they're not worms, they're arachnids.
Apr. 23rd, 2011 01:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tropiaveraSO. SEASON TWO.
Hot daaaaaaaaamn, that is a lot of things all going on! Firstly and foremostly, SERIOUSLY, WE'RE GOING WITH THE SWITCHEROO AS THE CLIFFHANGER? The one that was telegraphed so hilariously obviously as soon as Olivia dyed her hair? HEY PETER, REMEMBER THAT TIME LITERALLY TWO EPISODES AGO WHEN YOU REMINDED POLICE LADY TO CHECK THAT SHIT? And that time when you could tell almost immediately that Therelivia was CLEARLY NOT THE SAME AS Herelivia? ALWAYS WITH THE EVIL DOPPLEGANGERS JJ I JUST DJKSF
Speaking of which: I was really hoping that the Over Thereians wouldn't just turn out to be....you know, evil (and I had such hope at the beginning of Over There Part 1, when everyone is all HOTNESS PLAGUE SUFFERERS THIS and SASSY DIFFERENT HAIR and CHARLIEEEEEE and HOW MANY UNIVERSES UNTIL YOU ARE MARRIED TO OLIVIA I SWEAR TO CHRIST, and had personalities that weren't just like tying damsels to the tracks or whatever [MRS BISHOP :(]) but uh, this is cool too or whatever. COME ON THERELIVIA, the only way to deal with multiple universe-wide quests for domination is to subvert THE AUTHORITY. And then marry Charlie. What, I'm just saying. I found the hypermilitarism of the Redverse* really interesting, partly because hayyy dystopia hayyyy, but also because it's clearly meant as a foil to our blueverse. I find these shows that are from the perspective of a law enforcement body slightly problematic because individuals who don't immediately cooperate with the authorities are usually shown to be an obstacle to CATCHING A KILLER, and we the audience know that the CIA or FBI or police are the good guys, and it's these randos that aren't providing information who are then the bad guys. It's particularly interesting here because the Blueverse is clearly meant to be seen as less militarized than the Redverse (and it is! by virtue of being NOT A POLICE STATE with NO HORRIFYING QUARANTINE ZONES WITH 10,000 "DEAD"), but I think that it's also meant to be seen as, like, not militarized in a serious way, because Fringe is a mildly subversive show, but it's not that subversive, and it's still showing us that the investigatory means are justified (and, not really subject to question, since no one really ever does question them, and how frequently are the investigations wrong?). WRT the investigation side, I mean, not the medical ethics side, though the show treats a lot of Walter's experiments as justified or "grey area" in a surprising way (ESPECIALLY IN THE FINALE, WHAT) (I had a lot more to say about this than I thought I did, whoops).
UNCONNECTED THOUGHTS:
- How tragic was Jacksonville, augh? I'm sure this isn't unique to me but I find a lot of the treatment of Walter to be, somehow, better and worse than I think is justified, particularly from Olivia. Occasionally I think we're meant to think she's compartmentalizing, but Anna Torv is talented enough that I don't think I'm just misreading "compartmentalized" as "chill". So idk.
- SPEAKING OF ANNA TORV'S FACE: good god. I'm still not super invested in Olivia/Peter (in part because Peter still feels like a total cipher)...most of the time, except sometimes Anna Torv makes that face or Joshua Jackson won't stop looking at her with those ridiculous eyes and you guys, I am only so human. Also the last five minutes of Jacksonville, I can't even. YOU BELONG WITH OLIVIA, PETER. I don't even.
- Brown Betty: the most hilariously filleriest filler episode ever? I did not know going in that was going to be a musical episode, and I don't know if that helped or hindered the experiment. LET'S TONE IT DOWN WITH THE MUSICAL EPISODES, EH WHAT, TELEVISION.
- a brief twitter interlude:
@latropita: i know everyone says season one of fringe is the the x-files-iest, but i feel like season two has more episode parallels.
@sainfoin-fields: the standalone eps of s1 are, but the longterm elements that enter later on are clear parallels
@latropita: if i could manage it without wanting to cry for a million years i would do a comparison between night of desirable objects & home
@latropita: and of course those seminal examinations of space face disease, space & earthling.
For reals. Of Human Action/Pusher! White Tulip/Monday! Snakehead/Hell Money (/everyone other Chinatown episode of a procedural!) I have all night.
- Sam Weiss, I am intrigued by you! Partly because <33333 KEVIN CORRIGAN <33333, partly because I just really enjoyed all of his business with Olivia. "YOURE GONNA BE FINE", cryyyyyy, but omg I loved that SO MUCH. That all of his Big Lebowski self-help business is really entirely self-directed and everything that Olivia needs she already has!
- Can we talk about that time Nina Sharp kissed Broyles, holy shit. WHERE IS MY BROYLES EPISODE ALREADY. Skinner got at least two, COME OOOOOON.
- SPEAKING OF WHICH: WHERE IS MY MOAR ASTRID, sweet jesus. Remember her sweet-ass beret? MORE OF THAT, less of this "Walter still treats her like hell half the time and can't remember her name, but we're still told they have this sweet and caring relationship based on respect and trust" I MEAN REALLY.
- I wish I could have liked August more than I did, because I do quite like the Observers and I'm interested in their whole mythology, but that was just not a very subtle episode, like at all. Also, whenever they focus on the Observers it makes me think more about Fringe's multiverse and how I don't think it makes any sense, and that is frustrating. TO WIT: the way Walter explains it, the universe branching takes place at an essentially fractal level, such that each choice creates a universe based on each possible outcome, but the Redverse that we've been shown has dozens of differences, and while I am okay going along with the idea that universe only split on the divergence of one of the important events that the Observers...observe (e.g. 9/11), one has to assume that the Hindenburg not exploding (one assumes), Andrew Jackson not being elected president, Nixon not being impeached (one assumes), and numerous of these other key moments would have equal ramifications, much more so than it being Red Lantern (never mind than we have a Red Lantern as well) or Eric Stoltz not being swapped out, the Grand Hotel, lol Transamerica Pyramid (???) and so on. Ugh, idk.
- I don't even know what to do with Unearthed. At first I assumed Olivia was having more otherside hallucinations (and of all the ones to have, Charlie would be nowhere near the worst) but since that's clearly not what was going on there, i...dek.
- Too bad all those other cortexephan kids were disposed of immediately, huh? I was kind of excited about the potential there for, you know, Olivia Dunham's School for Gifted Adultsters, but I live in hope.
* If Over There is the Redverse (as denoted by the credits) why are Olivia's flashbacks yellow lens flare out of control? Color coding all up my grill.
Hot daaaaaaaaamn, that is a lot of things all going on! Firstly and foremostly, SERIOUSLY, WE'RE GOING WITH THE SWITCHEROO AS THE CLIFFHANGER? The one that was telegraphed so hilariously obviously as soon as Olivia dyed her hair? HEY PETER, REMEMBER THAT TIME LITERALLY TWO EPISODES AGO WHEN YOU REMINDED POLICE LADY TO CHECK THAT SHIT? And that time when you could tell almost immediately that Therelivia was CLEARLY NOT THE SAME AS Herelivia? ALWAYS WITH THE EVIL DOPPLEGANGERS JJ I JUST DJKSF
Speaking of which: I was really hoping that the Over Thereians wouldn't just turn out to be....you know, evil (and I had such hope at the beginning of Over There Part 1, when everyone is all HOTNESS PLAGUE SUFFERERS THIS and SASSY DIFFERENT HAIR and CHARLIEEEEEE and HOW MANY UNIVERSES UNTIL YOU ARE MARRIED TO OLIVIA I SWEAR TO CHRIST, and had personalities that weren't just like tying damsels to the tracks or whatever [MRS BISHOP :(]) but uh, this is cool too or whatever. COME ON THERELIVIA, the only way to deal with multiple universe-wide quests for domination is to subvert THE AUTHORITY. And then marry Charlie. What, I'm just saying. I found the hypermilitarism of the Redverse* really interesting, partly because hayyy dystopia hayyyy, but also because it's clearly meant as a foil to our blueverse. I find these shows that are from the perspective of a law enforcement body slightly problematic because individuals who don't immediately cooperate with the authorities are usually shown to be an obstacle to CATCHING A KILLER, and we the audience know that the CIA or FBI or police are the good guys, and it's these randos that aren't providing information who are then the bad guys. It's particularly interesting here because the Blueverse is clearly meant to be seen as less militarized than the Redverse (and it is! by virtue of being NOT A POLICE STATE with NO HORRIFYING QUARANTINE ZONES WITH 10,000 "DEAD"), but I think that it's also meant to be seen as, like, not militarized in a serious way, because Fringe is a mildly subversive show, but it's not that subversive, and it's still showing us that the investigatory means are justified (and, not really subject to question, since no one really ever does question them, and how frequently are the investigations wrong?). WRT the investigation side, I mean, not the medical ethics side, though the show treats a lot of Walter's experiments as justified or "grey area" in a surprising way (ESPECIALLY IN THE FINALE, WHAT) (I had a lot more to say about this than I thought I did, whoops).
UNCONNECTED THOUGHTS:
- How tragic was Jacksonville, augh? I'm sure this isn't unique to me but I find a lot of the treatment of Walter to be, somehow, better and worse than I think is justified, particularly from Olivia. Occasionally I think we're meant to think she's compartmentalizing, but Anna Torv is talented enough that I don't think I'm just misreading "compartmentalized" as "chill". So idk.
- SPEAKING OF ANNA TORV'S FACE: good god. I'm still not super invested in Olivia/Peter (in part because Peter still feels like a total cipher)...most of the time, except sometimes Anna Torv makes that face or Joshua Jackson won't stop looking at her with those ridiculous eyes and you guys, I am only so human. Also the last five minutes of Jacksonville, I can't even. YOU BELONG WITH OLIVIA, PETER. I don't even.
- Brown Betty: the most hilariously filleriest filler episode ever? I did not know going in that was going to be a musical episode, and I don't know if that helped or hindered the experiment. LET'S TONE IT DOWN WITH THE MUSICAL EPISODES, EH WHAT, TELEVISION.
- a brief twitter interlude:
@latropita: i know everyone says season one of fringe is the the x-files-iest, but i feel like season two has more episode parallels.
@sainfoin-fields: the standalone eps of s1 are, but the longterm elements that enter later on are clear parallels
@latropita: if i could manage it without wanting to cry for a million years i would do a comparison between night of desirable objects & home
@latropita: and of course those seminal examinations of space face disease, space & earthling.
For reals. Of Human Action/Pusher! White Tulip/Monday! Snakehead/Hell Money (/everyone other Chinatown episode of a procedural!) I have all night.
- Sam Weiss, I am intrigued by you! Partly because <33333 KEVIN CORRIGAN <33333, partly because I just really enjoyed all of his business with Olivia. "YOURE GONNA BE FINE", cryyyyyy, but omg I loved that SO MUCH. That all of his Big Lebowski self-help business is really entirely self-directed and everything that Olivia needs she already has!
- Can we talk about that time Nina Sharp kissed Broyles, holy shit. WHERE IS MY BROYLES EPISODE ALREADY. Skinner got at least two, COME OOOOOON.
- SPEAKING OF WHICH: WHERE IS MY MOAR ASTRID, sweet jesus. Remember her sweet-ass beret? MORE OF THAT, less of this "Walter still treats her like hell half the time and can't remember her name, but we're still told they have this sweet and caring relationship based on respect and trust" I MEAN REALLY.
- I wish I could have liked August more than I did, because I do quite like the Observers and I'm interested in their whole mythology, but that was just not a very subtle episode, like at all. Also, whenever they focus on the Observers it makes me think more about Fringe's multiverse and how I don't think it makes any sense, and that is frustrating. TO WIT: the way Walter explains it, the universe branching takes place at an essentially fractal level, such that each choice creates a universe based on each possible outcome, but the Redverse that we've been shown has dozens of differences, and while I am okay going along with the idea that universe only split on the divergence of one of the important events that the Observers...observe (e.g. 9/11), one has to assume that the Hindenburg not exploding (one assumes), Andrew Jackson not being elected president, Nixon not being impeached (one assumes), and numerous of these other key moments would have equal ramifications, much more so than it being Red Lantern (never mind than we have a Red Lantern as well) or Eric Stoltz not being swapped out, the Grand Hotel, lol Transamerica Pyramid (???) and so on. Ugh, idk.
- I don't even know what to do with Unearthed. At first I assumed Olivia was having more otherside hallucinations (and of all the ones to have, Charlie would be nowhere near the worst) but since that's clearly not what was going on there, i...dek.
- Too bad all those other cortexephan kids were disposed of immediately, huh? I was kind of excited about the potential there for, you know, Olivia Dunham's School for Gifted Adultsters, but I live in hope.
* If Over There is the Redverse (as denoted by the credits) why are Olivia's flashbacks yellow lens flare out of control? Color coding all up my grill.