Stumbling Through Life

Liz. 29. USA. This is my chaos blog. It's just pure chaos.

[oliviadumhan]

ANNA TORV as Olivia Dunham in every episode FRINGE ✦ 1.09 ↳ The Dreamscape

[torvist]

Something has changed. This time, you're not alone.

[paceypeternathanslawyer]

No show has ever done the memory loss trope in such an amazing way as "Fringe". The memory loss trope is a controversial thing. I'm sure it's been done many more times than I can even think of but when I think of that trope, I immediately think of "Chuck". The way that they screwed over the fans by having one of the romantic leads get amnesia and forget her then husband just episodes before the show ended. I just think of how mad my sister still is about 10 years later. I guess some people were fine with that plot twist but I even think the most positive person I've heard talk about it was mediocre on it at best.

I love how Fringe did it though. Fringe had Olivia forget Peter in season 4 which was a season before the show ended so they had plenty of time to flesh it out. The yearning that came out of that plot was some A+ television. First you have Peter who remembers Olivia and their relationship. At first he believes that she is Olivia and not an alternate version of his Olivia. Peter dreams about Olivia and yearns to be with her. Despite his belief that she is his Olivia, Peter eventually is forced to face the idea that she isn't. After all what else can you do when Olivia is over there saying "no, I'm not your Olivia", "I don't remember you", etc. He still yearns to be with Olivia but he starts to believe that he's in the wrong universe and he needs to get to his universe's Olivia. Then you have Olivia, which is a totally different situation. At first Olivia doesn't remember Peter because of the observers' erasing Peter from the universe but then slowly but surely Olivia starts to fall more and more in love with Peter. Which is such an interesting thing to do halfway through a show. Originally the idea of the Polivia relationship was that Peter fell first. Peter fell in love first and yearned for Olivia. The memory loss trope is such a good device to be able to switch the table and see how it is when Olivia falls first. Not that Peter doesn't love her but he's in a very confusing and conflicting position. He's made the mistake of believing a doppleganger was his Olivia so he's on high alert and trying to do the right thing. Olivia is in a confusing situation but then as she starts to regain her memories of Peter it becomes less and less conflicting.

The way that when Peter comes back we see many cases of Peter dreaming of Olivia and of being with her. These are all pure dreams and very domestic in nature. Like he dreams of waking up, kissing Olivia, and then eating breakfast with her. Or he dreams of them lying in a park on the grass together. These are dreams of a man who has been in a relationship with her for awhile and has fallen into this beautiful, domestic, almost married dynamic. And then you start to see Olivia have dreams of Peter as she falls in love but hers are clearly of someone falling in love for the first time (at least with Peter) and her dreams are sex dreams. It's amazing to see this juxtaposition. Both are equally amazing just in different ways. For Olivia, it's like falling in love all over again. She gets her memories back so it's one of those things where is simultaneously falling in love all over again but there's also a feeling like she's always been in love. This kind of feeling that she knows Peter so well and is meant to be with him. The yearning from both ends is chef's kiss. And then you've kinda got a forbidden love aspect to it. Walter and Lincoln are both pushing against Peter and Olivia for different reasons. Lincoln is jealous and has a crush on Olivia so he's a bit pissed off that Olivia is so focused on Peter. Walter has his own baggage when it comes to Peter. I also think he has better motives then Lincoln but there's still some bias based off of his baggage with Peter, I believe. Either way, regardless of their motives, both Walter and Lincoln are angry with Peter and accusing him of forcing his memories onto Olivia. Like somehow implanting his memories onto her. Walter keeps pushing Peter to stay away from Olivia. And there's the conflicting nature of it all with Peter. When Peter came back he looked her in the eyes and believed that she was the Olivia that he had been dating. He knows her that well. But he forces himself to push those feelings aside and tells himself that he's just seeing what he wants to see. So when Olivia goes to him and tells him that she loves him and remembers everything about their relationship, there's a part of Peter that forbidding himself from going there. Peter's attracted to her, after all she is the spitting image of his girlfriend, he loves her and deep down he believes it's her but he's had to push those feelings down for long enough that he's scared to believe it now.

Every time I watch season 4... I get chills because of how they executed the Polivia of it all 💕

[lucytara]

god so much of fringe's storytelling is so clever. the fact alone that if you've watched the whole series, you can watch season 1/2/3 again with information that makes it a COMPLETELY different experience. season 1 isn't actually the beginning, it never was, we were dropped into the middle of the story where not even the characters themselves understand the sacrifices they've made and the horrors that drove them here (again). you watch the first few seasons and you know peter and olivia are falling in love but you don't understand that the love is already there, that it's always been there, that it's built into the fabric of the universe. and THEY don't know it's there, either, so it isn't like you're seeing two people easily and naturally come together - they fight for each other from the first moment, even without truly understanding why. and we as the audience only understand why after the entire story has been told. god what peak television

[spockvarietyhour]

Fringe "The Day We Died"

[fandomcentral101]

Olivia Dunham and Peter Bishop

[writerxwren]

"Also please don't ask me about the alternate timeline"

[bodeckerhedron]

RACHEL BROSNAHAN as LOIS LANE

➤• SUPERMAN (2025) DIR. JAMES GUNN

[littletonpace]

Anna Torv as Olivia Dunham  on Fringe → 4.15 A Short Story About Love

“I don't want to feel like this anymore.”

Love heals the universe <3

[jakeperalta]

dodgerfox in every episode ♡ 2.03 “belle of the ball”

[kestrel-of-herran]

"will they won't they" but they're staggeringly debilitatingly incredibly in love the entire time

[jakeperalta]

Lady Belle Fox and Jack Dawkins in The Artful Dodger S2E1 "Hangman"

[jakeperalta]

The Artful Doger S2E1 "Hangman" / S2E8 "Change of Heart"

[dragonsareawesome123]

"I nicked the aorta, didn't I?" "Yes." "How? I was so careful." "It wasn't your fault, Belle. Her vessel walls were weak."

The Artful Dodger (2023-), 2x05 - "Ice Melts"

[drippyredsmile]

[marv-el-spot]

✦ GIFTOBER 2025 | Day 15/31: FREE CHOICE

FILMS WATCHED IN 2025 SUPERMAN (2025) Dir. James Gunn

[vonkarmic]

i think taylor swift wishes she was bisexual because she knows it would make her slightly more money. whereas sabrina carpenter wishes she was bisexual so she could have sex with someone who looks exactly like herself. and ariana grande wishes she was bisexual because she did too many designer drugs on the set of wicked and now she has kin memories of being glinda for real