FRINGE
Well, I'm nearly caught up on Fringe. Only 5 more episodes to go. I'll be honest in saying that I really didn't like Season one very much at all. The fact that it took me over a month to get through it says as much as the fact that it took me several weeks to also start Season two. I thought perhaps I just was one of the few that just didn't get the hype, but people kept telling me to push through because it supposedly go better. Luckily about 1/3rd the way into Season two it felt like the show was finally getting some focus and an actual POINT to the plot so I was finally enjoying it at least, but I wasn't hooked quite yet. Then Season three started and that finally did it! Now I'm quite excited (but cautious) to see where it is going. I just have to say I don't think I've ever seen a show improve so MUCH in a few short episodes, and in the third season at that! It seems to defy TV logic, but here we are!
First things first I have to get this out in the air... I'm not really much of an Olivia fan. I don't hate her or even dislike her, she just leaves me feeling 'meh' most of the time. (Except for very recently, which I'll get to here in a moment.) Same goes for the Peter/Olivia relationship, so far. I think part of the problem is because much of Olivia's conflict is written to be internal, she's very closed off - which I can't blame her for after all she's been through. However since we don't know much about her history at this point (except the tiny snippets about her partner, mother and childhood) it's hard for me to truly understand and sympathize with her. I will say the actress who plays her (Anna Torv) does a really fantastic job taking on the different roles she's given though, so I know it has nothing to do with the acting on her part.
So far the only episode I've really really liked her in (and actually Peter/Olivia as well) is the one episode that was a completely fake story - the Detective/Musical episode Brown Betty. She was so sassy and tortured (my favorite kind of hoerine if you haven't noticed already) and in it Peter wasn't completely pining after her all the time. The episode reminded me in a way of "Sin City" and I really liked the feel to it. Anyway... like I said it's pretty much irrelevant, except it proved to me Peter and Olivia can have good chemistry when written correctly. Moving on...
As far as Alt Liv goes... again, I don't dislike her, but she just feels one-dimensional to me so far. I'm pretty sure that was done intentionally. It's hard to say to me how much her relationship with Peter affected her opinion of the "war" so I'm really interested to see how she reacts now that she's back in her universe and knows things aren't quite as evil and nefarious as Walternate claims they are. BTW can we PLEASE stop calling him Walternate now? It only makes me laugh and it takes me out of the element of the show each time hear it.
All that said, I think they could eventually suck me into shipping Peter and Olivia. We shall see. It will take some work but I am a sucker for guilt and angst which is really ramping up right about now between them. However, I will say they'll have to start laying off on Olivia's extreme insecurity and blaming Peter for stuff he didn't know. I can only handle so much... because the truth is I don't really understand why Olivia is taking this so damn hard. I get that she feels violated that this woman was impersonating her, but where did she think her alternate self was all this time? Also, despite all her insecurities I would think she'd know the fact that Peter came back from the Alternate Universe only because she asked him to is proof enough he loves her. The boy is stupidly in love and wanted to believe it bad enough that he was willing to overlook all the odd changes. (i.e. He saw what he wanted to see.) Please see famous quote: Love is Blind. So she needs to cut him a little slack. She also needs to please stop using psycho stalkers confessions as solid proof that Peter should have recognized it wasn't her - that just sounds ridiculous.
Also her hypocritical self seems to be forgetting that John Scott conned her every bit as much as Alt!Liv did to Peter. I know it's not 'exactly' the same, but she really needs to get off her high horse and start pointing those "freaked out" emotions towards the really important stuff like the Alt Verse trying to develop a way to cross over to their side.
ETA: Oh and I almost forgot - she also seems to be forgetting that she didn't recognize when Charlie changed either and his change was quite drastic personality wise in way, especiall compared to hers where AltLiv could impersonate her emotions and personality much better than a shape shifter could.
Well, I have a LOT more to say on the awesome, fantastic, amazing cast of other characters on this show (who are the sole reason I kept watching beyond season one), but I think I'll wait until tonight to post rave about them. :)
First things first I have to get this out in the air... I'm not really much of an Olivia fan. I don't hate her or even dislike her, she just leaves me feeling 'meh' most of the time. (Except for very recently, which I'll get to here in a moment.) Same goes for the Peter/Olivia relationship, so far. I think part of the problem is because much of Olivia's conflict is written to be internal, she's very closed off - which I can't blame her for after all she's been through. However since we don't know much about her history at this point (except the tiny snippets about her partner, mother and childhood) it's hard for me to truly understand and sympathize with her. I will say the actress who plays her (Anna Torv) does a really fantastic job taking on the different roles she's given though, so I know it has nothing to do with the acting on her part.
So far the only episode I've really really liked her in (and actually Peter/Olivia as well) is the one episode that was a completely fake story - the Detective/Musical episode Brown Betty. She was so sassy and tortured (my favorite kind of hoerine if you haven't noticed already) and in it Peter wasn't completely pining after her all the time. The episode reminded me in a way of "Sin City" and I really liked the feel to it. Anyway... like I said it's pretty much irrelevant, except it proved to me Peter and Olivia can have good chemistry when written correctly. Moving on...
As far as Alt Liv goes... again, I don't dislike her, but she just feels one-dimensional to me so far. I'm pretty sure that was done intentionally. It's hard to say to me how much her relationship with Peter affected her opinion of the "war" so I'm really interested to see how she reacts now that she's back in her universe and knows things aren't quite as evil and nefarious as Walternate claims they are. BTW can we PLEASE stop calling him Walternate now? It only makes me laugh and it takes me out of the element of the show each time hear it.
All that said, I think they could eventually suck me into shipping Peter and Olivia. We shall see. It will take some work but I am a sucker for guilt and angst which is really ramping up right about now between them. However, I will say they'll have to start laying off on Olivia's extreme insecurity and blaming Peter for stuff he didn't know. I can only handle so much... because the truth is I don't really understand why Olivia is taking this so damn hard. I get that she feels violated that this woman was impersonating her, but where did she think her alternate self was all this time? Also, despite all her insecurities I would think she'd know the fact that Peter came back from the Alternate Universe only because she asked him to is proof enough he loves her. The boy is stupidly in love and wanted to believe it bad enough that he was willing to overlook all the odd changes. (i.e. He saw what he wanted to see.) Please see famous quote: Love is Blind. So she needs to cut him a little slack. She also needs to please stop using psycho stalkers confessions as solid proof that Peter should have recognized it wasn't her - that just sounds ridiculous.
Also her hypocritical self seems to be forgetting that John Scott conned her every bit as much as Alt!Liv did to Peter. I know it's not 'exactly' the same, but she really needs to get off her high horse and start pointing those "freaked out" emotions towards the really important stuff like the Alt Verse trying to develop a way to cross over to their side.
ETA: Oh and I almost forgot - she also seems to be forgetting that she didn't recognize when Charlie changed either and his change was quite drastic personality wise in way, especiall compared to hers where AltLiv could impersonate her emotions and personality much better than a shape shifter could.
Well, I have a LOT more to say on the awesome, fantastic, amazing cast of other characters on this show (who are the sole reason I kept watching beyond season one), but I think I'll wait until tonight to post rave about them. :)