for a minute there i lost myself
WELL i guess that answers that question. I wasn't sure which way they were gonna go with the whole "is this a whole new universe or the same one in an altered state?" but Peter's certainty that this wasn't his universe all but guaranteed it would go in the opposite direction. I don't know, the issue i have with it is... how does merging them even work? Has a Peter-less universe simply been a pointless illusion? While it has been fairly easy to think of Amberverse as almost interchangeable with the original universes, at the same time they are very explicitly not the same. It's not just oh they have different memories, it's that the course of events following Peter's death is ACTUALLY DIFFERENT.
The thing that i loved about this episode was that it didn't make light of this merging of two universes; it was intended as something unnatural and monstrous and utterly devastating. A sort of microcosm of an apocalypse, internally and externally. Since Olivia was starting to remember things, i thought the town's issues were going to turn out to be a merging of the timelines rather than a merging of the red and blue universes... which i guess maybe it still could have been, since we don't quite know what Jones is up to yet (punching holes in ALL the universes!) But i liked that it was something that was not meant to happen, and therefore this whole "Olivia remembers everything!" business would not actually be presented as a good thing, since it necessitates overwriting at least one fully-realized version of a person and could ultimately result in both being canceled out entirely. It's not like she can have two distinct sets of life experiences in a single timeline; it's one or the other or you're fucked. Granted, the Amberverse versions of the characters are much subtler differences than Red vs. Blue, all essentially brought about by the absence of Peter, so the distinctions are all hazy... but they're still important. At least three seasons worth of differences.
That opening scene was PRETTTTYYYYY but tumblr spoiled me for it in the middle of the week because apparently people post gif sets of scenes from episodes that haven't even aired yet? I was really confused when i saw it and then i was really angry because SERIOUSLY, TUMBLR? SERIOUSLY? I can at least understand people posting things way too soon after an episode is available to the public, but when it is still entirely a spoiler and there's no spoiler warning at all... that is a dick move, fandom.
Anyway i enjoyed this episode a ton; the first half in particular was super unsettling and Twilight Zone-y and i always love shit like that. Plus seeing Olivia and Peter and Walter working together in a capacity very much like old times made it feel... like old times! It was nice!
But i'm also gonna be super petty and juvenile and say that since they went and got my hopes up for Olivia/Lincoln i'm sad that that ship has now dropped back down to zero likelihood. Okay maybe not zero, maybe they'll keep up some Peter/Olivia/Lincoln bullshit, but like... i don't know dude. They are obviously intent on Peter and Olivia being soulmates, so what's the point? Why would they bother with all the Lincoln nonsense except to fuck with us because, hey, Seth Gabel is dreamy, right? (oh god i am usually all about the boring primary ship, why did i fall for the diversion :(((((( IS LINCOLN LEE SAMUEL T. ANDERS??!???! uggghhhhhhh i hated Anders!!!!!!!!) The thing that disappoints me most is that last season proved that Olivia/Peter basically just ends up making the show about Peter. They keep molding Olivia into all these different versions and fucking with her mind and making her an unknowing victim of the machinations of the universe and the evil people therein and it's no longer about how strong or special Olivia is herself, it's about how Peter makes her the person she's supposed to be and how much her story ultimately revolves around Peter and her destiny to be with Peter... and die, i guess. I fucking hate it. I WANT IT TO BE ABOUT THE OLIVIAS AND THEIR OLIVIA-NESS DOING OLIVIA THINGS AND SUPERHEROING THE SHIT OUT OF EVERYTHING AND ALSO DOPPLEGANGER INCEST and i'd even be cool if her story intersected with Peter's more in the way it did before they were ~destined~ to make googly eyes at each other, but everything just always leaves me with the bitter aftertaste that none of this is really about Olivia.
I don't know, i've always been on-again off-again about Olivia/Peter, but i did like them together in s1-2 and i was never actively against it until late-s3 and how badly that was handled, and now predicating all of their current meant-to-be status on the boring romantic relationship that began essentially because Peter disregarded how hurt she was and told her to stop being that way... it just feels wrong to me. It's this bizarre sense that Peter likes hearing himself talk about how great Olivia is but doesn't mean it. And i'm sure that's more on me than on the show, but nonetheless Peter continues to be a problem. :/
I guess you can tell how i feel about Olivia/Peter by who i ship Olivia with at any given time: in s1 i shipped Olivia/Charlie, in s2 when Charlie was dead i finally shipped Olivia/Peter, in s3 i shipped Olivia/Altlivia/Charlie/Lincoln, and this season i ship Olivia/Altlivia/Lincoln/Alt-Lincoln, so basically i am willing to ship Olivia/Peter when there are no other options. IF THEY WERE MY ONLY CHOICE I WOULD BE FINE! IF THEY SPENT THE WHOLE SHOW BEING GROWN-UP LYRA AND WILL I WOULD BE FIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE! sob
I didn't post about last week's episode because i didn't have much to say, but i did love it. Like, i got teared up at the very first shot of alt-Astrid. And... at every subsequent Astrid/Astrid scene. ;______; FEELINGS
OH AND P.S. SPEAKING OF LAST WEEK'S EPISODE what the fuuuuuuccccckkkkk was up with Altlivia's comment of "turns out i like the nice guys"??!?!????? Does that... mean... she hooked up with Lincoln.....???!??!??!?!?? THAT WAS SUCH A WEIRD THING TO SAY WITH NO EXPLANATION AND I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THINGS BECAUSE OF REASONS
Blugghhh sorry for complaining for this entire post. I hate reading other people complain about Fringe and yet almost all i do is complain about it. IT'S JUST BECAUSE I CARE SO MUCH. I CRITICIZE OUT OF LOVE!
The thing that i loved about this episode was that it didn't make light of this merging of two universes; it was intended as something unnatural and monstrous and utterly devastating. A sort of microcosm of an apocalypse, internally and externally. Since Olivia was starting to remember things, i thought the town's issues were going to turn out to be a merging of the timelines rather than a merging of the red and blue universes... which i guess maybe it still could have been, since we don't quite know what Jones is up to yet (punching holes in ALL the universes!) But i liked that it was something that was not meant to happen, and therefore this whole "Olivia remembers everything!" business would not actually be presented as a good thing, since it necessitates overwriting at least one fully-realized version of a person and could ultimately result in both being canceled out entirely. It's not like she can have two distinct sets of life experiences in a single timeline; it's one or the other or you're fucked. Granted, the Amberverse versions of the characters are much subtler differences than Red vs. Blue, all essentially brought about by the absence of Peter, so the distinctions are all hazy... but they're still important. At least three seasons worth of differences.
That opening scene was PRETTTTYYYYY but tumblr spoiled me for it in the middle of the week because apparently people post gif sets of scenes from episodes that haven't even aired yet? I was really confused when i saw it and then i was really angry because SERIOUSLY, TUMBLR? SERIOUSLY? I can at least understand people posting things way too soon after an episode is available to the public, but when it is still entirely a spoiler and there's no spoiler warning at all... that is a dick move, fandom.
Anyway i enjoyed this episode a ton; the first half in particular was super unsettling and Twilight Zone-y and i always love shit like that. Plus seeing Olivia and Peter and Walter working together in a capacity very much like old times made it feel... like old times! It was nice!
But i'm also gonna be super petty and juvenile and say that since they went and got my hopes up for Olivia/Lincoln i'm sad that that ship has now dropped back down to zero likelihood. Okay maybe not zero, maybe they'll keep up some Peter/Olivia/Lincoln bullshit, but like... i don't know dude. They are obviously intent on Peter and Olivia being soulmates, so what's the point? Why would they bother with all the Lincoln nonsense except to fuck with us because, hey, Seth Gabel is dreamy, right? (oh god i am usually all about the boring primary ship, why did i fall for the diversion :(((((( IS LINCOLN LEE SAMUEL T. ANDERS??!???! uggghhhhhhh i hated Anders!!!!!!!!) The thing that disappoints me most is that last season proved that Olivia/Peter basically just ends up making the show about Peter. They keep molding Olivia into all these different versions and fucking with her mind and making her an unknowing victim of the machinations of the universe and the evil people therein and it's no longer about how strong or special Olivia is herself, it's about how Peter makes her the person she's supposed to be and how much her story ultimately revolves around Peter and her destiny to be with Peter... and die, i guess. I fucking hate it. I WANT IT TO BE ABOUT THE OLIVIAS AND THEIR OLIVIA-NESS DOING OLIVIA THINGS AND SUPERHEROING THE SHIT OUT OF EVERYTHING AND ALSO DOPPLEGANGER INCEST and i'd even be cool if her story intersected with Peter's more in the way it did before they were ~destined~ to make googly eyes at each other, but everything just always leaves me with the bitter aftertaste that none of this is really about Olivia.
I don't know, i've always been on-again off-again about Olivia/Peter, but i did like them together in s1-2 and i was never actively against it until late-s3 and how badly that was handled, and now predicating all of their current meant-to-be status on the boring romantic relationship that began essentially because Peter disregarded how hurt she was and told her to stop being that way... it just feels wrong to me. It's this bizarre sense that Peter likes hearing himself talk about how great Olivia is but doesn't mean it. And i'm sure that's more on me than on the show, but nonetheless Peter continues to be a problem. :/
I guess you can tell how i feel about Olivia/Peter by who i ship Olivia with at any given time: in s1 i shipped Olivia/Charlie, in s2 when Charlie was dead i finally shipped Olivia/Peter, in s3 i shipped Olivia/Altlivia/Charlie/Lincoln, and this season i ship Olivia/Altlivia/Lincoln/Alt-Lincoln, so basically i am willing to ship Olivia/Peter when there are no other options. IF THEY WERE MY ONLY CHOICE I WOULD BE FINE! IF THEY SPENT THE WHOLE SHOW BEING GROWN-UP LYRA AND WILL I WOULD BE FIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE! sob
I didn't post about last week's episode because i didn't have much to say, but i did love it. Like, i got teared up at the very first shot of alt-Astrid. And... at every subsequent Astrid/Astrid scene. ;______; FEELINGS
OH AND P.S. SPEAKING OF LAST WEEK'S EPISODE what the fuuuuuuccccckkkkk was up with Altlivia's comment of "turns out i like the nice guys"??!?!????? Does that... mean... she hooked up with Lincoln.....???!??!??!?!?? THAT WAS SUCH A WEIRD THING TO SAY WITH NO EXPLANATION AND I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THINGS BECAUSE OF REASONS
Blugghhh sorry for complaining for this entire post. I hate reading other people complain about Fringe and yet almost all i do is complain about it. IT'S JUST BECAUSE I CARE SO MUCH. I CRITICIZE OUT OF LOVE!