Fringe, Season 5 (first half-ish)
May. 5th, 2015 06:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cahnOkay, um, I am up to 5x08 ("The Human Kind", mostly just started) and my principal feeling is one of bafflement. Who are these people? Who is this Walter who is a "different person"? (In 5x06, when he started expressing his sadness as to putting science over people, I was like… but Walter… whenever I've seen you on-screen that's what you do! With, like, one exception?) Who is this William Bell who sold out Fringe for profit? No! I loved the plot twist in S4 because it makes perfect sense for cortiphexan!Bell to be completely megalomaniac, but for him to just be pettily venal… no, that's not how his personality fractures! Who is this Olivia who just kind of stands around and occasionally goes to collect a plot coupon? Who, in fact, are the Observers, who used to, like, know what was going on in the future because of being time travelers and stuff, and who appear to currently be letting Fringe walk all over them without predicting their every movement? I DON'T KNOW THESE PEOPLE. WHEN DID I START WATCHING A DIFFERENT SHOW.
(Okay, a Bishop who reacts really badly at a loved one's death, I know him. And Blair Brown is sufficiently awesome that I still really enjoy watching Nina.)
Also, the plot coupon plot is just terribly boring.
Also, as I commented on![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fringe_rewatch, I thought Etta's death was a great plot twist (which I did not see coming at all and which devastated me in the best way), but I feel like as a long-term season move it came too soon and without character support; we have no visceral character connection with dystopia!world anymore. (Broyles or Sharp could have provided this, but they weren't given the proper screen time or writing support.)
(Okay, a Bishop who reacts really badly at a loved one's death, I know him. And Blair Brown is sufficiently awesome that I still really enjoy watching Nina.)
Also, the plot coupon plot is just terribly boring.
Also, as I commented on
fringe_rewatch, I thought Etta's death was a great plot twist (which I did not see coming at all and which devastated me in the best way), but I feel like as a long-term season move it came too soon and without character support; we have no visceral character connection with dystopia!world anymore. (Broyles or Sharp could have provided this, but they weren't given the proper screen time or writing support.)
no subject
Date: 2015-05-05 01:44 pm (UTC)Yeah, fundamentally that is what my S5 vid is about, which I guess you'll watch when you finish. If they'd only paced out the twists a little better, and trusted the depth of their cast a little more, Season 5 would have been really effective at telling Etta's story. As it is, you can kind of piece together the story they should have been telling if you squint the right way.
I like that these characters have evolved, are not the same as their Season 4 or Season 3 counterparts, but I also found it hard a lot of the time to see the line that gets you from Season 4 to Season 5.
no subject
Date: 2015-05-05 01:51 pm (UTC)But yeah. I really wish they'd spent more time on that line between S4 and S5. Peter and Olivia, I kind of get how they've changed. But it would have been greatly improved if, for instance, Walter (and Bell, but Noble can basically act Bell in Nimoy's absence) had been able to express his post-S4 self at all before trying to hang plot twists on it.
no subject
Date: 2015-05-05 01:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-05-06 02:06 pm (UTC)(Nina could have been given the role of saboteur instead of Bell -- would have made a lot more sense. And waaaay more emotional resonance than Olivia/what-reaction-am-I-supposed-to-have-to-this-Nina-again and Doomed Bell/Sharp which, whatever.)
no subject
Date: 2015-05-06 06:34 pm (UTC)Sometimes it is better to pretend this is just Season 5 AU Fanfic Nina.