The No-Brainer (27 Jan. 2009)

Two mens' brains are liquefied and their only apparent connection is that they both downloaded a huge file before dying.

Director:

John Polson

Writers:

J.J. Abrams (creator), Alex Kurtzman (creator),

Stars:

Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, Lance Reddick

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Anna Torv	...	Olivia Dunham
Joshua Jackson	...	Peter Bishop
Lance Reddick	...	Phillip Broyles
Kirk Acevedo	...	Charlie Francis
Blair Brown	...	Nina Sharp (credit only)
Jasika Nicole	...	Astrid Farnsworth
Mark Valley	...	John Scott (credit only)
John Noble	...	Dr. Walter Bishop
Chris Bauer	...	Brian Dempsey
Michael Gaston	...	Sanford Harris
Ari Graynor	...	Rachel
Mary Beth Peil	...	Jessica Warren
Noah Fleiss	...	Luke Dempsey
Gbenga Akinnagbe	...	Akim
Susan Knight	...	Cynthia Wiles (as Susan Elaine Knight)

Storyline

Two mens' brains are liquefied and their only apparent connection is that they both downloaded a huge file before dying.

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Plot Keywords:

operation game | toxic computer program | bad cop | family relationships | rare coin | 

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 January 2009 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bad Robot, Warner Bros. Television, Fringe Element Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

52 min 52 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The outside set for the Garage where Luke works is across the street from the car yard set where the salesman died, and can be seen in its undressed form as Olivia is leaving.

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Goofs

When Olivia and Peter walk through campus toward the lab - which is in the next scene - they actually walk the campus of Brooklyn College (CUNY) in New York, not Harvard University, where lab is supposed to be located. (27th & 28th minutes)

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Soundtracks

"Kids"
(uncredited)
Performed by MGMT

User Reviews

Strong characters and their relationships make up for a lackluster but intriguing plot.

And they say too much time on the computer is bad for your mind? A literal killer computer virus stalks the world wide web as it claims it's victims, the first being a teenage boy who was having a conversation with another, who so happens to have a connection to all of this. Olivia and Peter arrive onto the scene and try to search for clues, they come down to meet up with the victim's friend but find nothing, then yet another virus strike happens at a local car shop. But the creator of the virus is quite aware of the FBI's investigations, he tries to attack a person very important to Olivia's life-Her niece. Meanwhile Peter meets an old woman outside of Harvard University, someone who lost her own daughter supposedly from Walter years ago. Peter would like this to be over but is concerned she'll take him away.

This episode, sadly, felt like a no-brainier to me( and the story structure was so good, however how the villain pulled it off was never answered), I just wasn't engaged as I was with the other episodes seen so far, but I don't think this was the worst though, as the characters are at their strongest here and their relationships between them are deep, those were very well handled.

The acting was fantastic however I felt Joshua Jackson overreacted a bit in his heroic voice, made it seem a bit too 80's like, and a bit corny at that.

All in all, this episode was simply OK, next week should be better though, as far as concept goes any who...

6/10.