This episode has some very enjoyable Head-Explosions along with Peter's near-disassembly at the hands of a Subway. A Great Fringe Black Humour Ep.
Thomas Jerome Newton, as well as being named after the guy David Bowie plays in "The Man Who Fell to Earth," - Is a Skuzzbucket of the nth degree. He hires 2 similar scumbags to tie up a family and unearth an object which is in the basement of this hapless family's house. What he does not tell them, is: "If you Open the Box you will DIE" - Well naturally, 90% of people who may vote for Mitt Romney WILL open such a box after such a dire warning and the average IQ of the human race will grow by a fraction of a percent. Actually, science fiction writers Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle wrote a story on that premise, which was called "Oath of Fealty" - Based on the assumption that IF there is a warning of impending death 'if you go beyond this point' granted there WILL be people who WILL cross the line. And then Die.
Such a thing happens here. Newton sends the crooks to dig up the box, KNOWING that they would open it and therefore be killed in a horrible manner. But, guess who sent Newton on that task? It was FauxLivia. This is the first Episode where Fauxlivia tosses her weight onto Newton, and he does not like it. Thus begins the slight Friction between Newton and Fauxlivia that lasted until he left the show.
But... What's this, one crook actually LIVED. Newton hired 2 crooks, but a 3rd crook Newton did not know about was there - And he survived, and took the Box. And this causes both Fauxlivia and Newton to scratch heads.
Walter figures out how the crooks died and how a 3rd man could have survived, and the characteristics of such a man.
But this "3rd man" was not really a bad guy like the other two, and did not deserve his "reward" for bringing Fauxlivia the Box. After Fauxlivia kills the hapless bearer of the box and gives the Box to Newton for some mysterious reason, a Black-Humour Moment arises where she is distracting Peter by making out with him and pools of blood start seeping from her bathroom. Which Peter eventually would have seen, if not for an untimely phone call from Broyles, because after Fauxlivia gave Newton the Box, he then gave it to a short homeless man in the middle of a Subway station, who them proceeded to open it right up. So much for Human Intelligence. And Pandora's Boxes.
There is a typical Walter moment as he informs Peter that he used to be a patron of a Message Parlour near the Subway Station: Walter "used to get off there all the time"- Peter says, "I hope you mean, at the Station." Walter prepares Peter so that he can safely get the Box, which the short homeless man still has, but then the poor guy's brain explodes. After Peter picks through the pieces of exploded head, he immediately recognises the box as being a part of the Power Source of "The Vacuum" aka "The Machine" - But the thing Walter had to do to Peter prevents Peter from detecting the approach of an uncontrolled Subway Train! And so, Fauxlivia HAS to save Peter, and therefore save The Box. This particular Box comes up later in the Season, so keep a lookout for it.
This is also the Episode where William Bell's will is read - He had given Walter an envelope with a Key. When Peter asks Walter if he wanted to tell Peter about it, Walter says "No" - But "Belly's" gift to Walter, which we don't know yet - Will be the source of much fun for Walter for the rest of Season 3. And Belly's gift to Nina - Why in 10,000 blue hades did Belly give Nina a BELL? Typical, Belly humour, very much like Walter Humour, which we will find out in S3E19.
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