Cuddling

I remember this whole season like a haze. I see the general outline, but I can't point out distinct plotlines. I liked it in a general sense, but in now way was I eager to get to next week (I think; this is the difficulty in a per-season recollection). Let me talk about some things I do (sort of) recall sufficiently for points.

I do like the increased cooperation between the two parallels. I like in a cuddly sense of everyone's working together now. This leads to some tender moments when they start to like each other. It was really cute and nice and all. The cases continued to be unexemplary for the most part. The acting was sufficient but really failed in the more emotional bits.

The scale of things (in a general sense) also ups a bit. There are serious global threats now. There are bigger turning points and bigger reveals. The unfortunate side of that is that there's no wow factor. I have to think of a better metaphor for this as it comes up lots, but it's generally you exclaiming "hey, that's big (for the show, the characters, etc)" instead of "wooooooow. oh my god."

I liked the mole(s) finally being apprehended. It gave closure and gave comfort. If it was the best move, I'm not sure. The William Bell is back was a bit odd for me. I'm not sure how he's better than the meh villian David Robert Jones. At least he got Jones dead, plus Astrid is still alive. But I think Jones is much more psychopathic than the misguided Bell. He's just more evil. And Bell sort of suffers at the clips of monologue he's tasked to deliver.

I also don't get Olivia suddenly getting so powerful. I guess it follows up the mole thing and closes that little domestic intrusions of a season past. I'm not so sure it was the most graceful plot ever. The jumping and double Ninas and travelling was rather clumsy, even if it brought a nice sharp edge. The same goes with the Peter reappearance thing that didn't gain traction. He was away and there was a sort of ghost. Then it felt like he was the power source (it turned out to be Olivia). Then were suddenly back to status quo. It screams of "failed experiment". At least it's done now.

What also seems to be done for now is the formerly bad universe being major characters. On the segue (next paragraph), there was no mention of it, and they were summarily dropped in the two-part finale. Just to note, that wasn't a very good finale. The first part was bad and lethargic, and the second was only excused after the sufficient ending that covered up the bad that came before.

What I liked was the short one episode thing we got near the end, which brought us to the future. It was a nice episode with some fresh breath, without forgetting to foreshadow Olivia and Bell. It also looks like we'll be exploring that soon, in the final season.

Now to Olivia-Bell, I wished we ended with that blow to the head. And started the next season with what happens next (filmed less cutely of course), get a quick dose of it's over by doing a short case, full recovery then blam "they're coming". I think it's slightly better than what we ended up having.

(Fringe Season Four - J.J. Abrams, Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman)