Unleashed (14 Apr. 2009)

A group of animal rights activists killed in action when trying to flee from a lab animal which doesn't exist in nature.

Director:

Brad Anderson

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
John Noble	...	Dr. Walter Bishop
Ari Graynor	...	Rachel
David Pittu	...	Robert Swift
Keith Nobbs	...	Carl Bussler
Kiersten Warren	...	Sonia
Tim Gallin	...	Cameron Deglmann
Robyn Rikoon	...	MIT Girl #1
Arjun Gupta	...	MIT Guy #1
Kevin Rogers	...	MIT Guy #2

Storyline

When a group of college age animal activists raid a laboratory to release animals, they unwittingly unleash a genetically altered monster, which goes on a killing rampage. Walter feels responsible since he experimented with combining the DNA of different species in the past, and works hard to come up with a way to trap the new animal before it can breed uncontrollably.

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Plot Keywords:

animal activist | laboratory | larva | erlenmeyer flask | releasing laboratory animal | 

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 April 2009 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bad Robot, Warner Bros. Television, Fringe Element Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

57 min 57 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

During the on the scene news broadcast reporting mountain lion sightings in the greater Boston area, The Observer may be seen passing behind the news reporter.

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Goofs

When Walter is performing the second ultrasound on Charlie, he is constantly moving the transceiver in a circular motion, yet the image on the screen is still, showing the same worms in the same area.

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Quotes

Peter Bishop: Son of a bitch! If he lives through this I'm going to kill him myself!

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Connections

References Sesame Street (1969)

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Soundtracks

"Trashcan"
(uncredited)
Written and Performed by Delta Spirit

User Reviews

"Two Buckets!"

I never get a sense of "12 Monkeys" being homaged - After all, that was a time-travel parody movie, not really about animal rights activists.

This episode is more or less, a "Monster Story" - Much like the Burlap Bear story Olivia is reading to Ella much to Rachel's chagrin: Which is a parallel to what happens to Agent Francis.

In this Fringe Event, these silly kids are more serious than Brad Pitt, after all, his activism was a way to get back at pop Christopher Plummer and in the end it was all about kidnapping him.

Like 12 Monkeys there is a father/son thing happening with the activists, one of the kids is the son of the scientist Robert Swift (David Pittu, "Weston" from King Kong 2005) who is doing these transgenic experiments.

But these kids have opened Pandora's Box and are eaten while trying to escape.

Meanwhile, Peter tries to eat one of Walter's "Protein Rich Incubators"

• An Omelette with an Ear in it. This starts Walter on a Rant about his

laboratory. Walter tries to eat all the evidence found at the scene of an apparent "animal attack" where they find-Bodies!

As Walter notes the characteristics of the injuries to the dead kids somehow he thinks this was based on his experiments with Kelvin Genetics - He had worked with the scientist Carl Bussler (Keith Nobbs) who had tried to stop the kids from unleashing this terror, who also had gotten eaten.

Then one of the bodies breaks open and thousands of Monster Larvae spill out, Astrid wants to vomit, hence Walter's "Two Buckets!" line. Walter had found a stinger embedded in the kid, which was how the larvae were injected into the victim.

Charlie Francis responding to another animal attack call gets mauled by the creature, but all seems well, they patch up his cuts and he goes home to wife Sonia (Kiersten Warren, "Tiffany" in ID4) - This was the first and only time we ever got to see Charlie's Wife. But Walter sends Olivia to get Charlie- And Charlie is "chock full of parasites."

Walter, Peter and Olivia have to catch the creature to get its blood so they can fix Charlie and Walter tries to be "Noble" by drinking a whole bottle of poison so that if eaten, it will kill the monster.

Walter has this little song:

"Van Amburgh is the man, who goes to all the shows He steps into the Lion's Den, and tells you all he knows"

That he always sings when he is scared. But he performs admirably, shooting the creature with Incendiary Rounds and we get a great Bulls-Eye view of the Transgenic Creature, which is one of the best TV Monsters ever seen.

In a nice Bookend scene, Olivia comes home to Rachel and Ella sleeping with the Burlap Bear book in their laps, and Olivia goes to sleep - After she turns the light back on.