(no subject)
This is a post on Fringe that I've been noodling over for awhile. Spoilers up til the most recent episode and, I'm just warning you, it is not a very happy post.
So the most recent episode more or less broke my squee. And it's funny because on the one hand it was a really enjoyable episode, we learned a lot, Olivia was a total bamf, as per usual.
But. Okay. I've also seen a lot of commentary recently about people being mad that Peter didn't leave the show after the s3 finale - and by the way, I think that's ridiculous too. Peter's great, duh. But I think I'm finally starting to understand that a little bit.
Because what I have loved about Fringe is that Olivia is the hero of the show. It was her story. You know that scene at the end of ... I think at the end of S2, when Olivia says to Peter, you have to come back, you have to come back to my universe because I love you and you should be with me? I loved that. I loved that. Peter was an important character on the show, his journey was important, because Olivia was in love with him and because Walter destroyed universes for him. Peter himself is clever, charming, worthy to be loved, but he wasn't the character - and that was good with me. I liked that. I liked seeing different relationships be valued. The Walter-Peter relationship was important to me because of that - they were important to each other.
What I liked, I think I am trying to say, is that it was very clear that Olivia, Walter, and Peter were all tremendously important to each other in different ways; and that the Walter-Peter, Walter-Olivia and Olivia-Peter relationships were all tremendously important for the show's plotting and development, and Peter was the glue who kept this all running, while Olivia was the protagonist and Walter was, oh, I don't know, the mastermind, I guess, the plot-pusher. And Olivia was special. I think that is key to me, because I love Olivia, especially blueverse Olivia. Olivia was special in the cortexiphan trials, she was special to Walter, the story was about her.
I've been complaining to
china_shop and
aworldinside a lot lately about missing Olivia's sister and niece, and I finally realised why I care so much: because we haven't seen them for two seasons because the show isn't about Olivia any longer. Rachel and Ella aren't important to Peter, so we haven't seen them. The show has finally become the show that I put off watching for years because I thought it was going to be a show about a young guy's angst about his dad and sexual tension with a hot FBI agent. That's the show now.
You know how Olivia's always been special? What the latest episode of Fringe said - said explicitly - is that Olivia's special, not because she's an amazing human being whose life was nearly destroyed three times, by her abusive family and by an evil scientist and by her lover's betrayal and death, and yet she still got up and kept going and loved her sister and was incredible at her job and persistent and brave - but because one day she's supposed to have Peter's baby.
That was the message. That's what it was so important that Peter know. That's why the Observers have had this breakdown. That's why Olivia is special. That's why Peter has to get home. Because Olivia has to have Peter's baby.
It all just made it very clear to me that it isn't the show I fell in love with anymore, and hasn't been for awhile. The thing is the show still has moments, flashes of brilliance - Olivia being a BAMF; Olivia interviewing Newton in the last episode with all her blueverse memories - where I'm like, yes, this is my show. So I don't know what to do! Argh.
This entry is crossposted from http://labellementeuse.dreamwidth.org/358355.html, where there are
comments.
So the most recent episode more or less broke my squee. And it's funny because on the one hand it was a really enjoyable episode, we learned a lot, Olivia was a total bamf, as per usual.
But. Okay. I've also seen a lot of commentary recently about people being mad that Peter didn't leave the show after the s3 finale - and by the way, I think that's ridiculous too. Peter's great, duh. But I think I'm finally starting to understand that a little bit.
Because what I have loved about Fringe is that Olivia is the hero of the show. It was her story. You know that scene at the end of ... I think at the end of S2, when Olivia says to Peter, you have to come back, you have to come back to my universe because I love you and you should be with me? I loved that. I loved that. Peter was an important character on the show, his journey was important, because Olivia was in love with him and because Walter destroyed universes for him. Peter himself is clever, charming, worthy to be loved, but he wasn't the character - and that was good with me. I liked that. I liked seeing different relationships be valued. The Walter-Peter relationship was important to me because of that - they were important to each other.
What I liked, I think I am trying to say, is that it was very clear that Olivia, Walter, and Peter were all tremendously important to each other in different ways; and that the Walter-Peter, Walter-Olivia and Olivia-Peter relationships were all tremendously important for the show's plotting and development, and Peter was the glue who kept this all running, while Olivia was the protagonist and Walter was, oh, I don't know, the mastermind, I guess, the plot-pusher. And Olivia was special. I think that is key to me, because I love Olivia, especially blueverse Olivia. Olivia was special in the cortexiphan trials, she was special to Walter, the story was about her.
I've been complaining to
china_shop and
aworldinside a lot lately about missing Olivia's sister and niece, and I finally realised why I care so much: because we haven't seen them for two seasons because the show isn't about Olivia any longer. Rachel and Ella aren't important to Peter, so we haven't seen them. The show has finally become the show that I put off watching for years because I thought it was going to be a show about a young guy's angst about his dad and sexual tension with a hot FBI agent. That's the show now.
You know how Olivia's always been special? What the latest episode of Fringe said - said explicitly - is that Olivia's special, not because she's an amazing human being whose life was nearly destroyed three times, by her abusive family and by an evil scientist and by her lover's betrayal and death, and yet she still got up and kept going and loved her sister and was incredible at her job and persistent and brave - but because one day she's supposed to have Peter's baby.
That was the message. That's what it was so important that Peter know. That's why the Observers have had this breakdown. That's why Olivia is special. That's why Peter has to get home. Because Olivia has to have Peter's baby.
It all just made it very clear to me that it isn't the show I fell in love with anymore, and hasn't been for awhile. The thing is the show still has moments, flashes of brilliance - Olivia being a BAMF; Olivia interviewing Newton in the last episode with all her blueverse memories - where I'm like, yes, this is my show. So I don't know what to do! Argh.
This entry is crossposted from http://labellementeuse.dreamwidth.org/358355.html, where there are
comments.