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Fringe: "Brown Betty" 4/29/10 - Grading & Discussion

Grading

  • Excellent

    Votes: 4 16.0%

  • Above average

    Votes: 6 24.0%

  • Average

    Votes: 8 32.0%

  • Below average

    Votes: 5 20.0%

  • Poor

    Votes: 2 8.0%
  • Total voters
    25
I totally agree with you, sidious618, that was fucking awful. I thought Smallville's "Noir" or the dream episode from last years Bones was the worst things I have ever seen, but this tops it. With the exception of the Observer at the very end this had NOTHING to do with the main storyline at all, and given the money that was no doubt spent on this piece of crap why waste in on something that didn't advance the main storyline along??

Oh, and on a side note: Is there anyone on the face of the planet that isn't on drugs now? I know Walter has always had drug use in his backstory, but I can't watch a show anymore with drugs and/or drug use coming up. Has drug use become so commonplace these days that 9 out of 10 shows figure they must include a nod to users out there so as not to loose their key demos??

I have this saying that I'm always muttering to myself durring shows/movies these days: It's All About Drugs Now, Kids! Its a joke I have with me myself and I, but the sad thing is that its all but true now.

Anyway, now that that rant is over, I'm going to crawl back under my rock on planet squaresville, and hope to christ next weeks episode isn't as big as piece of shit as this was.

Rating: -Z.
 
Yeah, I wasn't sure what they were going for, but it just didn't work - especially when the show would jump from "real" to "campy 40s send up" for no reason. Anna Torv couldn't really carry it off either (which sort of explains her rather bland appearance in The Pacific I guess).

Ah, I'm sure someone already brought it up, but it was like an episode of Pushing Daisies without any of the charm.
 
I figured this was how Walter saw it--or wanted to see it. "His" world must include computers and cell phones, but he always liked the 1940s, so he coated everything in that.

I thought all the singing was pretty good. Well, maybe not Walter's--but his was the most amusing.

Overall, it gave insight into who Walter is, how he sees himself and Peter, and what he really wants. He wants to be redeemed, but in his version, he can't be.

I liked the post I read somewhere on this board, about how, if Olivia and Peter were to get together and have a kid, Grandpa Walter could tell them a story on how he stole their Daddy from another universe when Daddy was a little boy and experimented on their Mommy when she was a little girl. Nightmare-city for the kid.
 
Checkmate said:
<walter sings Head Over Heels>
Astrid: "What those school kids must have done to you."
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If they were to put Astrid in the role of alternate agent who shoots Walter in the head, ala Boomer/Adama BSG S1 Finale, I wouldn't be surprised. One week she seems to like Walter, the next down right Lothe.
 
Where did you get that impression from? She was dumbfounded by how goofy his singing was, and reiterating on something Walter himself said maybe an hour prior.
 
Darth_Daver said:
Procutus said:
^

Charlie was Liv's other FBI partner who got killed by the shapeshifter that came to 'our' universe, looking for her.

The bit about her stepfather was from Season 1, and while it seemed to have importance in the ep that dealt with it, it seemed less important as time went on.

As for Aragorn's question: I still maintain that 'Mr. Secretary' is Walternate, but it does beg the question if it IS really Walter's counterpart, why did he wait so long to cross into our 'verse, presumably to look for the missing Peter?

The other possibility is that it's Belly, either our version or the Alt-Bell. But the hands didn't look like the hands of a seventy-something year old man.
Click to expand...

I know who Charlie is. I'm asking that who "Scar Charlie" is? I assume an alternative Charlie... but from which episode?
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My bad, I completely forgot about her 'vision' of the other side, and Charlie's counterpoint. Sorry about the goof.

On the subject of the episode itself, I thought it was okay, not great, but it did make me laugh numerous times. I like the kid who play's Dunham's niece, she was quite funny too.

But I'm really happy that we're returning to 'normal' Fringe next week (if there really IS such a thing) and that the Peter storyline will begin moving forward.
 
Average.

This episode just did not come together. It was too slow and while we've seen the film noir style elsewhere and it can work here it just felt tired. Clearly this episode was a way to put off dealing with Peter for another week. The mystery wasn't that interesting. The whole story felt unfocused and didn't feel like it made a lot of sense which might have been the point given that the creator was under the influence of Brown Betty but it still didn't hold my interest. They wasted an appearance by Nimoy but at least they managed to utilize the Observer and it was the most interesting part of the episode-sadly it was just a few seconds at the very end.

I say it over and over but this show needs to go full-on serialized if it ever hopes to really soar otherwise its unevenness is going to continue to be an albatross around its neck.
 
Checkmate said:
Where did you get that impression from? She was dumbfounded by how goofy his singing was, and reiterating on something Walter himself said maybe an hour prior.
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I don't know, I guess I've always had that vibe. Although I conceed that my utter hatred for this episode (and thus the storyteller Walter) might have been transfered to poor Astrid.
 
auntiehill said:
I'm still not sure if I liked it either. Part of me thought it was a clever idea, but the scene with Olivia singing was AWFUL.

Now, Broyles--that man can SING, but Olivia? UGH. And she seemed unnecessarily wooden in this one.

Interesting in concept, but I was embarrassed for them. The whole thing was a WTF moment---and not in a good way.
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Now, see, Olivia's singing scene was my favorite part of the episode, although I enjoyed the whole thing and her scenes with Peter in particular.

Felt like a pretty good noir/sci-fi mix throughout.
 
They've tried to make an episode similar to SG-1's "200", but it simply wasn't funny.

Why would the Sci-Fi fans want to watch an old style detective story/fairy tale? :wtf:
 
Truth_Seeker said:
Why would the Sci-Fi fans want to watch an old style detective story/fairy tale? :wtf:
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Because most people like more than just one single genre?

Fun episode, and as someone has said before, I'm glad it was Walter telling the story and not some kind of weird musical inducing phenomenon.
 
Truth_Seeker said:
Why would the Sci-Fi fans want to watch an old style detective story/fairy tale? :wtf:
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Because it can be a nice break from the traditional fare of a show but the key is it needs to have an interesting mystery, effective atmosphere and the characters swept up in it making it a fun time like TNG's The Big Good-bye. That had charm--this didn't.

Here it was just half-assed, aimless and the story was all over the place with no real thru-line. They threw everything and everyone in just for the sake of it such as Nina and Bell or Rachel without it being organic to the story. They were window-dressing and perfunctory other than giving the entire cast a chance to play dress up or sing a few bars. Granted the writers could argue that was because the narrator--Walter--was high as a kite but it doesn't change the fact that it was hard to sit through. In the end it really didn't add up to a whole lot. I'm kinda shocked that three writers received credit on this since it was such a simple rehashed tale and not some overly complicated ambitious episode.

I might be a bit more forgiving if this was the first introduction of an ongoing visit to this place where we'd revisit these personas sorta like the intention on ENT with the Mirror Universe but here it felt unfinished since this was just a one-off.
 
Like White Tulip, a way of redoing Fringe's good story, namely Walter and Peter. As to execution, didn't care too much for the songs. Average.
 
M'rk said:
Because it LITERALLY gets us into the head of one of my favourite characters, and really shows us his views, dreams and fears in a creative and different way.
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In that way, I suppose the real comparison would be to something like Buffy's "Restless"... although not as funny, and probably not as clue-laden.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman
 
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