The Plateau (S03E03)
Airdate: 7 October 2010
Written by: Allison Schapker & Monica Owusu-Breen Directed by: Brad Anderson
Running Time: 44 minutes
When Fringe kicked off its third season, it seemed to have settled into a comfortable rhythm. The showrunners had established a neat little formula: episodes would alternate between the two Olivias, each trapped in the wrong universe, with viewers bouncing back and forth between the amber-tinted dystopia of the Redverse and the familiar blue-grey tones of the Prime universe. It was a clever structural gambit, no doubt, but even the most ingenious formulas require variation to keep from going stale. Enter The Plateau, the third episode of the season, which arrived to shake things up just when the pattern risked becoming predictable.
As per the established schedule, this instalment unfolds in the Redverse. Yet here's where things get interesting: rather than diving straight into the parallel universe shenanigans, the episode opens like something from Fringe's early days—a classic "mystery of the week" that wouldn't feel out of place in Season One or Two. The cold open is brilliantly constructed. We're on a street in Hoboken, New Jersey, where a rather unremarkable man (Michael Eklund) drops a pen. What follows is a Rube Goldberg chain of events: the pen rolls, a cyclist swerves, a bus brakes suddenly, and a woman is struck down and killed. It's bizarre, inexplicable, and utterly gripping.
The thing is, this isn't the first time such an accident has occurred. The statistical probability of these events being mere coincidence is, as Astrid calculates, practically nil. So the Redverse Fringe Division swings into action. Charlie Francis and Lincoln Lee—still nursing his burns from the season premiere—arrive to investigate, accompanied by Olivia, who by this point is thoroughly convinced she belongs in this universe. When Astrid's data analysis predicts another "accident" is imminent, the team rushes to intercept it. At the scene, things appear to have gone differently: the intended victim has only been injured. But Olivia spots Eklund's character dropping another pen, and suddenly it clicks—the incident hasn't happened yet. Sure enough, moments later, another man is fatally struck by an ambulance. Olivia gives chase, but the mysterious man, demonstrating an almost supernatural ability to calculate trajectories and velocities, leaps onto a van roof and vanishes into the city.
The investigation leads the team to the Ivon Medical Group and its subsidiary, Bryant Hospital. There, Dr. Levin (Malcolm Stewart) reveals the truth: he and his colleagues have been conducting experiments to enhance intelligence in mentally deficient subjects. Their star patient—and the mystery man—is Milo Stanfield. The treatment has worked spectacularly, exponentially increasing Milo's IQ and granting him the ability to predict complex chains of events with mathematical precision. The catch? He was scheduled for reversal therapy, and rather than lose his newfound brilliance, Milo has begun eliminating everyone connected to his treatment. Following a lead from Milo's sister and former guardian Madeline (Kacey Rohl), the team tracks him to a hotel.
The subsequent confrontation is where The Plateau truly shines. Olivia and Charlie attempt to strategise how to surprise someone who can predict their every move, quickly realising the futility of conventional tactics. Milo has already calculated that Olivia will die during the chase—specifically, she'll be crushed by falling cement bricks at a construction site located in one of the Redverse's "special zones" where the air is too thin to breathe. But here's the twist: while pursuing him, Olivia forgets her respirator, collapses from oxygen deprivation, and is saved by Charlie. This deviation from Milo's prediction—this human error that no calculation could account for—allows her to regain her composure and shoot Milo in the leg. It's a marvellous bit of dramatic irony.
Apprehended and returned to Bryant Hospital, Milo is examined by Dr. Levin, who explains the tragedy of his condition: his intelligence has increased so dramatically that his mind can no longer process human interaction. He essentially thinks like a computer now, communicating more naturally with machines than with people.
Running parallel to this case is the ongoing mythology thread. Walternate meets with alternate Broyles and alternate Brandon Fayette to discuss the necessity of keeping Olivia in the dark about her true identity. Her ability to cross universes must be cultivated and eventually extracted for the coming war. Yet cracks are forming in the deception. Olivia begins experiencing visions of Walter and Peter from the Prime universe—visions where Peter specifically mentions that she, being from the Prime universe, wouldn't know about the marked zones and respirators. It's information Milo couldn't possibly have known or calculated, and it's the first real crack in Fauxlivia's conditioning.
The Plateau marks the writing debut of Monica Owusu-Breen and Alison Schapker, both veterans of J.J. Abrams' stable having put in extensive work on Alias and Lost. Their experience shows in the tight plotting and character work. Brad Anderson, a Fringe regular by this point, directs with his characteristic flair. He begins deceptively simply—the premise looks like a standard case-of-the-week, perhaps even a bit gimmicky—before completely flipping the script. The revelation that Olivia survives because she isn't actually Fauxlivia—that her unfamiliarity with the Redverse literally saves her life—anchors the procedural plot firmly to the season's overarching mythology.
The episode benefits enormously from its supporting cast. Kirk Acevedo and Seth Gabel bring welcome continuity and chemistry as Charlie and Lincoln, while Michael Eklund—who's made something of a career playing unsettling villains—delivers a pitch-perfect performance as Milo. There's something genuinely tragic about his portrayal; he's not evil so much as unable to comprehend human connection anymore. Kacey Rohl, as Milo's devoted sister Madeline, grounds the fantastical plot in genuine emotion. Her scenes add a layer of familial tragedy that elevates the material beyond standard sci-fi fare.
The world-building continues apace, too. We're introduced to Fauxlivia's boyfriend Frank, a physician called away to deal with a smallpox outbreak in North Texas. It's another reminder that the Redverse, for all its technological advancement, is a fundamentally harsher, more dangerous place than the Prime universe.
Anderson's direction deserves particular praise for the climactic sequence. As Milo calculates and predicts future events, the screen splits into multiple panels, each showing a different potential outcome. It's inventive, visually striking, and perfectly conveys the character's fractured, hyper-logical thought process without a single line of exposition.
The Plateau is a cracking piece of television. It manages to be both a satisfying standalone mystery and a crucial building block in Fringe's larger narrative. By the time the credits roll, the foundations have been laid for the saga's continuation, and the viewer is left eager to see how Olivia's creeping awareness of her true identity will unfold. It's the kind of episode that reminds you why Fringe earned its reputation as one of the most ambitious science fiction series of its era.
RATING: 7/10 (+++)
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