we can dance, we can dance
Apr. 30th, 2011 01:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tropiaveraHEY HEY LET'S TALK ABOUT SEASON THREE! Spoilers through 3x21. This post is gigantic.
Let's take this, as ever, point by point!
- First of all: THIS SEASON. The best of times, the worst of times!
- Like, The first act of the season (through "Entrada") was amazing, THOUGH NOT WITHOUT SOME CAVEATS, and I was super impressed by how deftly they were moving between universes and creating the Redverse and building your investment with Over There, which had to be no easy task! And it was super effective! For a large portion of that act, I was equally IF NOT MORE invested in what was going on in the Redverse (and they did kind of get all the best episodes, AMBER 31422 akdsfjah SO GOOD), which I have gathered is not exactly a unique position, mostly because of THOSE CAVEATS I MENTIONED EARLIER namely WHAT THE FUCK PETER BISHOP. I just - even setting aside how badly this reflects on Peter as a human within the narrative, WHO CHOOSES OBLIVIOUSNESS AS A NARRATIVE CHOICE?? That moment in "Do Shapeshifters Dream of Electric Sheep?", when Peter tells Altlivia that he's been creating excuses for her just like the shapeshifter's wife, THAT WAS SO GOOD, I legitimately lost my breath for a second! And then they just...set that aside? Peter, as a clever man who is also A FORMER CON MAN, didn't see anything suspicious! At all! It's just infuriating because there was like, zero narrative tension that ENTIRE TIME. Have Peter keep a log of dubious comments or something, ANYTHING, ffs. I completely understood Peter's rationalizations, but with that one exception, they never really show him even questioning...anything! I DID like, however, that Altlivia wasn't just eeeeeevil by the end - like, they leaned a little hard on the evil side-eye a lot of the time, but I really like that she had legit feelings by the end. LESS SO OTHER THINGS, but more on that later.
- ALSO IN THE REDVERSE: Lincoln and Scarlieeeee, my heeeeeaaaaaaart. I LOVE THEM SO MUCH. I love their relationship and their respective relationships with Altlivia (or Olivia-as-Altlivia, depending), their camaraderie! Also, Scarlie's arachnids. Lincoln's I LOVE YOU, oh my heaart, HOW DID YOU GROW TO BE MY FAVORITE SO QUICKLY, SIR? You know what I deeply want out of this season, is for Lincoln to cross universes to ask for Olivia's help and take her back to the Redverse, and for Altlivia to rescue herself anyway, and Altlivia and Olivia to talk not as rivals, and Lincoln/Altlivia and Olivia/Scarlie can live happily ever after. OR: Altlivia/Peter, and another universe to house Olivia and all her boyfriends.
- I kind of don't feel it at all anymore? Not that I was ever like SUPER INTO THEM, but part of what I liked about them was Peter's quiet awe and Olivia's respect for him, not Peter being unable to tell her apart from Altlivia (which, not for nothing, but Lincoln and Scarlie had their doubts without as much probable cause as Peter had), and without really much of a substantive apology or, like, not blaming her for them not being together?? PETER GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER. For a while I was really digging their reconciliation/Olivia's return home since there was a lot of care paid to the fact that Olivia was hurt deeply by (what she saw as) his betrayal and would take time to settle back into the Blueverse, and then he gave her that speech in "6B", like, shove off, jerkwad. AND!! His description of Altlivia in "Marionette", either you are legitimately the most inept human alive, Peter Bishop, or....I don't have another explanation. That's it. You are terrible at your job, which is being in love with Olivia Dunham. Haha, just kidding, except when you've been given like the entire weight of the narrative apparently?
- NEEDS MOAR ASTRID & NINA. Always. ALWAYS. Also: where has Rachel been for this entire season?? I IMAGINE SHE WOULD HAVE SOME FEELINGS ABOUT THESE PROCEEDINGS. Stop sidelining Olivia and her interests, show!
- Haha, this has been really negative. There have been a lot of things I really enjoyed! I love the slow leaking between the universes (or rather, as the Red seeps into the Blue) and the way the Blueverse is increasingly examining the Redverse's tactics, while the Redverse citizens are increasingly questioning their status quo. Love iiiit. How rad were the integrated credits, also?? I LIVE TO SEE THAT AGAIN. I LIVE IN HOPE.
- BUBBLES OH MY GOD Bubbles hi I LOVE YOU. I love hiiiiim, I love how much he grew to care about Olivia and was still checking on his Olivia because he was worried about her! If Lincoln doesn't tag him in on whatever ridiculous rescue plan he creates, I will be SUPER BUMMED.
- AltBroyleeeeeeeeees, oh gosh. FINALLY A BROYLES EPISODE except mostly :CCCCCC FOREVER, GOSH. "He was still married." ;______;
- I have a lot of issues with Altlivia's pregnancy business, starting with the small-scale feeling like it's a cheap way to make sure there are BIG. STAKES. on both sides of "Whichever Olivia Peter chooses gets to keep her universe!" (WHICH: WHATEVER, are you that lacking in confidence about the scope of the conflict you have created between universes), to the larger level that plays into the constant reproductive issues in science fiction and Fringe's own ongoing issues with consent. I already knew that this was going to be a thing going in, about which I have no regrets because I'd rather not be blindsided with things that aggravate me, and though this conversation took place before I'd seen any Fringe I stand by it:
tropiavera: i think in a lot of ways it's just the incredibly limited way that a lot of male creators view their female characters
tropiavera: slash storytelling methods
tropiavera: where like in bsg, half of the plotlines were essentially going LOOK TERRIBLE THINGS HAPPENING TO EVERYONE
allchildren: true
tropiavera: which for female characters, is apparently...rape, and adjacent pregnancy storylines
allchildren: and i know the accelerated pregnancy is often a function of time restraints
allchildren: but it's become so common, it's now its own genre
allchildren: and it would appear to be maybe an opposite to the infertile fembot archetype
allchildren: which i think is so attractive to dudes in part because she IS infertile
tropiavera: yeah
tropiavera: though i feel like they also want there to be a certain element of tragedy in that too
tropiavera: because it's attractive to them, but obvs being barren is ~the antithesis of womanhood or whatever
allchildren: yeah
allchildren: i feel like i'm missing something though
allchildren: in my mind it's split between the ideas that a) men who write women are either writing about their ideas of women or they're writing about men as told through women and b) there is something repulsively monstrous about childbirth to dudes
allchildren: but then what shits me extra is that after the lady has the baby she's always like :DDDD I'M A MOTHER
allchildren: VIOLATION AND TRAUMA FORGOTTEN
And that about sums it up.
AND ONTO TONIGHT:
- Those lightning storms, daaaaang. SO EERIE.
- How frequently do people in these universes wake up without knowledge of how they got there, sweet jesus. STILL NOT OKAY WITH OLIVIA'S NONCHALANCE AT THE END OF LYSERGIC ACID DIETHYLAMIDE. Also: does Olivia remember Peter murdering all those shapeshifters? Please discuss.
- "I work in a bowling alley." ahahaha, Sam Weiss.
- If, in the new Star Trek movie, Uhura should find a ancient drawing in an archaic language with a sketch of herself, let me just say I WILL BE SUPREMELY UNSURPRISED.
- I MISS DAVID ROBERT JONES. I loved his whole weirdo thing with Olivia, I will not lie.
- If I were Astrid I would never be able to work alone in the lab, ARE YOU KIDDING? The odds that there are semi-revived cadavers in there at any given time: NOT IN MY FAVOR. Not even counting the times that people just cold appear in empty tanks or typewriters start working on their own.
- Shiiiiiiiit.
Let's take this, as ever, point by point!
- First of all: THIS SEASON. The best of times, the worst of times!
- Like, The first act of the season (through "Entrada") was amazing, THOUGH NOT WITHOUT SOME CAVEATS, and I was super impressed by how deftly they were moving between universes and creating the Redverse and building your investment with Over There, which had to be no easy task! And it was super effective! For a large portion of that act, I was equally IF NOT MORE invested in what was going on in the Redverse (and they did kind of get all the best episodes, AMBER 31422 akdsfjah SO GOOD), which I have gathered is not exactly a unique position, mostly because of THOSE CAVEATS I MENTIONED EARLIER namely WHAT THE FUCK PETER BISHOP. I just - even setting aside how badly this reflects on Peter as a human within the narrative, WHO CHOOSES OBLIVIOUSNESS AS A NARRATIVE CHOICE?? That moment in "Do Shapeshifters Dream of Electric Sheep?", when Peter tells Altlivia that he's been creating excuses for her just like the shapeshifter's wife, THAT WAS SO GOOD, I legitimately lost my breath for a second! And then they just...set that aside? Peter, as a clever man who is also A FORMER CON MAN, didn't see anything suspicious! At all! It's just infuriating because there was like, zero narrative tension that ENTIRE TIME. Have Peter keep a log of dubious comments or something, ANYTHING, ffs. I completely understood Peter's rationalizations, but with that one exception, they never really show him even questioning...anything! I DID like, however, that Altlivia wasn't just eeeeeevil by the end - like, they leaned a little hard on the evil side-eye a lot of the time, but I really like that she had legit feelings by the end. LESS SO OTHER THINGS, but more on that later.
- ALSO IN THE REDVERSE: Lincoln and Scarlieeeee, my heeeeeaaaaaaart. I LOVE THEM SO MUCH. I love their relationship and their respective relationships with Altlivia (or Olivia-as-Altlivia, depending), their camaraderie! Also, Scarlie's arachnids. Lincoln's I LOVE YOU, oh my heaart, HOW DID YOU GROW TO BE MY FAVORITE SO QUICKLY, SIR? You know what I deeply want out of this season, is for Lincoln to cross universes to ask for Olivia's help and take her back to the Redverse, and for Altlivia to rescue herself anyway, and Altlivia and Olivia to talk not as rivals, and Lincoln/Altlivia and Olivia/Scarlie can live happily ever after. OR: Altlivia/Peter, and another universe to house Olivia and all her boyfriends.
- I kind of don't feel it at all anymore? Not that I was ever like SUPER INTO THEM, but part of what I liked about them was Peter's quiet awe and Olivia's respect for him, not Peter being unable to tell her apart from Altlivia (which, not for nothing, but Lincoln and Scarlie had their doubts without as much probable cause as Peter had), and without really much of a substantive apology or, like, not blaming her for them not being together?? PETER GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER. For a while I was really digging their reconciliation/Olivia's return home since there was a lot of care paid to the fact that Olivia was hurt deeply by (what she saw as) his betrayal and would take time to settle back into the Blueverse, and then he gave her that speech in "6B", like, shove off, jerkwad. AND!! His description of Altlivia in "Marionette", either you are legitimately the most inept human alive, Peter Bishop, or....I don't have another explanation. That's it. You are terrible at your job, which is being in love with Olivia Dunham. Haha, just kidding, except when you've been given like the entire weight of the narrative apparently?
- NEEDS MOAR ASTRID & NINA. Always. ALWAYS. Also: where has Rachel been for this entire season?? I IMAGINE SHE WOULD HAVE SOME FEELINGS ABOUT THESE PROCEEDINGS. Stop sidelining Olivia and her interests, show!
- Haha, this has been really negative. There have been a lot of things I really enjoyed! I love the slow leaking between the universes (or rather, as the Red seeps into the Blue) and the way the Blueverse is increasingly examining the Redverse's tactics, while the Redverse citizens are increasingly questioning their status quo. Love iiiit. How rad were the integrated credits, also?? I LIVE TO SEE THAT AGAIN. I LIVE IN HOPE.
- BUBBLES OH MY GOD Bubbles hi I LOVE YOU. I love hiiiiim, I love how much he grew to care about Olivia and was still checking on his Olivia because he was worried about her! If Lincoln doesn't tag him in on whatever ridiculous rescue plan he creates, I will be SUPER BUMMED.
- AltBroyleeeeeeeeees, oh gosh. FINALLY A BROYLES EPISODE except mostly :CCCCCC FOREVER, GOSH. "He was still married." ;______;
- I have a lot of issues with Altlivia's pregnancy business, starting with the small-scale feeling like it's a cheap way to make sure there are BIG. STAKES. on both sides of "Whichever Olivia Peter chooses gets to keep her universe!" (WHICH: WHATEVER, are you that lacking in confidence about the scope of the conflict you have created between universes), to the larger level that plays into the constant reproductive issues in science fiction and Fringe's own ongoing issues with consent. I already knew that this was going to be a thing going in, about which I have no regrets because I'd rather not be blindsided with things that aggravate me, and though this conversation took place before I'd seen any Fringe I stand by it:
tropiavera: i think in a lot of ways it's just the incredibly limited way that a lot of male creators view their female characterstropiavera: slash storytelling methodstropiavera: where like in bsg, half of the plotlines were essentially going LOOK TERRIBLE THINGS HAPPENING TO EVERYONEallchildren: truetropiavera: which for female characters, is apparently...rape, and adjacent pregnancy storylinesallchildren: and i know the accelerated pregnancy is often a function of time restraintsallchildren: but it's become so common, it's now its own genreallchildren: and it would appear to be maybe an opposite to the infertile fembot archetypeallchildren: which i think is so attractive to dudes in part because she IS infertiletropiavera: yeahtropiavera: though i feel like they also want there to be a certain element of tragedy in that tootropiavera: because it's attractive to them, but obvs being barren is ~the antithesis of womanhood or whateverallchildren: yeahallchildren: i feel like i'm missing something thoughallchildren: in my mind it's split between the ideas that a) men who write women are either writing about their ideas of women or they're writing about men as told through women and b) there is something repulsively monstrous about childbirth to dudesallchildren: but then what shits me extra is that after the lady has the baby she's always like :DDDD I'M A MOTHERallchildren: VIOLATION AND TRAUMA FORGOTTENAnd that about sums it up.
AND ONTO TONIGHT:
- Those lightning storms, daaaaang. SO EERIE.
- How frequently do people in these universes wake up without knowledge of how they got there, sweet jesus. STILL NOT OKAY WITH OLIVIA'S NONCHALANCE AT THE END OF LYSERGIC ACID DIETHYLAMIDE. Also: does Olivia remember Peter murdering all those shapeshifters? Please discuss.
- "I work in a bowling alley." ahahaha, Sam Weiss.
- If, in the new Star Trek movie, Uhura should find a ancient drawing in an archaic language with a sketch of herself, let me just say I WILL BE SUPREMELY UNSURPRISED.
- I MISS DAVID ROBERT JONES. I loved his whole weirdo thing with Olivia, I will not lie.
- If I were Astrid I would never be able to work alone in the lab, ARE YOU KIDDING? The odds that there are semi-revived cadavers in there at any given time: NOT IN MY FAVOR. Not even counting the times that people just cold appear in empty tanks or typewriters start working on their own.
- Shiiiiiiiit.