FRINGE: "Because it's cool!"

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Taffer: Oct 15, 2010

Olivia told her what's what in a fantastic way, so it was all worth it in the end.

# ? Dec 11, 2012 06:47

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# ? Jun 11, 2024 11:51

The Candyman: Aug 19, 2010; by T. Finninho

FlamingLiberal posted:

The 'oracle' in this episode came off as really irritating. She also got too much screen time. Thankfully the Peter parts of the episode made up for that.

I was hoping she'd be a cortexiphan trial kid.

# ? Dec 11, 2012 07:10

Trump Card: Jun 25, 2008; HEY GUYS

She was probably the kid of a cortexiphan trial kid.

# ? Dec 11, 2012 07:35

SamBishop: Jan 10, 2003

FlamingLiberal posted:

The 'oracle' in this episode came off as really irritating. She also got too much screen time. Thankfully the Peter parts of the episode made up for that.

I'm not even sure what that was meant to add to the overall info of the season. She gets flashes or something? She sees things? Humans are evolving and becoming legit soothsayers? Cortexiphan isn't needed to speed our evolution? Decades later, the Observers' tweaks have created abilities?

It was really nice from the perspective of hearing about someone that knew about these guys before they were ambered, but we still haven't seen what happened between the end of S4 and the start of this one. I would imagine the "Invasion" episode that finally reveals some semblance of the point that lead up to the season 5 start is going to be CRAZY. They've already shown the first moments in flashbacks.

SamBishop fucked around with this message at 09:53 on Dec 11, 2012

# ? Dec 11, 2012 09:44

Tupperwarez: Apr 4, 2004; "phphphphphphpht"? this is what you're going with?

you sure?

SamBishop posted:

I'm not even sure what that was meant to add to the overall info of the season. She gets flashes or something? She sees things? Humans are evolving and becoming legit soothsayers? Cortexiphan isn't needed to speed our evolution? Decades later, the Observers' tweaks have created abilities?

I'm guessing that they wanted it to tie in with Walter's comment that the Observer tech is 'controlled evolution'. The magnet lady represents the natural emergence of superhuman abilities, contrasting with the Observers' approach of "Pffft, gently caress waiting! Just plug in and use the express lane!"

At least, that's what I'm guessing. It sorta combos well with the other contrast of her unwavering faith versus the Observers' unrelenting logic.

# ? Dec 11, 2012 10:28

SamBishop: Jan 10, 2003

Tupperwarez posted:

I'm guessing that they wanted it to tie in with Walter's comment that the Observer tech is 'controlled evolution'. The magnet lady represents the natural emergence of superhuman abilities, contrasting with the Observers' approach of "Pffft, gently caress waiting! Just plug in and use the express lane!"

At least, that's what I'm guessing. It sorta combos well with the other contrast of her unwavering faith versus the Observers' unrelenting logic.

That's a really, really good point that I didn't quite get. Walter and Bell were readily looking for people whose genetic aberrations keyed in to their research projects even as young as kids. For as much as they played God with all this stuff, they still were fixed on trying to coax out the abilities rather than making them a roughshod byway to potential.

[edit] Eh, now that I think about it, that's exactly what they were trying to do, nevermind.

Thing is, apparently all observers have that tech in their heads. None of them sent back thus far have exhibited latent abilities in the same way as the Fringe events from seasons past. Near as I can tell, they were Walter/Bell test cases gone awry. Most Fringe events were byproducts of the stuff the two did, right? Were there any instances of naturally-arising humans? Nearly everything seems to have been co-opted versions of what they studied before -- not that I mind that, but so often Walter was going back to notes of the poo poo they did before he opted to have bits cut out.

It seems pretty obvious now that Peter doesn't have the tech in his head that he's going to have to be that tether to the "real" Walter. That dovetails wonderfully into the whole original moments of the series, but it makes me wonder if we might get a peek into the future that might have been as the Observers are overthrown and the natural pace of evolution is let loose - for good or ill.

The biggest frustration, though, is that we know the B universe is still happening concurrently. Did all of their advanced tech help repel the Observers when they almost certainly showed up? I REALLY hope we get to see what happened over there, since that reveal of the universe was what basically made the show what it is now in terms of scope and story. They can't forget that stuff, and I know it'll come up at some point, but it's frustrating to not address it -- unless I missed some line that explained why.

# ? Dec 11, 2012 10:57

GoonGPT: May 26, 2006; Posting for a better future, today!

So when Peter climbed the stairs to the roof that evening he knew he was going to be performing a little surgery on himself, correct?

# ? Dec 12, 2012 07:45

WIFEY WATCHDOG: Jun 25, 2012; Yeah, well I don't trust this guy. I think he regifted, he degifted, and now he's using an upstairs invite as a springboard to a Super Bowl sex romp.

nature6pk posted:

So when Peter climbed the stairs to the roof that evening he knew he was going to be performing a little surgery on himself, correct?

Nope, could not have predicted the actions Olivia took. He spent no time trying to predict her actions either, therefore had no basis for what was going to occur.

# ? Dec 12, 2012 08:06

Basebf555: Feb 29, 2008; The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!; Fun Shoe

Well its not really clear exactly how the Observers see things. I always thought they knew about future events because they had literally experienced them. Peter hasn't traveled exstensively through time like a normal Observer, yet he makes cryptic statements like "if only you could see what I see" and poo poo like that. He obviously can see all possible futures due the the Observer tech, so time travel must not be related to their knowledge. So its pretty confusing and probably due to the role of the Observers not being all that clear in the writers minds from the beginning.

# ? Dec 14, 2012 21:27

SLOSifl: Aug 10, 2002

Peter and the Observers "see the future" through logic and probability. It's been said before that the earlier season Observers were a science/recon team, while most of the ones we see now aren't constantly warping around through time. That whole computer-vision thing they used to show what Peter was seeing was probably supposed to be an accurate representation of Observervision.

Obviously there is all kinds of random poo poo provided by the implant, but the prediction of future events by Peter is really just prediction. Otherwise, why would he draw it all out and map out different branches, rather than just, you know, seeing the future?

SLOSifl fucked around with this message at 21:52 on Dec 14, 2012

# ? Dec 14, 2012 21:49

Mr. Snazz: Nov 15, 2003

The observers in this most recent episode did comment that Peter could "run futures". My takeaway from that was he can essentially do what a chess program does - "try" combinations of moves and subsequent moves, in his mind. He can't see all possible futures, but he can run various combinations and see what occurs.

# ? Dec 14, 2012 22:38

Maxwell Adams: Oct 21, 2000; T E E F S

I can't wait for the new episode where Peter dies from an infection he got from DOING BRAIN SURGERY ON HIMSELF OUTSIDE IN THE RAIN

# ? Dec 15, 2012 02:00

der juicen: Aug 11, 2005; Fuck haters

I miss Charlie.

edit: Walter dancing in Inner Child is loving hilarious.

der juicen fucked around with this message at 02:18 on Dec 15, 2012

# ? Dec 15, 2012 02:13

Legs Benedict: Jul 14, 2002; You can either follow me to our bedroom or bend over that control throne because I haven't been this turned on in FOREVER!

der juicen posted:

I miss Charlie.

I miss Charlie the Character. I don't miss Kirk Acevedo's sandpaper-on-gravel voice.

# ? Dec 15, 2012 02:15

I AM GRANDO: Aug 20, 2006

As long as Charlie is gone from the show, he's happy living his life with Bug Girl. The minute he comes back on screen he's at high risk for gruesome or heroic-self-sacrificing death. For his own safety, he should stay away like Bolivia's doctor boyfriend who she dumped for Lincoln.

# ? Dec 15, 2012 02:18