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Fringe update: Season Three and into Four
I really ought to take a break at the end of a season and write up my thoughts on it before I jump into the next, but so far I've been unable to force myself to do that. Stupid cliffhangers.
Okay, so when last we spoke I was having my doubts about the Olivia/Peter/Olivia love triangle. (Hey, have I ever mentioned that I have a separation and reunion kink? Yeaaaaaaah.) I was actually glad that it was OU Olivia who was hesitant to rekindle the relationship, that she was honest with Peter about her fears, and that Peter never tried to sweep what happened with AU Olivia under the rug, but he was still clear that his Olivia is the one he wants. When they finally did move forward, it worked for me. A little less happy about AU Olivia still being a bit hung up on Peter, and I rolled my eyes at the pregnancy. But that storyline did not take at all the direction I expected. I'm still not ready to say that Walternate is "evil", but he sure is ruthless.
I did rather enjoy the Bell!Olivia storyline, if only because it was so much fun to watch Anna Torv channeling Leonard Nimoy. And going back and forth between the universes was surprisingly well done.
Peter's flash-forward -- god was that heartbreaking. Peter's scenes with Walter were just... wow. So moving, especially when he tells Walter that Walter is his dad. And then Peter's throwdown with Walternate, and Olivia's murder -- and can I just say, I don't cry at TV shows, but Peter's breakdown after the funeral had me awfully close to tears. And then Peter temporarily stabilizes the world... and gets erased from history for his efforts. That guy just cannot catch a break, and I spend a lot of time feeling really bad for him.
And then we go into Season Four, and can I just say, I do not think much of the Observers' decision here. I understand wanting to heal the damage caused to the timeline by September saving Peter from drowning in 1985, but it seems like removing Peter entirely caused about five million more paradoxes, and it makes my head hurt to think about them. How did any of the events of the previous three seasons happen if Peter wasn't around? Some of the changes make sense -- Walter being more fearful and less grounded, Olivia's detatchment -- but other things are just beyond me, like how Olivia got to the alternate universe, or how they think the machine was activated, and why AU Broyles is alive, and some of the changes much further back in the timeline, like Olivia being adopted by Nina Sharp.
But given all that, I'm still enjoying the ride for the most part, although my heart broke for Peter and Walter when Peter came back and no one knew who he was, and when Walter refused to connect with Peter in any way. Connecting the universes was a great idea from a narrative standpoint, and I have to admit, the one good thing about Peter being erased from the timeline is that the Olivias aren't fighting over him. If the original timeline is ever restored, I hope that doesn't become a theme. I'm now in the episodes where Peter goes to the AU to get help from Walternate -- and can I just say, when David Robert Jones made his appearance, apparently as the force behind the new and improved shapeshifters, I literally shrieked and waved my hands around? -- and it's interesting that, as of S4 Ep8 (which is the last one I watched), Peter is convinced that his own universe, where Walter knows him and Olivia loves him, is a different universe out there somewhere. But I am not convinced. I guess we'll see.
Okay, so when last we spoke I was having my doubts about the Olivia/Peter/Olivia love triangle. (Hey, have I ever mentioned that I have a separation and reunion kink? Yeaaaaaaah.) I was actually glad that it was OU Olivia who was hesitant to rekindle the relationship, that she was honest with Peter about her fears, and that Peter never tried to sweep what happened with AU Olivia under the rug, but he was still clear that his Olivia is the one he wants. When they finally did move forward, it worked for me. A little less happy about AU Olivia still being a bit hung up on Peter, and I rolled my eyes at the pregnancy. But that storyline did not take at all the direction I expected. I'm still not ready to say that Walternate is "evil", but he sure is ruthless.
I did rather enjoy the Bell!Olivia storyline, if only because it was so much fun to watch Anna Torv channeling Leonard Nimoy. And going back and forth between the universes was surprisingly well done.
Peter's flash-forward -- god was that heartbreaking. Peter's scenes with Walter were just... wow. So moving, especially when he tells Walter that Walter is his dad. And then Peter's throwdown with Walternate, and Olivia's murder -- and can I just say, I don't cry at TV shows, but Peter's breakdown after the funeral had me awfully close to tears. And then Peter temporarily stabilizes the world... and gets erased from history for his efforts. That guy just cannot catch a break, and I spend a lot of time feeling really bad for him.
And then we go into Season Four, and can I just say, I do not think much of the Observers' decision here. I understand wanting to heal the damage caused to the timeline by September saving Peter from drowning in 1985, but it seems like removing Peter entirely caused about five million more paradoxes, and it makes my head hurt to think about them. How did any of the events of the previous three seasons happen if Peter wasn't around? Some of the changes make sense -- Walter being more fearful and less grounded, Olivia's detatchment -- but other things are just beyond me, like how Olivia got to the alternate universe, or how they think the machine was activated, and why AU Broyles is alive, and some of the changes much further back in the timeline, like Olivia being adopted by Nina Sharp.
But given all that, I'm still enjoying the ride for the most part, although my heart broke for Peter and Walter when Peter came back and no one knew who he was, and when Walter refused to connect with Peter in any way. Connecting the universes was a great idea from a narrative standpoint, and I have to admit, the one good thing about Peter being erased from the timeline is that the Olivias aren't fighting over him. If the original timeline is ever restored, I hope that doesn't become a theme. I'm now in the episodes where Peter goes to the AU to get help from Walternate -- and can I just say, when David Robert Jones made his appearance, apparently as the force behind the new and improved shapeshifters, I literally shrieked and waved my hands around? -- and it's interesting that, as of S4 Ep8 (which is the last one I watched), Peter is convinced that his own universe, where Walter knows him and Olivia loves him, is a different universe out there somewhere. But I am not convinced. I guess we'll see.
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