*Originally published on 1/25/11
Walter starts to experiment on himself in the hopes of making himself smarter. By doing this, he plans to figure out what "Walternate" intends to do. Peter questions this, but Walter insists that it'll all work out and injects himself with a strange drug.
Liv receives a package in the mail. It contains a bizarre book. Live doesn't have much time to consider the purpose of the book before she is called into a case that involves an Observer. It also involves Roscoe Joyce, a keyboardist in Walter's favorite band.
As it turns out, the book was ordered back when Liv was in the other dimension. She gives it back to Peter, saying it's not for her. Peter tries to apologize, but Liv cuts him off.
We cut to a bank robbery where the would be thieves are thwarted by the Observer. The robbers try to shoot the Observer to no avail; he even goes so far as to catch the bullets and toss them aside like they were nothing. The Observer then proceeds to lay the smack down on them, knocking them unconscious and informing the police. He comes across a hostage, who he soon frees, but not before taking her inhaler.
Peter catches up to Olivia and explains that the book was in fact for her. It's his favorite book and he gave it to her as a way to open up to her, since he has had a hard time doing so in the past with others.
Walter uses a piano to jog Roscoe's memories as his brain is triggered through his creativity. It works and Roscoe recalls talking to his son, who has been dead for some time. Roscoe says that he was told to help Walter. When Walter inquires as to what Roscoe is supposed to help him with, Roscoe assumes that Walter knew.
Walter and Roscoe go on to exchange some friendly banter and talk about science. The conversation is cut short when the Observer arrives, saying he needs to talk with Walter. Walter asks the Observer to tell him how to change the future. While the Observer notes that he's aware of several possible futures, he can't tell Walter which one will come to pass. The Observer goes on to leave some cryptic warnings before he disappears.
Walter figures out that his attempt to take Peter from the alternate dimension caused a ripple that cost Roscoe's son his life. The Observer is trying to restore the balance. Walter sees that this means he will lose Peter again.
The Observer causes a car accident. Peter turns out to be fine, but the woman from the robbery gets an asthma attack. Peter decides to go after the Observer, but Walter panics. Peter calms him down and Walter agrees to save the girl.
Peter catches up to the Observer who leaves Peter some mysterious warnings before shooting him with one of his high tech weapons. Again, Peter turns out to be fine. This, of course, leaves everyone wondering what the point of all of this was.
Peter drinks some of Walter's drugged milk, which causes him to go into seizure. Walter guides Olivia through the process of treating him. He comes to the conclusion that the Observer wanted to save Walter's life by preventing him from drinking the milk. The Observers reveal that it was a test to see if Walter is willing to sacrifice his son's life.
The episode was pretty good. The Observer's motives were always a mystery and you weren't sure what his endgame was. The second observer's acting was a bit off, but he only showed up in one scene so it wasn't that much of a problem.
Having "Mahna Mahna" act as the song that accompanies the opening scene was rather amusing. Also amusing was Christopher Lloyd. The character himself was played straight, but I was amused to see him turn up. He did a good job with the role and gave the character some added weight. The plot also managed to build up some legitimate suspense as Walter fears for Peter's life. It is also made clear that the Observer's methods go beyond normal human processing. Peter even points out that they went through a lot of trouble just to accomplish a simple task, which suggests that they may still pose as a problem later on down the line.
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