleight-of-hand, few efforts proved as genuinely successful—or as narratively rewarding—as the Season 2 episode Of Human Action, which manages to subvert expectations whilst delivering a critique of corporate malfeasance that cuts surprisingly deep.
The episode opens in Queens, New York, where a police pursuit quickly spirals into inexplicable horror. Officers chase a sedan through a multi-storey car park, driven by two men later identified as Hickey (John Tench) and Tom Dobbins (Vincent Gale), who have apparently abducted a teenage boy named Tyler Carson (Cameron Monaghan). When the police finally corner the vehicle and order the kidnappers to exit, the situation takes a turn for the macabre. Officers suddenly begin behaving erratically—one flings himself from an upper level to his death, whilst another draws her weapon and guns down two colleagues before turning the barrel upon herself. It is a sequence of visceral, inexplicable violence that immediately signals this is no ordinary abduction case.
The perpetrators subsequently surface at a convenience store, demanding cash from the till. When staff refuse and threaten to intervene, the men somehow compel the clerks to inflict harm upon themselves, all captured by security cameras that provide the Fringe Division with their first tangible lead. Following an autopsy on the policewoman who murdered her fellow officers, Walter Bishop determines that the victims were subjected not to hypnosis but to something far more invasive: direct mind control achieved through a specific audio frequency, the effects of which can be blocked with relative ease. Meanwhile, Olivia Dunham makes a connection that raises the stakes considerably—the abducted boy happens to be the son of James Carson (Andrew Airlie), a senior researcher at Massive Dynamics involved in development of aerospace technology. The team now finds themselves racing not merely to rescue the boy and prevent further bloodshed, but to maintain jurisdiction against other federal agencies eager to classify the affair under national security protocols.
Olivia’s investigation leads her to a warehouse where the kidnappers—respectable car salesmen with no criminal histories—have established their hideout. During a tactical raid where Olivia and her team wear protective headphones to guard against the mind-control signal, one abductor is captured whilst the other perishes. Yet the operation yields an unexpected complication: Peter Bishop is himself abducted by Tyler, who is revealed as the true architect of the manipulation. The "kidnappers" were, in fact, merely puppets, compelled to act against their will by the teenager’s formidable psychic abilities.
Peter soon finds himself coerced into assisting Tyler, whose motivations prove more complex than mere criminality. The boy harbours vague aspirations of escaping his father’s control and, more pressingly, desires reunion with his estranged mother, Renee Davies (Jacqueline Ann Steuart), who abandoned the family years earlier due to substance abuse issues. When Tyler and Peter locate Renee, now living a reformed life with a new husband, the teenager’s rage boils over. He attempts to force Peter to execute his mother’s new partner, only for Broyles to arrive at the crucial moment. Tyler commands Peter to kill the agent instead, resulting in Peter shooting Broyles in the shoulder before commandeering a vehicle. The escape proves short-lived; Peter deliberately crashes the car, rendering Tyler unconscious and allowing his capture.
The denouement delivers its most chilling revelations through Nina Sharp, who composes a communiqué to William Bell in the alternate universe. She updates him on the "Carlton-Penrose" experiments and confirms that mind control is not merely possible but reproducible. In a devastating final twist, it emerges that Sharp deliberately misled the Fringe Division: James Carson was never Tyler’s biological father but merely his guardian, and the boy represents merely one of numerous children subjected to Massive Dynamic’s clandestine and deeply unethical research programmes.
Of Human Action initially appears to offer little promise to seasoned viewers. The opening gambit of inexplicable suicides and murderous compulsion allows experienced Fringe devotees—or indeed anyone familiar with science fiction conventions—to predict with disappointing ease that hypnosis or mind control will serve as the episode’s central conceit. The sequence, whilst competently staged, pales in comparison to the far more impressive and emotionally resonant similar scenes from Season 1’s Bad Dreams, which handled psychological manipulation with considerably greater nuance and visual flair.
Yet the screenplay by Robert Chiappetta and Glen Whitman swiftly establishes that this instalment intends to chart a different course. Whilst the revelation that the apparent "abductors" are actually hostages proves relatively easy to anticipate—largely due to Cameron Monaghan’s consistently sinister expressions throughout the early sequences—the character of Tyler nevertheless acquires sufficient complexity during the latter half to render him credible as more than a mere villain. He emerges as a rebellious teenager suddenly wielding enormous, terrifying power, and crucially, Peter recognises in him reflections of his own fraught paternal relationship. This recognition sparks genuine attempts at connection that elevate the material beyond standard procedural fare.
The episode also permits itself moments of levity, most notably when Walter and Astrid don literal tinfoil hats whilst working to identify the proper method for resisting the mind-control signal—a visual gag that never undermines the underlying tension. Director Joe Chappelle handles the proceedings with considerable assurance, balancing kinetic action sequences with necessary exposition without allowing either element to overwhelm the narrative.
What truly distinguishes Of Human Action, however, is its grand and rather unpleasant revelation that Massive Dynamic—heretofore presented as something of an uneasy ally to the protagonists—might be implicated in genuinely dark and possibly evil activities. Chappelle films the climactic disclosure with visual references unmistakably evoking the famous finale of Raiders of the Lost Ark, creating an atmosphere of bureaucratic horror that suggests the conspiracy extends far beyond this single incident. It is a twist that recontextualises everything preceding it and demonstrates how, when executed with intelligence and moral weight, the eleventh-hour revelation can transform the mundane into something genuinely memorable.
RATING: 7/10 (+++)
Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/ InLeo blog https://inleo.io/@drax.leo Substack https://draxster.substack.com
LeoDex: https://leodex.io/?ref=drax InLeo: https://inleo.io/signup?referral=drax.leo Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax 1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e
BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7 BCH donations: qpvxw0jax79lhmvlgcldkzpqanf03r9cjv8y6gtmk9
