In its final fifteen minutes, Fringe’s “The Abducted” is thrilling, suspenseful and dramatic. The rest of the episode, however, is meandering, uneven, and less than spectacular. In many ways, this feels like a step backwards to a time when Fringe was all about the minutiae of its mystery-of-the-week, rather its much more grandiose and compelling character and plot arcs. Make no mistake, these elements remain very much part of the fabric of the story, but they’ve put pushed aside in this episode. The result is an installment that isn’t quite a classic.

There are two major plot lines to this episode. A young boy is abducted by a serial criminal with the unfortunate name of “The Candyman.” And Olivia remains intent on returning home to her universe. The stories manage to overlap in a few places, but mostly this is an episode about solving “The Candyman Mystery” — with Olivia’s quest relegated to a mere subplot.

The Candyman abducts boys from their homes in order to extract the raw materials to create a veritable Fountain of Youth. The episode opens with an abduction, and Fringe Division is off to solve the case before the procedure irreparably harms the young boy. This is pretty standard crime-scene-investigation fare. And for the most part, the story does little to elevate the episode itself. What does matter is the connection between The Candyman and Broyles. As it turns out, Broyles’ son was also a victim of the criminal — and so Broyles as a personal stake in the investigation.

The most valuable element to all of this is some much welcome development and depth for Broyles (in either universe). Broyles wants nothing more than to protect his own son from continued trauma. But the prospect of another child suffering the same damage prompts Broyles to allow Olivia to interview his son. And this is where the episode gets its most significant overlap.

Broyles knows that Olivia is from the other side. And when he learns that she also knows, Broyles is left to consider the significance of Olivia working to help his son and another boy — even though they do not belong to her universe. Olivia’s efforts challenge Broyles. He realizes that she isn’t a monster and that he was wrong to think of her as such. And, perhaps, he’ll realize that Walternate’s doom-and-gloom judgment of Olivia’s universe is likewise wrong. Broyles eventually says, “I won’t forget what you did here,” and that statement ought to prove significant in the next episode.

Unfortunately for Olivia, her efforts to return home (aided by Henry the Cabbie from “Olivia”), are thwarted by Walternate. He seizes her and orders that she be sedated. It would seem that her time is up. But there is the matter of Broyles to consider. Henry seems likely to factor into her escape. And then there is a fleeting message she was able to convey before she was captured: Olivia temporarily crosses over and manages to, somehow, convince a woman to call Peter and deliver a message.

And we know that Peter just won’t take this lying down (next to Folivia, having heard Folivia once again demonstrate a lack of pop culture knowledge).

The culmination of all of these events makes for one helluva cliff hanger. It’s a great ending to the episode. But that doesn’t compensate for the relatively mundane mystery.

Overall Grade: C+

“The Abducted” is the weakest episode of Fringe’s third season thus far. The shades of the dreaded “monster of the week” plot prove to be a significant drag the overall arc of the series. What’s more, certain events — such as the “twist” involving the pastor somehow getting past a patrol car to attack Broyles’ family — have the distinct taste of filler. And even though the ending is very strong, it’s merely a prelude to the next installment of the series.

Topics: Sci-Fi, TV Reviews
Filed under: Fringe

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