What Lies Below (S02E13)
Airdate: 21 January 2010
Written by: Jeff Vlaming Directed by: Deran Sarafian
Running Time: 44 minutes
Season two of Fringe spent much of its time grinding through mystery-of-the-week episodes that felt, if we're being honest, rather too comfortable borrowing from The X-Files playbook. You know the drill: strange phenomenon, FBI investigation, Walter babbling something eccentric, case closed. Yet occasionally the writers attempted something genuinely different, and What Lies Below stands out as one such experiment—a story that ditches the procedural template entirely in favour of proper disaster movie mechanics.
The episode opens in Boston with a Nicolas Von Zill, playing a visibly sick man who staggers into an office building. His destination is the Vitas Petrol company offices, where he promptly collapses. Despite desperate attempts to revive him, he dies, and then things turn properly gruesome: his body erupts in a fountain of blood, spraying everyone unfortunate enough to be standing nearby. When the Fringe Division arrives to investigate, they find a courier named Mike (Kristian Haas) who'd attempted CPR on the victim now displaying identical symptoms. He dies in the same spectacularly messy fashion.
Naturally, everyone assumes they're dealing with some sort of haemorrhagic fever outbreak. The building gets locked down with Olivia and Peter still inside—they'd been conducting the initial investigation and now find themselves quarantined alongside potential carriers. The CDC rolls in, led by field director Arnold McFadden (Geoff Pierson), and immediately establishes the central tension of the piece. McFadden represents traditional, by-the-book methodology, whilst Walter favours his customary approach of scientific improvisation and barely controlled chaos.
Walter immediately wants blood samples taken from inside the building so he can work his magic back at the lab. Before long, things escalate dramatically when Linda the receptionist (Natassia Malthe), who'd been infected, throws herself out of a window. Walter's quick to suggest her suicide wasn't genuine self-destruction at all—rather, the virus appears to be driving its hosts toward behaviours that ensure maximum transmission. It's a chilling thought, made worse when we realise Peter caught some of Linda's blood during the incident. He's likely infected, and the clock is ticking.
Peter's subsequent rummaging through the original victim's body yields documents identifying the dead man as Radjan Vandenkemp, a Dutch oil executive recently arrived from Dubai. Olivia later discovers Vandenkemp had scheduled a meeting with Vitas executive Vincent Ames (Conrad Coates) regarding the illegal sale of a rather important trade secret stolen from a competitor.
The source of the virus turns out to be a sample of oil deposit Vandenkemp was carrying, containing a strain of haemorrhagic virus that nearly wiped out all mammals during the Ice Age some 75,000 years ago. A biohazard team enters the building, assisted by Walter and Astrid, to screen people for infection. Meanwhile, McFadden delivers the standard disaster movie ultimatum: if they can't contain the virus, he's authorised the military to proceed with "level six eradication." It's hardly subtle, but it raises the stakes effectively enough.
The virus begins affecting Peter's personality, making him desperate enough to fake his test results in an attempt to leave with those cleared as negative. Just as he's about to escape, his nose starts bleeding—game over. He's staying put. This pushes Walter to genuine desperation, and in a moment of profound distress, he blurts out to Astrid that he "can't let Peter die again." It's a jarring admission that hangs in the air. Continuing his experiments with increasing panic, Walter theorises that the virus was originally stopped by the Mount Toba supervolcano eruption 75,000 years ago, which blanketed Earth in sulphur-rich ash. Rummaging through an office break room, he discovers horseradish—of all things—and realises sulphur could provide the basis for a serum.
Olivia volunteers to re-enter the contaminated area to restart the air ventilation system, which would allow the CDC to deploy fentanyl gas to tranquilise the infected whilst the serum gets synthesised. Peter, now fully under the virus's influence, attacks her and seizes her weapon. Still, she manages to activate the system. The plan works—everyone gets knocked out, and later, cured. It's all rather neat.
The final scene finds Astrid pressing Walter about his earlier comment regarding Peter dying again. Walter simply responds that "some things are meant to be left alone." Cryptic, but effective.
Jeff Vlaming's script employs the deadly infection scenario with unfortunate timing that makes it land differently today than it did upon original broadcast. Post-COVID, the mechanics of quarantine, transmission anxiety, and institutional responses feel far more realistic and considerably more disturbing than they likely appeared to producers in the pre-pandemic era. That said, the pathogen itself remains stubbornly Hollywood in its behaviour—incubating and killing victims with ridiculous speed, then proving remarkably simple to defeat thanks to a conveniently discovered and rapidly produced cure. The science is, shall we say, optimistic.
Still, the episode largely succeeds thanks to Deran Sarafian's solid direction. He maintains sufficient suspense throughout, keeping the claustrophobia palpable and the pace brisk. The ending, however, suffers from the inevitable problem that Peter, being a series regular, was never actually going to die. This rather undercuts the tension in retrospect.
One misfire comes early on, when Walter delivers a lecture to children at the Science Center. His complete lack of social finesse creates a major faux pas that aims for black comedy but lands with an awkward thud. Fringe usually handled this sort of humour with far more deftness.
The episode does offer a nice nod to X-Files enthusiasts, casting Brendan Beiser and Megan Leitch—who played Sean Pendrell and Samantha Mulder respectively—as unfortunate office workers trapped in the quarantine. It's a charming bit of fan service that rewards long-time genre viewers.
Ultimately, Walter's slip about Peter dying again provides the only meaningful advancement to the overarching series mythology. Beyond that revelation, "What Lies Below" functions as solid but ultimately inconsequential filler—a standalone adventure that entertains without leaving much lasting impression. Sometimes that's enough, though one can't help wishing they'd taken a few more risks with the ending.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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