This review may contain spoilers.

It's been a while since the last new episode of 'Fringe', hasn't it?

Off the heels of a mythology-heavy episode, this week's 'Fringe' decided to stick with a more serial, creature of the week for this episode. The Fringe Division discovers a Chinese Triad smuggling operation involving biologically engineered parasitic worms. Even worse, in order to get these lovely creatures from China to the United States, they have to spend a little incubation time inside unknowing human smugglers. Once they've grown, they like to squirm around in their host for a while before they finally come out to play via said host's mouth.

Insert gag reflex here.

Sadly, all of this pain and suffering proves to be the price to pay for something that is ultimately brilliant - these worms are possibly the key to curing most (if not all) of the world's ailments. And since this is still a gang-related operation, they're only providing the worms' medicine to those lucky few who can actually afford to pay the big bucks for it. Those lucky few are of course blind to the truth about just how this medicine even makes it to the states, ignorant of the the lives lost to save theirs.

The whole episode has Olivia (Anna Torv) and Peter (Josh Jackson) doing the FBI agent thing - questioning people, shooting guns, picking locks and speaking Cantonese (well, only Peter does the last two). Walter (John Noble) and Astrid (Jasika Nicole) have the task of studying the medicinal worms, spending most of their time in the lab.

But when Walter and Astrid weren't in the lab, hijinks ensued. Walter spent most of the episode showing off a newfound sense of independence. He rode in taxis, went around Chinatown - all by himself. At least, he tried to do these things all by himself. Walter's little experiment in freedom was great while it lasted, but it ultimately showed him that he's not quite ready to completely leave the nest. Apparently, neither is Astrid.

What Worked

Something that may not be that important in term of the great and powerful Pattern but was amazing all the same was Astrid in the city. This episode proved that, not only will Astrid not burst into flames upon leaving the lab, but there's a good reason why she's not a field agent. Astrid "tailing" Walter was just as one would expect it, with Walter noticing Astrid was following him almost immediately. And their traveling Chinatown together after that was just adorable. It was good to finally see Astrid as more than a prop, as well as having more than two lines - one can only hope that this trend will continue.

Independent Walter was great, but even greater was his complete shift upon realizing that independence isn't all it's cracked up to be. John Noble manages to play this character to perfection, and witnessing Walter breakdown as he couldn't remember Peter's phone number was simply heartbreaking. And there was a sad, dark humor in Walter finally implanting a tracking system in his neck for Peter to know where he is at all times. If it weren't for the premise of this series, this subplot could probably sustain an entire episode.

What Didn't Work

Perhaps even more obvious when compared to the episode "August" is that this episode wasn't all that exciting. Sure the worms were creepy and the concept was intriguing, but the people who were supposed to be the emotional center of the episode - the two families we saw who were affected by these worms' existence in different ways - were just plain dull. And given that both Olivia and Peter were clearly supposed to have seen something that mirrored their own home lives in these families, it didn't help that these connections just rang false and felt forced. Plus, this is all Anna Torv was given to do this entire episode, while Joshua Jackson at least had the Walter subplot on his plate as well.

The fact that the worms were used for medicine and not illegal drugs could've brought up some very interesting ethical dilemmas for the characters to discuss, but that never really happened. The show really missed the boat by opting to show the emotional connections Peter and Olivia had been making with the forgettable guest stars instead of something far more interesting.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

"Fringe" stars Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, John Noble, Lance Reddick, Blair Brown, Jasika Nicole. "Snakehead" was written by David Wilcox and directed by Paul Holahan.

"Fringe" airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on Fox.