Subject 13
Lysergic Acid Diethylamide
6:02 AM EST/The Last Sam Weiss/The Day We Died
Season Three is where the romantic story starts to become inextricably entangled with the arc plot, so we won’t add much more detail here other than to note that Marionette is brilliant and devastating, and 6B is the one you want if you’re after something a bit more cuddly. Add Olivia for more context on Olivia’s story in the first part of season three, and The Box for more context on Peter’s. Add Stowaway for the set-up to Lysergic Acid Diethylamide, and Bloodline for the set-up to 6:02 AM EST/The Last Sam Weiss/The Day We Died.
Season Four:
Subject 9
Welcome To Westfield
A Better Human Being
The End Of All Things
A Short Story About Love
Brave New World Parts 1&2
Any kind of commentary will inevitably spoil things at this point. Add Neither Here Nor There for the season’s set-up, and Novation and Wallflower for more general character/relationship development. Add Letters Of Transit for set-up for season five.
Season Five:
Transilience Thought Unifier Model-11
The Bullet That Saved The World
An Origin Story
The Human Kind
An Enemy Of Fate
Note that season five is completely serialized, so much of the plot won’t make sense unless you watch all of it.
Fringe Route 3: Walter/Peter
At the heart of Fringe is a complex, often painful, relationship between father and son (rather like the father/daughter relationship at the heart of Alias, or the complex father/son relationships at the heart of films like Star Trek II; The Wrath of Khan, which influenced both JJ Abrams’ Star Trek films so strongly, and Star Wars… JJ, is there something you’d like to talk about?). Many of the show’s most powerful episodes focused on the fraught relationship between Walter and Peter.
Some of these are also highly significant arc-plot stories, but this route focuses only on those that are especially meaningful in terms of exploring the Walter/Peter relationship – fill in the gaps from the Previously Ons, or see Route 1 for the main arc plot.
Season One:
Pilot
The Arrival
There’s More Than One Of Everything
The Pilot introduces Peter, Walter and their relationship, The Arrival develops the relationship while introducing some major plot elements, and There’s More Than One of Everything reveals what will be the core of their story for the rest of the show. Add Inner Child for a line you probably won’t notice first time round but takes on greater significance on a re-watch, and The Road Not Taken for some more context on There’s More Than One of Everything.
Season Two:
Grey Matters
What Lies Below
Jacksonville
Peter
White Tulip
The Man From The Other Side
Brown Betty
Northwest Passage
Over There Parts 1&2
To explain the significance of most of these episodes would be to spoil them, so we won’t. If any of these could be skipped it would probably be What Lies Below, but we like the slow build towards the revelations of Peter of which it forms a part. Brown Betty is entirely unconnected to the overall story arc, being a high-concept musical fantasy episode, but it’s a nice exploration of Walter’s state of mind and a fun hour. Add A New Day in the Old Town for some Season Two set-up and Of Human Action for some more parental angst on Walter’s part and thematic resonances.
Season Three:
The Firefly
Reciprocity
Subject 13
6:02 AM EST/The Last Sam Weiss/The Day We Died
Details redacted for spoilers, but The Firefly features a beautiful guest performance by Christopher Lloyd. Add The Box and Entry for some more context on events in early season three, 6B for context on Subject 13, and You for more thematic resonances.
Season Four:
Alone In The World
Subject 9
Novation
Back To Where You’ve Never Been
Enemy Of My Enemy
Forced Perspective
Worlds Apart
Details redacted for spoilers. Add Welcome To Westfield for more character development, and A Better Human Being, The End Of All Things and A Short Story About Love for more context on the arc plot and how it relates to the characters’ relationships. Add Letters of Transit for some Season Five set-up.
Season Five:
Black Blotter
An Enemy Of Fate
Note that season five is completely serialized, so much of it may not make sense out of context.
Fringe Route 4: The Red Universe
If you’ve got this far, then hopefully you’re not too worried about some general spoilers, because this is a big one: much of Fringe revolves around the relationship between two parallel universes. “Our” universe is usually known as the Blue Universe, after the blue-toned title card, with the parallel dimension indicated by a red title card and therefore known as the Red Universe (we won’t explain the Amber Universe here, which is another issue all together). If parallel universes are your bag, or if you find yourself drawn to the quite different (rather livelier in some ways) characters of the Red Universe, these are the episodes to watch.
Season One:
The Road Not Taken
There’s More Than One Of Everything
The existence of a parallel universe was, initially, something of a surprise introduced at the end of season one. Add the Pilot if you want to familiarise yourself with the show’s set-up and characters first.
Season Two:
A New Day In The Old Town
Momentum Deferred
Jacksonville
Peter
The Man From The Other Side
Over There Parts 1&2
The revelations of Jacksonville and Peter are basically the centre of the whole series, while after seeing glimpses and hints from The Road Not Taken onwards, Over There gives us our first real look at the Red Universe. Add Grey Matters for more context and development on the Red Universe plot, and Northwest Passage for the build-up to Over There.
Season Three:
Olivia
The Plateau
Amber 31422
The Abducted
Entry
Immortality
Bloodline
6:02 AM EST/The Last Sam Weiss/The Day We Died
Season Three is the best season for Red Universe fans, with episodes in the early part of the season divided equally between the Red and Blue universes, and in The Plateau we even get a largely stand-alone Red Universe episode. Add 6B and Subject 13 for further small glimpses of the Red Universe, and Lysergic Acid Diethylamide for an imagined version of it. Add Stowaway for the introduction of an originally Red Universe character’s Blue Universe counterpart.
Season Four:
Neither Here Nor There
One Night In October
Back To Where You’ve Never Been
Enemy Of My Enemy
Making Angels
Everything In Its Right Place
The Consultant
Worlds Apart
Season Four is another good season for Red Universe fans, and the contrast between the Red Universe characters and those in the prime universe also provides Astrid with her one, excellent, day in the limelight in Making Angels.
Season Five:
Liberty
Note that, since Season Five is completely serialized, much of it won’t make sense unless you watch every episode, plus Letters Of Transit from Season Four. However, if you’re really mainly interested in the Red Universe, Liberty is a nice final look at that universe and those characters.
Fringe Route 5: Best Monster of the Week Episodes
Does that huge list of essential arc plot episodes in Route 1 put you off? Are you unbothered by spoilers, and just happy to see a good short story unfold? Then these are the episodes for you. These are the best episodes Fringe has to offer that focus on a one-off, monster of the week story. Be aware that elements of the arc plot may be referred to frequently, and that the background to these episodes may involve elements of character relationships and world-building that may be a bit confusing if you don’t know the arc plot, and that will certainly spoil it. However, the central plot of these episodes will make sense by itself and they offer a fine selection of individual hours of television.
Season One:
Season One’s strongest episodes tend to be arc-based, but Charlie Francis’ day in the limelight in Unleashed is worth a look for Kirk Acevedo fans.
Season Two:
Of Human Action
Unearthed
White Tulip
Brown Betty
Unearthed actually belongs in Season One but was aired in the middle of Season Two, so paradoxically it may make more sense to those who only watch highlights of the Monster of the Week episodes. Of Human Action is the purest stand-alone story here, and combines action and plot turns nicely. White Tulip heavily features the arc plot in its character work and won’t have the same impact when viewed in isolation, but the main plot of the episode is self-contained and well worth a look. Brown Betty is the first of several format-bending, experimental episodes; it shows us a whimsical musical fairy tale concocted by Walter to entertain Olivia’s niece. Although framed by the arc plot, it’s a lovely, sweet story by itself. Add What Lies Below for some nice character work between the leads that hints at the arc plot, but the main story stands alone (though you may find yourself wanting to watch the arc plot to follow up on the hints provided!).
Season Three:
The Plateau
The Abducted
Marionette
Watching The Plateau in isolation might be a rather confusing experience, but the main plot of the episode is an effective stand-alone piece (it’s just the setting and characters that might throw you a bit…). The Abducted will be similarly puzzling, but is one of Broyles’ best episodes and a moving story. Marionette, while heavily featuring character work relating to the arc plot, offers the first really stand-alone story of the season (and a brilliantly creepy one at that). Lysergic Acid Diethylamide is not a monster of the week story and follows on directly from earlier instalments (especially Stowaway), but you may want to give it a look if you’re interested in format-bending episodes, as it’s partly animated.
Season Four:
And Those We’ve Left Behind
Forced Perspective
Making Angels
And Those We’ve Left Behind is one of Fringe’s best and most moving episodes, and although the relationships between the main characters have been shaken up by the arc plot, the primary story stands alone completely. Forced Perspective blends arc plot elements into a largely stand-alone story. Making Angels requires some knowledge of the arc plot to understand the set-up, but again the basic story is a monster of the week story, and it’s a must for Astrid fans.
Season Five:
Black Blotter
As you will have gathered by now, there are no Monster of the Week episodes in Season Five. However, if you enjoy Fringe’s more experimental episodes, Black Blotter is another nice entry into the canon and once again features animated elements, though be aware you’ll have no idea what’s going on if you don’t watch the rest of the season (plus Season Four’s Letters Of Transit).