It is the year 2015 and Olivia, Peter and Henrietta (ugliest name possible btw) are having a nice day in the park, when suddenly there is a flare and the observers (note the first species of human) start appearing en mass. In the next scene, Peter and Olivia are at a hospital because Olivia is clearly wounded. As she is getting treated, Peter realises that Henrietta is missing.
In the future, Peter wakes to find Walter asleep on the couch and gets up to check on Henrietta. When he leaves the room, she pulls out her necklace which has a bullet as a pendant. Back in the living room, Walter wakes and looks outside. Peter goes to talk to Astrid, who seems to be working on some kind of word game on the computer and she offers him an egg stick. Peter declares it punishment food. Walter is upset because they let him sleep in and he wants to find Olivia. He says that Olivia called him the day that she disappeared and he could hardly hear her. Peter points out that this was 21 years ago and that she could be anywhere now. Walter starts up a holographic image and says that Olivia has a piece of the puzzle that will unlock the whole. It seems that Walter and September worked on a plan and it was scrambled in his brain to defeat the observers. The device needed to unscramble the plan has been lost with Olivia. Peter tells Henrietta that she has to believe that Olivia is still alive and if she is still alive, they are going to find her.
The team take a black van to Columbus Circle and it is completely run down. When Peter looks over a stone wall, he sees a machine that has been built to pump carbon monoxide into the atmosphere. The natural air is too oxygen rich for the observers and in a few years, the changes will be irreversible. The change will reduce the average lifespan to about 45. Walter says that it's around here that Olivia called him. Astrid notices a huge area of amber. They start to walk towards it as Walter says that they had discussed using Amber as a last resort to avoid capture by the observers. Walter tells Peter he would have given him a devise to do the same, if he hadn't abandoned them. Astrid tries to assure Peter that Walter didn't mean it. When they get to the amber, they discover a huge hole cut out of it and Henrietta says that amber gypsies are responsible.
The team arrives at some kind of black market. Walter approaches a woman dressed in traditional Japanese clothing and says, "I fell in love in Japan once, I almost married her." What the hell is the point of this scene? So far this woman is the only woman of colour that we have seen outside of Astried and we learn nothing about her, because Peter quickly ushers Walter on his way. She is there to be nothing more than an exotic display and was absolutely not necessary to the story. Henrietta hands Peter some money and a handful of walnuts to pay for Olivia's release. It seems that the economy is much changed, because this tiny handful of walnuts is worth almost three thousand dollars. Henrietta instructs Peter to go ahead without her, fearing that she will be recognized as a member of Fringe.
Peter approaches the dealer and says that he and Astrid are looking for someone who was recently cut of amber. He assures the dealer that they are looking for family and are not loyalists. Outside, Henrietta and Walter are talking and he tells her that she will always be a little girl to him, because for him it's only two months ago since he took her to the pier. Even as they share this moment, there is something about Henrietta that I do not trust. Peter and Astrid go through the bodies trapped in amber and are unable to find Olivia. They go back to the dealer and tell him that the woman they are looking for is a blonde and that she would have had an electronic device in her hand. Peter has to offer up the handful of walnuts to find out that Olivia has been sold.
It turns out that the book store owner, yes the same character which has been around since the beginning of the show, is the one who has bought Olivia and he is using her body as a coffee table. When the doorbell goes off, he yells out that the apartment has been sanctioned and he invokes native rights 23D. Peter calls out Markham, and Markham yells out that he is dead and died a heroes death. Peter bursts through the door with a gun and Markham is shocked that none of them have ages. Markham says, "I loved her from the first time she came into my bookstore. It's not supposed to happen this way. She's supposed to wake up and see me as her saviour - when I figure out how to wake her up." Who would have thought it possible for Markham to get anymore creepy. Also, the image of Olivia laid out like that is very reminiscent of Snow White in her coffin waiting for true love's kiss to save her. Considering that Olivia has always been an extremely active character, I found this scene so very reductive of her person. Astrid points Peter to a gurney, Walter is fascinated by the books and Henrietta kneels to look at Olivia encased in amber.
The amber gypsy that Peter and Astrid went to see to find Olivia calls the observers and says that he has level four information and demands three times the vouchers for his loyalty.
Outside of Markham's building, Olivia, Henrietta and Astrid have managed to load Olivia into the van, when they notice that Walter is missing. Walter is upstairs in Markham's apartment, going on about the books. An Observer appears in the doorway and says, "resistance if futile." Henrietta appears saying "I feel like I've heard that before," and then shoots the observer. I suppose we should be thankful that they acknowledged that this line came from Star Trek, but honestly, I found it ridiculous. She orders Walter to run, but Henrietta gets back to the street, Walter is still missing. Seeing that there is no choice, because they are now surrounded, Peter drives off in the van with Henrietta, Olivia, and Astrid. Upstairs, Walter is running through the halls and is captured.
Back at Henrietta's, they release Olivia from the amber. Peter rushes forward and tells her that she is now in the year 2036. Olivia tells him that she ambered herself. Over Peter's shoulder, Olivia spies Henrietta and Peter introduces her to her daughter. Olivia and Henrietta both have tears in their eyes, and Olivia tells her that the last time she saw her, Henrietta was three years, one month and five days old. Olivia says "there was not one moment that I didn't think about you," as the two embrace. Over Henrietta's shoulder she asks about Walter.
They tell Olivia that Walter was captured this morning by the observers. Olivia pulls out the device that Walter sent her to retrieve in 2015. It's interesting to note that though she and Astrid did have a sort of friendship, that Olivia has not bothered to acknowledge Astird's presence. Walter has been handcuffed to a chair, when an observer enters the room and says, "we have been looking for you and your friends. I am very interested in you and don't know why you're alive." Walter starts to think about classical music and the observer realises that Walter misses music. The Observer says that he doesn't understand music and Walter replies, "mostly it amazes me. Music helps you shift perspective; to see things differently if you need to." The observer asks if it helps to see things like hope and then points out that there is no hope for him because nothing grows from scorched earth. "You seem much more interesting as a human being than a vegetable, but all things being equal, I don't care which one you end up," the observer says.
In the Bronx, New York, Henrietta takes them to an apartment and instructs them to wait outside. When Henrietta goes in she calls for Enell, and tells him that she needs his help. Outside, Olivia says to Peter, "we didn't save the world." Peter tells Olivia that he never thought that he would see her again. "I know what you thought of me when I wouldn't leave Boston to come to New York with you. When I left you alone," Peter says. Olivia replies, "Peter we lost our child and in our grief we were incapable of being what we needed to be for each other. That is all it was." Peter answers, "You were stronger and you saw that the world needed us and you went to help them but I didn't have the will to give up searching for this perfect little soul that we made." This is a really touching scene and Peter cries, as he explains that he had to find Henrietta at all costs, including them.
