'Fringe' catches a mighty big cold

Hey, Fringe fanatics, good to see you again. It's a new year, there's a new President of the United States, and there's another Pattern of the Week that had me giggling/squirming/wincing at the very site of it. However, this episode was anything but (get ready for it) sluggish. I know, I'm not proud of that one, either, if that helps.

In some ways, the entire episode came down to Mitchell Loeb's confession at the end, when J.J. Abrams and Company pulled the shade back just a little on the central mystery at the heart of the show:

"Did you not understand the rules, what we're up against? Who the two sides are? At least tell me you know that! We had a plan here, lady. We had a shot. And you just blew it. We saved you! We were going to let you go! You have no idea what you've done. Not a clue."

Well, that's just as clear as mud, to quote an old college professor of mine. Course, that particular professor didn't die after ingesting what can only be described as the world's ugliest sea monkey and then toppling over in the middle of class. But that happened to Dr. Kinberg, and later to a Dr. Simon inside FBI headquarters. Both were promising epidemiologists secretly contracted by the CDC to prevent widespread diseases in the country. Olivia Dunham, fresh from a kidnapping Loeb framed as a flu shot, surmised these two doctors were killed so their expertise might die with them, allowing a future biological attack to succeed.

This "sea monkey" was in fact a genetically altered, single-cell organism derived from the common cold. I think this episode might go a long way in garnering research to finally cure it once and for all, because it's spiky sluggish sexiness sure made me think twice about touching anything in public without washing my hands OCD-style afterwards. Just deliciously wrong, that slug. I'd have to rank the slug as the second creepiest Pattern creature yet, right after that freakish Audrey II-type thing wrapped around Loeb's heart a few months back.

In that episode, Mitchell and his wife Samantha were capital E Evil, but after tonight, I think we're meant to think they are just merely misunderstood. Even though Loeb was working as double agent, he was probably moonlighting for The Fringetastics, because undercover operatives from The Fringenators have also more than likely immersed themselves inside the FBI as well. And those Fringenators are bad muthas, y'all.

In any case, Samantha's initial reticence to kill Olivia coupled with Loeb's confession at episode's end makes Dunham's rapid discovery of her captor's identity make more sense. She didn't solve the mystery so much as reveal just how deep the mystery goes. She didn't catch the bad guy; she caught the slightly-better-though-still-generally-reprehensible-and-wildly-vague-guy.

That's just par for the course in shows such as Fringe, but Loeb's speech near the end in many ways also served to augment Agent Harris' speech to Olivia near the episode's outset. While she was handcuffed to a hospital bed, Agent Exposition calmly and succinctly summed up the entire series for anyone just tuning in or who might have forgotten the general gist during the Fall break. It's clear that speech was written for all the American Idol fans tuning in for the first time, and it did its job effectively. That speech, plus Loeb's impassioned one at the end, essentially set up the entire premise of the show. If you got that, and enjoyed what happened in between, you're pretty much good to go from now on.

You might have noticed I've gone this long without mentioning the Bishop Boys. Well, they were largely on the sidelines today, with the spotlight firmly focused (rightly so) on Olivia in her aftermath from the kidnapping. Walter generally delighted in the disgusting immunological nature of this week's work while firing off his usual one-liners. Peter, for his part, primarily tried to conceal the fact he wants some Dunham-delivered smoochies. Dude's got a crush, and Walter knows it, which makes for some great awkward moments between the three of them. A little of this goes a long way, though, and Olivia's too smart a cookie to not get the hint for very long. Let's hope we don't get a love potion Pattern episode around Valentine's Day.

But I prefer the three of them as a triple-headed crime fighting machine, not a would-be couple with the equivalent of Peter's annoying younger sister in the back seat singing, "Peter and Olivia, up in a tree/F-R-I-N-G-I-N-G!" The show works best on a week-to-week basis with a touch of mythology atop a solid mystery of the week. Olivia provides the procedural know how, Walter provides the scientific insight, and Peter provides both a bridge between them and a backstory that always seems just on the periphery of the larger mythology. Let's hope they reunite fully in the weeks ahead.

A few other tidbits from this week's episode:

1. Working for a worldwide semi-evil organization must not pay well. Otherwise, Mitchell Loeb would be able to afford more than one pair of shoes. Or at least have money to get that one pair cleaned.
2. I know it's unfair to compare one show to another, but did anyone else get a serious Alias vibe from the Olivia/Samantha fight?
3. If Mitchell was trying to save Olivia via spinal tap, why order the hit later? Ostensibly Mr. Jones sees something in her worth preserving/using, and thus ordered Loeb to perform the bizarre procedure. All this begs the question: did Samantha miss on purpose? A long shot, I suppose, but something I couldn't quite shake after seeing Mitchell's reaction in the interrogation room.
4. I'm reserving judgment on Olivia's sister and niece showing up, although I can't see the upside right now. If Rachel starts slipping sea monkey slugs into her sister's water, I'm calling foul. We don't need a sister: we need more Astrid! All she does is get cheese steaks for the Bishop Boys. This is unacceptable.
5. While I generally loathed Agent Exposition (and not in the intended way), I did like his little dig at Broyles over the sudden and well-funded fringe investigation group in the wake of Flight 627. That might be an important point when all is said and done. If both sides of this fight are spread throughout the highest levels of government, which side is funding Broyles, and by proxy Dunham?

While not as strong as the episodes leading up to the Fall hiatus, this episode nevertheless provided a strong refresher for core fans, an accessible entry point for new viewers, and enough mythological expansion to slake my personal thirst. All this and mutated slugs! With paranoia sure to creep in as both sides ramp up the actions in anticipation of some unknown doomsday, Dunham and the Bishop Boys will more likely than not have no one but each other to learn on in the weeks to come.

What did you think of the show's return? Was Loeb telling the truth at the end, or lying just as Peter insisted he was? And will this show get higher ratings in its new, prime post-Idol slot?

Ryan grows non-lethal sea monkeys over at Boob Tube Dude. He also runs Zap2It's Guide to Lost.

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