Re: What Did You Watch? 2025-06-14 (Saturday)

On 6/15/2025 9:55 AM, Dimensional Traveler wrote:

Fringe S5E04 'The Bullet That Saved the World'
IMDb sez: "An act of kindness by Peter draws attention to Etta. The Observers deal with an infiltrator, and we learn of a resistance leader known as the Dove and, coincidentally, that Phillip Broyles is working with the Observers."
 The glyphs for this episode spell out: WOUND
 Henrietta Bishop: [about a complex physics formula retrieved from a secret location] Will you be able to figure it out?
Dr. Walter Bishop: [Frustrated] Don't you understand, this is Greek to me! Except I read Greek. This is Aramaic to me! Not the western dialect, I do speak that.
 Dr. Walter Bishop: There was a time when we solved Fringe cases. Now I think it's time we created a few of our own.  (I'm visualizing Liam Neeson a Zeus from 'Wrath of the Titans yelling "Release the Mad Scientist!"  :P  )
  Fringe S5E05 'An Origin Story'
IMDb sez: "Peter, in the grip of mourning Henrietta's death, resorts to extreme measures in order to gain powers that will allow him to surpass those that the Observers possess and hopefully, and eventually, find a means to defeat them."
 The glyphs for this episode spell out: FIGHT
This episode is the first time we see "RESIST" posters with Etta's face in the 2036 world.
When Astrid contacts the team reporting delays in retrieving the next tape due to ignitable containers in its close vicinity, Walter immediately retorts by intentionally misnaming her Abner, demanding explanations. Turns out it was all due to Walter's misconduct and he assumes an apologetic stance.
 PLOT HOLE!
When Walter, Peter and Olivia try to blow up the supply line from future Observers to "now," they aim to turn the wormhole into a black hole to wreak havoc on the other side of their supply line, expecting it to take the Observers years to recover. Since Observers in the future DO control time travel, nothing would prevent them from opening another supply line after those years of recovery into the very same moment in 2036, making the entire plan of shutting down the supply line ineffective.  (Oops.)
 

True.  But there is an easy fankwank for this.  Sometimes time travel is depicted where the events in the past and future are all happening simultaneously in real time.  So any changes don't happen instantaneously until the same amount of time has passed in both locations.  So if the future observers took 6 months to repair the damage and send something back, the people in the past would have 6 months of their original timeline before seeing any retroactive effects.   The people in the past could also hold out hope that some future resistance will work on the other end to prevent any more time travel.

Peter Bishop: We have this opportunity NOW.
Olivia Dunham: Yeah, but what about Walter's plan? We... we have a mission. This could put that in jeopardy.
Peter Bishop: I'm not doubting Walter's plan, but what do we have? Pieces we don't know how to put together. A scroll with physics we can't decipher, a thought unifier that doesn't work, and a box of rocks from a mine. That's what our daughter died for so far.
 Anil: That's it. That's the cold stare I know and love. You dead fish.
 Captive Observer: You think the black over your head is dark skies when it is really our shoe.
 Peter Bishop: You're not the only one with a skill for reading people.
  Fringe S5E06 'Through the Looking Glass and What Walter Found There'
IMDb sez: "Walter retrieves another video tape from the amber and it leads the team into a pocket universe."
 The glyphs for this episode spell out: SPLIT
Not much to this episode, they wander around in an Eicher designed building and the Observer tech in Peter starts manifesting.
  Fringe S5E07 'Five-Twenty-Ten'
The team retrieves another cassette tape from the amber. With Nina Sharp's help, the team recovers 2 cylinders. While Peter works independently to score a minor victory against the Observers, Olivia ascertains Peter's secret.
 The coded glyphs at the commercial breaks spell TRUST.
The team breaks into a Kelvin Genetics lab. 'Kelvin' is a name featured in many J.J. Abrams productions, because Kelvin was the surname of his maternal grandfather.
As a continuation of the series in-joke, Walter (John Noble) calls Astrid (Jasika Nicole) "Agnes."
Dr. Walter Bishop: Fire up the laser, Agnes. Let's get that hand out of amber.
  What Did You Watch?
 

This is a multiday catch up. I watched:
Doomsday (4K disc) 2008 movie written and directed by Neil Marshall. The movie opens in Scotland following the escape of the Rage, I mean Reaper virus.  To protect the population, England orders Scotland to be completed isolated and walled off, leaving everyone inside to die.  Then 27 years later (not 28, but 27) the Rage, I mean Reaper virus pops up again in England.  The British prime minister (Alexander Siddig) orders an elite unit lead by Rhona Mitra to sneak into Scotland and locate a cure for the virus since they've recently discovered there are still people alive in Scotland.  They assume if people are still alive after 28, I mean 27 years, they must have a cure.  Once inside Mitra must track down a scene chewing Malcolm McDowell and then Escape From New York, I mean Escape from Scotland, with the cure.  I haven't watched this since it first came out.  It was OK I guess, as long as you don't start to wonder what does living in a post apocalyptic society have to do with growing a mohawk and dying your hair.  And definitely don't ask how the existence of people still alive in Scottland could be kept secret given the number of satellites in orbit that England has no control over.
The Life of Chuck (theatrical) New movie written and directed by Mike Flanagan, based on a Stephen King novella.  This is a very hard movie to summarize, especially while tiptoeing around spoilers.  I'll keep it brief.  The movie stars Tom Hiddleston as the title character and follows his life.  Sort of.  The movie is broken into three acts.  In the first first act the movie mainly follows Chiwetel Ejiofor who plays a high school teacher and Karen Gillan who plays his ex wife.  Chuck's image appears everywhere throughout the first act and the underlining question Chiwetel wants to know is who is this guy.  There is actually something else much, much bigger going on, but what that something else is, is a major spoiler.  The second act of the movie follows Tom Hiddleston on a day he decides to dance.  It's much better than my intentionally vague description.  And the final act, I won't describe at all.  I went into this movie having no idea what it was about.  The way the movie unfolds it keeps you guessing until the very end.  This is a really good non horror movie from Stephen King, it's probably closer in tone to "Shawshank Redemption" or "The Green Mile."  Just a reminder, that King can write very good non horror stories.
And some other stuff I don't feel like summarizing.