Fringe 4.05: "Novation"
Nov. 4th, 2011 09:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
icepixieOH MY GOD, SHOW, RIP OUT MY HEART AND SHATTER IT, WHY DON'T YOU.
Oh, Peter. Oh, Walter. Oh, EVERYONE. I am woman enough to admit that the last scene between Peter and Walter reduced me to tears for two entirely separate reasons. Walter touching Peter's face and calling him "my son" was joyful and full of hope! And then Walter insisted Peter was sent to tempt him and see if he'd repeat his mistakes, and then the most horrible words ever: "You can't be here...that boy was never my son--and neither are you."
MY HEART, YOU ARE BREAKING IT.
Other insanely sad scenes: Walter drugging himself so he can sleep. :( Also, his first scene with Peter in the interrogation room/prison cell, Walter looking through dead!Peter's BSG lunchbox full of memorabilia, and his conversation with Nina where he said that he "saw my boy in that man's eyes," and it was the same boy he lost under the ice. (So technically Red!Peter rather than his own son, but Walter seems to have somewhat conflated the two up until the final scene of this episode where he decided to think of them as different kids.)
I'm also quite sad that they don't seem to have heard of the Observers. Wasn't that Bluelivia's pet project back in S1? I'm not sure why it would've been affected by Peter's nonexistence...unless they've been hanging around this universe because Peter lived and they wanted to keep an eye on that.
Intriguing things: So, wait, is that dropped storyline from "Reciprocity" about Peter killing the shapeshifters actually coming back? AMAZING! I hadn't quite given up on them finally doing something with that, but they seemed to give up on it so entirely last season that I did wonder.
Peter is...remarkably sanguine about the fact that no one remembers him. I mean, it obviously upsets him and he's trying to figure out what's going on, but I was sort of expecting more shouting, you know? Maybe there was shouting we just didn't see. I mean, something had to happen at his and Olivia's first meeting, right? (Given her line to Lincoln about how it bothers her that she dreamed about this man who has no obvious connection to her, I...am getting the impression that Peter didn't tell her they were together in the other timeline, which baffles me a bit. I would think that's the thing to lead with, you know? But maybe he realized it would freak her out too much and she would trust him even less than she does...)
TIME SLIPS, OMG. Does this mean the Blueverse and the Amberverse are trying to inhabit the same space-time continuum, but one is a ninety seconds ahead of the other? Whatever is actually happening, I hope it means Blueverse is trying to make its way into Amberverse!
Why didn't Peter get deleted when the timeline reset itself, anyway? The universe knows Amber isn't quite right? Though that goes more into fate rather than the free will the show generally seems to champion otherwise. Hmmm.
Other things:
Shapeshifters can now pick between any of their previous bodies and are genetically identical to said body (no mercury-based bloodstreams). They can't be distinguished from humans without surgery. Please tell me that when that last bit was being explained, someone besides me went, "They're frakking Cylons!"
Look, it's Pearlmutter!
Yaaaaay, more on Olivia&Nina! Awww, Nina got Olivia into horseback riding. (And she even has a picture of her in her office! *feels prophetic*) I guess if Nina "pulled strings" once Olivia and Rachel's mom died, she must have known Olivia from before. Did Olivia "run away" to her from the Cortexiphan trials?
Hee, I enjoyed Peter being sneaky and rewiring the intercom so he could listen and speak to the people in the office.
I finally realized who Amber!Lincoln reminds me of: MULDER. Remember how Mulder was so unfazed by weirdness and willing to go along with anything that got him answers about his quest? Lincoln was totally doing that with Peter here. He wants to figure out what killed his old partner, and the moment Peter mentions that he knows about shapeshifters he's all, "I don't care how mysterious this guy is, LET'S DO THIS."
Hmmm, I wonder if Bell is really dead in this timeline or still hanging out in the other universe. Olivia, Walter, and the Cortexiphan kids wouldn't have gone over there to rescue Peter in S2, so they wouldn't have needed Bell's help to get them back, and he wouldn't have died then.
...Wait, Bell said that some things weren't meant to be tampered with? REALLY? Damn, he's like a whole different person. Did he actually mean it, or was that a cover story to get Pearlmutter off the cell rejuvenation (or whatever it was) project for some unknown purpose?
Heh, after that conversation betwen Walter and Nina, I sort of got the feeling that they were divorced parents who were trying to be civil for the sake of the kid (Olivia). I was thinking before this episode that Walter might have been angry at Nina for keeping Olivia away from the trials when she ran away, but I guess it was more blaming her for breaking the vial of medicine for Red!Peter.
Speaking of that conversation, did it feel familiar to anyone else? Am I just imagining it, or did Nina give Walter a speech about how he had changed and wasn't evil anymore back in S2 or S3?
Wait, did the shapeshifter just fly?
Whoa, is Olivia actually walking around the office without her jacket?
Awww, overture of friendship: REJECTED.
Another quantum-entangled typewriter! And here I thought the mirror was mandatory. But is she talking to Walternate, or someone else?
Anyway, this was fun. I was a little jumpy during the first half because there were all these scenes with Pearlmutter and the shapeshifter when I wanted MOAR PETER, DAMMIT, but they did tie it all together by the end and introduce some cool new stuff (time slips!), so yay. Next week looks excellent as well!
Oh, Peter. Oh, Walter. Oh, EVERYONE. I am woman enough to admit that the last scene between Peter and Walter reduced me to tears for two entirely separate reasons. Walter touching Peter's face and calling him "my son" was joyful and full of hope! And then Walter insisted Peter was sent to tempt him and see if he'd repeat his mistakes, and then the most horrible words ever: "You can't be here...that boy was never my son--and neither are you."
MY HEART, YOU ARE BREAKING IT.
Other insanely sad scenes: Walter drugging himself so he can sleep. :( Also, his first scene with Peter in the interrogation room/prison cell, Walter looking through dead!Peter's BSG lunchbox full of memorabilia, and his conversation with Nina where he said that he "saw my boy in that man's eyes," and it was the same boy he lost under the ice. (So technically Red!Peter rather than his own son, but Walter seems to have somewhat conflated the two up until the final scene of this episode where he decided to think of them as different kids.)
I'm also quite sad that they don't seem to have heard of the Observers. Wasn't that Bluelivia's pet project back in S1? I'm not sure why it would've been affected by Peter's nonexistence...unless they've been hanging around this universe because Peter lived and they wanted to keep an eye on that.
Intriguing things: So, wait, is that dropped storyline from "Reciprocity" about Peter killing the shapeshifters actually coming back? AMAZING! I hadn't quite given up on them finally doing something with that, but they seemed to give up on it so entirely last season that I did wonder.
Peter is...remarkably sanguine about the fact that no one remembers him. I mean, it obviously upsets him and he's trying to figure out what's going on, but I was sort of expecting more shouting, you know? Maybe there was shouting we just didn't see. I mean, something had to happen at his and Olivia's first meeting, right? (Given her line to Lincoln about how it bothers her that she dreamed about this man who has no obvious connection to her, I...am getting the impression that Peter didn't tell her they were together in the other timeline, which baffles me a bit. I would think that's the thing to lead with, you know? But maybe he realized it would freak her out too much and she would trust him even less than she does...)
TIME SLIPS, OMG. Does this mean the Blueverse and the Amberverse are trying to inhabit the same space-time continuum, but one is a ninety seconds ahead of the other? Whatever is actually happening, I hope it means Blueverse is trying to make its way into Amberverse!
Why didn't Peter get deleted when the timeline reset itself, anyway? The universe knows Amber isn't quite right? Though that goes more into fate rather than the free will the show generally seems to champion otherwise. Hmmm.
Other things:
Shapeshifters can now pick between any of their previous bodies and are genetically identical to said body (no mercury-based bloodstreams). They can't be distinguished from humans without surgery. Please tell me that when that last bit was being explained, someone besides me went, "They're frakking Cylons!"
Look, it's Pearlmutter!
Yaaaaay, more on Olivia&Nina! Awww, Nina got Olivia into horseback riding. (And she even has a picture of her in her office! *feels prophetic*) I guess if Nina "pulled strings" once Olivia and Rachel's mom died, she must have known Olivia from before. Did Olivia "run away" to her from the Cortexiphan trials?
Hee, I enjoyed Peter being sneaky and rewiring the intercom so he could listen and speak to the people in the office.
I finally realized who Amber!Lincoln reminds me of: MULDER. Remember how Mulder was so unfazed by weirdness and willing to go along with anything that got him answers about his quest? Lincoln was totally doing that with Peter here. He wants to figure out what killed his old partner, and the moment Peter mentions that he knows about shapeshifters he's all, "I don't care how mysterious this guy is, LET'S DO THIS."
Hmmm, I wonder if Bell is really dead in this timeline or still hanging out in the other universe. Olivia, Walter, and the Cortexiphan kids wouldn't have gone over there to rescue Peter in S2, so they wouldn't have needed Bell's help to get them back, and he wouldn't have died then.
...Wait, Bell said that some things weren't meant to be tampered with? REALLY? Damn, he's like a whole different person. Did he actually mean it, or was that a cover story to get Pearlmutter off the cell rejuvenation (or whatever it was) project for some unknown purpose?
Heh, after that conversation betwen Walter and Nina, I sort of got the feeling that they were divorced parents who were trying to be civil for the sake of the kid (Olivia). I was thinking before this episode that Walter might have been angry at Nina for keeping Olivia away from the trials when she ran away, but I guess it was more blaming her for breaking the vial of medicine for Red!Peter.
Speaking of that conversation, did it feel familiar to anyone else? Am I just imagining it, or did Nina give Walter a speech about how he had changed and wasn't evil anymore back in S2 or S3?
Wait, did the shapeshifter just fly?
Whoa, is Olivia actually walking around the office without her jacket?
Awww, overture of friendship: REJECTED.
Another quantum-entangled typewriter! And here I thought the mirror was mandatory. But is she talking to Walternate, or someone else?
Anyway, this was fun. I was a little jumpy during the first half because there were all these scenes with Pearlmutter and the shapeshifter when I wanted MOAR PETER, DAMMIT, but they did tie it all together by the end and introduce some cool new stuff (time slips!), so yay. Next week looks excellent as well!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Re: Part 1
Date: 2011-11-06 03:09 am (UTC)IS THAT SO MUCH TO ASK? JUST TO LEAVE MY HEART IN ONE PIECE?
And Lincoln is in some ways like Olivia.
Aww, eager to do anything to solve the murder of his partner he was in love with! And Olivia's Scullying it up in response!
Plus there were time shifts in the last episode when Peter was around in spectral and blue energy ball form, so I'm thinking this is a continuation of those incidents.
Hmm. But I thought that was an effect on the electronic equipment? Forty-five minutes of information at a time is NOT ENOUGH!
*cough cough I think we're supposed to handwave that cough*
Gee, that cough sounds pretty bad, maybe you should get it looked at...
Holding either of them captive always ends in tears for the other person!
(Especially the people who have to fix all the stuff they broke on their way out!) People should learn!
I'm still going with "diversion to get Pearlmutter off the project," though.
True, true. How long ago did Bell go over to start helping Walternate with the mercury shifters?
I think that was "6B," which I watched recently.
Ah, yes, that one has lots of... mytharc information, and... amber-research scenes. ...Yes. Good choice!
STAY CONSISTENT, OLIVIA! THERE ARE DOPPELGANGERS ABOUT!
Well, having Faux around always makes her more uptight, what with all the insecurity!rage. ...That is totally how I'm explaining how this Amberlivia is so much different from the one in 4x01...
Also, how has nobody accused Peter of being a shifter/generally evil by now? Well, besides Walter, but that's on a more personal-destiny sort of level.
Re: Part 1
Date: 2011-11-06 09:18 pm (UTC)I thought it was more an effect on Olivia, but I don't really remember.
Forty-five minutes of information at a time is NOT ENOUGH!
If only it were possible to marathon this season!
Gee, that cough sounds pretty bad, maybe you should get it looked at...
*hack*
(Especially the people who have to fix all the stuff they broke on their way out!)
You know Joe and Jane Q. Technician are starting a petition to make it illegal to hold either of them captive!
How long ago did Bell go over to start helping Walternate with the mercury shifters?
Wait, he helped with the mercury shapeshifters?
Ah, yes, that one has lots of... mytharc information, and... amber-research scenes. ...Yes. Good choice!
So much...information, yes. And...lots of case stuff. Yes.
Well, having Faux around always makes her more uptight, what with all the insecurity!rage. ...That is totally how I'm explaining how this Amberlivia is so much different from the one in 4x01...
"I WOULD BE SUCH A BETTER PERSON IF YOU WEREN'T AROUND!"
Also, how has nobody accused Peter of being a shifter/generally evil by now? Well, besides Walter, but that's on a more personal-destiny sort of level.
Good question! They do seem to suspect he might be generally evil, but given all the shifters around, you would think they'd be all over that as a possibility.
Re: Part 1
Date: 2011-11-07 01:32 am (UTC)Why can't I insert twenty hours directly into my eyeballs grrrrrrrrrrr!
You know Joe and Jane Q. Technician are starting a petition to make it illegal to hold either of them captive!
"How did he screw up this speaker wiring so bad?? It shouldn't even *connect* to the phones! They're two completely separate systems!!"
Wait, he helped with the mercury shapeshifters?
Yeah, back when they were rescuing Peter from the Other Side, Walter got all shouty at Bell about backing ZFT and everything, and Bell said something about how he had to develop the shifters for Walternate so Walternate wouldn't get suspicious that Bell was a mole. Or something? I never did get a handle on Bell's exact involvement.
So much...information, yes. And...lots of case stuff. Yes.
Technical details. Lab work. Good stuff, yes.
"I WOULD BE SUCH A BETTER PERSON IF YOU WEREN'T AROUND!"
"YOU HAVE A WHOLE UNIVERSE TO SAUNTER ALL OVER, WHY CAN'T YOU JUST STAY THERE??"
They do seem to suspect he might be generally evil, but given all the shifters around, you would think they'd be all over that as a possibility.
Especially since he's genetically identical to somebody who should be dead...
Re: Part 1
Date: 2011-11-07 08:14 pm (UTC)Huh. Wow, I have forgotten basically everything to do with ZFT.
Especially since he's genetically identical to somebody who should be dead...
Well, considering how difficult it would be for any potential Peter-shaped shifter to get the DNA, maybe they're giving him the benefit of the doubt...
Re: Part 1
Date: 2011-11-08 01:05 am (UTC)Don't worry, so has the writing team!
Well, considering how difficult it would be for any potential Peter-shaped shifter to get the DNA, maybe they're giving him the benefit of the doubt...
The road to apocalypse is paved with the benefits of the doubt!
Re: Part 1
Date: 2011-11-08 01:57 am (UTC)To be fair, they pretty much wrote themselves a get out of continuity free card with the timeline reset...
The road to apocalypse is paved with the benefits of the doubt!
They're so shiny and well-intentioned!
Re: Part 1
Date: 2011-11-08 02:28 am (UTC)EVIL GENIUSES!