It featured the only appearance of guest actor Michael Eklund, who played the episode's antagonist Milo Stanfield.

Olivia (Anna Torv), trapped in the parallel universe, has been conditioned with drugs to believe she is her doppelganger, "Fauxlivia", by Walternate (John Noble), and has been integrated into the alternate Fringe team, though she is haunted by images of Peter (Joshua Jackson) and Walter (Noble) from the prime universe.

When Olivia and Charlie discuss the victims with Dr. Levin, he is able to identify their culprit as Milo (Michael Eklund), a patient taking an experimental drug to boost his IQ exponentially.

Though released to care of his sole remaining family member Madeline (Kacey Rohl), he was scheduled to return to reverse the process for his own health and safety.

Milo leads Olivia on a chase through a construction area including a marked zone where the air is too thin, expecting to crush her under a load of cement bricks.

Olivia, unaware of the warning signs for the zone, races through it instead of stopping to put on a respirator, nearly asphyxiating herself, and dodges the bricks in time to capture Milo.

[4] The episode featured the return of guest stars Kirk Acevedo, Ryan McDonald, Seth Gabel, and Philip Winchester.

New guest actors included Michael Eklund as the antagonist Milo Stanfield, Malcolm Stewart as Dr. Levin, and Kacey Rohl as Madeline.

As executive producer Jeff Pinkner explains, "We got incredibly lucky casting Michael Eklund for this role... he really created this character.

There, the video the doctor showed them was added later by effects supervisor Jay Worth, forcing the actors to fake reactions to the images displayed.

"[10] On its first broadcast on October 7, 2010, "The Plateau" was watched by an estimated 5.2 million viewers, earning a 2.0/5 ratings share for adults between the ages 18 and 49.

"[3] Murray praised the subtle characteristics of the parallel universe, the action scenes, and the use of split-screens to visually show Milo's predictions.

[3] MTV's Josh Wigler believed that the episode "demonstrated how the mystery-of-the-week format can still be compelling: by taking everything familiar and applying a stark new layer of paint.

SFScope contributor Sarah Stegall thought the episode was similar to Flowers for Algernon, but was skeptical of the premise that Milo could predict every event before they happened.

She criticized the decision to make Milo "coldly calculating", writing "This is but another version of the tired cliché of the stoic intellectual, the intelligent person who has no heart or emotions.

"[17] Fearnet contributor Alyse Wax enjoyed the episode, but also thought "the idea that [drugs] could turn someone into a cartoonish evil genius is pretty farfetched.