A New Day In The Old Town

"A New Day in the Old Town" is the season premiere and first episode of the second season of the American science fiction drama television series ''Fringe'', and the 21st episode overall.
It was co-written by J. J. Abrams and Akiva Goldsman, with Goldsman directing.
The episode followed the aftermath of Olivia's journey to the parallel universe in the last season's finale, while also introducing the idea of shapeshifters. It guest-starred actors Luke Goss, Ari Graynor, Meghan Markle, and Tegan Moss.

It first aired on Fox in the United States on September 17, 2009 to generally positive reviews. It was watched by an estimated 9.96 million viewers, and received a 2.43 ratings share among viewers 18–49.

Plot

A mysterious man involved in a downtown Manhattan collision with a SUV flees the scene to a nearby apartment building. He enters the building and attacks a random man, hooking up equipment to the man's inner mouth, which allows him to adopt his external appearance and shapeshift. The crashed SUV is discovered to be Olivia's (Anna Torv), though she is not inside. Peter (Joshua Jackson) and Walter (John Noble) arrive and investigate the scene while being accosted by a new junior agent, Amy Jessup (Meghan Markle), who wonders what they do for the FBI. After Walter searches through the SUV, he shuts the door and Olivia suddenly ejects through the windshield. She is rushed to the hospital and declared brain dead. Peter and Broyles (Lance Reddick) drink at a bar together in sorrow, and Broyles reveals the Fringe Division is being shut down because of their failure to provide "usable results". Suspicious and curious of Fringe Division, Jessup begins a personal investigation into their past activities.

After talking to Rachel about her sister, Peter visits Olivia, who is scheduled to be taken off life support the following morning. However, Olivia suddenly wakes up, crying the Greek phrase ''Na einai kalytero anthropo apo ton patera tou''. She does not remember getting injured, and incoherently tells Peter there is something they need to do, and their "lives may depend on it," but cannot remember who told her this, or why. Peter tries to enter the FBI building, but is denied until Jessup agrees to accompany him. She questions him about Fringe Division, and they begin investigating the driver who hit Olivia.
When they arrive at his apartment, they discover what appears to be the driver's body, but he has been dead longer than when the accident took place.

The shapeshifted man makes contact with his group via typewriter (an allegedly nonexistent model of IBM Selectric, controlled by its image in a mirror), and is told his mission to prevent a "meeting" was unsuccessful, as Olivia is still alive. He is told to interrogate her, and then kill her. Meanwhile, Peter introduces Jessup to their lab at Harvard, and upon performing an autopsy on the man found in the apartment, they find three holes in the roof of his mouth. Walter shows them archived footage of one of his 1970s experiments of a drugged up girl who says she sees shapechanging soldiers from a parallel universe that can "look like any of us".

After being visited by her partner, Agent Charlie Francis (Kirk Acevedo) and given a gun, Olivia is unsuccessfully questioned by the shapeshifter, who has adopted the appearance of a female nurse. The nurse attempts to kill Olivia, but is shot and flees from Jessup. Peter, Charlie, and Jessup follow her into nearby tunnels, but become separated. Peter and Jessup hear gunshots and arrive to see that Charlie has apparently killed the shapeshifter. Peter returns to Olivia, and tells her the Greek phrase means "be a better person than your father," and was told to him every night by his mother.

After being told by a panel of Senators that Fringe Division is not worth the human or fiscal cost, Broyles is given the transformation device by Peter so Broyles can justify Fringe Division remaining active. In a separate scene, Agent Jessup is shown working at a computer, annotating an image of the creature from " The Transformation" with biblical verses, notably from the Book of Revelation. The final scene reveals that Charlie is actually the shapeshifter, who disposes of the real agent's body in a furnace beneath the hospital.

Production

Background

In February 2009, Fox announced that if they renewed ''Fringe'' for a second season, they were moving the show's production from New York City to Vancouver, as the American city's tax breaks had expired. Fox officially renewed ''Fringe'' for a second season on May 4, 2009, and in July announced the new season would premiere on September 23, behind a new episode of ''Bones''. Later reports indicated the episode would premiere on September 17.

Writing and filming

"A New Day in the Old Town" was co-written by consulting producer Akiva Goldsman and co-creator J. J. Abrams, with Goldsman also serving as director. In the DVD special features, actor Joshua Jackson explained the second season begins less than a day after the previous season's finale, "so the characters have only just barely had a chance to catch their breath from all the madness in the first season, and launch right back into the second one". Co-executive producer Jeff Pinkner

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