Fringe 4x16
Apr. 1st, 2012 03:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
opusculasedferaHmm, cautious optimism? I'm not sure how I feel about the Broyles plot. I did like that they were pointing out the bad side of Olivia losing her memories and it's perfectly logical for the FBI to not want her out there if she doesn't remember things. I also thought it did seem like she was regretting it and having the full realisation of exactly how much there is to forget about her Amber!life like she hadn't quite considered it before. It was very sad about Rachel (and now I worry about her! because it seems likely that she has the same husband and it's not really clear if he's less of a dick in this timeline or if they've just stayed together for whatever reason. I want closure on that! I really liked Olivia and Rachel's relationship in the first season!)
I do like that Olivia is still responsible and owns up to involving herself when she's been told to stand down. Plus the way that everyone thinks of back-up as useful and not like some kind of insult to their competency because so many shows have people being so bad about that for no reason at all.
I am less keen on how they're kind of implying that Olivia forgetting everything will still be fine. Obviously nothing really changed, plus there was all that stuff with Peter and Lincoln. Which was weird to me because the thing I always liked about season two O/P was that Peter was the one who couldn't stop looking at Olivia like he was so damn happy just to be near her, but I suppose it makes sense that Lincoln was more concerned with Olivia's face than Peter's. And I do like that Peter and Lincoln are kind of edgy around each other, but they're not competing and they're managing to work together like adults. Fringe is so amazing for my competence and sensibility kinks, let me tell you.
It's the same with all the stuff they do with Olivia and Peter's relationship. I like that they are low-key and genuinely seem to enjoy being around each other. They do a pretty good job projecting 'couple' without overdoing it and getting into unrealistic levels of PDA given that they are colleagues who are working on some pretty serious stuff. The phrasing of Olivia's rejection of Eddy from the bookshop as 'taken' I could have done without, but that's more me than the joke itself: I don't mind making the typical joke of mild level flirting back "oh, I would except that I'm seeing someone else, so tragic" with no one taking it seriously, it's just that I hate that all the ways we have to phrase that particular joke imply that the person making the joke is someone else's property and that they couldn't up and leave if they wanted to. Which is sketchy. Unfortunately, all that all of this reasonable couple behaviour makes me do is wonder why they still need to have that veneer of ~destiny~ over the whole thing. They like each other a lot and get along well, that should be enough!
I'm also kind of meh about the actual plot. Things are getting excessively biblical in here and that always sketches me out. First we have all of this "Adam and Eve!" stuff and then the guy with the boat full of genetic experiments and it's pretty Noah-esque. It just never seems like shit getting biblical in this kind of way leads to the sort of plots I like. It gets all sketchily biological really quickly. I did sort of like that the two women we saw did seem to be in charge (and I was very pleased when the woman walked down her hallway toward the hidden porcupine creature and turned out to know it was there and be totally fine with it because it is a nice reversal of things leaping out at defenseless women), but then the guy at the end was a man and I am just hoping that it doesn't go a "women are interested in these things because of biology! they just want all the babies! But men see the big picture and have a whole apocalypse plan going on!" route.
I'm also not sure that tying together all the genetic experiment creatures together as part of one huge conspiracy is going to do them any good. It was kind of neat to see the call-backs to earlier eps, but they're going to have to come up with something special if they want us to believe that a)all those things were connected and b)none of the Fringe team noticed. It was pretty plausible before that Fringe division just got called out to deal with weird shit all the time even if their main mission was the multiple universes/fall-out from Walter and Bell's experiments plot. Not sure if this will be more plausible. But we shall see.
I guess they're still trying to work out if they have to wrap it up or if they'll have another season, which usually does some screwy things to the plotting, but I'd like to know one way or the other because this is looking worrying for both the emotional plot and the world-saving plot. They're both becoming a little slap-dash and it's a shame in a show that has been amazing before.
Also I saw the most recent Community. All I really have to say is that the eps have been a little meh, but the ongoing thematic plot of compromise and growing up is doing surprisingly well. And Troy and Abed leading armies of pajama-clad undergrads is pretty great, y/y?
I do like that Olivia is still responsible and owns up to involving herself when she's been told to stand down. Plus the way that everyone thinks of back-up as useful and not like some kind of insult to their competency because so many shows have people being so bad about that for no reason at all.
I am less keen on how they're kind of implying that Olivia forgetting everything will still be fine. Obviously nothing really changed, plus there was all that stuff with Peter and Lincoln. Which was weird to me because the thing I always liked about season two O/P was that Peter was the one who couldn't stop looking at Olivia like he was so damn happy just to be near her, but I suppose it makes sense that Lincoln was more concerned with Olivia's face than Peter's. And I do like that Peter and Lincoln are kind of edgy around each other, but they're not competing and they're managing to work together like adults. Fringe is so amazing for my competence and sensibility kinks, let me tell you.
It's the same with all the stuff they do with Olivia and Peter's relationship. I like that they are low-key and genuinely seem to enjoy being around each other. They do a pretty good job projecting 'couple' without overdoing it and getting into unrealistic levels of PDA given that they are colleagues who are working on some pretty serious stuff. The phrasing of Olivia's rejection of Eddy from the bookshop as 'taken' I could have done without, but that's more me than the joke itself: I don't mind making the typical joke of mild level flirting back "oh, I would except that I'm seeing someone else, so tragic" with no one taking it seriously, it's just that I hate that all the ways we have to phrase that particular joke imply that the person making the joke is someone else's property and that they couldn't up and leave if they wanted to. Which is sketchy. Unfortunately, all that all of this reasonable couple behaviour makes me do is wonder why they still need to have that veneer of ~destiny~ over the whole thing. They like each other a lot and get along well, that should be enough!
I'm also kind of meh about the actual plot. Things are getting excessively biblical in here and that always sketches me out. First we have all of this "Adam and Eve!" stuff and then the guy with the boat full of genetic experiments and it's pretty Noah-esque. It just never seems like shit getting biblical in this kind of way leads to the sort of plots I like. It gets all sketchily biological really quickly. I did sort of like that the two women we saw did seem to be in charge (and I was very pleased when the woman walked down her hallway toward the hidden porcupine creature and turned out to know it was there and be totally fine with it because it is a nice reversal of things leaping out at defenseless women), but then the guy at the end was a man and I am just hoping that it doesn't go a "women are interested in these things because of biology! they just want all the babies! But men see the big picture and have a whole apocalypse plan going on!" route.
I'm also not sure that tying together all the genetic experiment creatures together as part of one huge conspiracy is going to do them any good. It was kind of neat to see the call-backs to earlier eps, but they're going to have to come up with something special if they want us to believe that a)all those things were connected and b)none of the Fringe team noticed. It was pretty plausible before that Fringe division just got called out to deal with weird shit all the time even if their main mission was the multiple universes/fall-out from Walter and Bell's experiments plot. Not sure if this will be more plausible. But we shall see.
I guess they're still trying to work out if they have to wrap it up or if they'll have another season, which usually does some screwy things to the plotting, but I'd like to know one way or the other because this is looking worrying for both the emotional plot and the world-saving plot. They're both becoming a little slap-dash and it's a shame in a show that has been amazing before.
Also I saw the most recent Community. All I really have to say is that the eps have been a little meh, but the ongoing thematic plot of compromise and growing up is doing surprisingly well. And Troy and Abed leading armies of pajama-clad undergrads is pretty great, y/y?
no subject
Date: 2012-04-04 12:26 am (UTC)