I was pointed here by such_heights after unleashing a similar post on my flist, but you said everything I wanted to say much more eloquently -- so I honestly don't know what to add, other than "YES TO EVERYTHING YOU JUST SAID." I am clinging to your optimism, here. ;)
I love that you're talking about Peter's (lack of) agency, because that's an oddity that has always fascinated me about Fringe. For a character who is so objectively central, who the plot turns on, Peter is generally this complete void of what usually makes a character. He has no agency; nothing he does moves the plot (well, we'll see what happens in the future). He's also defined almost entirely through his relationships with other people -- Olivia, Walter, and now Alt!Olivia. There is no Peter-as-Peter; we never get to see inside of his head. Even if the writers go in the direction that no one wants it to go, and make the rest of S3 a competition for Peter's affections, it's still based on the conceit of Peter as an object being manipulated by subjects (who have been developed much more richly than he has). It's all just very ... strange, and it amuses me.
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Date: 2011-02-08 12:32 am (UTC)I love that you're talking about Peter's (lack of) agency, because that's an oddity that has always fascinated me about Fringe. For a character who is so objectively central, who the plot turns on, Peter is generally this complete void of what usually makes a character. He has no agency; nothing he does moves the plot (well, we'll see what happens in the future). He's also defined almost entirely through his relationships with other people -- Olivia, Walter, and now Alt!Olivia. There is no Peter-as-Peter; we never get to see inside of his head. Even if the writers go in the direction that no one wants it to go, and make the rest of S3 a competition for Peter's affections, it's still based on the conceit of Peter as an object being manipulated by subjects (who have been developed much more richly than he has). It's all just very ... strange, and it amuses me.