The episode introduces the most central character, Olivia Dunham, portrayed by Anna Torv, an FBI special agent forced into the world of applied fringe science after a number of freak incidents.

A man on an international flight injects himself with an insulin pen, which releases a biological agent that quickly kills everyone aboard by causing their flesh to crystallize.

The airplane's autopilot system lands the plane at Boston's Logan Airport, where various federal agencies create a task force to investigate what occurred during the flight.

Dunham goes to Massive Dynamic headquarters and meets with executive director Nina Sharp (Blair Brown), who agrees to give her all the information on Steig.

Dunham convinces the Bishops to stay and help her with her new work, which Broyles describes as a task force to investigate events related to "the pattern".

Co-creator J. J. Abrams' inspiration for Fringe came from a range of sources, including the writings of Michael Crichton, the Ken Russell film Altered States, and the television series The X-Files and The Twilight Zone.

[3] The specific story for Fringe was developed during long conversations between series creators Abrams, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman.

The team was discussing several different options, and the idea behind Fringe appealed to them most because it contained a long-term story and characters' backstories which were not "evident but alluded to in the pilot.

[7] Jackson auditioned for the role of James T. Kirk in Abrams' Star Trek and believed this is what impressed the producer to cast him in his television project.

[9][11] Three months prior to its broadcast, an incomplete version of the pilot was released through BitTorrent clients, fueling speculation that it was leaked deliberately to increase interest in the program.

[9] Metacritic gave the episode a Metascore—a weighted average based on the impressions of a select 25 critical reviews—of 67, signifying generally favorable reviews.

"[17] USA Today's Robert Bianco said, "what Abrams brings to Fringe is a director's eye for plot and pace, a fan's love of sci-fi excitement, and a story-teller's gift for investing absurd events with real emotions and relatable characters.

"[19] Tim Goodman of San Francisco Chronicle remarked that despite "some flaws in it—mostly from a clash of tones—it still overdelivers on creativity, creepiness, fine acting and burgeoning character development.

However, Doyle considered the instance of Torv stripping to a bikini "indulgent", and questioned the wisdom of making "her body an object of scrutiny" in the first episode.

[11] Matthew Gilbert of Boston Globe wrote that "after the electrifying start, Fringe unfolds as an uneven, unwieldy piece of work that provides very few chills and thrills.

"[25] The pilot episode was negatively received by the conservative "family values" advocacy group Parents Television Council, who named the show the worst of the week and denounced the "excessive violence and gore.