Fringe 4.17
Apr. 8th, 2012 04:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which a perfectly fine episode confirms me in a resolution.
Which is to break up with the show for good. It's not the episode as such. It was good to see the Redverse again, it was a great character episode for Lincoln, containing some good continuity nods like Red!Olivia's marksmanship (and btw, such a relief to see an Olivia without show infllicted Alzheimer's and Only Romantic Love counts ethics), the overall plot was moved forward - but it also underlined several things which were increasingly bothering me, and if your misery with a show continues to outweigh the joy it gives you, you should say goodbye rather than to continue making yourself miserable.
The problems, in order:
1.) Like the scene between Olivia and Nina two eps ago, like the scene between Broyles and Olivia last episode where he mentions her Amberverse nephew, the scene between Now-Blue-Again Olivia and Blue/Amber Lincoln could not have been more perfectly written if the intention was to make me loathe what the show did to Olivia with every vibre in my heart. She continues to lose every not-Peter memory and relationship, and the show doesn't even allow her to be upset about it. I hate that, and I will never not hate it.
2.) Also, letting Olivia lose her Lincoln-related memories, several of which postdate Peter's return to the 'verses, is bad and lazy world building; the obvious Doylist reason is to make sure Blue!Lincoln has no reason to stay in the Amberverse, but there's no Watsonian logic in it. Also, note it's about Lincoln, not Olivia.
3.) Killing off Redverse Lincoln so that Blueverse Lincoln can take his place, making for neat symmetry in pairings and a treat for the fans who ship Olivia (either) with Lincoln (either) without upsetting the Peter/Olivia OTP the show insists on is also lazy writing.
4.) Most importantly, again: last episode Peter took OurOlivia's place, which only illustrates graphically what was true thematically for a while - that her story has become his story. This week, what we got was most definitely Lincoln's story. Which I wouldn't mind in other circumstances - I like Lincoln (both of them; vale, Redverse guy, sacrificed for shipperness, ugh), and I'm all for supporting characters getting their turn in the sun - but in the grand scheme of things, it just rubs it in: The Blue-and-Amberverse is Peter's story, the Redverse now has become Lincoln's story, no universe anywhere has Olivia (any of them) as the one with the central story or pov anymore.
Back when I was watching The Sarah Connor Chronicles, this was what I was secretly afraid would happen when they introduced Derek Reese in the last third of s1. But on SCC, it never did. All the characters had their stories, but Sarah's story, Sarah's agenda, never stopped being key. On Fringe, it did happen, and as opposed to many shows who reinvented themselves and took me with them, this one just reminds me with every episode of the show I lost. And so I will stop watching.
Which is to break up with the show for good. It's not the episode as such. It was good to see the Redverse again, it was a great character episode for Lincoln, containing some good continuity nods like Red!Olivia's marksmanship (and btw, such a relief to see an Olivia without show infllicted Alzheimer's and Only Romantic Love counts ethics), the overall plot was moved forward - but it also underlined several things which were increasingly bothering me, and if your misery with a show continues to outweigh the joy it gives you, you should say goodbye rather than to continue making yourself miserable.
The problems, in order:
1.) Like the scene between Olivia and Nina two eps ago, like the scene between Broyles and Olivia last episode where he mentions her Amberverse nephew, the scene between Now-Blue-Again Olivia and Blue/Amber Lincoln could not have been more perfectly written if the intention was to make me loathe what the show did to Olivia with every vibre in my heart. She continues to lose every not-Peter memory and relationship, and the show doesn't even allow her to be upset about it. I hate that, and I will never not hate it.
2.) Also, letting Olivia lose her Lincoln-related memories, several of which postdate Peter's return to the 'verses, is bad and lazy world building; the obvious Doylist reason is to make sure Blue!Lincoln has no reason to stay in the Amberverse, but there's no Watsonian logic in it. Also, note it's about Lincoln, not Olivia.
3.) Killing off Redverse Lincoln so that Blueverse Lincoln can take his place, making for neat symmetry in pairings and a treat for the fans who ship Olivia (either) with Lincoln (either) without upsetting the Peter/Olivia OTP the show insists on is also lazy writing.
4.) Most importantly, again: last episode Peter took OurOlivia's place, which only illustrates graphically what was true thematically for a while - that her story has become his story. This week, what we got was most definitely Lincoln's story. Which I wouldn't mind in other circumstances - I like Lincoln (both of them; vale, Redverse guy, sacrificed for shipperness, ugh), and I'm all for supporting characters getting their turn in the sun - but in the grand scheme of things, it just rubs it in: The Blue-and-Amberverse is Peter's story, the Redverse now has become Lincoln's story, no universe anywhere has Olivia (any of them) as the one with the central story or pov anymore.
Back when I was watching The Sarah Connor Chronicles, this was what I was secretly afraid would happen when they introduced Derek Reese in the last third of s1. But on SCC, it never did. All the characters had their stories, but Sarah's story, Sarah's agenda, never stopped being key. On Fringe, it did happen, and as opposed to many shows who reinvented themselves and took me with them, this one just reminds me with every episode of the show I lost. And so I will stop watching.
no subject
Date: 2012-04-08 03:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-09 08:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-08 04:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-09 08:21 am (UTC)I had a feeling they were going this way last episode, and this one even more so with all the emphasis on how he was a loner other than for his partner. But it's just part of the same theme: romantic love as the only love which counts. Just as nothing is more important than Olivia's love for Peter, blue Lincoln can't possibly have any other relationships that count other than his love for Olivia. We're really asked to believe that his entire life, Lincoln had nothing but his dead Partner and Olivia. Family? Friends? Goals? What's that?
Well to be fair, they do make a case of him able to pursue Jones better in the Redverse, but Olivia isn't even given that much dignity about her own choices.
Such a waste of interesting characters and universes!
no subject
Date: 2012-04-08 09:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-09 08:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-09 01:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-09 08:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-09 09:57 am (UTC)While I still haven't watched more than just a few random eps and am therefore in absolutely no position to offer any sense-making Fringe-related comment -- Good grief, does the sentiment itself feel familiar! Due South, ER, ST:Enterprise (no complete break-up here, but the decision to skip an entire season). And each time the decision proved right, especially with hindsight, because it in the long run, quitting enabled me to hold on to my enjoyment for the original source material without any frustration or negativity. I still enjoy re-watches, fan fiction, vids and meta, the full fannish programme... ;-)
The X-Files or Buffy, (which I personally should both have quit after S5 but didn't) are an entirely different kettle of fish. There's a perfectly fine X-Files S1 box set waiting on my DVD shelf, and I still haven't even wrapped off the plastic...