Fringe: The No-Brainer

Is it just me, or do you feel like Fringe builds you up, just to let you down?  We already knew they couldn’t produce more than two decent episodes in a row, but this one and its borrowed plot reminded me of better shows.  So when I’m done here, I’m going to watch Smile Time.

A song by The Killers opens the episode.  Coincidence? A teenage boy chats on his cell phone…wait, do boys chat?  A teenage boy speaks manfully on his cell phone with a friend before hanging up and focusing on his laptop.  A blue light flashes in the room, which could just be a trick of the light, but this is Fringe, so not likely.  A pop-up message prompts young Gregory to stare at the screen, instantly hypnotized by a series of flashing images.  I’m immediately reminded of that awesome episode of Angel.  One of the best!  Oh, I’m so tempted to recap that episode now rather than this one.  But right, back to Fringe.  The kid cries, his mom walks in and out, oblivious, and then a hand reaches out from the computer screen.  It’s all very Pulse, but a lot creepier.  Finally, the hand grabs Greg’s head and liquefies his brain!

We only know his brain’s a puddle because Olivia sends the body to the Lab for Doc and Peter to examine.  Doc finds the time to work when he’s not trashing Charles Darwin.  I’m not really going to recap that lecture.  You’re welcome.  Olivia and Francis visit Greg’s parents, and learn he had a friend named Luke Dempsey (no relation) and that Greg was a bit boring.  Except for all the time he spent on his computer.  Olivia brings Greg’s hard drive to the lab and asks Exposition to examine for possible clues.

Wait, wait, wait.  Exposition explains that the hard drive is fried.  When Olivia doubts the assessment, Exposition says, “Linguistics major, computer science minor.  I’ve been taking apart computers since I was eight.”  Are you f—ing kidding me?  Next week we’re going to learn that Exposition was actually a double major in astronomy so she can read the stars to solve the next riddle, while explaining the myths of Orion in Latin for the sake of advancing the plot.  I mean, for real?  Can’t Peter and his criminal past/MIT training hack a computer?  Or wouldn’t he at least know someone who could, and then maybe we’d get some more back-story on him?  Oh, I don’t even know why I bother.  I hope the writers pull a MOWE and kill Exposition at the end of season one.  It’d be shocking and welcome.  At least Tony was likable and useful.

ANYWAY.  Olivia questions Greg’s friend, Luke.  The two were friends since they were kids, because their dads worked together, and remained so even when the two Papas went separate ways.  So, nothing helpful.

Another liquefied brain body turns up at a car dealership.  Exposition exposits that the dealer’s computer was fried like Greg’s, and both of the computers downloaded a huge file before crashing.  Her computer science minor can’t tell where the files originated, so Peter offers to hit up a criminal friend for help.  See?  Now I’m bored for being right.

Back at the FBI Building, Agent Harris hard asses Olivia.  He gives her 12 hours to take care of business, then he’ll shut her down and pass off the case.  I’m confused about Harris.  If the Fringe program is sanctioned by the government, what’s the issue?  Isn’t their work too important to shut down?  Or is it just a bureaucratic thing because the Fringe-ettes aren’t filling out the right paperwork?  I know, I know, stop thinking about it.

So Peter visits Hakim, a computer specialist who requires bribing in exchange for help.  These two have an unspoken history, but I give it to Hakim.  There’s nothing intimidating about Peter, dressed in a sailor’s pea coat.  Hakim reluctantly helps, but also can’t find the program’s point of origin or learn what it is.  However, he can locate the address of the person downloading it right now: It’s Olivia’s niece, Ella!

Really?  We need this?

Off Olivia races home, arriving in time to save Ella, who’s dazed and pale.  Agent Francis shows up (huh?) and promises to have the computer forensics division examine Olivia’s laptop.  Wait, there’s a whole division of people who work on computers for the FBI?  Why exactly was Exposition involved, and why would it be necessary for Peter to take the hard drives off the premises?  My brain hurts.  Like, almost-liquefied-hurts.

Peter flirts with Rachel, but nothing embarrassing, just the “oh my, aren’t you great with kids!” kind of flirting.  Ella tells Peter and Olivia about the hand out of the computer, and as Olivia examines the laptop more closely, clever editing brings us into the secret lair (could it be a warehouse???) of this week’s foe: a balding, chubby guy with a menacing voice.  In case we didn’t get it, he says, “Oh yeah.  I’m the one you’re looking for.”  Thanks, dude.

Enter the villain’s son, Luke Skywalker!  Er, Dempsey!  Isn’t that interesting!  We learn that Luke loves his father, and that Papa D has been unemployed with the best assortment of computer screens and computer technology I’ve ever seen.  Recession, my ass.

In Evanston, Illinois, a wife finds her day trader husband dead and brain liquefied.  Turns out, the dead man married Dempsey’s ex-wife, and Greg’s dad was Dempsey’s old boss, who fired him six years prior.  1 + 1 = 2, so the Fringe-ettes figure out Dempsey’s their man, avenging people who have wronged him.  Dad’s missing when they attempt an arrest, so they pick up Luke instead.  Luke lawyers up, and Olivia releases him.

Because she’s tricky.  She hopes he’ll lead them to his father, and Luke does.  Olivia and Peter follow Luke’s cab to a warehouse(!).  Luke confronts Papa D, then hides when the Dempseys discover Olivia creeping through the building.  Eventually, she finds Papa Dempsey’s control center, followed by his gun pointed at her head.  Papa Dempsey puts another gun under his chin.  He threatens both suicide and to shoot Olivia, but not necessarily in that order.  He’s frazzled, folks, and can’t make up his mind.  He catches sight of his monitors and the hypnotic program.  Presumably, the hypnotic state causes his finger to slip and he shoots himself (offscreen).  A dead father means Luke’s arrested … as an accessory?  No clarification is given.

Later Harris meets with Broyles and complains about Olivia’s tactics.  Broyles defends her, and warns Harris that a vendetta against Olivia is a vendetta against Broyles, and all the red tape in the world can’t protect Harris then.  Not that Harris cares, of course, but Broyles makes the most of his three minutes of screen time.

In an interesting little sub-plot, Peter receives a letter from Jessica Warren, the mother of the lab assistant who died seventeen years ago in one of Doc’s experiments.  You know, the one which resulted in his incarceration in that psych ward.  Have they not mentioned that enough for you?  Peter tries to keep Mama Warren away from Doc, because he feels Doc’s not stable enough for an angry mother’s tears.  He and Olivia argue over whether or not Peter underestimates his father, and finally, Peter gives in and arranges the meeting.  All Mama Warren really wanted was to speak with Doc, since he was the last person to see her daughter alive, and she’s looking for a few memories.  Not as emotionally moving as you’d think it would be, but how awesome if the dead lab assistant comes back to life and starts haunting Doc?

Don’t call me crazy, just look at John Scott!  And by the way, where is that Hotness?

We round out the episode with Rachel and Olivia at home chatting (because they’re girls), until Peter arrives to thank Olivia for her subplot help.  Rachel walks by, and she and Peter share a look.  You know, the kind of look that has Olivia going, is that flirting flirting, or just flirting?

So if none of this brain-melting is Pattern-related, why do we care?  Hopefully, they’ll link it all up later, otherwise, Fringe has once again broken its string of good episodes with a really lame one.

Next week: Olivia pushes the limit, and back to nightmares on airplanes!

Season 1, Episode 12: The No-Brainer (originally aired January 27, 2009)

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