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Thoughts on 3x01- Olivia:
1. As always, I appreciate how smart this show is and how they leave little clues for the fans. Devil's in the details, they say, and I love the little switches- a code: blue instead of code: red for emergency, Dogs The Musical, Shexxon (merging of Shell and Exxon perhaps?) Also the ironic use of Liberty Island as the place where Liv was being held hostage was subtle and brilliant. (PS. How awesome is Olivia for saving herself AGAIN? I LOVE HER.)
2. Re: the transformation from Olivia to Alt!Liv. First, I gotta give Anna props. There were moments in the cab where you could see the slips because Alt!Liv smiles so much more than Olivia does, and then that entire switch in the end - hugging the mom she lost when she was a kid to freaking out and then finally accepting Alt!Liv's memories- was masterfully done. You can just see the moment where she becomes Alt!Liv and Anna knocked it out of the park.
It's a temporary thing, of course. You just know that somehow our Olivia will fight her way back to the surface, especially with her eidetic memory. I think it's important to note that it didn't seem like they were taking her memories away but writing over them with Alt!Liv's memories. That means our Olivia is still in there, and she has a hell lot more experience in sorting out the voices in her mind. She's had someone else's memories in her head before (see: John Scott, Nick Lane). She's expelled them from her mind before. This isn't going to last.
3. In the meantime, though, I'm gonna miss seeing our Olivia. I love the weight of the world on her shoulders, and how she carries it so nobly. That scene where she's crying in the bathroom stall and we don't see it, just hear her sobs? Such a great choice because it's so in character for her to breakdown only when she felt alone. It's scenes like that that make you appreciate it when she does smile or let her guard down. Alt!Liv may smiles more, but I just...I love our Olivia. I love how socially awkward she is at times and how she's a total nerd and how she's terrible at relationships and letting herself want. And it's so fucking endearing how completely unaware of how beautiful she is. Alt!Liv is far more confident, but she also knows how fly she is and that's gonna take some getting used to and warming up to her. I'm extremely protective of our Olivia, so while I see where Alt!Liv is coming from, her confidence borders on arrogance and that has potential to grate over time.
4. That said, I love her team. I love Lincoln and Charlie. It does help that neither guys knows what's going on and think that she's really their Olivia, so just going on that, you can see how protective they are of each other and the clear affection, tough love they have for each other. I can see how Alt!Liv fits in with them, and for that reason, I'm open to not hating Alt!Liv outright. (Side note: Is Seth Gabel is playing Lincoln as having a huuuuuge crush on his Olivia, or is that just me? I mean what guy goes after his teammate like that when he can only spend 8 hours outside of a hyperberic chamber?) Alt!Broyles is still on notice, though. He knows what's up and is willfully lying to Charlie and Lincoln, and we know firsthand what secrets do to teams over time.
5. Also, I must note: DUDE. How good is our cast, guys? When Olivia was entering her mom's house, I thought, "Man. Poor Anna had to carry the entire ep" before I remembered that Lance Reddick, John Noble, and Jasika Nicole were all in the episode. I was so caught up in not seeing our team and feeling like our Olivia was all alone that I failed to recognize that the rest of the cast was still in it, just playing different roles. That takes talent, yo. Especially John Noble, who is sooo good at making the distinction between the Walters.
6. Even the guest star cast is great. A+++++ for bring Andre Royo from the Wire over to play Taxi Driver Henry. EXCELLENT work there. He took a pretty thankless role of "here, let me stand in for the new viewers so you can recap what is happening this season" and turned into a great character I want to see again. I hope they bring him back. I understand they might.
7. Oh and Liv's Mom. And Liv's face when she wanted so desperately for it to be real. I hate that she can't have her mom and Ella and Rachel all at the same time, but I also really can't wait to see how this will play out when Olivia figures out that she's not really Alt!Liv. I can't imagine what she's going to do and how she's going to choose between going and staying. Alternately, I think that the danger of Alt!Liv going native with our side is going to be really interesting to play with over the course of the season, because I could easily see her falling in love with the family our Olivia has created, especially Ella and Rachel. I can't wait to see her seeing them as something more than Othered creatures, the way Walternate describes them, especially when she sees how broken this Walter is, the man responsible for all the cracks. (Ooooh and I really want her to find out what happened to our Charlie and what a mindfuck that would be.) It's really shaping up to be an AWESOME season.
It being only 3 days or so in the timeline, I am reserving my skepticism about Alt!Liv fitting in with our team until I see the next episode. I get that at least temporarily, they are just really relieved to be back and they can play off Alt!Liv's smiling more as "Peter thinks it's just the euphoria of them being home and together." But Alt!Liv is totally gonna slip up when she a) sees coffee and/or chocolate and freaks out (I still think she was talking about the Oreos, not Walter's shoes), b) turns down a drink, which our Olivia would NEVER do, and c) ELLA. Especially if she's sporting Olivia's mom's necklace and Alt!Liv is reminded of her life back on the otherside.
And now onto the next episode. God I love this show.
1. As always, I appreciate how smart this show is and how they leave little clues for the fans. Devil's in the details, they say, and I love the little switches- a code: blue instead of code: red for emergency, Dogs The Musical, Shexxon (merging of Shell and Exxon perhaps?) Also the ironic use of Liberty Island as the place where Liv was being held hostage was subtle and brilliant. (PS. How awesome is Olivia for saving herself AGAIN? I LOVE HER.)
2. Re: the transformation from Olivia to Alt!Liv. First, I gotta give Anna props. There were moments in the cab where you could see the slips because Alt!Liv smiles so much more than Olivia does, and then that entire switch in the end - hugging the mom she lost when she was a kid to freaking out and then finally accepting Alt!Liv's memories- was masterfully done. You can just see the moment where she becomes Alt!Liv and Anna knocked it out of the park.
It's a temporary thing, of course. You just know that somehow our Olivia will fight her way back to the surface, especially with her eidetic memory. I think it's important to note that it didn't seem like they were taking her memories away but writing over them with Alt!Liv's memories. That means our Olivia is still in there, and she has a hell lot more experience in sorting out the voices in her mind. She's had someone else's memories in her head before (see: John Scott, Nick Lane). She's expelled them from her mind before. This isn't going to last.
3. In the meantime, though, I'm gonna miss seeing our Olivia. I love the weight of the world on her shoulders, and how she carries it so nobly. That scene where she's crying in the bathroom stall and we don't see it, just hear her sobs? Such a great choice because it's so in character for her to breakdown only when she felt alone. It's scenes like that that make you appreciate it when she does smile or let her guard down. Alt!Liv may smiles more, but I just...I love our Olivia. I love how socially awkward she is at times and how she's a total nerd and how she's terrible at relationships and letting herself want. And it's so fucking endearing how completely unaware of how beautiful she is. Alt!Liv is far more confident, but she also knows how fly she is and that's gonna take some getting used to and warming up to her. I'm extremely protective of our Olivia, so while I see where Alt!Liv is coming from, her confidence borders on arrogance and that has potential to grate over time.
4. That said, I love her team. I love Lincoln and Charlie. It does help that neither guys knows what's going on and think that she's really their Olivia, so just going on that, you can see how protective they are of each other and the clear affection, tough love they have for each other. I can see how Alt!Liv fits in with them, and for that reason, I'm open to not hating Alt!Liv outright. (Side note: Is Seth Gabel is playing Lincoln as having a huuuuuge crush on his Olivia, or is that just me? I mean what guy goes after his teammate like that when he can only spend 8 hours outside of a hyperberic chamber?) Alt!Broyles is still on notice, though. He knows what's up and is willfully lying to Charlie and Lincoln, and we know firsthand what secrets do to teams over time.
5. Also, I must note: DUDE. How good is our cast, guys? When Olivia was entering her mom's house, I thought, "Man. Poor Anna had to carry the entire ep" before I remembered that Lance Reddick, John Noble, and Jasika Nicole were all in the episode. I was so caught up in not seeing our team and feeling like our Olivia was all alone that I failed to recognize that the rest of the cast was still in it, just playing different roles. That takes talent, yo. Especially John Noble, who is sooo good at making the distinction between the Walters.
6. Even the guest star cast is great. A+++++ for bring Andre Royo from the Wire over to play Taxi Driver Henry. EXCELLENT work there. He took a pretty thankless role of "here, let me stand in for the new viewers so you can recap what is happening this season" and turned into a great character I want to see again. I hope they bring him back. I understand they might.
7. Oh and Liv's Mom. And Liv's face when she wanted so desperately for it to be real. I hate that she can't have her mom and Ella and Rachel all at the same time, but I also really can't wait to see how this will play out when Olivia figures out that she's not really Alt!Liv. I can't imagine what she's going to do and how she's going to choose between going and staying. Alternately, I think that the danger of Alt!Liv going native with our side is going to be really interesting to play with over the course of the season, because I could easily see her falling in love with the family our Olivia has created, especially Ella and Rachel. I can't wait to see her seeing them as something more than Othered creatures, the way Walternate describes them, especially when she sees how broken this Walter is, the man responsible for all the cracks. (Ooooh and I really want her to find out what happened to our Charlie and what a mindfuck that would be.) It's really shaping up to be an AWESOME season.
It being only 3 days or so in the timeline, I am reserving my skepticism about Alt!Liv fitting in with our team until I see the next episode. I get that at least temporarily, they are just really relieved to be back and they can play off Alt!Liv's smiling more as "Peter thinks it's just the euphoria of them being home and together." But Alt!Liv is totally gonna slip up when she a) sees coffee and/or chocolate and freaks out (I still think she was talking about the Oreos, not Walter's shoes), b) turns down a drink, which our Olivia would NEVER do, and c) ELLA. Especially if she's sporting Olivia's mom's necklace and Alt!Liv is reminded of her life back on the otherside.
And now onto the next episode. God I love this show.