Download Episode 2.18
Truth Takes Time is the 18th episode of Season 2 of Alias and the 40th episode overall. Dealing with the fallout of her mother's betrayal, Sydney prepares herself physically and mentally for their next meeting-promising that if she gets another shot at Irina ...she won't hesitate. Meanwhile, Emily has to decide whether to side with Sloane or betray him.
download Episode 2.18
Sark spots the CIA outside and assumes Irina's tagged. He de-bugs her with an electric shock and sets an explosive while she downloads the database. The CIA moves in. Sark meets Vaughn in a stairwell and shoots him. Sydney knocks the gun from Sark, who then flees. Vaughn, Syd learns, was wearing a bulletproof vest. Irina then baits them into chasing her, so they're free of the building as the bomb explodes.
The episode takes place alongside the rest of the re-imagined series, with 49,579 human survivors left in the Fleet. The episode primarily details the lives of two specific Cylon models after their apparent destruction who were declared Cylon heroes. One model is "Caprica-Six", the copy of Number Six who was responsible for disabling the Colonial defense system prior to the events of the miniseries. The other model is Sharon "Boomer" Valerii, a sleeper agent who was a member of the crew of Galactica and shot Adama twice in the chest.
The concept of a Cylon-centric episode was proposed long before the episode aired, in an episode which would have seen the Cylons discuss their equivalent of the "Final Solution". "Downloaded" instead focuses on showing the personality of the Cylon race, in particular, Caprica-Six and Boomer. The episode was universally well-received despite its unconventional format.
The episode primarily takes place on Cylon-occupied Caprica. After the Fall of the Twelve Colonies, the copy of Number Six (Tricia Helfer) that was responsible for disabling the Colonial defense system (affectionately known as "Caprica-Six") and Sharon "Boomer" Valerii (Grace Park), after being shot by Specialist Cally ("Resistance") were both "downloaded": a standard Cylon practice of rebirth which takes place if a model is to perish, and have both been hailed as Cylon heroes due to their efforts in infiltrating human society.
The episode's secondary plot takes place on Galactica. The copy of Number Eight that defected from the Cylons gives birth by cesarian section to a baby who she and Karl Agathon (Tahmoh Penikett) call "Hera". However, President Laura Roslin, and her secretary, Tory Foster, and Dr. Cottle conspire to fake Hera's death fearing what would happen if the Cylons knew the child lived. President Roslin also did not want Hera to be raised by her Cylon mother, Sharon, whom she still does not trust. At the end of the episode, the child is given to a woman who believes the child was born on Pegasus, while Helo and Chief Tyrol (Aaron Douglas) scatter the ashes they believe to be Hera's into space. Inner Six is outraged at Gaius for not preventing the death of "their child" and swears "God's vengeance on the entire human race for that monstrous, unforgivable sin."
The concept of a Cylon-perspective episode was originally proposed for an episode called "The Raid", which would have consisted on a Cylon meeting not unlike the Wannsee Conference, but was dropped as the equivalent "final solution" had already happened during the miniseries. Nevertheless, Sci-Fi liked the concept, and commissioned this episode.[1]
Several scenes were cut from the episode. Of these, the most notable is an entire subplot centering on Gina and D'Anna kidnapping Hera Agathon, which was excised as Moore felt there would be "too many Cylons".[1]
Ronald D. Moore stated that "Downloaded" is his favorite episode of the series, and especially admired the acting of Park, Helfer, and Callis, the latter especially for his change in role.[1] Jacob Clifton of Television Without Pity gave the episode an "A+" rating.[2] Keith McDuffee of TV Squad commented that the episode was "perfect", and made up for any issues he had about the show before the episode. He found the storyline concerning the birth of Hera Agathon, the hybrid baby, a "clever twist", and appreciated the episode's general Cylon perspective.[3] The Chicago Tribune appreciated Park, Helfer, and Lawless' acting and the appearance of Dr. Cottle, and concluded by saying that it was well-crafted and added to the "deftly drawn moral confusion" over whether the Cylons were good or evil.[4] The episode was nominated by the World Science Fiction Society for the 2007 Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form,[5] an award that was won by the Doctor Who episode "The Girl in the Fireplace".[6]
So this will be my last Grimm episode until I get back from the Philippines in June. Definitely excited about the final four episodes. I hope they have just as big a cliffhanger as they did last season.
"White Tulip" is the 17th episode of the second season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe. It follows a scientist (Peter Weller) in his quest to time travel back and save his fiancée, while the Fringe team investigates the consequences of his actions, and Walter (John Noble) struggles to tell his son Peter (Joshua Jackson) he was stolen from the parallel universe as a boy.
The episode was co-written by J.H. Wyman and Jeff Vlaming, and was directed by Thomas Yatsko. Wyman later stressed the importance of "White Tulip" in the show's evolution, calling it a "mythalone" because its elements were designed to create the ideal episode to satisfy both new and hardcore viewers. Elements from this episode, in particular the idea of the white tulip as a sign of forgiveness, would be reused in later episodes.
It first aired in the United States on April 15, 2010 on Fox to an estimated 6.624 million viewers. It received positive reviews, and earned a nomination for Outstanding Sound Editing For A Series at the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards. It was ranked the best episode of the entire series by Entertainment Weekly, while IGN and Den of Geek ranked it as the second best.
"White Tulip" was co-written by executive producer J. H. Wyman and supervising producer Jeff Vlaming.[3] Cinematographer Thomas Yatsko directed the episode, his first directing credit for Fringe.[4][5]
IGN announced in January 2010 that actor Peter Weller had been cast in a guest starring role for an upcoming episode.[6] Though he had normally kept his distance from episodic television because it "burns [him] out" and he was pursuing a Ph.D at UCLA, his wife, a big Fringe fan, read the script and convinced him to accept the part of Alistair Peck, telling him "You've got to do this, it's beautiful, it's about a guy who wants to save his wife".[7][8] During a conference call with journalists, Weller also cited the character's "tremendously romantic and very moving" storyline as another reason he accepted the part.[8] He thought the four-page scripted scene between him and John Noble was "rare for television [and] wonderfully written. I was thrilled to do [Fringe]".[7] Weller has since become a fan of Fringe because of his work in the episode, and would love to return and direct for the show.[8] In a later Twitter post, Wyman dismissed speculation and confirmed that Weller's character Alistair Peck did indeed die at the end of the episode.[9]
For the episode's time travel elements, sound effects editor Bruce Tanis explained his choices of sound during an interview with Designing Sound: "I used vocals from the dialog to create high-pitched jittery tones that played against the visual of his time-jumping. He would start to flicker faster and faster as he ramped up to the moment of leaping so I wanted to play up the fragmented sense of time we had visually and create the idea that he was somehow jumping over other people to land at a different point in time. It also had electrical humming and zapping to support the electrical nature of the device".[10]
As with other Fringe episodes,[13] Fox and Science Olympiad released a lesson plan for grade school children based upon the science depicted in "White Tulip"; the lesson's intention was for "students [to] learn about scientific concepts related to time such as astronomy and physics, with a focus on timekeeping."[14]
Reviews of "White Tulip" were overwhelmingly positive. Ken Tucker from Entertainment Weekly enjoyed the episode, writing "Fringe is becoming ever more adroit at blending its mythology with its paranormal cases". He also praised guest star Peter Weller's performance.[16] After initially expecting a "filler" episode, Ramsey Isler of IGN said he was "pleasantly proven wrong", as the "story turned out to be one of the best of the series". Isler continued that "the writers really did a good job of integrating the overall mythology into a standalone story that is actually damn good... It's brilliant storytelling".[17] Andrew Hanson of Los Angeles Times enjoyed the episode, but wished Astrid got more screen time.[18]
"White Tulip" was referenced multiple times in the season three episode "Subject 13". Executive producer J. H. Wyman later commented in an interview that "the 'White Tulip' stuff is all connected thematically because that was the episode where Walter believes in God," and further explained that these themes would return again in the season three finale.[27] The final reference to the white tulip is in season five, the series finale, which aired January 18, 2013.