Midnight (Fringe)

Plot

Fringe Division investigates the murder of Bob Dunn, found with a severed spinal column and drained spinal fluid. Walter Bishop discovers human teeth marks and traces of an extinct syphilis strain in the killer's saliva. The team learns a lab sample of the strain was sold to Lubov Pharmaceutical, which has ties to ZFT. The investigation leads to Nicholas Boone, head of the company, who admits he works for ZFT and offers to give everything he knows if they save his wife Valerie.

Olivia Dunham finds no sign of Valerie at a ZFT hideout, and Boone reveals that Valerie is the killer; ZFT infected her with a contagion that burns spinal fluid faster than her body can replace it. Boone previously used some of his own spinal fluid to work on a cure, costing him the use of his legs. Two more male bodies are discovered with similar deaths. Boone works with Walter in the lab to develop an augmented form of penicillin; the first trial fails.

Boone sacrifices more spinal fluid to complete the process, and Walter realizes Boone tricked him. Astrid finds that the three victims all visited the same nightclub. Olivia and Peter Bishop enter the club, locate Valerie using a thermal imaging camera due to her raised body heat, and subdue her with tranquilizer guns. Valerie is successfully cured, but Boone dies from spinal fluid loss.

Before dying, Boone recorded a message for Olivia informing her that ZFT has been funded by Massive Dynamic founder William Bell.

Reception

"Midnight" aired on Fox in the U.S. on April 28, 2009, drawing 9.623 million viewers. That made it Fox's fifth most-watched show that week, with a household rating of 5.6/8. Among adults 18 to 49, it earned a 4.0 share, translating to 5.215 million viewers, and ranked as the ninth biggest audience in that age group for the week. Thanks to its lead-in from American Idol, the episode won its timeslot and helped Fox take the night in the 18-49 demographic.

Critical response was split. Annalee Newitz of io9 liked it, saying it made viewers feel "grody-happy inside" and scored well on the "tightly-plotted-o-meter," plus the ZFT conspiracy was "an easy conspiracy to follow." Ramsey Isler of IGN gave it a 7.5/10, praising the Peter-Walter interactions and the observant dynamic between Olivia and Broyles regarding divorce, but found the plot "kind of boring" and felt the story lacked "the normal punch of a Fringe episode," despite offering good character moments.