Good-bye Fringe
Jan. 19th, 2013 06:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
astri13Okay, here we are, the series Finale of Fringe
Neither this Season nor the Finale packed the punch I`ve come to expect from this show at its heights. While I liked all the Seasons, for me, in hindsight the heydey was Season 2 and parts of 3.
However, that does not mean I disliked the Finale either. It just feels weird when certain episodes over the course of the show hit you so much more in the gut than the ending. Guess it`s hard for show endings to live up to the expectations for them. In fact, I`d be hard pressed now to name even a few that really satisfied me on all accounts.
But onwards and upwards
The first episode felt a bit like a set-up which of course it was and I equally loved one thing about it and hated another.
Unequivocal love? THE OTHER SIDE \o/ I don`t care if the happy family of Fauxlivia and AmberLincoln was the most expected, cheesy thing ever, it was simply glorious. They deserved their happiness together and I`m glad they got it.
Also interesting the other side didn`t get invaded. Guess Walter ruining it to the point of it never healing completely again made it an undesirable habitat even for Observers? The irony of that.
Pretty much hate? Deus-ex-cortexiphan-sooperpowers. I didn`t like how they got ridiculously overblown at the end of Season 4 and I rolled my eyes here. The Season was weird in that Olivia was in the background a lot but then I felt action-wise and importance-wise Peter was too much in the background in the Finale for my taste. Too bad his Observer stint was just a byline that led nowhere.
Michael posed a bit of a problem as well. The character was easier to connect with in Season 1? Or was it Season 2? Because he interacted and reciprocated somewhat with other characters, at least Olivia. Here? Apart from dicking with Windmark, he just sat and stared.
I liked what they did with September, not so much his death though that was to be expected - come on, Walter HAD to make this last big sacrifice, that was a given with the show - but him becoming human. The actor did a wonderful job with it.
Using the Fringe cases as a weapon of mass destruction was awesome. I had expected them to do that all year from that awesome Pre-Season 5-trailer at Comic Con. Alas, was not to be.
Peter, Olivia and little Etta get their happily ever after. The characters certainly earned it. But they left it vague enough to question if their memories of the deleted years will come back. Or already have. Cue pensive looks by both of them in the end.
The final goodbye between Walter and Astrid was quite touching.
The good-bye between Walter and Peter even more so. On some level, their relationship was the heart of the show and I found it beautifully adressed here. That the time they had was stolen but Walter wouldn`t trade it for the world. And of course "you are my favourite thing." Any other show or other character and the "thing" would be a terrible line but this being Walter, it was the biggest declaration of love ever.
The call-back to the White Tulip was nice as well but it meant more when Walter got it in Season 2. And it meant more in one of my favourite scenes ever, in the Season 3 flashback episode, mini!Olivia, abused and experimented-on and mini!Peter, traumatized and closed to breaking because he knows he isn`t in his own world, hold hands in a field of tulips and manage to heal each other a bit.
Now the logistics of the plan, nope, they don`t hold up because time-travel seldom does. If the Observers never existed, September didn`t distract Walternate from curing Peter. Peter would have grown up in the red!verse. Actually, I thought of this as a possible ending. No red!verse devastated so diplomatic connections are forget later on. Cortexiphan-travelling-Olivia is one of the first from "our" side (the original blue one) to go and the last scene is of her first meeting with red!Peter. Sparks fly. And scene.
Granted, on some level it`s harsh because it wouldn`t be the characters we have met and cared for for five years. But I could have lived with it.
As it was, apparently everything in the show for the first 4 Seasons happened as it happened, Observers and all. Then, right before the invasion, they take their trip to the future to cancel out the evolution of the Observers as we know them. But time only loops back to the invasion, not - as you would imagine - Observers having their hands in Season 1-4. Iffy. And obviously, they either didn`t think it through or didn`t care too much. For this show, that`s a big flaw as they have been neater up to this point.
But obviously, it was done to give the characters of Peter and Olivia as we met them in Season 1 their reward and I can`t really hate that. They are one of very few TV-couples I genuinely rooted for all through the show.
Funny, when this show started, for some reason I was adamant about not watching it and then I watched a random episode while on vacation and neither understood anything nor liked it very much. I only distinctly remember hating the Walter-character and questioning if he had always been so horribly hateful to his son. :D Then, I caved in and watched Season 1 and 2 over the course of two weeks, I believe. And the rest as they say...
Neither this Season nor the Finale packed the punch I`ve come to expect from this show at its heights. While I liked all the Seasons, for me, in hindsight the heydey was Season 2 and parts of 3.
However, that does not mean I disliked the Finale either. It just feels weird when certain episodes over the course of the show hit you so much more in the gut than the ending. Guess it`s hard for show endings to live up to the expectations for them. In fact, I`d be hard pressed now to name even a few that really satisfied me on all accounts.
But onwards and upwards
The first episode felt a bit like a set-up which of course it was and I equally loved one thing about it and hated another.
Unequivocal love? THE OTHER SIDE \o/ I don`t care if the happy family of Fauxlivia and AmberLincoln was the most expected, cheesy thing ever, it was simply glorious. They deserved their happiness together and I`m glad they got it.
Also interesting the other side didn`t get invaded. Guess Walter ruining it to the point of it never healing completely again made it an undesirable habitat even for Observers? The irony of that.
Pretty much hate? Deus-ex-cortexiphan-sooperpowers. I didn`t like how they got ridiculously overblown at the end of Season 4 and I rolled my eyes here. The Season was weird in that Olivia was in the background a lot but then I felt action-wise and importance-wise Peter was too much in the background in the Finale for my taste. Too bad his Observer stint was just a byline that led nowhere.
Michael posed a bit of a problem as well. The character was easier to connect with in Season 1? Or was it Season 2? Because he interacted and reciprocated somewhat with other characters, at least Olivia. Here? Apart from dicking with Windmark, he just sat and stared.
I liked what they did with September, not so much his death though that was to be expected - come on, Walter HAD to make this last big sacrifice, that was a given with the show - but him becoming human. The actor did a wonderful job with it.
Using the Fringe cases as a weapon of mass destruction was awesome. I had expected them to do that all year from that awesome Pre-Season 5-trailer at Comic Con. Alas, was not to be.
Peter, Olivia and little Etta get their happily ever after. The characters certainly earned it. But they left it vague enough to question if their memories of the deleted years will come back. Or already have. Cue pensive looks by both of them in the end.
The final goodbye between Walter and Astrid was quite touching.
The good-bye between Walter and Peter even more so. On some level, their relationship was the heart of the show and I found it beautifully adressed here. That the time they had was stolen but Walter wouldn`t trade it for the world. And of course "you are my favourite thing." Any other show or other character and the "thing" would be a terrible line but this being Walter, it was the biggest declaration of love ever.
The call-back to the White Tulip was nice as well but it meant more when Walter got it in Season 2. And it meant more in one of my favourite scenes ever, in the Season 3 flashback episode, mini!Olivia, abused and experimented-on and mini!Peter, traumatized and closed to breaking because he knows he isn`t in his own world, hold hands in a field of tulips and manage to heal each other a bit.
Now the logistics of the plan, nope, they don`t hold up because time-travel seldom does. If the Observers never existed, September didn`t distract Walternate from curing Peter. Peter would have grown up in the red!verse. Actually, I thought of this as a possible ending. No red!verse devastated so diplomatic connections are forget later on. Cortexiphan-travelling-Olivia is one of the first from "our" side (the original blue one) to go and the last scene is of her first meeting with red!Peter. Sparks fly. And scene.
Granted, on some level it`s harsh because it wouldn`t be the characters we have met and cared for for five years. But I could have lived with it.
As it was, apparently everything in the show for the first 4 Seasons happened as it happened, Observers and all. Then, right before the invasion, they take their trip to the future to cancel out the evolution of the Observers as we know them. But time only loops back to the invasion, not - as you would imagine - Observers having their hands in Season 1-4. Iffy. And obviously, they either didn`t think it through or didn`t care too much. For this show, that`s a big flaw as they have been neater up to this point.
But obviously, it was done to give the characters of Peter and Olivia as we met them in Season 1 their reward and I can`t really hate that. They are one of very few TV-couples I genuinely rooted for all through the show.
Funny, when this show started, for some reason I was adamant about not watching it and then I watched a random episode while on vacation and neither understood anything nor liked it very much. I only distinctly remember hating the Walter-character and questioning if he had always been so horribly hateful to his son. :D Then, I caved in and watched Season 1 and 2 over the course of two weeks, I believe. And the rest as they say...
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(no subject)
Date: 2013-01-20 02:32 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-01-20 03:37 pm (UTC)While I prefer the stories which focused more on Peter, I really loved Peter and Olivia as a couple and apart from the superpowers stuff with the cortexiphan sometimes, I liked what they did with Olivia`s character as well.
In the end, the most central character was IMO Walter. His actions shaped the universe, if you will.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-01-21 06:54 pm (UTC)Anyway, the show is over and i think it's for the best.