Look, I’m going to be honest with you Fringe, if I’d been watching you live, I would have dropped you at the beginning of season 4. I swear, I would have been like, someone please let me know when the pain is over, and I might catch up then.
Might being the operative word.
Because, let me be honest, I’m tired. Maybe this is actually worse for me as I’m bingeing – if I’d been watching live I’d at least have people to discuss this with, and I’d have fanfic! As it stands I don’t dare to go look for fanfic, because I don’t want to get spoiled, so I’m just here, trying to power through the pain.
I thought nothing could be worse than the Fauxlivia mess. Boy, was I wrong. At least during that mess everyone was acting, like, you know, themselves. The characters were still the characters I loved, even when they were doing dumb stuff.
Season 4, however, has robbed me of everything – of everyone. Sure, it’s fun to explore new dynamics every once in a while, but it’s only fun if you do like an AU “What If?” episode, not if you change the dynamics of the main characters completely in SEASON FOUR, when I’ve already gotten attached to the characters as they were.
It’s a gimmick, and sure, it’s an amazing opportunity for the actors, but I already knew John Noble and Anna Torv, in particular, were not just good actors, but amazing, “Someone Give them An Emmy” actors, I didn’t need this pain and a whole season or who knows how long of them playing slightly different versions of themselves to get that.
So yes, I’m angry at you, Fringe. You literally took away all the growth. You took away Walter and Peter’s relationship, the thing you’d built this show around, and you gave me an angry Walter who will take forever to warm up to Peter, and who will likely never look at him the way the other version of Walter did.
You took away Polivia, when I’d just started to really enjoy it, and you made Olivia into an even more secluded version of herself. I’m not saying I would have loved to see her with someone, now that would have been another whole damn emotional mess, but it still kind of heartbreaking to see this Olivia and how hard it is for her to trust, to open up.
I’m not even sure the fact that you gave me Lincoln can make up for all of that.
And yes – you did, thanks to this gimmick, fix some of the issues of season 3, but I swear, I would rather keep the season 3 issues, Fauxlivia and baby Henry and that whole ass mess and deal with them, than start from scratch and have to spend God knows how many episodes with these pod-people who don’t even resemble the characters I invested in.
It feels like I’m too far in to quit now, but boy, am I tempted to. Or at least skip an episode or ten. But I will persevere, because …well, I’m still in quarantine, so it’s not like I have all that much to do.
But know I’m judging you, Fringe. I’m judging you pretty hard.
At least you did bring Peter back, four episodes later. (Way too long, okay? Way too long). Now, can you work on the happiness I so richly deserve? Kthanx.
Fringe is available to stream on IMDBTV.