A Better Human Being first aired on 17 February, 2012 and was written by Alison Schapker and Monica Owusu-Breen from a story by Glen Whitman and Robert Chiappetta.

The team gets called in to investigate a young man’s connection to a series of murders, he can hear their voices in his head, and it leads to a doctor’s genetic experiments in an effort to ‘improve’ humanity, which of course, never goes the way it’s supposed to.

But the mythology arc running through this episode is hugely important, we learn that the reason Olivia (Anna Torv) is having memories of Peter (Joshua Jackson), and their cases, is because she has been does with cortexiphan. But that should only be in the hands of Massive Dynamic and Nina Sharp (Blair Brown).

When Walter (John Noble) and Lincoln (Seth Gabel) go to investigate they discover the cortexiphan has been replaced and as Peter and Olivia begin to admit their feelings and attraction for each other in this universe, things go sideways. Olivia is grabbed and we learn that she and Nina are now being held hostage, which means the Nina at Massive Dynamic is a shapeshifter!

The mystery of the week is fine enough, and lets Astrid (Jasika Nicole) show some compassion to the young man who has been hearing voices in his head, a byproduct of the experimentation he’s been going through, but it’s the mythology stuff that really makes this one shine.

There is so much going on, its going to be a relief to find out who is doing what behind the scenes this season.

The End of All Things was penned by David Fury and was first broadcast on 24 February, 2012.

Olivia has been grabbed with what she assumes is Nina, but we learn that she is the shapeshifter, not the Nina at Massive Dynamic who is now being questioned about the missing cortexiphan. Peter, Walter and Astrid are determined to find and rescue Olivia, but they’re not sure which way to go.

While David Robert Jones (Jared Harris) interrogates Olivia in an attempt to trigger her ability, she reveals that she can’t do it with Nina, but believes that Peter would activate her.

Jones puts a plan into action, and Peter walks right into it after an encounter with a dying September (Michael Cerveris) who gives us our best look at the nature of the Observers yet.

Reunited Peter and Olivia are able to escape, though Jones and the shapeshifting Nina elude them. But then Peter tells her that no matter what he feels for her, this version of Olivia is not his. He has to find a way back to his own timeline, as he’s supposed to be with that Olivia.

But how can they make that happen? And what is Jones up to? And who shot September?

There’s definitely a lot going on. We’re just past the halfway point of the season, and wow, the things that are happening.