Johari Window (Fringe)

"Johari Window" is the 11th episode of the second season of the American science fiction drama television series ''Fringe''. It was released three days after the bonus special episode, " Unearthed". The episode, written by co-executive producer Josh Singer and directed by filmmaker Joe Chappelle, is set in a fictional upstate New York town and begins with the discovery of a seemingly deformed child by a state trooper. The Fringe investigative team of Olivia Dunham, Walter Bishop, and Peter Bishop arrives on the scene, only to discover a secret government experiment gone awry, with signs from Walter's past.

Originally called "Edina City Limits", the episode's title was changed shortly before it aired. It premiered in the United States on January 14, 2010, on Fox, to 6.529 million viewers and a 2.6 share 18–49. The episode received average reviews, as many critics compared it either negatively or positively to a B-movie, though most agreed that it seemed to be rehashed from older ''The X-Files'' episodes. Several of the main actors, however, thoroughly enjoyed the episode; Noble named it one of his favorite ''Fringe'' episodes. Critics also noted the popular culture references to ''The Wizard of Oz'' (1939), ''Deliverance'' (1972), and Joseph Merrick.

Plot

In upstate New York, a child is picked up on the road by a state trooper. While en route, the child suddenly morphs into a deformed creature. At the station, the troopers try to decide what to do with him, and one takes his picture. Two other deformed people enter the station, kill the troopers and take the boy.

The Fringe team comes on the scene to investigate and find the boy's photograph, along with recorded sightings of deformed people going back 30 years. They arrive in Edina, the city these sightings occurred near, and Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) hears a buzz called the "Edina hum". The sheriff explains it is coming from a nearby military base and offers to show them case files of past sightings. While driving, the SUV containing Olivia, Peter (Joshua Jackson), and Walter (John Noble) is run off the road by another vehicle, whose driver then starts shooting at them before getting shot and leaving. The FBI find the abandoned vehicle and follow a blood trail to the shooter. Peter is visibly disturbed after killing his first person, and Olivia tries to comfort him.

Agent Broyles discovers that the army did classified experiments in Edina called "Project Elephant", but most of the records are gone. The team brings the body, along with a butterfly Walter found in the town and thought Astrid would like, back to the lab in Boston. They discover that both have transformed into deformed versions of themselves. Peter and Olivia go back to Edina to talk with the sheriff and try to locate the owner of the truck. Meanwhile, back in the lab, Walter tries to remember why the case feels so familiar. Throughout the episode Walter had been humming the Toreador Song, and he and Astrid realize he might previously have worked on the project with the army. The melody was a memory trick Walter used to remind himself where he stored the experiment files so many years ago. The experiment was done by the army in the late 1970s to test how electromagnetic pulses can camouflage soldiers and was conducted on the townspeople; the army was unaware of the long-term effects of the study until it was too late, and the people were stuck in a deformed state. The "hum" hides their deformities from the human eye through a massive electromagnetic pulse that runs through the town, and once they leave and are out of the pulse's reach, their true deformities show.

Walter and Astrid find the source of the electromagnetic pulse, and begin investigating the house the pulse was built on. At the same time, Peter and Olivia go to a rural meeting place where the sheriff said they would find the truck's owner, only to be shot at by the sheriff and his deputy, who are hell-bent on keeping the town's secret. Walter manages to turn off the pulse, and all of the townsfolk revert to their deformed appearance. The daughter of one of the army scientists saves Olivia and Peter from getting shot, and explains that her father stayed in Edina to perfect the pulse. After Walter pleads to Broyles to let the townspeople keep their secret, the Fringe team decides to not report the case so that the remaining residents can live a normal life.

Production

The episode was the second written by co-executive producer and writer Josh Singer, and was the third directed by co-executive producer Joe Chappelle. It was originally titled "Edina City Limits" in press and promotional items, until Fox changed it to "Johari Window" without explanation on January 5, a week before it broadcast. A johari window is a cognitive psychological tool used to help people better understand their interpersonal communication and relationships, and may have been chosen as the episode's title because it corresponded to the transformative nature of the plot.

The sound mixing department's inspiration for the "Edina hum" (the frequency hiding the deformities of the townsfolk) came from executive producer Jeff Pinkner

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