 Josh Wigler from MTV loved the revelations from the conversation with William Bell , along with the appearance of shapeshifters . He thought the episode was Fringe " at its absolute finest , " as the " mystery @-@ of @-@ the @-@ week and the overarching plot worked in complete harmony with one another , proving that Fringe is entirely capable of delivering on both a serialized and episodic basis " . Entertainment Weekly 's Ken Tucker praised guest actor Leonard Nimoy 's " terrific , coolly @-@ controlled performance , " and wrote that he continued " to admire the way Fringe can mind @-@ meld its scientific fiction with workplace @-@ family drama and light comedy , juggling an increasing number of characters and subplots , while still maintaining a strong narrative through @-@ line " . The A.V. Club 's Noel Murray graded the episode a B + , explaining that the episode was much better than the previous week and also praising the introduction of two new characters and the long awaited meeting between Olivia and William Bell . Murray concluded his review somewhat negatively , " If the whole episode had maintained the " yes we 're aware this is kinda nutsy " tone of that one great line , I 'd have bumped it up one more notch to the A @-@ level . I 'm holding back only because " Momentum Deferred " was such an info @-@ dump , and played a fraction too soberly " . 
