First of all, a giant pat on my back that they are using MY name for Fake Olivia: Fauxlivia. Woohoo! Clearly, they read my tweets...
Lots going on in this episode - the main story is the link between Peter and the machine, while the sub-stories are the assassination of the shape-shifters and the relationship between Peter and Olivia. Peter and the machine interact in the very beginning of the episode - the machine changes position, and Peter gets a nosebleed. For a while, it appears that the nosebleed is the only impact to Peter, but of course, by the end of the episode we know that there has been a bigger change. There are hints all through. When Peter first sneaks home, right after the credits, we know that he's up to no good. Later we see him carefully eying Dr. Falcon, presumably because he already knows that Falcon is a shape-shifter. Then there's Peter's resistance to Olivia reading Fauxlivia's files. He says this is so Olivia won't think badly of him, but in reality, it's because he knows Olivia will crack the code. And then there is the obvious lie to Olivia, immediately after she offers him a relational olive branch. (Note to Peter: lying to the woman you love just after she forgives you is not a good strategy).
A few important repercussions of this main story. Walter and Peter are now holding a secret from the rest of the team. If Walter's theory is correct, then what will happen to Peter in the future? Will the weaponization continue? What else has Peter gleaned from Fauxlivia's file and how will he use it?
Sub-story of shape-shifters. I really enjoyed how this ties back to Peter's shady past. Naturally he would have access to guns with silencers, know how to break into houses, etc. He was basically a criminal before he hooked up with Fringe division. This episode is a nice reminder of all that. Then there's the question that Walter asks him: if what he's doing isn't wrong, then why does he keep it a secret? I think there are two answers to this. One is that Peter keeps it a secret because that's in his nature. Thinking of that book in the last episode, Peter wants to find his own answers - he acts independently. He knows that telling the others will delay the mission and possibly jeopardize its efficiency. The other possible answer is that Peter does feel shame over what he's doing. After all, he's deceiving people he loves. It can't be easy to watch Olivia's frustration over being just one step behind.
Sub-story of Peter and Olivia's relationship. I really like how they're handling this. It's very believable. Olivia has had time to get over the sting of Peter's failure to recognize her alternate, and now she's able to think about what it must have been like for Peter. Yet at the same time, Peter is now throwing complications into the situation. He's read Fauxlivia's notes, so he now has a better understanding of what she was really thinking. How does it affect him, to realize that she was truly starting to have feelings for him? Is he wondering which Olivia he cares about? In addition, he lies to Olivia and is keeping a pretty significant secret from her. He must know that this will be a pretty big problem for her. Is he intentionally keeping her at a distance while he sorts through his own emotions? This is a great way to maintain tension between them without getting all Rachel-Ross on us.
Loose ends:
Peter's heart raced during the test. Nerves because he knew Falcon was a shape-shifter? Or something else?
Broyles' near accident while driving to Alpert's house. Last time we saw that, Olivia went to the other universe.
How did Peter read those hard drives?
Funniest moments:
1. When Walter "shows dominance" at the lab.
2. When Brandon is held at gunpoint and asks if he can swallow.
Showing posts with label Walter Bishop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Walter Bishop. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Olivia is coming!
This is the season of Advent. A time of waiting for the celebration of Jesus' birth. And, this week, a time of waiting for Agent Dunham to come home from the parallel universe!
I'm very excited about tomorrow night's episode. It looks thrilling! How will Olivia get back? My money's on alt-Broyles assisting her. Will Fauxlivia return, die, or go into hiding? I suspect she'll go into hiding, because of course, that's the most thrilling option. I can't imagine how she would return, but maybe they've already planned for that - so I call a 20% chance that she'll vanish at the most climatic moment. Will Olivia discover what a dorkhead Peter's been with respect to Fauxlivia? Probably not in this episode. However, Peter will discover his mistake and I bet that's going to make for a lot of stomach churning anguish. (hooray! Who doesn't love seeing Peter go through stomach-churning anguish?) Once Olivia does discover, I suspect that will lead to big romantic complications. My vote? That the 2 of them move immediately into a post-relationship friendship, sort of Jerry-Elaine style. My prediction? The writers will have the 2 of them back together within 2011, this season or next. In other thoughts: I'm betting that Nina and Walter will not be shocked at Fauxlivia's exposure - there's a chance that Nina has already taken precautionary measure (I can only hope).
And of course, there's other concerns. Once they realize that Fauxlivia was setting them up, will our Fringe team continue to research and assemble the Machine? Will Sam help Olivia re-assimilate? Are there more Cortexiphan children for continued trips to the other side? Is Sam Weiss also the old man at the typewriter shop?
I'm very excited about tomorrow night's episode. It looks thrilling! How will Olivia get back? My money's on alt-Broyles assisting her. Will Fauxlivia return, die, or go into hiding? I suspect she'll go into hiding, because of course, that's the most thrilling option. I can't imagine how she would return, but maybe they've already planned for that - so I call a 20% chance that she'll vanish at the most climatic moment. Will Olivia discover what a dorkhead Peter's been with respect to Fauxlivia? Probably not in this episode. However, Peter will discover his mistake and I bet that's going to make for a lot of stomach churning anguish. (hooray! Who doesn't love seeing Peter go through stomach-churning anguish?) Once Olivia does discover, I suspect that will lead to big romantic complications. My vote? That the 2 of them move immediately into a post-relationship friendship, sort of Jerry-Elaine style. My prediction? The writers will have the 2 of them back together within 2011, this season or next. In other thoughts: I'm betting that Nina and Walter will not be shocked at Fauxlivia's exposure - there's a chance that Nina has already taken precautionary measure (I can only hope).
And of course, there's other concerns. Once they realize that Fauxlivia was setting them up, will our Fringe team continue to research and assemble the Machine? Will Sam help Olivia re-assimilate? Are there more Cortexiphan children for continued trips to the other side? Is Sam Weiss also the old man at the typewriter shop?
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Season 3, Ep 4 Observations
This episode focuses on boundaries and relationships. In the beginning, Peter observes that everyone draws their our moral boundaries. Then we see Fauxlivia experience a moment of angst in the bathroom. Clearly she is torn by the thought of being unfaithful to her boyfriend in the Alt-universe. Her emotional loyalty supersedes her loyalty to the mission.
Newton attacks Fauxlivia later on, saying she's not fully committed. Does he know that Peter and Olivia are attracted to each other? In other words, is he pressuring Fauxlivia to have sex with Peter, or just to commit herself more fully? Or is there a third possibility: the idea that men can be swayed by sexual bonds, and so if Fauxlivia simply has sex with Peter, she will be more successful. Newton is clearly pushing Fauxlivia to take some sort of action, probably sexual - no doubt justifying the immorality of her actions as required by the war. (Although to be clear, I doubt Newton has morals or ethics, as a shapeshifter).
On the flip side, we meet 2 shapeshifters, Ray and Senator Van Horn, who chose to engage in sexual relationships and developed true emotional ties. Ray is so attached to his family that he refuses to leave them, trying instead to find a way to fulfill his mission and keep his family intact. This is in high contrast to Fauxlivia, who is destroying her own relationship in order to fulfill her mission. The irony is, of course, that Ray is a machine and Fauxlivia is a human.
In an especially tender moment, we hear Ray give an explanation for why he is trying to alter his mission - when he tucks his (step)son into bed. He explains that sometimes monsters are "sweet and pure." Obviously he's referring to his (step) son - a human he was taught to believe is pure evil but has learned is nothing of the sort. There were hints of Fauxlivia noticing this in episode 2 - as those from the other side continue to interact with us, they learn that the propaganda of Walternate is false.
The episode wraps up with Newton killing Ray because of his loyalty and then getting caught and thrown in jail. In the final scene we see Fauxlivia draw a new moral boundary, after more of Newton's goading, and invite Peter over for sex. It's a good way to bring the episode full circle - the one who chooses mercy and emotional loyalty dies and the one who chooses the mission is temporarily safe. However, I'm not convinced that Peter and Fauxlivia definitely had sex. They were on their way, but this is Fringe. What better way to twist the plot than to pick up at that scene and have Peter finally wake up and confront Fauxlivia?
Newton attacks Fauxlivia later on, saying she's not fully committed. Does he know that Peter and Olivia are attracted to each other? In other words, is he pressuring Fauxlivia to have sex with Peter, or just to commit herself more fully? Or is there a third possibility: the idea that men can be swayed by sexual bonds, and so if Fauxlivia simply has sex with Peter, she will be more successful. Newton is clearly pushing Fauxlivia to take some sort of action, probably sexual - no doubt justifying the immorality of her actions as required by the war. (Although to be clear, I doubt Newton has morals or ethics, as a shapeshifter).
On the flip side, we meet 2 shapeshifters, Ray and Senator Van Horn, who chose to engage in sexual relationships and developed true emotional ties. Ray is so attached to his family that he refuses to leave them, trying instead to find a way to fulfill his mission and keep his family intact. This is in high contrast to Fauxlivia, who is destroying her own relationship in order to fulfill her mission. The irony is, of course, that Ray is a machine and Fauxlivia is a human.
In an especially tender moment, we hear Ray give an explanation for why he is trying to alter his mission - when he tucks his (step)son into bed. He explains that sometimes monsters are "sweet and pure." Obviously he's referring to his (step) son - a human he was taught to believe is pure evil but has learned is nothing of the sort. There were hints of Fauxlivia noticing this in episode 2 - as those from the other side continue to interact with us, they learn that the propaganda of Walternate is false.
The episode wraps up with Newton killing Ray because of his loyalty and then getting caught and thrown in jail. In the final scene we see Fauxlivia draw a new moral boundary, after more of Newton's goading, and invite Peter over for sex. It's a good way to bring the episode full circle - the one who chooses mercy and emotional loyalty dies and the one who chooses the mission is temporarily safe. However, I'm not convinced that Peter and Fauxlivia definitely had sex. They were on their way, but this is Fringe. What better way to twist the plot than to pick up at that scene and have Peter finally wake up and confront Fauxlivia?
Friday, February 5, 2010
Fringe Winter Finale
Less questions than Lost, but just as mind-blowing.
The premise of the episode is that the bad guys are starting to play with smashing parallel universes, and in particular, the universe as a whole likes to be in balance. So, the bad guys transfer a NYC building, complete with occupants, into our reality. As a horrifying result, many people get glued together because they were occupying the same space in alternate realities. Not quite like what Nina Sharp demonstrated with the smashing snow globes. The worst part of this, according to Walter, is that now the universe is out of balance, and so within 35 hours (where did that # come from?), a building of equal mass in NYC will be transported back to the alternate world. We just don't know which one.
What are the implications for Peter? When Walter kidnapped Peter from the alternate reality, did some other kid get whooshed back as a result? My personal theory on this is that there was different technology in action. I believe that Walter used an earlier technology to get to Alt-Peter - the window that opens up where the 2 realities are close. This is the technology used by David Robert Jones, the technology that Peter and Walter had to close with the little ray-gun thing. This technology doesn't require equal mass transfers. The technology in this episode is not opening a window and moving things through it: it's actually moving things directly from one reality to the other. My alternate theory is that perhaps Walter did a body snatch and left dead-Peter in alt-Peter's bed, but I really don't like that idea.
On to the character development of this episode, which was excellent. Olivia agrees to be a human subject again for the noble cause of discerning which NYC building is about to pop away. She's always subjecting herself to ridiculous risks for the greater good - perhaps because of indoctrination by Bishop & Bell during the drug trials? But this time she gets angry. Confronted with her scared 3 year old self, she becomes infuriated at Bishop. We saw this fury directed at Bell last season, and to a lesser extent, to Bishop. But now it's all over. She is simmering and steaming and Walter finally realizes that this won't help - she has to be scared in able to use her power. But Olivia is never scared - yet another scarring from the early experiments. It's not until she's actually in NYC, facing the prospect of imminent failure and the loss of innocent lives, and the curiously inviting lips of Peter, that she gets scared. Voila, she is able to see the glimmering building and save the day.
But what was she scared of? I think she was scared of love. I have been opposed to a Peter-Olivia romance until this episode. But when they leaned towards each other and Peter moved in for the kiss, I was converted. Let it rock! However, I think the possibility of another romance is what really activated her fear - her fear of miseading the man again, her fear of being in another work relationship, her fear of getting close to anyone (she told John that she's "not good" at romance). Now, Dale disagrees: he thinks she was scared of failure. Maybe so, but I still think that the physical proximity of Peter and the kiss she suddenly realized was coming kicked that fear into high gear.
What do you think?
The premise of the episode is that the bad guys are starting to play with smashing parallel universes, and in particular, the universe as a whole likes to be in balance. So, the bad guys transfer a NYC building, complete with occupants, into our reality. As a horrifying result, many people get glued together because they were occupying the same space in alternate realities. Not quite like what Nina Sharp demonstrated with the smashing snow globes. The worst part of this, according to Walter, is that now the universe is out of balance, and so within 35 hours (where did that # come from?), a building of equal mass in NYC will be transported back to the alternate world. We just don't know which one.
What are the implications for Peter? When Walter kidnapped Peter from the alternate reality, did some other kid get whooshed back as a result? My personal theory on this is that there was different technology in action. I believe that Walter used an earlier technology to get to Alt-Peter - the window that opens up where the 2 realities are close. This is the technology used by David Robert Jones, the technology that Peter and Walter had to close with the little ray-gun thing. This technology doesn't require equal mass transfers. The technology in this episode is not opening a window and moving things through it: it's actually moving things directly from one reality to the other. My alternate theory is that perhaps Walter did a body snatch and left dead-Peter in alt-Peter's bed, but I really don't like that idea.
On to the character development of this episode, which was excellent. Olivia agrees to be a human subject again for the noble cause of discerning which NYC building is about to pop away. She's always subjecting herself to ridiculous risks for the greater good - perhaps because of indoctrination by Bishop & Bell during the drug trials? But this time she gets angry. Confronted with her scared 3 year old self, she becomes infuriated at Bishop. We saw this fury directed at Bell last season, and to a lesser extent, to Bishop. But now it's all over. She is simmering and steaming and Walter finally realizes that this won't help - she has to be scared in able to use her power. But Olivia is never scared - yet another scarring from the early experiments. It's not until she's actually in NYC, facing the prospect of imminent failure and the loss of innocent lives, and the curiously inviting lips of Peter, that she gets scared. Voila, she is able to see the glimmering building and save the day.
But what was she scared of? I think she was scared of love. I have been opposed to a Peter-Olivia romance until this episode. But when they leaned towards each other and Peter moved in for the kiss, I was converted. Let it rock! However, I think the possibility of another romance is what really activated her fear - her fear of miseading the man again, her fear of being in another work relationship, her fear of getting close to anyone (she told John that she's "not good" at romance). Now, Dale disagrees: he thinks she was scared of failure. Maybe so, but I still think that the physical proximity of Peter and the kiss she suddenly realized was coming kicked that fear into high gear.
What do you think?
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