Fringe: White Tulip
Apr. 19th, 2010 12:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccatoriaThis was a surprising example of a standalone I thought worked really well. If I had one major criticism of Fringe, overall, it would be the way it relies so much on the standalones and therefore the mythology crawls forwards. Though if it became more arc-ish I'd probably have to worry about Fox canceling it for being too impenetrable. Ah, who am I kidding, I worry about that anyway.
It was a great standalone because it was really about Walter.
It was the story of a day when Walter woke up and found a White Tulip, and it was surprisingly moving.
Still, I feel the need to explain why, because it's not, perhaps, the first reason that comes to mind.
I'm an atheist, and fairly passionate about that belief, and this does inform my relationship to narratives about G/god/s. I also absolutely adore religious mysticism in stories. Religion is interesting. The concept of God is interesting. While I tend to get cranky when God in the Story becomes a God from the Machine, I think religion can and should be explored in a variety of ways especially in science fiction.
However, a combination of objective and subjective issues make me very wary of Walter's proclamations in this episode.
Objectively, this is a new character trait brought out seemingly only because it sets up the wonderful moment at the end. While it's possible to argue that guilt can change people's beliefs or needs, I still don't know that believe it's in character for Walter to suddenly be asking God for forgiveness.
Subjectively, I'm not sure I like the implications of doing this at this time and in this way. For a previously atheist character to suddenly begin searching for God during a period of great confusion and guilt with no explanation or qualification, narratively speaking, comes perilously close to suggesting that no explanation is needed because such behaviour is natural. Because everyone needs God. Bluntly, I very much enjoy Walter as the shell of a man who once did terrible things in his arrogance. But I am very much not interested in seeing his reformation symbolised in part by a belief in God.
I don't believe that Walter will suddenly become a very religious person (another way in which the episode essentially felt like a setup where a fairly out of character initial plothook was used to get to a wonderful moment). But I still think it's worth noting that "I'm a better person because now I think that there might be a God to forgive me while before I was too arrogant to consider that possibility," is pretty much right at the top of Things I Hate when God shows up in stories.
I don't want the dangerous parts of Walter's arrogance to be explicitly tied to his atheism and I feel that's partly what's happening here.
So, I acknowledge that my personal views affect my reading but at the same time, I don't think it's as simple as I'm an atheist and therefore hate God as a motivating force.
WITH THAT SAID.
I did like that if Walter is going to approach God in any fashion, he does so specifically, impossibly and in the manner of a crazy scientist.
I would have preferred that the White Tulip have been some kind of control test to see if God existed, or a facetious challenge his younger self had thrown out to Dr Warren, perhaps. But if Current!Walter was going to ask God for forgiveness, then yes, this is how he would do it.
But perhaps what I like most is that, annoying as I found Walter's need for forgiveness from God, per the narrative of the story, that's not actually what he received.
(Setting aside, for the moment, the "God moves in mysterious ways and clearly orchestrated all this," perspective since I don't find it narratively fulfilling for the reasons stated above.)
What he received was forgiveness from a friend; perhaps more movingly, ultimately, he received it from himself.
And that's what I find beautiful about this episode.
By Fringe's crazy scientific standards, this is a completely logical and explicable tale that nonetheless is, ultimately, the story of the day Walter woke up and was granted grace.
Not from God, but from himself (which is beautiful and sad). Not from God but via crazy, messed-up science (which is beautiful and terrible and sad).
I still wish this episode had clarified why Walter turned to God at this point; had taken some space to distance itself from the potentially simplistic implications of such a decision.
I still hope that the show did not mean anything that simplistic.
But assuming, for the moment, that it didn't, it was an extraordinarily moving moment.
Why aren't all standalones like this?
In other news,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
emmiere already posted this, but I feel it is a public service announcement to point out that Olivia Dunham is a Private Eye. Or will be in Fringe's musical episode that will air at the end of the month, which has the potential to be awful, but I have decided to anticipate with unabashed joy under the assumption that it will be delicious, delicious, deadly serious CRACK.
It was a great standalone because it was really about Walter.
It was the story of a day when Walter woke up and found a White Tulip, and it was surprisingly moving.
Still, I feel the need to explain why, because it's not, perhaps, the first reason that comes to mind.
I'm an atheist, and fairly passionate about that belief, and this does inform my relationship to narratives about G/god/s. I also absolutely adore religious mysticism in stories. Religion is interesting. The concept of God is interesting. While I tend to get cranky when God in the Story becomes a God from the Machine, I think religion can and should be explored in a variety of ways especially in science fiction.
However, a combination of objective and subjective issues make me very wary of Walter's proclamations in this episode.
Objectively, this is a new character trait brought out seemingly only because it sets up the wonderful moment at the end. While it's possible to argue that guilt can change people's beliefs or needs, I still don't know that believe it's in character for Walter to suddenly be asking God for forgiveness.
Subjectively, I'm not sure I like the implications of doing this at this time and in this way. For a previously atheist character to suddenly begin searching for God during a period of great confusion and guilt with no explanation or qualification, narratively speaking, comes perilously close to suggesting that no explanation is needed because such behaviour is natural. Because everyone needs God. Bluntly, I very much enjoy Walter as the shell of a man who once did terrible things in his arrogance. But I am very much not interested in seeing his reformation symbolised in part by a belief in God.
I don't believe that Walter will suddenly become a very religious person (another way in which the episode essentially felt like a setup where a fairly out of character initial plothook was used to get to a wonderful moment). But I still think it's worth noting that "I'm a better person because now I think that there might be a God to forgive me while before I was too arrogant to consider that possibility," is pretty much right at the top of Things I Hate when God shows up in stories.
I don't want the dangerous parts of Walter's arrogance to be explicitly tied to his atheism and I feel that's partly what's happening here.
So, I acknowledge that my personal views affect my reading but at the same time, I don't think it's as simple as I'm an atheist and therefore hate God as a motivating force.
WITH THAT SAID.
I did like that if Walter is going to approach God in any fashion, he does so specifically, impossibly and in the manner of a crazy scientist.
I would have preferred that the White Tulip have been some kind of control test to see if God existed, or a facetious challenge his younger self had thrown out to Dr Warren, perhaps. But if Current!Walter was going to ask God for forgiveness, then yes, this is how he would do it.
But perhaps what I like most is that, annoying as I found Walter's need for forgiveness from God, per the narrative of the story, that's not actually what he received.
(Setting aside, for the moment, the "God moves in mysterious ways and clearly orchestrated all this," perspective since I don't find it narratively fulfilling for the reasons stated above.)
What he received was forgiveness from a friend; perhaps more movingly, ultimately, he received it from himself.
And that's what I find beautiful about this episode.
By Fringe's crazy scientific standards, this is a completely logical and explicable tale that nonetheless is, ultimately, the story of the day Walter woke up and was granted grace.
Not from God, but from himself (which is beautiful and sad). Not from God but via crazy, messed-up science (which is beautiful and terrible and sad).
I still wish this episode had clarified why Walter turned to God at this point; had taken some space to distance itself from the potentially simplistic implications of such a decision.
I still hope that the show did not mean anything that simplistic.
But assuming, for the moment, that it didn't, it was an extraordinarily moving moment.
Why aren't all standalones like this?
In other news,
emmiere already posted this, but I feel it is a public service announcement to point out that Olivia Dunham is a Private Eye. Or will be in Fringe's musical episode that will air at the end of the month, which has the potential to be awful, but I have decided to anticipate with unabashed joy under the assumption that it will be delicious, delicious, deadly serious CRACK. 
