Snakehead (Fringe)

Last updated

"Snakehead"
Fringe episode
Fringe Snakehead.jpg
In the opening scene, a large parasitic worm erupts from a man's face
Episode no.Season 2
Episode 9
Directed by Paul Holahan
Written by David Wilcox
Production code3X5109
Original air dateDecember 3, 2009 (2009-12-03)
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
← Previous
"August"		Next →
"Grey Matters"
Fringe season 2
List of episodes

"Snakehead" is the ninth episode of the second season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe . The episode followed the Fringe team's investigation into horrible deaths caused by large parasitic worms erupting from their victims' mouths. The case soon leads them to a Chinese gang and a black market of immunodeficiency medicinal drugs.

Contents

Co-executive producer David Wilcox wrote the episode, while Paul Holahan served as its director. Andrew Orloff, the episode's visual effects supervisor, strived to makes the parasitic worms look as real as possible with the help of the actors and camera angles. It featured one-time guest stars Tzi Ma, Colby Paul, Ingrid Torrance and Jack Yang.

"Snakehead" first aired on December 3, 2009, to an estimated 6.94 million viewers in the United States. Reviews of the episode were generally negative, as multiple critics expressed their dissatisfaction that little was learned about the series' overall mythology.

Plot

In Dorchester, a damaged cargo ship from China washes ashore; all of the crew members seem to be infected with squid-like creatures which soon erupt from their mouths, effectively killing their hosts. Other survivors flock to a contact house in Boston's Chinatown, only to suffer the same fate in the presence of a man (Tzi Ma). While investigating the crime scene shore, the Fringe team discover a healthy young Chinese woman, who tells them all of the passengers but her were given pills for their perceived seasickness, and that another ship is expected in two days. In the lab, Walter (John Noble) posits the creatures are gigantic parasitic worms, a modified version of Ancylostoma duodenale , that needs hosts for their gestation period, hence the distribution of parasitic pills. One of the still-living worms bites Walter, boosting his white blood cell count and making him suddenly feel better.

The Fringe team discovers a Triad gang member and ties to several shell companies the gang has set up in the US. They interview Elizabeth Jarvis (Ingrid Torrance), one of the companies' large investors, but she seems unaware of her investment's criminal background. While at her house, Peter (Joshua Jackson) observes signs of obsessive compulsive and germaphobe characteristics such as large quantities of hand sanitizer. Walter informs him the worm has a medicinal purpose, not a narcotic one as they previously believed. These two discoveries lead Peter and Olivia (Anna Torv) back to Jarvis' house, and they learn that her son (Colby Paul) has an immunodeficiency disorder. To allow him to be able to go outside, his mother and doctor have been giving him an injection to his spleen once a month, though he is unaware of the medicine's origins.

Meanwhile, an invigorated Walter ventures out to Chinatown to find a herbalist for his research; unaware of the clerk's connection to the case, Walter casually mentions the giant worms. Walter manages to lose Astrid (Jasika Nicole), who was sent to follow him out of worry for his ability to travel alone. She goes back to the lab, but is attacked by Triad gang members intent on getting back the remaining worms. Unaware of this, a distraught Walter becomes lost and wastes all his bus money on wrong phone numbers, causing Peter to have to pick him up. Olivia talks to Jarvis, who finally admits to being aware of the medicine. She tells Olivia the whereabouts of the incoming ship, but they find it already empty. Peter and Walter return to the herbalist shop and discover the remaining passengers. The FBI storms in and the survivors are sent to the hospital for care. Feeling remorseful about the trouble he caused, Walter injects himself with a tracking implant and gives Peter the transponder.

Production

"[It] has really opened us up to doing more hands-on creature and body work, where you just know that the corpse and creatures work seamlessly with what we're doing. That's what I like most about episode nine with the parasite that came out of the body. We had such a good parasite to work with that we were able to design and execute a [better result]."

— Visual effects supervisor Jay Worth [1]

"Snakehead" was written by co-executive producer David Wilcox, who had also written the season's third episode, "Fracture". The episode gave television director Paul Holahan his first directional credit for the series. [2] The episode featured one-time guest appearances by actors Tzi Ma as Ming Che, [3] Colby Paul as Matt Jarvis, Ingrid Torrance as Elizabeth Jarvis, and Jack Yang as Tao Chen. [4]

The episode's visual effects supervisor, Andrew Orloff of Zoic Studios tried to make the parasitic worms look as real as possible. He explained, "...we just don't have any shots that seemed staged for the camera or any hint of being a visual effect. One of the big effects, like the parasite that crawls out of the guy's mouth, are interacting with actor's performances and they're shot with a very loose camera style and we have to have the tentacles of this creature coming out of the guy's mouth and all the deformations that are in his stomach and in his throat and in his chest." [1] Orloff continued, "And we had to create a proprietary workflow here of what we're calling performance transfer of tracking 2D points, and putting those 2D tracked points onto the formation of 3D inter-geometry. So we're transferring not just the camera motion but also the performance of the actors on set onto 3D pieces of geometry so we can deform them and warp them and have our effects interact with them because the mandate is all about making it look as natural as possible, so that means a lot of optical tricks and atmosphere put in as seamlessly as possible." [1]

Reception

Ratings

"Snakehead" first aired on December 3, 2009, in the United States. It was watched by an estimated 6.94 million viewers, earning a 4.2/7 household ratings share and a 2.5/7 ratings share for the 18–49 demographic. [5] Fringe aired against repeats of Grey's Anatomy and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation , helping the series earn a 25 percent ratings increase since the season premiere. [6] [7]

Reviews

"Fringe sure has a pattern alright — take one excellent plot-propelling episode and follow it up with a complete waste of time. The only worthwhile development in 'Snakehead' was Walter's decision to place a tracking implant in his neck, which will undoubtedly pay off in a future episode. Aside from that, some solid performances and a gag-inducing mystery of the week, the latest Fringe episode was entirely pointless in the grand scheme of things."

— MTV columnist Josh Wigler [8]

Critical reception for the episode was generally negative. MTV writer Josh Wigler noted the week's Fringe case for "delivering an absolutely grotesque mystery of the week — even if the actual plot surrounding the worms was thin and unimportant in the long run". He believed the best part of the episode was John Noble's performance, as "he kills you with laughter just as easily as he kills you with tears," but disliked the focus on Astrid, believing the focus would have been better spent on Olivia. [8] Ken Tucker from Entertainment Weekly called the case "pretty X-Files -ish" and Walter's storyline "the true heart of the hour." [3] Other critics also spotlighted Noble's acting. [3] [9] [10] AOL TV's Jane Boursaw believed the worms were "seriously freaky" and the opening scene "cringe"-worthy. [9] Writing for the magazine New York , critic Tim Grierson called the focus on Walter the episode's best moments, but wrote that after the audience "adjusted to the ew factor, the plot wasn't all that interesting. The story line about rich, ailing Americans paying Chinese gangsters for miracle cures appeared to be a ripped-from-the-headlines commentary on hot-button issues like human trafficking and illegal immigration, but the execution just seemed silly." [11]

Conversely, Noel Murray of The Onion 's The A.V. Club graded "Snakehead" with a B+, explaining the focus on Walter was a "smart choice by the Fringe team thematically". [2] Murray continued, "Ordinarily I'd be griping that this episode was yet another mythology-free time-waster, with a plot that—two-foot-long parasites aside—could be passed along to any other procedural show currently on the air. But I really enjoyed 'Snakehead,' both because of the way the story reflected who Walter is and because of all the little touches of character development and scene-setting. [2]

Though not appearing as depicted, the species is a real-world hookworm that infects a large number of Earth's population, which as said in the episode, has been used by some as an alternative treatment for asthma and other allergies. [12] [13] Popular Mechanics published an article assessing the episode's science; they concluded that the worms depicted in "Snakehead" -- "hybrid parasites, a new species bio-engineered from an intestinal hookworm"—cannot grow as quickly nor as large in real life, though it is possible for hosts to die from "parasitic asphyxiation". [14] A George Washington University Medical School doctor noted that some scientists are researching the healing potential of parasitic worms. [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helminthiasis</span> Any macroparasitic disease caused by helminths

Helminthiasis, also known as worm infection, is any macroparasitic disease of humans and other animals in which a part of the body is infected with parasitic worms, known as helminths. There are numerous species of these parasites, which are broadly classified into tapeworms, flukes, and roundworms. They often live in the gastrointestinal tract of their hosts, but they may also burrow into other organs, where they induce physiological damage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hookworm infection</span> Disease caused by intestinal parasites

Hookworm infection is an infection by a type of intestinal parasite known as a hookworm. Initially, itching and a rash may occur at the site of infection. Those only affected by a few worms may show no symptoms. Those infected by many worms may experience abdominal pain, diarrhea, weight loss, and tiredness. The mental and physical development of children may be affected. Anemia may result.

<i>Necator americanus</i> Species of hookworm

Necator americanus is a species of hookworm commonly known as the New World hookworm. Like other hookworms, it is a member of the phylum Nematoda. It is an obligatory parasitic nematode that lives in the small intestine of human hosts. Necatoriasis—a type of helminthiasis—is the term for the condition of being host to an infestation of a species of Necator. Since N. americanus and Ancylostoma duodenale are the two species of hookworms that most commonly infest humans, they are usually dealt with under the collective heading of "hookworm infection". They differ most obviously in geographical distribution, structure of mouthparts, and relative size.

<i>Ancylostoma duodenale</i> Species of the roundworm genus Ancylostoma

Ancylostoma duodenale is a species of the roundworm genus Ancylostoma. It is a parasitic nematode worm and commonly known as the Old World hookworm. It lives in the small intestine especially jejunum of hosts such as humans., cats and dogs, where it is able to mate and mature. Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus are the two human hookworm species that are normally discussed together as the cause of hookworm infection. They are dioecious. Ancylostoma duodenale is abundant throughout the world, including Southern Europe, North Africa, India, China, Southeast Asia, some areas in the United States, the Caribbean, and South America.

The soil-transmitted helminths are a group of intestinal parasites belonging to the phylum Nematoda that are transmitted primarily through contaminated soil. They are so called because they have a direct life cycle which requires no intermediate hosts or vectors, and the parasitic infection occurs through faecal contamination of soil, foodstuffs and water supplies. The adult forms are essentially parasites of humans, causing soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH), but also infect domesticated mammals. The juveniles are the infective forms and they undergo tissue-migratory stages during which they invade vital organs such as lungs and liver. Thus the disease manifestations can be both local and systemic. The geohelminths together present an enormous infection burden on humanity, amounting to 135,000 deaths every year, and persistent infection of more than two billion people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ancylostomiasis</span> Medical condition

Ancylostomiasis is a hookworm disease caused by infection with Ancylostoma hookworms. The name is derived from Greek ancylos αγκύλος "crooked, bent" and stoma στόμα "mouth".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hookworm vaccine</span>

Hookworm vaccine is a vaccine against hookworm. No effective vaccine for the disease in humans has yet been developed. Hookworms, parasitic nematodes transmitted in soil, infect approximately 700 million humans, particularly in tropical regions of the world where endemic hookworms include Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus. Hookworms feed on blood and those infected with hookworms may develop chronic anaemia and malnutrition. Helminth infection can be effectively treated with benzimidazole drugs, and efforts led by the World Health Organization have focused on one to three yearly de-worming doses in schools because hookworm infections with the heaviest intensities are most common in school-age children. However, these drugs only eliminate existing adult parasites and re-infection can occur soon after treatment. School-based de-worming efforts do not treat adults or pre-school children and concerns exist about drug resistance developing in hookworms against the commonly used treatments, thus a vaccine against hookworm disease is sought to provide more permanent resistance to infection.

"Inner Child" is the 15th episode of the first season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe, and the fifteenth episode overall. The episode was written by co-producer Brad Caleb Kane and staff writer Julia Cho and directed by filmmaker Frederick E. O. Toye. It first aired in the United States on April 7, 2009 on the Fox Broadcasting Company.

"The Bishop Revival" is the 14th episode of the second season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe. The episode's storyline followed Nazi scientist Alfred Hoffman as he specially designed airborne toxins to kill only surrounding people with similar genetic traits, such as people with brown eyes.

Grey Matters (<i>Fringe</i>) 10th episode of the 2nd season of Fringe

"Grey Matters" is the 10th episode of the second season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe. The episode was written by Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz, and directed by Jeannot Szwarc. It centered on three mental patients who mysteriously became sane again after shapeshifters from the parallel universe removed a piece of foreign tissue from each of their brains; this tissue is later revealed to have been taken from the brain of Walter Bishop years before. The fringe team of Olivia Dunham, Peter Bishop, and Walter investigate and face a new enemy, Thomas Jerome Newton, whose purpose is to decipher the missing parts of Walter's brain and find out how to move between universes.

"A New Day in the Old Town" is the season premiere and first episode of the second season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe, and the 21st episode overall. It was co-written by J. J. Abrams and Akiva Goldsman, with Goldsman directing. The episode followed the aftermath of Olivia's journey to the parallel universe in the last season's finale, while also introducing the idea of shapeshifters. It guest-starred actors Luke Goss, Ari Graynor, Meghan Markle, and Tegan Moss.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Night of Desirable Objects</span> 2nd episode of the 2nd season of Fringe

"Night of Desirable Objects" is the second episode of the second season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe. The episode followed Olivia and Peter's investigation into mysterious disappearances taking place in a small Pennsylvania town.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dream Logic</span> 5th episode of the 2nd season of Fringe

"Dream Logic" is the fifth episode of the second season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe, and the 25th episode overall. It was written by Josh Singer and directed by Paul A. Edwards. The episode follows several people seemingly dreaming while still awake, leading the Fringe team to investigate the dangerous side effects of a sleep study.

Earthling (<i>Fringe</i>) 6th episode of the 2nd season of Fringe

"Earthling" is the sixth episode of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe's second season. The episode followed the Fringe team's investigation into random people mysteriously disintegrating into ash, a case which Agent Broyles had become deeply obsessed with in the past.

"Unearthed" is a bonus special standalone episode released during the second season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe. While it serves as the 31st released episode of the series, it was produced during the first season and is recognized by Fox as the 21st episode of Fringe overall. Despite this, it does not fit into the series' continuity nor is it recognized as the season finale; it was released later due to an accounting error.

"The Man from the Other Side" is the 18th episode of the second season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe. The episode follows the attempts of Thomas Jerome Newton, with the help of shapeshifters, to create a pathway between the two parallel universes, while the Fringe team's Olivia Dunham, Peter Bishop, and Walter Bishop try to stop him.

Bound (<i>Fringe</i>) 11th episode of the 1st season of Fringe

"Bound" is the eleventh episode of the first season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe. It follows the aftermath of Olivia's capture in the previous episode, and subsequent efforts to identify and apprehend her kidnappers. Along with a double agent, Olivia's investigation is hampered by the appearance of Sanford Harris, an old adversary hired to audit Fringe Division.

Unleashed (<i>Fringe</i>) 16th episode of the 1st season of Fringe

"Unleashed" is the 16th episode of the first season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe. It centered on a man-made chimera, which escaped from an animal testing facility and attacked various people, including Agent Charlie Francis, while the Fringe team tries to stop it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Transformation</span> 13th episode of the 1st season of Fringe

"The Transformation" is the thirteenth episode of the first season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe. Its storyline centers on the circumstances surrounding a deceased scientist, who was doped with a "designer virus" and transformed into a dangerous monster, causing his plane to crash. Fringe agent Olivia Dunham and FBI consultants Peter and Walter Bishop connect the event to an impending arms deal. Olivia must explore her mind for remaining memories of her former partner and lover, John Scott, in order to prevent the sale of the virus.

Ancylostoma ceylanicum is a parasitic roundworm belonging to the genus Ancylostoma. It is a hookworm both of humans and of other mammals such as dogs, cats, and golden hamsters. It is the only zoonotic hookworm species that is able to produce symptomatic infections in humans, with the majority of cases being in Southeast Asia.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Desowitz, Bill (2009-12-24). "Going Deeper into the Fringe-y Way". Animation World Network . Retrieved 2011-06-03.
  2. 1 2 3 Murray, Noel (2009-12-03). "Snakehead". The A.V. Club . Retrieved 2011-06-02.
  3. 1 2 3 Tucker, Ken (2009-12-04). "'Fringe' recap: Wiggly worms and a woeful Walter". Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved 2011-06-02.
  4. ↑ "Fringe Episode: "Snakehead"". TV Guide . Retrieved 2011-06-03.
  5. ↑ Gorman, Bill (2009-12-04). "Thursday broadcast & cable finals: Flash Forward Down; Other Broadcast shows unchanged". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on 2012-10-16. Retrieved 2011-05-01.
  6. ↑ Lee, Patrick (2008-12-04). "Ratings: FlashForward sank, but Fringe soared". Blastr . Archived from the original on 2012-09-13. Retrieved 2011-06-02.
  7. ↑ Hibberd, James (2010-11-30). "'Fringe' rises dramatically; 'FlashForward' sinks". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved 2011-06-02.
  8. 1 2 Wigler, Josh (2009-12-04). "'Fringe' Episode 2.09 Recap: 'Snakehead'". MTV. Archived from the original on January 29, 2013. Retrieved 2011-06-02.
  9. 1 2 Boursaw, Jane (2009-12-04). "Review: Fringe - Snakehead". AOL TV. Archived from the original on 2012-10-01. Retrieved 2011-06-02.
  10. ↑ Isler, Ramsey (2009-12-04). "Fringe: "Snakehead" Review". IGN . Retrieved 2011-06-02.
  11. ↑ Grierson, Tim (2009-12-04). "Fringe: As the Worm Turns". New York . Retrieved 2011-06-02.
  12. ↑ Pineda, Noelle; Elizabeth Yang. "Hookworm: Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus". Stanford University . Retrieved 2011-06-23.
  13. ↑ Revill, Jo (2006-02-05). "The cure for your allergy: a hookworm". The Guardian . Retrieved 2011-06-23.
  14. 1 2 Townsend, Allie (2009-12-04). "Can Parasites Heal as Well as Harm? Fringe Fact vs Fiction". Popular Mechanics . Retrieved 2010-06-03.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.