Dependence on old technology

Since electricity (and everything electrical) has stopped working, the characters have two options: develop ways to thrive without electricity (move forward) or try to turn the power back on (move backward).

Miles and Monroe represent each option.

Miles has accepted the way the world is post-blackout. He started policing thieves and murderers and built the foundation for the Monroe Republic. Notice how Miles fights with a sword or his bare hands? He isn't hoarding rifles and bullets. He's moving forward, learning to live without electricity.

Monroe wants to turn the electricity back on. He took headquarters in Philadelphia, where it still looks like a city. He interrogates Rachel about the blackout and how to turn the power back on. He sends orders to get a train moving, and he wants a helicopter for his militia. Monroe is stuck thinking in terms of what worked before the blackout, so he spends his time with old ideas and methods.

We haven't found out yet why Miles left Monroe, but I wonder if this difference in thinking was part of it.

Fringe theory: the Observers already had the red universe

Spoilers for season 5.

What if in seasons 2 and 3 when we saw the red universe, the Observers had already invaded and were in charge? We've always watched the show from the fringe team's perspective, so what if we simply weren't shown the Observers' control? A few things make me think more was going on than what we saw.

1. Walter's portal - When Walter crossed over to save Peter, he disrupted the balance between the universes. Why was the red universe decaying faster than ours? The show gives us one explanation: time moves differently over there, so the rate of decay is faster. But what if the Observers were contributing to the destruction of the red universe and that's why it was faster? In season 5, we see that the Observers installed machines to change the chemical composition of the atmosphere. They could have made similar changes that hurt the red universe.

2. Advanced technology - People are mostly the same but with minor differences in each universe, so what allowed people in the red universe to rapidly advance technology? Maybe the Observers traded their tech for the humans' submission.

3. Show Me - Everyone in the red universe has to carry ID at all times and show it for everything, even boarding a public bus. Why are the people in the red universe under such strict control? The Observers insist on it. It's not far from requiring Loyalists to have an official stamp on their cheek.

4. Cold-hearted Walternate - Maybe Walternate's hardened personality is a result of reporting to the Observers. If he is a liaison between humans and Observers, he will act cold and calculating to match how the Observers act. Think of how Broyles is in "Letters of Transit."

5. The fringe division as clean-up crew - In the red universe, the fringe division's main responsibility is to respond to fringe events. Amber locations when necessary. Figure out how to patch their deteriorating world. They do investigate situations, but more often than not, it feels like they're an extension of the government sent out to keep the peace. Foot soldiers but not leaders.

So if the Observers were in control of the red universe, what happened to them in season four? I think the Machine interferes with their influence. When the machine was not put together, the Observers could take over the red universe. Why didn't they invade our universe too? Peter and Olivia are together on this side, and together they are capable of stopping the Observers. Follow the path of least resistance.

At the end of season 3, Peter activated the Machine and bridged the two universes. The Observers can't be in power while the Machine is running, so their influence unraveled and the red universe began to heal. Observers could still visit but they couldn't invade and take over any more.

We can take the "fixed point in time" idea from Doctor Who and apply it here. Peter was supposed to connect the two universes to save them from the Observers. That's why September kept showing up to help. He wanted to keep the timeline in tact.

So what went wrong? William Bell wanted to create a new universe and destroy the others. Peter had to turn off the Machine to stop him, and that made both universes susceptible to an Observer invasion. At the end of season 4, September appeared to Walter and warned that the Observers are coming. And here we are in season 5.

I don't know how plausible this theory is, but it's fun to play around with the ideas in Fringe.

Revolution: Inverted damsel in distress

Spoilers for episodes 1-5

I like Revolution for its story and characters, but the most interesting part so far is how the show plays with gender roles. I'll focus on the women in this post.

Charlie. Her name is a good starting point: Charlotte but she goes by Charlie. A blending of male and female, so we can guess that Charlie is going to blur the line between what is typically male and female.

The militia takes Danny, Charlie's younger brother, in the first episode, and she goes after him. The set up is not a strong man going on a journey to save a helpless woman but instead a young woman going to rescue her weaker brother. If you don't think that Danny is supposed to be the weaker of the two, look at how they dress. Danny wears simple clothing, a loose shirt and pants, and Charlie's outfit is close-fitting with a knife sheathed at her hip and a crossbow over her shoulder.

Charlie hunts and she's good at it, but she's not a warrior. She fights the militia men who come after Miles, but Nate has to save her. Miles has to intervene when Charlie gets into fights she cannot physically win. She reacts emotionally and Miles has to remind her to take logical action.

Charlie repeatedly shows herself to be tough but also scared. A good fighter, but also reckless. She doesn't try to hide her vulnerabilities and she doesn't let people talk down, ignore, or belittle her. Especially Miles. She's an excellent example of tempered strength.

Nora. The first time we see her, she is chained up along with many other slaves. But then we find out that she picked the lock and can escape at any time. Nora got arrested on purpose so that she could steal a rifle from the militia. She doesn't need to be saved.

Nora is determined and focused on her work for the Resistance, even to the point of putting Danny in danger in episode 5, "Soul Train." Miles thinks the Resistance has no chance of accomplishing anything and if that's true, all of Nora's work goes to waste. At this point in the story, she is an example of lost potential.

Lastly, Rachel, Charlie's mom. Monroe is holding her hostage and we've seen her tied up and interrogated. A few scenes imply that Monroe's men torture her. In a flashback scene, Rachel killed a man who tried to steal the family's food and threaten Charlie, but now Rachel seems powerless. Monroe manipulates her into telling him what she knows about the blackout and how to turn the power back on. It seems like Rachel is an example of arrested power, but I'm excited to see how that will change when Monroe tries to bargain with Danny's life.

The women in Revolution show strength as well as weakness. At times, we see in them the damsel in distress cliche. The men must come to rescue them. But as we watch, the cliche turns itself inside out. Charlie takes charge of rescuing Danny, Nora defies Miles to blow up the train, and Rachel will do whatever is necessary to protect her children.

The narrator in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Spoilers below.

Robert Downey Jr. is the main character, Harry Lockhart, and he narrates most of the movie. But besides typical narration, the movie breaks the fourth wall. Harry addresses the audience, as if he's having a conversation with us. He pauses scenes to add comments and rewinds when he forgets to tell us something.

The one problem with narrated movies is that you know the character makes it through to the end. Not a problem for family dramas and comedies, but Harry is in constant danger. Hearing him tell the story in the past tense means he survives all the trouble he gets in to.

It's difficult to worry about the main character when you know he'll be okay, so Kiss Kiss Bang Bang forgets about the narration for the middle of the movie. Harry is still on the screen but he isn't talking to us anymore. We lose the certainty that he survives until the end because he's not cracking jokes about what's happening. Maybe he doesn't live to tell the rest of the story so we just have to watch and see.

It's an interesting move, to use narration to lure us into a comfortable zone and then take it away to let us question the character's safety.