thursday tv!

[falulatonks]

I want to be super detailed or at least partly organised when I talk about Fringe, but I don't know how to do it! I couldn't even rearrange these points after I'd written the whole thing. I'm sorry for this, I guess? It's not my fault, though.

1. Things will get confusing talking about this show. Fauxlivia vs. Ourlivia, over there vs. our 'verse. OK?


2. I was so excited about this show that it was kind of inevitable that I would be disappointed. Except it wasn't, because I WAS NOT DISAPPOINTED. It lived up to all my expectations, and went beyond them. I adore this show.


3. I love that Olivia referred to the alternate universe as "over here".


4. That second that she slipped into Fauxlivia and smiled and laughed about Frank, I had to pause, because the noise I was making was keeping me from listening to the episode. Her starting to realise she was losing herself was kind of devastating.


5. I also had to pause when Olivia slipped into the bathroom and we didn't hear anything for a few seconds until that first sob. It sounded like she was almost unused to crying, like she'd forgotten how to. It shattered me. She's so alone!


6. I also had to pause when she finally fell into her mother's hug.


7. I also had to pause when the guy from our side asked Peter why he came back. (SHE ISN'T HERE, PETER.)


8. Fauxlivia being smiley isn't a dead giveaway, and Peter not noticing yet because of her smiling so much still makes sense to me, a little bit. (Plus, haven't they only been back for three days?) When she refuses alcohol, though. That's going to NAIL IT. I can't wait.


9. I actually kind of love that from the little we saw of our 'verse, it looks like there isn't going to be a big revelation so much as all the characters beginning to realise that something doesn't fit. Walter looked just a little bit confused, for one split second, when Fauxlivia asked him about bringing the shoes back. It's all about adding the little things up. Fauxlivia isn't going to slip up in a big way, not yet. She's too good for that.


10. I adore Olivia, but I don't get the hate for Fauxlivia. She's only doing her job!


11. Anna Torv was so many kinds of brilliant in this episode! There were so many times in this episode that she could've gone over-the-top in, overly emotional or a little too bland, but she totally nailed that balance - the steely insistence in her first scene as she said she was not from this place, the tentative, hopeful, kind of resigned way she approached things Over There, all of it. And every time she flicked over to Fauxlivia for even a second, there was a glint in her eye and a quirk to her smile that made so much of a difference. Gorgeous.


12. Olivia is badass enough to be able to escape the facility on her own, and I loved that she did it.


13. That said, I really hope Charlie and Lee figure out what happened to Ourlivia, because she needs help. (Plus, you know. MORE CHARLIE!)


14. I don't want to lose Ourlivia! OLIVIAAAA. I think her finding herself again is going to be amazing to watch, though.


15. I found Henry the cabbie wonderful and fascinating. I love that this show doesn't create throwaway characters, but ones that have motivations and ideas and character. Also, when he was talking to his wife on the phone, he said "Laura's room. Laura's old room?" Maybe his daughter died? If she did, then he'd have a reason to want to go to our 'verse.


16. Could Walter be hoping that Fauxlivia doesn't last in our 'verse, is switched back, and that Ourlivia (because she's essentially Fauxlivia now) continues to report back Over There? I don't know. The bastard is evil enough, and Ourlivia coming back will have our 'verse convinced that she's exactly the Olivia they used to know, because they've removed the anomaly. Does that even make sense?


17. Over There is fascinating - I love the tiny details that've changed in that universe, and I adore that they don't bash us in the head with it.


18. I adored the transition from Over There to our 'verse - the blue flash.

(I'm writing the rest of this entry four hours after I was done with Fringe.)

1. Community - I was terrified of this premiere, because I love Jeff, and Britta, and Annie, and I didn't want one character wrecked for the benefit of the other two, in any way, and I thought ruining the characters was probably going to happen after all the romantic crap in the finale. I loved how they resolved it, though. Because Jeff was a jerk, and continues to be jerk-y, but at least he's given the appropriate amount of anger for it. (Abed made me sad. Ouch.) And then everything was happy again. (Thank goodness.)
   
   At the same time, I started cackling laughing five or six times. Troy in a Spider-man t-shirt! "When we talked about discretion?", while playing with her hair and being all gooey-eyed! The gross kissing! Annie and Shirley's similar but NOT squealing! "HOW SEASON ONE OF YOU!" Saying no to an "Old Guy Says" show! Talking about Toy Story 3 and Troy switching from being about to cry to going "YES"! (Every time they said "tool" in the scene in the classroom, I wanted to say, "YOU'RE A TOOL", because I'm 12.) Oh, show! I didn't realise how much I missed you, but I DID. SO MUCH. I'm sorry I forgot to rewatch you so much over the summer, but I promise I'll be better.


2. The Office was adorable and really funny and maybe it's because I didn't think about it much, or because I haven't had expectations for it for a while, but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I love everyone!


3. 30 Rock was good, too, and I'm glad that I feel like that about this show. I love Matt Damon. I also loved that Jack booked a "JackFest", and Liz did that thing with the Victorian wallpaper - that's a level of high interference into each other's lives that we haven't seen in ages, and I kind of love when we get to see them influencing each other more, because I love their friendship. Last season, we got so many scenes where they just walked into each other's rooms, talked about everything that had happened to them, made some weird joke, and then walked right out. It got annoying.
   
   The Pete/his wife joke was gross, though. I disapprove.

I feel like it's relevant to mention that Community briefly mentioned Toy Story 3, and The Office briefly mentioned Inception. Clearly Community is the cooler show.

I am ridiculous.

-- rachu

ETA: The Office - when Toby and Gabe told Michael he needed to go through a HR course, I started hoping with all my heart that it would be with Holly. It's not just me, right? Or am I that pathetic about Michael/Holly?

Comments

[irishmizzy.livejournal.com]

Her starting to realise she was losing herself was kind of devastating.

YES, OMG, IT SERIOUSLY WAS. It totally wrecked me, augh. Plus aaaaahhhh, refusing the drink -- I spent most of the summer in a state of HO SHIT WHAT ARE WE GONNA DOOOO and hoping that the first thing that happened was Peter realized it wasn't Oliva, but I'm so so glad they did it this way, because hanging out in Alt!Verse for an entire episode is always so fun. Plus Anna KILLED IT.

[falulatonks]

SHE DID. And I love that the premiere was basically a really long taxi ride, and it was still so exciting and emotional and everything. I LOVE THIS HSOW.

We're spending our time in our 'verse next week, though, and I hope so much that Peter figures it out soon.

[hmsharmony.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed The Office as well!! It's getting some hate on my f-list, but I thought it was just FUN. And Pam was adorable. ^^

[falulatonks]

It was so fun! It made me happy, everyone got screen-time, and yes, Pam was absolutely adorable. Yay.

[marshmallow.livejournal.com]

Tell me about the alcohol thing! Why will that be a giveaway? (I haven't rewatched much of s2 yet.)

I'm really looking forward to seeing her fight her way back to herself too. I hope Peter will play a role in that!

And agreed. MORE CHARLIE! ALWAYS! :D

(Hee.. I was rooting for it to be Holly for the HR course too!)

[zombie_boogie.livejournal.com]

Dude, Olivia/Alcohol is like the greatest ship on this show second only to Peter/Olivia.

[falulatonks]

hee, seriously; Olivia drinks a lot of alcohol, and she's pretty damn good at it, too.

I hope Peter plays a part in bringing Olivia back to herself, too! But that may just be because I'm a sap.

(Oh, thank goodness. I love them so much.)

[torigates.livejournal.com]

I'm going to have to rewatch Fringe to have real thoughts. All that was going through my mind was OLIVIAAAAAAAAAAA.

[falulatonks]

I could only write this entry around an hour after I watched the episode, and even then I kept going "and in this scene, she made me want to cry again!!!" AH. I don't know how my heart is going to deal with this season.

[la-petite-singe.livejournal.com]

I LOVED both Community and TO and I am SO HAPPY to be able to say that, since the finales both disappointed me somewhat. SO. MUCH. META in Community. And it was awesome. The Spider-man shirt, the sitcom cliches, Jeff saying he was going to be on a pedobear website, the "Shit My Dad Says" jab...AWESOME. (Or "AAAAAAAHHHHHWWWESOME!!" HEE.) Also, the Twilight diss. And Chang as Gollum. And Betty White with a crossbow. And just...everything.

And TO was great; the open was absurd and silly and YES YES YES the pranks are back, and it just had so many of those little throwaways lines/moments that make me howl--"aspiring freelance bodyguard," "YOU MAKE IT SO HARD TO LOVE YOU SOMETIMES," "I'll just have to check the circus breaker," etc. ♥ YAAAY for TV being awesome again! And IA that Holly needs to fit in there somewhere, because really.

[falulatonks]

Yeah, both finales were pretty disappointing to me! But Community definitely wrapped it all up in a great way - the fantastic Twilight diss, dual-personality!Chang, well-used Betty White. SO GREAT.

I KNOW, THE PRANKS! I suddenly realise I can't think of any good pranks from last season, but this (and how absolutely adorable Pam was being during it) was wonderful. And I laughed a lot, too, and it's been such a long time since I got that from this show. It made me happy.

[cashewdani.livejournal.com]

It's weird to be not only okay, but maybe happy with The Office. It's just been a really, really long time.

[falulatonks]

It really has been a while since I found myself smiling and laughing at the show. It made me happy.

[jessm.livejournal.com]

Hehe, the Toy Story 3 reference is definitely the superior one. I loved the Community premiere. I think my favorite part was Abed telling Jeff off. I like Jeff 'cause I like Joel, but he's a highly unlikable lead character most, if not all, of the time.

[falulatonks]

I agree about Jeff, but I like when he's given slightly more human moments - so while I loved that Abed called him out on how terrible he was being, I was also kind of sad about it. Plus, the Abed-Jeff friendship is both so rarely seen on the show but also one of the most compelling ones on the show to me, so the fact that Abed was mean to Jeff? It kind of broke my heart!

[zombie_boogie.livejournal.com]

Friiiiinge. Oh man, this episode was so excellent. I loved that it obviously continued from last season's cliffhanger finale, but at the same time it didn't fall into the trap of most premiere episodes of trying to do too much exposition at once. It was just a really great story following Olivia in that universe. And OMG HOW FANTASTIC WAS ANNA TORV? Seriously, acting master class. Let no one ever question her acting chops again. UNACCEPTABLE. I loved all of those little moments you mentioned - the bathroom sob (your description of her being not used to crying is perfect), starting to meld into Fauxlivia, hugging her mother. Also yes, her escape was fifty flavours of badass (SHE KARATE CHOPPED A GUY IN THE NECK GODDAMN). Though, I think the choice to have the first sign of Olivia becoming Fauxlivia the fact that she made a great shot kind of... whack. I mean, yes Fauxlivia is an Olympic Gold Medallist marksmen (!!!), but I think a number of dudes with bullets between their eyes could attest to Olivia's skill with a firearm. Just saying.

YAY HENRY THE CABBIE. I was just thinking that it's wonderful that they managed to make what would be a throwaway character on another show a real person with feelings that we actually grew to care about. I thought he was going to bite it and I was terrified. Ooh maybe they'll bring him back!

Over There is so fucking cool and they have OLD TIMEY BICYCLES WHAT. I love spotting the details in the background.

Basically this review is aces and thank you for writing it. I meant to do a big TV wrap-up post but I had a crappy end of the week and I'm tired and crabby, so I'll just flail at you forever.

I ship Jeff/Annie, but I love all three characters in that triangle so I'm glad they managed to resolve the romantic hijinks in a way that allows me to keep loving all of them and puts the focus back on (hopefully) the group dynamics.

I'm so happy to hear that The Office and 30 Rock were good! I'm hoping TO will let Steve's last season be a high note. As to your last point I... am going to keep my mouth shut.

[falulatonks]

- I really, really love that the premiere was basically one character in a really long cab ride, trying to figure out what she's going to do Over There, which introduced that universe and the circumstances of the whole thing so well. It's fantastic.

- If people still doubt Anna's acting skillz, THEY ARE BLIND. I DON'T UNDERSTAND IT. She's fantastic!

- I think there's a difference between being a really good marksman and a Olympic Gold marksman (!!!!), and the difference is making that shot in that moving car, going away at full speed, when her target was almost directly behind alt!Charlie. I bought it! I wonder if Fauxlivia has Olivia's talent for numbers, though. HMM.

- That karate chop in the neck was badass.

- I'm almost fully convinced Henry the cabbie is coming back. Maybe they'll kill him after that.

- THE OLD-TIME BICYCLES! And the daily trips to the moon! DUDE.

I keep checking my flist and when you didn't post anything for a while I was seriously worried that you didn't like the premiere, or something (and then I'd have to fight you about it and tell you how wrong you were). Seriously, though. I don't know how I managed to write anything about such a brilliant episode.

I 'ship Jeff/Annie, too! And is it just me, or are we a dying breed? But you're right, I love them all, and I liked that the group as a whole still managed to be the focus of the episode.

The Office was way better than 30 Rock, in my opinion, but they're both more enjoyable than I was expecting, so have fun! :D

[zombie_boogie.livejournal.com]

I don't think Jeff/Annie shippers are a dying breed, just that anti-Jeff/Annie people are becoming a lot more vocal lately. And I hate that the anti-J/A sentiment is aligned with the pro-Britta sentiment, because I like Britta too! Just not with Jeff!

[falulatonks]

Also, did you notice the RED LENS FLARES? Greatest thing, or greatest thing?!

[zombie_boogie.livejournal.com]

GREATEST. THING.

And damnit. I am going to have to write about it myself. I thought I'd be satisfied with flailing at other people's journals but nope.

[falulatonks]

IT IS! And yet the only really evil one seems to be Walternate, so I'm really pleased with that.

Dan Harmon's pretty much confirmed that Jeff/Annie and Jeff/Britta will continue to play out in the background. I hope it stays in the background!

[mollivanders.livejournal.com]

Could Walter be hoping that Fauxlivia doesn't last in our 'verse, is switched back, and that Ourlivia (because she's essentially Fauxlivia now) continues to report back Over There? I don't know. The bastard is evil enough, and Ourlivia coming back will have our 'verse convinced that she's exactly the Olivia they used to know, because they've removed the anomaly. Does that even make sense?

If this happens I'm going to be arguing with my TV come spring. "No, not her, the other Olivia! Pay attention Peter! Come on!"

Honestly, you expect people characters to act like people and then you get invested. Like with Community :) I was glad to see them resolve the love triangle, and I'm tentatively hopeful for this season.