Meanwhile Fauxlivia got it on with Peter to keep her cover (because Olivia was just starting to admit she wanted to date him). To be honest, the Peter/Olivia romance felt HELLA CONTRIVED to me because Peter is an object, not a character, (that said, I do ship Olivia/Furniture more than I ship Olivia/Peter), but again up until this point, I've been surprised by how it's been handled.
When Olivia finds out, she basically gets to call out the fact that Peter didn't notice all the really obvious differences, and that "I thought I was bringing out a new side in you because of TEH HOT SEX" is insulting. And again, I think the show clearly invites us to side with her.
Something they haven't made quite as much of in the show as I'd like, but has been raised by both the actors, so I'm hopeful eventually it will be, is the fact that Peter liked the changes and how...kind of awful that is.
So...that's where we're at. Up until this VERY POINT IN FRINGE HISTORY, while it's had wobbles and hasn't always been 100% awesome and has occasionally forced the romance issue, I really would have been here telling you that there's no way I believe the show was trying to suggest that the best solution would be to merge the Olivias into their Ultimate Form and given them a communal baby.
But...in literally the last two episodes (and judging from the trailer for the next one), they're really starting to push the soap thing.
I still...basically have faith they're not going to try to foist a brand new "fixed" Olivia on us at the end, if only because where would the drama come from? It'd be like "fixing" Walter. If it were the season finale I might be worried about an RDM deus-ex-machina of crapness, but it's not (even if it gets cancelled, the writers aren't writing it as though it's their last season, apparently).
I think my issue is that I didn't want a Peter/Olivia romance plot at ALL and they TRICKED ME by making me think that perhaps they were only doing it to prove it wouldn't work, to like, have it be tragic and have Peter go of with Fauxlivia instead? And now I'm worried they're just going for a love triangle which is...so much more boring and kind of inherently faily even if they handle it as well as possible.
It also comes back to the weird way they handle Peter's character. As well as being this guy with two worlds, two fathers, and now, apparently, two loves, which is...I mean, if he were a better realised character, and setting aside the genderfail of choosing between two women for an instant, it's a fairytale situation, and a confusing one, and potentially a real goldmine for a character. But...they never show anything from Peter's POV, like almost ever. And occasionally they panic about the fact he essentially exists in the traditional female role of "quest object" for both Walter and Olivia and try to make him narratively significant. Like by introducing some universe destroying doomsday device that is genetically tied to him for some mysterious reason and then setting up BUT OMGS, WHICH WOMAN AND THUS UNIVERSE WILL HE CHOOOOOOSE?
And just like that we're back on the razor edge of fail.
So um, in sum...
There's a lot of really interesting stuff going on here, and Olivia's agency remains oddly intact even when either brainwashed or relegated to a love triangle, but Fringe also has an annoying, and series-long habit of appearing like it's going to Fail somehow and then never quite actually failing.
And we're on one of those precipices right now, and I don't know which way it'll fall.
Two weeks ago I would have thought the notion that they'd merge into an Ultimate Olivia with a shared baby was UNPOSSIBLE. But then two weeks before Islanded in a Stream of Stars I never believed they'd relegate Laura to being a love-interest-ship-parallel.
I suppose the best I can say is, it hasn't failed yet, I am still madly in love with Olivia, but I'm nervous.
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Date: 2011-02-16 12:18 pm (UTC)When Olivia finds out, she basically gets to call out the fact that Peter didn't notice all the really obvious differences, and that "I thought I was bringing out a new side in you because of TEH HOT SEX" is insulting. And again, I think the show clearly invites us to side with her.
Something they haven't made quite as much of in the show as I'd like, but has been raised by both the actors, so I'm hopeful eventually it will be, is the fact that Peter liked the changes and how...kind of awful that is.
So...that's where we're at. Up until this VERY POINT IN FRINGE HISTORY, while it's had wobbles and hasn't always been 100% awesome and has occasionally forced the romance issue, I really would have been here telling you that there's no way I believe the show was trying to suggest that the best solution would be to merge the Olivias into their Ultimate Form and given them a communal baby.
But...in literally the last two episodes (and judging from the trailer for the next one), they're really starting to push the soap thing.
I still...basically have faith they're not going to try to foist a brand new "fixed" Olivia on us at the end, if only because where would the drama come from? It'd be like "fixing" Walter. If it were the season finale I might be worried about an RDM deus-ex-machina of crapness, but it's not (even if it gets cancelled, the writers aren't writing it as though it's their last season, apparently).
I think my issue is that I didn't want a Peter/Olivia romance plot at ALL and they TRICKED ME by making me think that perhaps they were only doing it to prove it wouldn't work, to like, have it be tragic and have Peter go of with Fauxlivia instead? And now I'm worried they're just going for a love triangle which is...so much more boring and kind of inherently faily even if they handle it as well as possible.
It also comes back to the weird way they handle Peter's character. As well as being this guy with two worlds, two fathers, and now, apparently, two loves, which is...I mean, if he were a better realised character, and setting aside the genderfail of choosing between two women for an instant, it's a fairytale situation, and a confusing one, and potentially a real goldmine for a character. But...they never show anything from Peter's POV, like almost ever. And occasionally they panic about the fact he essentially exists in the traditional female role of "quest object" for both Walter and Olivia and try to make him narratively significant. Like by introducing some universe destroying doomsday device that is genetically tied to him for some mysterious reason and then setting up BUT OMGS, WHICH WOMAN AND THUS UNIVERSE WILL HE CHOOOOOOSE?
And just like that we're back on the razor edge of fail.
So um, in sum...
There's a lot of really interesting stuff going on here, and Olivia's agency remains oddly intact even when either brainwashed or relegated to a love triangle, but Fringe also has an annoying, and series-long habit of appearing like it's going to Fail somehow and then never quite actually failing.
And we're on one of those precipices right now, and I don't know which way it'll fall.
Two weeks ago I would have thought the notion that they'd merge into an Ultimate Olivia with a shared baby was UNPOSSIBLE. But then two weeks before Islanded in a Stream of Stars I never believed they'd relegate Laura to being a love-interest-ship-parallel.
I suppose the best I can say is, it hasn't failed yet, I am still madly in love with Olivia, but I'm nervous.