Okay so part of me really loved this episode, and part of me didn't.
In and of itself as an episode of TV I loved it. While it borrowed in large parts from an early X-Files episode I thought it adapted the story elements well for the Fringe format (though more on the subject matter below), and presented a genuinely freaky threat. The new insights to Broyles were GREAT, and it was wonderful to see Lance Reddick getting some substantial scenes to put his considerable talent to - and I am hoping we see a lot more of Broyles in the field as the series progresses. I love the fact that while Olvia is ostensibly the lead character, this episode had her very much in a background role, which really helped grow the team dynamic imho. While some of it was suitably predictable (when the camera slow zooms on a dark space you just know something is coming from the shadows!!) it also had some great misleads, like the first nurse in the hospital and the little girl sitting still towards the end.
in fact as a standalone story, it was particularly strong and suitably suspenseful.
However, specifically an episode of Fringe, I have to confess that the not-so-subtle implications that the shadow entity was some kind of extraterrestrial being really irks me. Up until now the show had stuck by it's concept of *science rather than science fiction*, and shown that it can have strong stories without aliens.
The thing is, with the previous mentions of "X Designations" by Broyles earlier in the season, I could even buy that Fringe Division and the X-Files could exist in the same *universe* as each other - were it not for the cheeky little clip of the actual x-files show playing on a tv screen in the second-season opener (which to my mind establishes that it is just a TV show in the Fringeverse).
I guess I can appreciate the episode as a little nod to the X-Files, and take the Mysterious CIA Operative as a token X-Files-esque agent.... I just think that if they wanted to do something like that they could have gone all the way (had they not used the x-files clip in 2x01) and made a direct reference to something like it being similar to an old case some agent called Mulder investigated way back when... while crazier I think that may have worked better, and actually established more seperation between the sceince and the alien. Hmmmm.
Of course, it could just be that the shadow entity was indeed some Russian Fringe Science gone wrong, but I am sure you all agree there was a strong implication that something was "out there". :/
I love this show, and the more I get to know it the more I enjoy it's company, however this week I did have some doubts as to where the relationship was going. :/