Sunday, January 23rd, 2011 02:01 pm
fringe - random thoughts, very short
Above and beyond my insane Olivia/Peter shipping and my utter adoration of Olivia--I haven't loved any character like this since B'Elanna in Voyager--and the show's sci-fi, but very, very few shows, to me, have ever done so well in portraying a complex parent/child relationship as Fringe.
I'm absolutely sure anyone can name a dozen dramas that do it better, but honestly, I've never been so fascinated and invested in it working out. It might as well be my second ship (platonic!) because the show invests in it. And it's surprising how well they've done it, with the slow growth, the absurdity, the backsliding, the pettiness and stupidity of people who love each other and hurt each other and learn to trust each other again.
I love how they love each other and hurt each other and mess up badly and still try. I love that Walter's as idiotic as any parent, and Peter can be as stupidly petty as any kid, and that doesn't mean they don't love each other and worry about each other and more importantly, they both want a relationship.
Also, I'm a parent--this influences how I see most of Walter's actions. 1.) Hell fucking yes I would cross dimensions for my kid. 2.) Hell fucking yes if he was threatened the world might very well burn. 3.) Hell fucking yes yes yes I would not be sane if he died. I mean, I know this. It would not be unreasonable to invent a device to take me across dimensions and save an Alter!Child. And no, I'm not sure I would be able to let him go.
I'm not excusing Walter's actions in kidnapping Peter--I'm not, and for the record, his original intentions were good and he didn't intend absconding forever with him--but every time I watch it, I remember when Child was hospitalized with RSV when he was a month old and going into shock; it wasn't even dangerous, really, just precautionary. I look at him now, and it's not that I'm uncomfortable admitting this, because it's kind of like breathing, if I had a magic mirror and a doctorate in physics, my original intentions would be for outright absconding, no original good intentions required.
I love this show. I love Peter wary and distrustful and learning to trust and have faith, learning his father and learning himself, too, and everything good and bad about Walter and loving him for those things. It's just so rare that any show doesn't over-melodramaticize--and God knows, this sitch practically demands it--but Peter doesn't. He's angry and hurt and acts like it; and then he thinks when he can past the betrayal and weighs it. Then he puts it together and learns to forgive it.
I. Love. This. Show.