Fringe S04e04 - Subject 9
So, Fringe. My main reaction at the end was: , but the final scene may have become one of my favourites. "Who are you?" YESSS. Seeing Peter standing there, looking all of twelve years old, in front of a completely bewildered Olivia was a moment of pure joy. Yeah, it's awful for Peter, but from a storytelling point of view, it's great. Also, why didn't he ask for Walter, for heaven's sake? I hope this isn't one of those "their love is epic and transcends time and space" thing, which would annoy me. Because Walter is the main reason why I agreed that Peter had to come back. Apart from him, I like the universe without Peter. And even where Walter is concerned, that's tempered by the fact that I liked seeing him with Olivia. In the blue universe, Peter was always mediating their conversations, and with rare exceptions, Olivia never had to surmount her understandable tendency to keep Walter at arm's length. Here, seeing her bandage his hands, and that wonderful moment of them sharing a root beer float in the diner...I loved it, and it's another thing that wouldn't have happened with Peter around.
I don't know if that's what the show was going for with Peter's absence, but between that, alt-broyles being around, Olivia having killed her stepfather, the warm relationship she has with Nina (I want to see more of that. She's known her since high school? How did that happen? Tell meeeeee), and the fact that the other Cortexiphan kids who got summarily disposed off when they went to rescue Peter (yep. still bitter about that) might be around, what's not to like about the amber universe? I really hope that won't change too much when they remember Peter, or I might get bitter.
I liked Cameron. It makes me happy that despite some retcons -- like making Walter's motive for the trials much more benevolent, at least in the blue universe --, in the very episode where they show you how lost and endearing Walter can be (he was trying to show his usefulness! At first, I thought he was trying to run away. Walter with his packed suitcase broke my heart a little), he's also faced with the consequences of what he did to these children. I'll always love these moments. Also, I'm intrigued by the fact that Olivia remembers the Cortexiphan trials, and by her seeming lack of emotional reaction to it. Unlike in the blue universe, where we witnessed the moment when she found out/remembered, we don't get to see her process it and look at Walter differently. I want to find out more about this. I don't want all these questions to be swept under the rug because Peter is back. I like Peter, but the things that most interest me about the show aren't about him, so I get very disgruntled when Olivia becomes all about him.
One of the things that really makes me tick about this show is something that was alluded to in Alias with Project Christmas, but never really explored: children being experimented upon and trained to be weapons. Sidney got it in the "diluted" version, because Jack Bristow didn't hand her over, but he still gave her weapons training, and the fact that Sark and Allison Doren got through the hard version of the program and had something in common with Sidney was never really touched upon, which frustrated me. This is the kind of story that fascinates me, and seeing Fringe return to it over and over, and not flinch from what it means to these now adults makes me extremely happy. I want more moments between Olivia and other Cortexiphan kids, dammit.
I'm not sure that it was intentional, because I saw a review saying that Peter appearing in that lake was one of the most satisfying moments of the series. No, I'm sorry, that was Olivia emerging from the tank last season. And then the scene in the hospital in this episode. I didn't really watch these four episodes thinking that there was a Peter-shaped hole in their lives (with the important exception of Walter), but that his absence gave them space to be something else and to develop links and relationships that didn't grow when he was around. So I don't want a reset.
I don't know if that's what the show was going for with Peter's absence, but between that, alt-broyles being around, Olivia having killed her stepfather, the warm relationship she has with Nina (I want to see more of that. She's known her since high school? How did that happen? Tell meeeeee), and the fact that the other Cortexiphan kids who got summarily disposed off when they went to rescue Peter (yep. still bitter about that) might be around, what's not to like about the amber universe? I really hope that won't change too much when they remember Peter, or I might get bitter.
I liked Cameron. It makes me happy that despite some retcons -- like making Walter's motive for the trials much more benevolent, at least in the blue universe --, in the very episode where they show you how lost and endearing Walter can be (he was trying to show his usefulness! At first, I thought he was trying to run away. Walter with his packed suitcase broke my heart a little), he's also faced with the consequences of what he did to these children. I'll always love these moments. Also, I'm intrigued by the fact that Olivia remembers the Cortexiphan trials, and by her seeming lack of emotional reaction to it. Unlike in the blue universe, where we witnessed the moment when she found out/remembered, we don't get to see her process it and look at Walter differently. I want to find out more about this. I don't want all these questions to be swept under the rug because Peter is back. I like Peter, but the things that most interest me about the show aren't about him, so I get very disgruntled when Olivia becomes all about him.
One of the things that really makes me tick about this show is something that was alluded to in Alias with Project Christmas, but never really explored: children being experimented upon and trained to be weapons. Sidney got it in the "diluted" version, because Jack Bristow didn't hand her over, but he still gave her weapons training, and the fact that Sark and Allison Doren got through the hard version of the program and had something in common with Sidney was never really touched upon, which frustrated me. This is the kind of story that fascinates me, and seeing Fringe return to it over and over, and not flinch from what it means to these now adults makes me extremely happy. I want more moments between Olivia and other Cortexiphan kids, dammit.
I'm not sure that it was intentional, because I saw a review saying that Peter appearing in that lake was one of the most satisfying moments of the series. No, I'm sorry, that was Olivia emerging from the tank last season. And then the scene in the hospital in this episode. I didn't really watch these four episodes thinking that there was a Peter-shaped hole in their lives (with the important exception of Walter), but that his absence gave them space to be something else and to develop links and relationships that didn't grow when he was around. So I don't want a reset.