Someone has taken one of Walter’s (John Noble) failed ideas, and perfected it, creating a hybrid animal that can deliver its eggs through a horrible sting, if it doesn’t kill you first.

Unleashed was written by Zack Whedon and J.R. Orci. It first aired on 14 April, 2009.

A group of animal activists make a huge mistake when they release all the animals in a genetics lab, and one of them was created in a lab, a combination of a number of deadly animals, and now it’s out amongst the public, stalking, killing, reproducing.

While Olivia (Anna Torv) and her group work to track the creature down, as well as the missing activists, trouble rears its head when Charlie (Kirk Acevedo) is attacked and stung, meaning he’s been impregnated and will die unless a cure and the creature is found.

There are also some interesting things on the homefront as Peter (Joshua Jackson) and Olivia’s sister, Rachel (Ari Graynor) are developing a bit of a connection.

It’s a fun monster hunt of an episode, and we don’t get real glimpses of the beast until the climax, though we’ve seen Walter’s rendering of what it may look like, and the definitely fires the imagination.

There’s a blink and miss it glimpse of The Observer (Michael Cerveris), and Walter is relieved to learn the creature isn’t because of his work, but because of someone who influenced him. It also helps the group find the creature, and eventually save Charlie.

Bad Dreams was written and directed by Akiva Goldsman. It first debuted on 21 April, 2009.

Olivia is having horrible dreams in which she believes she is murdering, or helping in murdering people. Despite being miles away from the crime scenes she is able to describe them precisely. She is increasingly troubled by them, and thinks that she is somehow killing these people.

As the group investigates they discover the real cause is a man named Nick Lane (David Call) who seems able to influence people’s emotions, whether for good or ill, but as the group digs further, we learn that Nick may have a connection to Ollivia and Walter!

There is a lot of spookiness unfurling in this episode as the group works to track down Nick before he can commit another killing. It’s the connections to Olivia that prove to be truly troubling though, and the last shot of the episode featuring Walter watching a video of a young Olivia is very unnerving.

Through the entire series so far, they have been very careful to develop their mythology, planting seeds for things to come and payoff on, and as a whole, it has become very engrossing.

I love the character and story development, and am very eager to see where it all leads (again).