Alright, I’m going to give it shot at “speaking Walter”, or interpreting it anyway.
“Only a mild sedative, should only knock her out for only a short while. The girl won’t understand, nor will the others. Not a preferred coarse of action, but necessary.”
It would be only if you didn’t watch the episode that you wouldn’t know what this was referring to. Walter gave Astrid a shot to the neck of a sedative, probably manufactured by him in the lab. He did this so that he could take the device out of the lab without Astrid retaining knowledge of it, knowing that any shred of significance in her thoughts would be detected by the bad guy if she would happen to be interrogated.
“I have to meet with my friend, and the clouds are gathering. I can hear them already”
Walter went to meet with baldy (sorry, I’m terrible at retaining names, lol) in the diner. It was obvious that Walter had been acquainted with him sometime before that point. The part in bold print is in reference to John Newton (1725-1807), who was a writer, among other things. He wrote “The Gathering Clouds, With Aspect Dark”, which is a hymn. It is written about the commencement of hostilities in America. John Newton is famed for writing the hymn, “Amazing Grace”, and I am guessing that Walter is getting excited over the hostilities about to happen with the device and considers “hearing the gathering clouds”….”how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me”.
“I know what has to be done: find a new hiding place, before the chase begins.”
Walter is concerned about the device being found and falling into the wrong hands (maybe they’re the six-fingered ones!), so after he drugs Astrid, he takes the cylinder and finds a new hiding place for it before the bad guys begin to inquire about it……at least he thinks it’s before the device is being sought after.
“Round and round the mulberry bush, the monkey chased the weasel!”
POP Goes the Weasel!
This common nursery rhyme has been around since the 17th Century. It originated in England and has been passed down from generation to generation. Among the many other uses of this song, and the link that ties it to this use of it, it was prominently featured in the 1960’s TV show, The Prisoner, most notably the premiere episode, “Arrival”. The theme is taken even further when the show inspired a graphic novel called Shattered Visage.
Quote from Wikipedia on the use of POP in Shattered Visage:
* Project: Operation Pennyfarthing
* Prisoners of Power
* Protect Other People
* Price of Peace
* all references to The Arch-Angels
* Directive 17 – The status of The Prisoner
The shared accronym of the first four topics: “POP”, pops up in several places during the course of the programme. It is the code word referenced in rough drafts of the original series – McGoohan saying that if humans couldn’t “put it all together”, (that is, bring our human morals up to speed with our techonological abilities and overcome the animal within), we would “POP” and destroy ourselves. It featured prominently in an early version of the series’ closing credits (which can be seen in the early versions of “Arrival” and “The Chimes of Big Ben”) and as a lyric included in the POPular, cryptic and obtuse rhyme “POP Goes the Weasel”, a much-used musical-motif in the series, and particularly heavily referenced in the closing two episodes “Once Upon a Time” and “Fall Out”.
“It has returned to plague me again. (1) Fallen like a ton of feathers, right into the banana patch. (2) Wrestling with my insides, trying to extract something. (3) Like the bearded man, when he told me he needed another pearl. (4) Thank you sir, may I have another? (5)
1. The canister has returned for a second time and baldy has come back to Walter after their first meeting. “It” could be referring to either, since Walter knew he would have to do a job/favor for his new-found friend. The thought of what kind of job could have been nerve-racking and more like a plague.
2. Fallen like a ton of feathers–meaning a slow fall, but when it’s finished, it’s still a TON of feathers. …….right into the banana patch–This is in reference to a famous line said by Steve Martin in the late 1970’s during his comedy routine, “Wild And Crazy Guy”. The line read, “May I mambo rhino dogface in the banana patch?”……..and it meant that the guy wanted to hurt another guy and give him a kick to the crotch.
I think that Walter is just meaning that he feels like all of this progressed so slowly and sort of snuck up on him and then WHAM! It was like a kick to the crotch! LOL
3. Wrestling with my insides, trying to extract something…..meaning what would happen to him if he was caught by the bad guy after hiding the canister. As we saw with Peter, the thoughts were extracted from inside the brain using the “wrestling” aspect of electroshock therapy.
4. This one was a hard one to figure out. My best guess with everything I’ve seen in researching this line is in reference to the Hymn of the Pearl, a passage of the apocryphal Acts of Thomas. The hymn is commonly interpreted as a Gnostic view of the human condition, that we are spirits lost in a world of matter and forgetful our true origin. In order to course-correct, a revelatory message is delivered by a messenger, a role that is generally ascribed to Jesus (who happens to be a “bearded” man). Knowing this, I would think the line means that Walter is being called upon again to remember his true origin and purpose: I.E. save the canister. Remember, this is the second time that the device has surfaced and escaped. The last time was 19 years ago. It could very well be that Walter was a factor in helping that device leave the surface safely.
5. I think this is supposed to be Walter throwing in a little bit of his quirky wit, or trying to tell a joke cryptically. “Thank you sir. Can I have another?” is a famous line from the movie, Animal House. It was something that new pledglings were forced to say during a hazing ritual of paddling. After a swat, the hazee would say, “Thank you sir. Can I have another?”
“I told my friend he should get a toupee, or at least a better hat, and he said it’s a fair wind that bloweth no man any ill.”
This is a line from John Heywood, a poet in 16th Centry England. He is famous for coining many phrases, including “a penny for your thought”, “Rome wasn’t built in a day”, and many more. This line is a sailing metaphor frequently used to explain good luck resulting from the source of others’ misfortune. However, the correct line is actually, “An ill wind that bloweth no man to good”, so Walter’s version is twisted around. I guess he feels he’s gotten some bad luck resulting from someone’s fortune. Could this be about William Bell?
“The walls, the walls, push back the walls!”
This is a reference to the year 1987, when President Reagan urged the Soviet Union to tear down the Berlin Wall. That is the same year the cylinder arrived at Quantico. Maybe Walter is trying to say that in 1987, due to this canister appearing, he and William Bell sort of switched places with their luck in life and Walter ended up in St. Clair’s by 1989 (??) and William Bell climbed up the ladder of success to become the person behind Massive Dynamics.
“The boy knows but doesn’t know that he knows. He brought me whole flies when I asked for only the wings. And the sarsaparilla was not true Sioux City.”
The boy, Peter, doesn’t know that his mind is holding the location of the beacon. Something triggered his brain into releasing this information when Peter was being tortured by the stocking-cap guy. In other words, he got more than he bargained for (in reference to the second line in this grouping.) Sarsaparilla is a flavoring for beverages with a taste much like Root Beer. Sioux City is a name of a company that was famous for this drink. In fact, it is coined, “The Granddaddy of All Root Beer”……could this be a nod to Robert Bishop? Peter didn’t know that he knew and it was his grave where the cylinder was hidden. If only the years would match up between Robert’s death and Walter’s birth! UGH!
“But he’ll be okay as long as we stay, when there’s more songs to play and few things to say. We’ll need to ask the Fisher King for answers.”
quote from Wikipedia:
The Fisher King figures in Arthurian legend as the latest in a line charged with keeping the Holy Grail. Versions of his story vary widely, but he is always wounded in the legs or groin, and incapable of moving on his own. When he is injured, his kingdom suffers as he does, his impotence affecting the fertility of the land and reducing it to a barren Wasteland. Little is left for him to do but fish in the river near his castle Corbenic. Knights travel from many lands to heal the Fisher King but only the chosen can accomplish the feat. This is Percival in the earlier stories; in the later versions Percival is joined by Galahad and Bors.
Confusingly, many works have two wounded Grail Kings who live in the same castle, a father (or grandfather) and son. The more seriously wounded father stays in the castle, sustained by the Grail alone, while the more active son can meet with guests and go fishing. /quote
The Fisher King could only remain alive as long as he stayed in the castle and did not leave. His healing depended on the heir to this duty of protecting the grail asking the Grail Questions, like ” Who Does the Grail Serve?” and “What is the Meaning of the Bleeding Lance?”
This was the scene, almost completely, where Walter was being held in the FBI headquarters and Peter was captured in the lab. Peter will be ok as long as he stays and he’ll play music again, while resuming his non-talkative relationship with Walter.
“Chapter next, turn the page, feed the germs to a macrophage. Is that where it goes, a scrapyard or a graveyard? No matter, just keep it from Scotland Yard.”
A macrophage is a general purpose antibody that eats any type of “bug” or germ. It means Large and Eating. I think that this is basically saying, “Here’s how we cleaned up the mess”. I’m sure it was a dilemma on what to do with the cylinder, so Walter was thinking of options like recycle bin or buring it in a graveyard…..just as long as he kept it out of the hands of the FBI or other authorities.
“A tisket a tasket, dare I even ask yet? I left something behind, in a mattress or something like it. Phi, chi, psi, omega, that’s how it starts.”
A tisket, a tasket
A green and yellow basket
I wrote a letter to a friend
and on the way I dropped it.
I think this is Walter’s way of saying he had something in his possession and on the way he dropped it, meaning he buried the cylinder in the cemetary. He left something behind in a bed of some kind ( a coffin). Phi, chi, psi, and omega are the last four letters of the Greek alphabet. The end that’s how it starts, or more commonly put, the Beginning of the End.
“An equation that will take me back, back, back to where I once belonged. Kenneth, what’s the frequency? Once at 2 MHz, again at 4, and once………Blue Moon.”
Get Back, by the Beatles, was released as a single on April 11, 1969. Why did Walter belong in 1969? What is the significance of going back to that year for him? And it was already pointed out that “Kenneth, what’s the frequency” was in reference to the Dan Rather incident on October 4, 1986. However, the notes say that it’s an equation that will take him back. It must be something with the numbers of the dates.
The beacon vibrated at two different frequencies–2 MHz and 4 MHz. The phrase “Once in a blue moon” is in regards one of two definitions for a Blue Moon. The first definition is to have two full moons occur within the same month. The second full moon is refered to as the Blue Moon. There are 29.5 days between full moons (another number to add to Walter’s equation, I’m sure). The second definition is one of the Blue Moon being the third full moon of four in a season. There is also the event of “Twice in a blue moon”, which is a rare phenomenon of two blue moons happening in the same year. This is said to happen about once every 19 years. The canister must have come to the surface of the Earth once during a second full moon, or blue moon. But which appearance was the Blue Moon? And why does it matter?
(I probably could have spoke better “Walter” if I had been popping homemade Vicodin while writing it, but I have no lab space available……..sorry.) LOL
