Another episodic story in the Fringe series, “What Lies Below” takes a slight twist on a zombie virus infection. Our poor victim is infected by some ancient virus contained in a core sample from an oil well site. This is not just any virus though, but one that actively attempts to spread itself by any means, including taking over the host’s rational mind. It’s not quite 28 Days Later, but there are plenty of nods to zombie infection disasters (such as hyperactive people trying to escape and infect as many as they can).
This episode shows a lot of it’s heritage in it’s similarity to X-Files with it’s thrilling nature. Unfortunately, it was also very predictable as well. Some virus breaks out, the team is trapped, and it’s up to the outside team to find the cure and save the day. Combine that with a last minute cure right before everyone is wiped out via a military strike, and you have the plot line of just about every virus story out there.
In the end, this is just another creepy and heavily science based episode of Fringe that doesn’t expand upon the other universe war storyline. It doesn’t quite have the strong character performance of last week, but there are plenty of thrills for the viewer.
Interesting Observations
“If you haven’t looked for the monster, you woulnd’t have found it, and you’d still be happy in your bed, instead of being slowly digested in the stomach sack of the creature.” – Walter
“And I was the chairman of microbiology at harvard, and I have little patience for small minded bureaucrats!” – Walter
Walter let’s it slip to Astrid that he was afraid to have Peter die…again! Sooner or later she’s going to put two and two together.
