“Earthling” was without a doubt one of the creepiest episodes I’ve seen on television, and yet I was glued to my chair. This brought back fond memories of The X-Files, which had quite a few alien type episodes. This reminded me of a couple of episodes in particular, but this still stayed within the confines of Fringe and didn’t necessarily feel like a clone of one of those episodes.
I’ve been a fan of Lance Reddick ever since I saw his work on HBO’s The Wire. I’m glad we got to see his character get a little more screen time this week. It wasn’t ALL about Peter, Walter, and Olivia. This week’s case was really an old case he began working some four years ago. He wasn’t able to solve it and it consumed him. It broke up his marriage and here we are today.
The opening scene with the husband surprising the wife on their anniversary was cute, but the outcome was creepy as all get out. That shadow figure was simply eerie. My initial suspicion of radiation poisoning wasn’t as far off as I imagined it would, considering the strangeness that is Fringe science.
However, I have to admit that I never would have guessed this shadow figure was an alien, brought to Earth when a Russian cosmonaut brought it home during a spacewalk. This all seemed like something straight out of The X-Files.
I was in utter disbelief why no one considered killing the cosmonaut in order to bring the shadow figure back to its host. It seemed like the obvious thing to try. After killing him, I would have thrown him into a lead case like Walter brought up.
As for sending the cosmonaut back into space, that’s something I wouldn’t have thought of. I was really surprised when that government agent-looking person told Broyles what happened to the Russian. That agent’s eyes seemed off to me and I wonder if we’ll be seeing him again.
I know Fringe’s producers don’t necessarily want people to be comparing the series to The X-Files, but it’s hard not to. There are a lot of similarities that pop up from time to time. One of the things I miss about The X-Files is the government conspiracies and threats which frankly don’t seem that crazy. Sometimes they can be over the top on television nowadays. That scene at the end with Broyles and the mystery agent was perfectly done.
Aliens don’t really fit in with a lot of what Fringe is about, but an occasional venture into this field seems like a good choice. It changes things up and I like it. The subject matter was handled quite well with “Earthling.”
Rating: 8.7
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