The Same Old Story

Season 1, Episode 2, Aired
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Episode Summary

Olivia, Peter and Walter Bishop investigate the strange death of a woman who had an even stranger child. The woman was pregnant for only hours, yet the baby she birthed was fully developed - and also aged 80 years in the span of a few minutes. Olivia asks Nina Sharp of Massive Dynamic for help.moreless
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Fan Episode Reviews (41)

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  • Nice follow-up to the pilot, but not as intense..

    8.8
    "Great"
    By JaCkKbAuEr2424, Jun 08, 2011 Report Abuse
    Fringe certainly had an interesting premise with this episode.. but one thing I've noticed about the show is their tendency to focus a lot of their efforts on the scientific breakdown of terms and solutions. Walter and Peter will ramble on about some odd type of paranormal thing that he worked on in the past, and they break down how it works and what it means.. by the end of the episode, there's a limited amount of screen time dedicated to the action.

    But hey, why complain when the show is still so compelling? I've found myself drawn into the show, much like Lost did when it first aired.. the whole Massive Dynamic story line seems interesting and it makes me really want to know what its endgame is.

    The characters are all becoming pretty interesting as well. Especially the interactions between Walter and Peter.. Walter consistantly delivers hilarious lines and brings some level of comedy to a show that's heavily dominated by science fiction, the paranormal and drama.

    Overall, a good start to the season.moreless

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  • Lack of intesity and a bad choice in showing this case after the pilot.

    7.0
    "Good"
    By Dante_Edy, Jun 06, 2011 Report Abuse
    After this episode, I really dont know if this show have potential, but since this show have good hands producing it, it doesnt cost anything to have a little faith.

    The case itself it is not very attractive and it was unreal, I didnt expected to see some "magic" but more advanced science, exploring what is necessary and making the episode filled with mystery and making the development interesting.

    It is not a bad episode, but the intensity and the plot twist made in the pilot make some pressure for this episode, this is why I expected more of it, at least was entertaining.moreless

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  • Quite disappointing

    6.5
    "Fair"
    By Parricida, Jun 06, 2011 Report Abuse
    After the great pilot, I was quite excited to see next episode and thought even those online viewing possibilities but I am glad I did not gave up and waited the week on local tv channel to see next episode.. because I still have my faith on this serie.. if I had seen that episode soon after pilot, I might have given up at all.

    So.. that sounds terrible? And some way.. it was.. I do not know.. All the mystery and all the tempo, motion.. it was gone. The chars were there but I did not saw much development neither them or their stories.. Maybe only that father/son relationship got some motion forward and the case.. it sounded good on paper but in action.. I do not know.. there wasn't that mystery.. that tension, excitement what pilot had.. I hope it gets better.. There is potential..moreless

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  • Good stuff!

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By Dark_Davis, Apr 02, 2011 Report Abuse
    Another interesting episode, and the continuation of this team of investigators. This episode furthers the story as well as adding to the mystery. It was different than the first episode, more of a hunt down and find the bad guy type then action, but I still enjoyed it. It's good to see early on that this show could possibly have a few different ways of approaching episodes. I guess I am seeing too far ahead, but I hope the show continues to get better, as I do think it has potential. The ending intrigues me, it seems that things are not all as they seem. I sort of like that about this show, it sort of reminds me of Eureka except with a darker feel too it.moreless

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  • episode story done before, but still a very good show. *spoilers!*

    7.5
    "Good"
    By mavrick593, Aug 16, 2010 Report Abuse
    This particular episode story is almost always picked up by sci-fi shows at some point, thus 'unoriginal'. That being said, I thought it was well done. Tied in decently with the overall idea that all these past experiments are out of control nowadays. I liked that instead of using just a camera to find out a location (something done numerous times in numerous shows) they actually took out a girl's eye, which was a little more detailed than one might expect from prime-time tv (if you really want to see gruesome watch the first episode... my god). All in all I am still impressed by the detail the show puts on the science aspect; it's accurate, as long as you don't think too closely.moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

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    • When Peter discovers that Walter is sitting in the closet again, he is first shown wearing dark boxer shorts while putting on a dark shirt. In the closeup shot of Walter, we can see that Peter is now wearing gray sweat pants. Edit
    • When Walter tries to lull himself to sleep at the end of the episode, he recites to himself the Fibonacci series - a series of numbers where each number is the result of adding the two previous ones. The real series starts as: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 while Walter recites 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 8, 13. Besides the modern misconception that the series starts with 0, Walter omits the 5. Edit
    • When Olivia and Peter enter the motel room, Peter closes the door behind him. A couple of shots later, A policeman can be seen through the open door without anybody having gone in or out of the room. Edit

  • Notes

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    • Original International Air Dates: Sweden: October 9, 2008 on Kanal 5 United Kingdom: October 12, 2008 on Sky1/Sky1 HD Norway: January 8, 2009 on Tvn Finland: January 12, 2009 on MTV3 Thailand: February 14, 2009 on True Series Germany: March 23, 2009 on Pro7 Hungary: March 27, 2009 on RTL-Klub Belgium: June 4, 2009 on RTBF2 France: June 17, 2009 on TF1 New Zealand: July 8, 2009 on TV2 Poland: September 17, 2009 on TVN Slovakia: October 11, 2009 on Markiza Czech Republic: February 12, 2010 on Nova Cinema Edit
    • Music: Young Men Dead (The Black Angels), Skin Head (The Black Angels) Edit
    • This is the official time period premiere at 9:00p.m. Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • Phillip: What they realized was that the child wasn't just growing... it was aging. Peter Okay... hang on a sec. It's four a.m. so I'm a little foggy but we're supposed to believe that grandpa here was born four hours ago. Edit
    • Walter: About my former colleague and his son. It's one of the inherent pitfalls of being a scientist, trying to maintain that distinction...between God's domain and our own. Sometimes I forget myself. But then, you already know that. Olivia: What do you mean? Walter: If you've read my file, then you know the truth about Peter's medical history. I've been meaning to ask you- Olivia: Walter. There was no mention of any medical history. Just his birthday. Walter: Oh. Uh-I was going to ask you to keep it between just the two of us, but-uh-I suppose then there's no need. Edit
    • Peter: (over the phone) Walter, I am with a woman in her mid-twenties, she is going into cardiac arrest due to an overdose of anesthesia. (pauses) Her heart just stopped. Walter: Do you have any cocaine? Peter: Cocaine?! No, I don't have any cocaine. Walter: Oh, that's too bad. You'll have to shock her heart. Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • The Kip Brothers by Jules Verne This novel featured solving a crime by obtaining a latent image from the retina of the murder victim. Walter Bishop would have had to read this novel in the original French, since the first English language edition wasn't published until May 2007. Edit

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