Reciprocity (Fringe)
Encyclopedia
"Reciprocity" is the 11th episode of the third season
Fringe (season 3)
The third season of the American science fiction television series Fringe premiered on Fox on September 23, 2010, and concluded on May 6, 2011, consisting of 22 episodes. The series is produced by Bad Robot Productions in association with Warner Bros...

 of the American science fiction
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...

, and the 54th episode overall. The episode has the Fringe division following a chain of shapeshifter
Shapeshifting
Shapeshifting is a common theme in mythology, folklore, and fairy tales. It is also found in epic poems, science fiction literature, fantasy literature, children's literature, Shakespearean comedy, ballet, film, television, comics, and video games...

 murders as the assembly of the doomsday device
Doomsday device
A doomsday device is a hypothetical construction — usually a weapon, or collection of weapons — which could destroy all life on a planet, particularly the Earth, or destroy the planet itself, bringing "doomsday", a term used for the end of planet Earth...

 nears completion.

Josh Singer
Josh Singer
Josh Singer is a WGA-award nominated television Writer and Producer, whose most noticeable work includes writing and producing episodes of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, the critically acclaimed series The West Wing, the crime series Bones, and the FOX science-fiction series Fringe.- Fringe...

 wrote "Reciprocity", while Jeannot Szwarc
Jeannot Szwarc
Jeannot Szwarc is a French Film/TV Director.Szwarc was born in Paris. He began working as a director in American television during the 1960s, in particular on Ironside...

 served as the director. The episode first aired in the United States on January 28, 2011 to an estimated 4.57 million viewers. Television critics generally viewed the episode positively.

Plot

The Fringe division visits a secured Massive Dynamic facility where the prime universe's version of the doomsday device
Doomsday device
A doomsday device is a hypothetical construction — usually a weapon, or collection of weapons — which could destroy all life on a planet, particularly the Earth, or destroy the planet itself, bringing "doomsday", a term used for the end of planet Earth...

, believed an artifact of the "First People", has been assembled. The company is trying to use the books about the First People, including those that William Bell had sought, that they have collected to understand the workings of the device. They are aware that before her departure, Fauxlivia (Olivia's parallel universe
Parallel universe (fiction)
A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...

 doppelgänger
Doppelgänger
In fiction and folklore, a doppelgänger is a paranormal double of a living person, typically representing evil or misfortune...

) stole one component of the unit, possibly its power source as they cannot find any other way to engage the device. However, as Peter nears it, the device reacts, moving into a new configuration and sending out electromagnetic pulse
Electromagnetic pulse
An electromagnetic pulse is a burst of electromagnetic radiation. The abrupt pulse of electromagnetic radiation usually results from certain types of high energy explosions, especially a nuclear explosion, or from a suddenly fluctuating magnetic field...

s, while Peter suddenly has a nosebleed. Peter returns with Olivia and Walter to Massive Dynamic to undergo some tests to see if he was the cause for the device's activation, while Broyles asks Astrid to discreetly review the files pulled from Fauxlivia's computer for any hidden messages, not wishing to have Olivia or Peter be forced to learn of what Fauxlivia wrote about them.

The next day, a corpse of a shapeshifter
Shapeshifting
Shapeshifting is a common theme in mythology, folklore, and fairy tales. It is also found in epic poems, science fiction literature, fantasy literature, children's literature, Shakespearean comedy, ballet, film, television, comics, and video games...

 is found, shot in the head and its data disc missing. When the identity connects it to one of the employees at the facility where the Fringe mainframe is housed, Broyles suspects a mole
Mole (espionage)
A mole is a spy who works for an enemy nation, but whose loyalty ostensibly lies with his own nation's government. In some usage, a mole differs from a defector in that a mole is a spy before gaining access to classified information, while a defector becomes a spy only after gaining access...

 seeking to wipe out Fauxlivia's data, and orders a mainframe lockdown, while verifying the humanity of key people in the FBI and Massive Dynamic. Astrid identifies several other potential candidates, including a doctor from Massive Dynamic who had already left. By the time Fringe division reaches his home, they find the man, a shapeshifter, already dead.

Olivia returns to the lab and convinces Astrid to let her review Fauxlivia's notes, believing that she should think like her doppelgänger, she will see something they missed. Eventually, she comes to identify a cipher
Cipher
In cryptography, a cipher is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption — a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is encipherment. In non-technical usage, a “cipher” is the same thing as a “code”; however, the concepts...

 based on her childhood name, Olive, that identifies Newton and the other slain shapeshifters, and one that has yet to be killed. Fringe begins to descend on his residence.

Meanwhile, Walter, having thought Peter had returned to Massive Dynamic for tests, learns he is not there. Walter enters his room, finding printed pages of Fauxlivia's notes including the circled names of the shapeshifters, those that Olivia just identified. Walter arrives at the home of the final shapeshifter just as Peter finishes killing him. Peter tries to justify his actions as no longer wanting to be just reactive to the situation and to learn of the shapeshifters' goal. Peter and Walter depart before the Fringe team arrives; Walter postulates that the device, when it activated, may have "weaponized" Peter to take these steps and fears what else Peter may attempt to do.

Production

As with other Fringe episodes, Fox released a science lesson plan in collaboration with Science Olympiad
Science Olympiad
Science Olympiad is an American elementary, middle, or high school team competition which tests knowledge of various science topics and engineering ability. Over 6,200 teams from 49 U.S. states compete each year. Most teams compete in three levels of competition: regionals, states, and nationals...

 for grade school children, focusing on the science seen in "Reciprocity", with the intention of having "students learn about the classification of blood into blood types based upon the molecules on the surface of red blood cells."

Ratings

On its initial broadcast, "Reciprocity" maintained similar numbers of viewers from the previous episode, "The Firefly
The Firefly (Fringe)
"The Firefly" is the 10th episode of the third season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe, and the 53rd episode overall. The episode centers on a chain of events created by Walter crossing over into the parallel universe in 1985 that has had subtle but significant effects...

", with a 1.9/6 share and an estimated 4.57 million viewers. There was some concern that Fringe would be aired against Supernatural
Supernatural (TV series)
Supernatural is an American supernatural and horror television series created by Eric Kripke, which debuted on September 13, 2005 on The WB, and is now part of The CW's lineup. Starring Jared Padalecki as Sam Winchester and Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester, the series follows the brothers as they...

, a CW show with a similar science fiction theme, but the network decided to move that episode to the following week, when it airs opposite "Concentrate and Ask Again". "Reciprocity" aired against reruns and news programs from the other rival networks. With time-shifted viewers, the episode had been watched by an estimated 6.17 million a week from its initial broadcast.

Reviews

Reviews of the episode from television critics were generally positive. Ken Tucker from Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...

enjoyed the scenes set at Massive Dynamic, and thought the episode did a good job tricking the audience from realizing Peter was responsible for the shapeshifter killings. After not loving the previous week's episode, 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 "Reciprocity" had "all the aspects of Fringe I loved". Hanson particularly loved the opening's first few minutes, and like Tucker, he was pleasantly surprised about Peter and the murders. A.V. Club's Noel Murray graded "Reciprocity" with a B, explaining that despite the awe-inspiring opening (which reminded him of the film Close Encounters Of The Third Kind
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a 1977 science fiction film written and directed by Steven Spielberg. The film stars Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Bob Balaban, and Cary Guffey...

) and the final revelations, Murray found the episode "solid but largely unexceptional". He thought the shapeshifter investigation "lacked a certain frisson" and the Peter-Olivia relationship scenes to be "more of a drag".

External links

  • "Reciprocity" at 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...

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