science fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
drama
Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...
television series
A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...
''
Fringe
Fringe may refer to:
Arts and music
* "The Fringe", or Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world's largest arts festival
* Adelaide Fringe, the world's second-largest annual arts festival
* Fringe theatre, a name for alternative theatre
* Purple fri ...
''. While it serves as the 31st released episode of the series, it was produced during the first season and is recognized by Fox as the 21st episode of ''Fringe'' overall. Despite this, it does not fit into the series' continuity nor is it recognized as the
season finale
A season finale (British English: series finale; Australian English: season final) is the final episode of a season of a television program. This is often the final episode to be produced for a few months or longer, and, as such, will attempt to ...
; it was released later due to an accounting error.
The episode features a reappearance of
Kirk Acevedo
Kirkland M. Acevedo (born November 27, 1971) is an American actor best known as Miguel Alvarez in '' Oz'', Joe Toye in '' Band of Brothers'', and FBI Agent Charlie Francis on '' Fringe''. His best-known films are '' The Thin Red Line'', '' D ...
as Charlie Francis, whose character was already killed off in the second season premiere. However, Acevedo's character was still alive in the series' continuity when the episode was produced.
While the body of a young, recently deceased girl is being harvested of its
organs
In a multicellular organism, an organ is a collection of tissues joined in a structural unit to serve a common function. In the hierarchy of life, an organ lies between tissue and an organ system. Tissues are formed from same type cells to a ...
, she suddenly comes back to life yelling classified naval launch codes and Russian phrases, leading the Fringe Division to a recently murdered naval officer. The episode was written by co-executive producers David H. Goodman and
Andrew Kreisberg
Andrew Kreisberg (born April 23, 1971) is an American former television writer, producer and comic book writer. He is best known as the co-creator of the television series ''The Flash'', ''Arrow'', ''Supergirl'' and ''Legends of Tomorrow''.
Pers ...
, and was directed by producer Frederick E. O. Toye.
Though the episode was produced at the end of the first season, "Unearthed" first aired during the second season, on January 11, 2010, in a one-time timeslot. An estimated 7.79 million viewers tuned into the episode, giving it a "whopping" ratings improvement over its best ratings of the season. It was included in the second season's DVD release as a special feature. The episode was almost unanimously disliked by critics, with one reviewer calling it "a stinker that should have remained safely out of public view." Numerous critics also disliked guest actress Alice Kremelberg's performance, particularly when her character becomes possessed by a male ghost.
Plot
A seventeen-year-old girl, Lisa Donovan ( Alice Kremelberg), is declared brain dead at a hospital and is pulled off life support. While the doctors remove her organs for
donation
A donation is a gift for Charity (practice), charity, humanitarian aid, or to benefit a cause. A donation may take various forms, including money, alms, Service (economics), services, or goods such as clothing, toys, food, or vehicles. A donati ...
, she suddenly comes back from the dead and yells highly classified naval missile codes. Fringe Division arrives to investigate, along with a naval officer; he tells them the codes are tied to a missing sailor called Andrew Rusk (Chazz Menendez). Lisa is unaware of the numbers or Rusk, but suddenly starts speaking
Russian
Russian(s) may refer to:
*Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*A citizen of Russia
*Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages
*''The Russians'', a b ...
Anna Torv
Anna Torv (born 7 June 1979) is an Australian actress. Her performance as Olivia Dunham in the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox science fiction series ''Fringe (TV series), Fringe'' (2008–2013) earned her four consecutive Saturn Award for Best A ...
),
Peter
Peter may refer to:
People
* List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Peter (given name)
** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church
* Peter (surname), a su ...
(
Joshua Jackson
Joshua Carter Jackson (born June 11, 1978) is an American and Canadian actor. He is known for his portrayals of Pacey Witter on The WB's teen drama ''Dawson's Creek'' (1998–2003), Peter Bishop in the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox science fic ...
), and
Walter
Walter may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Walter (name), including a list of people and fictional and mythical characters with the given name or surname
* Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–19 ...
(
John Noble
John Noble (born 20 August 1948) is an Australian actor. He is best known for his roles as Denethor in ''The Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy (2001–2003), and Dr. Walter Bishop in the Fox science fiction series '' Fringe'' (2008–2013). ...
) question her. The naval officer informs them that Rusk is fluent in the language.
Olivia asks Lisa's mother Maureen (
Amy Carlson
Amy Lynn Carlson (born July 7, 1968) is an American actress known for her roles as Linda Reagan in the CBS police procedural ''Blue Bloods,'' Alex Taylor on the NBC drama ''Third Watch'', and Josie Watts in the NBC daytime soap opera ''Another ...
) for permission to run more tests on the girl as a means to find Rusk, but Maureen disagrees. Meanwhile, Lisa has a vision of Rusk standing behind her, which leads Maureen to conclude they should end the investigation, as it is causing Lisa to experience these strange occurrences. Walter posits that Lisa's aneurysm tied her to Rusk and gave them a psychic bond. Having continued to suffer visions, Lisa soon calls Olivia and leads her to Rusk's body. It is determined that at the same time Lisa was taken off life support, Rusk was murdered. Walter believes that part of Rusk's consciousness transferred over to Lisa. Walter clashes with the family's priest (Sean Dugan) over her resurrection. Olivia learns that Rusk had recently experienced high levels of
radiation
In physics, radiation is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or a material medium. This includes:
* ''electromagnetic radiation'' consisting of photons, such as radio waves, microwaves, infr ...
; Walter posits that, due to this heavy radiation exposure, Rusk's energy is not completely "expended".
Lisa is transferred to Walter's lab, where he gives her special drugs to extract Rusk's thoughts from her mind. Instead, Rusk gains control of Lisa's body and demands to know where he is. His description of the murderer allows Charlie Francis to identify and pursue another naval officer. This other officer tells them Rusk's physically abused wife Teresa (
Annie Parisse
Anne Marie Cancelmi (born July 31, 1975), known professionally as Annie Parisse, is an American actress. She portrayed Alexandra Borgia on the drama series ''Law & Order''. Parisse has also starred as Julia Snyder on the soap opera ''As the Wo ...
) hired him for the murder. Believing that he has left her mind, they learn too late that Rusk is still in control of Lisa; he goes to exact revenge on Teresa, but is stopped by Charlie shooting him with a tranquilizer dart. Lisa is eventually able to purge Rusk from her consciousness. The final scene shows an unrelated car crash victim suddenly waking up, mumbling in Russian: "My Star", the pet name Rusk called his wife, meaning that Rusk is back.
Andrew Kreisberg
Andrew Kreisberg (born April 23, 1971) is an American former television writer, producer and comic book writer. He is best known as the co-creator of the television series ''The Flash'', ''Arrow'', ''Supergirl'' and ''Legends of Tomorrow''.
Pers ...
wrote "Unearthed", while producer Frederick E. O. Toye worked as the episode director. "Unearthed" was the last episode filmed during the first season schedule. Although it was filmed during the first season, "Unearthed" aired during the following season on Monday, January 11, 2010, a departure from its normal timeslot on Thursdays. Actor
Joshua Jackson
Joshua Carter Jackson (born June 11, 1978) is an American and Canadian actor. He is known for his portrayals of Pacey Witter on The WB's teen drama ''Dawson's Creek'' (1998–2003), Peter Bishop in the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox science fic ...
explained the move in April 2009, " t'sfor boring reasons. They only had 22 airdates for our show this year, but they ordered 23 episodes, so we shot one for next year, which is just silly TV network stuff. It's not for any cool reason like we had something we needed in New York that we couldn't shoot elsewhere. It's just an accounting issue." That same month, executive producer/showrunner
On its initial broadcast in the United States, "Unearthed" was watched by an estimated 7.79 million viewers, earning a 2.8/7 share among viewers aged 18–49. The episode aired on a Monday night, which was a departure from its usual timeslot on Thursdays. This led it temporarily into direct competition with another
science fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
series, ''
Heroes
Heroes or Héroes may refer to:
* Hero, one who displays courage and self-sacrifice for the greater good
Film
* ''Heroes'' (1977 film), an American drama
* ''Heroes'' (2008 film), an Indian Hindi film
Gaming
* ''Heroes of Might and Magic'' ...
''; ''Fringe'' easily won, as ''Heroes'' had its lowest rated airing in the show's history while, according to SFScope's Sarah Stegall, "Unearthed" gave ''Fringe'' a "whopping 24 percent improvement over its best ratings this season."
Reviews
Critical reception to the episode was generally negative.
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...
's Noel Murray graded the episode with a C−, explaining he didn't want to watch a season one cast-off, and that some of the episode moments were "generic llyembarrassing", such as when Olivia tricked someone into telling her Rusk was sick and when Rusk failed to kill his wife after falling into the "old Fallacy Of The Talking Killer" cliche. ''
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
New York may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* ...
''s Tim Grierson thought it was "the lamest in recent memory" and "a stinker that should have remained safely out of public view". He did however remark that the episode allowed him to see how far the show had improved since its first season. In a slightly more positive review,
MTV
MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...
's Josh Wigler wrote "As far as standard installments of ''Fringe'' go, 'Unearthed' ranks somewhere in the middle of the pack, but the quality diminishes due to its awkward placement in the middle of season two".
IGN
''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
's Ramsey Isler rated the episode 6.4/10, commenting that it was "cheesy, with mediocre writing and some fairly bad performances from the guest supporting cast". Isler found little to redeem the episode, and wished the story's partial focus on the intersection of science and faith had been further explored.
Andrew Hanson from the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' thought the "premise was a little thinly stretched over the hour" and believed it would have been overshadowed by stronger episodes in season one, but was glad to have another hour of ''Fringe'' regardless. SFScope contributor Sarah Stegall disliked that the network failed to issue a "disclaimer" about the episode's production date, stating "...maybe the producers assume that all their audiences are brand new to the franchise. Or perhaps, unhappily, it is a sign that Fox has given up on this show, and no longer cares whether its lingering audience is confused." She concluded, "As a standalone episode, this one was of middling interest, and I can see why Fox would have dropped it from the Season One lineup. Fans looking eagerly for more 'mythology' episodes, where the links between the Fringe team, Massive Dynamics, Nina Sharpe, William Bell and, for all I know, the Illuminati are explored, may be disappointed." Jane Boursaw of AOL TV was also critical of Fox for giving no warning about the episode and thought it should actually have been titled 'Walter vs. The Priest.'" She continued, "The whole episode was an interesting intersect between science and faith, not to mention the whole 'being possessed by a dead person because your brain waves crossed during life and death' thing. You can tell it was vintage ''Fringe'' -- if indeed it was -- because the storylines are more complex than that these days, what with the alternate universe and Leonard Nimoy and all." Various critics noted guest actress Alice Kremelberg's performance, particularly when she had to give the impression she was possessed by a male ghost; most reviews were negative, though Boursaw praised it, giving Kremelberg "high fives".
Fox
Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush").
Twelve species ...