Every once in a while you need a good episode that plays off of a classic science fiction theme. This is that episode. Borrowing pretty liberally from James Cameron's Alien movies, this episode of Fringe finds the team investigating a crashed freighter with illegal immigrants that had giant hook worms bursting out of their stomachs (up through their mouths however - not actually through their stomachs).

This was another non-mythology episode, which is a pretty good break between the mythology heavy August episode and the forthcoming episode about the hybrid "messiah." Much of the character development focuses on Walter's attempt to be more independent, as he further adjusts to life outside of the mental institution.

As far as mysteries and sub-plots, this episode really didn't have many. It was a straight science fiction tale with a little father-son bonding at the end. Hence the short review today. In the end, the good guys get the bad guys, after a little drama with Peter almost becoming an incubator for one of these worms. It was one hour of good clean fun.

Fringe has continued to get better and better this season. The show walks a fine balance between its mythology and its character development, making it on par with Lost in that regard. However, Fringe gets to learn from many of Lost's mistakes, so as long as Fox stands behind it when it comes to the rating problems (problems that are really a result of it sitting in an extremely competitive time slot), this show will blossom in much the same way that the X-Files did.

Let's keep our fingers crossed.