'Fringe': Ashes to ashes

After taking a few weeks off, "Fringe" is back with an excellent episode.

Mystery of the Week
There's a Shadow Man running around (well, maybe not "running." More like "shimmering."), turning people to dust. Agent Broyles has seen this before, four years ago in D.C.

In D.C., each of five victims had recently visited the same hospital. A person with intimate details of the crime offered to turn himself in, but only if they could decipher his formula, which is a complex organic compound. Walter to the rescue!

They head for a hospital that the first victim recently visited, looking for an Eastern-European employee who also worked at the hospital in D.C. four years ago. Later that night, the Shadow Man stalks around the hospital and gets another victim. The name they find in the employee database who fits the profile is Tomas Koslov, a night nurse. The team heads to his apartment but find it empty.

Back at Walter's lab, he tests the dust for radiation because the organic compound is highly radioactive. Yet the dust has NO radiation, which is weird because ALL of us have trace amounts of radiation. He then realizes the formula involves Titanium Tetrachloride and gets all excited.

Meanwhile, the CIA wants to take the case away from Broyles and Fringe division. Koslov is wanted in an investigation in Russia for illegally removing "property" belonging to the Russian Federation. However, Broyles won't take THAT kind of nonsense and tells Olivia to keep on keepin' on but not to leave a paper trail.

Olivia and a hospital security guard scan security footage and see the faceless Shadow Man. They call in the team and Walter is just fascinated (natch).  Broyles gets a tip from a friend of his that Koslov didn't steal "property," he stole his brother Vasiliev, a former Cosmonaut who the Russians say died in space. Tomas has been moving him around from hospital to hospital, guarding him because he's in a coma.

At the lab, Walter figures out that the Shadow Man passes through victims to absorb their radiation (all the victims except Penthouse Guy were receiving radiation treatments. Penthouse guy just flew across the country, which apparently is like getting a "big ol' head X-ray.")  Walter just keeps plugging away at the formula, while blasting opera music. He posits that the Shadow Man is like a ventriloquist projecting his voice. Vasiliev can project the Shadow Man out of his own body.

They leave Tomas a voicemail message that they've solved the equation. Meanwhile, Walter makes a physical representation of the formula with Tinker Toys (just like high school chemistry!) and finds something wrong. He doesn't think the Shadow organism can be separated from Vasiliev.

Tomas calls Agent Broyles and they say they can help Vasiliev but they need to see him. Tomas waffles and while he is deciding... all he is is dust in the wind. The Shadow Man gets Tomas and escapes. Oops.

Fortunately, the line stays open (because Big Pile of Dust can't hang up the phone) and the team can trace the origin of the call. They arrive at the motel where Tomas was keeping his brother, find the dust pile and take Vasiliev. But they can't do anything until the Shadow Man comes back to Vasiliev's body. They think they need to stress him out so the organism returns. So Broyles shoots the body. That oughta do it. The CIA shows up and takes him away.

There was also a side plot of how Broyles lost his wife and family when he became so obsessed with this case the first time around. At the end of the episode, he goes to tell his wife that he solved the case. She casts him a lingering look as he leaves. Also as he leaves, a strange man tells Broyles that he has a good friend in Senator Van Horne because when the CIA says back off, they mean business. He wants Broyles to assure him there will be no report on this case. He also implies that they shot Vasiliev back up into space?

Ongoing Mystery
We don't advance the  coming war plotline or the two worlds thing, but the CIA certainly came out looking like a bad guy, huh?

Thoughts & Tidbits

• Did the opening scene scare anybody else? I actually jumped and let out a yelp when the Shadow Man appeared in the hallway.
  
  
• All episode this was bouncing around my head, "Warm breeze tosses the leaves aside, and again -- you're registering as Mr and Mrs Big-Pile-of-Dust." God, I loved James Marsters as Spike. To a disturbing degree.
  
  
• Walter: Even 40 years ago, you wouldn't believe what those Pinkos were up to.