Midnight (Fringe)

"Midnight" first broadcast on the Fox network in the United States on April 28, 2009. It was watched by 9.623 million viewers, Fox's fifth highest rated show for the week, and a household rating of 5.6/8.[1] It also earned a 4.0 ratings share among adults aged 18 to 49, representing 5.215 million out of the total viewers, and was the ninth largest audience on American television in that demographic the week it aired.[2] The lead-in from American Idol helped Fringe win its timeslot, and helped Fox win the night in the 18-49 demographic.[3]

Critical reactions of the episode were generally mixed. Annalee Newitz of io9 was positive towards the episode, opining "last night's Fringe made us feel all grody-happy inside," and it is "scoring well on the tightly-plotted-o-meter."[5] Newitz also thought the ZFT conspiracy plotline in the episode was "an easy conspiracy to follow."[5] Ramsey Isler of IGN rated the episode 7.5/10, having enjoyed the interactions between Peter and Walter, and of Olivia and Broyles with divorce, noting "just how creepily observant both of these characters are. It was a clever addition to the relationship between those two, and it was nice to see Broyles in a casual environment at the end of the show."[4] However Isler felt the plot was "kind of boring", and "was more like a series of "good" moments sprinkled throughout a fairly mediocre storyline. This episode deserves some recognition for showing us new aspects of these characters we've grown to care about, but overall, the story just lacked the normal punch of a Fringe episode."[4]

Los Angeles Times reviewer Andrew Hanson felt disappointed with the outcome of the episode; "Nicholas (and the writers who wrote him) teased of big answers to the questions surrounding ZFT but ends up giving up only one name," though he added; "Granted, it's a pretty big name: William Bell."[6] Sarah Stegall of SFScope thought the writers "gave us some moments of real poignancy," but was disappointed of Olivia's characterization, stating "they need to study that character more closely," and that she "deserves more respect than this."[7] Furthermore, Stegall had a problem with "the constant revelation of secrets we should have known about, secrets that should be game changers but later get relegated to background filler."[7] Of the plot, the reviewer thought it was "A middling episode, but still much better than the early days of the series."[7] Noel Murray of The A.V. Club rated the episode a B, stating that although it looked like it was "going to be even more of a freak-of-the-week outing this usual," by the midpoint it became "deeply tied into the show’s larger mythology," but criticised the lack of tie-ins.[8] Furthermore it "kept fumbling towards different themes without every really completing any one thought, and had the episode explored any of the ideas more fully, I’d have probably been more into it."[8] Television Without Pity meanwhile, graded the episode with a B.[9]