As the title of this post makes perfectly plain – but I’ll repeat the warning in case you somehow missed it – this post is being written with zero regard for how much of this series you have or haven’t seen. So – SPOILER ALERT – for you weirdos that hate having plot points and story details given away. Me? I had to read about every single episode before I could handle continuing on with the series after season two. It was (and continued to) make me very anxious.
So why did I keep watching?
BECAUSE IT IS FUCKING AWESOME.
Also, all my Fringe-loving friends kept demanding that I stick it out to the bitter end. They PROMISED me it would all turn out okay. Yes, it did. With a lot of collateral damage. I just finished watching the whole series today. I stayed up late every single night this week and last night I watched until almost 3am, at which point I fell asleep in my chair until 4:30am. Then I woke up and continued watching it because I couldn’t possibly concentrate on anything else until I knew every single thing that happened. Needless to say, I’m a little burnt to the socket. Now, I wish to say all the things I was thinking and feeling about this series:
- First and foremost – the writers of this show may have given Peter and Olivia a happy ending but I think no fictional couple has gone through so much pain and separation and torture than they put these two through and I’m still pissed at them.
- I love Peter and Olivia but if you ask me who my favorite characters are I’m incapable of pinpointing any one or even two. It depends on the moment but Astrid is right up there. At moments she was my very favorite. Her relationship with Walter is so sweet and funny. I relate to Astrid because she’s this quiet force holding all the others together. She does practical things like care for Walter, she locates information, she makes sure all the instruments are clean, she’s dependable, she’s smart, and she’s fucking cute as hell.
- My only problem with Astrid, played by Jasika Nicole was her hair in the first two seasons. Why? Am I a horrible bastardette who doesn’t like curly hair? No. I do not like helmet hair. Any hair cut that makes someone look like they’re wearing a helmet bothers me. In season 3 they cut it so you could see her ear lobes and that was much nicer and suited her better. If you look at the image of her in her IMBD listing you’ll see her rocking her curls adorably.
- Yeah, I get hung up on things like hair styles. I guess what I really am is a shallow bastardette.
- Astrid’s alternate is fantastic! Her hair, when she isn’t wearing her cute hat, is fabulous, and I love that they put her character “somewhere on the spectrum”. I loved loved loved alternate Astrid.
- I disliked nearly all the other alternates. Yep, I hated fauxlivia. I am aware that I’m supposed to like her, at least eventually, but I could never forgive her even though the writers tried very hard to force me to find her charming and forgivable.
- It offends me that everyone seems to like her “vivacity” and her tendency to “smile more” and her FUN personality. She’s saucy and sexy and struts around all the time. I hate that because I’m like the real Olivia – much more serious and broken and I’m not exactly a vivacious and FUN person. I resent that these qualities are so admired and desired.
- Walter’s obsession with food amused and delighted me through the whole series.
- I never once liked or trusted Nina Sharpe.
- I love Leonard Nimoy but his dentures are super uncomfortable for me to look at.
- I’m pleased that the second time around Peter was much more cautious about getting together with Olivia lest he betray her again. That almost made me forgive him for the first time when he fell for the FUN Fauxlivia.
- I grew very impatient with all the time shifting. Seriously, a little too damn much of that for me. Gave me serious emotional whiplash. I almost stopped watching.
- Also – the period of time where Peter is “lost” and no one remembers him was way too long. Like – stupidly long. I almost gave up at that point too. And I thought it was a little weak to suddenly reveal that he wasn’t lost at all. WEAK.
- If I was to be reborn as a man I want to be reborn as Seth Gabel who played Lincoln Lee.
- I liked Lincoln Lee’s first pair of glasses way better than his second and every time I saw him in his Clark Kent’s I coveted them. When my time comes to get glasses I want that kind.
- I truly enjoyed the last season and am surprised that I did. The only thing that marred it for me was the distance between Peter and Olivia. While I get that drifting apart happens to grieving couples – the one thing those two should already have learned was to trust each other and to STICK TOGETHER IN HAPPINESS AS WELL AS GRIEF. I kept wanting to scream at them “Kiss it out you fools! You’re way stronger together than apart! Have you learned nothing in the last four seasons?!”
- I love September (played by Michael Cerveris) and loved what he became but was totally bummed that they killed him off AGAIN at the end. Fuck that!
- I thought the observers were incredibly interesting and I’m glad that they got explored a lot more.
- I am so happy that both Olivias only had one child. I’m so happy that the main Olivia revealed her mixed feelings about motherhood and her fitness for it and how she never planned to have any. How often do shows do that?
- I was a little disappointed to see that Peter and Olivia were wearing wedding rings in Season 5. How cool would it have been if they had a child together and lived a committed life together without getting married. Just goes to show how religion is still having undue influence over entertainment. We can kill as many people off as we want but couples who have babies still must be seen to be married. So stupid and narrow.
- I’m sad that Astrid didn’t ever have a romantic partner. For a while I hoped Lincoln Lee and her would get together. But he had to be into Olivia. (Philip says “does everybody have to be in love with Olivia?” yeah, apparently so)
- But don’t get me wrong – I love Olivia too.
- But if I was a man I’d probably fall for Astrid.
- I would definitely NOT fall for Fauxlivia.
- I did find the villain David Robert Jones a little tedious as well as Bell turning out to be the one completely behind his evil. I think the villain who wants to destroy the world and start a new one in his image is getting pretty tired. Why are humans so fascinated with this type of villain? Is it because they really are afraid of the ultimate destruction of the universe? I’m much more afraid of occupation and oppression than total annihilation.
- The observers taking over seemed like a much more organic oppression. The fact that they have settled in the past to protect their future makes sense to me. They are keeping an order they understand and keeping control over the humans they see as inferior and obsolete and troublingly unpredictable. If they did have anything akin to feelings I think they are like xenophobes who are terrified of what they don’t know or don’t understand. The observers were a very interesting kind of adversary and I thought the writers made an old story (people from the future coming back into the past) into something new and interesting.
- But seriously, way too much playing with timelines. I did not find it confusing, I found it irritating.
- I love that none of the women characters were running around chasing bad guys in stiletto heels. Few things irritate me more than that. Women in 6″ fucking heels running after villains. No. I think Olivia wore heels only once or twice in the show. Otherwise she was always wearing boots or sensible shoes for saving the world in.
- Joshua Jackson looks great in a pea coat. He should always be wearing one.
- John Noble has an incredible face. His is my favorite “mad scientist” character of ALL TIME. I love that his main pursuits are doing recreational drugs and eating. I loved his vulnerability and his evolution from a man willing to do ruthless experimentation on children to a man horrified at his own ability to dehumanize others for the sake of science. Of all the characters in this series his is the most complex, the most interesting, the most charming, and John Noble did an exquisite job bringing Walter to life. Walter is the weirdest fictional character I’m bummed I can’t hang out with in real life.
That’s all I can think of right now. I may come back and add a few thoughts. I know I’m going to want to watch the series again. I think I’m going to have to own it just so I can spend time in Walter’s lab some more and watch Peter looking at Olivia (because he does that so well) and watch Astrid play with lab stuff and look cute while holding trays of entrails.
I’m exhausted now. I’m thinking about getting my hair cut. I’m not sure. I want to feel freshened up. I feel emotionally wound up and a little wired. This post was my first attempt to wind down.
Any thoughts you other Fringe lovers want to share with me? I’d love to hear them!
