There's science to be done
Apr. 21st, 2011 02:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
swatkatFringe 3.17-3.19
I've experiments to run/There is research to be done/On the people who are still alive.
As I watched Altlivia finally come into her own in 'Bloodlines' (3.18), I thought oh look, they're finally letting Altlivia be an Olivia, and it's working. In the next episode ('LSD'), William Bell, while cheerfully occupying Olivia's body, compared her to a lab rat. Here are his words,
'With the rats it was nearly two weeks before I began to see any complications.'
'What rats?'
'My test subjects. When I was first conducting soul magnet experiments, thirty years ago, the rats lasted nearly two weeks before the host's consciousness got lost. I never anticipated that it would happen more quickly in humans.' ('LSD', 3.19)
all spoken with that happily amoral 'shit happens no1curr' expression that Anna Torv gave her Bellivia.
What does it mean, to be Olivia? To be a lab rat. To be violated, to be cut open, to be experimented upon, again and again, by amoral men (Walter Bishop, William Bell) in the name of science. To rise above that, to struggle, to fight and snatch that very dignity and agency that she's denied as a lab rat. To stand up and move on, uncomplaining, because that's what Olivia does.
And that's the reason why we all fell in love with Altlivia in 3.18: she was abducted, she was put on a gurney and her body was violated by scientists and medical practitioners and Walter freaking Bishop until she snatched back agency and rescued herself, in a very clear echo of Olivia's actions in the first season and later again in this very season, when she rescued herself (with AltBroyles' assistance) from the Altverse. She became, finally, in our eyes, an Olivia.
It is in fact something her character arc has moved towards ever since she came to face to face with her doppelganger in the S2 finale; if there has been one thing that both Olivias have experienced consistently is this violation, this continuous upheaval, being yanked in many different directions (in the name of science. or saving the universe. or both). Our sympathies mostly lay with Olivia, true, but it's important to remember that Altlivia, for all her unsympathetic actions Over Here was in fact a pawn in a game that isn't hers. It's a horrible thing to have in common, but then that's par for the course when you are an Olivia.
Aperture science/ We do what we must/Because we can
Coming back to William Bell, and 'LSD'—I was close to punching my computer screen when he cheerfully talked about lab rats, while wearing Olivia's body. The feeling increased as the episode progressed and we delved into Olivia's mind and learned that she was afraid and was hiding and sending zombie armies to defeat these intruders inside her mind. And why was Olivia afraid? Because William Bell, in his infinite wisdom, had chosen once more to use her as his fluffiest lab rat and left her alone, locked inside her mind, where she boxes away her anxieties and copes by simply taking it all in her stride. It may not be a very healthy approach, but it is hers, and she was trapped alone with her fears and with no way out, no idea even of what had happened to her. And then he had the gall to tell her that his experiment was 'right' after all, it was just that Olivia's mind was not a safe place for her to be trapped in, because she has never felt safe—nevermind the fact that the reason she has never felt safe, that is to say, comfortable, at home, after a certain point in her childhood is because William Bell and his BFF Walter made her their lab rat.
If Bell weren't dead, I'd really want a scene where Olivia got to punch him. IN THE FACE.
I will however settle for a scene where she punches Walternate instead.
This is also the main reason why I can't bring myself to really care about the hypothetical scenario where SOMETHING ~mysterious will happen to Peter when the ~mysterious Petermachine is built sometime in the future, or Peter's manpain because of this hypothetical future scenario where he will possessed by the machine and be no longer in control of his self. Because I don't see why, not when it hasn't happened yet, not when we don't even know what it's about, not when Olivia is torn asunder in various creative ways in every single episode, only to pick herself up—even in this episode, she had to ultimately rescue herself (thank god!)—and just… move on.
Perhaps I'm being impatient. All of this appears to be leading somewhere, especially with the creeptastic juxtaposition of William Bell/Walter in the two Blueverse episodes with Walternate in the Altverse, reminding us that while Walter might now be racked with guilt and doubt and touched with humility, he and Walternate are not all that different—not unlike Olivia and Altlivia. But you know what? In 'Jacksonville' (2.15), Olivia pointed her finger at Walter and told him he had abused her, along with all the other children. I want Olivia to have that again. I've watched her suffer, and now I want pay-off.
PPS. I'm doing Science and I'm still alive.
- ASTRIIIIIID
- Broyles on LSD, oh. He was talking about having seen AltBroyles' dead body, wasn't he? Broyles blowing bubbles. Broyles spotting a birdy. Broyles whistling. Just, Broyles.
- The animation was not particularly good, sorry to say. But at least Peter fulfilled his dream of being a Man of Action and punching zombies, if only inside Olivia's head.
I've experiments to run/There is research to be done/On the people who are still alive.
As I watched Altlivia finally come into her own in 'Bloodlines' (3.18), I thought oh look, they're finally letting Altlivia be an Olivia, and it's working. In the next episode ('LSD'), William Bell, while cheerfully occupying Olivia's body, compared her to a lab rat. Here are his words,
'With the rats it was nearly two weeks before I began to see any complications.'
'What rats?'
'My test subjects. When I was first conducting soul magnet experiments, thirty years ago, the rats lasted nearly two weeks before the host's consciousness got lost. I never anticipated that it would happen more quickly in humans.' ('LSD', 3.19)
all spoken with that happily amoral 'shit happens no1curr' expression that Anna Torv gave her Bellivia.
What does it mean, to be Olivia? To be a lab rat. To be violated, to be cut open, to be experimented upon, again and again, by amoral men (Walter Bishop, William Bell) in the name of science. To rise above that, to struggle, to fight and snatch that very dignity and agency that she's denied as a lab rat. To stand up and move on, uncomplaining, because that's what Olivia does.
And that's the reason why we all fell in love with Altlivia in 3.18: she was abducted, she was put on a gurney and her body was violated by scientists and medical practitioners and Walter freaking Bishop until she snatched back agency and rescued herself, in a very clear echo of Olivia's actions in the first season and later again in this very season, when she rescued herself (with AltBroyles' assistance) from the Altverse. She became, finally, in our eyes, an Olivia.
It is in fact something her character arc has moved towards ever since she came to face to face with her doppelganger in the S2 finale; if there has been one thing that both Olivias have experienced consistently is this violation, this continuous upheaval, being yanked in many different directions (in the name of science. or saving the universe. or both). Our sympathies mostly lay with Olivia, true, but it's important to remember that Altlivia, for all her unsympathetic actions Over Here was in fact a pawn in a game that isn't hers. It's a horrible thing to have in common, but then that's par for the course when you are an Olivia.
Aperture science/ We do what we must/Because we can
Coming back to William Bell, and 'LSD'—I was close to punching my computer screen when he cheerfully talked about lab rats, while wearing Olivia's body. The feeling increased as the episode progressed and we delved into Olivia's mind and learned that she was afraid and was hiding and sending zombie armies to defeat these intruders inside her mind. And why was Olivia afraid? Because William Bell, in his infinite wisdom, had chosen once more to use her as his fluffiest lab rat and left her alone, locked inside her mind, where she boxes away her anxieties and copes by simply taking it all in her stride. It may not be a very healthy approach, but it is hers, and she was trapped alone with her fears and with no way out, no idea even of what had happened to her. And then he had the gall to tell her that his experiment was 'right' after all, it was just that Olivia's mind was not a safe place for her to be trapped in, because she has never felt safe—nevermind the fact that the reason she has never felt safe, that is to say, comfortable, at home, after a certain point in her childhood is because William Bell and his BFF Walter made her their lab rat.
If Bell weren't dead, I'd really want a scene where Olivia got to punch him. IN THE FACE.
I will however settle for a scene where she punches Walternate instead.
This is also the main reason why I can't bring myself to really care about the hypothetical scenario where SOMETHING ~mysterious will happen to Peter when the ~mysterious Petermachine is built sometime in the future, or Peter's manpain because of this hypothetical future scenario where he will possessed by the machine and be no longer in control of his self. Because I don't see why, not when it hasn't happened yet, not when we don't even know what it's about, not when Olivia is torn asunder in various creative ways in every single episode, only to pick herself up—even in this episode, she had to ultimately rescue herself (thank god!)—and just… move on.
Perhaps I'm being impatient. All of this appears to be leading somewhere, especially with the creeptastic juxtaposition of William Bell/Walter in the two Blueverse episodes with Walternate in the Altverse, reminding us that while Walter might now be racked with guilt and doubt and touched with humility, he and Walternate are not all that different—not unlike Olivia and Altlivia. But you know what? In 'Jacksonville' (2.15), Olivia pointed her finger at Walter and told him he had abused her, along with all the other children. I want Olivia to have that again. I've watched her suffer, and now I want pay-off.
PPS. I'm doing Science and I'm still alive.
- ASTRIIIIIID
- Broyles on LSD, oh. He was talking about having seen AltBroyles' dead body, wasn't he? Broyles blowing bubbles. Broyles spotting a birdy. Broyles whistling. Just, Broyles.
- The animation was not particularly good, sorry to say. But at least Peter fulfilled his dream of being a Man of Action and punching zombies, if only inside Olivia's head.
