Why do they save the best episode of the season for right before they go on hiatus? It’s just not fair.

As much fun as it’s been complaining about how Fringe needs to be a serialized drama rather than episodic, it’s much better when the only complaint is that at the end, Olivia should have had backup, but even that’s nitpicking. Yes it has finally happened, after weeks of mostly pointless episodes, Fringe’s last episode of 2009 delves deep into the strange and engrossing mythos it created last year. From the beginning to the end, Grey Matters epitomizes what Fringe can be, and what Fringe should be.

Going back to the fourth episode of the season, the group of people who had been stealing frozen heads looking for the one belonging to their leader, who William Bell (Leonard Nimoy, Star Trek) warned Olivia about, resurface. Immediately, we see these bad guys have broken into a mental institution and one of them is performing some sort of brain surgery on one of the patients. Unfortunately for the patient, the baddies have to flee before they can close him back up.

When fringe division shows up to investigate, they find two very disconcerting bits of information. First, the mental patient who had been operated on by the infiltrators has become sane again. Whatever it is they did to that particular patient had effectively cured his insanity, and it seems doubtful someone would break into a mental facility just to help some poor crazy man. The second is what Olivia notices on the security tapes about the man who performed the surgery. She quickly recognizes his face as one of the frozen heads stolen in one of the earlier episodes.

Fringe is so much better when they stay away from the creepy creature plot and step into the more incredible and complex story. And what can be more complex than reanimating a frozen head?

Anyway, as the story moves along, they find two more patients in other mental hospitals who also had become sane overnight. When examining these two patient’s heads, Peter notices fresh scars, leading him to believe they too were operated on. The one thing connecting these three patients is their original doctor, Dr. Paris. The only problem is that Dr. Paris doesn’t exist.

Everything you can want in an episode of Fringe is here. The immediate questions are answered by the end of the episode, all of which are satisfying to say the least, while still leaving plenty to be explored for the rest of the season. The biggest of these questions remains how Walter will deal with every new bit of information that comes out. His work before the start of the series has been the catalyst to everything that has happened since, and he has the answers even if he can’t remember them.

What is still amazing, and it can’t be said enough, is the acting of John Noble. He conveys a wide array of emotions in every episode and this one is no different. When Walter examines the patients who lost their psychosis overnight, we’re reminded how damaged his psyche is and how he still fights everyday to be as normal as he can be. One moment he’ll be sadden by what has happened in his life, the next he’ll be giddy as he works on a new experiment, then we’ll see Walter guilt ridden for all of the harm his research has caused. Those emotions, amongst others, come through magnificently, each distinct and more importantly, believable.

Going into 2010, what we finally have in Fringe is a face to put on the enemy. Thomas Jerome Newton (Sebastian Roche, General Hospital), the frozen head come alive, gives fringe division a tangible antagonist this series hasn’t had since last season. He’s smart, he has a plan to collide universes and he’s died and come back to life. Seems like one hell of a villain.

There is still so much going on in Fringe that, as long as it stays focused on the overlying plot, there should be a lot more great episodes like this next year. For now though, just be happy that Fringe left 2009 with an excellent episode filled with a great mystery, some twists, and a shocking ending.

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