A UGO Networks columnist was concerned that the expensive pilot would be hard to translate into weekly episodes , but " after sitting down to watch Fringe 's second episode , " The Same Old Story " , my concerns have vanished . Fringe 's second episode represents all that is holy about genre programming without sacrificing any of Fringe 's eleven @-@ herbs and spices . In fact , the subtle framework of what makes Fringe not X @-@ Files is even better defined in the first weekly @-@ episode . I 'd struggled to find the word to describe it , and the winner is ' condensed ' . " The Same Old Story " has all of the sense of mystery , discovery , and humor that the pilot had just in a smaller , more combustible space . " Another UGO writer , Alex Zalben , later compared " The Same Old Story " to the similarly @-@ plotted The X @-@ Files episode " Død Kalm " . Zalben concluded that " Fringe wins this one , just for having a slightly less stupid explanation . "