FRINGE 1.12 and 1.13

Hello 'Fringe' fans. I am back with a review of the past two episodes. I apologize for waiting until now to cover last week's 'The No Brainer', but I was on vacation in another state, and without my laptop.

First off, by reviewing these two episodes back to back, I noticed the same gimmick used for both titles. Both titles are straight to the point and are about the horrible occurrences that take place in each episode . This particular approach to titling each episode, notes both of them as standalone episodes, as opposed to part of the 'Fringe' mythology. They are individual cases, like "The case of the dripping brain deaths" and "the case of the were-porcupine man on the plane".

If only that meant that they were standalone in terms of quality.

"The No Brainer"

I was in no rush to write a review of 'The No Brainer', basically because it could have been called 'The No Interest". Nothing really interesting took place in the episode in terms of the big picture. The most interesting thing we got was a little development in Peter and Walter's relationship.

When the mother of Walter's assistant, who died in a lab fire yeas ago, comes to speak with Walter, Peter, at first tries to keep her from meeting his father. Peter's justifies this by saying that seeing the assistant's mother would cause Walter to have a nervous breakdown. By the end of the episode, he believes his father has the ability to meet with the woman, and the two reminisce about the young girl they lost in the fire.

As for the leaking brain deaths, it turns out a technician was using an advanced computer program to fry the brains of those who had done him wrong. Standard super villain schlock, nothing new or intriguing there.

"The Transformation"

Am I the only person who thinks that it is in bad taste to have a man turn into some sort of hybrid monster and cause a passenger plane to crash in an abandoned field? I know it has been almost eight years since 9/11, and the wolfman was certainly not a member of Al Queda, but the one scene that featured a recording from the black box of the crashed plane was a little too close to that tragedy to be comfortable.

Besides that, the were-porcupine creature took the whole Fringe Science idea a little too far. Yes, we have seen a man wield electricity like Electro and another man teleport on this show, but I found it hard to believe that all of the FBI agents that looked over the dead were-porcupine man's body actually thought such a transformation could happen.

"The Transformation" was a superior episode to "The No Brainer" because it incorporated elements from the 'Fringe' mythology including a sequence where Olivia entered into the deprivation tank to search through John Scott's memories, and that what happened in this episode had consequences for the characters on the show.

In this episode, we see that what Walter labeled impossible, the idea of Olivia communicating with John Scott in his memories, could actually happen. While in the deprivation tank, Olivia begins to interrogate John Scott, about the secrets he was hiding from her. He admits to being part of a black ops group, and identifies a few of the men who worked with him.

Olivia uses one of the men on John Scott's team, Daniel Hicks, to help take down the corrupt scientist who created the were-porcupine virus in the first place. It isn't called the 'were-porcupine virus', I just threw that in for a little giggle.

For those of you, like myself, who were drawn in by the show's mid season finale, I ask- are you once again fed up with the show? Have the episodes become too formulaic, while the back story has stayed completely vague, for you to appreciate it? I want to know your thoughts.

At this point, I have gotten too attached to Walter and his random silliness, Olivia and her machismo, and even Peter with his one liners, to drop the show.