The WORST episodes of Fringe

Every episode of Fringe ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of Fringe!

An F.B.I. agent is forced to work with an institutionalized scientist and his son in order to rationalize a brewing storm of unexplained phenomena.

Last Updated: 1/15/2024Network: FOXStatus: Ended
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Brown Betty
star
6.48
9210 votes

#1 - Brown Betty

Season 2 - Episode 20 - Aired 4/29/2010

While Walter deals with some very upsetting news, he tells Olivia's niece, Ella, a fairy tale that includes musical performances by Olivia and Agent Broyles.

Directors: Seith Mann
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Unearthed
star
7.25
7132 votes

#2 - Unearthed

Season 2 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/11/2010

After a teenage girl is pronounced brain dead, her mother takes her off life support, but when doctors operate quickly to remove her organs, the deceased girl shockingly awakens screaming an alphanumeric code. Equally as perplexing as her resurrection is that she is now somehow able to speak Russian and possesses classified information only a high-ranking soldier would know. While the girl's mind-bending condition intensifies, Walter dusts off some old lab videos and hypothesizes the unthinkable, sending Olivia and Peter to investigate the bewildering case in an original. (This is a season 1 un-aired episode)

Directors: Joe Chappelle
Writer: Josh Singer
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The No-Brainer
star
7.28
6709 votes

#3 - The No-Brainer

Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/27/2009

Olivia, Walter and Peter are called in to investigate the death of a car salesman who was found in a pool of "goo," exactly like another man across the country. When Walter discovers that the "goo" is brain matter, the trio tries to figure out how the killer can liquefy human brains. As the deaths pile up, the investigation reveals a common thread linking the victims together in an unthinkable manner. Meanwhile, Olivia is horrified when the case places a loved one in harm's way

Directors: John Polson
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Johari Window
star
7.36
7226 votes

#4 - Johari Window

Season 2 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/14/2010

Following an unexplained attack involving hideously deformed humans, the Fringe team visits the small town in upstate New York to uncover leads surrounding the bizarre case. When it's determined that these deformed people have managed to hide themselves for a while and they'll do just about anything to keep it that way.

Directors: Joe Chappelle
Writer: Josh Singer
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Earthling
star
7.36
7995 votes

#5 - Earthling

Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/5/2009

Human beings are reduced to ash statues and Broyles realizes that the same person responsible murdered five other persons four years ago... a case that he never solved.

Directors: Jon Cassar
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Snakehead
star
7.37
7574 votes

#6 - Snakehead

Season 2 - Episode 9 - Aired 12/3/2009

After a cargo ship runs aground, the shoreline becomes littered with bodies hosting a giant squid-like creature. The Fringe team descends upon the scene to examine the bodies and discovers that the mysterious organisms are actually giant parasites. As the investigation unfolds, Walter heads back to the lab while Olivia, Peter and Broyles race against time when they realize the case has ties to a threatening organization.

Directors: Paul Holahan
Writer: David Wilcox
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Unleashed
star
7.38
6898 votes

#7 - Unleashed

Season 1 - Episode 16 - Aired 4/14/2009

As animal rights activists ransack a laboratory, they get more than they bargained for when one of the caged “animals” unleashes a ferocious appetite. Leaving grotesquely mutilated dead bodies in its wake, the scientifically engineered beast with the body of a lion, claws of an eagle, fangs of a viper, skin of a rhinoceros and tail of a serpent attacks Charlie. With Charlie’s life on the line, Walter must come face-to-face with both his past and the beast.

Directors: Brad Anderson
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Dream Logic
star
7.46
8089 votes

#8 - Dream Logic

Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/15/2009

The Fringe team travels cross-country to Seattle after learning of a mysterious incident involving a man who attacked his boss because he believed he was an evil ram-horned creature. As these puzzling occurrences continue, the team tirelessly explores strange and creepy links to dreams. In pursuit of additional information, Agent Broyles has a disconcerting meeting with enigmatic Massive Dynamic executive Nina Sharp that leads the investigation in an unthinkable direction.

Directors: Paul A. Edwards
Writer: Josh Singer
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Cure
star
7.46
7363 votes

#9 - The Cure

Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/21/2008

The team investigates a woman that re-appears after weeks of being missing with a rare disease. She also inexplicably causes pain and death to the people she meets. During the investigation, dangerous level of radiation are detected. Walter obsesses about cotton candy; Peter strikes a deal with Nina Sharp; and a truth about Olivia is discovered.

Directors: Bill Eagles
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Night of Desirable Objects
star
7.46
7831 votes

#10 - Night of Desirable Objects

Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/24/2009

A series of strange disappearances in Pennsylvania attracts the attention of the Fringe team and leads them underground. Walter also tries to recreate Olivia's accident using frogs and Charlie tries to find out how much she remembers.

Directors: Brad Anderson
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Of Human Action
star
7.47
7588 votes

#11 - Of Human Action

Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/12/2009

When a kidnapping rapidly escalates into a hostage situation in New York, local authorities close in on the suspects only to discover that an unknowable force has mind-blowing consequences. The investigation intensifies and the mystery and threat deepen to unimaginable proportions when the Fringe Division identifies a link between the kidnapping and Massive Dynamic.

Directors: Joe Chappelle
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Power Hungry
star
7.47
7437 votes

#12 - Power Hungry

Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/14/2008

The team investigate the case of a man who can project electricity... and is at the center of a series of strange deaths involving electricity.

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Olivia, in the Lab, with the Revolver
star
7.56
9540 votes

#13 - Olivia, in the Lab, with the Revolver

Season 2 - Episode 17 - Aired 4/8/2010

When a perfectly healthy woman is found dead from a disease she never had, the Fringe team investigates the origin of this inexplicably fatal condition before it claims more innocent victims. Meanwhile, Olivia struggles to keep Walter's secret from Peter, and her loyalty to Peter is tested as time goes on.

Directors: Brad Anderson
Writer: Matt Pitts
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Bishop Revival
star
7.56
7996 votes

#14 - The Bishop Revival

Season 2 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/28/2010

When a specific group of guests at a wedding in Brookline, MA, suffocate from the inside out, the upsetting and disconcerting crime scene has the Fringe team investigating how the toxin was delivered and targeted. As evidence is taken into the lab, it’s discovered that the wedding ceremony was a testing ground for a weaponized science experiment. Adding to the intense lab investigation, Walter uncovers an alarming formula that reveals a link to a branch on the Bishop family tree. With the escalating threat of more deadly attacks and unexpected familial ties to the case, the Fringe team stops at nothing to prevent further catastrophic events.

Directors: Adam Davidson
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Ghost Network
star
7.56
8064 votes

#15 - The Ghost Network

Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/23/2008

The team investigates a bus full of dead commuters that appear to be fossilized and uncover a man who has visions of pattern-related disturbances before they happen; Dr. Bishop requests a piano in the lab to help him process data.

Directors: Alex Graves
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
What Lies Below
star
7.56
7791 votes

#16 - What Lies Below

Season 2 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/21/2010

When a man enters an office in Boston for a meeting, he becomes disoriented and collapses, only to have his veins erupt and spray blood everywhere. Shortly after Olivia and Peter arrive at the scene to investigate the bizarre case, it's discovered that a lethal virus with deep ties to something very valuable is spreading, so the CDC moves in to quarantine the building and eradicate the pathogens. Isolated inside with the rest of the exposed office employees, Peter and Olivia face life-threatening circumstances, sending Walter, Broyles and Astrid on a frantic search for a solution to save them.

Directors: Charles Beeson
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Fracture
star
7.57
7922 votes

#17 - Fracture

Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/1/2009

Peter, Walter, Olivia and Broyles pursue a strange and deadly occurrence in Philadelphia where a bomb blew up inside a train station but left no trace of any explosive device. The perplexing and unexplained set of circumstances returns Walter to the lab to closely examine the human remains where he uncovers an unlikely energy source that triggered the explosion. With the explosive threat of more bombs and links to a classified military project, the intense investigation leads Olivia and Peter to Iraq.

Directors: Bryan Spicer
Writer: David Wilcox
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Nothing As It Seems
star
7.57
7808 votes

#18 - Nothing As It Seems

Season 4 - Episode 16 - Aired 3/30/2012

The Fringe team faces a case that appears familiar to Peter. Strangely, it takes place in this timeline.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Inner Child
star
7.59
6975 votes

#19 - Inner Child

Season 1 - Episode 15 - Aired 4/7/2009

Just seconds before a building is demolished, a mysterious mute child that has been living alone underground is discovered. When the FBI’s Fringe Division investigates, the boy forms an unspoken connection with Agent Olivia Dunham. Meanwhile, an especially gruesome serial killer resurfaces and showcases his “artistry” by displaying his work publicly. As the boy gradually assimilates into a new environment, Olivia and the team must race against the clock to prevent the mad man from causing further massacre.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Arrival
star
7.59
7555 votes

#20 - The Arrival

Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 9/30/2008

Broyles calls in the team to investigate a deadly explosion and its source: a strange cylinder unharmed despite the destruction. Olivia determines that the same cylinder, or a similar one, is responsible for similar events in widely diverse locations.

Directors: Paul A. Edwards
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
A New Day in the Old Town
star
7.59
8444 votes

#21 - A New Day in the Old Town

Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/17/2009

Season two opens with Olivia's shocking return from the perplexing alternate reality, while Peter is unknowingly in a race against time with an ominous mobile force pursuing information about Olivia's visit. Walter reenters the lab to cook up some fringe science and of course, some custard for Peter's Birthday.

Directors: Akiva Goldsman
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Immortality
star
7.63
9599 votes

#22 - Immortality

Season 3 - Episode 13 - Aired 2/11/2011

As the story shifts back to life “over there,” the absence of Colonel Broyles changes the dynamic of the Fringe Team as they investigate a bioterrorist armed with an insect that has a taste for human flesh. Meanwhile, alternate Olivia is reunited with her beau, and Walternate remains determined to save his world but discovers there are certain lines he will not cross.

Directors: Brad Anderson
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Same Old Story
star
7.63
8708 votes

#23 - The Same Old Story

Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/16/2008

Olivia, along with Peter and Walter Bishop, investigates the strange death of a woman who had an even stranger child. The woman was pregnant for only hours, yet the baby she birthed was fully developed - and also aged eighty years in the span of a few minutes. Olivia asks Nina Sharp of Massive Dynamic for help.

Directors: Paul A. Edwards
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Wallflower
star
7.63
8362 votes

#24 - Wallflower

Season 4 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/18/2011

When a man mysteriously dies by an invisible force, his body rapidly begins turning ghostly white. The Fringe team learns that this is not an isolated incident, and there’s evidence that links the predator to someone who passed away with an unknown genetic disorder. Meanwhile, Olivia suffers from migraines.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Marionette
star
7.63
9714 votes

#25 - Marionette

Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired 12/9/2010

When the Fringe Team investigates a case where a victim had his heart extracted, it’s just the beginning of a series of mysterious and reanimating events tied together. Meanwhile, Peter comes to terms with the reality of his relationship with Olivia.

Directors: Joe Chappelle
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV