Stand alone, oh stand alone, why for thou exist thee stand alone (OK, I'll stop the faux Shakespeare)? I get it, JJ and crew are trying to build the audience of Fringe therefore the stand alone episodes are important to make new viewers feel like that they can hop into the action at any moment. The truth is, viewers cannot hop in and out of this show like they could a "Law and Order" or "CSI". Fringe has an ongoing story with recurring villains. It also has an impressive habit of tying seemingly unrelated episodes together in unexpected ways.
I'm not saying this needs to be a show like "Lost" where every episode literally picks up seconds after the last left off (though I wouldn't mind it), but I would like to see more continuing threads through the course of multiple episodes. This hour of television had a really neat concept but instead of letting that concept build from a slow burn to a raging fire, it was shot like a flare and flamed out before it had a chance to generate any real heat.
I believe this idea of a virus that infected Peter should have been told over three or four episodes. Episode one could have been all about the other people getting sick and ended with Peters bloody nose. Episode two should have depicted Peter fighting the influence of the virus and ended with Peter's failed escape. Episode three could have put Walter and Astrid in the lab (or kitchen) finding their magic horseradish cure, ending in Peters recovery.
Did the effects of the virus remind anyone else of zombies? Especially when the infected where parading around the reception area throwing chairs at the glass doors, illuminated only by flashlights? Seriously, how cool would a three episode arch with zombies have been?
Alas, Peter was never in any real danger of becoming zombified because I knew that he would be cured by the hour's end. Most of the story pieces seemed rush and predictable. For instance, the second the courier gave the dead man mouth to mouth I knew he'd be gone by the next commercial break (if the courier remembered his training, he would have just done compressions and possibly lived). I will admit that I was surprised when the receptionist rocketed through the window.
On an extremely positive note, Astrid knows something is up with Peter. Walter let slip that he couldn't let Peter die again and Astrid called him on it! I know I must sound like a broken record at this point, but it is going to be absolutely insane when Peter finds out he's from another dimension!
No Charlie... that's two episodes in a row. Fraking stand alones!
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