Fringe: Os

Mar. 16th, 2011 06:12 pm
beccatoria: (morally ambiguous middle-aged cyborg who)
[personal profile] beccatoria
For those of you who even noticed I hadn't posted a write-up on this yet, the reason for its lateness is probably easily guessed - it wasn't that interesting.

The story of the week was fine, I guess. Mostly interesting in the way it illustrates our world's continued collapse and it did lead to some really nice stuff between Walter and Nina. I appreciate the kind of unexpected gentleness she shows him but the way she is very firm with it. Like from the previous episode when he asked her how she knew he wouldn't fail and she told him, "because you can't." Not angry, not glowing, just true and simple. He can't fail. I also liked, here, the focus on how yes, he is extremely intelligent, but that he was such a genius inventor because of his imagination; there was something simple, yet something I hadn't previously considered in the way she put that. For all he's lost parts of his brain to surgery and parts of his sanity to St Claire's, his imagination is intact, and Nina declares it the best part of him.

So, yes, I liked that.

The Peter/Olivia stuff was all...blah. Whatever. I mean, I didn't want to tear my eyes out, and okay, Olivia is a bit happier than we'd previously seen her but I felt she was still different to Fauxlivia and also, we saw her like this, a little, in the Pilot with John Scott and in the memories of him we saw later. So, okay. Fine. I don't get why she likes him but apparently she does and at least it seems reasonably low key (PAINFUL PAINFULLY forced expository dialogue from Walter to Nina aside). So I cringed slightly and eyerolled through it and figured, whatever, it could be worse. Mostly I'm offended by the perfunctory narrative way in which it was put together.

And I think that's where my sadness really comes in. Not so much at having to sit through a few brief scenes of her asking him if he wants to go to a street fair or something, but the way in which I do not get why they're together at all. I miss the scenes where she was quietly withdrawn and he was trying and failing to connect with her in clumsy ways. I miss the pain of that because it felt authentic in a way this doesn't, because I don't really feel the pain of that was ever resolved. It was resolved through Olivia's sheer determination not to be broken because Peter suggested to her that she was (which is interesting since I don't think, deep down, he wants to believe that at all). In itself, that's kind of heartbreaking too, but...I don't know anymore.

A lot hangs on how she handles the murderous revelation they ended with before William Bell took her over because in addition to general dishonesty, those 'shifters were pretty brutally killed.

So, okay, here's as simple as I can put it. In 6B Peter says he knows Olivia has trust issues and he never wanted to be one of the reasons for that. Yet he embarks on a relationship with her knowing he is continuing to deceive her in both a personal and professional capacity. How am I to take that?

He frames his admission to her in terms of trust in her judgement rather than an apology for his behaviour, which honestly, even if Peter isn't being willfully manipulative, still feels extremely manipulative. And it's not the first time he's flipped things around like this.

During the first half of the season I really thought that the problem was Peter didn't know Olivia as well as he thought; wanted to believe she was fixable and he was fixing her; loving her in spite of the parts of her that were broken and healed at slightly odd (if stronger) angles, instead of because of them. I think I clung to this interpretation so strongly because it was one in which my lack of understanding as to why the two of them had fallen for each other was a bonus not a negative. And because it was totally tragic, in the narrative sense of the word as well as the emotional. I even felt for Peter in this situation, who was, once again, unable to be the man this universe needed him to be.

But now, even though it was never what I wanted, I'm struggling not to see Peter as actively selfish. I don't think he sits around twirling his mustachios and wondering how he can manipulate Olivia, or anything. But I do think that he seems much more focused on how he can convince her to forgive him than whether or not she's ready to. It's not a perspective I want to hold, and until recently, it wasn't one I did hold.

And it may yet turn out that the machine has been affecting his behaviour in a myriad of ways and in some ways I hope it has been because he's becoming unlikeable in his search for answers. Which is ironically like his father(s), and something I applaud the show for doing if it is, indeed, doing it. But like so much on this show, I'm never sure.

I'm reminded of "Northwest Passage". That was the episode at the end of S2 when Peter went off on his own and had an adventure with Martha Plimpton as a local cop and Martha Plimpton owned the entire episode in absolutely stunning ways. And I went into that wondering if I'd come out of it understanding Peter more - wanting to. But the parts of Peter I came to understand more were not really the parts I wanted to. The isolation and abandonment and confusion I wanted to see explored were pretty much entirely sublimated beneath a veneer of casual interpersonal surface-interactions and, once engaged in something he thought could provide him with answers, in righteous, singleminded anger and resolve to the point he became more than a little disturbing.

At the time I mourned not getting to see what was underneath the anger, because I kind of vaguely assumed the anger was shorthand for Action!Peter and the episode was yet another failed attempt to make him seem edgy and cool and like a Lead Character, instead of being braver and going for something quieter and more introspective.

But I'm starting to think that the confusion and isolation has been pushed so deep down in Peter for so long that the episode might have given me more insight into Peter than I realised at first. His inability to form really deep and lasting connections to people manifest in questionable behaviour even with those he wants to form bonds with. He gets aggressive and angry when he's frustrated. And he's kind of selfish and singleminded to the point of tunnelvision when he's decided that there's something he wants - like answers about his background or the machine.

His broken childhood makes these traits make sense. More than that, they're traits that Walter and Walternate share very strongly. I know that's a negative slew of crap I just dumped on him; probably slightly more extreme than he deserves, but I'm trying to illustrate a point. Which is, Peter's...not really that great a guy all the time. And there's a bunch of interesting backstory reasons for that if we care to delve into them, and a bunch of potentially interesting narrative things that could be done with that in the future, the problem is that once again, am I seeing what I'm supposed to be seeing?

Peter was introduced as a conman, but fandom latched onto him as the conman with a heart of Pacey gold. And it's not that I think he has a heart of PURE EVIL ICE or anything, I just wonder how much of the assumption that he's a real Nice Guy in a Crazy Situation is fannish creation, show intention or Dawson's Creek transference.

I certainly think a fair amount does come from the show's seemingly ambivalent attitude to him and its failure to really give him enough space to develop into a character complex enough to encompass both the Nice Guy in a Crazy Situation and the Angry Guy who Wants Answers and Doesn't Care How He Gets Them. Which is totally doable, but just...hasn't been done for him, in my mind.

Ultimately I guess it's just...he's making me uncomfortable. He's reminding me of Walternate. I hope this is intentional. I hope Olivia gives him hell about this. I hope it was largely down to the Machine affecting him because otherwise I think I'm going to struggle with what I think of him.

Mostly I just hope that they don't handle it the way they handled Olivia's feelings after she found out about Peter and Fauxlivia - i.e. setting up a complicated, painful, real situation, then resolving it because "it's been a while, let's resolve it" rather than because any common ground actually seemed to have been reached.

Date: 2011-03-16 07:21 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] skipthedemon.livejournal.com
I wasn't sure I got Peter, until I started rewatching from the beginning. Between that and recent episodes I think I'm beginning to.

Peter is not really a good person. He is *not* a nice guy. He's the guy that, in the pilot, went and broke someones finger's while they were in custody. Why did he do this, which I don't even think he thought was the 'right' thing to do? Because Olivia, who he was inexplicably immediately (or maybe not so inexplicably and immediately) attached to, was in deep emotional pain and that made him angry.

I think Peter really is ALL his parents' son. He has Walternate's genius, and Walter's imagination, Alt!Elizabeth's furious resolution to be strong for his family, and like our Elizabeth, seeing the people he loves hurting just about kills him.

And while he is brilliant, I think he is a caretaker first, and scientist second. Makes sense - the world changed out from under him. Holding onto the people he has is all he's got. When he decided to go along with our Bishops' con, it seems like Walter took and the blame, and he bonded hard with Elizabeth. No wonder he didn't stop running after he died. What I don't get is why he left in the first place. Aside from maybe knowing, deep down, she was in on the lie, too.

So, yes, I can see why he was blind to Alt!Olivia's differences. Lying to himself about the people he loves, so he can feel loved, is a near life long habit. To a certain extent Olivia being in his life is more important than Olivia for herself, to him. He's a little co-dependent. I think he can realize his issues and work through them, but I'm not sure the show will go there.

In short, caregiver does not = moral.

Date: 2011-03-20 01:24 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] beccatoria.livejournal.com
Firstly my apologies for such a later reply - I've been kind of quasi offline for a few days. But your comment is very interesting. I certainly think that it's an interesting thing to point out that being a caregiver is not necessarily a thing that makes someone inherently kind and selfless. Perhaps that's why I wouldn't frame it so much like that - because he didn't really become Walter's caregiver until guilted into it, and didn't confirm that he was willing to stay until the fourth episode piqued his interest in the ongoing cases, which I suppose plays into his behaviour in Northwest Passage too. *considers*

But he has definitely become a caregiver. For a long time that was his primary motivation in staying; perhaps it's not a coincidence that when he finally has his own reasons for doing so - the picture of him in the machine and the revelations about his own involvement herald more of a return to That Guy who'll break thumbs for answers just because he's angry.

However, to get back to your original point, I do think that attachment, even if not caregiving (although in Walter's case it's definitely that too) is a big part of this. He runs away all the time because he's afraid of abandonment and betrayal given his weird upbringing that he doesn't even remember on a conscious level, but ultimately now he's been forced into a place where he has it I definitely agree about the codependency. Saying that having Olivia in his life is more important than which Olivia that is, makes a lot of sense to me.

It's odd that I really hate the idea of them being "destined to be together" and their meeting as kids being evidence of this, but (and I don't think the show has yet gone here, will go here, nor do I necessarily want it to) the idea that a meeting as kids while in dire emotional straits, knocked them off course and sort of broke them - that their experiences as children and adults led them to this irrational attachment/subconscious belief they should be together even though on a rational and realworld level, they're not really that good a match. Like as a genuinely slightly doomed misunderstanding of the connection they feel to each other. One that, as adults, is misfiring towards romance.

Though again, I don't think the show will actually go there, or even to the less unlikely and more needed exploration of Peter's issues.

Date: 2011-03-16 10:11 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] daybreak777.livejournal.com
Like from the previous episode when he asked her how she knew he wouldn't fail and she told him, "because you can't." Not angry, not glowing, just true and simple. He can't fail.
Aww, they were so sweet! I'm beginning to love anything about Nina too. She's such an intriguing woman and I'm so curious about her!

For all he's lost parts of his brain to surgery and parts of his sanity to St Claire's, his imagination is intact, and Nina declares it the best part of him.
Yes. :-) I like him better because he's fallable and not always confident but with a bit of support his imagination carries the day. I hadn't thought of that way, either but it's a great way to think about it.

Mostly I'm offended by the perfunctory narrative way in which it was put together.
I'm just glad it's not so overt and not out-and-out bad, you know? I think of Olivia as an acquaintance I see frequently but don't know very well. I may not get why she dates who she dates but I'm really grateful if she doesn't talk to me too much about it.

I do think that he seems much more focused on how he can convince her to forgive him than whether or not she's ready to.
Ooh! I think I'm learning something here. See, I'm not angry with Peter. I'm annoyed with the writers. It seems in the middle of seasons, they sideline Olivia. What's happening here is this romance is more focused on Peter than on Olivia's needs. I saw the little charge Nina got when she saw that Peter had picked Olivia, therefore picking this universe. But no!!! It's not frakking about what Peter chooses or his forgiveness or his whatever. It's about what you say here. About Olivia and how she's healed and why and her choices.

I don't blame Peter (who reminded me oddly and uncomfortably of Anakin Skywalker killing the Tusken Raiders in Episode 2 here) but if the show puts him at the forefront, then what can he do? He's being allowed to be selfish. Simply put, they could write him better here. And that's a lot for me to say considering I don't like the actor. But for once, I don't think it's Joshua Jackons here. It's a writing thing.

But like so much on this show, I'm never sure.
I still dislike Pacey but not any more than before. I feel a bit of sympathy because he was prepared to love this Olivia and then they fucked with him and he fell for the alternate. And if he doesn't become 'mechanized' or do something then he's just helplessly waiting for stuff to happen to him. Which is where they all were before.

As for the show, I don't think they've forgotten Olivia. That was the thing about listening to DVD comments. They totally plan to get back to Olivia. I just don't know why it takes so loooooooooong.
Edited Date: 2011-03-16 10:15 pm (UTC)

Date: 2011-03-20 01:30 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] beccatoria.livejournal.com
I think of Olivia as an acquaintance I see frequently but don't know very well. I may not get why she dates who she dates but I'm really grateful if she doesn't talk to me too much about it.

Ahahahaa, hilarious. Yes, I understand what you mean. I think for me I think of her as a friend who I do know very well so it upsets me that I don't get why she dates who she dates and I worry that it's a bad choice, but at least she's not asking me to hang out with them too. ;)

See, I'm not angry with Peter. I'm annoyed with the writers. It seems in the middle of seasons, they sideline Olivia. What's happening here is this romance is more focused on Peter than on Olivia's needs.

I'm...not 100% sure I agree with you though I definitely understand why you think the way you do. I feel more like I'm genuinely unsure what they're doing because I don't feel it's that focused on Peter's needs either? Because I do think that 6B when Olivia decides to give it a go again is very much rooted in her perspective and gives a fairly realistic journey for her to go through to get to the point she does at the end. The problem I have is that I find it realistic because Olivia is the kind of person who sucks it up and just accepts she's going to have to do all the legwork which breaks my heart.

So what worries me is that the writers think that I ought to genuinely see it as a positive and understandable development, which I think is probably the case. But they are still writing it from Olivia's perspective, to me. WHICH IS WHY I'M SO CONFUSED. It's less that I think they're making it about Peter and more like I think they're making it about Olivia's needs but then writing that weirdly? I hope that makes sense...? Or like, they're making it about Olivia's needs but they haven't yet explained to me why she needs to be with Peter?

As to the ultimate choice in the machine - as a separate issue I'm not convinced either Universe will be destroyed since they've said that they're not writing it as a series finale and are proceeding with the hope of getting a fourth season. So I don't think they'd destroy a universe, which means I'm not sure the whole Peter's Choice thing will play out the way we fear it will; what remains to be seen is whether it'll play out in a way that disavows the ickiness of what they set up, which I think is possible but not assured.

I don't blame Peter (who reminded me oddly and uncomfortably of Anakin Skywalker killing the Tusken Raiders in Episode 2 here)

AHAHAHAHAHAHA. Genius and hilarious comparison.

Date: 2011-03-16 10:12 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] daybreak777.livejournal.com
Comment won't fit? I'm always surprised when that happens. :-)

the assumption that he's a real Nice Guy in a Crazy Situation is fannish creation, show intention or Dawson's Creek transference
See I couldn't stand Pacey or the air around him. SMUG! So I transferred my years-old dislike of Pacey right to Peter. You inspired an interesting thought in me. That it's okay for these guys to be unlikable. Walter's not likeable. I like him but as one friend has recently said, what's he's done is reprehensible. I didn't like Olivia at first. She's likeable but it was so hard for me to know who she was. But that could be interesting! That these people are thrown together for other purposes. That it's not for us to like them and them to save the world and live happily ever after. Maybe that's not always the best or most interesting ending.

Maybe they try and become a family and learn a lot about themselves and the world. Yes, they can save it but not without personal cost. To themselves and in lives. Maybe they realize they'll always be family after this--always--even if they can't live and love together after all is said and done. And wouldn't that be more real and more interesting?

But don't mind me. Remember, I wanted all the BSG people to die in the end. I dunno. I didn't really want them dead. I just want shows to do something different and interesting and . . . real. I want them to honor who these characters on Fringe are since I really have had a difficult and long road to finally begin to maybe understand them.

Mostly I just hope that they don't handle it the way they handled Olivia's feelings after she found out about Peter and Fauxlivia - i.e. setting up a complicated, painful, real situation, then resolving it because "it's been a while, let's resolve it" rather than because any common ground actually seemed to have been reached.
I have to rewatch for her reaction. Again, I feel they set up a lot with Olivia and then don't fully let it play out. I don't know if it's because they are so in love with the alt!verse or they think viewers will get bored or they just don't know what to do with it.

Date: 2011-03-20 01:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] beccatoria.livejournal.com
Comment won't fit? I'm always surprised when that happens. :-)

Ha! Clearly you're not wordy enough!

I never watched much Dawson's Creek so I never really had strong feelings on Pacey either way? It's weird because I quite like Joshua Jackson when I've seen him in interviews - he seems super smart and often expresses opinions about the show I really agree with, but Peter is, I dunno. I have trouble with him as I outlined.

As to Olivia, it's weird we disagree on that but that's probably because I never had any issues connecting with her? But I think that mostly they have done a really good job of letting stuff play out for her, it's just she's very reserved and internal. However, I think at this point, for the first time, they're kind of failing. Which is why I'm so...blarghhhhh! ;)

Date: 2011-03-19 02:21 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] coffeejunkii.livejournal.com
i only caught up with the last week's episode because i didn't think we'd get a new ep when everything else is on hiatus. it worries me that they seem to be burning through the rest of the season, but hopefully these new eps against not much other competition will give fringe a ratings boost.

other than that, i'm also sort of puzzled by what happened in this ep and i agree with the following two things in particular:

Not so much at having to sit through a few brief scenes of her asking him if he wants to go to a street fair or something, but the way in which I do not get why they're together at all. I miss the scenes where she was quietly withdrawn and he was trying and failing to connect with her in clumsy ways. I miss the pain of that because it felt authentic in a way this doesn't, because I don't really feel the pain of that was ever resolved. It was resolved through Olivia's sheer determination not to be broken because Peter suggested to her that she was (which is interesting since I don't think, deep down, he wants to believe that at all). In itself, that's kind of heartbreaking too, but...I don't know anymore.

and

He's reminding me of Walternate. I hope this is intentional. I hope Olivia gives him hell about this. I hope it was largely down to the Machine affecting him because otherwise I think I'm going to struggle with what I think of him.

yes. if this turns out to be a long arc about peter being under the influence, then kudos to fringe. but i'm not sure it is. also, i know this will end in utter heartbreak for olivia, who is totally putting herself out there and taking a risk and it will not be rewarded. so unfair.

Date: 2011-03-20 01:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] beccatoria.livejournal.com
it worries me that they seem to be burning through the rest of the season, but hopefully these new eps against not much other competition will give fringe a ratings boost.

Reliable sources say that Fox really want Fringe to succeed on Fridays (although not enough that I'm willing to trust them to renew it with low ratings...), so I genuinely think their decision to do it this way is so that it's not going up against Supernatural. That said, last week it held steady at a respectable (for Friday nights) 1.5, but this week it tanked down to a 1.3 which is its lowest rating ever. Now part of that is probably because of March Madness on the other channel, Spring Break and it being the first week of Daylight Saving Time which apparently always causes a dip and has done so all week, but networks aren't always that understanding of stuff like that. I'm hoping it's a blip and if it is and it holds at around 1.5 (as it has been) it's got strong chances of renewal. If it drops down to around a 1.3 then I think that we're in much murker territory. (Says she of no industry knowledge!) Because on the one hand, Friday nights is VERY difficult to programme for and Fringe is doing...okay if not stellar for that time slot and is holding its audience even if at a slightly lower level (assuming this dip isn't the start of a viewership crash). They're doing better on Fridays than they were before they moved Fringe into the slot, so I guess if they did cancel it they would be starting from scratch with that slot again. IDK. Argh.

Basically the good news is that rumours are that Fox wants to be able to justify picking it up and is leaning towards doing so, but the ratings did just tank a bit and if they're not understanding about the basketball/don't bounce back that might be a real reason to worry.

The fact I still care even though I'm ambivalent about a lot of the current developments probably says something about me. BAH. ;)

To get back to the actual show! I'm glad that my comments made sense, much as I wish I were on board with what they were doing.

I think though, that I'd say with regards to Olivia taking a risk and putting herself out there and how it won't be rewarded, I...actually hope it isn't? Like, that's what I think the natural end to this plotline is - that's the authentic, truthful fallout, so if they go for that and I get yet more of Anna Torv and her faaaaaace breaking my heart, I will be okay with it even as I'll feel super bad for the character. What I'm more worried about is that it will be rewarded even though I don't get why. Because then the message is more like, "Peter was right in his jerky manipulations of you! Now you get to be happy even though he lies to you!" Or at least, that would be the potential?

It goes back to how for some reason, in this show, I have turned into someone who just wants epic amounts of Emo Manpain for Olivia ALL THE TIME. *facepalm*

Date: 2011-03-20 04:45 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] coffeejunkii.livejournal.com
i hope you're right re: fox's investment in fringe. i haven't been this anxious about ratings for a show in quite a while. i didn't know that fringe is doing better than what fox had in the timeslot previously; that's indeed good news. but still, arrrrgh! please do better next week, fringe!

oh, i also totally hope the thing with peter will blow up in olivia's face. it would suck if it didn't because it would indeed confirm that it's perfectly fine for peter to lie to olivia in a casual and continuous manner as long as he apologizes for it later on. it's funny that i was on board with a peter/olivia romance about a year ago, but the events of this season totally changed my opinion of peter.

hahaha, well, that's not the worst thing to want :D

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