Fringe [Season 1, Episode 1]
Pilot
Shown 09/Sep/08
FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham (
Anna Torv
, who looks like a younger version of fellow Aussie
Cate Blanchett
) and John Scott (Mark Valley - Human Target)
investigate a plane-load of passengers who melted.
Olivia is seconded to an FBI unit commanded by the Lieutenant from The Wire,
AKA Philip Broyles (Lance Reddick -
Lost
).
The only one who understands the science involved is mad scientist Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
). Unfortunately he is an inmate in a lunatic asylum,
and the only one who can sign him out is his son Peter (Joshua Jackson -
Dawson's creek
).
The clues indicate possible involvement of Massive Dynamic,
a mega-corporation founded by Walter's mysterious friend William Bell.
It is currently run by Nina Sharp (
Blair Brown
), who reveals that she has a cyborg arm.
Although she claims her original army was amputated ten years previously due to cancer,
this is in complete opposition to facts that are revealed in Season Three.
The regulars seem strangely out-of-character,
compared to how we see them in the later Seasons.
Olivia is emotional rather than borderline autistic,
and Broyles is angry rather than steadfast.
It seems that they were intended to have an antagonistic relationship,
like that of Tom Paris and Chakotay in
Star Trek: Voyager
before it was similarly forgotten about.
Fringe [Season 1, Episode 2]
The Same Old Story
Shown 16/Sep/08
Broyles (Lance Reddick -
Lost
) briefs a group of big-wigs about his new team.
Nina Sharp (
Blair Brown
) criticizes Walter Bishop for being a mad scientist,
and his son Peter for nefarious business dealings.
A young woman (
Betty Gilpin
) dies in mysterious circumstances.
FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham (
Anna Torv
) recognises certain details from the case,
and realises that it matches an unsolved serial killer case
that she worked on with Mark Valley (Human Target).
Now she has to cope with the revelations from the first episode,
along with re-opening every case she worked with him.
Meanwhile her FBI Cow-orker Charlie Francis (Kirk Acevedo -
Arrow
) insists on a public policy of innocent-until-proven-guilty.
Fringe [Season 1, Episode 3]
The Ghost Network
Shown 23/Sep/08
A bus with almost a dozen patients aboard,
including an undercover DEA Agent,
is mysteriously frozen in an amber-like substance.
An eccentric man has visions of Pattern-related incidents before they happen.
Is he involved more involved?
Can Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) operate on the man's brain to find more info?
The team uncover the existence of a communications network
that unknown hostiles are using to coordinate the events.
Fringe [Season 1, Episode 4]
The Arrival
Shown 30/Sep/08
A strange capsule appears at a building site,
while the Observer watches from a nearby diner.
Broyles (Lance Reddick -
Lost
) keeps it in the secret lab where the ambered bus is stored.
An out-of-town hitman with a hi-tech gun turns up
and tries to steal the capsule.
It turns out that Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) met the Observer at a pivotal point in his and Peter's lives.
And Broyles (Lance Reddick -
Lost
) has a secret unit working to track the Observer's known appearances.
Fringe [Season 1, Episode 5]
Power Hungry
Shown 14/Oct/08
A bike messenger has the power to generate electricity with his own body.
However, he cannot control it - which means he makes machines go haywire,
with often lethal results.
Broyles (Lance Reddick -
Lost
) has extra info - a mad scientist is after the Power guy.
And the friendly ghost of John Scott (Mark Valley - Human Target)
provides even more info to Olivia (
Anna Torv
).
Fringe [Season 1, Episode 6]
The Cure
Shown 21/Oct/08
A woman has been kidnapped,
and on her release she somehow microwaves everyone near her.
Yes, just like last week we have a case of a victim
cursed with an unwelcome superpower
at the hands of an unethical scientist.
Charlie Francis (Kirk Acevedo -
Arrow
) helps identify a potential suspect.
Olivia (
Anna Torv
) goes undercover, and successfully flirts with the suspect.
However, she has something else to distract her.
It is her birthday - and this is not a good thing,
as she explains to Peter in a tale about her stepfather.
This week's mad scientist is not Pattern-related.
Instead she is being financed by the covert research branch
of a major pharmaceutical corporation.
This makes him a rival to Nina Sharpe,
so Massive Dynamic's corporate espionage unit will have some dirt on him.
As a result, Nina will not only have a major rival taken down
but Peter will also owe her a big favour!
Fringe [Season 1, Episode 7]
In Which We Meet Mr. Jones
Shown 11/Nov/08
An FBI agent in the Fringe Division is contaminated with an enormous parasite.
The only person who has any idea of how to cure the infection
is the mysterious Mr Jones (Jared Harris -
Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows
), currently in a top-security prison in Frankfurt for trafficking state secrets.
It seems he is linked to a Hungarian terrorist group named ZFT.
Olivia (
Anna Torv
) browbeats Broyles (Lance Reddick -
Lost
) into sending her to Frankfurt.
An old military buddy of hers (Billy Burke -
Revolution
) meets her at the airport, and helps her bluff her way into the prison.
He is also an old flame of hers,
which gives her the opportunity to move on from her grief over John Scott (Mark Valley - Human Target).
Fringe [Season 1, Episode 8]
The Equation
Shown 18/Nov/08
Gillian Jacobs
has abducted a young boy who is a genius at music.
This matches the abduction of other geniuses,
who were eventually released but went insane.
The best witness is an old friend of Walter's, from St Clair's Asylum.
Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) must go back to the asylum, as an inmate again.
William Sadler (
Roswell
) is the shrink in charge of the asylum.
He has an agenda of his own, to keep Walter inside!
Fringe [Season 1, Episode 9]
The Dreamscape
Shown 25/Nov/08
A man is attacked by killer butterflies,
and jumps to his death from the office window.
It turns out that he is an employee of Massive Dynamic,
so Nina Sharp is one of the suspects.
The friendly ghost of John Scott (Mark Valley - Human Target)
provides even more info to Olivia (
Anna Torv
). She does not like being haunted,
so she has Walter put her in the sensory deprivation tank again
in order to undo the link he put between her and Scott.
Fringe [Season 1, Episode 10]
Safe
Shown 02/Dec/08
A team of robbers is raiding safety deposit boxes.
They use technology that lets them pass through solid objects.
Yes, this is the McGuffin from
Fringe [Season 1, Episode 8] The Equation.
Naturally there are side-effects,
such as the risk of getting stuck inside a wall.
The mysterious Mr Jones (Jared Harris -
Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows
), currently in a top-security prison,
is visited by his lawyer (rent-a-villain James Frain -
The Cape, Invasion
).
The safety deposit boxes may contain pieces of Walter's invention.
He claims he built a magical gateway because Peter was ill as a child.
Just as he once claimed that he first met the Observer because of a car crash,
this gets somewhat ret-conned in Season Two.
Fringe [Season 1, Episode 11]
Bound
Shown 20/Jan/09
Olivia was abducted in a cliffhanger ending to the previous episode.
Of course, she is no damsel in distress
so before the opening credits she has escaped and turned the tables on her captors.
There is a regular investigation - well, as regular as a Fringe case can be.
A University lecturer who specialises in viruses
is killed by a virus cell that is as big as a rat.
Walter discovers that whoever created the virus
is using the same tech as the people who snatched Olivia.
There are a couple of problems with the investigation.
One is the Internal Affairs investigation of Fringe Division.
The leader is Broyles' best friend ...
the man referred to in the Pilot episode
as being convicted as a sex offender on Olivia's evidence.
He managed to get the conviction overturned,
and now he is carrying a vendetta against his persecutor.
Broyles chooses to back Olivia, for some reason.
The other problem with the investigation is the mole within the FBI.
Luckily, he breaches FBI cleanliness rules by not cleaning his shoes.
Obviously this will be a blatant give-away.
Fringe [Season 1, Episode 12]
The No-Brainer
Shown 27/Jan/09
A computer user is discovered with his brain liquified.
Olivia accepts the case, although the IA Overseer suggests it should be a CDC case.
Whenever she discovers a suspect, the Overseer still interferes.
Broyles (Lance Reddick -
Lost
) is nowhere to be seen.
This all leads Olivia to work farther outside the system.
Peter Bishop takes valuable evidence,
the fried hard drives, to a black-market contact.
However, Peter is also trying to keep a low profile
because someone seems to be stalking him.
A middle-aged blue-collar worker (Chris Bauer -
True Blood
) is the brains of the operation.
He has written a massive computer program,
much more complicated than the red-and-green lights that
Gillian Jacobs
used a few episodes ago.
Olivia is not a damsel in distress, so the show needs a vulnerable person.
Luckily Olivia's sister and niece come to stay with her,
in her spacious ground-floor apartment -
not the smaller one she lives in during the next Season.
Fringe [Season 1, Episode 13]
The Transformation
Shown 03/Feb/09
A guy falls ill on a plane, just like in the Pilot episode.
He Hulks out, and becomes a murderous Porc-u-swine.
The Fringe team are called in to investigate.
Olivia (
Anna Torv
) has memories of John Scott (Mark Valley - Human Target),
who knew the Porc-u-hulk - and may know the next victim.
Can they track down the virus and counteragent in time?
The villain is a European arms dealer codenamed Conrad.
It turns out that, in a shocking twist,
this is actually his real name - and he has a criminal record for illegal arms dealing.
Yes, instead of Olivia and Peter doing a dangerous undercover sting operation
they could just have checked with Interpol records.
Ah well.
This episode brings closure to the John Scott story arc.
Was he really a dangerous terrorist?
Or was he a State-sponsored killer?
In the end, does it really matter?
Fringe [Season 1, Episode 14]
Ability
Shown 10/Feb/09
The team are still looking for Mr Jones (Jared Harris -
Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows
). His terrorist movement seems to have been inspired
by a mysterious tech manual.
Peter (Joshua Jackson -
Dawson's creek
) tries to use his contacts to track down a copy.
The premise seems to be that technology
will lead to mankind's destruction.
More importantly, there is a theory that the universe will be attacked
by creatures from a more technologically advanced universe.
So are the terrorists really preparing to defend the world.
Someone releases a bio-weapon on a victim in NYC.
It seals every orifice in the victim's body, suffocating him.
Can they stop Jones from using it on a vast scale?
Jones surrenders himself to the FBI.
After all, the teleportation device seems to have damaged him at a molecular level
and the only one who can help is the device's creator - Walter Bishop.
Also, Jones continues his interest in Olivia.
He wants her to pass a test aimed at people who were exposed to the drug cortexafan.
Fringe [Season 1, Episode 15]
Inner Child
Shown 07/Apr/09
Some engineers on a demolition site uncover a secret bunker.
Inside, its sole occupant is a mysterious feral child.
Since Olivia has bonded with her own niece,
who is about the same age as the feral kid,
she takes to the case naturally.
Charlie Francis (Kirk Acevedo -
Arrow
) and the rest of the FBI are after a serial killer nicknamed The Artist.
It turns out that the feral child may have a psychic link with the killer.
The CIA are also interested in the psychic child.
Since Fringe Division is still under supervision of Internal Affairs,
they should be incapable of breaking the law and double-crossing the CIA.
Fringe [Season 1, Episode 16]
Unleashed
Shown 14/Apr/09
Olivia reads her niece a bedtime story about a monster,
which leads on to a scene reminiscent of Newt and Ripley in
Aliens
. Of course, Liv cannot help but seem jealous
when she discovers her sister has a secret friendship with Peter Bishop.
Arjun Gupta (
Magicians
) and some other eco-warriors break into an animal research lab
in order to liberate the test animals.
Just like in
Watchers 2
, they liberate the animal in the high security section ...
The Feds have to catch the monster before its kill count reaches double digits.
Poor old Charlie Francis (Kirk Acevedo -
Arrow
), Olivia's partner, is placed directly in the firing line.
Well, since the show is structured to have Olivia as the action hero
then Charlie is the sacrificial lamb,
destined to end up as either damsel in distress or person in refrigerator.
Fringe [Season 1, Episode 17]
Bad Dreams
Shown 21/Apr/09
Olivia has a nightmare about someone committing suicide.
The next day, she discovers that the death happened in real life
exactly as it did in her dream.
It turns out that Olivia has a bond with one of the other Cortexafan kids.
This kind of thing seems to happen a lot in this show,
with someone getting visions that are actually a telepathic message they overhear.
The climax is set on the roof of a skyscraper,
showing off the impressive skyline of Boston USA.
Fringe [Season 1, Episode 18]
Midnight
Shown 28/Apr/09
A beautiful vamp is seducing men and then killing them to steal a bodily fluid.
It is cerebro-spinal fluid instead of blood, but if the trope fits ...
Charlie Francis (Kirk Acevedo -
Arrow
) helps Olivia search for a suspect.
Fringe [Season 1, Episode 19]
The Road Not Taken
Shown 05/May/09
Olivia investigates a pyrokinetic incident.
She gets flashes of a similar but different crime scene,
as if she was flipping in and out of an alternate universe.
It turns out that there may be yet another mole in the FBI.
Charlie Francis (Kirk Acevedo -
Arrow
) helps Olivia run surveillance on a suspect.
Fringe [Season 1, Episode 20]
There's More Than One of Everything
Shown 12/May/09
The Terrorists' end-game is in sight.
They want to get at William Bell (Leonard Nimoy -
Star Trek: TOS
), boss of Massive Dynamic.
Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) realises what the Terrorists have been doing.
This sets up an amazing twist for the next Season.
Fringe [Season 2, Episode 1]
A New Day in the Old Town
Shown 17/Sep/09
A man causes a car accident, then shapeshifts into Luke Goss (
Blade 2
). It turns out that he is a shape-shifting assassin from the alternate universe,
and his target was Olivia on her return journey.
As if she were about to be written out for good,
she is hospitalised and replaced by Special Agent Amy Jessup (
Meghan Markle
).
Broyles (Lance Reddick -
Lost
) is ordered to Washington to justify Fringe Division to the FBI to brass.
Peter (Joshua Jackson -
Dawson's creek
) discovers his FBI consultant status has been ended.
Yes, the unit is potentially facing a big reboot.
Luckily Astrid and Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) are still working in the lab,
and Charlie Francis (Kirk Acevedo -
Arrow
) is around to do some field-work.
Fringe [Season 2, Episode 2]
Night of Desirable Objects
Shown 24/Sep/09
This week's story is set in Landsdale, Pennsylvania.
People are disappearing from rural corn-fields.
They are not snatched by a big-budget flying monster like in
Jeepers Creepers
, but by a low-budget underground tunnelling monster like in
Smallville
.
Broyles (Lance Reddick -
Lost
) has followed Peter's advice,
and pressured the FBI into giving Fringe Division more resources.
Special Agent Amy Jessup (
Meghan Markle
) has a brief appearance,
as if she were to become a regular team-member.
Charlie Francis (Kirk Acevedo -
Arrow
) maintains his working relationship with Olivia
so he can find out if her memory comes back.
Peter persuades the Sheriff (Charles Martin Smith - The Untouchables)
to share his files, and they narrow the suspect list to Mr Hughes (John Savage -
Dark Angel
).
Olivia's memory does not appear to be coming back,
although her senses have become more accute as if to compensate.
Perhaps this is another superpower she has developed.
Nina Sharp puts her in touch with a therapist of sorts named Sam Weiss.
Fringe [Season 2, Episode 3]
Fracture
Shown 01/Oct/09
Philadelphia train station explodes.
The cause turns out to be a man whose body turned to crystal, then exploded.
This was caused by an injected serum.
But who is responsible, and why?
Peter (Joshua Jackson -
Dawson's creek
) and Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) are looking for a new apartment.
Olivia (
Anna Torv
) is still recovering from her trip to the parallel universe.
Sam Weiss helps out.
Colonel Gordon (Stephen McHattie -
) has taken it upon himself to start a war
against people he thinks are alien invaders.
Although Broyles (Lance Reddick -
Lost
) has already been investigating the Observers
for at least a year, nobody has brought the Pentagon into the loop.
Anyway, this all becomes ironic in the show's final Season.
Fringe [Season 2, Episode 4]
Momentum Deferred
Shown 08/Oct/09
A hijacker (Roger R Cross -
First Wave
) steals a truck full of frozen human heads.
Well, they are being stored in a medical cryogenics facility.
The suspects are shape-shifting super-soldiers
from the parallel universe, so Olivia (
Anna Torv
) works hard to remember whatever William Bell (Leonard Nimoy -
Star Trek: TOS
) told her about them.
What the audience know, but the good guys do not,
is that one of the recurring characters is now a shapeshifter.
Charlie Francis (Kirk Acevedo -
Arrow
), Olivia's partner in the FBI,
re-appears for the first time in a few episodes.
Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) has a plan to detect the shapeshifter. Rebecca Kibner (
Theresa Russell
), a woman he once experimented on,
has the superpower of seeing the aura of anyone from the other universe.
She always acts strangely around Peter (Joshua Jackson -
Dawson's creek
) ...
This is the first appearance of Newton (Sebastian Roche -
Roar, Odyssey 5
), a recurring villain.
Fringe [Season 2, Episode 5]
Dream Logic
Shown 15/Oct/09
Seattle, Washington.
A man starts to halucinate that his co-workers are monsters
and his boss is a demonic figure that controls everyone.
Just like in the Folie A Deux episode of
X-Files
.
Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) does not feel comfortable at the hospital in Seattle,
which reminds him of the asylum he was once incarcerated in,
so he has the body flown back to his lab on the East Coast.
Olivia (
Anna Torv
), just recovered from the trauma of her journey to the parallel universe,
now has to deal with the trauma of losing a close friend.
Fringe [Season 2, Episode 6]
Earthling
Shown 05/Nov/09
A man gets so dehydrated that he turns to dust.
Broyles (Lance Reddick -
Lost
) recognises the MO - he worked on a similar case four years previously.
The trail leads back to a Russian worker.
His brother, a former cosmonaut,
has somehow been infected with an alien life form.
This is basically an
X-Files
episode, a stand-alone that is not linked to the series story arc.
There is even a Deep Throat type character, in the form of JR Bourne (
Teen Wolf
).
Fringe [Season 2, Episode 7]
Of Human Action
Shown 12/Nov/09
A teenage boy has apparently been abducted.
When some police officers intervene,
someone uses telepathy or telekinesis against them.
The boy's father is a scientist working for Massive Dynamic.
This is the first time Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) has visited the MD building,
and he is very impressed by what he sees.
That said, he does not actually trust Nina or her staff.
Fringe [Season 2, Episode 8]
August
Shown 19/Nov/09
An Observer named August (Peter Woodward -
B5: Crusade
) abducts a woman in Boston, Massachussets.
The FBI get involved,
since they are already investigating the Observers.
In fact, this is the Feds first real proof
that there is more than one of them.
It turns out that Massive Dynamic has also been
keeping a file on appearances by the Observers.
They have included historical data,
which records the Observers at events over two hundred years ago.
It seems the Observers appear whenever important disasters are about to happen,
such as the sinking of the Titanic.
Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) has had dealings with one of the Observers before.
The details of this are left unclear,
evidently part of the overall story arc.
To prevent further temporal anomalies,
the Observers send in their best assassin.
Instead of drawing attention with a futuristic super-soldier,
they hire an overweight middle-aged man named Donald Long.
Fringe [Season 2, Episode 9]
Snakehead
Shown 03/Dec/09
A Chinese Triad is using illegal immigrants to smuggle parasitic worms into USA.
Someone has genetically modified the parasites.
A huge leap forward in biotech - but deadly for the hosts!
Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) and Astrid (
Jasika Nicole
) do a bit of field-work.
It turns out that they are not suited to being in harms way.
Fringe [Season 2, Episode 10]
Grey Matters
Shown 10/Dec/09
The villains break into an asylum to cure schizophrenia.
Newton (Sebastian Roche -
Roar, Odyssey 5
) has the hijacker (Roger R Cross -
First Wave
) to back him up.
In Season One, the villain hired a team of robbers
to steal the scattered parts of one of Walter's inventions.
Here, Walter's discoveries are also the target of the villains.
We get a flashback to William Bell (Leonard Nimoy -
Star Trek: TOS
) performing a certain operation on Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
).
Fringe [Season 2, Episode 11]
Unearthed
Shown 11/Jan/10
The Team investigate the disappearance of a US Naval Officer.
A teenage girl may have the clues,
thanks to an unknown scientific occurrence
helped by US Government experimental treatments.
This ep was filmed in Season One,
but was broadcast out of chronology in Season Two.
Fringe [Season 2, Episode 12]
Johari Window
Shown 14/Jan/10
Edina, New York State.
A State Trooper discovers a young boy who is facially disfigured.
Soon a posse of inbred-looking gunmen turn up.
The FBI investigate.
They discover a military cover-up like something out of the
X-Files
, concerning an experiment in the 1970s.
Walter once worked on the project,
although his memory is still damaged
and his filing system leaves something to be desired.
Laura Mennell
is the wife of one of the suspects.
Broyles (Lance Reddick -
Lost
) gives Walter a lot of leeway in this case.
Is it because the Fed's heart is softening,
or does he just want to keep Walter close?
After all, Broyles did tell Olivia that Walter was
the only one who could win the coming war.
Fringe [Season 2, Episode 12]
What Lies Below
Shown 21/Jan/10
There is a spectacular disease outbreak in a Boston office building.
Peter (Joshua Jackson -
Dawson's creek
) and Olivia (
Anna Torv
), AKA Skulder and Mulley, are quarantined with the receptionist (
Natassia Malthe
) and her cow-orkers.
Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) helps the CDC work out what the virus is.
His theory is that the virus has its own agenda,
and forces its victims to promote that agenda.
The CDC's contribution is a proposed military response
to incinerate all the infected persons.
Walter tells Astrid (
Jasika Nicole
) I can't let Peter die again.
This is further foreshadowing for a future episode.
The virus was discovered by a drilling operation
at a depth of ten miles,
where it had been trapped for seventy-five thousand years.
This plot was previously used in
The X-Files
.
Fringe [Season 2, Episode 14]
The Bishop Revival
Shown 28/Jan/10
Brookline, Massachussetts.
A terrorist uses chemical warfare against civilian targets in USA.
The first target is a Jewish wedding.
The victims' grandmother, a holocaust survivor,
has a Marathon Man moment when she recognises a familiar face.
It turns out that Walter's dad was a Nazi War Criminal
who played both sides and defected to the USA in 1943,
which explains a lot.
All his scientific records were hidden in his book collection
which was gifted to Walter.
Of course, it turns out that Peter sold the books.
The killer's next target is a coffee shop where
Eve Harlow
is the barrista.
A White Supremacist is using the genetically-programmed toxin
to specifically target people of colour.
This plot was previously used in
Dark Angel (1999)
).
Fringe [Season 2, Episode 15]
Jacksonville
Shown 04/Feb/10
Manhattan, New York City.
A building materialises, from the Alternate Universe.
However, to balance things out,
a building of equal mass will disappear.
Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) reveals that Olivia (
Anna Torv
) used to have a superpower,
to see a halo around things from the alternate universe.
This leads to a twist ending.
Walter takes Peter and Olivia to his former lab,
where he once experimented with cortexafan,
in order to help her get her power back.
He admits that he always uses the same combination on padlocks,
but he cannot remember the significance.
Nobody realises there is an easier way out until the last minute.
All they have to do is identify all buildings of equal mass,
and use a pretext to send all the staff home.
Since it is the middle of the night,
the only staff will be a handful of overtimers
and the night watchman,
so the evacuation will not be complicated or prolonged.
Fringe [Season 2, Episode 16]
Peter
Shown 01/Apr/10
This is a pivotal episode,
giving depth to the backstories of several important characters.
Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) tells the story of what happened to Peter (Joshua Jackson -
Dawson's creek
). The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
The episode starts with a 1980s-style credits sequence,
fitting because the ep is set in the 1980s.
Walter has built a window that can look into an alternate universe.
Although that universe has a more advanced level of technology,
such as digital mobile phones in 1985,
they also have retained airships.
Also, they have not developed a window of their own -
which means Walter can copy their technology.
He uses the Internet nickname convention of referring
to the alternate universe version of himself as Walternate.
The Peter in each universe falls ill.
Walter watches the version on the other side of the window
almost perfect a cure ...
then get inadvertently distracted by the Observer.
Now Walter's only option is to travel into the other universe.
Nina, his only friend since William Bell went to Europe,
tries to talk sense into him.
Fringe [Season 2, Episode 17]
Olivia. In The Lab. With The Revolver.
Shown 08/Apr/10
A woman (
Diane Kruger
) contracts lethal cancer in a thirty-minute period.
The team investigate.
The victims were all Walter's test subjects in childhood ... just like Olivia (
Anna Torv
). Can she catch the killer before he gets her?
Fringe [Season 2, Episode 18]
White Tulip
Shown 15/Apr/10
Dr Peck (Peter Weller -
Robocop
) wants to go back in time to prevent his fiance getting killed in an RTA.
Unfortunately the time-travel field kills everyone within a certain radius,
so the Fringe squad have to stop him.
Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) can relate to Peck's dilemma.
He tries to talk his fellow mad scientist out of it,
alluding to his own trip to the other universe.
Trivia: two of the witnesses questioned by the FBI -
the pickpocket (Richard Harmon -
Continuum
) and the waitress (
Marie Avgeropolous
) later became members of
The 100
.
Fringe [Season 2, Episode 19]
The Man from the Other Side
Shown 22/Apr/10
Newton (Sebastian Roche -
Roar, Odyssey 5
) has a couple of shapeshifters as backup, and three props that look like the Neuraliser from
Men In Black
. His plan is to open a portal to a parallel universe.
Fringe [Season 2, Episode 20]
Brown Betty
Shown 29/Apr/10
This is a JJ Abrams show,
though it is nowhere as near as intense or action-packed as
Lost
or
Alias
.
Peter (Joshua Jackson -
Dawson's creek
) has discovered his true origins.
As a result he has gone walkabout.
The crazy old scientist, Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
), is left babysitting Olivia's niece.
The wee girl makes him tell her a fairy tale.
He delivers a Film Noir sci-fi effort
about a lady detective searching for a clockwork heart.
The plot is certainly reminiscent of an episode of
Alias
, to say the least.
Fringe [Season 2, Episode 21]
Northwest Passage
Shown 06/May/10
Peter (Joshua Jackson -
Dawson's creek
) is off the grid, travelling light through Washington State.
But Newton (Sebastian Roche -
Roar, Odyssey 5
) is on his tail.
And when Newton uses his shapeshifters and memory-stealing machines,
that means women who Peter met end up dead.
Peter and the local lady sheriff (yes, the new cliche - lady redneck sheriffs)
must catch the shapeshifter.
Of note, the lady sheriff is none other than
Martha Plimpton
... best known for her role in
The Goonies
!
Fringe [Season 2, Episode 22]
Over There, Part 1
Shown 13/May/10
Peter (Joshua Jackson -
Dawson's creek
) is on the Other Side.
Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) the mad scientist and Olivia (
Anna Torv
) the lady Fed team up with a superpowered trio to save him.
Unfortunately these makeshift superheroes are more of a liability than anything else.
Specifically, they are the three Cortexafan kids from previous episodes -
the empath from
Fringe [Season 1, Episode 17] Bad Dreams
, the pyrokinetic from
Fringe [Season 1, Episode 19] The Road Not Taken
and the plague-spreader from
Fringe [Season 2, Episode 17] Olivia. In The Lab. With The Revolver.
.
Meanwhile, their opposite equivalents on the Other Side are a trigger-happy bunch.
Fringe [Season 2, Episode 23]
Over There, Part 2
Shown 20/May/10
The Feds are in the parallel universe.
To get back they team up with William Bell (Leonard Nimoy -
Star TreK: TOS
, in his last acting role before officially retiring).
Olivia (
Anna Torv
) the lady Fed confronts her duplicate,
Fauxlivia, and we get a great cat-fight.
This is the finale of Season Two.
Naturally, there is enough storyline left over for a start to next season.
Fringe [Season 3, Episode 1]
Olivia
Shown 23/Sep/10
Olivia (
Anna Torv
) is imprisoned in the alternate universe.
They implant false memories in order to make her believe she is the alternate.
Then, of course, she tries to escape.
Will she get home before the new memories kick in?
Fringe [Season 3, Episode 2]
The Box
Shown 30/Sep/10
The team on Earth Prime investigate some unusual deaths.
Someone has developed a sonic weapon that is fatal to everyone in hearing range.
Naturally, this is part of a plot from the Alternate Universe.
Unfortunately, nobody realises that the Olivia (
Anna Torv
) on their team is a duplicate.
She is ruthless and willing to do anything it takes to get what she wants.
Newton (Sebastian Roche -
Roar, Odyssey 5
) has been usurped as leader, but he does his duty.
Fringe [Season 3, Episode 3]
The Plateau
Shown 07/Oct/10
The team go back to what they do best - investigating mysteries.
This is a good old-fashioned
X-Files
style murder-mystery with a killer who has (almost) supernatural powers.
In this case, he can mentally calculate probabilities
and then use the butterfly effect to cause fatal accidents for his victims!
What makes this story different is the sub-plot.
The story is set in an alternate universe,
and the Scully character is a brainwashed replacement!
But when will she realise that she does not belong there?
Of note, there are three recognisable Canadians in the cast.
The killer is Michael Eklund (
Wynonna Earp
), and his sister is
Kacey Rohl
. Meanwhile,
Kyra Zagorsky
plays the nurse in the burns unit that Liv's partner attends.
Fringe [Season 3, Episode 4]
Do Shapeshifters Dream of Electric Sheep?
Shown 14/Oct/10
The real-world Fringe team close in on Newton (Sebastian Roche -
Roar, Odyssey 5
). He also faces problems with his shapeshifters -
they have been mimicking human emotions for so long that they now start to feel them for real.
Fringe [Season 3, Episode 5]
Amber 31422
Shown 04/Nov/10
In the parallel world, the team investigate a pair of twins.
Yes, Shawn and Aaron Ashmore (
Smallville
) actually have a chance to act together.
Unlike the episode of
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
with the two versions of Xander,
they do not get much screen-time together.
It could just as easily have been shot with one actor and a stand-in.
Fringe [Season 3, Episode 6]
6955 kHZ
Shown 11/Nov/10
This episode has the hallmarks of a typical
JJ Abrams
show.
People get amnesia while listening to a mysterious radio broadcast of numbers (like in
Lost
). The villain is Marshall from
Alias
!
Peter (Joshua Jackson -
Dawson's creek
) has shacked up in domestic bliss with Olivia (
Anna Torv
). He is also working on rebuilding the Machine.
Fringe [Season 3, Episode 7]
The Abducted
Shown 18/Nov/10
Olivia (
Anna Torv
) and the Alternate team go after a Preacher who is abducting kids in order to make a de-aging serum.
Zalenka the Russian from
Stargate: Atlantis
is among the witnesses.
Fringe [Season 3, Episode 8]
Entrada
Shown 2nd Dec 2010
Both Olivias try to escape.
Which will succeed?
Whose Vagenda has the best kung-fu?
Will the alternate Lieutenant do the right thing?
Fringe [Season 3, Episode 9]
Marrionette
Shown 9th Dec 2010
The Team investigate a man who is cutting up organ recipients
to retrieve the organs that were donated to them.
Meanwhile, Olivia (
Anna Torv
) tries to re-adjust.
But her evil twin was playing with Peter (Joshua Jackson -
Dawson's creek
) - and the rest of her stuff ...
Fringe [Season 3, Episode 10]
The Firefly
Shown 21/Jan/11
The Observer is back.
He manipulates Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) in order to test him.
They must put the timeline back on track.
Christopher Loyd (
Back to the Future
) is walter's favourite musician, who has been given a message.
Fringe [Season 3, Episode 11]
Reciprocity
Shown 28/Jan/11
Someone is assassinating shape-shifters.
Whoever is doing it has intimate knowledge of their plans,
as concealed in the diary of Fauxlivia (
Anna Torv
). Unfortunately, the diary also contains intimate info
about her relationship with Peter (Joshua Jackson -
Dawson's creek
). Will this damage Peter's relationship with his co-workers?
Massive Dynamic's doctors run a series of tests on Peter,
to see if they can determine why the machine reacts to him.
Fringe [Season 3, Episode 12]
Concentrate and Ask Again
Shown 04/Feb/11
Someone is using a US military chemical weapon to assassinate people.
Forget Agent Orange - this is Agent Blue,
and if inhaled it dissolves your bones!
The team need a mind-reader.
Luckily, one of the kids who Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) experimented on has developed psi powers.
He grew up and became a reclusive hermit.
Olivia (
Anna Torv
) must employ shoot-to-kill tactics against a suicide bomber.
This makes her as cold-blooded as her alternate self.
And since Peter (Joshua Jackson -
Dawson's creek
) has to choose between them, this is not a good thing.
Fringe [Season 3, Episode 13]
Immortality
Shown 11/Feb/11
In the Alternate universe, Fauxlivia (
Anna Torv
) and the team investigate bugs eating people from the inside out. Like
X-Files [Season 7, Episode 18] Brand X
.
The team's private lives get mentioned.
Charlie has an admirer -
a lady scientist who is interested in his infestation.
Fauxlivia's boyfriend is back in town.
He is a doctor, which is handy when she needs a checkup.
She has a parasite of her own.
The scariest thing about this ep?
Walternate (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) is not the evil twin. He is the GOOD one!
Fringe [Season 3, Episode 14]
6B
Shown 18/Feb/11
The team investigate strange events in a New York apartment block,
where the laws of physics and probability seem in flux.
This traces back to the old lady who lives in apartment 6B,
who sees a spectre of her recently-deceased husband.
He looks like Gerard, the former partner of Mountie Fraser Snr in
Due South
.
Walter thinks there is a tear in the fabric between the worlds,
and it will only grow larger with time.
His only solution is to copy Walternate's idea ...
to encase the entire building in Amber.
For some reason he has a crisis of conscience about this.
Peter and Olivia (
Anna Torv
) have to sort out their own relationship.
Fringe [Season 3, Episode 15]
Subject 13
Shown 25/Feb/11
The episode starts with a 1980s-style credits sequence,
fitting because the ep is set in the 1980s.
Yes, it is a follow-up to the previous Season's pivotal episode.
Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) is experimenting with children
in the hope of training one to cross between worlds.
His best hope is a Subject 13 - a little girl named Olivia.
Walter's wife is at home, looking after young Peter.
Unfortunately the boy is obsessed with returning home,
which he thinks is at the bottom of the frozen lake.
Walternate's marriage is falling apart
due to his obsession with finding his son.
And he gets a clue from the most unexpected source!
Fringe [Season 3, Episode 16]
Os
Shown 11/Mar/11
The team are after a gang of cat-burglars who can defy gravity.
Doctor Krick (Alan Ruck -
Star Trek: Generations
) has something to so with it.
He recruits Lance (Greyston Holt -
Bitten
), a paraplegic, to work with him.
Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) hangs out with the security guard (Hurley from
Lost
). He also explores the idea that his friend, Mr Bell,
may have left a final gift ... a Soul Magnet.
Fringe [Season 3, Episode 17]
Stowaway
Shown 18/Mar/11
Dana Gray (
Paula Malcolmson
) is trying to commit suicide.
Unfortunately she seems to be immortal.
William Bell is still in Olivia (
Anna Torv
) - and Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) is having a great time!
Peter and Broyles are unhappy because Olivia is gone.
Astrid (
Jasika Nicole
) is unhappy because Bell keeps complimenting her.
Agent Lee is also searching for Dana Gray.
Now the Fringe team has its final member
so it can match the makeup of the mirror universe team.
Fringe [Season 3, Episode 18]
Bloodline
Shown 25/Mar/11
In the Alternate Universe, Fauxlivia (
Anna Torv
) is heavily pregnant.
But she has a medical condition which will probably kill her when she gives birth.
Then she gets kidnapped by a medical conspiracy.
Linc is in charge of the search.
He teams up with Bubbles (The Wire),
the cabbie who helped the other Olivia.
The actress must be having the time of her life,
playing two versions of the same character
who are undergoing traumatic life changes
and character development in very different.
Fringe [Season 3, Episode 19]
Lysergic Acid Diethylamide
Shown 15/Apr/11
Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) and Bell try desperately to save Olivia (
Anna Torv
) before she is lost forever.
Walter and Peter (Joshua Jackson -
Dawson's creek
) enter into Olivia's subconscious. Like
Inception
, only weird.
Meanwhile, Lootenant Broyles accidentally consumes LSD.
Fringe [Season 3, Episode 20]
6:02 AM EST
Shown 22/Apr/11
Walternate (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) uses his grandson's DNA to activate the machine.
Apocalypse - Now?
In the Alternative Universe,
Fauxliva discovers that Walternate has started the machine.
For some reason she objects,
despite killing several people in order to bring this plan to fruition.
But will her new plan work?
Fringe [Season 3, Episode 21]
The Last Sam Weiss
Shown 29/Apr/11
Olivia (
Anna Torv
) recruits Sam Weiss,
the only person who has any idea how to get Peter (Joshua Jackson -
Dawson's creek
) into the machine.
She uses the threat of physical violence to make him comply,
which is the same thing that Fauxlivia did in the previous episode.
Peter recovers from his injuries - well, physically.
He has amnesia, and goes walkabout.
Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) tries to find a solution to the Machine problem.
Fringe [Season 3, Episode 22]
The Day We Died
Shown 06/May/11
It is ten years since Peter (Joshua Jackson -
Dawson's creek
) destroyed the other world.
But now his world is being destroyed as well.
Terrorist Brad Dourif (
Alien: Resurrection
) is making it worse by detonating suitcase nuke-style reality bombs.
Walter is in prison for helping.
He is the only one who can defuse the bombs.
Can he formulate a plan to save the day?
Fringe [Season 4, Episode 1]
Neither Here Nor There
Shown 23 Sept 2011
A Newbie joins the team as new partner for Olivia (
Anna Torv
). He wants revenge for the death of his partner (Joe Flanagan -
Stargate Atlantis
). Nobody can remember Peter (Joshua Jackson -
Dawson's creek
), and nobody wonders why she has not had an FBI partner
since Charlie Francis (Kirk Acevedo -
Arrow
) died in Season One.
But the Newbie is the double of Lincoln -
Fauxlivia's team leader in the Alternate Universe.
The Feds also have a B-Team, to help out with heavy lifting
and to go into dangerous situations without backup.
These two redshirts are the token black guy and his partner, Stephen Lobo (Kellog in
Continuum
).
The monster of the week is a shapeshifter.
This one is different from the previous ones ...
Fringe [Season 4, Episode 2]
One Night in October
Shown 30 Sept 2011
Olivia and Linc are asked to help out with an Alternate Universe investigation,
into a serial killer (John Pyper-Ferguson -
Alphas
) who steals his victims' memories.
The theme, of a character losing their memories of a loved one,
is mirrored by the fact that all the regular cast have forgotten Peter.
However, he is still trying to manifest himself in their reality.
This means a subplot involving Walter,
who questions his sanity because he has visions of Peter.
Fringe [Season 4, Episode 3]
Alone in the World
Shown 7/Oct/11
The team investigate a deadly mould - like in
X-Files
. But is THIS mould intelligent?
Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) thinks Peter II drowned just after he rescued him.
William Sadler (
Roswell
) is the FBI shrink sent to assess him.
Walter is so scared of the idea of being sent back to St Clair's hospital
that he is willing to lobotomise himself.
Fringe [Season 4, Episode 4]
Subject 9
Shown 14/Oct/11
Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) joins Olivia (
Anna Torv
) in the field again, hunting the spectre that has been haunting them.
Their suspect (Chadwick Boseman -
Black Panther
) is an astral projector, whose powers match the spectre’s MO.
Olivia has to report on Walter’s mental state.
Will he be sent back to the Hospital for good?
Fringe [Season 4, Episode 5]
Novation
Shown 04/Nov/11
Olivia seems to have taken Astrid's advice,
and sort-of-flirts with Linc.
It certainly seems to make their working environment uncomfortable.
Peter (Joshua Jackson -
Dawson's creek
) is back,
but his past has been erased from reality so nobody believes him.
Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) suspects he is from a third universe, but Walter is in denial.
Peter is the only one who realises that
his return to reality may be a symptom of a greater problem.
A shape-shifter is on the loose.
It tricks a scientist, Doctor Truss (Ayre Gross -
), to heal its DNA-sensitive skin.
But it could have a bigger agenda than mere self-preservation.
Fringe [Season 4, Episode 6]
And Those We've Left Behind
Shown 11/Nov/11
Disasters start to happen, with the cause of the danger
suddenly appearing in a time-warp from four years ago.
Peter (Joshua Jackson -
Dawson's creek
) suspects he may be the cause,
especially as he starts to jump between moments himself.
The cause of the disasters is a well-meaning genius
who only wants to keep his family together.
Sound like anyone else in the show?
Fringe [Season 4, Episode 7]
Wallflower
Shown 18/Nov/11
Olivia (
Anna Torv
) starts to bond with the Newbie, Lincoln.
He has a lot more success with her than their counterparts do in the alternate universe.
Ironically, she comes across as being more enthusiastic about him
than he was about her in previous episodes..
She begins to wonder if her childhood left her emotionally stunted.
Peter still has an FBI Agent as bodyguard-cum-babysitter.
The only one in the team who treats him as a regular human
is Lincoln, who has only just joined the team himself.
The team investigate a series of murders by an invisible man.
He was born with a genetic pigmentation abnormality,
and he was secretly experimented on by a certain corporation.
Surprise surprise.
Fringe [Season 4, Episode 8]
Back to Where You've Never Been
Shown 13/Jan/12
Peter (Joshua Jackson -
Dawson's creek
) and Lincoln the Newbie take a jump across to the alternate universe.
They have their own reasons for wanting to get to Walternate's HQ.
Peter wants to meet his father,
and the newbie wants to get info on the shapeshifters.
The Alternate Fringe unit have their suspicions about the shifters.
Whoever is using them is now deploying them in the alternate universe too.
Since Walternate has ordered the DOD to take the case
out of the hands of the Fringe unit,
it seems clear that he is the main suspect.
The alternate universe has a few people who were killed off in the other timeline.
Broyles is still in charge of Fringe,
while Brendan is still Walternate's chief scientist.
Peter mentions the time that he killed Mr Jones (Jared Harris -
Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows
) ... which begs the question - in a timeline that Peter died in,
whatever happened to Jones?
Fringe [Season 4, Episode 9]
Enemy of My Enemy
Shown 20/Jan/12
Peter (Joshua Jackson -
Dawson's creek
) and Lincoln the Newbie are still in the Alternate universe,
helping the Fringe team hunt the man behind the shapeshifters.
It turns out to be a familiar face,
who was never punished because Peter did not exist in the new timeline.
Which means that even though the villains are several steps ahead,
Peter is the one variable they never planned for!
Fringe [Season 4, Episode 10]
Forced Perspective
Shown 27/Jan/12
A man dies in an
Omen
-style accident involving an I-beam on a construction site.
Fringe recovers a sketch predicting the incident.
They try to locate the artist, a teenage girl.
Precognitive ability is standard
throughout the typical ESP powers shown in TV shows like this.
Naturally, such a god-like power renders story-telling more difficult.
To balance it out, either the visions are blurry and out of context ...
Or the Precog is cursed by knowing the circumstances of their own death.
Fringe [Season 4, Episode 11]
Making Angels
Shown 03/Feb/12
Someone is bumping off people with a poison that was never invented.
The Fringe team call in their alternate selves.
Olivia (
Anna Torv
) and Fauxlivia do the field-work,
while Alternate Astrid (
Jasika Nicole
) helps Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) in the lab.
The killer can see the future.
He is evidently using a technique that The Observers have perfected.
This asks more questions than it answers.
It is great to see a new side to Astrid.
Blu Mankuma (
Huckleberry Finn and Friends
) has a cameo as her father,
which helps round out her character.
We realise that after four Seasons
we still know very little about a key character!
Fringe [Season 4, Episode 12]
Welcome to Westfield
Shown 10/Feb/12
Olivia (
Anna Torv
) is beginning to remember her life with Peter (Joshua Jackson -
Dawson's creek
).
Olivia, Peter and Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) enter the nearby town in search of some rhubarb pie.
It is like an evil version of
Brigadoon
. Luckily the local schoolteacher (Tim Kelleher -
Dark Skies
) is around to help out.
Fringe [Season 4, Episode 13]
A Better Human Being
Shown 17/Feb/12
Olivia (
Anna Torv
) starts to recover her memories of Peter (Joshua Jackson -
Dawson's creek
). Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) investigates.
A young man in a mental institution hears voices talking about a murder.
The doctors think he is schizophrenic, but the murder was real.
He has a psychic connection with the killers.
Fringe [Season 4, Episode 14]
The End of All Things
Shown 24/Feb/12
Peter (Joshua Jackson -
Dawson's creek
) tries a mind meld with the dying Observer.
Olivia (
Anna Torv
) is interrogated by the villains.
Jones (Jared Harris -
Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows
) wants to activate her cortexifan powers,
so he has to use psychological torture.
He chooses to target the people closest to her.
Fringe [Season 4, Episode 15]
A Short Story About Love
Shown 23/Mar/12
Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) and Peter (Joshua Jackson -
Dawson's creek
) discover that The Observer left a clue.
If Peter follows it, he may get back to his original timeline.
Olivia (
Anna Torv
) hunts a facially-disfigured rent-a-villain (Michael Massee -
The Crow
) who is murdering couples.
Like the serial killer in
Perfume: the story of a murderer
he seeks to make the ultimate perfume from his victims' pheromones.
However, he targets the men as his primary victims.
One of the endangered wives is
Ona Grauer
.
Fringe [Season 4, Episode 16]
Nothing as It Seems
Shown 30/Mar/12
This starts with a recap of the original show's pilot episode,
where we get the first appearance of the Porcupine-man.
But in this new timeline, so things happen differently.
For example, an Air Marshal (Ken Kirzinger -
Freddy vs Jason
) intervenes.
Olivia (
Anna Torv
), with forty percent of her memory rewritten back to the original timeline,
has been suspended from duty until the FBI works out what to do with her.
Naturally she disobeys a direct order from Broyles
and interferes directly in the case.
Familiar faces include a suspect's wife (
Gina Holden
), another suspect's sister Melinda (
Emily Jackson
) and her friend Marco (Alessandro Juliani -
Battlestar Galactica (2003)
).
Fringe [Season 4, Episode 17]
Everything In Its Right Place
Shown 06/Apr/12
The Newbie is stressed out with his current assignment.
Peter (Joshua Jackson -
Dawson's creek
) and Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) take their cow grazing, while Astrid (
Jasika Nicole
) takes a day with her dad.
Olivia's new memories mean she has forgotten
the months of bonding she had with the newbie.
So he jumps at the chance to visit the Other Side.
Elysia Rotaru
gets jumped by a mugger.
Luckily, a vigilante is killing muggers.
Newbie helps Fauxlivia (
Anna Torv
) and his alternate self to investigate.
The answer may help them fight Jones (Jared Harris -
Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows
) and his network of shapeshifters.
Fringe [Season 4, Episode 18]
The Consultant
Shown 13/Apr/12
A few people die of injuries from a plane crash -
but they were not in a plane at the time!
Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) realises this has something to do with the alternate universe.
He heads over there, to help deduce what has gone wrong.
Fauxlivia (
Anna Torv
) is hunting the mole.
Fringe [Season 4, Episode 19]
Letters of Transit
Shown 20/Apr/12
The ep starts with an info-dump scroll, like in a Dystopian thriller movie.
In 2015 the Observers stopped just Observing,
and have now taken over the entire planet.
In the year 2036, Fringe Division are collaborators in a fascist society.
But a small band of Resistance fighters uncover the original Fringe team
- their new hope!
Simon (Henry Ian Cusick, AKA Desmond from
Lost
) leads the Resistance cell within Fringe Division.
Etta (
Georgina Haig
) does the field-work for him.
But the real star of the show is Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) himself.
However temporarily, he gets his sanity back.
Fringe [Season 4, Episode 20]
Worlds Apart
Shown 27/Apr/12
Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) realises what Mr Jones (Jared Harris -
Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows
) intends to do.
Unfortunately the revelation came to him in a dream -
so the others have difficulty taking him seriously.
Peter (Joshua Jackson -
Dawson's creek
) must reactivate the machine.
Fringe [Season 4, Episode 21]
Brave New World (1)
Shown 04/May/12
Jones (Jared Harris -
Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows
) unleashes a nanite plague.
Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) experiments on Jessica Holt (
Rebecca Mader
) in the hope of finding a cure.
Jones has apparently run out of henchmen.
He has to do his own wet-work these days.
As the Season draws to a close, we get a new villain set up for Season Five.
We never found out who was behind William Bell's mysterious death ...
Fringe [Season 4, Episode 22]
Brave New World (2)
Shown 11/May/12
Jessica Holt (
Rebecca Mader
) phones Olivia (
Anna Torv
) for help.
She is being stalked by an Observer.
This leads to a couple of revelations.
There are a couple of weapons proficient against an Observer.
One is a magic rune, like a demon trap in
Supernatural
. Another is a super-gun.
Yes, we find out how The Observer got shot.
The supervillain has taken Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) prisoner, and takes him to see the end of the worlds.
The power to destroy a planet is insignificant compared to the power to destroy TWO planets.
Fringe [Season 5, Episode 1]
Transilience Thought Unifier Model-11
Shown 28/Sep/12
The new Season takes up twenty years in the future.
The Observers have taken over the world,
and it is now a cliched example of post-Apocalyptic anti-fascist storytelling.
Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) has a plan to defeat the Observers.
But first the team must rescue Olivia (
Anna Torv
), and obtain the components necessary for the masterplan.
Unfortunately the show appears to have jumped the shark.
This is a clear case of running out of ideas.
Fringe [Season 5, Episode 2]
In Absentia
Shown 05/Oct/12
Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) has amnesia.
But he may have left notes in his lab in Harvard.
The team break into the facility to find his notes.
They capture a Loyalist guard.
Walter's granddaughter Henrietta "Etta" Bishop (
Georgina Haig
) interrogates the man, in a disturbingly brutal fashion.
Olivia (
Anna Torv
) tries to show some humanity.
Fringe [Season 5, Episode 3]
The Recordist
Shown 12/Oct/12
The team continue their quest.
They travel to the distant parts of western Pennsylvania,
where they meet the Tree People led by Paul McGillion - the wee Scottish doctor from
Stargate Atlantis
.
The Tree People have archives of everything important in recent years.
This is lucky, because Walter's memory has gone
and he has no idea what is going on.
This episode seems to be a sign the show has jumped-the-shark.
Walter's faulty memory is reminiscent of the earlier Seasons,
while Olivia has now somehow gotten an idetic memory.
Her new superpower seems like a new writer's attempt
to make her history as a cortexafan subject still relevant to the story.
Fringe [Season 5, Episode 4]
The Bullet That Saved The World
Shown 26/Oct/12
The baldies send in their best human detective – Broyles (Lance Reddick -
Lost
). After all, he ran things in The Wire and then the FBI,
so he should know how to catch our heroes. But what side is he on?
Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) digs out his secret stash of Fringe technology.
Yes, even when he was under constant FBI surveillance
and lived in fear of being returned to St Clair Asylum,
he was apparently stashing potential super-weapons.
Now he weaponises one of the technologies used by a villain in previous episode,
and puts it to good use.
It is gruesomely violent, when you think about it,
but it shows how ruthless our heroes have become.
The good old days of the war between two universes are gone,
and the new direction of the show seems tedious.
It is at best reminiscent of the original
V: The Series
- perhaps a more fitting successor than the more recent
V (2009)
effort.
But when all is said and done,
it is not the show that we all loved in the early Seasons.
Fringe [Season 5, Episode 5]
An Origin Story
Shown 02/Nov/12
The Observers open a time portal,
and import crates with parts for the atmosphere pollution machine.
This will improve things for the Observers,
who are used to the heavily polluted air of the future,
but it will reduce the average human lifespan to 45 years.
Naturally, the Resistance summons our heroes to help disrupt the supply line.
Our heroes are still suffering from their loss in the previous ep.
As a result they are slightly more vicious and distracted than usual.
Fringe [Season 5, Episode 6]
Through the Looking Glass and What Walter Found There
Shown 09/Nov/12
Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) gets the next tape out of the Amber, and follows the instructions.
He ends up inside a pocket universe, where the laws of Physics do not apply.
The doors are marked with the mysterious symbols from the title sequence.
Peter (Joshua Jackson -
Dawson's creek
) and Olivia (
Anna Torv
) are still grieving at their loss.
They follow Walter into the pocket universe.
The Observers are closing in, too.
But Peter has his new skills.
The goal of Walter's quest is a young boy who featured in a previous episode.
Also, a mysterious man named Donald helped Walter hide the boy.
Fringe [Season 5, Episode 7]
Five-Twenty-Ten
Shown 16/Nov/12
Peter (Joshua Jackson -
Dawson's creek
) alters the future in tiny ways,
to push a couple of Observers into a trap.
But the implant is giving Peter side-effects,
turning him into an emotionless monster.
Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) and Olivia (
Anna Torv
) need to access William Bell's secret storage facility.
That is what Walter saved William Bell's hand for.
But they need Nina's help.
Can she be trusted?
Fringe [Season 5, Episode 8]
The Human Kind
Shown 07/Dec/12
Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) sends Olivia (
Anna Torv
) away to get a giant magnet he stored earlier.
The woman who is guarding the magnet seems to be able to tell the future
- reminiscent of The Oracle in
The Matrix
. But people know there is a reward on Olivia's head.
Is she walking into a trap herself?
Peter (Joshua Jackson -
Dawson's creek
) alters the future in tiny ways, to push the enemy Captain into a trap.
However, the Captain is more experienced at creating outcomes.
Is Peter setting a trap for himself?
And will the implant turn Peter into an emotionless monster like the Captain?
Fringe [Season 5, Episode 9]
Black Blotter
Shown 14/Dec/12
The radio signal starts.
Olivia (
Anna Torv
) and Peter (Joshua Jackson -
Dawson's creek
) track it down, and discover an old friend.
Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) takes LSD, and hallucinates that he sees his old lab assistant.
She shows him where his journal was,
from his days as a supervillain.
And the old him is coming back, now that his brain is healing itself.
Worse, the LSD trip puts him in a
Terry Gilliam
cartoon, straight out of Monty Python.
Fringe [Season 5, Episode 10]
Anomaly XB-6783
Shown 21/Dec/12
The team have the boy, but they have no way to communicate with him.
They take him to Nina, who has access to the Ministry of Technology.
But the Observers have realised that she must be the one who helped the team in
Fringe [Season 5, Episode 7] Five-Twenty-Ten.
Fringe [Season 5, Episode 11]
The Boy Must Live
Shown 11/Jan/13
Walter's memory of Donald has been recovered.
He knows who and where he is, so the team go looking for him.
He is a familiar face, although he looks quite different.
Fringe [Season 5, Episode 12]
Liberty
Shown 18/Jan/13
The team have to rescue a friend from the clutches of the Observers.
He is being held on Liberty island, which is now an impregnable base.
But if Olivia's brain is injected with enough Cortexafan,
she can cross over to the other universe.
There she teams up with Fauxlivia (
Anna Torv
), and gains back-door access to the base.
It is good to see the Alternate Universe again.
We get to see a few familiar faces for the last time.
Fringe [Season 5, Episode 13]
An Enemy of Fate
Shown 18/Jan/13
The team have to rescue another friend from the clutches of the Observers.
This time they use the direct approach,
using yet more of the Fringe case material that Walter (John Noble -
Lord of the Rings
) stockpiled.
Finally, the time has come to engage Walter and Donald's superweapon.
The Captain tries to stop them,
leading to a violent showdown with Olivia (
Anna Torv
).
The show's final episode boils down to an exploration of the show's long-running theme
- the relationship between a father and his child.
Donald and Michael, Walter and Peter (Joshua Jackson -
Dawson's Creek
), Peter and Etta (
Georgina Haig
).
