This week’s episode of Fringe continued on the episodic path started last week. There was a ton of freaky science, a smidge of romance, and some family bonding. Noticeably missing were the overabundance of conspiracies. Don’t fret, J.J. isn’t losing his touch, it’s just becoming a little less vague and a lot more entertaining. Let’s get to the mind-melting computer hacker.
A kid turns up dead, his brain literally liquefied and who else would be called in but Olivia and the Bishop boys. The only thing they have to go on is that he was sitting at his computer, where he normally was, and the next thing, his brains were leaking out of his ears. I know, gross, but very Fringeworthy. The last person to speak to the kid was his best friend, Luke Dempsey, through IM. Luke, though, was visibly and genuinely upset when Olivia told him the news. Luckily for Liv, not so luckily for him, another dead guy turned up.
Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any connection between the kid and this new guy, who was a car salesman. Olivia is able to recover both hard drives but Astrid is unable to find anything out. Peter, ever the helpful criminal, offers to take the fried hard-drives to a friend of his and this guy is apparently a computer genius because he connects the computer and within a minute code is popping up on his screen. The origin of the virus is too complicated and diverted to find but the hacker is able to find where the next victim is…Olivia’s house.
She’s safe because she’s not home, but remember her sister and niece moved in? Yeah, the little girl is playing a game when the link to the virus comes up. She clicks on it after yelling for her mom, who never answers or comes to check on her. The virus, which is shows up as a bunch of unidentifiable images, opens and starts to hypnotize the girl when Olivia comes bursting through the door. Peter is right behind her but when they get there, the virus stops and the girl just stares into space. Olivia keeps yelling at her but she just stares. Finally, she looks and says, “Aunt Liv? When did you get here?” Hey, at least her brain is still intact. Who would want to go after Olivia’s niece? Maybe some one heard about the investigation and knew who was the lead agent? I mean, he is a genius computer hacker guy so it’s not too far-fetched to think he hacked the FBI’s computer, right? Hmmm.
Olivia’s niece is checked out and is fine but the trail is still cold. Until, that is, another guy turns up dead. This time, he’s in Chicago. And this time, there is a connection. Seems this guy was married to a woman who used to share Luke’s last name, Dempsey. Olivia doesn’t believe Luke is to blame but he did say his father used to work with the first dead kid’s dad. And here we go.
Olivia brings in Luke. She and Charlie are waiting for him to stew a bit when the evil IA guy tells her to just go in and deal with him. True to form, when she goes in, the kid asks for a lawyer instead of opening up. Instead of just letting him go or letting him lawyer up, Olivia decides to release him. Genius little FBI agent that she is. The first thing the kid does is call a cab to go to where his dad is staying.
When they arrive at the warehouse, Olivia tells Peter to stay in the car (which he does?) as she goes charging after Luke. But really, you think this guy is not going to have any kind of security? Seriously? He created a computer virus that melts people’s brains! When Olivia finds his “office,” the guy is gone. Just then, the computers surrounding her turn on and what should be playing but the virus. Don’t worry, she knows better. She looks away and just then, Luke’s dad comes up next to her and holds a gun to her head. Once he has her weapon, he holds one of the guns to his own head. He watches the virus for a moment and then pulls the trigger.
Every one is safe from the virus and Olivia goes home to be with her sister and her niece. Peter has some family bonding of his own to do. He’s been protecting his dad from seeing the mother of the girl who was killed in his lab almost 20 years ago. After talking to Olivia, he decides to let them meet and Walter and the woman break down. It was the sanest we’ve ever seen Walter and the most sympathetic. Guess he really didn’t deserve to be locked up for all those years. When Peter comes by Olivia’s house later to tell her she was right, there’s some definite tension between the two but Olivia’s sneaky, not quite trustworthy sister interrupts them. Oh, and she totally wants Peter, which is just gross and so not going to happen (positive thinking, people). Whatever. I saw some love bubbles around Peter and Olivia and that’s all I ask.
So not too many conspiracies for you this week but, like I said, the sister is creepy and there’s got to be some reason Broyle’s staked his job on Olivia’s to the IA guy. What’s that about? Nobody’s that loyal. Stay tuned and maybe one day we’ll find out something…
