Fringe: Midnight

Have you noticed that Olivia’s starting to look a little tired? The woman wants answers, but the writers drag this show out worse than American Idol drags out its Results show.

This week, it’s another filler episode trying to disguise itself as part of the storyline, and another monster-of-the-week plot. Although, hopefully, I wasn’t the only Angel fan who thought the club atmosphere was a little reminiscent of “Lonely Hearts“, which also wasn’t a great episode. But it had Angel, so it was way better than this.

In yet another take on the monster theme, the Fringe-ettes follow up on a series of killings that involve ripping open the back of the victims’ neck and draining the body of spinal fluid. Yum. Crack detective work locates one Dr. Luboff, who has been ordering all kinds of contagions from the CDC for his company to conduct research. Who knew how easy it was to order extinct syphilis? Especially when said research takes place in his home, with the number of employees equaling one. Further, some of his mail-order CDC contagions have surfaced in past Fringe cases, specifically in the virus that killed David. Which links Dr. Luboff to … the ZFT!

The Fringe Squad of FBI agents arrest Dr. Luboff. He reluctantly admits he works for ZFT, but will only help Olivia if she locates and returns his wife, whom the ZFT are using to punish him for trying to leave their ranks. Though the United States doesn’t believe in negotiating with terrorists (as ZFT has been classified), Olivia’s willing to negotiate to further the team’s best chance at catching ZFT. So off to a Chinese restaurant downtown, per Luboff’s instructions, where she finds no Mrs. Doctor, but rather, a laboratory and the virus that infected the human-turned-monster serial killer. And wouldn’t you know…that human is Luboff’s wife! Luboff sent Olivia there not to rescue the Mrs., but to find the virus so he could synthesize the cure. But he still wants Olivia to find his wife, and whatever the terrorists need, they get.

Luboff and Doc bond over science and antidotes. Meanwhile, his wife continues to hunt and kill various men throughout Boston, but a few of them are cheaters and players in overpriced sports cars, so how bad should we, the audience, really feel? The two mad scientists, however, run into complications, and Luboff realizes that they will need some of his own spinal fluid to create the cure. The Mrs. had drained him substantially already, prior to her rampage among Boston’s streets, so they must be careful how much they take from him.

More crack detective work and Exposition’s knowledge of local nightlife helps the team discover that Mrs. Doctor has been choosing her victims from the same downtown hotspot – our monster likes the clubs, as it turns out. She picks them up, makes out a little, kills them, and drains their spinal fluid. Basically, whatever disease she has burns through her own spinal fluid faster than her body can replace it, and she kills to recharge herself. There’s a nice shot of her monster teeth during one kill – so she’s like a vampire (Angel?) who feeds on spinal fluid instead of blood. Gross, but sure. Plus, she has syphilis (like Darla), so she runs a constant fever. Or something.

Peter, Olivia and Francis track Mrs. Doctor down at the club using a heat sensor that reminds me of Egon’s PKE Meter. Peter shows no embarrassment while using it. They locate the Mrs., tranquilizer her, then ship her back to Doc’s lab so she can be cured.

And it works too, except that because of the fluid he insisted Doc drain, Luboff has a stroke, and ultimately, dies while his wife lies next to him and the antidote saves her life. Ah, the bittersweet life and death of a couple we’ll never see again.

And in the moment that should make this whole episode worth it, Doc delivers a videotape to Olivia from Luboff. He took the time to record the answers to her questions about ZFT, in the event that he died in the making of the antidote. He promises to reveal names, and one of them is the leader of ZFT: wait for it … I’m sure you can’t guess …. Dr. William Bell! Who’s surprised? You know what would be a bigger shock? The actor playing William Bell, if it weren’t all over the news already. I won’t spoil it here, in case you haven’t heard, because I do believe we’ll have a good time with that. Eventually.

In the subplot, Olivia looks down on the matchmaking service, Two Singles Twogether, and Rachel’s husband files for divorce and sole custody of Ella. Imagine a long, drawn-out sigh from me so you know how I feel about this development. Picture me rolling my eyes, too, for good measure. All of this family drama starts to depress Olivia, noticed by Peter. I mean, it’s not like she has superpowers or super-terrorists to worry about, or anything.

Though the episode started out strong with a nice chilling kill, it fell short in many ways. The last second reveal involving William Bell probably surprised very few people, though it’s nice to see progress.  Also, unfortunately, this is the third “monster” episode we’ve seen this season, even if the monster is more human than beast. I think the show is suffering, as it did early in the season, from trying to do too much and be too many things. I realize that all these layers work for Heroes and Lost, but sometimes, it’s okay just to have a simple story that carries through an entire season.

However, if they’d like to continue to borrow from Angel, I’m all for it. After all, this isn’t the first time Fringe has reminded me of the better, happier days of remorseful vampires.

Next week: Something bad is coming, Spock jokes, and The Observer!

Season 1, Episode 18: Midnight (originally aired April 28, 2009)

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