Words cannot describe how painful this was to watch.
Okay, a girl died and then, just as the autopsy began, she came back to life spouting gibberish that turned out to be military codes or something. Certainly not the most inspired storyline, but even the weaker episodes of Fringe have their moments, how bad can Unearthed be?
Actually, it turns out it can be really bad. The the shocker though, is that the lame story isn’t even the main reason this was so hard to watch. The reason this episode is such a disaster, is because of the huge middle finger Fringe and Fox give to the fans. Fifteen minutes in, a familiar face pops up, Kirk Acevado’s Charlie Francis. Now this wouldn’t be a big deal if he hadn’t been KILLED OFF in the fourth episode!
Yes, this waste of an episode is a throwaway, presumably from last season. Why completely ruin a shows continuity by airing an episode that wasn’t even good enough to air when it was supposed to? It’s unbelievable. The last episode was so spectacular, it takes the show from one of its highest points, right to its lowest. Instead of picking up where they left off, the creators of Fringe, or the Fox Network or whoever, go back in time a year and pull out this stinker out of their ass. What’s the point? It doesn’t add anything to the series and is a surefire way to piss off the loyal fans. It was just an all around stupid move. There is the one in a million chance that this took place in one of those parallel universes, but there’s nothing in the episode other than Charlie being alive that would suggest that.
Really from that point on, it’s hard to even concentrate on anything that happens, not that anything spectacular or even the least bit interesting does happen. After another bout of seemingly speaking nonsense (this time she speaks Russian!) for the resurrected girl, we learn some military guy named Andrew Rusk knew those codes and spoke Russian. Being a show about strange advanced science, the next logical step in the story is to reach the conclusion that Rusk died at the same time as the girl and his spirit took over the body.
Really? Really? Spirits taking over other peoples body? This isn’t what Fringe is supposed to be about.
The twist isn’t surprising, the acting by the possessed girl and her mother is just terrible, the last scene was both predictable and asinine, and even Walter who always does something worth while is rather bland in this episode. The only mildly entertaining thing that can be pulled from this waste of an hour is the irony that the girl was resurrected for no reasons and so was Charlie for this crappy episode.
It does seem kind of fitting in regards to the overall direction of the show. So many episodes have had no effect on the overall story –the parallel universes, Walter importance in the worlds, Olivia importance to William Bell, the Observers’ role in everything, Massive Dynamic’s role in everything– and this just feels like one more heavy straw on the camels back. If this really all Fringe aspires to be, it won’t be gaining any new fans, and will lose plenty of the old ones.
Leave a Reply