“Fringe,” Season 3, Episode 19

• Courtesy of Fox
• “IT’S CALLED INCEPTION. I MEAN, EMULATION.” Joshua Jackson and Anna Torv

The respectful response to “Fringe’s” latest episode, “Lysergic Acid Dietheylamide” would seem to be an awkward silence followed by “Let us not speak of this again.” But the thing about train wrecks is that the insurance guys need to take a close look before the survivors can find closure.

Given that the previous episode took place in the alternate universe, and then came a two-week break, “Lysergic” opens with a reminder: “Oh yeah, Leonard Nimoy William Bell’s ghost is still in Olivia Dunham’s body. Because of the soul magnets.” The first scene establishes that hooking up Anna Torv’s forehead to wires attached to a recently-deceased cadaver does not, in fact, solve the problem, but it did provide us the image of the dead guy’s big, undulating tummy. (I’m sure there’s a GIF of it on-line already.) Before Walter started the procedure, he said, “Ready, Belli?” “Aye-aye, Captain,” replied “Bellivia” in this week’s requisite ‘Star Trek’ reference.

‘Bellivia’s’ starting to have seizures, indicating that Bell’s theory that he could happily pilot Dunham’s body for two weeks was way off the mark. Taking possession of someone else’s body? Turns out it’s a bad idea, and they’ve actually got 24 hours to restore Olivia’s consciousness, or it’ll be permanent. Much as we enjoy the way Anna Torv scrunches up her forehead, raises her eyebrows and hoarsens her vocal chords to do her Nimoy impression, we can’t have that.