Quick TV Thoughts: Fringe & Downton Abbey
Not sure how to feel about this episode. Maybe I felt the momentum was lost after the two week wait, or maybe it just couldn't be as crazy intense as 4.04 which I loved.
But it was a bit underwhelming, and just barely whetted my appetite and I'm mostly just hankering for the next episode to see what happens next.
I appreciated the Peter/Walter we got and the Walter/Nina, but I felt a bit disconnected from Olivia in this episode. Maybe it's just because she wasn't in it as much...but chichuri mentioned how -- in terms of the cases at least -- Olivia hasn't really been taking point on the investigations. They've been giving it to Lincoln, and that bothers me. It makes me feel like Olivia isn't as driven or as motivated. She's not the person in 1.02 who had to go back through every case to figure out what she'd missed. Or the one in the beginning of S1 who was so distrustful of MD and their ethical practices. The whole Nina foster parent history intrigues me and fits in alot of ways if she assumed Peter's role somewhat (Nina mentions in S1 that Peter had gone riding with her when he was young or something), but I don't know...this Olivia seems to have less of a fierceness to her almost, at least so far this season. Part of me brushes off Olivia's couple attempts to get Lincoln to eat with her as just inconsequential things that could easily be interpreted as her need for companionship (not necessarily romantic), but the other part of me is bothered by them and not really as a P/O shipper. The attempts just make me feel like she's being meek or timid and not-who-I-see-Olivia-as-really. But maybe she is just haunted still, in a different way. The hole in her life and whatnot.
I don't know. I think this episode was the first time this season where Amber!Olivia really felt like a DIFFERENT person from Blue!Olivia even though technically given the rewrite Amber!Olivia must be some kind of offshoot of our Olivia. And still Peter's Olivia, because otherwise, HOW THE HELL IS HE BACK?
I'm sure next week will address alot of my concerns though, so looking forward to it.
*Also, part of me is glad that Peter immediately recognized this time how this Olivia is NOT the Olivia he'd inadvertently wiped himself existence from. (Although, of course, it's more complex than that because Amber!Olivia is not an alternate to Blue!Olivia in the same way that Alt!livia is to Blue!Olivia) I'm interested in seeing how he grapples with that given the whole Alt!livia fiasco of last season and it makes sense that he doesn't want to talk to her because she looks at him like such a stranger and that must be hard to bear.
WHAT THE HELL JULIAN FELLOWES?!?!?
I actually have been enjoying this season as a whole, but I don't know...the wrap-up provided in the last two episodes just seemed rushed and sloppy. ESPECIALLY THE JANE/ROBERT STORYLINE.
The maid storyline is such a cliche, but could've worked given that stuff like that did happen and was a reality and Cora and Robert had grown apart...they showed us that. Maybe I just didn't buy the chemistry between Jane and Robert. I don't know. But it felt like it was being shoved down my throat.
Also, I don't know how it happened since last season I was an Anna/Bates shipper if I was any shipper, but now I've become firmly placed into the Matthew/Mary camp such that I don't care as much what's happening with the other couples (like I enjoy Anna/Bates still but I'm not super invested in it and to an extent I appreciate Branson/Sybil [fyi, I don't feel like Sybil really loves Branson the way he loves her -- she called him "her ticket" -- I think she's a bit young and foolish -- maybe the actress just doesn't convince me])
Anyways, I knew Lavinia was going to die but I don't like the way they did it. I wish she hadn't died honestly, because I think her speech to Matthew before she died, confronting him about how maybe this was their second chance to be sure -- that was the FIRST time where I felt like she had real personality and wasn't just a plot device. She was strong in that moment and brave to me, in making both her and Matthew confront their true feelings even at the expense of her own happiness.
BUT THEN THEY JUST TURNED HER BACK INTO A PLOT DEVICE. And I guess I feel we should've been able to see Matthew make the HARD decision between the two women, honor be damned. But no, now we've got wallowing-in-his-self-pity-Matthew which I hope doesn't last because it's just too overdramatic and "cliche" as he acknowledged himself.
Plus, it's a waste of Lavinia's "sacrifice" if you want to call it that. It's disrespectful in a sense, because Matthew's once again ASSUMING what another woman feels or thinks saying Lavinia was just "confused" when actually she was really CERTAIN that they needed to revaluate their impending marriage. And I get his reaction, though, I do. Of course, he feels guilty. With the kiss happening so close to her death, and her saying "isn't this so much better" of course he feels guilty.
I just don't want to see the guilty-Matthew-feeling-sorry-for-himself last to the point that he can't get his head out of his ass. ("I can never be happy" he says but COME ON MATTHEW JUST A COUPLE MONTHS AGO YOU COULDN'T WALK AND THOUGHT YOUR "LIFE" WAS OVER AND YOU COULD'VE DIED SO EVEN BEING HANDICAPPED COULD'VE BEEN A LIFE COME ON!) But the speech they decided to end on makes it seem like Fellowes doesn't have a plan for them to get together soon...but I don't know what the hell is going to happen to their relationship if Mary ends up marrying Carlisle and what the hell is going to happen in the Christmas special (there's no way they can move them to "happy" or even perhaps "okay" in 2 hours after the angst of "of course it's the end, how could it not be?")
It's just annoying, 'cause like Fellowes wanted, Lavinia's death and the funeral scene taint the dancing scene which is, in its own way, quite quite lovely.
In one sense, it seemed to excel like SUPER QUICKLY and there was a lack of buildup for it (in terms of where Matthew and Mary's heads and hearts were at) last episode, but that's what happens in Downton Abbey sometimes when they skip around, I guess I'll go with it since Violet planted a seed and then the seed just happened to blossom at that very moment (like 3 days before the wedding? REALLY, MATTHEW, REALLY?)
But no, it still works for me, the dance. THE ACTING ON THE PART OF BOTH OF THEM BUT ESPECIALLY DAN STEVENS' VOICE AND FACIAL EXPRESSIONS JUST KILLED ME.
Oh my gosh, "you are my stick!" awwwaljl;aj;ajf;lj;slfdj ...and then his "I'm so sorry, do you know how sorry I am?" --> his heartfelt apology GIVES ME HOPE that they can be alright eventually. If Matthew can get over his guilt for Lavinia, and just remember how very sorry he is too for how things turned out between him and Mary BEFORE Lavinia was even in the picture...then maybe he can see how he can't punish Mary or himself for any of it any longer...for the past before Lavinia and how things fell out between them even when both of them were engaged.
I don't know. We'll see. I'm wary, because the S2 finale makes me feel like the Matthew/Mary storyline is going down a road that I won't be able to follow and will kill my love for this ship (that rarely happens, but you never know).
Anyways, despite the sloppy wrapup of S2, I nonetheless am glad the show has been renewed and will keep coming back because overall S2 to me shows that Downton Abbey is still one of the best TV shows out there right now, EASILy.