Comments on: Reaction: Fringe (4×11)

By: sbg

sbg — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:46:27 +0000

That would have been a much more interesting use of the Observers, that’s for sure.

By: sbg

sbg — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:45:35 +0000

Azzy, Thank you for putting to words what I meant re: our Astrid's reaction to Alt!Astrid's father not loving her because she was the way she was. At first I was all "Awww, Astrid's dad is awesome." and then I started to go "But now she knows that he might not have been had she been more like her alternate." It was that subtle, wrenching look on Jasika Nicole's face there. She did a fabulous job. Also totally agree about it being about the characters. The plots lately have been pretty iffy, if I'm going to be honest, but the characters remain solid.

By: Gena

Gena — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 16:20:41 +0000

I reeeeally wanted the twist at the end of the episode to be Observer interference at the shooting to take the device before Mercy Killer got shot/after it is ensured he will be shot (and we see him get shot) so it wouldn’t be in the house at all by the time Peter and Olivia investigate… and for it to be significant because of Mercy Killer establishing formulas/tech that set up the creation of the Observers. They have to protect significant historical occurrences, since they’re uniquely outside of time in a way where, paradoxically, they exist without having been made yet. Also, it’s just their “thing”– but ensuring your continued/beginning existence is pretty high up there in quantum multiversal historical priorities, too.

I loled when Walter called Altlivia Mata Hari. Also at the “Kirk out!” line, because I’m a giant nerd, and also, JJ QUIT TAUNTING ME.

Azzy,

See, I had been kind of bummed at first when Astrid lied because I thought the alternative of our Astrid and AltAstrid sharing family dysfunction and each dealing with it in different ways would have been more interesting– but if the writers don’t use this as a cop-out to make our Astrid “Generic Normal Good Girl Who Is Good With Feelings,” then I think you’re really on to something. Idk, I just wanted the “it wasn’t you” line to be coming from Astrid’s own experiences– and who knows, maybe it was. It seemed like she really turned an analysis of AltAstrid around into being about AltAstrid’s father… or maybe our Astrid is really, really good at performative neurotypicality/emotional masquerading and she was sad at the end because she knows that about her father already.

…The moral is, we need more Astrid. It’s like a lot ridiculous how much more Astrid backstory I could stand to hear/see. :3

By: Azzy

Azzy — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 06:46:17 +0000

The plot was pretty meh. The villain felt played-out (I’ve seen mercy-killer characters dealt with in more interesting manners). This episode was clearly all about the characters, however, and in that department it excelled. The Astrids were delightful, each in their own way.

Also, runner-up prize goes to the Walter/Alt!livia interactions, for cracking me. I wonder if Alt!livia was acting so cheery just to mess with Walter? Or maybe she was just in a good mood.

Anyway, the final scene with Astrid and her father made me wibble a bit. Not just because I realized that Astrid had lied, but because by the look on Astrid’s face when she was hugging her dad, I got the impression she was facing the fact that his love might have been conditional–that if she’d been more like Alt!Astrid, her father might have also been far less demonstrative. It was just sad.