Somethings are hard to leave behind

[grimorie]

Extremely late episode reactions are late. Also, being sick with cold sucks. A lot.

Abducted

• The thing about the Redverse is that its been on the brink of destruction for over two decades now that the majority of the mindset has boiled down to: 'The Ends Justified the Means'.
  
  This was used to justify a lot of necessary but horrific things done for the good of the many. I think it's another reason why its hard to see altLivia's actions in the Earth prime as anything but horrific. After all, she did kill a helpless deaf man in cold blood and continued to leave a trail of bodies in her wake.
  
  But I think it pays to remember that in the moments of brief quiet we're allowed to see her in, she is affected by her actions, altLivia went to shapeshifter!Marshal and told him they can stop hurting people now and when he refused, and, not only that was ready to compromise her mission, she killed him. In her world she was the hero. She was the one who saved those kids in a school bus. But she's also in the same division that Ambers a whole city block without question to save the lives of the many.
  
  
  Collectively, the Redverse has been pushed to that 'ends justified the means' mindset.
  
  On the other end of the spectrum, from everything ourOlivia experienced the past two years she's learned there is always a choice. We saw that in Jacksonville when Broyles brought up the subject, when it seemed everything would be lost and Olivia refused to even consider it.
  
  There is always an alternative and if there isn't she'll find one even if it is at great personal cost.


• It was so fantastic to have ourOlivia acting as herself 100%. She's not deferring anymore, nor pretending because she's found herself again and she's also found, I think, that altCharlie and Lincoln don't mind and bat an eye when she's acting more like a leader than Lincoln is.


• I really like how altAstrid and ourOlivia communicated, I think that's the closest thing to friendship and real communication altAstrid has gotten. It's not that the Fringe team don't appreciate altAstrid but… that, they've just interacted with her everyday and sort of forgot that she's more than a human computer. ourOlivia on the other hand talks to her and not at her.
  
• Broyles in any universe is AWE.SOME. Also, the scene where ourOlivia walks in his office and asked bluntly but not without compassion that they need to re-interview his son was so, so reminiscent of season 1 it was wonderful.
  
  In fact the past few episodes were an excellent call back to season 1!


• The FBI was disbanded over a decade ago… I think… this may confirm that the parallel universe Olivia slipped into during season 1 wasn't the Redverse. Redverse maybe on the brink of dying but there's a resilience there and a stubborn kind of cheeriness that the grim bluer than blue parallel universe didn't have.


• I love that Bubbles Henry was back and they even had a brief homage to The Wire during the boat scene and a nod that A) Olivia grew up around water (maybe why she's such a strong swimmer) and she entered the Marines, which meant she gained a lot of knowledge operating a boat there.


• OurOlivia disappearing like a superhero when Broyles gave her a chance to do so.


• OurOlivia storming the DOD HQ all by herself and almost making it out!
  I kind of think that the reason why she kept getting pulled back is because the method of crossing over wasn't how it's really down. The times she did it on her own, she was conscious and slipped between worlds easily.
  
  Also, I'm kind of thinking that most CortexiKids were programmed to react to Walter's world that's why it was easy for them to crossover with Walter. That's kind of scary to think about.


• There was another brief moment where you can see how much Peter's loss affected Walternate but I really, really wish we could have seen Elizabethnate and Mama Dunham again. I'm also sad ourOlivia never had a proper goodbye with Charlie and Linc but I guess that would only make things more suspicious and harder.

Entrada

• I loved the alternating credits. That was SO awesome! I squee'd when we had that.


• NGL, the first part was kind of boring. I wasn't really interested with Peter and the Fringe team learning about altLivia. I thought that was repetitive. We already knew altLivia wasn't ourOlivia. I know they'd feel betrayed about it but I wasn't interested in that. I wanted to see what altLivia's doing to evade capture, I wanted to see her reaction that her cover's blown.


• This scene? With the coffee? These scenes were what was missing with altLivia. altLivia savoring a simple cup of coffee because of the shortage in the Redverse was perfect.
  
  
  
  I've been saying this again and again but the writers really should have included those little moments in. Just a few seconds of altLivia touching paper or looking at pens like they're the most amazing creations in the world. Or, even a second's confusion how a cellphone works. Simple things.
  
  I think it's the reason why altLivia isn't as sympathetic because we've always seen her around people. She has to ACTall the time and keep up that front that we don't really see what's going through her, unlike Olivia's tenure in the Redverse where we are privy to her reactions, thoughts and feelings all the time.


• I laughed out loud when altLivia and the shapeshifter were caught in the act. Heh.


• It amused me that Olivia was more panicked about the adrenaline shot than being carved up. She handled being carved up stoically but she panicked with the adrenaline shot. I think she really hates the adrenaline shot more than anything EVER. Hee.


• altBROYLES! You were a hero. A big damn hero! I didn't even see your death coming! I knew someone was going to bite the dust but I thought it was going to be altCharlie (which I dreaded) or even altLivia! But never you! I thought you had immunity! But, of course it had to be you. They already killed a Charlie… and the only other person closest to Olivia was Broyles.
  
  I bet it was Brandon's idea to carve up altBroyles. Brandon's a little to knife happy in the Redverse.



• Olivia's smile though. And, Astrid as the one who discovered her…. that was really awesome. Speaking of climbing out of the tank: You mean, she didn't need to be in her underwear in the tank all along? I like that. I like that a lot!


• I think altLivia's going to find out that everything does change and she's going to get an epic wake-up call. She wasn't the only person who walked in her alternate's shoes. Also, I have a bad, bad feeling Walternate is going to play it off that ourOlivia killed altBroyles does fueling a really big rift between Olivias… although, maybe this time around altLivia won't be so quick to follow through. Maybe her time in the blueverse will make her question Walternate a little bit more.


• As for the altLivia bringing the pictures she had with Peter... I don't think that means she's fallen in love with him. Maybe conflicting feelings but I don't think its love... and partly, I think it's a psychological ploy to make Peter feel more conflicted.


• …I didn't like the ending scene. I thought that was slapped on haphazardly to give Peter angst and to put in the requisite Peter/Olivia scene. I felt it was tacked on and it didn't feel organic at all.