Fringe 5.03: "The Recordist"
Oct. 12th, 2012 09:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
icepixieYou know, when eight o'clock rolled around, I spent some minutes looking back and forth between the TV and my current book, and I'm still not entirely sure I made the right choice.
On the one hand, this started out very promisingly. I'm totally on board with the "travel the country to put the pieces of Walter's plan together" arc--if only because, as with this episode, it gets us out of the dystopic shadow of Observerland--and X-Filesesque creepy kids in the suspiciously-heavy-on-evergreens-for-Pennsylvania forest is always a good way to start things!
...And then they brought in Carson Beckett, took away his Scottish accent and gave him bad hair, and made him say and do RIDICULOUS THINGS. Guys, this is the kind of thing I expect to see in glurgey e-mail forwards, not on Fringe. Some of that dialogue was heinous--and the kid's was just as bad--and I don't buy this guy doing a kamikaze stunt in service of the mission after knowing our heroes for, like, A DAY. Find a less lazy way of achieving this result, show!
I'm a bit meh on Peter and Olivia's scene together. It was nicely done, and Olivia's poor self-esteem rings very true, but...I don't really feel like they were parents for three years. Something about the way they talk about the past just makes it feel like it was an extremely brief period in their lives, and one they don't necessarily remember very well. Maybe it's just all the attention that's been paid to the days/weeks/months/however long it was after Etta was taken that overwhelms everything else? And I get why they would do that, because it's driving the current story and all, but I wish they would do more, "Hey, remember that time when Etta ate a rock and we both freaked out until the doctor talked us off the ledge?" and other family stories that would've passed into the lore of their relationship. Right now I feel like for all they're telling us there was three years between the end of last season and everyone being ambered, they sure aren't making me believe it.
Oh, well. Maybe they'll do that later. I did appreciate the bit of flashback they had, and I do hope they do more of it, for longer stretches. Also, Walter remains pitch perfect.
On the one hand, this started out very promisingly. I'm totally on board with the "travel the country to put the pieces of Walter's plan together" arc--if only because, as with this episode, it gets us out of the dystopic shadow of Observerland--and X-Filesesque creepy kids in the suspiciously-heavy-on-evergreens-for-Pennsylvania forest is always a good way to start things!
...And then they brought in Carson Beckett, took away his Scottish accent and gave him bad hair, and made him say and do RIDICULOUS THINGS. Guys, this is the kind of thing I expect to see in glurgey e-mail forwards, not on Fringe. Some of that dialogue was heinous--and the kid's was just as bad--and I don't buy this guy doing a kamikaze stunt in service of the mission after knowing our heroes for, like, A DAY. Find a less lazy way of achieving this result, show!
I'm a bit meh on Peter and Olivia's scene together. It was nicely done, and Olivia's poor self-esteem rings very true, but...I don't really feel like they were parents for three years. Something about the way they talk about the past just makes it feel like it was an extremely brief period in their lives, and one they don't necessarily remember very well. Maybe it's just all the attention that's been paid to the days/weeks/months/however long it was after Etta was taken that overwhelms everything else? And I get why they would do that, because it's driving the current story and all, but I wish they would do more, "Hey, remember that time when Etta ate a rock and we both freaked out until the doctor talked us off the ledge?" and other family stories that would've passed into the lore of their relationship. Right now I feel like for all they're telling us there was three years between the end of last season and everyone being ambered, they sure aren't making me believe it.
Oh, well. Maybe they'll do that later. I did appreciate the bit of flashback they had, and I do hope they do more of it, for longer stretches. Also, Walter remains pitch perfect.