Fringe season 2
Dec. 7th, 2010 06:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakRecently I finished s2 of Fringe. One of several things the show has in common with Alias is that while the first season sets up important plot points and relationships, it's not until s2 the show really takes flight. (Also by that time you're immune to wondering about Rambaldi the comic book science making sense and swing with the universe in question.) All the elements I like - stoic heroine, morally ambiguous and completely screwed up old characters, convoluted family relationships - are at their best, I'm fond of the entire ensemble, and there was just a single episode that really annoyed me. Of 22, which is probably why I feel more for Fringe than for Sherlock, where I only really liked the pilot but not the two other episodes (though they had their moments, but I can't say I was able to embrace the whole), don't like one of the main characters and only like the other one half of the time. Or Mad Men, where I don't really like anyone. Since the writing for Mad Men and Sherlock is - arguably in Sherlock's case, but still, let's talk about the pilot level here - better than for Fringe as far as plotting and dialogue is concerned, I guess this proves that for me fannish love really does primarily come with the characters.
First of all, Anna Torv as Olivia manages that great mixture, daily stoicism with great personal warmth on occasions, courage and vulnerability that I find immensely appealing in a main character. I mention the stoicism first because usually it's the secondary lead who gets that while the lead is emoting on a daily basis. Whereas here Olivia has more than enough reason to angst, but she rarely does, she focuses on getting through the day. Without being invulnerable superwoman. Well done, her. It's also that Anna Torv has a great smile so when Olivia is genuinenly happy about something one just wants to hug her.
Secondly, J.J. did that thing again where he hires a first class character actor - in the tradition of Ron Rifkin, Victor Garber, Terry O'Quinn and Michael Emerson - to play the morally ambiguous middle-aged to old character. Who does absolutely appalling things (or has done) and whom the audience still isn't just fascinated by but sympathizes with because damn it, those actors can sell it. John Noble is absolutely amazing as Walter Bishop and sells that childlike joy and vulnerability as well as the stunning lack of care for consequences and selfishness which made Walter's darker actions possible. Introducing Alt!Walter near the end of the show, who didn't have those 17 years locked up in an asylum or a son-related guilt to deal with and instead had liberty to become whatever he wanted and anger driving him was inspired because yes, under those conditions Walter would be a classic Evil Overlord. Which also made William Bell's final revelation as to why he cripped "our" Walter entirely believable. It also surprised me that Abrams managed to get yet another twist out of a parent-child relationship because on the one hand, Walter is the father (figure) who put Olivia through hell via the experiments and committed the original sin by abducting Peter from the Alt!verse to replace his own dead son, but on the other, all that happened to him since then ensures that in the present day they are the parent figures and he is the child, so the "normal" out for relationships like this is gone. You can't rebel against someone who is not in authority above you but dependent on you and for whom you are now the caretaker. On a similar note, I was also delighted that Astrid after having only one s1 episode which gave her more to do than hand over instruments got more developed in s2, as did her relationship with Walter, not least because she falls outside the child-turned-parent parameter.
Favourite geeky allusion: Peter intending to take Walter to a Star Trek convention. Of course Walter wants to go. Which reminds me, Leonard Nimoy didn't have more to do than deliver exposition early in s2 but in the finale actually got to act, which was neat to say, especially since they wisely let him do so next to John Noble.
Episode of annoyance: the Nazi one, of course. For starters, writers, do better research. "In 1933, long before the Nazis came to power." 1933 WAS the year they came to power, for God's sake! The Third Reich didn't start with WWII. Or when America entered that war. Secondly, you know, people, if you want to explain how a later American citizen could have been part of a Nazi era German science project, gee, you don't have to come up with complicated secret spy stories. Because the Allies, Americans, Brits and Russians alike, were only too happy to adopt every German scientist they could get their hands on in the post WWII arms race. No matter how implicated that scientist was. Just ask Werner von Braun. Thirdly, if you position an evil Nazi scientist still bent on creating a master race more than sixty years later, somehow I doubt he'd start in the US. And fourthly, I doubt evil immortal Nazis would complicate their lives with vinyl records if they're on the run. CDs to listen to will do just nicely, you know. (On the other hand, I did like that fakeout with the flat full of Nazi regalia belonging to an American pop artist who used the opportunity to pimp his Hitler collage for sale. THAT was a good comment on how a very real evil has become, well, pop culture.)
In conclusion: I now have gone from liking to loving the show, even if Charlie aka the new Dixon got cruelly killed off at the start of the season. More, please.
First of all, Anna Torv as Olivia manages that great mixture, daily stoicism with great personal warmth on occasions, courage and vulnerability that I find immensely appealing in a main character. I mention the stoicism first because usually it's the secondary lead who gets that while the lead is emoting on a daily basis. Whereas here Olivia has more than enough reason to angst, but she rarely does, she focuses on getting through the day. Without being invulnerable superwoman. Well done, her. It's also that Anna Torv has a great smile so when Olivia is genuinenly happy about something one just wants to hug her.
Secondly, J.J. did that thing again where he hires a first class character actor - in the tradition of Ron Rifkin, Victor Garber, Terry O'Quinn and Michael Emerson - to play the morally ambiguous middle-aged to old character. Who does absolutely appalling things (or has done) and whom the audience still isn't just fascinated by but sympathizes with because damn it, those actors can sell it. John Noble is absolutely amazing as Walter Bishop and sells that childlike joy and vulnerability as well as the stunning lack of care for consequences and selfishness which made Walter's darker actions possible. Introducing Alt!Walter near the end of the show, who didn't have those 17 years locked up in an asylum or a son-related guilt to deal with and instead had liberty to become whatever he wanted and anger driving him was inspired because yes, under those conditions Walter would be a classic Evil Overlord. Which also made William Bell's final revelation as to why he cripped "our" Walter entirely believable. It also surprised me that Abrams managed to get yet another twist out of a parent-child relationship because on the one hand, Walter is the father (figure) who put Olivia through hell via the experiments and committed the original sin by abducting Peter from the Alt!verse to replace his own dead son, but on the other, all that happened to him since then ensures that in the present day they are the parent figures and he is the child, so the "normal" out for relationships like this is gone. You can't rebel against someone who is not in authority above you but dependent on you and for whom you are now the caretaker. On a similar note, I was also delighted that Astrid after having only one s1 episode which gave her more to do than hand over instruments got more developed in s2, as did her relationship with Walter, not least because she falls outside the child-turned-parent parameter.
Favourite geeky allusion: Peter intending to take Walter to a Star Trek convention. Of course Walter wants to go. Which reminds me, Leonard Nimoy didn't have more to do than deliver exposition early in s2 but in the finale actually got to act, which was neat to say, especially since they wisely let him do so next to John Noble.
Episode of annoyance: the Nazi one, of course. For starters, writers, do better research. "In 1933, long before the Nazis came to power." 1933 WAS the year they came to power, for God's sake! The Third Reich didn't start with WWII. Or when America entered that war. Secondly, you know, people, if you want to explain how a later American citizen could have been part of a Nazi era German science project, gee, you don't have to come up with complicated secret spy stories. Because the Allies, Americans, Brits and Russians alike, were only too happy to adopt every German scientist they could get their hands on in the post WWII arms race. No matter how implicated that scientist was. Just ask Werner von Braun. Thirdly, if you position an evil Nazi scientist still bent on creating a master race more than sixty years later, somehow I doubt he'd start in the US. And fourthly, I doubt evil immortal Nazis would complicate their lives with vinyl records if they're on the run. CDs to listen to will do just nicely, you know. (On the other hand, I did like that fakeout with the flat full of Nazi regalia belonging to an American pop artist who used the opportunity to pimp his Hitler collage for sale. THAT was a good comment on how a very real evil has become, well, pop culture.)
In conclusion: I now have gone from liking to loving the show, even if Charlie aka the new Dixon got cruelly killed off at the start of the season. More, please.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-07 06:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-07 08:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-07 09:00 pm (UTC)it's not until s2 the show really takes flight. *rubs hands* Nice to know it becomes even better.
Like I told in my own journal, Walter is fascinating but I also have a great appreciation for Olivia Dunham ( and the woman who plays the character ), the mixture of vulnerability and extreme bravery ,the sense of loyalty and her general attitude towards life are absolutely a joy to watch.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-08 02:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-07 10:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-08 01:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-08 12:07 am (UTC)I do think there's room for Rambaldi in the show, by the way. When you're caught up on S3, I can explain where he'd fit in nicely.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-08 01:58 pm (UTC)Re: Rambaldi: the red balloon in that s2 episode made me squee.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-08 07:54 am (UTC)THIS, which would explain how come I hang onto 'lesser' shows while being left in the cold by more, er, 'well crafted' ones. Which isn't to say Fringe isn't well crafted, things tend to make sense in a in-universe way, once you've learned to just go with this universe's version of science...
What I love most about it, though, is how it goes where the characters need to go, it doesn't feel forced and it's actually rewarding when there aren't happy endings, or band-aid fix-its, and when there are moments of true joy, well, you know. Besides, each character is genuinely compelling on her/his own and then, when put together, it all just skyrockets. Season 3 has been uniformly great, imho, very small hitches that overall amount to nothing though, naturally, your millage will vary; plus Anna Torv will just blow your mind (which isn't a spoiler per se as it can be easily extrapolated from the finale of S2).
no subject
Date: 2010-12-08 02:00 pm (UTC)