"Safe" is the tenth episode of the first season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe. It begins when a group uses technology to walk through a bank's wall and steal a safe deposit box. Its contents contain special equipment meant to ultimately break David Robert Jones (Jared Harris) out of his Frankfurt jail.
The episode was written by co-executive producer David H. Goodman and executive producer Jason Cahill, and was directed by Michael Zinberg. "Safe" featured guest starring performances from Harris, Chance Kelly (as Mitchell Loeb), James Frain (as Salman Kohl), and Michael Cerveris (as the Observer).
The episode first aired in the United States on December 2, 2008 on the Fox network. An estimated 8.54 million viewers watched "Safe", making it Fox's fourth most watched show of the week. It premiered to mostly positive reviews, with some believing it improved the entire season by providing more meaning to previous episode mysteries. IGN ranked it as the seventh best episode of the entire series in 2013.
Plot
At Philadelphia Mutual Savings Bank, a group of men led by Agent Mitchell Loeb break in and use a machine that makes it possible to walk through the bank's wall. Several men pass through the wall and steal a safe deposit box numbered 610. One of the men is unable to make it back through, however, before the wall solidifies again, and he is left stuck inside the wall; Loeb shoots him in the head to prevent him from talking, and they leave.
Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv), Agent Broyles (Lance Reddick), Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson), and Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble) arrive to investigate, and Broyles says this is the third robbery where a large safe deposit box has been taken. Olivia says she recognizes the victim as Raul Lugo from their time in the Marines together. Peter and Walter go to a local hardware store and buy an electric saw to cut the man out of the wall.
Meanwhile in Frankfurt, imprisoned biochemist David Robert Jones is visited by his lawyer Mr. Kohl (James Frain), who tells Jones that the job in Philadelphia was successful. Jones tells Kohl to wire Loeb another $100,000, and he makes a list of items he needs Kohl to bring on his next visit. Olivia visits Raul's wife Susan Lugo (Rosa Arredondo) and claims to have met her before as well, but Susan does not remember their meeting. She says the only people at a meeting Olivia describes were Raul, Susan, and John Scott (Mark Valley). Olivia realizes that she apparently still has his memories inside of her head, and is mixing them up with her own. Over at Massive Dynamic, Nina Sharp's (Blair Brown) attempts to delve into Scott's memories for information hit a dead end when they find out that crucial pieces of his memories are missing; they soon discover that the memories they need are in Olivia's mind.
The boxes are found to have been bought with bogus names and cash 23 years ago. Raul's amputated forearm is examined and discovered to be radioactive, leading Walter to conclude these are after effects of using the technology to pass through walls. Olivia and Peter go to a bar to find out information about Raul from one of his old friends, who says Raul has spent much of his time at the VA. While there, Peter realizes the numbers of the stolen safe deposit boxes match numbers Walter continually spouts off at night. When they confront him, Walter says it is the Fibonacci sequence, and he then realizes that the safe deposit boxes are his. Walter tries to remember what he put in the boxes and where the next two are. Meanwhile, Broyles discovers the VA that Raul went to was in Washington, D.C., leading Olivia to find out Raul and three other patients were in a chess club together. The FBI discovers these men bought a plane ticket to Providence, and Walter remembers which bank he would've used to store something. But when Olivia and Charlie arrive at the bank, the safe deposit box has already been stolen. When they are fleeing, Olivia is able to wound and capture one of the men.