Unearthed (Fringe)

Plot

Seventeen-year-old Lisa Donovan is declared brain dead and taken off life support. As doctors harvest her organs, she revives and shouts classified naval missile codes. Fringe Division investigates with a naval officer who links the codes to missing sailor Andrew Rusk. Lisa, unaware of the numbers, begins speaking Russian during questioning.

The officer notes Rusk is fluent in Russian. Olivia seeks permission from Lisa's mother Maureen to run further tests, but Maureen refuses after Lisa has a vision of Rusk. Walter theorizes that Lisa's aneurysm created a psychic bond with Rusk. Lisa later leads Olivia to Rusk's body, and it is determined that Rusk was murdered at the same time Lisa was taken off life support.

Walter believes part of Rusk's consciousness transferred to Lisa. After a clash with the family's priest, Walter transfers Lisa to his lab. He administers drugs to extract Rusk's thoughts, but Rusk instead takes control of Lisa's body and describes his murderer. Charlie Francis identifies and pursues a naval officer, who confesses that Rusk's wife Teresa hired him for the murder.

Lisa eventually purges Rusk. The final scene shows an unrelated car crash victim waking and mumbling "My Star," Rusk's pet name for his wife, implying Rusk has returned.

Production

Co-executive producers David H. Goodman and Andrew Kreisberg wrote "Unearthed," and producer Frederick E. O. Toye directed it. It was the last episode filmed during the first season schedule. Although produced in the first season, it aired during the second season on Monday, January 11, 2010, a departure from its usual Thursday timeslot. Actor Joshua Jackson explained the move as an accounting issue: the network ordered 23 episodes but had only 22 airdates for the first season, so one episode was shot for the next season.

Executive producer Jeff Pinkner stated the episode would air somewhere in the first batch of second-season episodes and was a standalone that honored its eventual placement. Fox's press release on the air date purposely alluded to whether the episode was from season one or an alternate universe, with one critic noting Fox was having fun with the show's alternate universe concept. Fox listed "Unearthed" as the 21st episode of season one on its media site, despite its broadcast during season two and inclusion on that season's DVD as a special feature.

The episode featured a former series regular whose character had been killed off earlier in the second season, causing viewer confusion. One media outlet speculated the broadcasting change was a marketing ploy and that the episode title referenced co-creator J. J. Abrams' other series, Lost.

Reception

On its initial U.S. broadcast, "Unearthed" drew an estimated 7.79 million viewers and a 2.8/7 share among adults 18-49. Airing on Monday instead of Thursday, it competed with Heroes and gave Fringe a 24 percent ratings improvement over its best season ratings. Critical reception was largely negative. The A.V. Club's Noel Murray graded it a C−, calling some moments "generically embarrassing." Tim Grierson of New York deemed it "the lamest in recent memory" and "a stinker that should have remained safely out of public view," though he noted it showed how much the show had improved since season one. MTV's Josh Wigler found it middling for a standard Fringe episode but diminished by its awkward season-two placement. IGN's Ramsey Isler rated it 6.4/10, criticizing the cheesy writing and poor guest performances, and wished the story's science-versus-faith theme had been explored further.