The worst episodes of Fringe
Ranked by viewer rating, lows first. Lit marks on the season rail place this list across the run. Vote on a placement to back it or contest it.
- 01
While Walter deals with some very upsetting news, he tells Olivia's niece, Ella, a fairy tale that includes musical performances by Olivia and Agent Broyles.
- 02
While Olivia struggles with migraines, Fringe Division investigate an invisible force which kills its victims and causes the body to turn a ghostly white. As they trace the pattern of deaths, the team discovers that the force is linked to someone who died of an unknown genetic disorder.
- 03
As the rogue Fringe team continues to fight off the oppressive Observers' invasion, unforeseen events lead them to a forest in rural Pennsylvania, where they encounter a strange subculture of people devoted to recording human history.
- 04
After a teenage girl is pronounced brain dead, her mother takes her off life support, but when doctors operate quickly to remove her organs, the deceased girl shockingly awakens screaming an alphanumeric code. Equally as perplexing as her resurrection is that she is now somehow able to speak Russian and possesses classified information only a high-ranking soldier would know. While the girl's mind-bending condition intensifies, Walter dusts off some old lab videos and hypothesizes the unthinkable, sending Olivia and Peter to investigate the bewildering case.
- 05
Olivia, having willingly accepted the replacement of her memories with those from Peter's timeline, is put under psychiatric evaluation and Lincoln Lee is put in charge of the team in her absence. Under Lincoln's leadership, Fringe Division investigates a case that is eerily familiar to one from the original timeline.
- 06
Just one week after Peter Bishop saved the day and was then wiped from existence, the truce between the two worlds remains intact and the two sides are forced to work together. Meanwhile, Lincoln Lee joins Fringe Division as they investigate a shapeshifter case that is very personal to him.
- 07
Determined to retrieve the plan to defeat the Observers from his memory, Walter Bishop tries again with the Thought Unifier to little avail. Olivia suggests the team revisit the old Harvard lab, now under Observer control, to try and find any potential information Walter may have documented as the team fights on in their mission to save the world.
- 08
As the Fringe team reacts to a devastating loss, a key member resorts to extreme and brutal measures to exact revenge upon the Observers, and to find a way to defeat them by any means necessary.
- 09
The Fringe team investigates when the bodies of two 12-year-olds are found in an advanced state of decomposition just hours after they were last seen bullying another boy. Meanwhile, Walter becomes increasingly distracted by his hallucinations.
- 10
Transilience Thought Unifier Model-11
Picking up from the ominous events of last season's Letters of Transit, the year is 2036 and the Observers rule is absolute. The Fringe team - preserved in amber for 20 years - is now a rebel resistance team fighting for freedom. Peter, reunited with his now adult daughter, Etta, sets out to find out what happened to his wife and Etta's mom - Olivia - as they begin their mission to save the world from the Observers.
- 11
In their continued mission to save the world, the rogue Fringe team reaches out to Nina Sharp to help complete the next step of Walter's plan. Meanwhile, Peter begins to understand the precognitive abilities the Observers get from their technological implants, and recruits Anil to test out his newfound skills.
- 12
Olivia travels to the town of Fitchburg, looking to recover a key piece of equipment for Walter, where she encounters an intuitive and oracle-like woman named Simone. Meanwhile, Peter finds himself in a perilous situation as he observes Windmark in his personal quest to avenge Etta's death.
- 13
In attempt to recall a plan to defeat the Observers, Walter takes an LSD trip down memory lane. Meanwhile, Peter and Olivia trace a mysterious signal to the woods, where they come upon a grisly scene.
- 14
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.
- 15
Our unlikely trio's strange partnership begins as they investigate the mysterious death of a woman who conceives, carries to full-term, and births a baby in the span of hours, and her baby who ages 80 years in a matter of minutes. As the bizarre and seemingly unexplainable occurrences are explored, quirky Dr. Bishop runs extensive testing in the lab; his reluctant son Peter endures his new role as his father's keeper; and Olivia turns to Massive Dynamic Chief Operating Officer Nina Sharp for assistance.
- 16
A highway construction worker in rural Pennsylvania goes missing when he is mysteriously drawn into an underground tunnel filled with human remains. Meanwhile, back in the lab, Walter is attempting to simulate travel between realities on frogs. When it's discovered that the disappearance in Pennsylvania is not an isolated incident, the Fringe team travels to the crime scene to unearth evidence.
- 17
As the threat of the translucent shapeshifters intensifies, former Massive Dynamic biochemical researcher Malcolm Truss enters the fold. Meanwhile, Fringe Division attempts to determine the origins of Peter Bishop, Olivia experiences an unexplained time fluctuation, and Nina Sharp pays Walter a visit in the lab.
- 18
As Windmark continues his investigation into the location of the rogue Fringe team; the team find themselves rapidly running out of time to save the world. As Peter, Olivia, Astrid, and Walter scramble to tap into a key piece of the puzzle to defeat the Observers, they enlist the aid of Nina Sharp who conjures up a risky plan.
- 19
With Michael having revealed the origins of the mysterious figure, Donald, Walter enters the deprivation tank in an attempt to uncover critical information hidden in his subconscious. Meanwhile, Captain Windmark travels to his future of 2609 where he meets with the Observer Commander to discuss September's past transgressions in helping the Fringe team.
- 20
When it's discovered that a rather simple man has the ability to harness electricity, dangerous and deadly occurrences follow, and our unlikely trio investigates this super-charged oddity. Meanwhile, Olivia has a high-voltage encounter of a different kind when she is rocked by a blast from her past, and Dr. Bishop turns to his feathered friends and enlists homing pigeons to help him break the case.
- 21
Weeks after being reported missing, a woman with a rare disease resurfaces in suburban Massachusetts and inexplicably causes excruciating pain and subsequent death to those she encounters. As the gruesome scene is investigated, dangerous levels of radiation are detected, and unusual circumstances surrounding the case point to illegal human drug trials, and possibly something even more sinister. Meanwhile, Walter obsesses about cotton candy, Peter strikes a bargain with Nina Sharp, and a startling piece of Olivia's past is revealed.
- 22
After a cargo ship runs aground, the shoreline becomes littered with bodies hosting a giant squid-like creature. The Fringe team descends upon the scene to examine the bodies and discovers that the mysterious organisms are actually giant parasites. As the investigation unfolds, Walter heads back to the lab while Olivia, Peter, and Broyles race against time when they realize the case has ties to a threatening organization.
- 23
Following an unexplained attack involving disfigured humans, the Fringe team visits Edina City, a small town in upstate New York to uncover leads surrounding the bizarre case. When it's determined that these disfigured people have managed to hide themselves for a while and they'll do just about anything to keep it that way, the investigation takes an unexpected turn.
- 24
As the victims of a highly intelligent serial killer stack up in the Alternate Universe, the Fringe Division "over here" is asked to assist. As the two sides tangle and innocent people remain at risk, the suspect's doppelganger, a professor who teaches Forensic Psychology, is brought into the fold and forces the team to consider the notion of sending civilians to the other side.
- 25
Olivia continues to cope with the ominous warning from the Observers, while Peter and the team track a girl with the mysterious ability to predict death.
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