The Arrival - Recap

At a diner in Brooklyn across from a construction site, a waitress approaches a bald man who is very specific about what he wants for his meal. Once she leaves, the man starts writing in a black note book. He checks his stopwatch and watches the workers with high-tech binoculars. The waitress notices he’s writing in an unknown language in his book but the man doesn’t elucidate the matter. He pours pepper and hot sauce over his sandwich, then checks his watch and observes the men again while making more notes. The entire area starts to shake and the man casually drinks his water while gas mains explode and cables snap on the crane as it topples over, smashing in a building. He strolls outside to a hole left in the earth, takes out his cell phone, and informs someone “It has arrived.”

In Boston, Walter is going over the formula for root beer, keeping Peter awake. He ends up sleeping in the tub. The next day, Peter goes to visit Olivia in her office to talk about Walter and informs her that she doesn’t need him and he’s getting tired of dealing with Walter. He also admits he doesn’t do well standing in one place, but Olivia warns that if Peter leaves than Walter won’t cooperate with them and would rather go back to the mental institute than work with them without his son.

The team goes to S.E. Kramer Manufacturing, a covert government facility where they’re keeping the source of the explosion, a metal cylinder, some 2’ long and bullet-shaped. Broyles reveals that a similar object was found in 1987 at Quantico, and a Colonel Jacobson was in charge. Olivia clearly knows Jacobson and goes to meet with him, while Peter insists this will be his last job with the team. As Olivia leaves, Walter snaps at Broyles insisting he have a laboratory to work in.

Olivia meets with Jacobson, who has recently lost his wife and sympathizes with Olivia losing her partner. He explains that the object emerged from the ground and it was vibrating, and he was called in to see what it was signaling. The object exploded down and then disappeared. He warns her that it’s dangerous and she should stay well clear of it.

In the lab, Walter uses a tuning fork and sets off the device, which gives off a high-pitched night. Meanwhile, outside the manufacturing company, a man is watching the place in a car. He gets out of the car with an assault rifle and shoots down the guards, then orders a technician to tell him where the object is.

Olivia is sleeping that night when she gets a call from someone: John, saying her name. The voice hangs up and Olivia calls the cell phone company, which says they have no record of any call.

The team goes over the object in the lab the next day, while Olivia reviews Jacobson’s files. She sees a bald man in the background of one photo and brings up a security photo from the hospital… with the man in the background.

The man who attacked the manufacturing building comes to Jacobson’s house… and knocks him out with a tranquilizer gun.

Olivia shows the bald man’s photo to Broyles, who takes her to an office where he has collected dozens of photos of the man. They have no idea who he is and refer to him as simply “The Observer.” He’s appeared at dozens of scenes related to Pattern incidents. They’re interrupted when Broyles gets a call about the attacks.

In the lab, Walter has attached electrodes to the device and is running sound experiments when Olivia calls to warn Peter that someone is looking for the device and they’re moving it to a secure facility. Walter asks for aluminum foil to shield the frequencies and Peter reluctantly goes to get it. Walter then has Astrid bring him a syringe… which he injects into her, knocking her out. Peter returns to find Walter and the object gone and Astrid unconscious.

The intruder has hooked Jacobson up to a machine and tells the colonel to think about the woman who came to him. He uses a device and cranks up the voltage and Jacobson screams in pain. Finally Jacobson thinks about Olivia… and the intruder kills him.

Walter is having a root beer float when the Observer sits down next to him. They clearly know each other and the Observer thanks Walter for hiding the beacon. He promises Walter that he will soon have answers.

Broyles and the others get to the lab and demand to know where Walter is. Olivia gets a call informing her that the police have picked Walter up. They meet with Walter who admits he can’t tell them where the object is but someone he can’t remember is looking for it. He believes he only has to hide the cylinder for four hours and has talked with his man. Olivia recognizes the Observer’s description and asks Walter who he is. When Peter tries to get straight answers, Walter snaps at him and tells Peter not to act like his mother. Angry, Peter leaves and Walter realizes he upset his son. Olivia reports to Broyles but can’t tell him anything useful except that Walter met with the Observer.

Peter goes back to the laboratory to pack when he gets a call that he’s expecting. He needs work and money fast. As he hangs up, he’s unaware that the intruder is watching him from the shadows.

Olivia is working in her office when Astrid calls to reveal there was a struggle at the lab and Peter has disappeared. Olivia calls Harvard campus security for video footage. Meanwhile, the intruder has taken Peter to a hidden room and prepares to use the same mind-reading torture device on him. The intruder plugs himself in and tunes into Peter’s thoughts, then tells him to think where the object is.

Olivia shows Walter a picture of the intruder taken from the security camera. Walter doesn’t recognize the intruder but realizes Peter will lead the intruder to the cylinder. He realizes that he didn’t need to tell Peter where it was. Meanwhile, the intruder scans Peter’s mind and realizes he doesn’t know where it was. He then starts asking Peter personal questions about his father and reads Peter’s memories of other hiding places that Walter has used in the past.

The intruder drives out into the country with Peter in the trunk. He takes Peter along into the woods to a cemetery where Robert Bishop, Peter’s grandfather, is buried. The intruder forces Peter to start digging, unaware that Olivia has pulled up outside. She enters the cemetery while Peter digs up the cylinder. The intruder hears Olivia and flees, while Peter cuts his ropes loose on a tombstone. Olivia gives chase to the intruder and manages to wing him. He drops the cylinder and fires back with explosive bullets. She finally brings him down and moves in on him, running past the cylinder. The cylinder starts to glow and then disappears down into the earth. She’s unaware that the Observer is standing in the woods, and reports over the phone that the item has departed on schedule. Peter tackles the man and demands answers, and the man starts echoing his words, then starts talking as if he is Peter. The Observer then takes out an odd-looking gun and stuns Peter.

Peter wakes up a few minutes later and finds Olivia. Meanwhile, Charlie visits with Walter and informs him that Peter is okay. Walter asks to do something before he’s taken back to his hotel. He goes to visit Astrid and apologizes for drugging her. Astrid ignores him and Walter walks away, despondent.

Olivia goes to check on Peter at the hospital and Broyles arrives to see if she’s okay. He informs her that the cylinder disappeared into the hole. They’ve identified the shooter as John Mosley, who was wanted for two drug-related shootings a month earlier. As he leaves, Olivia goes to talk to Peter and he explains that the Observer could read his mind. Olivia is skeptical since she didn’t see the Observer, but Peter wonders if this is just the beginning. She admits she was wrong to keep Peter there to watch Walter, but he insists he isn’t going anywhere until he can get some explanations. She hands him his ID as a civilian consultant to Homeland Security.

At the hotel, Peter explains to Walter what happened to him. He wants to know how he knew where the cylinder was buried. Walter explains that ideas can be absorbed through proximity and Peter got the location from his memories. He talks about when he and Peter went off the road and into an ice-covered pond in a car accident when Peter was young. Walter says he was incapable of saving either one of them and they were dead, until someone rescued them. The man who saved them was the Observer, and he knew Walter’s thoughts. He telepathically told Walter that he would need a favor in return some day, and Walter hiding the cylinder paid the debt. When he triggered the sound on the cylinder, he knew what he had to do.

Olivia returns home and has supper, then turns to the door to see… John.

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