Lower Decks

The following contains spoilers through the episode “Unearthed,” originally broadcast 1/11/10.

If you were a little confused as to why ‘Fringe’ had an episode on Monday (for those of you who don’t know because you might watch the show via the Internet, it’s usual night since the fall has been Thursdays), it’s an infrequently publicized fact that there were twenty-one episodes produced for the first season. Thanks to the events of the first few episodes this season, it became increasingly complicated as to when the “lost” episode would air. Fox did a good job of reminding viewers that ‘Fringe’ was going to be airing twice this week, but kind of emphasizing that the “new” episode was on Thursday. “Unearthed” was free to be seen or not by those who ended up watching.

This won’t be a terribly long review, because there’s not a whole lot to say. The most obvious reason why it was a little difficult to schedule, as I suggested, was because the late Charlie Francis is featured in it. Now, clearly, Charlie is as dead as can be, either as himself or the shape-shifter who briefly replaced him. But there he is in “Unearthed” (no idea if that’s the original title or simply an ironic adaptation).

Okay, that’s out of the way. The other thing really worth noting is that “Unearthed” was easy to move around because it really doesn’t do anything important for the series, it simply tells an interesting story. It’s an episode for those who don’t mind watching ‘Fringe’ as an innovative procedural show. Man ends up trying to get some posthumous revenge thanks to the girl who unwittingly accepted organs from him. The mystery about it is solved about halfway through, but ‘Fringe’ is usually good about keeping a story interesting well past the point where you think you know everything, because of all else it’s good storytelling.

That’s all, really. I’ll be back later this week with another review!