DAMMIT FRINGE.

[beccatoria]

Spoilers for the US and Canadian promos follow (available on your friendly youtube):

OH FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. SNOGGING? REALLY? WHY?

It wouldn't be so freaking bad if I even understood why Olivia liked Peter so much. I mean I guess as much as I understood it, it was basically like...he was sweet and safe and she wanted something normal?

I guess even if they'd handled stuff different in the last few episodes I'd be less squicked by it too, but Peter's mostly been...secretly psychotic and hasn't really addressed any of the issues Olivia's raised.

I know from the US promo that Olivia does at least confront him about still having feelings for Fauxlivia. And like...part of me even understands accepting that and trying to move past it and just...not wanting to be in stasis, since she does think Fauxlivia's gone. I don't like it, and I don't get it, but that's because I think the show have done a bad job in selling me on why her and Peter like each other beyond security and convenience.

And like I'm TRYING HERE. Because show-watching would be easier if I got it. Like, if this Fauxlivia thing hadn't happened, I might have been able to...sort of, through that lens of a slightly tragic desire for a piece of normality.

But...dammit, up until an episode ago, while I haaaate love triangles and disapprove of Peter/Olivia in general, I thought the show was handling the situation actually really well, if they were going to do it at all. And now in the space of two episode I hope they're not going to fall from adult drama to soapy melodrama but I'm concerned they will.

As I said, as long as the focus was still on Olivia, I could handle her liking Peter - I did the same thing for Laura Roslin and Adama until it stopped being about her.

But knocking up Fauxlivia in one episode and having Peter and Olivia reconcile IN THE NEXT ONE, is just so contrived and lazy. That's not organic suspense, that's cringe-inducing suspense.

But hey. It's in the promo. Maybe it happens at the start of the episode and by the end of it SNOGGING HAS DIED IN A FIRE. Or something. Blargh. I guess I'll just hope for limited screentime.

LOOK FRINGE, I have a vid about you premiering at Vidukon. I DO NOT WANT TO BE ASHAMED OF THAT BY THE TIME IT HAPPENS. DO NOT BECOME SHIT.

Here's sincerely hoping I'm overreacting. I've been known to do it before. Le sigh.

Comments

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

OH FOR FUCK'S SA....I don't even care. I don't even care.

(I care. But not for the reasons I want to.)

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Yeah I just...eh. I'm still watching and there are still bits of the show I love. But the bit of the show I hate is eating other bits. The whole thing is just so uncomfortable. And RIDICULOUS ideas like how they might kill off Fauxlivia and pass Peterspawn over to Our Olivia and Peter or the idea that they'd knock up Our Olivia too out of some disturbed sense of universal balance ARE STARTING TO SEEM PLAUSIBLE. And I think those things might WELL make me stop watching the damn show, and would at the very least mean I'd lose the impetus to talk about it, even though...I do not want to be driven to that place. Because I want to LIKE this show.

STOP BEING A SOAP OPERA, SHOW, YOU ARE NOT ON IN THE DAYTIME.

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

UGH! Just...thank goodness for Sanctuary.

[heyiya.livejournal.com]

I really love Fringe and am very annoyed that it is choosing just this moment to mess up! With the baby stupidness and all. BAH.

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

I know! Also, I have noticed an annoying pattern where shows I love fuck up RIGHT when my real world life is all...stressful. I find this unhelpful.

I'm just...trying to negotiate what my boundaries of attachment are and whether I can control them. I'm also completely uncertain as to whether or not this is setting up for Epic Fail or just...moderate, passing fail. And I can't tell. And it makes a big difference.

I thought the saving grace of the baby stupidness was that perhaps it would free up Olivia to go off and be awesome.

APPARENTLY NOT.

[heyiya.livejournal.com]

Yes, I agreed a lot with your last post though I didn't manage to comment––I feel like Fringe has the potential to vary wildly on the fail front and redeem itself in fascinating ways, and I am not giving up on the possibility it might go somewhere interesting with this!

As you said in your last post, BSG had magic babyness that didn't always detract from the show. But I was pretty annoyed with the way the baby here was presented, too (immediate jump to love and normative coupledom, in a world that's weird enough there are any number of alternative possibilities that should at least be considered).

I am crossing my fingers hard that both Fringe and your RL stuff veer back from the precipice of fail...

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

I always used to say that Fringe was a show that always seemed like it was going to fail but somehow never actually did. But what I think I meant was, it always seemed like it had the ingredients for faily storylines they never actually used and now they're using one so it's...an even closer line to toe than before. I suppose I'll see if it continues. I do still have a reasonable amount of goodwill built up from three and a half seasons, but it's doing stuff now that, if handled badly, really might eat all that up very quickly. I guess we'll just have to wait and see which is hard for me because I'm impatient. Which means I go looking for spoilers. Which means I get half the story and panic. ;)

Thanks for the crossed fingers. Actually got some possibly good news about funding today (the Council aren't actually cutting us down - we're getting the same for the next six months; downside is this may be to buy time to set up a more competitive tendering process we're unlikely to do awesomely in), so while work is still planning on downsizing it may not be as drastic as previously.

*crosses fingers on both issues too*

[emmiere.livejournal.com]

Um yeah, fuck you show right now. DO NOT ABUSE MY TRUST IN YOU DOING GOOD THINGS, PLEASE. (I still haven't watched (ETA: misleading, I haven't *finished*), but I went ahead and spoiled myself for Spawn o' Peter, which hilariously I HAD ALREADY BEEN SPOILED FOR ON FANDOM SECRETS, but I thought it was obviously too awfularious be be true and promptly forgot about it. Thus proving I really have no idea of How TV Works. *sigh*)

I mean, I still love many things about it and it can still pull it off, but my love comes with reservations at this point. And I'll always love this season less because of what they've done so far.

But...dammit, up until an episode ago, while I haaaate love triangles and disapprove of Peter/Olivia in general, I thought the show was handling the situation actually really well, if they were going to do it at all. And now in the space of two episode I hope they're not going to fall from adult drama to soapy melodrama but I'm concerned they will.

Or, yes. That.

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

DO NOT ABUSE MY TRUST IN YOU DOING GOOD THINGS, PLEASE.

YES EXACTLY.

And I hate having to add caveats and reservations to my love. Or to say, I love only this bit, or whatever.

The perverse thing is, while I'd dislike it, I think I would dislike it less if they even, like, made Peter a real character? I mean, I don't want them to, specifically, because that would mean spending time with him. But I can't help but feel a lot of my issues with him come from the fact that when he does show up as narratively important, or girls fall for him, I don't understand WHY because I don't understand him so it comes across as even more "default white male = identifiable protagonist!" than it normally would? Like...if I even saw real signs of internal grief and remorse over what happened, rather than...just trying to calm Olivia down and convince her she still wants to get in his pants, it would be a fucking start.

So yeah. Much though I do not want to sacrifice any scenes of Olivia on her own, downing whiskey, I do wonder how mad I'd be if we EVER saw Peter feeling like shit about himself and drowning his sorrows. I mean...just right now, because it didn't even occur to me before, I'm imagining him having a breakdown scene like Olivia had, and if I'd just seen that, I think it would do wonders for his damn character (or lack thereof).

I mean, I'd still be SUPER NERVOUS and have lots of caveats. But idk. I just find it ironic. They've managed to make their emo hot white male MORE obnoxious by ignoring his character. *facepalm*

IT IS A HOT MESS.

PLEASE TO BE SORTING THIS OUT NEXT WEEK AND NOT BEING HALF AS AWFUL AS I'M EXPECTING.

[chaila.livejournal.com]

I AM SORRY, SWEETIE. *snuggles* Kill snogging, kill it with fiiiiire.

CAPSLOOOOOOOOCK. :D?

ETA: JUST WATCHED IT. IDK WHY. (Poor life choices, Exhibit 852). THE OLIVIAS ARE NOT INTERCHANGEABLE, NOOOOOOOOO. Going away now.

*hugs you*

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

IF I HAD A BRAIN LIKE OLIVIA'S I WOULD KILL IT WITH FIRE. I WOULD SET IT ON FIRE WITH MY MIND.

But yes. CAPSLOCK. CAPSLOCK WILL SAVE US ALL.

[daybreak777.livejournal.com]

I think any future promos of snogging should involve flashbacks to Philip and Nina when they were young. Yup. We all know they had a thing and I'm still curious about that.

Be interesting, show!

ETA: And with that I'm all caught up on your posts! They have been so helpful and make so much sense now that I'm caught up with the show.