Brown Betty - Recap

After discovering that Peter has left, Walter retreats to his office to smoke hybrid marijuana and listen to music, and then starts labeling everything in his lab. Astrid comes in and tries to assure him that Peter will return, but Walter doesn't believe her. Olivia comes in to update Walter on her investigation, which has been unsuccessful, and tells him that she has something more important to deal with. Her niece Ella comes in and Olivia explains that she has to watch her while Rachel is in Chicago. She needs Astrid to watch Ella for a few hours.

Walter tends up helping, but Ella isn't happy that he's spent most of the time eating her snacks and laughing hysterically. She asks him to tell her a story and Walter admits that he was always too busy to tell Peter stories when he was child. However, his mother used to tell him stories based on the detective stories of Raymond Chandler and Dashell Hammett, and that she used to dress him up for school musicals. Astrid convinces him to make up a story to tell Ella and Walter agrees.

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In the 1940s, Olivia Dunham is a private eye who is preparing to retire because she never solved the mystery of a broken heart. As she packs up her office, a woman named Rachel comes in and tries to hire her to find her missing boyfriend. She explains that her boyfriend owes money to a gambler and had to disappear. Olivia warns Rachel that she might not like what Olivia discovers about Peter, but Rachel insists that she and her boyfriend have true love. Olivia agrees to take the case and Rachel explains that her boyfriend is named Peter Bishop, and she talked to her two days ago on the telephone.

Peter arrives at an abandoned house and removes an object from a case: a glowing glass heart.

Olivia goes to see Lt. Broyles, a police detective playing piano at a bar. He points out that she must need a really big favor, and Olivia points out that he still owes her for keeping silent about the evidence he planted to get a promotion. Broyles claims not to know Peter, but identifies a symbol that Rachel found in peter's belongings as belonging to Massive Dynamic, a ruthless company always looking to stick the little guy.

Olivia goes to see the CEO of Massive Dynamic, Nina Sharp. Nina claims that Peter is a conman and industrial saboteur who has gotten Rachel into something crooked. She warns Olivia to be careful because Peter is dangerous. Once Olivia leaves, Nina makes a call and tells someone that there's been a new development in the case.

As she drives through the mean streets, Olivia calls Rachel to update her on the case. Someone breaks into Rachel's apartment and attacks her. Hearing the noises, Olivia drives to the apartment only to discover that someone has cut open Rachel's chest and taken her heart.

When the police arrive, Broyles warns Olivia off the case, explaining that "Rachel" was an actress, Kelsey Ashley, who was hired to portray a woman with a missing boyfriend. There's no clues as to the killer's identity, and they can't identify the murder weapon. Olivia finally tells Broyles she's dropping the case, but steals Kelsey's address book as she leaves. Inside she finds a check to Kelsey made out by a Dr. Walter Bishop, and then gets his address from directory assistance.

Walter Bishop is an inventor who admits that he hired Ashley to portray a client because he knew that Olivia only took cases involving true love. Walter invents wonderful things like teddy bears, elephants, flannel pajamas, rainbows, and singing corpses. He explains that Peter Bishop, no relation, was his lab assistant and stole something of great value: a glass heart. Walter uses it to keep himself alive, and if it isn't put back in his chest cavity, he will soon die. Olivia agrees to help find Peter and recover the glass heart, but first calls her sometime-assistant, Esther Fickelsworth, who is trying to get hired at a mental institution. Olivia calls her from the parking lot and assures her that she needs Esther's help, even though she's six months behind on her wages. However, a bald man grabs Olivia and attacks her, ripping open her blouse and cutting into her chest with a strange scalpel-like device. He warns her not to stick her heart of and then runs away, leaving her bleeding on the pavement.

Olivia manages to get back to her office and Esther tends to her wound. As Esther works, Olivia insists that there must be a guy out there for her, someone who can keep her warm and knows how to dance. Esther is surprised to discover that the wound is healing, and Olivia figures that it was a laser of some sort. They figure it's the same weapon that was used to kill Ashley, and Olivia makes a drawing of it and shows it to a clerk at the patent office. The clerk confirms that Massive Dynamic filed a patent on the device. Olivia goes to Nina and demands answers, and Nina admits that the device is a quantum laser that someone stole from them months ago. When Olivia describes her attacker, Nina warns that he is one of a group of mysterious bald men calling themselves the Watchers. She warns Olivia to drop the case because Peter is involved with a bad crowd.

Skeptical, Olivia decides to follow Nina that night. As she drives, she gets a call from Esther, who has determined that the owner of Massive Dynamic is William Bell, who mysteriously disappeared several years ago. The CEO goes to her home and uses a mysterious device to contact William Bell. Nina tells him that she's close to finding Peter and recovering the glass heart. Once they have it, they can create a doorway between universes so that they'll be together. Olivia overhears the whole thing, but a Watcher knocks her out. When Olivia wakes up, she finds herself in a warehouse by the docks. Nina and a Watcher, Mr. Gemini, come in. The CEO informs Olivia that she should have dropped the case when she had the case, and now it's too late. Mr. Gemini puts Olivia in a crate and dumps her into the water. All looks hopeless until someone rips the lid off the crate and gets Olivia out. The man introduces himself as Peter Bishop.

Peter takes Olivia to the abandoned house that he's using as a hideout. They talk about their interests in jazz and dancing, and Olivia admits that she likes to dance. Peter says that he doesn't, but would be glad to dance with her because she looks fun. They then discuss the glass heart, and Peter explains that Walter has been lying to her. He shows her a map with 147 pins, indicating the 147 children whose lives Walter ruined. Walter creates all of his wonderful inventions by stealing dreams from children and replacing them with nightmares. Peter is the one with the glass heart, and he gave it gladly to Walter to keep him alive. However, when he realized how Walter was preying on children, he took his heart back and left.

A mechanical torpedo suddenly slams through the wall and a group of Watchers attack Peter and Olivia. Olivia manages to fight several of them off, and they disappear as mysteriously as they came. She gets to Peter, only to discover that the Watchers have taken the glass heart. With time running out for Peter, he talks Olivia through the procedure to put some batteries in his chest cavity to keep him temporarily alive. As she works, Peter asks her why she became a detective. Olivia admits it's because she wanted to care for people, and he asks her who cares for her. He then tells her that at least she knows her place in the world, and he never learned his. Olivia puts the batteries in but it appears to be too late. Peter appears dead and Olivia tearfully sings to him, saying she had finally found someone only to lose them. Peter revives and warns her that the batteries won't keep him alive for long. Olivia figures that the Watchers are working for someone other than Nina, and she knows who has the glass heart.

Olivia and Peter go to Walter's laboratory and find him with the heart. Olivia points out that the drawing of the mechanical torpedo is in his sketchbook with his other inventions. He hired the Watchers away from Nina and used them to get the heart. As they take the heart and prepare to leave, Walter begs Peter for another chance, insisting he can make up for all the harm that he's done. Peter thinks about it for a moment, and then says that there are some things that can never be undone. He and Olivia go, leaving a desolate and dying Walter alone in his lab.

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Ella objects to the story, saying that it's not right. She finishes the story her way.

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Walter begs Peter for another chance, insisting he can make up for all the harm that he's done. Peter realizes that there is still goodness in the inventor's heart, splits the glass heart in two, and gives one half to Walter so he can live. He then puts the other half in his chest, embraces Olivia, and they dance as everyone lives happily ever after.

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As Olivia returns, Ella finishes the story and tells her aunt how much fun she had. When she says she fixed Walter's story, he admits that her ending was better. Olivia admits that she was unable to find Peter.

Astrid drops Walter at home and takes him inside. They're unaware that the Observer, September, is watching them from the shadows. September calls someone and informs them that Peter hasn't returned, and that Walter doesn't remember September's warning.

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