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on Fringe, redux!
So I have caught up with Fringe, to the current ep (4x18) and I am...confused?
--Though especially after this past season, I have to say, the show is honestly worth watching for John Noble's performance alone. There are times that one of the versions of Walter hasn't been around for a while and I actually will start musing about whether the actor was unavailable, before I remember that no, wait, it's the same actor. It's not that he looks or sounds that different; it's just that all of it, the way he speaks, the way he carries himself, everything, are different people. Who are all totally different from his real self as well, judging by the couple of interviews I've seen. Whatever Walter is doing, whichever Walter it is, he doesn't disappoint.
As for the rest of the show...
Yeah. Confused covers it. Both plot-wise and emotionally. The plot I'm less concerned about - though I'm worried they aren't going to get the half-sized s5 they're hoping for; I have serious doubts they could satisfyingly tie up what's left in 4 eps. But with 4 + 13 I think they could pull it off nicely. So here's hoping!
Emotionally, though...
In general I've quite enjoyed this season - it's had its ups and downs like all of them, but overall I've found it equal to what's come before. I am glad that I watched it now - in fact I wish I had waited a bit and not watched until the season (or possibly the show!) was over; got a feeling that some of the things that were interesting and entertaining over a short period would've been frustrating played out over a year. But I've always been a sucker for 'It's a Wonderful Life' type stories and especially the season's opening played like one for Peter - the poignancy of seeing Walter without him, ow. And Astrid's actually gotten something resembling a character (omg Astrid with Alt-Astrid = adorable to the millionth power), and there's been Lincoln Lee in cute Clark Kent glasses!
Right now, however, not knowing how the season is going to end...I don't know how to feel about it! And I can't figure out if it's intentional or not. For the rest of the show, I've pretty much been on board emotionally; I feel what the writers intend me to feel. But now I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be feeling, and I don't know if it's because the storytelling is slipping, or because I'm meant to be discontent.
The thing is, I still miss blue-verse; that's the timeline we spent three years with (give or take various excursions), and to lose it feels like it renders much of the show pointless (even if that's not exactly true?). Amber-verse is interesting - and in some respects an improvement, especially on the red-verse side (yay for not-evil!Walternate!) - it's become established enough that I don't want to lose it, either - but I want blue-verse back. I miss 'our' Walter, and how he was with Peter, and Astrid, and Olivia...
(Amberverse Walter is so similar and yet so totally different - have I mentioned enough how amazing John Noble is? Because wow. The bro and I have been wondering - did amberverse Walter actually lose pieces of his brain? Or did that never happen - did he never cross the line to ask that of Bell? Because amber!Walter is more damaged than blue!Walter, from guilt and without Peter's mitigation after his release - but when he gets serious he hits a certain scary intensity that you don't really see in blue!Walter, except in that moment when his brain was reintegrated...)
--Really I want them to just sit down and explain amberverse, exactly what happened when - how did Bell die? What was the deal with the Olivia-swap - why did Olivia cross over at all, without Peter? So many questions...
Then there is the Peter/Olivia stuff - and I like Peter/Olivia, I still do; but the way they've done it now is vastly unsatisfying. For Olivia to make the choice to, in essence, kill off her amberverse self - that felt OOC to me. There were ways they could've done it that might have worked for me - I was missing blueverse!Olivia, I did want her back - but not like this. Not at the expense of what amberverse Olivia had, like her relationship with Nina. And not simply for romance, when there were other, better reasons they could've justified it (having a Cortexiphan-awakened Olivia on their side does have its advantages!)
Except...that was so weirdly done, and so many of the characters keep pointing out the problem with it, and they've done so little with their relationship since - I am trying to figure out if it's supposed to feel wrong? Or at least not as pat and cute as it's pretending to be? To set the stage for Peter to actually go home...?
While at the same time I can see a story logic to having amberverse have replaced blueverse. It's frustrating from the fan perspective of loving characters and not wanting to lose them; but thematically it's in keeping with the story of a man who replaced his son, different and yet the same, same and yet different, everyone is irreplaceable and yet no one is ever totally lost. It is in character for Peter to decide to just stick with this timeline - he already adjusted to a new universe before; only makes sense that he can do so again. And while it can feel like it renders the previous seasons pointless - it really doesn't; even putting aside Peter and Olivia's memories, the only reason we can appreciate the quirks of amberverse is because we were familiar with the characters from blueverse.
...At the same time, if blueverse is lost, I'd have a hard time rewatching previous seasons of the show, for the same reason I can't really rewatch early NCIS. Peter was supposed to be the one wiped from existence, but really it was blue!Walter and everyone else who were wiped, and losing them hurts! There also is a storytelling problem that it shifts the story - Olivia and Walter were always the heroes the narrative centered around; they were the ones who developed, while Peter was the linchpin holding their stories together. s4 makes Peter the hero, and it's an uneasy and not quite emotionally convincing adjustment - unless it was meant to be?
(I also am curious about - I've been calling it 'greenverse', don't know if there's a fan term for it. But there was a timeline before amberverse - the timeline where September didn't interrupt Walternate in his lab, so Peter was cured, and Walter never crossed over? Very curious if we'll ever see that timeline. --And we might get another Peter! Poor Joshua Jackson, he's the only one of the entire cast stuck playing a single character...tbh I have doubts he could pull off what John Noble or Anna Torv do; he's a solid TV actor but they outshine him pretty fiercely...oh well, acting, whatever, he's got those puppydog eyes!)
--And I could rave on more but I need sleep! I will leave you with bloopers - it's always fun to see the cast of a serious show being OOC (especially if it involves crazy cute hugs!)
--Though especially after this past season, I have to say, the show is honestly worth watching for John Noble's performance alone. There are times that one of the versions of Walter hasn't been around for a while and I actually will start musing about whether the actor was unavailable, before I remember that no, wait, it's the same actor. It's not that he looks or sounds that different; it's just that all of it, the way he speaks, the way he carries himself, everything, are different people. Who are all totally different from his real self as well, judging by the couple of interviews I've seen. Whatever Walter is doing, whichever Walter it is, he doesn't disappoint.
As for the rest of the show...
Yeah. Confused covers it. Both plot-wise and emotionally. The plot I'm less concerned about - though I'm worried they aren't going to get the half-sized s5 they're hoping for; I have serious doubts they could satisfyingly tie up what's left in 4 eps. But with 4 + 13 I think they could pull it off nicely. So here's hoping!
Emotionally, though...
In general I've quite enjoyed this season - it's had its ups and downs like all of them, but overall I've found it equal to what's come before. I am glad that I watched it now - in fact I wish I had waited a bit and not watched until the season (or possibly the show!) was over; got a feeling that some of the things that were interesting and entertaining over a short period would've been frustrating played out over a year. But I've always been a sucker for 'It's a Wonderful Life' type stories and especially the season's opening played like one for Peter - the poignancy of seeing Walter without him, ow. And Astrid's actually gotten something resembling a character (omg Astrid with Alt-Astrid = adorable to the millionth power), and there's been Lincoln Lee in cute Clark Kent glasses!
Right now, however, not knowing how the season is going to end...I don't know how to feel about it! And I can't figure out if it's intentional or not. For the rest of the show, I've pretty much been on board emotionally; I feel what the writers intend me to feel. But now I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be feeling, and I don't know if it's because the storytelling is slipping, or because I'm meant to be discontent.
The thing is, I still miss blue-verse; that's the timeline we spent three years with (give or take various excursions), and to lose it feels like it renders much of the show pointless (even if that's not exactly true?). Amber-verse is interesting - and in some respects an improvement, especially on the red-verse side (yay for not-evil!Walternate!) - it's become established enough that I don't want to lose it, either - but I want blue-verse back. I miss 'our' Walter, and how he was with Peter, and Astrid, and Olivia...
(Amberverse Walter is so similar and yet so totally different - have I mentioned enough how amazing John Noble is? Because wow. The bro and I have been wondering - did amberverse Walter actually lose pieces of his brain? Or did that never happen - did he never cross the line to ask that of Bell? Because amber!Walter is more damaged than blue!Walter, from guilt and without Peter's mitigation after his release - but when he gets serious he hits a certain scary intensity that you don't really see in blue!Walter, except in that moment when his brain was reintegrated...)
--Really I want them to just sit down and explain amberverse, exactly what happened when - how did Bell die? What was the deal with the Olivia-swap - why did Olivia cross over at all, without Peter? So many questions...
Then there is the Peter/Olivia stuff - and I like Peter/Olivia, I still do; but the way they've done it now is vastly unsatisfying. For Olivia to make the choice to, in essence, kill off her amberverse self - that felt OOC to me. There were ways they could've done it that might have worked for me - I was missing blueverse!Olivia, I did want her back - but not like this. Not at the expense of what amberverse Olivia had, like her relationship with Nina. And not simply for romance, when there were other, better reasons they could've justified it (having a Cortexiphan-awakened Olivia on their side does have its advantages!)
Except...that was so weirdly done, and so many of the characters keep pointing out the problem with it, and they've done so little with their relationship since - I am trying to figure out if it's supposed to feel wrong? Or at least not as pat and cute as it's pretending to be? To set the stage for Peter to actually go home...?
While at the same time I can see a story logic to having amberverse have replaced blueverse. It's frustrating from the fan perspective of loving characters and not wanting to lose them; but thematically it's in keeping with the story of a man who replaced his son, different and yet the same, same and yet different, everyone is irreplaceable and yet no one is ever totally lost. It is in character for Peter to decide to just stick with this timeline - he already adjusted to a new universe before; only makes sense that he can do so again. And while it can feel like it renders the previous seasons pointless - it really doesn't; even putting aside Peter and Olivia's memories, the only reason we can appreciate the quirks of amberverse is because we were familiar with the characters from blueverse.
...At the same time, if blueverse is lost, I'd have a hard time rewatching previous seasons of the show, for the same reason I can't really rewatch early NCIS. Peter was supposed to be the one wiped from existence, but really it was blue!Walter and everyone else who were wiped, and losing them hurts! There also is a storytelling problem that it shifts the story - Olivia and Walter were always the heroes the narrative centered around; they were the ones who developed, while Peter was the linchpin holding their stories together. s4 makes Peter the hero, and it's an uneasy and not quite emotionally convincing adjustment - unless it was meant to be?
(I also am curious about - I've been calling it 'greenverse', don't know if there's a fan term for it. But there was a timeline before amberverse - the timeline where September didn't interrupt Walternate in his lab, so Peter was cured, and Walter never crossed over? Very curious if we'll ever see that timeline. --And we might get another Peter! Poor Joshua Jackson, he's the only one of the entire cast stuck playing a single character...tbh I have doubts he could pull off what John Noble or Anna Torv do; he's a solid TV actor but they outshine him pretty fiercely...oh well, acting, whatever, he's got those puppydog eyes!)
--And I could rave on more but I need sleep! I will leave you with bloopers - it's always fun to see the cast of a serious show being OOC (especially if it involves crazy cute hugs!)
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Yes, me too! Peter was the last of the main cast for me to bond to (though I liked his relationship with Walter) but I found all of them fairly difficult to relate to in the first season. Actually, now that I've gotten to know them, I want to go back and rewatch early season one -- I'm sure it would be a whole different experience now!
The bro (who has been filling in plot holes right and left ;) suggested that in redverse the male pill was developed first and is the standard, so neither of them thought to ask, assuming the other had it covered! XD
LOL, I actually had similar thoughts, though I doubt the writers had that in mind. XD
no subject