Fringe: The Last Sam Weiss
OKAY. So this time I'm probably not gonna get to watch Doctor Song on time anyway because I'm off for bowling and tasty food (yes, ironic considering the guest character in this week's Fringe) for a friend's birthday, and also, having spent a week or so considering it, I'm not sure whether I want to maintain a weekly response for this series or to just...wait until it's over and then respond to it as a (half) season. We'll see. Either way, instaresponse to Fringe.
In four words, better than I expected.
Obviously, for me, it was all about Olivia. And so awesome and such a relief to get her back. I still find myself wondering what the point in the Bellivia arc was because all it seems to have done is wipe clean the fact that Peter killed those shapeshifters (why even RAISE it if you're not gonna address it?) and give Olivia a moment of zen fearlessness that apparently is going nowhere. But...whatever, I'm back to tentatively considering that the third season may overall end positively even if it got hella wobbly in the middle for a while.
Briefly, the things I didn't enjoy. I thought that Walter's moment of despair followed by a eureka moment to get him involved again was overplayed - came across as cliche. I would have been more moved by something more low key and less...I dunno. Cheesy I suppose. I also didn't like the weird vid-style flashback clips when Peter finally climbed into the machine. It felt, again, oversold. As people know, I'm not always convinced of the wisdom of playing Peter so close off. But if they're going to do it, I'd prefer it at least be consistent. As I said in my last review, it doesn't really work for me in some contexts, but I did feel they mostly hit the mark with Peter's quietly attempting to step into the machine. This feels like attempting to cut through that and shorthand what he must really be thinking about in a way that I don't appreciate because my overriding irritation with the way the show handles him is that I can't intuit that, like, to any degree most of the time. So this felt like...a bandaid. And one that was kind of cheesy too. I imagine it worked much better for others but for me? No.
Which leads us to the everpresent romantic issue. It's still not working for me. I didn't hate it with a passion either. It was just kind of...there. The only thing that vaguely confused me was when the typewriter started working? Was that like the whole, love/fear thing again? But then she could do it later on cue. So, I dunno. I'm confused, I would like some clarification about the ways in which Olivia is leveling up. I'm mostly all right with her trigger emotions if she also learns to evoke that feeling in herself on command. And stuff. Whatever, the point is, the romance: I still fail to care.
Okay, so the stuff I did like basically comes down to the kickass and the emotional.
In the kickass category, let's just note that I love when Olivia gets to be a superhero. I was kind of...internally giggling when I saw the promo with the magical prophecy linking Olivia to the machine too mainly because I was like, dude, Peter really never gets anything of his own even though he's the magical princess, does he? Which, I have to admit, given my um, sarcastic approach to certain things, entertained me, but from a narrative point of view the way they handled it made much more sense. It's not that Olivia is tied to the machine in the same way as Peter, just that her unique Cortexabilities mean she's the one person able to fix it when it's going haywire.
In turn this raises some fairly interesting questions about the nature of time and those prophecies. We know that the Fringeverse works in simultaneous futures that are possible and are occurring, but also may/may not occur. This makes, as I've previously said, not a lot of sense scientifically to me, because it implies there is both a fixed "present" and no fixed present because time happens all at once, simultaneously. However, if we go with this quantum-possible-schroedinger version of "the futures are all happening now" then I guess it would explain why Olivia will only be needed to fix a haywire machine in some of them, hence the "in emergency, break Olivia glass" status of the whole thing.
What intrigues me more is the fact that either the makers of the machine and manuscript knew that the only point at which a crowbar to break into the machine might be needed was in 2011 - thus Olivia - or the key itself is quantum (descriptively, not literally) in nature. It was Olivia because that's when they opened it. Had they opened it at another time and place, perhaps someone, or something, else, would have been depicted.
In any event, it was a lovely reminder that OLIVIA IS A MAGIC SUPERHERO. And I definitely appreciated some clarification that yes, she does have multiple abilities even though they mostly focus on the crossing over thing. I've been waiting for clarification on that for a long time. Though I still think that given the relative commonness of pyrokinesis (we've seen multiple other Cortexikids with it) and that the lights trick with minor telekinesis was a basic test for all Cortexikids, I think that perhaps Crossing Over is still her Big Uber Power. But I don't need/expect huge clarification on that point.
I do like that we see it paying off here, though, and that it's called out as telekinesis, even though it was so long ago in the show's past. That was some nice circularness. (Sidenote: as was Peter's note when he left hospital - hella creepy).
I also think that the escalation and entanglement of her previously established abilities (activating things telekinetically/perceiving the other side) and the properties of the items used in the show (the entangled typewriters and the entangled machines), came together very organically. It's a hard thing to pull off and it could easily have felt like a bunch of technobabble, but it actually made sense in terms of the Fringe Science stuff they'd been telling us slowly for a long time. I mean, I'm the first to admit that a lot of the Fringe Science on this show is very inconsistent (for example, the ways that the Other Side has to cross here quasi-safely but at varying degrees of personal/environmental damage to organics/synthetics), but these things have been fairly standard, so, you know, well-played Fringe, that was a confluence of factors I was not expecting and was pretty cool.
So that's the asskicking side.
On the emotional side, I just adored Walter and Olivia's scene together. It was...really, really well-done. Honestly, it was everything I've been waiting for someone to say to Olivia for a long time.
Actually, it was specifically everything I've been waiting for Peter to say to Olivia in the wake of the Altlivia fiasco, but, obviously, without the romantic overtones, which is fine, because I wanted Peter to say it for two reasons (1) to convince me the show understood and (2) to convince me that Peter understood. It's also nice to know that the show and Walter understand, because the relationship between Walter and Olivia is just more interesting to me. But I do think that it's interesting to note that this is the kind of thing I was looking for and waiting for previously when I was whining about how Peter never spent any time explaining how he felt about this Olivia, and her qualities.
Because that's basically what Walter does here. As well as that sincere and quiet empathy about knowing what it's like to believe you aren't up to the task required. The affirmation that what is extraordinary about her is in her and he's not going to just hook her up to some Cortexiphan and hope to jump start her brain. But more importantly, what he says about being damaged. It was a quiet and powerful affirmation of something that I feel is so important about both characters and something that I have, at points this season, feared would be lost in the shuffle if not ever really outright contradicted. Walter is damaged, but that damage is part of who he is, and he does not need fixing.
Olivia is not the woman she could have been if she had had a normal life, she never will be, she is damaged, but she does not need fixing.
It's a show of faith, not only in Olivia's abilities (as Walter says later, Olivia does not fail), but in her. In her unique personhood.
Anyway, I thought it was lovely. And I liked the way it underscored for both Walter and Olivia the complex ways that their damaged histories are a part of them, and that this is not as simple as a score card of "good" and "bad". It just is, and they are who they are now. It doesn't mean slates are wiped, that we cannot be horrified at what Walter did, or what Olivia was forced to endure or question the alternates personalities as evidence of how they might have turned out with less literal mental trauma (it's not a coincidence the phrase on the typewriter is, "be a better man than your father," there's the annoying shippy reference, yes, but it's also drawing attention to the fact that his father was not a good man).
But ultimately, I think the point is, well, that Olivia's personality and abilities were shaped by a damage, but she does not need fixing, and I am...charmed and relieved to see the show take a stance on that.
Finally, Sam Weiss. I'm now a bit torn on whether we shouldn't trust him because he is fallible or because he is tricksy. I do confess with his willingness to be helpful now I wonder why he was so elusive at Nina before and said he'd run off; seems unhelpful. So...I'm unwilling to take a total stance on him yet, but I suppose if we don't see him again then we weren't supposed to trust him because he was just plain wrong about stuff?
I'm also confused as to how old he is. My first thought was that if his great-great-great-grandfather was hunting for Mastadon bones, then he must still have a pretty extended lifespan in order to reach back to that era across five generations. That said, he could have just been a crazy Victorian bone-hunter or something, so I'm not sure.
In sum, surprisingly well-played Fringe. Keep it up. And try not to annoy me with all the shippy stuff I imagine is coming next week.
In four words, better than I expected.
Obviously, for me, it was all about Olivia. And so awesome and such a relief to get her back. I still find myself wondering what the point in the Bellivia arc was because all it seems to have done is wipe clean the fact that Peter killed those shapeshifters (why even RAISE it if you're not gonna address it?) and give Olivia a moment of zen fearlessness that apparently is going nowhere. But...whatever, I'm back to tentatively considering that the third season may overall end positively even if it got hella wobbly in the middle for a while.
Briefly, the things I didn't enjoy. I thought that Walter's moment of despair followed by a eureka moment to get him involved again was overplayed - came across as cliche. I would have been more moved by something more low key and less...I dunno. Cheesy I suppose. I also didn't like the weird vid-style flashback clips when Peter finally climbed into the machine. It felt, again, oversold. As people know, I'm not always convinced of the wisdom of playing Peter so close off. But if they're going to do it, I'd prefer it at least be consistent. As I said in my last review, it doesn't really work for me in some contexts, but I did feel they mostly hit the mark with Peter's quietly attempting to step into the machine. This feels like attempting to cut through that and shorthand what he must really be thinking about in a way that I don't appreciate because my overriding irritation with the way the show handles him is that I can't intuit that, like, to any degree most of the time. So this felt like...a bandaid. And one that was kind of cheesy too. I imagine it worked much better for others but for me? No.
Which leads us to the everpresent romantic issue. It's still not working for me. I didn't hate it with a passion either. It was just kind of...there. The only thing that vaguely confused me was when the typewriter started working? Was that like the whole, love/fear thing again? But then she could do it later on cue. So, I dunno. I'm confused, I would like some clarification about the ways in which Olivia is leveling up. I'm mostly all right with her trigger emotions if she also learns to evoke that feeling in herself on command. And stuff. Whatever, the point is, the romance: I still fail to care.
Okay, so the stuff I did like basically comes down to the kickass and the emotional.
In the kickass category, let's just note that I love when Olivia gets to be a superhero. I was kind of...internally giggling when I saw the promo with the magical prophecy linking Olivia to the machine too mainly because I was like, dude, Peter really never gets anything of his own even though he's the magical princess, does he? Which, I have to admit, given my um, sarcastic approach to certain things, entertained me, but from a narrative point of view the way they handled it made much more sense. It's not that Olivia is tied to the machine in the same way as Peter, just that her unique Cortexabilities mean she's the one person able to fix it when it's going haywire.
In turn this raises some fairly interesting questions about the nature of time and those prophecies. We know that the Fringeverse works in simultaneous futures that are possible and are occurring, but also may/may not occur. This makes, as I've previously said, not a lot of sense scientifically to me, because it implies there is both a fixed "present" and no fixed present because time happens all at once, simultaneously. However, if we go with this quantum-possible-schroedinger version of "the futures are all happening now" then I guess it would explain why Olivia will only be needed to fix a haywire machine in some of them, hence the "in emergency, break Olivia glass" status of the whole thing.
What intrigues me more is the fact that either the makers of the machine and manuscript knew that the only point at which a crowbar to break into the machine might be needed was in 2011 - thus Olivia - or the key itself is quantum (descriptively, not literally) in nature. It was Olivia because that's when they opened it. Had they opened it at another time and place, perhaps someone, or something, else, would have been depicted.
In any event, it was a lovely reminder that OLIVIA IS A MAGIC SUPERHERO. And I definitely appreciated some clarification that yes, she does have multiple abilities even though they mostly focus on the crossing over thing. I've been waiting for clarification on that for a long time. Though I still think that given the relative commonness of pyrokinesis (we've seen multiple other Cortexikids with it) and that the lights trick with minor telekinesis was a basic test for all Cortexikids, I think that perhaps Crossing Over is still her Big Uber Power. But I don't need/expect huge clarification on that point.
I do like that we see it paying off here, though, and that it's called out as telekinesis, even though it was so long ago in the show's past. That was some nice circularness. (Sidenote: as was Peter's note when he left hospital - hella creepy).
I also think that the escalation and entanglement of her previously established abilities (activating things telekinetically/perceiving the other side) and the properties of the items used in the show (the entangled typewriters and the entangled machines), came together very organically. It's a hard thing to pull off and it could easily have felt like a bunch of technobabble, but it actually made sense in terms of the Fringe Science stuff they'd been telling us slowly for a long time. I mean, I'm the first to admit that a lot of the Fringe Science on this show is very inconsistent (for example, the ways that the Other Side has to cross here quasi-safely but at varying degrees of personal/environmental damage to organics/synthetics), but these things have been fairly standard, so, you know, well-played Fringe, that was a confluence of factors I was not expecting and was pretty cool.
So that's the asskicking side.
On the emotional side, I just adored Walter and Olivia's scene together. It was...really, really well-done. Honestly, it was everything I've been waiting for someone to say to Olivia for a long time.
Actually, it was specifically everything I've been waiting for Peter to say to Olivia in the wake of the Altlivia fiasco, but, obviously, without the romantic overtones, which is fine, because I wanted Peter to say it for two reasons (1) to convince me the show understood and (2) to convince me that Peter understood. It's also nice to know that the show and Walter understand, because the relationship between Walter and Olivia is just more interesting to me. But I do think that it's interesting to note that this is the kind of thing I was looking for and waiting for previously when I was whining about how Peter never spent any time explaining how he felt about this Olivia, and her qualities.
Because that's basically what Walter does here. As well as that sincere and quiet empathy about knowing what it's like to believe you aren't up to the task required. The affirmation that what is extraordinary about her is in her and he's not going to just hook her up to some Cortexiphan and hope to jump start her brain. But more importantly, what he says about being damaged. It was a quiet and powerful affirmation of something that I feel is so important about both characters and something that I have, at points this season, feared would be lost in the shuffle if not ever really outright contradicted. Walter is damaged, but that damage is part of who he is, and he does not need fixing.
Olivia is not the woman she could have been if she had had a normal life, she never will be, she is damaged, but she does not need fixing.
It's a show of faith, not only in Olivia's abilities (as Walter says later, Olivia does not fail), but in her. In her unique personhood.
Anyway, I thought it was lovely. And I liked the way it underscored for both Walter and Olivia the complex ways that their damaged histories are a part of them, and that this is not as simple as a score card of "good" and "bad". It just is, and they are who they are now. It doesn't mean slates are wiped, that we cannot be horrified at what Walter did, or what Olivia was forced to endure or question the alternates personalities as evidence of how they might have turned out with less literal mental trauma (it's not a coincidence the phrase on the typewriter is, "be a better man than your father," there's the annoying shippy reference, yes, but it's also drawing attention to the fact that his father was not a good man).
But ultimately, I think the point is, well, that Olivia's personality and abilities were shaped by a damage, but she does not need fixing, and I am...charmed and relieved to see the show take a stance on that.
Finally, Sam Weiss. I'm now a bit torn on whether we shouldn't trust him because he is fallible or because he is tricksy. I do confess with his willingness to be helpful now I wonder why he was so elusive at Nina before and said he'd run off; seems unhelpful. So...I'm unwilling to take a total stance on him yet, but I suppose if we don't see him again then we weren't supposed to trust him because he was just plain wrong about stuff?
I'm also confused as to how old he is. My first thought was that if his great-great-great-grandfather was hunting for Mastadon bones, then he must still have a pretty extended lifespan in order to reach back to that era across five generations. That said, he could have just been a crazy Victorian bone-hunter or something, so I'm not sure.
In sum, surprisingly well-played Fringe. Keep it up. And try not to annoy me with all the shippy stuff I imagine is coming next week.