Fringe "Unleashed" review

As I suspected, Fringe did not have two down weeks in a row. After last Tuesday’s middling episode, my favorite crazed sci-fi police procedural rebounded with “Unleashed” which was a genuinely suspenseful stand-alone show with strong performances by characters beyond just Anna Torv’s Olivia Dunham.

Last week’s show was carried by Olivia, who was again this week strong, smart, and sexy as usual. This time, however, the two Bishops-- Walter (John Noble) and Peter (Joshua Jackson)-- and fellow FBI agent Charlie Francis (Kirk Acevedo, pictured) do the heavy lifting.

The plot involves the attacks of a creature I can best describe as a lizard-tiger-snake-bat thingy. It’s something Walter may or may not have cooked up in that lab with William Bell years ago. The monster starts off murdering some animal rights activists who are far more active here than those UNCG animal rights folks I remember from college. In a neat twist, we actually get to see the whole creature eventually—a rarity on Fringe.

Eventually the monster attacks Charlie and it turns out it has impregnated him (uuuggghhh!) with small wormy versions of itself that will soon break out of his belly Alien (the movie) style (double-uuuggghhh!).

The whole thing gives Walter a crisis of conscious, and it’s nice to see Peter trying to comfort him and keep him on course after the bickering the two of them have done recently. The team eventually figures out they need the beasty’s blood to save Charlie, and things get more suspenseful when Walter decides to martyr himself to lure the creature.

It’s nice to get first glimpses of Charlie’s wife and home life, since we know so little about him compared to the other main characters. There is a particularly touching scene where he talks to his wife on the phone, laughing at a bad joke she tells as she is ignorant of his…ummm…condition and potential death.

Thankfully, things go at least semi-according to plan and we’ll get to keep Charlie around. I’m still of the opinion he’s probably evil, since he so damned NICE and PURE he just has to be.

We also get to see a little more of Olivia’s jealousy over Peter’s flirtations with her sister. I like it when they do this as long as they don’t go overboard. Fringe has really played down the romance since Olivia’s busted affair with her partner in the pilot. There is a lot of room to grow here, as Olivia and Peter have decent on-screen chemistry.

All in all, a good but not great episode. Next week looks to be another Olivia-centered show, and I always like those even when I don’t like them. Well, can you blame me?