Lower Decks

This review contains spoilers for the episode “In Which We Meet Mr. Jones,” originally broadcast 11/11/08.

In the first of several mini-reviews meant to catch fans up with episodes aired during a brief period where I lost the necessary implement of Internet connection, but not interest in Fringe, we find ourselves in yet another pivotal episode of the series, as would later be demonstrated in the tenth episode of the season, an introduction of significance to the degree where it’s announced in the very name of the episode. There, that’s not much spoiling, is it?

The thing is, it’s an introduction of two characters, the biochemist David Jones locked up in a German prison and Mitchell Loeb, an agent whose significance increases with a twist at episode’s end. For me, that alone makes this one worth paying attention to. It adds to the overall depth of the series, introducing an arc into the season and further removing Fringe from the idea that it may be reduced to “something like the X-Files.” That people would even begin to make that mistake is odd, because J.J. Abrams as consistently introduced plots greater than what a mere series premise may suggest, from the Rambaldi obsession of Sloane in Alias to the mystery of the island in Lost. With Fringe, it has been nakedly obvious from the start. Dunham and co. are dealing with not a random series of scientific mysteries but a conspiracy, which early on was given a name, the so-called Pattern.

Anyway, not even just the extra level of the episode covers everything, as always. It’s the drama of how the story unfolds that helps make it, and the series, work. Walter Bishop must extract key information from a corpse, and while we’ve seen him perform similar procedures in the past, the fact that it involves his son Peter adds to the impact of his work, plus the time crunch that’s imposed as Dunham is provided with only a limited window of opportunity with Jones, who won’t cooperate without the information the Bishops struggle to uncover. The complexities that are always on display aren’t just for show, either, but an attempt to demonstrate that a compelling show can do its own thinking. All the cards, if they’re not being held by Broyles or uncovered by Walter, are always held close to the vest, and I like that, personally.

Being the seventh episode, we’re still early in the series, but as I’ve said in past reviews, I’m well past the point of skeptical viewer, and there are three other episodes left to discuss. It only gets better from here, and this was yet another highpoint to date.

Oh, and Loeb? We’ll be getting back to him, don’t worry.