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- TV Series: Fringe
- Episode: Earthling
- Starring: Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, John Noble, Lance Reddick, Jasika Nicole
- Written By: J.H Wyman, Jeff Vlaming
- Directed By: John Cassar
- Network: Fox
- Series: Fringe
Fringe: Earthling Review
Remains of the Day By
Stephen Lackey
November 07, 2009
Fringe Review
© Fox/Bob Trate
Fringe has been dinged by many critic for being too similar to The X-Flies. The truth is that Fringe is similar to the X-Files, Altered States, Night Gallery and a few others and that’s a good pedigree. This week,for better or for worse, the episode feels like a subpar episode of X-Files. If the shadowy guy at the end had a cigarette drooping from his mouth, it would have been perfect even though the organization he was from is a little better defined than that of the X-Files’ nicotine addicted bad guy. There were some well executed character moments buried within this monster of the week episode though.
This installment wasn’t a bad episode, but it wasn’t nearly as strong as the best the show has to offer. In this episode, the mystery begins with a man being stalked by a shadow and then turning to ash without being burned. The visual is definitely arresting but as the mystery unfolds and the true nature of the killer is revealed the potential of him is never explored enough. The idea is really cool but it comes off more as a simple plot device. There is a possibility that the story may re-emerge in this series down the line due to the shady cliffhanger ending. The fact that the cliffhanger didn’t really seem to matter says a lot about the episode though.
The best moments of the episode came from small character beats that were great because the actors are so good. There’s one scene where Olivia is curious about Broyles’ obsession with this case. She sidles up to him and the director allows for a few seconds of awkward silence with her just standing beside him before she finally asks her question. She’s a tough and smart agent but she’s also quite an awkward person and it’s nice when it shows in little scenes like this one. This scene leads to another similar scene between Broyles and his ex-wife. His job came between them and even though she has moved on with her life it’s obvious that she still feels a connection to him. On the downside of character moments, Peter really doesn’t get any. Walter also only gets a couple of his signature offbeat lines and only one of those is a bit humorous. On another note, Olivia appears to be over her issues from traveling to the other universe. If she’s still having problems you wouldn’t have known it in this episode.
Earthling could have been an awesome heavy sci-fi episode but the writers never take that extra step. There’s a bit of conspiracy plotting in the episode but nothing that appears to have any long term impact on the characters or story. In the ,his is a totally forgettable episode. Usually the weaker episodes of Fringe still have that one stand out scene that is water cooler worthy but this week the show never gets there. The longevity of any series comes from the characters and not the story or some gimmick and Olivia, Walter, Peter, and Broyles make this show a must see even in the slower installments.
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I liked the episode because it was more X-files than most of the other ones. It was kind of nostalgic. It was also good to have an episode that was personally centered on Olivia like it usually is. I give it a C