Fringe S1.E12 The No-Brainer: 
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Liquefied brains are disgusting. If you ever doubted that fact (I don’t know why anyone would) last night’s episode of Fringe should have confirmed that fact for you. When the team investigates a computer virus that appears to liquefy brains there are plenty of victims (and liquefied brains) to go around. A mysterious woman also shows up at the lab wanting to speak with Walter since they share a past. Besides the liquefied brains being disgusting, I thought last night’s Fringe was a good episode.
I thought the main storyline this week was good. Being a huge computer user myself, I thought it was interesting to have a storyline featuring a killer computer virus. While the storyline is a little far fetched in my opinion, I think the storyline could be based in reality. While I don’t think a computer virus could liquefy someone’s brain, I do think it could be possible to create a computer virus that could kill someone by giving them a seizure. The good news is that we don’t have to worry about killer computer viruses (at least for now).
This week’s case really brought us two continuing storylines. First the storyline of Olivia’s sister and niece being in town. While they aren’t huge characters for the show, I think the show added them mostly to soften up Olivia a little. In the first half of the season Olivia was truly hard to like since she was so cold and withdrawn. Her character just wasn’t that interesting. Bringing in her sister and niece for a couple allows Fringe to show a softer side to the character which should make her a better character in the long run.
The other storyline involves Sanford continuing to bring down the Fringe division. When he gets in the way of the investigation, Broyles threatens him if he doesn’t back off. I don’t know why but this storyline really isn’t getting me. Maybe it is because it is moving so slow. I think the storyline actually could have been better if done in a future season after the Fringe division had investigated more cases.
The other major storyline this week involved a woman by the name of Jessica showing up at the lab. She is actually the mother of the assistant who died in the accident that put Walter in the mental institute. Peter doesn’t let her see Walter at first since he thinks meeting her will make his condition worse. He eventually lets them meet and Walter is more than willing to share his memories of his assistant with her mother.
For those of you who didn’t know this week’s episode was a Dawson’s Creek reunion. Joshua Jackson (Peter) played Pacey on Dawson’s Creek while Mary Beth Piel (Jessica) played Grams on Dawson’s Creek. Besides the Dawson Creek reunion, I thought the storyline was pretty good. It’s good to find out more Walter even though I hope learning more about his past doesn’t lead to him getting better. While it might be cruel of me to say this but I hope Walter continues to be crazy to some degree for the rest of the series. Walter truly makes Fringe a better show and I think the show would be a lot different if he ended up getting better and didn’t have his random thoughts from time to time.
Quotes:
Walter: “Darwin got it all wrong.”
Walter (while examining a dead body): “This is the part of the day I look forward to most.”
Peter: “All yours. Liquid brain.”
Walter: “Do they sell the cars with the butt warmers?”
Peter (referring to Walter): “I’ve done my fair share of babysitting lately.”
Peter: “He can’t possibly be that stupid.”
Photo Credit: ©2008 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Craig Blankenhorn/FOX
