Fringe

[kungfuwaynewho]

The upside is, the show has nowhere to go but up.  Once you have "worst episode ever" under your belt, you can just move on.

Seriously though?  Flying human-porcupine hybrids?  Seriously?

And if I hadn't become seriously ambivalent already the last few episodes as far as Peter/Olivia went, having Lincoln tell Peter that Olivia looks at him with googly eyes all the time might have done it.

ETA: And they get Alessandro Juliani on the show and utterly waste him in a one minute scene that goes nowhere.  Good idea.  (True confession: I don't really care about Lincoln all that much and I don't think Seth Gabel is all that great - everything he does is fairly one-note as far as I'm concerned, and he's not my kind of cute (COME AT ME FRINGE FANDOM) - and I just had the thought what if AJ was Lincoln oh God it would be completely amazing.  But alas.  No.)

And also I've come to the conclusion that this season is stupid and doesn't make sense. 

Siiiiiiiiiiiiigh.

Comments

[icepixie]

And also I've come to the conclusion that this season is stupid and doesn't make sense.

I am slowly and reluctantly coming to that conclusion as well. Sigh. They've even managed to make me feel ambivalent about Peter/Olivia, and I didn't think that was possible.

I'm not sure this was the worst episode ever (I mean, "The Same Old Story" and "Concentrate and Ask Again" still exist, and I personally still hate "LSD"), but it wasn't good. I actually gasped when the porcupine-man opened his wings, but it was not gasping in the good way. More the, "Oh, Fringe, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" way.

I got the impression this was part one of two, though, so they have the opportunity to make it not so bad. I hope. Or at least they could use Alessandro Juliani better, because YESSSSS.

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I mean, I was never a huge Peter/Olivia shipper - I liked them together fine, and I liked how when they first got together it was played fairly naturally and without the usual TV drama. And all the contrivances pulling them apart mostly worked for me in the overall apparatus of generating major arcs for the show. But this whole thing with Olivia being like "I will gladly suffer the death of personality because this other me is better because she has a boyfriend" is pretty much killing me right now.

I had completely forgotten about Immortality, heh, I had to look it up. But forgettable, to me, is better than dreadful, which is what this was. Blechhhh. And I buy killer bugs a lot better than I buy fucking...flying..porcupine monsters THERE IS NO WAY THAT EVER WORKS GOD.

Hmm. More of this story? Or more AJ? I...cannot make that decision. :/

[icepixie]

But this whole thing with Olivia being like "I will gladly suffer the death of personality because this other me is better because she has a boyfriend" is pretty much killing me right now.

UGH YES THIS THIS THIS. Good God, show, way to just toss out all the awesome you've been building for the past three years. S1 Olivia would have said, "Fuck this, I'm keeping both sets of memories." And then done it through sheer force of will.

I had completely forgotten about Immortality, heh, I had to look it up.

Heh, I realized later I actually meant "Concentrate and Ask Again," where Sam is all, "Peter must choose!" and I raged a lot. That episode. Grrrrrrr.

Hmm. More of this story? Or more AJ? I...cannot make that decision. :/

Well, since we're going to get more of this story anyway, AJ might be a bright spot? Although it occurs to me that he might have been one of the flying porcupine monsters locked on the boat in the last stage, in which case we might not even get him at all. And the story will suck even more.

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

S1 Olivia would have said, "Fuck this, I'm keeping both sets of memories." And then done it through sheer force of will.

I'm just trying to figure out the writers' rationale for this. All I can come up with is fan pandering - they think that everyone will go "aw" and think it's romantic.

Heh, I realized later I actually meant "Concentrate and Ask Again," where Sam is all, "Peter must choose!" and I raged a lot. That episode. Grrrrrrr.

Yeah, this is so much the same. Paring down all of the mysteries and intricacies of multiple universes/timelines into "who does Peter bang it needs to be a specific Olivia" bullshit.

I haven't been this grr with a show since season 6 of Buffy back in 2001. :(((

[icepixie]

All I can come up with is fan pandering - they think that everyone will go "aw" and think it's romantic.

It does seem that way, doesn't it? And yet they were doing so well--with a couple exceptions--at keeping the destiny and twu wuv in the background.

Paring down all of the mysteries and intricacies of multiple universes/timelines into "who does Peter bang it needs to be a specific Olivia" bullshit.

Yeah, it really does feel like this whole complicated universe and problem has been smooshed and strained into baby food-level plot. Ugh.

[sonneta.livejournal.com]

And also I've come to the conclusion that this season is stupid and doesn't make sense.

Welcome to the Correct Side. We have cookies. ;)

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

I honestly didn't feel this way till the last couple episodes. But the decision on how to resolve the multiple timeline business has retroactively made me dislike everything that came before.

>>>>>(

[dref22.livejournal.com]

I confess: I was a huge Fringe fan...until this season. I totally lost interest in it and gave up watching it after 5 episodes. And I agree with everything you say about Lincoln. I do not understand what's so special about him and I don't find him cute either LOL.

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was really really excited when this season started, because I saw so many great possibilities, and instead it seems they've gone down the one road I'm not at all interested in.

[ufgator1977.livejournal.com]

The whole episode felt like a cheat to me. All they did was take a previous episode and give it a different ending. I guess the point was that we're in a different timeline now that doesn't match the original one exactly. Well,DUH! Note to Fringe writers: Fringe fans are pretty sharp; we get it without being spoon-fed. Like, you know, the fact that both universes were already working together in this timeline.

That being said, it looks like we're going to get an episode focusing on the "other" universe next week. I can roll with this if they go back and forth like this. But, please, no more flying porcupines.

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it was just uninteresting. I would have been okay with them exploring an old case if there had been some real changes, if the altered timeline had really impacted what had happened, but they chose (a) a really uninspiring episode to rehash, and (b) didn't really do much of anything interesting with it. Besides, (c) it just generally sucked.

[ghanimasun]

I sort of cringed when those porcupine things started flying; they looked terrible to begin with, but then having them spout wings, wtf show.

I also really don't care about Lincoln. (Okay, okay sometimes I actively dislike him. A lot.) So I never feel bad when he's sad and sometimes I laugh when he has his stupid puppy dog eyes at Olivia. And I uh, wouldn't mind if he died. (Also I don't find him attractive either, bleh).

Seriously the most exciting part of this episode for me was seeing Alessandro Juliani. (If he were playing Lincoln holy shit then I would be so happy!)

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the CGI this episode was pretty rough.

Also, I still just can't get around human/porcupine hybrids. Like, that's the next step in evolution? Really?

Oh God let me tell you about how excited I am that someone else doesn't care about Lincoln. I always feel like such an outsider! But seriously, he is just such a cipher of a character for me. I liked him okay in Altverse, but here? Just blah, and so much of his character is predicated on him being all googly for Olivia. And whatever. Don't even care.

[ghanimasun]

Okay. I now feel more comfortable expressing my serious hate of Lincoln. Like I know a lot of people like him and that's fine. But personally, I sort of hate him. I see no point to him and a lot of the time I just feel like Astrid would be better used in his place. Especially on our-side. He didn't bug me as much in the altverse but over here he is just so pointless and boring and I could completely be happy without him. And I will stop my ranting about him now, but no dear, you are not alone at all in your Lincoln apathy.

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

Yes. He takes away what could be great Astrid time each episode, that's the major thing. It's like, isn't that why they got rid of Charlie? Because he had nothing really different to contribute? And I liked Charlie a hell of a lot more than I like Lincoln. I think making Seth a regular and sticking him on Ourverse was total fan pandering, because everyone was like "OMG Lincoln Lee!" last season.

I'd love once for a show to not just at the opportunity to do love triangle shit. It's so overdone and uninteresting, and of all shows, Fringe doesn't need to mess with that. When Peter was like "I guess we need to talk about Olivia" I literally groaned out loud. Yes, let's talk about Olivia like she's a prize to be divvied up between you two. Barffffff.

[tictactardis.livejournal.com]

I'm still upset that they've having Olivia completely abandon her life/personality/EVERYTHING SHE IS for ~one twu wuv~.

And no-one. seems. to. care.

Not even Walter, who seemed really close with Liv in this verse. Or Astrid. Or... ANYONE. Even Linc was kinda "it sucks, but..." about it.

*throws hands in the air*

IDK what to do with you, show. I just don't know.

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

I know. It's depressing. Why can't she have both memories? That's what I want to ask the writers. Why didn't you just write that? How can you think this is the way to go?

It's making me want to actively unship Peter/Olivia, which will likely make watching this show very uncomfortable. And I have tried, through sheer force of will, to make myself Polyanna this last stretch of three or four episodes or so - "Everything will be okay, this will work out, that wasn't that bad, the lead-up to the finales are often rough," etc., etc., but I think this week was my breaking point.

[la-loony.livejournal.com]

I still don't like the way they solved the timeline problem. I wanted Peter to be in the wrong time and go back. Period. even if that meant dealing with the fallout of Baby Henry (I like babys but hated that storyline).

I think Lincoln is basically missused. I liked the Lincoln from here we met in 'Stowaway' more somehow.f

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

He is misused. I don't really feel he contributes much to the show, and what he does contribute Astrid could do just as well. I don't, like, hate him or anything, but he is just a wall of blah to me.