Working It Out
Click to viewLast night I watched "The Equation", another episode from the first season of Fringe. It's another episode that feels distinctly X-Files-ish, with a plot about geniuses being abducted to solve a mysterious equation.
The main appeal of the show continues to be Walter Bishop, the heroic mad scientist, who in this episode returns to the dreaded mental institution to interview an inmate. He doesn't want to go back but he can't in good conscience avoid an opportunity to find a clue that might lead to finding a kidnapped child. John Noble, who I knew primarily as Denethor from Peter Jackson's film of Return of the King, gives a performance that's an intriguing mix of deadpan and vulnerable. He's good for a joke here and there but you also worry for him.
The kidnapped child is a musical genius whose composition turns out to be the important equation, transposed to musical notes. There are lots of fan covers of the song on YouTube, which is by Michael Giacchino.
Fringe is available on Max.