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The Worst Episodes of Fringe

Every episode of Fringe ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst Episodes of Fringe!

Worst episode
S2E20 Brown Betty
6.83,464 votes
Best episode
S2E16 Peter
9.44,473 votes
Top season
Season 5
8.4avg
Binge time
3d 3h
100 episodes
BestEpisodes
WorstEpisodes
BestSeasons
AllEpisodes

Seasons5

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Worst Episode
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    Fringe Season 2 Episode 20 - Brown Betty
    6.8/10(3464 votes)

    S2:E20

    When Peter disappears, Walter seeks solace in marijuana. In that state of mind, he and Astrid babysit Olivia's niece Ella, and Walter tells her a fairy tale of a gentle inventor, a stolen glass heart, a detective looking for true love, and a mysterious group of bald men known as the Watchers.

    Director:Seith Mann
    Writers:Jeff Pinkner, J. H. Wyman, Akiva Goldsman

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  2. Fringe Season 2 Episode 11 - Unearthed
    7.0/10(2622 votes)

    S2:E11

    A teenage girl pronounced brain dead wakes up in the middle of the operation to remove her organs... speaking numbers in Russian. When the Navy confirms that the numbers are nuclear launch codes and a missing officer named Rusk knows them, the search is on for the missing man.

    Director:Frederick E. O. Toye
    Writers:David H. Goodman, Andrew Kreisberg

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  3. Fringe Season 1 Episode 5 - Power Hungry
    7.4/10(3292 votes)

    S1:E5

    The team investigate the case of a man who can project electricity... and is at the center of a series of strange deaths involving electricity.

    Director:Christopher Misiano
    Writers:Julia Cho, Jason Cahill

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  4. Fringe Season 1 Episode 12 - The No-Brainer
    7.4/10(2886 votes)

    S1:E12

    Olivia, Walter and Peter are called in to investigate the death of a car salesman who was found in a pool of "goo," exactly like another man across the country. When Walter discovers that the "goo" is brain matter, the trio tries to figure out how the killer can liquefy human brains. As the deaths pile up, the investigation reveals a common thread linking the victims together in an unthinkable manner. Meanwhile, Olivia is horrified when the case places a loved one in harm's way

    Directors:Brad Anderson, John Polson
    Writers:David H. Goodman, Brad Caleb Kane

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  5. Fringe Season 1 Episode 16 - Unleashed
    7.5/10(2855 votes)

    S1:E16

    As animal rights activists ransack a laboratory, they get more than they bargained for when one of the caged "animals" unleashes a ferocious appetite. Leaving grotesquely mutilated dead bodies in its wake, the scientifically engineered beast with the body of a lion, claws of an eagle, fangs of a viper, skin of a rhinoceros and tail of a serpent attacks Charlie. With Charlie’s life on the line, Walter must come face-to-face with both his past and the beast.

    Director:Brad Anderson
    Writers:J.R. Orci, Zack Whedon

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  6. Fringe Season 1 Episode 2 - The Same Old Story
    7.6/10(4091 votes)

    S1:E2

    Olivia, along with Peter and Walter Bishop, investigates the strange death of a woman who had an even stranger child. The woman was pregnant for only hours, yet the baby she birthed was fully developed - and also aged eighty years in the span of a few minutes. Olivia asks Nina Sharp of Massive Dynamic for help.

    Director:Paul A. Edwards
    Writers:Jeff Pinkner, J.J. Abrams, Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman

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  7. Fringe Season 1 Episode 6 - The Cure
    7.6/10(3168 votes)

    S1:E6

    The team investigates a woman that re-appears after weeks of being missing with a rare disease. She also inexplicably causes pain and death to the people she meets. During the investigation, dangerous level of radiation are detected. Walter obsesses about cotton candy; Peter strikes a deal with Nina Sharp; and a truth about Olivia is discovered.

    Director:Bill Eagles
    Writers:Brad Caleb Kane, Felicia D. Henderson

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  8. Fringe Season 2 Episode 2 - Night of Desirable Objects
    7.6/10(2648 votes)

    S2:E2

    A highway construction worker is the seventh in a series of mysterious disappearances in Lansdale, PA. The team come to investigate and finds traces of a mysterious paralytic. Meanwhile, Walter tries to send frogs to an alternate reality and Olivia realizes her recent trip has altered her in ways she can barely understand.

    Director:Brad Anderson
    Writers:Jeff Pinkner, J. H. Wyman

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  9. Fringe Season 2 Episode 12 - Johari Window
    7.6/10(2523 votes)

    S2:E12

    A state trooper picks up a runaway boy, but when he undergoes a strange transformation, three murders result. The Fringe team is called in to investigate and discover that a small town harbors a horrible secret.

    Director:Joe Chappelle
    Writer:Josh Singer

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  10. Fringe Season 2 Episode 6 - Earthling
    7.6/10(2515 votes)

    S2:E6

    Human beings are reduced to ash statues and Broyles realizes that the same person responsible murdered five other persons four years ago... a case that he never solved.

    Director:Jon Cassar
    Writers:J. H. Wyman, Jeff Vlaming

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  11. Fringe Season 2 Episode 5 - Dream Logic
    7.6/10(2511 votes)

    S2:E5

    A man in Seattle goes berserk, attacking his boss and claiming his victim is a demon. After the killer dies of what appears to be exhaustion, the Fringe Division discover it's only the first in a series of killings where the persons initiating the attacks were in a dreaming state while awake

    Director:Paul A. Edwards
    Writer:Josh Singer

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  12. Fringe Season 4 Episode 7 - Wallflower
    7.6/10(2080 votes)

    S4:E7

    When a man mysteriously dies by an invisible force, his body rapidly begins turning ghostly white. The Fringe team learns that this is not an isolated incident, and there’s evidence that links the predator to someone who passed away with an unknown genetic disorder. Meanwhile, Olivia suffers from migraines.

    Director:Anthony Hemingway
    Writers:Matt Pitts, Justin Doble

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  13. Fringe Season 1 Episode 3 - The Ghost Network
    7.7/10(3681 votes)

    S1:E3

    The team investigates a bus full of dead commuters that appear to be fossilized and uncover a man who has visions of pattern-related disturbances before they happen; Dr. Bishop requests a piano in the lab to help him process data.

    Directors:Alex Graves, Frederick E. O. Toye
    Writers:J.J. Abrams, Roberto Orci, David H. Goodman, J.R. Orci, Alex Kurtzman

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  14. Fringe Season 2 Episode 9 - Snakehead
    7.7/10(2465 votes)

    S2:E9

    A Chinese Triad is using illegal aliens to breed parasitic worms that eventually kill their hosts. When a ship runs aground, Fringe Division learns of the operation and tries to locate a second ship before the passengers on it suffer a slow, agonizing death.

    Director:Paul Holahan
    Writer:David Wilcox

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  15. Fringe Season 4 Episode 3 - Alone in the World
    7.7/10(2147 votes)

    S4:E3

    Two young bullies are found dead and in just a few hours they rot to an advanced state of decomposition. The Fringe team investigates and uncovers an amorphous figure claiming more victims. Walter becomes increasingly distracted with his mental state.

    Director:Miguel Sapochnik
    Writer:David Fury

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  16. Fringe Season 5 Episode 3 - The Recordist
    7.7/10(2075 votes)

    S5:E3

    As the rogue Fringe team continues to fight off the oppressive Observers’ invasion, unforeseen events lead them into a forest where they encounter a strange subculture of people devoted to recording human history.

    Director:Jeff T. Thomas
    Writer:Graham Roland

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  17. Fringe Season 1 Episode 8 - The Equation
    7.8/10(3067 votes)

    S1:E8

    Walter thinks the abduction of a young music prodigy is linked back to his old bunkmate at St. Claire's Hospital. When he kidnaps the child he sees a sequence of flashing lights. Olivia wants Walter to return to the mental institution much to Peter's outcry, but Walter's determination to help ends up having chilling ramifications.

    Director:Gwyneth Horder-Payton
    Writers:David H. Goodman, J.R. Orci

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  18. Fringe Season 1 Episode 9 - The Dreamscape
    7.8/10(2938 votes)

    S1:E9

    The team is called in to investigate why a man jumps out a window because he thinks he's being attacked by butterflies. Olivia gets some breaks in solving the case from her former partner and that she is so desperate to rid herself of him that she demands to go back into the tank. Meanwhile, some former friends and current foes of Peter find out that he's back in Boston.

    Director:Frederick E. O. Toye
    Writers:Zack Whedon, Julia Cho

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  19. Fringe Season 1 Episode 18 - Midnight
    7.8/10(2768 votes)

    S1:E18

    The Fringe Division is on the case when severely mutilated bodies drained of spinal cord fluid begin to pile up. After their investigation leads them to a scientist with possible ties to the Z.F.T. bioterrorist cell, they are shocked to discover the identity and motive of the killer. When the kills occur with increasing frequency, Olivia, Peter and Walter go to desperate lengths to stop them.

    Director:Bobby Roth
    Writers:J. H. Wyman, Andrew Kreisberg

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  20. Fringe Season 2 Episode 3 - Fracture
    7.8/10(2579 votes)

    S2:E3

    When an American officer who served in Iraq blows up in a Philadelphia train station, the Fringe Division investigates and determines that something turned the man into a living bomb. Peter and Olivia travel to Iraq to determine if Peter's contacts can shed some light on the situation.

    Director:Bryan Spicer
    Writer:David Wilcox

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  21. Fringe Season 2 Episode 7 - Of Human Action
    7.8/10(2504 votes)

    S2:E7

    Two men kidnap a teenage boy using mind control abilities. The boy's father works for Massive Dynamic but Nina insists that the company hasn't been developing mind control, and has no idea who the two kidnappers are. The truth or falsehood of her statements are soon confirmed when Peter encounters the person responsible for the boy's abduction.

    Director:Joe Chappelle
    Writers:Glen Whitman, Robert Chiappetta

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  22. Fringe Season 3 Episode 13 - Immortality
    7.8/10(2257 votes)

    S3:E13

    As the story shifts back to life “over there,” the absence of Colonel Broyles changes the dynamic of the Fringe Team as they investigate a bioterrorist armed with an insect that has a taste for human flesh. Meanwhile, alternate Olivia is reunited with her beau, and Walternate remains determined to save his world but discovers there are certain lines he will not cross.

    Director:Brad Anderson
    Writers:David Wilcox, Ethan Gross

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  23. Fringe Season 4 Episode 16 - Nothing As It Seems
    7.8/10(2093 votes)

    S4:E16

    The Fringe team faces a case that appears familiar to Peter. Strangely, it takes place in this timeline.

    Director:Frederick E. O. Toye
    Writers:Jeff Pinkner, Akiva Goldsman

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  24. Fringe Season 1 Episode 7 - In Which We Meet Mr. Jones
    7.9/10(3186 votes)

    S1:E7

    When a strange parasite attaches itself to the internal organs of a dying FBI agent, Olivia suspects a connection to the Pattern; Peter and Walter tap into a dead man's brain waves.

    Director:Brad Anderson
    Writers:Jeff Pinkner, J.J. Abrams

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  25. Fringe Season 4 Episode 1 - Neither Here Nor There
    7.9/10(2641 votes)

    S4:E1

    Just one week after Peter Bishop saved the day and was then wiped from existence, the truce between the two worlds remains intact and the two sides are forced to work together. Lincoln Lee joins the Fringe team as they investigate a shapeshifter case that is very personal to him.

    Director:Joe Chappelle
    Writer:Unknown

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Worst Episodes Summary

"Brown Betty" is the worst rated episode of Fringe. It scored 6.8/10 from 3,464 votes. Directed by Seith Mann and written by Jeff Pinkner, J. H. Wyman, Akiva Goldsman, it aired on April 29, 2010. This episode scored 0.2 points lower than the second lowest rated, "Unearthed".

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