[picspam] Road Not Taken confrontation scene
Found this lovely Olivia-centric vid in YouTube and wanted to share. It's Olivia kicking ass and taking names in season 1.
Also, I've come to the conclusion that if, for whatever reason, I landed in a middle of a gunfight I would be sticking by Olivia like industrial glue. I have never seen anyone so fierce in a gunfight like Olivia.
I've rewatched the confrontation scene between Olivia and Walter in The Road Not Taken again and again and my love for the scene increases on each rewatch, particularly after Jacksonville.
One of the good things I continually love about Olivia is her anger, at first I thought Olivia's anger was cold but after seeing Walternate I don't think that anymore. Walternate's anger is cold. Cold, cold fury.
Olivia's on the other hand is contained. Measured. Deliberate. She doesn't let it out much that's not to say she doesn't lash out, she does but her deep anger that she saves and stores until she finds a right time to let it loose.
WALTER: (looking apprehensive) Agent Dunham.
OLIVIA: Where's Peter?
WALTER: Peter's in the Bathroom.
OLIVIA: (places her folder on the table and sits)What the hell did you people do to us? (opens a portfolio, removes and displays photos) You and William Bell, Walter. What did you do to me?
(Walter is overcome and stares at the pictures then slowly reaches out to touch one picture.)
OLIVIA: Susan Pratt and Nancy Lewis are from Jacksonville, Florida. Just like Nick Lane, the guy that you conducted drug trials on when he was a kid. The drug trials that you conducted on me.
WALTER: They were Belly's. They were his trials.
OLIVIA: But you knew. Walter, you were there and you knew.
WALTER: We were trying to help. We meant no harm.
OLIVIA: No harm? You were drugging children. Three-year-old children, Walter. Why did you do it?
WALTER: We were trying to prepare you. To make you capable. Able. Something terrible is coming.
OLIVIA: What?
WALTER: I don't know.
OLIVIA: Walter, what did you do to us?
WALTER: I don't know.
OLIVIA: Damn it, Walter, you do!
WALTER: No, I don't. I don't. I - (begins to sob) I can't remember. I'm sorry.
There was a theme in season one, where each villain justified their actions with the excuse that they only wanted to make their victims exceptional/special/worthy. The same justifications and excuses William Bell and our own Walter use for experimenting on children and its an excuse the show and the other characters in the series continually point out as Not A Good Thing. And I love that, I love that while Walter looks and acts like an adorable grandpa the show never forgets that before he became that way he was a man with questionable ethics who performed horrifying experiments in the name of science.
There is a deliberation in this scene in the way Olivia appears, sliding out of nowhere just as Peter exits. Walter later confides to Peter that Olivia assaulted her, I think its more accurate to say that Olivia planned an ambush and it was one brewing for a long time. During this scene I couldn't help but think of a similar scene in Alias where Sydney confronts Jack and how much I vastly prefer Olivia's confrontation style than Sydney's.
Where, I think, Sydney's many confrontations with Jack where all fueled by betrayal and an easily lit anger, Olivia's confrontation with Walter is more measured. You see it in the way Olivia lays down the file and pulls out the photographs, presenting Walter with the faces of the children he once used in the Cortexiphan drug trials. It's an interrogation at the same time its something more.
Olivia's anger isn't just for herself, it's for the other children too: 'What the hell did you do to us?
You can immediately see Walter's reaction, the way he reaches out and touches one of the photos, overcome with grief and guilt. He is a different man from the man who did the experiments but he was still the person who conducted it long ago, only now he is broken. Olivia sees that and you can see her face transform to empathy. She is angry but she isn't blind.
But it sure doesn't mean forgiveness and it shows in the way Olivia's face tightens when she collects the file and she gives Walter one last look before she exits.
Peter returns and finds his father torn by guilt and this is one of the more poignant moments between Peter and Walter. I love the way Peter reaches out to comfort Walter. They've come a long way from Peter actively loathing Walter to becoming the person who comforts him.
It's such a short scene but it remains as one of the scenes that made an impact on me.
You can watch the scene here.
Oh, no. A picspam and a meta? It's official. I've truly fallen for this show!
---
Rec:
Before I could come up with this ashspark has already compile an even more detailed picspam of Olivia and Walter's complicated relationship. Find it here
Click to viewAlso, I've come to the conclusion that if, for whatever reason, I landed in a middle of a gunfight I would be sticking by Olivia like industrial glue. I have never seen anyone so fierce in a gunfight like Olivia.
I've rewatched the confrontation scene between Olivia and Walter in The Road Not Taken again and again and my love for the scene increases on each rewatch, particularly after Jacksonville.
One of the good things I continually love about Olivia is her anger, at first I thought Olivia's anger was cold but after seeing Walternate I don't think that anymore. Walternate's anger is cold. Cold, cold fury.
Olivia's on the other hand is contained. Measured. Deliberate. She doesn't let it out much that's not to say she doesn't lash out, she does but her deep anger that she saves and stores until she finds a right time to let it loose.
WALTER: (looking apprehensive) Agent Dunham.
OLIVIA: Where's Peter?
WALTER: Peter's in the Bathroom.
OLIVIA: (places her folder on the table and sits)What the hell did you people do to us? (opens a portfolio, removes and displays photos) You and William Bell, Walter. What did you do to me?
(Walter is overcome and stares at the pictures then slowly reaches out to touch one picture.)
OLIVIA: Susan Pratt and Nancy Lewis are from Jacksonville, Florida. Just like Nick Lane, the guy that you conducted drug trials on when he was a kid. The drug trials that you conducted on me.
WALTER: They were Belly's. They were his trials.
OLIVIA: But you knew. Walter, you were there and you knew.
WALTER: We were trying to help. We meant no harm.
OLIVIA: No harm? You were drugging children. Three-year-old children, Walter. Why did you do it?
WALTER: We were trying to prepare you. To make you capable. Able. Something terrible is coming.
OLIVIA: What?
WALTER: I don't know.
OLIVIA: Walter, what did you do to us?
WALTER: I don't know.
OLIVIA: Damn it, Walter, you do!
WALTER: No, I don't. I don't. I - (begins to sob) I can't remember. I'm sorry.
There was a theme in season one, where each villain justified their actions with the excuse that they only wanted to make their victims exceptional/special/worthy. The same justifications and excuses William Bell and our own Walter use for experimenting on children and its an excuse the show and the other characters in the series continually point out as Not A Good Thing. And I love that, I love that while Walter looks and acts like an adorable grandpa the show never forgets that before he became that way he was a man with questionable ethics who performed horrifying experiments in the name of science.
There is a deliberation in this scene in the way Olivia appears, sliding out of nowhere just as Peter exits. Walter later confides to Peter that Olivia assaulted her, I think its more accurate to say that Olivia planned an ambush and it was one brewing for a long time. During this scene I couldn't help but think of a similar scene in Alias where Sydney confronts Jack and how much I vastly prefer Olivia's confrontation style than Sydney's.
Where, I think, Sydney's many confrontations with Jack where all fueled by betrayal and an easily lit anger, Olivia's confrontation with Walter is more measured. You see it in the way Olivia lays down the file and pulls out the photographs, presenting Walter with the faces of the children he once used in the Cortexiphan drug trials. It's an interrogation at the same time its something more.
Olivia's anger isn't just for herself, it's for the other children too: 'What the hell did you do to us?
You can immediately see Walter's reaction, the way he reaches out and touches one of the photos, overcome with grief and guilt. He is a different man from the man who did the experiments but he was still the person who conducted it long ago, only now he is broken. Olivia sees that and you can see her face transform to empathy. She is angry but she isn't blind.
But it sure doesn't mean forgiveness and it shows in the way Olivia's face tightens when she collects the file and she gives Walter one last look before she exits.
Peter returns and finds his father torn by guilt and this is one of the more poignant moments between Peter and Walter. I love the way Peter reaches out to comfort Walter. They've come a long way from Peter actively loathing Walter to becoming the person who comforts him.
It's such a short scene but it remains as one of the scenes that made an impact on me.
You can watch the scene here.
Oh, no. A picspam and a meta? It's official. I've truly fallen for this show!
---
Rec:
Before I could come up with this ashspark has already compile an even more detailed picspam of Olivia and Walter's complicated relationship. Find it here