The essential episodes of Fringe
Watch these 15 in order and you've got Fringe — each pick states its reason.
- 01
When an international flight lands at Boston's Logan Airport with no signs of life, an unlikely trio - FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham; brilliant but formerly institutionalized scientist Walter Bishop; and his scheming, reluctant son Peter - uncovers a deadly mystery involving a series of unbelievable events and realizes they may be a part of a larger, more disturbing pattern.
- 02
German agents question Olivia about her "relationship" with David Robert Jones, an escaped prisoner questioned months earlier now on the run in the USA. Meanwhile, the Fringe Division investigates a threatening case where victims die faceless from their orifices suddenly sealing. With few leads and many questions, German authorities turn to Olivia, Peter, and Walter to help makes sense of the return of Mr. Jones and the foreboding mysterious occurrences. As the investigation unfolds, Olivia is put to test.
- 03
There's More than One of Everything
With everyone still recovering from the unexpected attack on Nina Sharp, and the return of bio-terrorist David Robert Jones, Fringe Division puts all their efforts into locating William Bell for questioning, whom they believe to be responsible for all the recent fringe events. Meanwhile, accompanied by The Observer, Walter embarks on a mission of his own in an effort to discover important memories that he has lost. As the mysterious events of The Pattern continue to unfold, questions are answered, observations are made, and loyalties are tested to their breaking point.
- 04
Recuperating from the traumatic and alarming meeting with Massive Dynamic founder William Bell, Agent Dunham consumes a powerful fringe concoction that Dr. Bishop prescribes to stimulate her memory. Meanwhile, the Fringe Division investigates a series of robbery cases that are tied to shape-shifting. As clues are tracked and memories are jogged, another woman experimented on by Dr. Bishop is introduced and a flashback reveals more about Olivia's visit to the Alternate Universe.
- 05
A Fringe investigation is triggered when a patient at a mental institution undergoes an impromptu brain surgery that unexpectedly leaves his brain exposed. Despite the unthinkable circumstances, the patient's condition and sanity miraculously improves before the Fringe team arrives. While Agent Dunham and Peter scan surveillance tapes, Olivia recognizes a familiar face as Thomas Jerome Newton, the leader of the "shape-shifters." As similar cases stack up, the Fringe team heads back to the lab to determine exactly how patients are being cured.
- 06
A Manhattan office building is rattled to its core, leaving only one survivor, and the Fringe Team examines his otherworldly origins. Once Walter surmises that what shook the building was something he discovered many years ago, the team races to Jacksonville to help Olivia reconnect with her past in order to avert what they fear will happen next.
- 07
Walter flashes back to 1985 while explaining Peter's otherworldly origins to Olivia. Also, Peter's mother is introduced, and details of the neighboring world reaffirms that there is more than one of everything.
- 08
When two teenagers on a date turn up "dead" at an abandoned warehouse with the three puncture wounds to the soft palate - a trademark of the shape-shifters - the Fringe team investigates the evidence as well as the motives of mastermind Newton. Upon discovering a shape-shifting embryo, Walter returns to the lab to conduct further analysis, and Olivia and Peter head to Massive Dynamic for answers. Meanwhile, Peter reveals a family secret to Olivia as Walter struggles to recall what Newton knows about "building a door".
- 09
Walter and Olivia travel to the Alternate Universe, and the anticipated face-off between Walter Bishop and William Bell occurs.
- 10
Sacrifices will be made and both universes may never be the same again after Walter and Olivia visit the "other side".
- 11
When a serial kidnapper "over there" strikes again, the emotional and familiar case hits home for Colonel Broyles, sending a determined Olivia to uncover additional details about the abductions. In the meantime, Olivia fights on and reunites with Henry to enlist his services on an intense and covert mission to return home.
- 12
Peter grapples with the aftermath of recent events as Olivia desperately searches for an ally. Meanwhile, the Fringe Team discovers a critical device that communicates between universes.
- 13
The Observers, no longer content with observing history, return to the past and stage an invasion of 2015, transforming human society in a totalitarian state under their control. In 2036, FBI Agents Simon Foster and Etta Bishop begin a desperate search for the original Fringe team as the human resistance movement sets the stage for a game-changing battle with the Observers.
- 14
In a final bid to save their world from the Observers, the Fringe team engages a desperate plan as Olivia embarks on a dangerous and otherworldly journey into the unknown.
- 15
While Captain Windmark interrogates Broyles about the intentions of the Fringe team, Donald seeks help from an old friend as he attempts to finish plan to save the world. Elsewhere, Peter, Olivia, Walter, and Astrid prepare face off against the Observers in one extraordinary battle for the fate of mankind.
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The closest matches on shared genres, ranked by match strength and popularity.
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