1x02: The Same Old Story

Welcome to the second episode. The second episode of Fringe. The second episode that they made specially for Fringe. Fringe's second episode. 

"The Same Old Story" first aired on September 16, 2008, and was the series' first monster-of-the-week episode, setting a precedent for what viewers could expect from Fringe. The answer: gooey, disgusting monsters every week. Pretty straightforward. Exactly what it says on the tin. 

The recap

In a WAY seedier motel than the one from the last episode, a very shady man and a sex worker, Loraine (you've heard of Anne with an E, now get ready for Loraine with One R), are just finishing up their encounter. But wait! Loraine starts convulsing and screaming and writhing all over the place as a mysterious growth begins moving under her skin. It’s… viscerally horrifying. 

But wait, it gets worse! The guy drives her to the hospital and leaves her there, where she’s operated on by doctors who assume she’s pregnant despite her insistence to the contrary. On the operating table, some EXTREMELY upsetting ripping/squelching noises issue forth, and Loraine suddenly dies, leaving the doctors desperately trying to extract her baby before it dies too. When they see said baby, they all scream and flee in horror. Cue theme music. Fun stuff.

Not long after, Broyles has called a meeting of a mysterious committee, including Nina Sharp of Massive Dynamic, and introduces them to his new team of investigators who he put together to investigate the Pattern. Nina very rightfully points out that this crack team consists of Peter, who is a fraudster and conman, Walter, who is batshit crazy, and Olivia, who had an affair with her partner who then promptly turned out to be evil. And I mean, Nina kind of makes points? She's not saying anything I wasn't thinking. Broyles defends the three, though, and sends them to investigate the freaky speedrun baby incident.

At the hospital, Broyles explains to the agents that once the baby was extracted from its mother, it grew rapidly before the doctors' eyes, lived for half an hour, and died of natural causes. When they view the body of the “child,” it has the appearance of an elderly man. The agents head over to the motel to investigate, and Olivia promptly realizes the case matches a serial killer she and John Scott investigated years before, but didn't manage to catch. She asks Charlie to get the case files from that investigation. Meanwhile, the killer has chosen another victim and taken her to... I think an abandoned warehouse? Of some sort? Where he injects her with a muscle paralyzer.

Back at the lab, Walter reveals that tests have shown that the father of the old man baby was the "result of experiments identical to those conducted by me in this very lab around 30 years ago." Okay, that is a clunky-ass sentence and I have no idea how to un-clunk it, sorry. Walter starts looking around in his old files for research he did on the pituitary gland, which piques Olivia's interest, since the serial killer she and John pursued killed his victims by removing that organ. They decide to pay a visit to Dr. Penrose, an expert in the subject and former colleague of Walter's, but Penrose claims that he can't help them because all he wants to do is forget his old work. 

They discover the body of the killer's latest victim and have it brought to the lab, where Walter finds that her pituitary gland was indeed removed. Walter reveals that he used to work for the DOD, who tasked him with creating super-soldiers that would grow at a rapid rate, and he believes that the killer is the product of someone trying to finish his work. Meanwhile at another (the same, maybe?) shady-ass abandoned warehouse, the killer, Christopher, is confronted by Dr. Penrose, who admonishes him for being sloppy in getting Loraine pregnant and reveals that Christopher is his son. Dr. Penrose tells Christopher that "you just need to get one more, then you'll be okay again."

Back at the lab, Walter decides to use optography to extract the last image the latest victim saw, but the only way to do this is by using laser-optic hardware made by Massive Dynamic, so Olivia heads over there to ask Nina for her help. Nina offers her condolences to Olivia about the death of John Scott, which is kind of chilling given that Nina secretly had his corpse interrogated (????), and then she's like, "No doubt some of your male colleagues are assuming you two were intimate!" Which is an extremely weird thing to say on multiple levels, obviously, even if it's true. Nina then gives Olivia the optic technology thingy and Olivia heads back to the lab, where they use it to determine exactly where the victim died. 

Meanwhile, Christopher and Dr. Penrose are about to claim another victim. Olivia and Peter show up to bust some heads, and they discover that the victim is still alive. While Olivia pursues the suspects, Peter is forced to defibrillate the victim to save her life. Olivia catches up to Christopher after a chase, but finds that he has aged decades in just a few minutes, and he dies of old age right in front of her. Dr. Penrose, however, manages to escape. 

Back at Massive Dynamic, Nina offers Olivia a job, saying that working with Massive Dynamic might help her find answers about the Pattern. Later, Olivia tells Broyles she turned the offer down. Finally, back at the lab, Walter and Olivia have a conversation during which Walter alludes to Peter's mysterious medical history. 

Impressions 

There sure were a LOT of lens flares in this episode for no reason. The story is pretty muddled and kind of boring. Very standard "we're early in season 1 and we have no idea what we're doing" fare. All very middle-of-the-road. It does do a good job of further establishing the relationship dynamics—Olivia and Peter getting to know each other, Peter's simmering resentment towards Walter, Astrid's whole deal as the beleaguered assistant, Nina being mysterious and vague about everything—and Broyles is a much more tolerable character in this one, barely resembling the hateful dickwheel he was in the previous episode, which makes his behaviour in "Pilot" even more jarring in retrospect. 

The rapid aging storyline was interesting on paper, even if they didn't do it justice in the execution. The makeup was good. The optography scene was very cool. Other than that... I mean, it was, like, fine. Not sure what else to say about this one. 🤷

Most disgusting moment 

THE BEGINNING SCENE, MY FUCKING GOD. Poor Loraine with one R. I am traumatized FOREVER. 

Nicest moment

Walter and Astrid making popcorn together: lasts a split second, but still cute. Peter singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" to lull Walter to sleep. Charlie trying to comfort Olivia after John's death. 

Shit Walter says

Walter on heated car seats: "I've never seen a feature like this before. It warms your ass. It's wonderful." 

"Even condoms are not 100% effective. You two should be aware of this."

"That night, he was going to kill her, but first, they fornicated. Had intercourse. Sex."

"Do you have any cocaine?"

Foreshadowing!

The Pattern is alluded to often. Peter's medical history is mentioned, but not expanded on. Nina continues to be very mysterious about everything ever. 

What did the glyphs spell?

“CHILD.”

Rating

This one's a 6/10, methinks.