The Cure (Fringe)
"The Cure" | |
---|---|
Brad Caleb Kane | |
Production code | 3T7655 |
Original air date | October 21, 2008 |
Guest appearances | |
| |
"The Cure" is the sixth
The episode was written by
"The Cure" first aired in the United States on October 21, 2008 on the Fox network to an estimated 8.91 million viewers. It received mixed to negative reviews,[clarification needed] with many critics doubting the plausibility of the science depicted in the episode.
Plot
In Milford, Massachusetts, men in Hazmat suits drop a woman (Maria Dizzia) out of a white van, who then enters a nearby diner. Suffering from memory loss, the woman becomes irritated under a cop's questioning and causes the other patrons' brains to boil and then explode; she dies soon after in the same fashion.
The Fringe team consisting of Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv), Walter Bishop (John Noble), and Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson) arrive, and Agent Phillip Broyles (Lance Reddick) briefs them that the woman, Emily Kramer, disappeared two weeks previously, and that her corpse exhibits three times the radiation as the other victims. Upon further investigation of her body, Walter concludes she was suffering from a rare and incurable disease, "Bellini's lymphocemia," but was mysteriously cured. Further tests reveal Kramer was held against her will, and given nootropic drugs intravenously that makes her brain emit a microwave burst, then set loose by her experimenters as a test.
Another woman with the same disease, Claire Williams (Marjan Neshat), is reported missing soon after. Before her disappearance, Claire's husband tells them she also was recently cured. Her captors are shown, commenting that "the last one was a test, this one counts". While rifling through Emily's house, Olivia and Peter learn Emily and Claire were friends, and that Emily's husband also knew her despite denying it earlier. He tells them they and other victims of the disease undertook private research and discovered a cure with the help of a physician, Dr. Nadim Patel (Alok Tewari). Before committing suicide, the doctor tells them David Esterbrook (Chris Eigeman), the chief scientist of a competitor of Massive Dynamic, is the one responsible. Olivia confronts Esterbrook at a medical conference to discover his motivations, only to be threatened by him; Broyles admonishes her for intimidating such a high-profile individual in a public setting.
To get to the high-profile Esterbrook, Peter makes a deal with Nina Sharp (Blair Brown), who tells him where to find Claire before she can be turned into a radioactive bomb. The FBI storms the building, and Olivia is able to give Claire the cure before her head explodes. Estebrook arrogantly tells Olivia his lawyers will spring him out of any trouble, and she publicly arrests him to ensure the press finds out, causing his company's stock to dramatically decrease in value. After Broyles lectures her, Olivia tells him her emotions (which she had exhibited strongly all episode) make her a better agent.
In a sideplot, Olivia reveals that she shot her abusive stepfather when she was nine years old, but he survived and disappeared soon after. The strong emotions Olivia exhibited in the episode were because the events take place on her birthday, and her stepfather sends her a card every year to let her know "he's still out there". The final scene shows Olivia opening a birthday card from her stepfather.
Production
"The Cure" was written by co-executive producer
Pinkner also told the Los Angeles Times that "Bellini's lymphocemia", the disease depicted in the episode, was invented by the writers, but its characteristics are real. He elaborated "We just didn't want to imply that individuals working on their own could cure it. We didn't want to be irresponsible to people with the real disease".
The episode featured one-time guest appearances by actors Chris Eigeman,[4] Maria Dizzia, Marjan Neshat, William Hill, Lisa Emery, Robert Eli, and Alok Tewari. Eigeman's David Esterbrook's assistant was named after Elizabeth Sarnoff, a television writer and producer.[5] Some of her work includes Lost, another series created by J. J. Abrams.[6]
For the opening scene, a "special kind of blood" was placed in and around the actors' eyes to simulate their brains boiling. For the scene in which the actress is pushed up against a glass door, the special effects department created a device wearing a brown wig with an explosive charge designed to imitate the actress' head exploding. Director Bill Eagles described the scene as "imagin[ing] an egg in your microwave spinning around and around at high voltage. What happens? Bang! It just explodes."[7]
Reception
Ratings
On its initial broadcast on October 21, 2008, "The Cure" was watched by an estimated 8.91 million viewers in the United States. It garnered a 5.5/8 ratings share for all households, and was Fox's ninth most watched show of the week.[8]
Reviews
Reviews for the episode ranged from mixed to negative.[
"The level of preposterous is just too high, and the level of fun and excitement far too low. There was an awful lot of talking about very little in this episode. The opening gross out had a 'been there, done that' feeling."
Further reviews tended to be negative.
References
- ^ a b Stegall, Sarah (2008-10-23). "Stupid Science—a review of Fringe's "The Cure"". SFScope. Retrieved 2011-03-04.
- ^ a b Day, Patrick Kevin (2008-11-10). "'Fringe': A Q&A with Jeff Pinkner". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2011-03-04.
- ^ a b Day, Patrick Kevin (2008-10-21). "'Fringe': Exploding heads!". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2011-03-04.
- ^ a b Murray, Noel (2008-10-21). "The Cure". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2011-05-17.
- .
- ^ Andreeva, Nellie (2010-09-01). "Hot Property: JJ Abrams, Elizabeth Sarnoff To Shop 'Alcatraz' Drama". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 2011-04-21.
- ^ Bill Eagles, Stephen Kelly, Christo Morse, Gilbert Gertsen (2009). "The Cure: Deciphering the Scene". Fringe: The Complete First Season (DVD). Warner Bros. Television.
- ^ Seidman, Robert (2008-10-29). "Top Fox Primetime Shows, October 20–26". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on 2009-10-05. Retrieved 2011-03-04.
- TV Squad. Retrieved 2011-05-17.
- ^ a b Kafka, Josie (2008-12-22). "Fringe: The Cure (1.06)". Open Salon. Retrieved 2011-05-17.
- ^ a b Newitz, Annalee (2008-10-22). "Fringe Gives Us a Bloody Birthday Present This Week". io9. Retrieved 2011-05-17.
- ^ a b c Fickett, Travis (2008-10-22). "Fringe: "The Cure" Review". IGN. Retrieved 2011-03-04.
- ^ a b Grierson, Tim (2008-10-22). "'Fringe': Strange Acting Virus Infects Star". New York. Retrieved 2011-05-17.
External links
- "The Cure" at Fox
- "The Cure" at IMDb